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Harold the Klansman
BY
GEORGE ALFRED BROWN
THE WESTERN BAPTIST PUBLISHING COMPANY
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
1923
Copyright, 1923
by
George Alfred Brown
NEODESHA, KANSAS
_All Rights Reserved_
_As a tribute of love and in appreciation of her encouragement and help
in my various lines of labor I respectfully dedicate this volume to my
wife, Lela Lockhart Brown._
_G.A.B._
_PREFACE_
The purpose of the author in writing this story is to furnish the
public with reliable information about the Ku Klux Klan, and at the
same time give entertainment. It is also hoped that Klansmen who read
this story will be given a greater appreciation of the Invisible Empire.
While this is essentially a work of fiction, yet the principles as here
elucidated are the true principles of the Ku Klux Klan.
Statistics quoted in this story are accurate and quotations credited to
real persons are correct. The story as a whole is fiction but many of
the incidents are true.
George Alfred Brown.
Neodesha, Kansas,
August 14, 1923.
Chapter I
Ruth Babcock was a heroine. To be sure folk did not think of her as
deserving a place in any catalogue where the names of heroic folk are
recorded. She was known in the community as a girl with a kindly heart
and plenty of grit. She was descended from fighting stock--her mother,
who had died when she was twelve years old, was the daughter of an
ex-confederate colonel, Clayton Jameson. She had run away from home to
marry Fred Babcock, the son of Major Babcock of General Sherman's staff.
The Jamesons were opposed to the match. Their family was one of the
oldest and most aristocratic of Virginia. They knew nothing of young
Babcock except that he was an intelligent, well mannered young man
and the son of a major who had fought against the Southland during
the war. Caroline Jameson had a number of suitors, scions of "best
families," but, contrary to her parents' wishes, she refused to accept
any of these and insisted on marrying Fred Babcock. When her parents
positively refused to give their consent, she defied them and eloped
with him.
They came West and settled in the town of Zala, where young Babcock
secured employment in the only bank of the town. When the baby came
and Caroline Babcock wrote her parents that they had named their baby
girl Ruth, in honor of her mother, the Babcocks received a letter,
by return mail, containing a message of forgiveness and blessing and
insisting that they come home on a visit and give the grandparents an
opportunity to become acquainted with their granddaughter. In this way
the estrangement came to an end.
Two years before this story opens, when Ruth was eighteen, an event
happened which brought Ruth, who had just graduated from high school,
face to face with the stern realities of life. Her father was at this
time president of the bank where he had worked for twenty years.
Through careful economy he had become the principal stockholder. Ruth
had noticed for several weeks that her father was nervous and worried.
One night he was called out of bed and had a conference with Dick
Watson, his cashier, and Jim Stover, the president of Wilford Springs
Central State Bank. The next morning after this conference her father
told her that Stover was helping him out of a little difficulty he was
having in his banking business. That morning Stover took charge of the
Ranchmen's Bank of Zala. The same afternoon her father was hurt in an
automobile accident. He was seriously injured, and for a time his life
was despaired of. He had partially recovered from the injury, but with
his memory destroyed to the extent that he could remember nothing that
had transpired before the accident.
When Ruth inquired about the business she was told by Stover that he
had bought her father's bank stock for twenty thousand dollars. She
found a balance of only twelve hundred dollars to her father's credit.
Stover informed her that her father had been in debt to him in the
sum of twenty thousand dollars and that he had taken the stock to
accommodate him. He showed her the assignment which her father had made.
Most of the twelve hundred dollars was spent for hospital fees and
doctor bills. When her father was brought home, unable still to take
up active work and with his memory gone, Ruth found herself confronted
with the problem of how to earn a living for herself and family.
After consulting with Mr. Stover, she decided to take a stenographic
course in a business college. In order to provide the money to do this
she sold the home in Zala and moved with her father and aunt (who,
since the death of her mother, had been their housekeeper) to Wilford
Springs where there was a good business college. As she must husband
her resources she felt it would be advisable to rent a residence and
live at home; another consideration was her father's condition. She
could not bring herself to the point where she was willing to leave
him in Zala with her aunt; besides, after disposing of the home, she
concluded that the expense of living in Wilford Springs with the
family all together would not be as great as if part were to remain
at Zala. After a year in business college she felt qualified for a
position. It was imperative that she get employment as soon as possible
as her finances were getting low again.
She went to her friend and former advisor, Jim Stover, to ask his
assistance in securing employment. Much to her surprise he offered her
a position in the Wilford Springs Central State Bank. It was with a
great deal of figuring--close figuring, too--that she met the bills of
her family with the meager salary she received as stenographer.
One evening, after she had been employed in the bank about a year, as
she stepped out on the street she met her friend Harold King, a young
architect, whom she had met soon after coming to Wilford Springs.
"Hello, Ruth."
"Hello, Harold."
"Which way, Ruth?"
"I am going down to Smith and Son's Grocery Store to get some
groceries, then I intend to catch a Sylvan Avenue car."
"If you have no objections I will walk with you to the grocery."
"None whatever. I always enjoy good company."
"How is your father?"
"Apparently there is no change in him. He has a good appetite and rests
well but gets very nervous at times and his memory doesn't come back
to him. If I only had the money I would take him to Dr. Lilly, who
is recognized as one of the best mental and nerve specialists in the
United States."
"It is too bad that so many of us have to be so often hampered for
money," he remarked.
"I can stand it except when we need it for the services of a doctor.
I don't mind having to wear the old dress longer than most girls wear
theirs, but when Daddy is in the condition he is and I think there
might be some help for him if I just had the money then the lack of it
hurts."
"Don't worry," he remarked, endeavoring to comfort her, "circumstances
may soon change."
"Circumstances must change. I'll make them change," she said with
determination.
"Ruth, I wish I could help in some way. Maybe, if someone would suggest
to Stover that he raise your salary he would do so."
"He might. I have worked there a year. He seems pleased with my
work but has raised my salary only once and that raise was but ten
dollars. Of course, I wouldn't want to ask any of my friends to make a
suggestion of that kind to my employer."
The subject of salary was dropped and Ruth remarked, "There was a man
in the bank today who said that there is an organizer of the Ku Klux
Klan in town and that he wants to organize here."
"I hadn't heard that," he replied, "but I have been reading
considerable about Klan activities."
"You haven't read much that was good of them, have you?" she asked.
"Well, yes; I have read of some charitable deeds of the Klan and also
of some other good things that they have done."
"The most I have read of them were accounts of where they had whipped
someone or given somebody a coat of tar and feathers. Mr. Stover said
that it would be a disgrace to the city to have a Klan here. He says
that it's an outlaw organization."
"Really, Ruth, I don't know enough about it to judge."
"Here is Smith and Son's. Goodbye."
When she reached home, not seeing her father, she asked for him.
"He just went for a little walk down the street."
"How is he?"
"He has been talking all day about that safe combination," Aunt Clara
answered.
"I was in hopes he had gotten his mind off of that. He hadn't mentioned
it before since I told him they had found the combination and opened
the safe. Which way did he go? I will go and meet him."
"He started east on this street."
She walked several blocks east but saw nothing of her father, and was
about to turn back when she looked down a side street and saw him only
a short distance away. She waved her hand to him and he waved his in
answer. She was soon by his side. "How are you, Daddy?" she asked.
"Busy, Ruth; very busy. I have been trying to remember the combination
to that safe. I almost had it once--I got as far as two turns to the
right and then back to the left to forty. I can't remember any more."
"What safe is it, Daddy?"
"My safe; where all our money is locked up. We wouldn't be poor if I
could find that safe and get it open."
"Where is that safe? Can't you remember at all?"
"No, honey, that is what I am trying to do. If I could remember the
combination it might help me to remember where the safe is."
"Daddy, don't you remember that you sold your bank stock to Mr. Stover
and that the only safe you had was the bank safe?"
"No. I can't remember anything about ever having had any bank stock."
"Can't you remember at all about being a bank president?"
"No. I remember that you have asked me about a bank lots of times, but
then you know I can't remember anything that happened before I woke
up in the hospital and they told me that I had been in an automobile
accident; except, that I had a safe with money, lots of money."
"Well, don't bother about it now. Look at the beautiful roses in that
yard."
"They are beautiful. How wonderful it is that God touches the cold dull
earth with life and it brings forth such marvelous beauty."
Ruth looked up at him admiringly. He was a tall well proportioned
man, a little past middle age. His features were noble, his bearing
dignified. In spite of the loss of memory, his speech and acts
expressed a refinement which had become second nature to him.
"Come, Daddy," she said, taking him by the arm, "let's go. Aunt Clara
will be waiting dinner for us."
Aunt Clara was on the porch waiting for them when they arrived.
"It's about time you were coming, the dinner is getting cold."
"We are here 'ready to go,'" said Ruth, laughing, "and I have a
wonderful appetite that is craving some of your chicken salad."
"My dear," said Aunt Clara, "you are not going to be disappointed
tonight. I have the salad prepared."
"Fine! Doesn't that sound good, Daddy?"
"Yes--if I can remember the other numbers."
"I was talking about dinner. Aunt Clara has chicken salad for dinner.
Isn't that fine?"
"Yes, chicken salad is all right."
At the dinner table Ruth remarked, "I heard in the bank this afternoon
that there is an organizer of the Ku Klux Klan in town, and that he
intends to organize here."
"Mercy on us!" exclaimed Aunt Clara, "I hope those awful Ku Kluxers
won't come to this town. I was just reading today of some of the
terrible things they are doing in Texas."
"I know it's two turns to the right, then back to the left to forty."
"Father, we were talking about the Ku Klux Klan."
"What's the Ku Klux Klan?" her father asked.
"Don't you remember from your study of history of the Ku Klux Klan that
came into existence after the Civil War?"
"No, I have no memory of it. You told me about the Civil War the other
day, and as you told me it seemed to me I had heard of it before."
"The Ku Klux Klan was an organization that originated at Pulaski,
Tennessee, in 1866. Its object was to preserve order. Local authority
had been broken down as a result of the war and women were not safe on
the streets. Carpet-baggers from the North were controlling the negro
vote in the South and actually placing ignorant negroes in office for
the purpose of preying on the impoverished South. The Ku Klux Klan
was not only for the purpose of preserving order, but to control the
political situation as well and keep ignorant negroes from office. It
was claimed that while it seemed necessary to establish law and order
at that time through an organization outside of the officers, since
these were mostly carpet-baggers and negroes during the reconstruction
period, there were many cases of abuses, such as whippings for minor
offenses and occasionally someone even punished who was not guilty of
any offense."
"It's dangerous for people to take the law into their own hands," said
Aunt Clara.
"Yes, but you remember it was thought necessary to have vigilance
committees in pioneer days out West. The old Ku Klux Klan claimed that
no one was ever punished without a trial."
"But wasn't there courts to give trials?"
"Yes, but the civil courts were at that time presided over by ignorant
negroes and by carpet-baggers who were anxious for political reasons to
please the negroes. It is quite likely that there were not nearly so
many cases of miscarried justice where cases were passed on by the Ku
Klux Klan as there would have been if these cases had been passed on by
the courts."
"But you said a moment ago that it may have been true that some
innocent persons were punished."
"Of course that is always to be regretted but our courts often make
mistakes also."
"Is this the same organization that is coming here?" her father asked.
"Oh, no, the old Ku Klux Klan was disbanded in 1871. Congress passed
a law providing suppressive measures, and as the best people of the
South, many of whom were members of the Klan, did not wish to oppose a
law of Congress, the society was disbanded; however, during the time it
existed it had done much to bring order out of chaos. My mother told
me that Grandfather Jameson was a member. Today when we were talking
about the Klan in the bank, Mr. Stover said that the Klan might have
been necessary in the South in reconstruction days, but that the courts
and police officers were now amply able to enforce laws and furnish
the public with protection. He says that this new Klan is composed of
outlaws, that it has all the vices of the old order and none of the
virtues."
"Judging from what I have been reading in the papers, he is correct,"
said Aunt Clara, and then added, "Ruth, have some more chicken salad?"