Opinion

Part 3: Fort Scott and the Ku Klux Klan

Thursday, April 26, 2007

State officials investigate Klan activities

Editor's note: This article is the third in a four-part series by local historian and retired educator Fred Campbell Jr.

On Feb. 24, 1923, it was announced that Commissioner Sardius M. Brewster, appointed by the Kansas Supreme Court to hold hearings in various Kansas communities to determine the extent of Ku Klux Klan activity, planned to hold a hearing in Fort Scott. On March 26, 1926, 12 subpoenas were served to local men to testify at the hearing regarding Klan activities in the Fort Scott area. On May 2, 1923, the hearing authorized by the state supreme court to expose Klan activity in Fort Scott and Bourbon County got under way in the courthouse with Brewster presiding with assistance from Assistant Attorney General Captain John Rhodes.

After questioning the chief recruiter for the local Klan, these facts were made known. The local Klan had no charter, but was known as Provisional Klan No. 245. It had a membership of approximately 800 and could not receive a charter until it had 1,500 members. Its dues were $10 per year with $4 remaining with the local Klan, $1 going to the state organization, and $5 going to the national headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. The local Klan bought equipment, reading material, and pamphlets for distribution from the Atlanta headquarters. All membership records were kept in the Kansas City office. The local Klan office was on the second floor of the building on the southeast corner of National Avenue and Oak Street. The local Klan members could not wear official Klan regalia until their unit was chartered, but they could make the hoods (pillow cases) and robes (bed sheets) for themselves. They had not committed violence against anyone or threatened to do so. They did support the local law enforcement officers in their duties, whether they liked it or not, and did live up to their motto: "We demand justice."

While Commissioner Brewster and Assistant Attorney General Capt. Thomas Rhodes moved their hearings to other communi-ties, the local Klan kept up its activities in Fort Scott and Bourbon County. On April 3, 1923, the city of Fort Scott was flooded with handbills by the Klan prior to the city election recommending a slate of candidates for the offices of the city and school board. They were asking for the workingman's vote, especially appealing to the men who were out on strike against the railroads. It was an attempt by the Klan to take over the government of the city. On May 5, 1923, the local Klan organizer requested the school board allow the use of the high school auditorium for a lecture in the "Mysteries of the Ku Klux Klan" by a national lecturer representing the national Klan. The school board refused to give their permission for the use of the auditorium.

On May 7, 1923, thousands of people gathered in the field east of Harkey Park just outside of the city limits to attend a religious service held by the Klan. The local organizer of the Klan explained the rules and regulations of the organization and the purposes for which it was formed. This was followed by a sermon delivered by a minister from Nevada entitled: "The Womanhood of Tomorrow." The service was similar to any local Sunday night church service. The 30-foot-high electric cross shone above the crowd powered by a dynamo on a Ford Truck.

The next night another Klan meeting was held in the same field with only native born Protestant white men invited to attend. It was no church service. The giant electric lighted cross beamed over the crowd and could easily be seen from Main Street. No Negroes, Jews, Catholics, or foreign-born men or any women could attend. A man identified as a Catholic in the crowd was escorted out of the meeting. A national organizer delivered a fiery address to recruit new Klansmen. Hundreds of Fort Scott and Bourbon County men attended. On May 28, 1923, the Klan pledged $100 toward paying off the $800 mortgage of the United Brethren Church. The pledge was made in person by the local Klan organizer to the pastor, the Rev. I. B. Prather.

On June 13, 1923, car loads of robed and hooded Klansmen began patrolling the streets and roads on the outskirts of town after dark and when finding anyone parked along one of the thorough fares after 10 p.m. was ordered to go home. The Klansmen then followed them home to sure they followed orders. Ten cars of robed and hooded Klansmen made a call on a farmer living four miles northeast of town the night of June 22, 1923, to warn the man to quit abusing his wife. The next day the farmer came to town and left the county. Handbills were passed out throughout the city announcing a Klan meeting to be held on the evening of July 18, 1923, on a farm four miles south of town. The handbill stated that all white Protestant men are welcome. On July 19, 1923, the Klan apprehended a young Fort Scott man they caught driving a car he had stolen in Wichita. After he confessed following a grilling at the Klan's office , he was turned over to the sheriff.

Eighteen cars of Fort Scott Klansmen joined 51 cars of Pittsburg Klansmen on the morning of July 26,1923, to travel to Topeka for a giant membership festival of the Kansas Klan. The Fort Scott Klan baseball team was scheduled to play the Topeka Kluxers in the afternoon. The Fort Scott Klan team borrowed their baseball uniforms from a local church.

On Aug. 2, 1923, a big Klan meeting was held that evening in the pasture east of Harkey Park with 35 or 40 man being initiated into the local Klan. Two electrically lighted crosses were present with one being a smaller cross with red light bulbs. There were about 20 Klansmen dressed in purchased regalia of the Klan for the first time instead of being in their bed sheet robes and pillow case hoods.