THERE was being held another meeting the same night. Two miles from
Central City, to the North, was a natural auditorium, an
amphitheatre formed by three hills. In this place a meeting alfresco
was in progress. Though the place was far enough from the road to be
reasonably free from prying intruders, sentinels paced the narrow
roads that led to the place of assemblage. Skeleton-like pine-trees
formed an additional barrier to the lonely spot, making as they did
a natural fringe atop the three hills.
There was no moon. Light was furnished by pine torches fastened in
some instances to trees, in others borne aloft by members of the
gathering. About three hundred men were ranged in a circle around a
rudely carved cross stuck in the ground. Each man was garbed in a
long white robe reaching to his feet. On the left breast of each
hood was a cross with other strange figures. Over the head of each
man was a cowl with holes for eyelets. It was a meeting of Central
City Klan, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Realm of Georgia. The
Exalted Cyclops, whose voice bore a remarkable likeness to that of
Sheriff Parker, was initiating new members into the mysteries of the
order. He held in his hand a sheet from which he was reading the
oath which the "aliens" repeated after him with their right hands
upraised. Whether through fright or excitement or because the night
air was chilly, the voices of the embryo "knights" had a strange
quaver in them. Around them, rank on rank, stood the Klansmen, who
followed the ceremony closely.
"… will willingly conform—to all regulations, usages, and
requirements—of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan—which do now
exist—or which may hereafter—be enacted—and will render—at all
times—loyal respect, and steadfast support—to the Imperial Authority
of same. …"
The droning voices ended the monotonous recital. The flickering
torches gave forth a weird light that was lost in the darkness cast
by the trees. The pungent odour of burning resin and the thick
stifling smoke were blown by vagrant breezes into the faces of the
hooded figures, causing a constant accompaniment of coughs, sneezes,
and curses to the mumbled words. A recent rain-storm had left the
low-lying ground soggy and damp and mightily uncomfortable
underfoot. The crowd shifted uneasily as their feet grew cold with
the dampness. Moths, mosquitoes, and other flying insects, attracted
by the flaring lights, swarmed, getting beneath the cowls and robes
and adding to the discomfort of the wearers. Even the imperfect
illumination showed the cheap material of which the disguises were
made, exhibited the wrinkles and dirt around the hems, revealed
every aspect of the ill-fitting garments. Once from a spluttering
torch there fell a bit of blazing resin on the hand of the man
holding the light. With a yell he dropped the torch, danced and
howled with pain, a ludicrous figure, until the agony had subsided.
The torch, flung hastily away, set fire to the underbrush into which
it had been cast. An unlooked-for intermission in the ceremonies
followed as a score of the figures, holding the skirts of their
robes aloft like old maids frightened at the appearance of a mouse,
stamped out the fire, circling and yelling like a band of whirling
deryishes.
Stodgy, phlegmatic, stupid citizens by day, these by night went
through the discomforts of so unprepared a meeting-place, and
through the absurdities of the rites imposed upon them by clever
rogues who extracted from them fees and donations for the privilege
of being made to appear more silly than is usually apparent. Add to
that gullibility a natural love of the mysterious and adventurous
and an instinct towards brute action restrained only by fear of
punishment, by a conjuring of bogies and other malevolent dangers,
and one understands, at least in part, the presence of these three
hundred "white, Gentile, Protestant" citizens of Central City at
this meeting.
The initiation ended, the Exalted Cyclops ordered the Kligrapp or
secretary to read several communications from the Imperial Klan
Palace at Atlanta. This he did, struggling manfully through the
weird and absurd verbiage that would have made any of the men
present howl with laughter had he heard his children using it in
their play. Instead it was listened to attentively, seriously, and
solemnly.
Then followed a recital of the work to be done by the local Klan.
The Kligrapp consulted a sheet of paper in his hand.
"The eye that never sleeps has been seeking out those in our city
who have acted in a manner displeasing to the Invisible Empire.
There is in Central City a nigger wench named Nancy Ware who has
been saying evil things against our brother, George Parker. In the
name of our sacred order, and in the furtherance of our supreme duty
of preservation of white supremacy, she is being watched and will be
treated so as to end her dangerous utterances."
At this statement a robed figure that, even under the disguise,
seemed to resemble him who had been "defamed" by Nancy Ware's tongue
nodded approvingly. The Kligrapp continued after a pause:
"Word has also come to us from Brothers Ed Stewart and Taylor that
there's a young nigger named Tom Tracy out this way who's going
around among the niggers saying that they have got to stop white
people from robbing them on their crops. Tracy hasn't done anything
but talk thus far, but we will keep our eye on him and stop him if
he talks too much." Cowled heads nodded approvingly.
"And then there's a nigger doctor who came in my office I mean, he
went into the office of Health Commissioner Lane—and had the gall to
repo't the death of a nigger bootlegger and say that a white man had
killed him for fooling around with the nigger's wife. This nigger's
daddy was one of the best niggers that ever lived here in this town,
and this boy's keeping away from the other trouble-making niggers,
but we've got to watch all these niggers that's been spoiled by
goin' to school." He added, as an afterthought: "… up Nawth."
And so he droned on. Negroes, two Jews, three men suspected of
Catholic leanings—all were condemned by the self-appointed arbiters
of morals and manners. One or two men were singled out as violating
the code of morals by consorting with Negro women. There was not
much to report on this score, as those who were violating this rule
in Central City had rushed, on formation of a Klan there, to join
the order, that they might gain immunity from attack and yet
continue their extra-legal activities without check or interference.
With the conclusion of the Kligrapp's report, the meeting dispersed,
the members silently entered the woods and there disrobing, and
scattering to their various homes. Some went towards "Factoryville,"
some towards the country districts, others climbed into automobiles
parked near the road and drove towards the residential section of
Central City where lived the more affluent merchants and other
upper-class whites of the town.
The place was soon deserted. The ceremony had been a strange mixture
of the impressive and the absurd. There was underneath the
ridiculously worded language, the amusing childlike observance of
the empty ceremonies, the queer appearance of the robes all designed
alike with little regard for fatness or thinness of the prospective
wearers, a seriousness which betokened a belief in the urgent need
of their organizing in such a manner. They had been duped so long by
demagogues, deluded generation after generation into believing their
sole hope of existence depended on oppression and suppression of the
Negro, that the chains of the ignorance and suppression they sought
to fasten on their Negro neighbours had subtly bound them in
unbreakable fashion. They opposed every move for better educational
facilities for their children, for improvement of their health or
economic status or welfare in general, if such improvement meant
better advantages for Negroes.
Creatures of the fear they sought to inspire in others, their lives
are lived in constant dread of the things of evil and terror they
preached. It is a system based on stark, abject fear—fear that he
whom they termed inferior might, with opportunity, prove himself not
inferior. This unenlightened viewpoint rules men throughout the
South like those who formed the Central City Klan—dominates their
every action or thought—keeps the whites back while the Negro—in
spite of what he suffers—always keeps his face towards the sun of
achievement. …
In spite of the secrecy surrounding the meeting, next morning all
Central City talked of what had taken place on the previous evening.
In such a town, where little diversion exists, the inhabitants seize
with avidity upon every morsel of news that promises entertainment.
Though they had taken fearful oaths of secrecy, it was asking too
much of human frailty to expect three hundred men to refrain even
from mysterious hints of their doings. With the love that simple
minds have of the clandestine, the midnight secrecy, the elaborately
arranged peregrinations to the place of meeting, the safeguards
adopted by the leaders not so much to prevent interference as to
impress their followers, the "inviolable oath," the grips and
passwords—all these added to the human desire to be considered
important in the eyes of family and friends and neighbours. Thus
many of the three hundred dropped hints to their wives of what had
been said and done. Over back fences, at the stores on Lee Street,
in the numerous places where women contrived to meet and gossip, the
one topic discussed was the meeting of the night before. One told
her bit of information to another, who in turn contributed her mite.
Each in turn told a third and a fourth. With each telling, the ball
of gossip grew, and each repetition bore artistic additions of fact
or fancy designed to add to the drama of the story. By noon the
compounded result assumed the proportions of a feat bordering on the
heroic.
At the noonday meal, known as dinner, the men found themselves
viewed in a new and admiring light by their spouses and offspring.
They basked in the temporary glamour and sought to add to the fame
of their midnight prowling by elaborate hints of deeds of dark and
magnificent proportions.
In turn, to the Negro section of Central City were borne the tales
by cooks and laundresses and maids, servants, with acutely developed
ears, in the houses of the whites. Everywhere in the Negro section,
in homes, on street corners, over back fences, the news was
discussed by the dusky inhabitants of the town. In the eyes of a
few, fear could be discerned. Most of the Negroes, however,
discussed the news as they would have talked about the coming of the
circus to town. Some talked loudly and in braggart fashion of what
they would do if the "Kluxers" bothered them. Others examined for
the hundredth time well-oiled revolvers. Most generally the feeling
was a hope the Klan would not bother any coloured person—but if it
did—! …
It was natural that the news should eventually reach Nancy Ware and
Tom Tracy and, last of all, Kenneth. Mrs. Amos, bustling with
importance, hastened as fast as her rheumatism would allow to tell
Mrs. Harper what the Klansmen had said or, to be more accurate, what
Dame Rumour said the Klansmen had said, about Kenneth and Bob. It
was obvious the two men had taken on a new importance in her eyes in
being singled out for the attention of the clandestine organization.
That night in Kenneth's office the brothers talked over the news.
Kenneth scoffed at what seemed to him a fantastic and improbable
tale. He looked searchingly at his brother.
"Well Bob, what do you make of it?"
"Trouble for somebody," said Bob positively. "And I have a sort of
feeling that that somebody is us," he added after a pause.
"I'm not so sure," was Kenneth's doubtful rejoinder. "Some of these
Crackers are just mean enough to start something, but I'm pretty
sure there are enough decent white people in Central City to check
any trouble that might start."
Bob said nothing, though his face showed plainly he did not share
his brother's confidence. Kenneth went on:
"Besides, they must have sense enough to know that a sheet and
pillow-case won't scare coloured folks to-day as they did fifty
years ago. It wasn't hard to scare Negroes then—they'd just come out
of slavery, and believed in ghosts and spooks and all those other
silly things. But to-day⸺"
"I think white people are right sometimes," broke in Bob with
conviction, "when they say education ruins a Negro. One of those
times is when you talk like that."
The irony in his voice was but thinly veiled. He continued:
"The Southern white man boasts he knows the Negro better than
anybody else, but he knows less what the coloured man is really
thinking than the man in the moon. I'll bet anything you say, that
seven out of every ten men in town believe that you and I and all
the rest of us coloured folks are scared to death every time we hear
the word ‘Ku Klux.' They believe the sight of one of those fool
robes'll make us run and hide under a bed⸺"
"Oh, I don't go quite that far," interrupted Kenneth. "I only said I
thought some of the good white people"
"You can name all your ‘good white folks' on one hand," replied Bob
irritably. "A lot they could do if these poor white trash decide to
raise hell. Why, they'd lynch Judge Stevenson or Roy Ewing or
anybody else if they tried to stop 'em. Look what they did to
Governor Slaton at Atlanta just because he commuted the sentence of
that Jew, Leo Frank!" he added triumphantly. "A mob even went out to
his house to lynch _him—the governor!"_
"But that was an extraordinary case," replied Kenneth.
"Call it what you will, it just shows you how far they will go when
they are all stirred up. And with this Ku Klux outfit to stir them
up, there's no telling what'll happen."
"Bob, do you really believe what you said just now about most of
them really believing Negroes will be scared by the Klan? That seems
so far-fetched."
"Believe it? Of course I do. Just use your eyes and see how Negroes
fool white folks all the time. Take, for instance, old Will
Hutchinson who works for Mr. Baird. Will cuts all sorts of
monkey-shines around Baird, laughs like an idiot, and wheedles old
Baird out of anything he's got. Baird gives it to him and then tells
his friends about ‘his good nigger Will' and boasts that Will is one
‘darky' he really knows. Then Will goes home and laughs at the fool
he's made of Baird by acting like a fool." Bob laughed at the memory
of many occasions on which Will had bamboozled his employer. "And
there are Negroes all over the South doing the same thing every
day!" he ended.
"That's true," admitted Kenneth, "but what ought we to do about this
meeting last night?"
"Do?" echoed Bob. A determined look came to his face, his teeth
clenched, his eyes narrowed until they became thin slits. "Do?" he
repeated. "If they ever bother me, I'm going to fight—and fight like
hell!"
Long into the night Kenneth sat alone in his office, wondering how
it was all going to turn out.