State

Storm Troopers In “The Land oi the Sky” The Depression years hrongJil some strange eliaraelers to Asheville, in- <*ln<lin<4 William Dudley Pelley and the Silver Shirts. К» / TED i АПТЕК If you think it's hard to think straight now. you should have tried doing it during the 1930s and 40s. The depression had brought us back to reality from the flask drinking. Freud- quoting Zeldus of the Fitzgerald years. (She died in an Asheville hospital.) Hitler and Mussolini, beasts that had crawled from the bowels of that same depression, were mouthing their medi¬ eval super-race theories and backing them with "Black Shirts" and "Storm Troopers" in Europe. Folks grew so jittery over the im¬ pending disaster that when Orson Welles yelled “boo" with his “War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, every¬ body went shooting off in all directions, then came shame-faccdly back early the next morning. The old America was dead. A thou¬ sand prophets arose to trumpet the new one. Father Coughlin, the radio priest, played God to politics, denouncing Communists and bankers. Townsend was the pied piper to the aged of the nation; Amy Simple McPherson dressed her “Temple" ushers like an¬ gels. (Once she dressed them up like milkmaids, served "milk cocktails." then took up her collection in the milk pails, exorting the faithful to "Hear the rustic of the paper stuff, not the clink¬ ing of coins.") Huey Long had established his em¬ pire in Louisiana. He dreamed of being the first American dictator, formulated plans to run for the presidency on a "share the wealth" program. At that time Asheville was a wide- open town, one of the most popular mountain resorts in the nation. It was often called the "Little Chicago of the South." This was "dry" country but bonded liquor was easily available. Taxi drivers and bell hops delivered it. Mountain "splo" flowed from a hun¬ dred hollows. Law officers played their game nightly with blockade-running moonshiners. Night life was lively. Once a leading underworld figure got into a fist fight with an elected public official. Slot machine czars lived in lordly luxury — painted ladies flour¬ ished. It was no wonder that Asheville often attracted some unique characters. Pelley Comes to Asheville One of the most unusual was a slen¬ der. distinguished-looking man named William Dudley Pelley. He was a native of Lynn, Massachusetts, the son of a Methodist minister. He worked as a newspaper man and editor in Massa¬ chusetts and Vermont, served with the YMCA and as correspondent in Si¬ beria. He came to Asheville about 1930. describing himself as an "author" and "metaphysician." lie opened "Galahad College" at (he old Asheville Women’s Club building on the corner of Sunset Parkway and Charlotte Street. His pub¬ lishing house was in the old Biltmore- Oteen bank building beside the depot in Biltmorc (now a real estate office). His "college" specialized in correspon¬ dence courses, lie published papers and magazines, one called Libera¬ tion, under issue of the "Galahad Press." He wrote many articles, one of which announced "Christ's govern¬ ment," predicting that Christ, after 60 generations of rumors, was coming back to earth to institute a new social order and set up a thousand years reign of righteousness and peace. The "Silver Shirts" In his book The Door to Revelation lie describes how he launched his "Sil¬ ver Shirts" on January 31. 1933, the day after Hitler took power in Ger¬ many. He organized the "protestant militia of America,” naming them the Silver Shirts. This, he explained, was a great Christian militia, a body of uni- Se*erol itructurci in modem Athcrille »ceoll the doyi when tbit wot notional heodquortcri !o> the Silrer Shuti The old Biltmore Oleen Bonh build mg, loeoted by the depot on the Ploxo ot Bill more 'top', woi The Galohad Ptcii litc The other iccnci. ol the lormer Women's Club build mg ot Chorlotte St. ond Suniet Porhwoy, were the loeotion ol Pellcy’i heodquortcri. olio Golo hod College heodquortcri. THE STATE. Au OUST 1974