#CRITICAL RACE THEORY PRESENTS BLOOD AND BROTHERHOOD Part Six

#CRITICAL RACE THEORY PRESENTS

BLOOD AND BROTHERHOOD PART SIX

A Novel Of Love In A Time Of Hate

[abridged]

By

Eugene Stovall

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Episode Fifteen

For the next several weeks, Julia and Pete are oblivious to everything, except each other. They live in their own little world, unhampered by friends or family. The political events swirling around them are nothing compared to the world they have found in each other’s arms. Julia returns to the library. Her supervisor rehires her.?Each evening, Pete meets Julia after work and they stroll over to a delicatessen, where they buy something to take back to Pete’s apartment. Every once in a while they even get around to eating.

Julia shares an apartment with two other women, who. she hardly knows. Both work in Harlem nightclubs and usually get back to the apartment between six and seven in the morning, just as Julia is preparing to go to work. “Why don’t I move in with you?” Julia suggests. “It would be so much easier.”

“I think it would be better if you stayed there for the time being,” Pete counsels.

“Don’t you want to live with me?” Julia frowns.

“Who knows?” Pete continues. “You might want to make up with your parents and it won’t help if you’re living with me.” As things turn out, they are fortunate that Julia keeps her room.

Sometimes, they visit one of Harlem’s café’s. “I hate eating in these ‘greasy spoons,’ Pete complains one evening. ?

“Then why don’t we dine at a midtown restaurant,” Julia suggests, tugging at his arm and leading him to a mid-town trolley.

“I don’t know about this, baby doll,” Pete balks.

“Don’t be silly,” Julia laughs. “I know one on Bleecker Street. Grace and I go there all the time. You’ll like it.”

But when they arrive, the headwaiter sniffs indignantly. “You should have called for a reservation, madam,” he advises. “We are booked solid.”

“Don’t seem to me that reservations would have made any difference,” Pete says, “since your restaurant is half empty.”

“Don’t worry, honey,” Julia says, putting on a brave smile but fixing the headwaiter with an icy stare. “I know the headwaiter at another place that is just as nice, perhaps even nicer. It’s not far from here.” She takes Pete’s arm and marches out the door.

“Hi, Max,” Julia sings out merrily at the next restaurant, putting on a hopeful front. “A table for me and my sweetheart, here.”

Looking as if Julia had slapped him, Max looks at Pete.

“Ah, Julia, is he with you?”

“Yes, Max,” Julia replies, “he is with me.”

“Well, I don’t think we a table left in the house,” Max says. Shrugging his shoulders, Max tries to explain.

?“You know it’s not me, Julia. If it were up to me, of course, I would seat you. But it’s my other patrons, they might object to eating next to a . . .”

“A Negro,” Pete completes the sentence for him. “Come on, Julia, let’s go.”

On the way back to Harlem, they don’t speak. Julia can’t look Pete in the face, afraid of what she might see. Pete is angry at Julia for putting them in the situation to be embarrasses. She just wants to be a part of the white world, to be accepted by them, and to live among them, Pete tells himself, feeling all his old insecurities and doubts. Again, he questions how someone like Julia would want to live with him. But Pete doesn’t say anything. Though it doesn’t matter whether they are served at a white restaurant to Pete, it ?does matter that Julia might be treating him like a fool ___ again. Pete doesn’t understand that all Julia wanted was to treat him to a meal that wasn’t in a ‘greasy spoon.’

For several days, Pete’s suspicions continue to gnaw at him. Is she still playing the spy? he wonders. And although that evening and several others pass without incident, as ?always happens with young love, they have their first quarrel. Just as the truth can be lost in understatement, to call it, a quarrel, is like calling the Grand Canyon a hole. Pete and Julia do not quarrel, they war ____?firing words at each other that explode in salvos of spite, recriminations and venom. Each one tries to wound the other with the most unkind, cruel?words they can think up. Their name-calling barrage degenerates into an onslaught of the foulest language and blasphemies that ____ ?had either of them been Catholic ____ ?would have had them on their knees saying ‘Our Fathers, Hail Mary’s’ and ‘Acts of Contrition’ for a solid month. The only thing that saves their relationship from a tragic end is that Julia suddenly stomps out of Pete’s apartment and return to her own flat. ?For a couple of days, Julia contemplate the sensitivity of Pete’s ego ____ particularly after the many times she, herself, has damaged it. Julia returns to Pete’s apartment. Both apologize profusely. In a way, their first, but certainly not their last, quarrel prepares each of them for the ordeals that they must face , together, for the rest of their lives. And though it will not be easv, they both realize that they must allow their love to carry them through life’s difficulties. However, even ?as Pete and Julia try to shut out the world and concentrate on the perilous enterprise of making a life, together, refusing to be abandoned, the ‘real’ world comes crashing back in the form of a spurned rival. One morning, as Julia leaves her apartment for work, Grady Jones appears in her hallway.

“Do you know how much trouble you’re in, not to mention the trouble you got me into?” Grady asks dispensing with the preliminaries.

“What kind of trouble?” Julia asks. She notices that Grady’s face has an ashen tinge and his eyes, darting about, have a?frightened look. ?

“You told the Brotherhood about your assignment and my people are not happy.”

“They’re not?” Julia asks, her green eyes widening in a look of innocence.

“No, they’re not!” Grady says. “Don’t think that, because you’re a woman, they won’t hurt you. Don’t you know how much danger you and Pete are in?”

“Pete?” Julia says. “What has Pete to do with this?”

“He has everything to do with it,” Grady says. “He has interfered with their plans and they’re not happy. The only way you can fix things is for you to come with me, right now!” ?Grady’s eyes plead with Julia. “Listen, as soon as Garvey kicked the Brotherhood delegates out of his convention, ?the Justice Department began rounding them up.”.

“What for?” Julia asks.

“Some were arrested for selling the Crusader outside of Liberty Hall.”

“I was selling the Crusader outside of Liberty Hall!” Julia gasps.

“Exactly,” Grady says.

“But why?” Julia asks.

“The Justice Department claims that the Communist Party of America, is working with the African Blood Brotherhood, headed by aliens, like Cyril Briggs and W.A. Domingo, are committing acts of insurrection. The government claims that the African Blood Brotherhood’s Crusader magazine, instigates insurrection by spreading dangerous propaganda among Negroes, during the UNIA convention.”

“You know that none of this is true,” Julia exclaims.

“It doesn’t matter what I know,” Grady points out. “Cyril Briggs claims that the Brotherhood defended Tulsa’s Greenwood community. Now the government has cause to arrest Brotherhood members on charges of violating the Alien and Sedition Law.”

“What about the Association?”

“By ejecting the Brotherhood delegates from his convention, Garvey disavows any connection with the organization,” Grady explains, “Garvey says that, although the Brotherhood pretends to be interested in the Negro cause, their organization advocates Sovietism, Bolshevism and Radicalism.”

?

?“This is serious, isn’t it?” Julia quavers.

“Yes, it is,” Grady agrees. “Especially since you betrayed me and joined them.” Seeing how shaken Julia becomes, Grady pushes her harder. “Of course, it hasn’t helped that you have been seen midtown with Pete.”

“I thought Pete was your friend,” Julia stammers.

“Baby, both you and I know that in this business, you don’t have any friends. I’m the closest thing to a friend that you’ve got. I’ll put in a good word for you, but you must come with me and talk with my superiors. They’ve been wanting to meet you ever since you returned from Tulsa.”

Julia tries to think. She knows one thing, for certain; she isn’t going anywhere with Grady, not this time, But she decides to play along until she can contact Pete. “All right,” Julia responds, as if giving in, “why don’t you pick me up here at my apartment, later tonight, after I get off work.”

“I think you should come now,” Grady says.

“If you straighten this out for me, I still want my job at the library,” she reasons. “I should at least let them know that I might be gone for a day or two.”

Grady thinks it over for a couple of minutes. He wants Julia to trust him so that he won’t have any problems getting her to Ellis Island. “Okay, I’ll meet you at the library after work this evening.”

“Meet me here at my apartment?” Julia insists. “You wouldn’t want to run into Pete at the library, would you?”

“No, you’re right,” Grady says, his face contorting into a frown that shows ?just how much he fears Pete.

“Okay, then,” Julia says. “I should be ready by eight o’clock tonight. How long do you think the interview will take?” Grady shrugs. He knows that military intelligence plans to work on her for a long time. There’s no sense in frightening her any more than necessary. “Maybe I should arrange for a couple of days off,” Julia says. “What do you think?” |“Yeah, a couple of days should do it. You’re a smart girl,” Grady says. “I’ll see you at eight then.” Turning back down the hall, he slinks out the door.

Julia is frightened, but decides not to call Pete immediately. In case Grady is watching her, Julia decides to go to work, just in case Grady is watching. I’ll let Pete know about this when he picks me up after work, she tells herself. He’ll know what to do.

It’s the longest day of her life. Time drags by. Maybe Pete will call or pick me up for lunch, she prays. ?But no such luck. Her supervisor notices how jumpy and nervous Julia seems.

“Is there anything wrong, dear,” she asks.

“No, not at all, madam,” Julia replies. “I am just so thankful that I’m back with the library. I want to do a good job.”

Finally, five o’clock arrives and Julia hurries to meet Pete at their usual spot. “Grady came to my apartment this morning,” she?blurts out,

“What did he want?” Pete asks.

In as few words as possible, Julia tells him everything. “He’s coming to my apartment to take me to Ellis Island,” she says. “What should I do?”

“You can’t go back to your apartment,” he decides, “and you can’t come back to mine, either.”

“Where will I go?” Julia wails.

“You have to go back to your parents,” Pete tells her.

“My parents,” Julia says. “I can’t go back there.” There is no conviction in her voice. “Why can’t I go to Grace’s? I know she’d help me.”

“How can you trust Grace in this situation?” Pete asks. “She is either in jeopardy, herself, or working with them.” ?

When Julia thinks about it, she has to agree. “I don’t know whom to trust,” she says finally.

“You can trust me,” Pete says, “and you can trust your parents.” Julia agrees. “Do your parents have any close relatives living nearby?” he asks.

“My mother has a couple of brothers and a sister,” Julia replies.

“Then you must go to one of them until we can straighten this mess out. In the meantime, I will see what I can learn.”

Even though she hates the idea of returning to her parent’s home, even for a brief stay, Julia knows that she must. Julia’s mother will protect her daughter. Even though Edward and Sharon Duncan won’t be too happy that a Garveyite like Pete will be the father of their first grandchild, her mother will help her daughter if she thinks that Julia’s problems have to do with an unwanted pregnancy rather than unacceptable politics. The next day Julia finds herself safely ensconced in a room at her wealthy aunt’s home on Striver’s Row.

Rose Pastor Stokes, the pseudo-leftwing radical, provides J. Edgar Hoover a list of every radical socialist, labor agitator and international conspirator in the United States. Her list includes every members of the African Blood Brotherhood. Hoover is ecstatic!

“Outstanding!” Hoover exclaims. “Now I have them and they’ll start telling me everything I want to know about this little band of revolutionaries. Soon I’ll give the Grand Master the information he wants about the traitor who informed the Brotherhood about Tulsa.”

Hoover deports every Brotherhood member without U.S. citizenship papers and arrests the others on a variety of charges. Still others simply disappear. Julia’s name is on Hoover’s disappearance list.

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Episode Sixteen

Gaston Means’ grandfather was a slave driver; his father, who everyone calls Colonel, is mayor of the rural town of Concord, North Carolina; and his uncle is Concord’s Chief of Police. The Colonel and the chief enlist Gaston Means, at an early age, into the Ku Klux Klan. Gaston Means participates in lynchings and learns how violent hate is the method of preserving white prerogatives, white privileges and white supremacy.

When Gaston Means finds himself in financial difficulties, he uses methods learned in the klan to extricate himself. Means marries a widowed heiress from New York and takes his week-old bride on a hunting trip for their honeymoon. Means returns, alone, leaving his naive wife in the North Carolina woods with a bullet in her head. Mean’s father and uncle congratulate their protégé on the deft manner in which he acquired considerable wealth and resolved his economic difficulties.

Under the Colonel’s and the police chief’s tutelage, Gaston Means becomes an adept Klansman, achieving the position of grand dragon for the entire state of North Carolina. As the klan’s rising star, ?Gaston Means reaches the pinnacle of power inside the Harding Administration, where he is appointed a special federal agent inside the Justice Department and the ‘bag man’ for Harry Daugherty, President Warren Harding’s Attorney General. Inside Harding’s Justice Department, Gaston Means collects ‘pay offs’ from bootleggers, gunrunners, influence peddlers, and other assorted gangsters and criminals ____ including Marcus Garvey.

Yet, true to his heritage, his beliefs and his oath to defend the purity of the white race, Gaston Means maintains a passionate hate for Warren G. Harding. It matters little to Gaston Means that America’s most secret society admits Warren Harding into the Scottish Rite Masonic lodge of Marion Ohio raising him to the degree of master mason. Nor is Means impressed when, within weeks, Taft orders the Marion lodge to raise Harding to the rank of thirty-three-degree mason. Means is also unimpressed that Harding receives the red fez of a Shriner as a member of the Columbus Aladdin Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of ?Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

Nor even does Means care that Harding receives \ higher masonic degrees of mark master, most excellent master and master of the royal arch. Three days before Warren G. Harding’s presidential inauguration, Taft directs the Order of the Red Cross, the Order of the Knights of Malta and the Knights Templar, respectively, to induct Harding into their societies. But what enrages Grand Dragon Gaston Means is that William Howard Taft orders Colonel William J. Simmons, the imperial wizard of Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, to conduct a solemn White House ceremony admitting Harding into his own order. Taft’s directive is so distasteful to Gaston Means that the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan of North Carolina swears upon his life to wipe away this insult to the white race by the induction of a nigger into its ranks.

Nadine eyes Grady from across the room. The smoke from her freshly lit cigarette drifts lazily into the air. Their sex has become rather mechanical and routine and Nadine is aroused only when he performs some special little something dredged up from her own perverse imagination. But Grady is seldom in the mood. This nigger is beginning to bore me, she thinks. No matter, she sighs, in this business it doesn’t pay to get too close to someone you’re eventually going to harm. And Nadine has her orders. Grady is in the worse situation, imaginable for a government agent. He failed to complete his assignments and he knows too much ____ and too little..

“What are you going to do?” Nadine asks.

Grady sits in the only comfortable chair in Nadine’s apartment which is decorated in the art deco style that is all the rage. ?Her apartment embodies a feeling of elegance, jazz and power ____ None of which concerns Grady right now. He is morose ____ and scared. All he thinks about is Captain Hansen’s last remarks.

“Private, you are the sorriest piece of crap on my staff. I order you to bring in one of your tramps and you can’t even do that. Do you take me for a fool, private?”

“No, no sir,” Grady stammers.

“Then why have you been treating me like a fool?”

“Sir,” Grady says, “I tried to explain. She wasn’t at her apartment, but I’ll find her. There’s nowhere she can go. All I need is a little more time.”

“More time,” the intelligence officer thunders. “You’ve been fooling around with this woman since June. It’s now October. How much more time do you need? I need some information and I need it now! Do you understand me?” “Yessir,” Grady replies.

“Now get out of here and bring that whore in for questioning,” Hansen shouts. “And I mean right now.”

Grady has no idea where Julia has gone. And Nadine doesn’t seem interested in helping. Lately, Nadine has grown distant and aloof. He can’t please her anymore, not even in bed. How did everything get so fouled up? he asks, himself.

Grady gets up and goes over to where Nadine lounges. “What do you think we ought to do?” he asks.

“We?” Nadine stares with pitiless eyes. “Don’t look at me. You’re the one who lost her. It’s up to you to find her.”

“You’ve got contacts,” Grady says half-heartedly. “Couldn’t you ask them?” “Look, nigger,” Nadine says blowing cigarette smoke in his face, “you’ve got your orders. Quit whining and get out there and find Julia Duncan.”

Nadine almost becomes sexually aroused watching the dejected figure of Negro manhood slink out the door. He used to be so arrogant, so proud, she thinks. Now look at him, a little adversity and he’s reduced to a whimpering dog. Nadine almost bursts out laughing. It’s all such a farce, she thinks.

The joke is on Grady. Nadine knows that Julia Duncan doesn’t know anything about the leak to the Brotherhood. In fact, there is no leak, not unless they consider Rose Pastor Stokes the leak. Because it was Stokes ____ or rather, her shadowy billionaire spouse, J. G. Phelps-Stokes ____ who told Cyril Briggs about the plans for the Tulsa riot.

“I love this game,” Nadine murmurs to herself. Stubbing out her cigarette, she goes into her bedroom to dress for her afternoon’s entertainment with the girls.

*****

Rose Harriet Pastor is the daughter of an immigrant Polish Jewish family. Rose and primary breadwinner and worked in a Cleveland cigar factory from the age of twelve, James Graham Phelps-Stokes roots go back to Puritan New England. His family is a charter member of the Social Register. J.G., as he is known, sails, rides horses and plays polo. At Yale, J.G. was a track and tennis star. J.G. owns the Nevada Central Railroad and the State Bank of Nevada. A large part of his extensive wealth comes from the Austin Mining Company, the Manhattan Silver Mine and the Jones Gold Mine. J. G. and his brother Anson shares William Howard Taft’s vision of an Anglo- Saxon-dominated world. Anson Phelps-Stokes is Taft’s close friend and staunchest supporter inside the Skull and Bones Society. ?J.G. heads the secretive United States Russian Information Bureau, a group closely affiliated with the China Society as well as the Royal India and Pakistani Society. These secret societies collect the great stores of the vital intelligence required to further Taft’s goal for Anglo-Saxon domination. J.G. and Anson’s membership in the ultra-secret Pilgrims Society ?helps Taft plan the stock market crash for 1929 that paves the way for the successful takeover of the German government by the Skull and Bones parent society the Teutonic Knights of Germany and their Nazi political party.

J.G. Stokes is unhappy. The NAACP, the organization he founded and funds, ?fails to exert any influence over West Indian Negroes. J.G. turns to his wife, Rose, and the Communist Party of America, to send the Brotherhood, the one organization dominated by West Indians to Tulsa. Neither Taft, military intelligence nor the FBI is aware of J.G.’s move. But through her contacts with her uncle, Max Easton, the Liberal Club and the Bohemian community, Nadine knows. She decides not to share this information with Grady. He wouldn’t know how to use it, even if she did. Grady’s fate is already sealed. Turning toward her wardrobe, Nadine exclaims, “This outfit should drive the girls wild.”

?

Not unlike Sir Percival, the mythical knight of King Arthur’s Round Table, on his elusive quest for the Holy Grail, Grady continues his vain search for Julia. He questions his other women as well as her roommates. No one has seen her. He puts the word out on the streets. He even goes to Van Vechten, hat in hand.

“Why don’t you watch her parents store?” the impresario suggests. Grady spends the next several days watching the Tinker Street flat, but there is no sign of Julia. Out of desperation, Grady turns to his ‘friend,’ Pete.

“I knew I’d find you here sooner or later,” Grady says, sliding into one of Candy’s booths.

Pete notices that worry lines have taken up residence on Grady’s face. “What do you want?” he asks, drily.

“Is that any way to treat a friend?” Grady says, managing a weak smile. “I just want to keep touch and see how you doing. After all, I still owe you my life, and Grady Jones never forgets his debts”. Something’s got him spooked, Pete thinks. “How you been? Haven’t seen you since you got back from Tulsa,” Grady continues. Pete munches on Big Mabel’s fried chicken. “I heard that was some kind of slaughter, almost like France all over again.”

“Where did you hear that,” Pete asks. “Did you go out there?”

“No,” Grady replies. “Julia told me.”

“She did?” Pete says casually. “It must have been when you took her back to Van Vechten.” Grady gives Pete a frightened, almost pitiful glance and then looks away. “How’s she doing?” Pete asks casually.

“I guess she’s doing all right.” Grady wonders how much Pete knows. “To tell the truth, I haven’t seen her lately. I thought maybe you had.”

“Me?” Pete snorts. “I may be slow, old buddy, but I’ve learned my lesson by now.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been using Julia to get information from me, haven’t you?” Pete says sharply. “You, of all people, should know how she feels about me.” Pete fixes Grady with his cop’s stare. His unblinking eyes bear into Grady’s counterfeit soul. Grady wilts. Pete is his only hope. Maybe I can offer Pete a chance to get even, he thinks. Quickly he formulates a plan to confess everything, hoping to enlist Pete’s support. “You’re right,” Grady admits, “I did try to use her to get information.”

“Oh?” Pete arches his eyebrows.

“Yeah, but she never told me anything,” Grady adds quickly.

“So what information did you need about me?” Pete asks, trying to appear uninterested, but Grady notices a telltale flicker in Pete’s eyes. My plan’s working. Grady decides to begins from the beginning. He tells Pete how the Army threatened to execute him for murder if he didn’t agree to work for military intelligence. Grady describes how he recruited a number of women, including Julia, to supply the military with information about what went on in Harlem. Before he realized it, Grady tells Pete the entire story, including why he desperately needs to get Julia over to military intelligence. Grady feels relieved. Maybe confession is good for the soul, he thinks.

Being a cop, Pete listens in silence, withholding judgment, keeping his suspicions and cynicism in check. It is like France, all over again. Grady is in a jam and expects Pete to rescue him. If Pete believes Grady’s story, the Army doesn’t know who actually killed those white boys. As far as the Army knows, Grady did it. That is, if Grady is telling the truth ____ a big ‘if.’ ?But Pete doesn’t trust Grady. Even if he has withheld their names from Army intelligence, which seems unlikely, Grady now has their names and he can give them up at any time. On the other hand, Pete hasn’t Sam and Willie for months. Now Pete knows why. This is not the time to trust Grady with Julia’s life, nor his own.

“Sounds to me like you’re in a bad situation,” Pete says.

“Yeah, but if I find Julia, everything will be all right. I know you don’t care what happens to that Jamaican witch the way she’s treated you. She left you for that white boy, not once but twice.”

“You didn’t have anything to do with that, did you?” Pete gives the jibe.

“No, man,” Grady stammers, “not me.”

Grady doesn’t know about Pete and Julia. How can he know? His degenerate relationship with Nadine, and the way he uses and abuses black women, prevents Grady from being intimate with any woman. ?No one trusts him.

“I’ll tell you what,” Pete tells his so-called friend, “give me a couple of days and I’ll ask around. If I locate Julia, I’ll let you know. How’s that?”

“That’s great!” Grady says, thinking this might work out after all.

“Where should we meet?” Pete asks.

“Why not back here at Candy’s next Sunday?”

“Good, I’ll see you then.”

Grady slides out of the seat feeling better than he had in weeks. See, he tells himself, good things come to good people. I guess I’ll go up and see if Nadine’s home. I feel a bit frisky and sometimes that woman can drive me wild. Grady heads for his last ride on the ?midtown trolley.

?

Episode Seventeen

President Harding’s Birmingham Centennial Celebration speech angers white people all over the United States. A New York Times editorial thunders: “We are against the president’s theory that the races can be intermingled because we know it is impractical, it is unjust and it is destructive to the best ideals of America. Give the Negro economical and political equality with the white man or woman and the friction between the races will be aggravated. The president is right in that the race question is a national one and is not confined to any section, but this unfortunate and mischievous utterance on the subject will be deprecated by people in every section of the country and by people who are dedicated to the preservation of the white civilization.”

Had Harding delivered this speech in any section of the United States, it would have been considered unfortunate, but the president delivers it in the deep South, in the heart of Dixie, making his speech unfortunate in the extreme. ?Not for the Negroes who clap and applaud it. For Negroes, Harding’s speech is like ‘manna from heaven.’ But for Harding, the speech is a disaster. Less than a year later, the president is poisoned on an Alaskan voyage and dies in San Francisco’s Sheridan Palace Hotel. Though Gaston Means is the likely culprit with means, motive and opportunity, he honors the klan commitment to defending the honor of white women by accusing Florence Harding of poisoning her husband. Regardless, the Negro has been forcibly evicted from the White House and Gaston Means is satisfied that a blight on white culture has been removed.

?

****

“Hi, boss!” Pete steps into Ferris’s office. “You wanted to see me?” Now that the convention has ended and the challenge to his leadership has been quelled, Marcus Garvey faces serious financial difficulties. Always plagued by petty larceny and outright theft, the UNIA’s financial resources have been stretched to the limit, Now legitimate and illegitimate operating expenses threaten to overwhelm the organization. Much of the theft involves the UNIA staff, who believe they are entitled.?Garvey is not meeting his payroll. Employees go months without a paycheck. Corruption at the Black Star Line is notorious. The sale of Black Star Line stock, much of it in cash, continues, but little goes toward the company’s debts. Corruption affects Garvey’s various retail outlets which underreport their revenues. The Negro World staff underreport as much as 50 percent of its newspaper revenue. Rumors circulate about the Association’s worsening economic woes. Legal actions threaten to send Garvey and other officers to prison. Pete expects that Ferris has called him into his office to discuss the Association’s worsening finances ______ and possibly fire him.

“Come in Commander Jenkins,” the Negro World’s managing editor says formally. “I’d like you to meet James Wormley-Jones. Jim, this is our head of security, Commander Peter Jenkins.”

A small, impeccably dressed light-skinned Negro rises from his chair and proffers his hand. “Commander Jenkins,” Wormley-Jones says.

“Mr. Jones,” Pete responds.

“Wormley-Jones,” the visitor corrects the security chief.

“Wormley-Jones,” Pete repeats.

There is something about the man that Pete doesn’t like. Possibly it’s Wormley-Jones’s clammy handshake, wet and moist like a limp dishrag. He has no grip at all, Pete notices. Neither does Wormley-Jones make eye contact, preferring, instead, to glance about the room. Ferris’ visitor resumes his seat. Pete takes another. “The reason I’ve called you in,” Ferris continues, “is prepare you for some additional security problems.”

“Oh,” Pete says. “What are they?”

Ferris looks over at his visit and says, “Maybe you’d better explain, Jim.”

The little man turns to fully face Pete. He’s got a rat’s face, Pete thinks. “President-General Garvey has decided to go after Cyril Briggs and the entire African Blood Brotherhood,” Wormley-Jones begins. “Today he delivered a letter that he received from Cyril Briggs to Justice Renaud of the 12th district Magistrate Court. In this letter, Briggs invites the President-General to use the Association to help the African Blood Brotherhood and their communist friends to overthrow the government. The President-General wants authorities to know that we are not revolutionaries or Bolsheviks and that we do not support any organizations that seeks to overthrow the governments.”

“You expect that, when the Brotherhood learns that the President- General has sent Briggs’s letter to the magistrate, they will want to retaliate?” Pete asks slowly.

“Yes ___ but that’s not all,” Ferris responds. “This will be in next week’s issue of the Negro World.” He passes over a front-page proof:

??????????????White Man Negro for Convenience!

A White Man in New York by the name of Cyril Briggs has started the “African Blood Brotherhood” to catch Negroes, no doubt. To make it succeed he claims to be a Negro, and continuously attacks the Universal Negro Improvement Association and its founder Marcus Garvey. Negroes take notice and govern yourselves accordingly.

Pete is speechless. Many criticize Briggs for being reckless and rash. Some even blame Briggs for the terrible massacre in Tulsa. “Had they not fought back, possibly the devastation would not have been so great,” the argument runs. But the accusation of Cyril Briggs being a white man masquerading as a Negro, is really far-fetched, Pete tells himself. While other Negro organizations merely write self-serving newspaper editorials and hide in offices provided by white patrons, the Brotherhood has put itself on the line and in the streets. Garvey is attacking the only Negroes willing to fight against the lynchings that have slaughtered Negroes in the thousands. ?Pete looks from Ferris to Wormley-Jones. But his cop’s mind knows that its best to remain quiet. The rumor mill completely missed this one, Pete tells himself, making a note to mention it to Josh, as soon as possible.

?Ferris and Wormley-Jones counsel Pete about the precautions they expect him to take. ?“Be certain that all your people can be trusted,” Wormley-Jones advises. “The worst thing that can happen is that, after this thing becomes public, the Brotherhood finds someone willing to tell them about our plans. There must be no leaks!”

“That’s right, Pete,” Ferris reiterates. “Make certain that all your people are absolutely trustworthy. And even then tell them only what they need to know.”

Then the pair bombard him with additional suggestions as Pete nods his agreement. After Wormley-Jones and Ferris satisfy themselves that Pete is on the team and ready to do what is expected, they dismiss him.

“Will that be all, sir?”

“Just remember that the President-General is counting on you, Commander.”

“Yessir.”

Pete relays Garvey’s plan of attack on the Brotherhood to Julia.

“I just can’t believe it,” Pete keeps saying.

“Believe it,” Julia says, her soft green eyes filled with compassion.

“What is even more unbelievable is that Garvey’s headlines will be believed,” Pete murmurs. “And this Wormley-Jones seems to be enjoying the idea that black men are going to kill each!”

“Wormley-Jones is a member of the Brotherhood,” Julia says. “I was there when he took the oath.”

“I remember that you told me that,” Pete recalls.

“And Cyril put him in charge of our entire New York section. Oh, Pete! What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Pete shakes his head slowly. “Doesn’t Cyril suspect anything” “How can he suspect anything,” Julia asks. “How can anyone? I was never believed in Garvey and I still can’t believe Garvey would do this.”

“Right after the convention,” Pete says, “I remember Garvey saying that the UNIA’s program was endorsed by Thomas Dixon and the klan.”

“What?”

“I remember thinking, at the time, that Garvey was just being his usual outrageous self. But now . . .” Pete lapses into thought.?“One thing I do know.”

“What’s that?”

“Our James Wormley-Jones is well named _____ he is a worm!”

“We have to warn the brotherhood,” Julia decides. “I’ll call Grace.”

“I don’t think you should get involved,” Pete warns. “Grady is still searching for you. You never know who is listening or watching.”

As it turns out, Pete’s advice is accurate. Hoover already has agents listening in on telephone conversations involving the Brotherhood’s leadership. Pete tells Josh what Garvey plans to do. “Get this out to everyone,” Pete urges. “And no fighting with the Brotherhood, no matter what. Do you understand?”

“Yessir,” Josh responds. “Don’t worry. I’ll make certain everyone gets the word. No fighting with the Brotherhood.”

Pete warns the Brotherhood about Garvey’s attack, but Briggs simply does not believe him. But when Garvey’s article hits the streets, Briggs and the Brotherhood’s executive committee are dumbfounded. Briggs prepares a rebuttal for the Crusader while the executive committee prepares for the coming street battle. Grace Campbell calls every Brotherhood chapter in the country advising them of Garvey’s attack. She advises them to lie low. “We’re going to fight this thing in the courts and not the streets,” Grace informs the chapter leaders. For many of the Brotherhood’s rank and file, Grace’s warning is already too late. The FBI begins arresting Brotherhood members, on sight, charging them with possession of firearms, bootlegging, violations of the Alien and Sedition laws and advocating the overthrow of the government. Cyril Briggs files a criminal libel suit against Garvey and the Negro World. Marcus Garvey retaliates by having Briggs arrested. Both sides accuse the other of treachery. Partisans arm themselves as Harlem holds its collective breath anticipating an all-out shooting war between the Brotherhood and the Association. Pete and Julia meet surreptitiously with Brotherhood and Association factions, trying to explain the inexplicable in an attempt to diffuse the explosive situation. Then, when it becomes apparent that all that remains to be done is pray, their prayers are answered by Garvey’s Chaplin-General.

Bishop George Alexander McGuire’s prestige inside the Association is only matched by the admiration he enjoys within the Brotherhood. Bishop of Garvey’s African Orthodox Church, McGuire is held in even higher esteem than the UNIA’s President-General, himself. Bishop McGuire feeds the hungry, treats the sick and finds employment and housing for those who have nowhere else to turn. The bishop translates Garvey’s rhetoric into a practical ministry and, for that, George McGuire is universally praised. Before an all-out shooting war erupts between the Association and the Brotherhood, Bishop McGuire announces that he is severing his ties with Marcus Garvey and the UNIA and is joining Cyril Briggs and the African Blood Brotherhood.

“I invite all who still believe in our cause to join me,” McGuire announces, “but only under the conditions that you respect those on the other side and that there be no bloodshed.”

McGuire’s announcement is electric. It forces Negroes on both sides to reconsider what is happening and, most importantly, it helps avert the bloodshed threatening to engulf Negro communities across the United States.

Justice Renaud in the Twelfth District Magistrates Court, New York City, sustains the charge of criminal libel brought by Cyril Briggs against Marcus Garvey, President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.

?

Episode Eighteen

A short distance south of where Spuyten Duyvil Creek connects the East and Hudson Rivers, making Manhattan an island, three dingy buildings huddle uptown on 135th street. These buildings serve as a nerve center and offices of the Black Star Steamship Lines, the Negro World and international headquarters of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Here Marcus Garvey is boss. Garvey vows that Bishop George Alexander McGuire will not disrupt his plans.?

“McGuire stole our mailing lists and contacted every division in our entire organization,” Garvey shouts, furiously. “He’s supposed to be a man of the cloth and he steals from us.” Pacing back and forth, Garvey shouts to his secretary, “Get Bill Ferris and Wormley-Jones in here!”

After his two henchmen arrive, Garvey settles down. “Don’t worry about McGuire, chief,” Wormley-Jones advises. “You’re covered. He can’t harm you.” “He’s stopping me from raising money,” Garvey shouts. “He’s telling people not to buy Black Star stock or contribute to the redemption fund. Since he began his letter-writing campaign I’ve lost over 700 members from the Philadelphia division alone.”

“And more than twice that number from Chicago and some of the other divisions,” Ferris adds.

“You see,” Garvey declares. “I’m losing members . . . and money.” Ferris and Wormley-Jones remain silent. ?“And Cockburn, that traitor,” Garvey continues, “is talking about all the booze the Yarmouth runs in and out of New York and Boston for the mob.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Wormley-Jones says. “It’s just another one of the Association’s businesses. Besides, Cockburn’s not crazy enough to talk about the bootlegging business. He knows that’s not a healthy thing to do.”

“Then, why’s he dealing with McGuire then?” Garvey asks.

“Why else?” Ferris replies. “He wants his back wages. He’s already sued the Black Star Line and gotten nothing. The judge included his claim with those filed by the Hudson Towboat Company and the Irvine Engineering Company. Cockburn knows that he’s not going to get anything from the court.”

When the district court had ordered the sale of Garvey’s ship, the Yarmouth, to satisfy the National Dry Dock and Repair Company’s liens, all the other lien holders, including the Yarmouth’s captain and crew, lost any opportunity of being reimbursed. In addition to the back-pay Garvey owed Captain Cockburn, his crew and all the other employees of Garvey’ enterprises who had not received back wages, there were the black families from Los Angeles who had sold all their belongings to book passage with the Black Star Line for passage to Africa. The government can’t force Garvey to pay any of the black people he has swindled a dime.

“What about Gordon?” Garvey asks. “He knows everything.”

“Again, who’s Gordon going to talk to?” Wormley-Jones asks. “And who is going to believe him. Your people believe what you tell them. They read the Negro World and believe in Marcus Garvey. If you’re worried you can always contact Johnson’s man. Burk says he can fix anything for twenty thousand.”

Lincoln Johnson is the Negro Republican who is Harding’s Washington’s Recorder of the Deeds is a fixer, with direct connections to Attorney General Dougherty. ?Johnson advises Garvey that all his legal difficulties could be eliminated for twenty thousand dollars.

“Where are we going to get twenty thousand dollars?” Amy Jacques, Garvey’s private secretary, who sits in on all Garvey’s meetings, asks. Neither Ferris nor Wormley-Jones are surprised by the secretary’s intrusion. Amy Jacques knows everything and expresses her opinion about everything whenever it suits her. “We don’t even have two thousand dollars!”?

“Let’s stick to the issue,” Wormley-Jones says, “which is Cyril Briggs and the African Blood Brotherhood. That’s what our friends want us to deal with.”

“What more can we do to Briggs?” Garvey asks. “We had him arrested and his followers bailed him out of jail.”

“Which wasn’t easy,” Ferris say.

“His case was thrown out of court,” Garvey continues, “while they force me to print a retraction. I wonder just who has the juice around here, anyway.” “That’s better than having to pay damages to our creditors,” Ferris blurts out.

“Don’t worry. It won’t be long before Briggs and his whole gang will be out of your hair for good,” Wormley-Jones predicts. “More importantly, the Brotherhood will no longer concern our friends.”

“How long will that be?” Garvey asks.

“Briggs is telling his people that the time has come to concentrate on building his organization,” Wormley-Jones says. “He and McGuire plan to get your people to desert the Association and join his Brotherhood.”

“I knew it,” Garvey exclaims. “That’s been Briggs’s plan all along. He sent that fake letter telling me how he wants us to join forces and work together. The man must have thought I was a damn fool. I guess I showed him.”

“He intends to recruit from our lists by holding mass meetings all over the country,” Wormley-Jones continues. “He going to begin here in New York with Gordon, McGuire and Cockburn speaking at the Rush Memorial Methodist Church. Briggs believes that these traitors will fill his Brotherhood with our people. After that, Briggs intends to take those traitors to Philadelphia, Boston and Norfolk.”

“What can we do about it?” Garvey asks.

“Send our people to attend this meeting,” Wormley-Jones smiles. “Especially Minister Gaines’s legionnaires.”

?

*****

“For you to try to convince Cyril not to hold this meeting, is a bad idea,” Pete tells Julia. “Briggs and McGuire’s plan to hold mass meetings beginning in Harlem to expose Garvey’s rackets means war. And I don’t want you in the middle of it.”

“I am just going to tell Cyril that Garvey plans to send in the African Legion,” Julia replies. “Besides, your friend, Bishop McGuire, thinks it’s high time that people learn about Garvey’s swindles.”

“Bishop McGuire is a good man. He believes that there is a Divine Providence watching over us,” Pete says. “His belief blinds him to the evil in men.”

“His beliefs allow him to see the good in you, don’t they?” Julia observes. “If it hadn’t been for those beliefs, he wouldn’t have helped you get where you are in the Association.”

“George is a kind man,” Pete agrees. “He’s helped a lot of people. But just because the bishop is a good man doesn’t mean that he’ll be able to stop what Garvey is planning.” Julia is unconcerned with Pete’s pleas. “You’ve got to trust me,” he argues. “Most of Garvey’s people don’t believe in any religion, and they especially don’t believe that some white Jew is their god.”

“How can you say such a thing?” Julia exclaims. Although she isn’t a particularly religious person, Julia is as indoctrinated into Christianity as most Negroes.

“If you’d seen what we saw in the European war,” Pete says, “you’d understand. Most New Negroes reject the Christian lies. Pete gives Julia a knowing look. “A long time ago, David Walker said that one of the basic reasons for black people being enslaved everywhere in the world is because they believe lying Christians.”

“What are you saying?” Julia asks.

“I’m saying that you cannot get George and Cyril to call off their meeting.” Pete repeats. “You are just exposing yourself. ?Stay out of it.”

“But we must do something.”

?“Garveyites know that McGuire is a good man, but that doesn’t mean that all Garvey’s people will follow him, especially now that he has joined the Brotherhood’s fight against the Association. Garvey has made this thing a white and black issue and it doesn’t matter what the courts say. Garveyites believe Briggs is a white man.”

“Cyril is not a white man,” Julia shouts. “He is as much a Negro as you and me.”

“As much of a Negro as you?” Pete laughs. “You’ve never considered yourself a Negro.”

“Then what am I?” Julia asks angrily.

“I have no idea what you think you are, with your green eyes, light skin and straight hair, but I’ll bet it’s not a Negro,” Pete says unable to prevent his pent-up anger from pouring out. “That’s why Grace, Domingo, Haywood and your other West Indian friends believe that Marxists are the ‘good whiteys.’ You believe in that socialist crap, in a Marxist heaven, the same as those other nigger’s believe in a Christian heaven, because you all want to be accepted by white people. Your worse fear is a world where blacks are independent and running things. You fear blacks telling you what to do.”

“What do you mean by that?” Julia asks, her green eyes flashing with anger. “You’re ready to die to get into the white man’s heaven rather than live in a world run by Negroes,” Pete says.

“You’re just mean,” Julia flashes. “That war made you crazy in the head.”

“I may be crazy, but I know that neither Marxist whiteys nor the Christian whiteys plan to give niggers anything in this life,” Pete says. “And if there is a heaven, they plan to have you serving them there as well. Otherwise it wouldn’t be heaven for white people, now would it?”

“How can you say that?” Julia sputters, her face turning beet red in anger. “Marxists are just as racist as any other whites. They want a world run by white folks. They’re just using you like the Christians use you. And when they’re done using you, they’ll treat you just like the Christians treat you, just like a nigger, nigger!”

Julia looks at Pete, her eyes ablaze with anger. “How dare you call me a nigger?” ?she fumes. “You’re just jealous because you and all those other so- called Negroes are descendants of slaves, sold out by your own people. I’m not a nigger,” Julia shouts defiantly.

“Being a nigger and being treated like a nigger are two different things,” Pete observes. “You believe that because they treat you different, they think you’re different. You think because you can slip downtown and go to the white man’s theatre and eat in his café and sleep in a white man’s bed, white folks accept you as their equal. ?West Indians, half-breed Negroes, even Africans, all think you’re better than Negroes born here in the United States. You think because you’re the white man’s whores that you’re not his niggers. But if any of you’d been in Tulsa when the Klan came in, you’d know better. There’s no difference between you and me as far as the whites are concerned. It’s not your color or your education or what you look like that matters to them.

It’s whether or not you serve them and how well you can keep them entertained!”

“I’ve heard quite enough from you,” Julia shouts. “Get your black nigger ass out of here!”

****

Cyril Briggs peers out from the sacristy at the crowd filling Rush Memorial Methodist Church. Even though it’s only a little after four in the afternoon, the pews are almost full. The announcement of the Brotherhood’s first anti-Garvey meeting stated that the mass meeting would begin at four thirty p.m. Briggs is confused. Black people almost never arrive on time, let alone early. No matter, Briggs thinks. With this many people arriving early, I know we’re going to have a full house. “I’ve got Garvey now,” Briggs murmurs,

“You certainly do,” the light-skinned, rat-faced Negro at his side says. James Wormley-Jones helped Briggs make all the arrangements for this meeting. “Now you’ve got Marcus Garvey right where you want him.” James Wormley-Jones is satisfied with himself and he knows Army Intelligence, the Justice Department and J. Edgar Hoover, himself, will be pleased as well.

In Rush Memorial Church sacristy, Bishop George Alexander McGuire and Captain Joshua Cockburn pour over their notes, preparing their speeches. A third speaker, J.D. Gordon, Garvey’s former Assistant President, is expected momentarily. At the UNIA convention Garvey ousted Gordon after the Assistant President criticized the President-General’s mismanagement of Association funds. Gordon was especially concerned with the thousands of Negroes who purchased stock in the Black Star Steamship Line. The Dump-Garvey movement chose J.D. Gordon to succeed Garvey as President-General. Garvey rigged the vote to have J.D. Gordon expelled from the UNIA.

“I’m worried about Gordon,” Briggs confides to Wormley-Jones, “He should be here by now.”

“Don’t worry! He told me he’d be here,” Wormley-Jones smiles.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit dangerous for you to be here?” Briggs asks his confederate. “If Garvey should discover that you’re a Brotherhood member, he’ll fire you from the World ?____ or worse.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Wormley-Jones answers, amused by Briggs’ concern. “After tonight there’s only going to be one organization speaking for Negroes.” Wormley-Jones gives Briggs a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“You remember Julia Duncan, don’t you?” Briggs asks.

“Of course,” Wormley-Jones replies. “She’s a real beauty. Isn’t she one of Carl Van Vechten’s women?”

“Yes and she’s also a member of the Brotherhood,” Briggs boasts. “She’s been at several of our meetings with Grace.”

“Ah, yes,” Wormley-Jones says. A cold chill runs down his spine and his palms begin to sweat as he realizes that Julia could blow his cover. “I do remember seeing her.”

“She’s very close to Pete Jenkins, Garvey’s top security guy,” Briggs says confidentially. “Julia said that Jenkins is trying to get me to call off tonight’s meeting. He told her that something might happen.”

“You don’t say,” Wormley-Jones replies, feigning surprise. More perspiration runs from his head onto his neck. “Did she tell you anything else?”

“Not really,” Briggs replies. “She and Jenkins had a lovers’ quarrel over something to do with color. She was kind of upset when she told me.”

“A lovers’ quarrel?”

“Yes, they have been seeing each other for a couple of months,” Briggs laughs.

“Well that is interesting,” Wormley-Jones remarks. “Oh! Here is Dr. Gordon. Don’t you think we should start? You don’t want to lose any of your audience, do you?”

Briggs steps up to the pulpit with great expectations for himself and for the future of the African Blood Brotherhood. Behind him in the seats, normally reserved for the ministers, sit Bishop McGuire, Captain Cockburn and, the recently, arrived J.D. Gordon.

“Good evening friends,” Briggs begins addressing the packed church. “It is wonderful to see that so many of you have joined us this evening.”

Cyril Briggs is plagued by a speech impediment that makes him an ineffective speaker. The Brotherhood’s executive committee warned Briggs against introducing the speaking at all. “It’s your triumph, your victory,” Wormley-Jones tells Briggs, “you should be the first person your new members see. You are going to be their new leader. They’re used to seeing Garvey, now they must see you.” Briggs cannot resist the opportunity. Briggs can already see masses of Garveyites defecting to the Brotherhood’s banner.

However, as soon as Cyril Briggs begins his opening remarks, the rather quiet gathering becomes restless and noisy. Then an unexpected disturbance throws Briggs off. ?“Tonight, I ah . . . I wish to introduce,” Briggs stammers.

Hoots from different sides of the church begin to ring out and the general murmurings become louder and more boisterous. “Bishop Alexander McGuire is well known to many of you . . .” Briggs tries to say, but jeers ____ followed by a?chorus of boos ____?drown him out.

“That traitor, that Judas! Hiss! Boo!” the crowd erupts. The catcalls and boos, echoing from every part of the church, increase in volume until Briggs finds it?impossible for be heard.

“Please my friends,” the Brotherhood leader pleads. “We must have order.”

But his pleas go unheeded. His pleas only encourage the crowd to become more boisterous. Many rise to their feet, shouting to the top of their lungs. In desperation, Briggs turns and motions Bishop McGuire up to the pulpit. At first, the sight of the stately, dusky-hued prelate striding to the pulpit seems to quiet the crowd.

“My brothers,” McGuire begins, “often I have spoken to you . . .” But hardly the words left his lips before the crowd begins to howl like hounds who have treed their prey.

“TRAITOR! LIAR! You’re the white man’s flunky!”

The verbal barrage rings out assaulting Bishop McGwire from every corner of the church. Invective follows upon invective enveloping the hapless prelate like a gladiator’s net ensnares its prey. Undaunted McGwire forges on, but equally determined that he not be heard, the crowd intensifies its racket. In this contest of wills, the outcome is never in doubt. The jeering crowd shouts McGuire off of the pulpit.

“Get the cops!” Briggs shouts at Wormley-Jones.

The yellow-face double agent nods and slips through the side door. By now, many Harlemites who actually came to hear Bishop McGuire and the others speak, begin to arrive. But they’re too late. Garvey’s legionnaires bar all of the entrances. Though they greatly outnumber the Association’s hecklers, the late-arriving Brotherhood supporters cannot get into the church. Garvey’s security guards, dressed in suits and accustomed to controlling people, divert, Briggs supporters away from the church. So expertly is the crowd handled, that, even though all of Harlem wants to hear the true story about Garvey and the UNIA, none can gets access to Rush Memorial Church that evening.

“All the seats are taken,” Garvey’s security guards tell the late arrivals, redirecting them back onto the street.

Inside Dr. Gordon also attempts to address the crowd of mostly Garvey supporters. But Gordon meets with the same hostility that greeted his fellow speakers, with the words TRAITOR!! and LIAR!! resounding throughout. ?

Finally, the policemen arrive. Six patrolmen, commanded by a sergeant, in their unmistakable blue uniforms, complete with nightsticks and side arms, enter the church. Disregarding the police, the crowd continues its disturbance. Group of them seem intent on outdoing each other in making noise and disturbing the proceedings. The policemen stand by and watch. At times, it seems as though the policemen, themselves, are urging the crowd to be even more abusive and disruptive.

“You must clear out these rowdies,” Briggs begs the police officers. But the police remain disincline to intervene one.

Finally, the pastor of the church rushes in and cancels the program. “Everyone must leave,” the anxious minister tells the police. With that, the police are galvanized into action. “The program is over,” the cops shout. “Everybody out!” Each policeman takes a row and moves everyone from the pews, into the aisles ____ then up aisles toward the exits. Within minutes the police clear the church and, with additional policemen outside, ?they clear the streets as well. The people of Harlem will not hear the truth about Marcus Garvey and the UNIA this day.

?

****

?

“You’ve been a good Legionnaire,” Ferris, looking around nervously, tells Pete. “You’ve been honest and loyal. So, I’m going to tell you something that you need to know.”

“What’s that boss?” Pete asks wondering why he has been called into Ferris’s office as soon as he arrived at work the morning after Cyril Briggs’ debacle.

“You’re in trouble, Pete.,” Ferris says, “big trouble.”

“What do you mean?” Pete asks. But he already knows what Ferris means. Josh warned him that Wormley-Jones told Garvey about Pete and Julia.

“I don’t know what you’ve done or who you crossed, but the word is out that you and your woman have made some important enemies,” Ferris says. “I think you ought to get away as soon as possible, like today. The President-General has added you to his enemies list, right along with Cockburn, Gordon and Maguire.”

J. Edgar Hoover, William J. Burns, Harry Daugherty and Gaston Means all meet in a private suite in one of Washington’s more exclusive hotels. The marbled entryway opens into a paneled living room, whose centerpiece is a cavernous fireplace. The furnishing includes sofas, ottomans and easy chairs sunk into thick Persian carpeting. A great crystal chandelier bounces rays of light against the gilt-edged walls and satin drapery. To the right is a game and billiard room and to the left, through a set of glass doors a great dining room. The suite, occupying an entire floor of the hotel, boasts a private elevator and a vestibule manned by handpicked FBI agents. For the convenience of the four guests, a battery of colored servants provides for their every need. This evening, these men will prepare the report that J. Edgar Hoover will convey to William Howard Taft, chief justice of the Supreme Court.

“The chief wants to congratulate the Bureau on its operation against the African Blood Brotherhood,” J. Edgar Hoover declares. ?“He is satisfied that the leak to the African Blood Brotherhood has been sealed. Brother Means, here eliminated a Private Grady Jones who was passing the information he obtained from Army Intelligence to his friend to Pete Jenkins who passed it to his woman, Julia Duncan, a member of the African Blood Brotherhood.”

“I cannot accept your congratulations,” Means says. “It isn’t over yet.”

“As far as the chief’s concern, it is over,” Hoover says, glaring at Means.

“We didn’t get the Brotherhood leadership,” Means replies. “There’s still Briggs, Domingo, Campbell and the rest. We didn’t even get Duncan or Jenkins.”

“Those two have left New York and headed for California,” Burns says.

“If they’ve gone to Los Angeles, nothing should be done,” Daugherty says emphatically. “Our friend needs the chapters on the West Coast for revenue. He needs as much money as he can raise ____ and so do we.”

When J. Edgar Hoover reports that the leak from Army Intelligence has been sealed and ?the African Blood Brotherhood has been effectively disbanded, Taft is pleased. ?“Edgar, how many Brotherhood members are in jail?”

Hoover rummages through his papers and then comes out with a report. “From about 4000 brotherhood members, compiled from all known sources,” the assistant director of the FBI states, “we have arrested fifteen hundred, of which seven hundred have been deported and one hundred and twenty-five have been killed. Daugherty believes that the organization has been effectively dismantled.”

Pete hurries over to Julia’s aunt’s home. “We’ve got to leave,” he tells her.

She doesn’t question why, she merely asks, “Where?”

“Los Angeles,” Pete replies.

Looking into his eyes, Julia asks, “I can trust you, can’t I, Pete?”

“I love you and you can trust me to love you till the day I die,” Pete answers.

Julia says, “Give me a minute to pack and I’ll be ready.”

While packing, Julia tells herself, “Yes I love him and need him, so I’ll go to California with him. I’ll even marry him and have his brats, but one day I’ll get even with Peter Jenkins for calling me a whore.”

?

?

To Be Continued ...

Copyright ó Eugene A Stovall III all rights reserved No parts of this book may be reproduced without expressed permission of the author