LAWLESSNESS AND CRIME
Before presenting, for the thoughtful consideration of the reader, the
facts to be set forth in this chapter, I submit for comparison certain
portions of the Constitution of the United States, and the concluding
portion of the "oath of allegiance" of the "Invisible Empire," Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan.
The former consists of what is known as the "Bill of Rights," and read:
"_The right of the people to be secure in their persons_, houses,
papers, and effects, _against unreasonable searches and seizures,
shall not be violated_, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable
cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing
the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
4th Amendment.
"_No person shall be held to answer for a capital or other infamous
crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury_, except
in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when
in actual service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any
person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of
life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a
witness against himself, _nor be deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law_; nor shall private property be
taken for public use without just compensation."
5th Amendment.
"_In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and
district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which districts
shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of
the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the
witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses in his favor and to have the assistance of counsel in his
defence._"
6th Amendment.
"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,
_nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted_."
8th Amendment.
Having thoroughly studied the above portions of the Constitution of the
United States, I now ask the reader to again study the concluding section
of the Ku Klux oath:
"I swear that I will _most zealously and valiantly_ shield and
preserve, _by any and all justifiable means and methods_, the sacred
constitutional rights and privileges of free public schools, free
speech, free press, separation of church and state, _liberty_, _white
supremacy_, just laws, and the _pursuit of happiness, against any
encroachment, of any nature, by any person or persons_, political
party or parties, _religious sect or people_, _native_, naturalized
or foreign, _of any race, color_, creed, lineage, or tongue
whatsoever."
Without comment, I merely offer the above extracts for study and
comparison, and let the reader draw his own conclusions at the end of the
chapter.
A large number of outrages, consisting of lawless acts of various kinds,
have been reported in the newspapers as having been committed in the
Southern States since early in 1921. Men have been taken from their homes
and conveyed to lonely spots where they have been beaten, tarred, and
feathered; women have been stripped of their clothing and covered with tar
and feathers; some men have been boldly kidnapped in broad daylight and
driven in automobiles to obscure places and there flogged; others have
been whipped and mutilated for alleged immorality; a sixty-eight year old
farmer was taken from his bed at night and beaten; an Episcopal clergyman
was given a coat of tar and feathers; a New Yorker was shot and beaten;
and, numerous "warnings" have been given both publicly and privately of
"secret law enforcement" and of dire threats to "lay off" investigating
the perpetrators.
_In practically every instance of physical violence the criminal
acts--committed in the name of "law and order"--have been perpetrated by
men wearing disguises, described as white robes and masks._
In several cases of violence the white caps, after finishing their work,
have left on the bodies of their victims the letters, "K. K. K." either
burned on the body with acid, or printed on placards tied to the person
maltreated. In cases where private warnings have been sent through the
mails the same letters have been used, and in public warnings placards
have been posted conspicuously bearing the actual name of the "Ku Klux
Klan." Taking these facts into consideration, the evidence shows that the
outrages were committed by men actuated with the spirit of Ku Kluxism,
whether they were all committed officially by Klans in Simmons'
organization or not. That remains to be determined, but one salient fact
stands out very suspiciously and it is this: outrages committed in this
fashion have only been epidemic since the "Invisible Empire" began its
propagation in the States affected. In this connection, it might be well
to recall the conversation I had with the King Kleagle of Tennessee in
May, 1921.
Charters were about to be granted to three Klans in upper East Tennessee.
I asked the King Kleagle this question:
"My people want to know what to do when they get their charters. What
shall I tell them?"
_"Tell them to clean up their towns," he replied._
Among the first reported cases of violence on the part of masked men
occurred in Atlanta, Ga., the headquarters of Ku Kluxism, the home of the
"Invisible Empire." J. C. Thomas, a white man, received an anonymous
letter advising him to "leave alone" a certain woman named Myers, upon
penalty of action, but paid no attention to the warning. One night Thomas
was enticed into entering a motor car in which were several strangers, the
false representation being made that the "Chief of Police wanted to see
him about some bad checks." The car was driven to Lakewood, an amusement
park, and Thomas was ordered to get out. He refused to obey the order,
drew his knife, and put up a fight, killing Fred Thompson, one of his
abductors and wounding another. The Grand Jury of Fulton County failed to
indict Thomas, but did indict two of his captors.
_Simmons admitted that Thompson was a member of the Ku Klux Klan._
Numerous cases have been reported in Atlanta where threatening letters
have been sent and received. A young Scotchman was threatened for making
improper remarks about social equality, while a physician was warned on
account of alleged neglect of his family. According to J. H. Leavitt, an
Atlanta lawyer, who was himself threatened, not only was he himself marked
for violence but included in the same category were Dr. C. B. Wilmer, the
Episcopal clergyman and Ex-Senator Hoke Smith.
In Durham, North Carolina, a Greek restaurant proprietor received an
anonymous warning signed "K. K. K." ordering him to leave town. It
appeared that he had permitted the intermingling of the races in his place
of business. The Greek refused to take the matter seriously, employed a
lawyer and laughed the incident out of town. Nothing came of it.
After a careful and searching investigation made by the _New York World_,
there have been disclosed a large number of cases of violence and
lawlessness in the South, and a study of the synopsis of these cases is
interesting. It will be noted that the majority of outrages have occurred
in the State of Texas, where the masked regulators have been extremely
active, and where the Ku Klux Klan is strongly organized. These outrages
have been so numerous in Texas as to attract the attention of the entire
country, and have caused an upheaval in the Lone Star State. Some of the
really law-abiding Texas people, who do not believe in "invisible
government" and irresponsible censorship of morals, have attempted to
secure some sort of action at the hands of the Texas legislature. Their
efforts in the summer of 1921 were not successful, one legislator even
going so far as publicly to defend the Ku Klux Klan. Other indignant
citizens announced that they would band themselves secretly together and
wage war on Ku Kluxism.
A chronological summary of the published cases of lawlessness in the
South, indicating the methods of Ku Kluxism, is as follows:
February 5, 1921.--In Houston, Texas, B. I. Hobbs, a lawyer, was
seized, had his hair clipped and was ordered to leave town, the
charge against him being "too close fraternization" with negroes.
Hobbs then went to Alvin, Texas, a short distance away, and on
February 8, 1921, was run out of that town by eight masked men.
March 3, 1921.--At Houston, Texas, J. La Fayette Cockrell, a negro
dentist, was mutilated by masked men for alleged association with
white women. A race riot nearly resulted from this attack.
March 7, 1921.--A. V. Hopkins, a merchant of Houston, Texas, was
mutilated, tarred, and feathered for annoying high school girls.
April 1, 1921.--Alexander Johnson, a negro bell boy, of Dallas,
Texas, was taken out by masked men, whipped, and the letters "K. K.
K." burned on his forehead with acid. He was said to have associated
with white women.
April 10, 1921.--Gus Beck, stock man, of Webster, Texas, was tied to
a telegraph pole by masked men, beaten and left there all night.
April 10, 1921.--At Houston, Texas, J. S. Allen, prominent attorney,
was seized in a crowded downtown street by masked men, and conveyed
to the country in an automobile. He was there tarred and feathered.
He was then returned to the city, and was dumped from a car into the
middle of a street in the most prominent business section, in a nude
condition except for the coating of tar and feathers. In the reports
of the case there is no record of police interference.
April 15, 1921.--Bill Harris, negro bell boy, at Dallas, Texas, was
beaten by masked men for alleged insult of white women.
April 26, 1921.--At Houston, Texas, J. W. McGee, an automobile
salesman, was whipped by masked men for annoying high school girls.
May 1, 1921.--"Red" Kemp, a jitney driver, was whipped, tarred and
feathered by twelve masked men at Goose Creek, Texas.
May 4, 1921.--Sam King, Marshal at Brenham, Texas, was tarred and
feathered. He then resigned his office.
May 7, 1921.--At Beaumont, Texas, Dr. J. S. Paul was seized by
fifteen masked men, whipped, tarred, and feathered and given
forty-eight hours in which to leave the city. At the same time R. F.
Scott, a Marine Corps veteran of Deweyville was given the same
treatment. These two acts were publicly admitted by the Beaumont
Klan, and their charter was revoked by "Emperor" Simmons.
May 20, 1921.--One thousand men marched through the streets of
Dallas, Texas, at night, mounted and unmounted, all of them attired
in the Ku Klux regalia. They carried a fiery cross, and several
banners bearing these words: "The Invisible Empire," "White
Supremacy," "Pure Womanhood," "Dallas Must Be Clean," "Our Little
Girls Must Be Protected," "All Native Born," "The Guilty Must Pay."
They rode and marched through the streets silently and without
interference from the authorities. Announcements of the purposes and
objects of the Klan had previously been accepted and printed by the
Dallas papers.
May 21, 1921.--At Sour Lake, Texas, Joe J. Devere, a justice of the
peace, was tarred and feathered.
May 23, 1921.--Ku Klux Klan paid $10 fine in police court at Dallas,
Texas, for tacking signs on telegraph poles.
May 23, 1921.--At Dallas, Texas, John Moore, white, was seized in his
home by masked men, taken to the out-skirts of the city, stripped of
his clothing and lashed with a horsewhip. He was accused of attacking
a twelve-year-old girl. He fled town.
May 23, 1921.--At Houston, Texas, Ira McKeown, taxi driver, was
beaten.
May 24, 1921.--At Dallas, Texas, John Parks was flogged by masked
men.
May 25, 1921.--Jack Morgan, of Shreveport, was tarred and feathered
by masked men.
June 8, 1921.--Dr. R. H. Lenert, at Brenham, Texas, was whipped,
tarred, and feathered by eight masked men. He was charged with
"disloyalty during the war" and with "speaking German."
June 8, 1921.--At Waco, Texas, K. Cummings was taken from his home by
masked men, but escaped from his abductors.
June 8, 1921.--At Sea Breeze, Fla., Thomas L. Reynolds, a New Yorker,
was assaulted while in his hotel by masked men, and beaten and shot.
June 13, 1921.--At Dallas, Texas, Edward Engers, filling station
proprietor, was flogged by masked men and ordered out of town.
June 14, 1921.--At Houston, Texas, J. W. Boyd, a lawyer, was taken
from his office by masked men and whipped. He was charged with
annoying young girls.
June 17, 1921.--At Belton, Texas, James Collins, a negro, was given
sixty lashes by masked men, and a placard, "Whipped by Ku Klux Klan,"
placed on his back, following his release from jail after a Grand
Jury had failed to indict him on the charge of making insulting
approaches to white women.
June 18, 1921.--At Goose Creek, Texas, E. L. Bloodworth and Olan
Jones, oil field workers, were whipped, tarred and feathered by
masked men, who charged their victims with being "undesirable
citizens."
June 20, 1921.--At Goose Creek, Texas, W. Stewart, a jitney driver,
was whipped, tarred, and feathered by twelve men after three
passengers had lured him to a lonely spot. He was then ordered to
leave town.
June 25, 1921.--At West Columbia, Texas, an unknown man was tarred
and feathered and ordered to leave town.
June 21, 1921.--At Wharton, Texas, Henry Schultz was whipped, tarred
and feathered after being kidnapped by masked men.
June 26, 1921.--At Yoakum, Texas, a white man, name withheld, citizen
of the place for twenty years, was found on a lonely road, tarred,
feathered and blindfolded.
June 27, 1921.--At Austin, Texas, Ku Klux Klan placards were posted
warning against violation of moral codes.
July 1, 1921.--At Fort Worth, Texas, a white man whose name was not
printed was taken from his home at 9 P.M. and given twenty lashes for
alleged mistreatment of his wife.
July 4, 1921.--At Austin, Texas, Governor Neff, chief executive of
the State in an address before the Rotary Club said that a crime wave
had struck the State and that "the entire administration of the
criminal code had broken down." On the same day warnings of the Ku
Klux Klan were posted on the State Capitol grounds.
July 5, 1921,--At Fort Worth, Texas, Benny Pinto was tarred and
feathered and ordered out of town. A woman found with him in his
automobile was taken home by his abductors.
July 8, 1921.--At Glidden, Texas, Harry Adams, a gardener, was beaten
and choked by masked armed men. Then found to be the wrong man, he
was released.
July 12, 1921.--At Enid, Okla., Walter Billings, a motion-picture
operator, was given a coating of cotton and crude oil, after being
whipped by masked men.
July 14, 1921.--One hundred masked men gathered at the jail at
Greeneville, Texas, and unsuccessfully attempted to lynch Matt
Olizen, negro, charged with killing Orbie Standlee.
July 14, 1921.--A delegation from Duncanville, Texas, warned the
Dallas authorities that if Archie Holsome, charged with attacking a
white woman was released, he would be lynched.
July 16, 1921.--At Tenaha, Texas, Mrs. Beulah Johnson, a white woman,
was seized from the porch of a hotel, taken to the woods, stripped of
her clothing, tarred and feathered preceding which her hair was
clipped. Masked men wearing white uniforms attacked her, the woman
said. They drove up to the hotel in three automobiles. Mrs. Johnson
had been arrested on a charge of bigamy at Center, Texas, and was out
on bond when she was seized.
July 17, 1921.--At Nacogdoches, Texas, J. M. McKnight was beaten by
masked men.
July 17, 1921.--At Miami, Fla. At the close of his evening services,
eight masked men waylaid the Rev. Philip S. Irwin, archdeacon of the
English Episcopal Church, and head of the work of that church among
South Florida negroes, carried him into the woods, whipped him, and
then applied a coat of tar and feathers to his body. He was placed in
a sack and taken in an automobile to a spot in the center of the town
and dumped into the street. The following Tuesday, in response to a
telegram from Rev. R. T. Phillips, rector of Trinity Church, Right
Reverend Cameron Mann, Bishop of Southern Florida reached Miami and
conferred with several officials, also appearing before the Grand
Jury in order to make a statement as to Archdeacon Irwin's work. In
his report to the Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church
of the United States, Bishop Mann said:
"About the middle of the afternoon, while I was consulting with the
mayor and the circuit judge, the commander of the local post of the
American Legion came in and stated that he had reliable information
that if Archdeacon Irwin remained in the city he would be lynched,
and that in all probability church property would be burned and
numerous lives lost. He therefore asked that Archdeacon Irwin should
agree to leave the city that afternoon."
The charge made by the mob against the clergyman was that he had
preached "race equality" and "intermarriage." Bishop Mann declares
unequivocally that Archdeacon Irwin does not hold to social or
political equality for negroes in the United States, has never taught
it, and in his missionary work has incurred disfavor with some
negroes by his opposition to societies and movements which upheld the
doctrine.
It was reported in the papers that the judge who brought the case to
the attention of the Grand Jury told that body that, while the right
of free speech is guaranteed, strangers should not defy the
sentiments and traditions of the public.
July 16, 1921.--At Bay City, Tex., W. M. Hoopengarner, a banker, was
tarred and feathered and beaten. The reason alleged was domestic
infidelity.
July 18, 1921.--G. C. Benson beaten at Dickinson, Tex.
July 18, 1921.--E. H. Peters, of Athens, Tex., was dragged from his
room, beaten, dumped out of an automobile and seriously hurt.
July 19, 1921.--At Tenaha, Tex., J. W. McKnight was seized a second
time by masked men.
July 19, 1921.--Declaring that he had information that fifty per cent
of the members of the Oklahoma City police department belonged to the
Ku Klux Klan, Mayor John C. Welton directed Chief Glitsch to
investigate and to discharge every police officer who did not resign
immediately from the Klan. On July 24, Mayor Welton was called on the
telephone, and was told: "We warn you to lay off the Ku Klux Klan, or
we will have to wait on you." The mayor paid no attention to the
warning.
July 22, 1921.--At Hillsboro, Tex., a note from the Ku Klux Klan was
received and published in the local paper as a "warning to some
married men who should spend more time with their own wives."
July 26, 1921.--At Topeka, Kan., a warning was sent to Senator
Capper's newspaper to "leave the Ku Klux Klan alone."
July 29, 1921.--Ben Wiley, of Lufkin, Tex., was put into a sack and
tarred and feathered.
In the State of Missouri, a farmer aged sixty-eight years, was taken
from his bed at night, removed out of doors and severely beaten by
masked men; and a woman in Birmingham, Ala., was also maltreated by a
mob composed of the same sort of individuals.
In most cases local sentiment appears to have been strongly with the
perpetrators of the outrages, this being especially true at Waco, Tex. A
man was assaulted by masked men at that place, but the victim succeeded in
escaping from his attackers, recognizing three of the men who had seized
him. He had them arrested, and they were bound over to await the session
of the Grand Jury. Five preachers and the President of a Texas University
signed the bonds of the men accused of mob violence.
In some parts of Texas, however, the depredations of masked individuals
brought into being a counter movement, and the _Dallas News_ notes the
receipt of the following anonymous communication:
"To the citizens of North Texas and the Ku Klux Klan:
"The Anti-Ku Klux Klan of North Texas announces its being in the form
of a mob.
"We intend and will do no violence unless the Ku Klux Klan shows
violence. We are in being and in force. If necessary we will travel
in force to do business in the form of open warfare.
"The law will have its chance to show that we have laws against mobs,
white-capping, and acts of violence. But we warn that being in Rome
we do as the Romans do.
"We are unknown and unknowable. We will remain that way. We hope that
we will not have to resort to populating lamp posts and using cold
steel, but if so, Oakland and Greenwood will boast of much activity
and the price of black crepe will rise. 'Anti-Ku Klux Klan of North
Texas.'"
A similar organization was announced from southeast Texas. In an
Associated Press dispatch from Beaumont, under date of July 27, 1921, it
was reported:
"Organization is said to have been effected of a band of men to
combat the alleged activities of the Ku Klux Klan, in South East
Texas, with the announced intention of conducting open warfare
against the members of the Klan if necessary 'because officers have
not the nerve or desire to place under arrest its members who have
violated the law.'
"First announcement of the new organization was set forth yesterday
in a communication addressed to the Ku Klux Klan and sent to a local
newspaper for publication. 'Squads of special service men,' the
notice stated, 'have been appointed to locate members of the Klan.'
It added that summary punishment would be inflicted upon any who are
found. The communication said in part:
"'We have formed a club, or mob, you may call it, of more than one
hundred fearless men and we are going to stop you people with hot
lead and hot steel at the first opportunity, and that will not be far
off. We have sworn vengeance on such people and will shoot down like
a mad dog men whom we learn to be members of the Klan.'"
Some of the newspapers of Texas have fearlessly taken a stand against the
widespread epidemic of masked violence, even going so far as to charge
them directly to the Ku Klux Klan. Notable among these has been the
_Houston Chronicle_. In an editorial printed in August, 1921, under the
heading "Law, or Secret Cult," it said:
"Once more the nation comes to a parting of the ways.
"The issue is clearly defined. No one but the unimaginative can
misunderstand it.
"Constituted authority must prevail, or we are in for a reign of
masked and irresponsible terror.
"The fine phrases with which apologies for the Ku Klux Klan defend it
fall flat before what happened to that woman in Tanaha and that other
woman in Birmingham.
"'Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear,' they declare, but what
does that amount to when any citizen can be accused, seized and
violently used without a hearing?
"Why do we bother about trial by jury, if the evidence of an angry
and impulsive mob is sufficient to convict?
"Why have we built up a complicated system of justice, except to
protect indicted citizens?
"'Those eyes that see everything' and 'those ears that hear
everything' have evidently missed the Magna Charta, the Bill of
Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the
United States.
"Once more they would thrust us back on the evidence of passion, and
conviction by emotion.
"Once more they would rob the defendant of his right to be heard, to
summons witnesses, to appeal to an impartial tribunal.
"Once more they would have punishment decided upon and inflicted by a
council that cannot be held accountable.
"Once more they would expose everybody; whether criminal or not, to
disguised tyranny.
"And they call it Americanism--this semi-barbaric horseplay that
gives its victim no chance, that comes upon him unawares, that shuts
his mouth and overpowers him by force.
"Innocent, or guilty, he has no privilege but to accept the
inevitable, and that is what they call loyalty to their country and
their country's institutions.
"Two women have been stripped and flogged, and this they say was done
in the name of chivalry.
"Their names are written on a secret roster and their faces are
covered, and this they assert is in keeping with those traditions of
frankness, candor and open dealing which have been essentially
characteristic of the United States.
"'Those eyes that see everything' and 'those ears that hear
everything' are evidently blind and deaf to the great struggle and
dearly bought experiences by which Anglo-Saxon civilization has
struggled from a state of tribal law to organized justice.
"A law that cannot be written is not fit to enforce. A charge that
cannot be proved in an open manner is not fit to be made the basis of
punishment.
"Persons who will not make accusations in the daylight are not fit to
be believed.
"A theory of justice that does not afford the accused any time or
right of defense is not fit to be defended.
"We are face to face with a mad conception of government, with an
impossible basis of law enforcement.
"There can be no compromise with it, no half-hearted attitude. Either
this idea of a secret cult purveying the morals of the people must
go, or the sovereignty of the State will cease to exist.
"When a legislator defends the 'Invisible Empire' his allegiance is
manfully divided. He is serving two masters--one of them created by
the people, the other by a class within the people.
"True loyalty permits of no such divided allegiance, true patriotism
recognizes but one master. Unless the overthrow of this government is
intended, there is no place or excuse for the 'Invisible Empire.'"