Read Ebook: The Modern Ku Klux Klan by Fry Henry P Henry Peck

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 704 lines and 78637 words, and 15 pages

PREFACE iii

THE MODERN KU KLUX KLAN

INTRODUCTION

If the psychologist, looking over the diversified and conflicting interests and classes of the American people, attempted to find a common state of mind, he would probably discover one thing that applies to all American men, without regard to "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." He would learn that there is a common American trait possessed by the white man and the negro, the Jew and the Gentile, the Catholic and the Protestant, the native and the foreign-born--in fact by every conceivable group of the males of the United States.

They are all "joiners"!

One has to search far and wide for an American who does not "belong" to some sort of organization, and who would not, under proper circumstances, join another.

I am a joiner-by-birth.

I had scarcely reached the age of twenty-one and started life in Chattanooga as a newspaper reporter, when I took up seriously the habit of joining fraternal orders. In five years I had taken degrees in practically every one to which I was eligible. I became a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, an Odd Fellow, a Red Man, a member of the Junior Order United American Mechanics, of the Royal Arcanum, of the Woodmen, an Elk, an Eagle, an Owl, and an associate member of the Theatrical Mechanics Association.

The last "order" I joined was the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

I went into this one partly because I was a joiner and was curious to see what it was all about, but principally because I thought it was a fraternal order which was actually a revival of the original Ku Klux Klan which played so important a part in the history of the South during the days of the Reconstruction. That old organization has always had a certain glamour for me as it has for every Southerner, and I could see no reason why a fraternal order commemorating the deeds of the original Klansmen should not fill a need in the country today. I knew absolutely nothing about the structure of the new Ku Klux Klan, took it on faith, and assumed that in its government and administration, it would function like any other of the standard fraternal orders. I thought, from the meager information with which I was furnished, that I was thoroughly in accord with its principles, and that it would be more or less a pleasure to belong to it.

In the case of the Ku Klux Klan I took an immediate interest in the work of the organizer, brought him into touch with prominent friends of mine whom I induced to join, and did all I could to make his work a success. Shortly afterward I was made one of the organizers, and in this capacity devoted nearly all my time for three months to the work, conferring degrees, talking to people who were in favor of the Klan and to some who were opposed, and carefully studying the entire system of organization.

The fraternal order man who can really visualize an organization is the man who absorbs its work by observation and study, and there is no better method of doing this than performing the duties of an organizer. In my work as an organizer for the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, I was first impressed with the fact, that, on account of its radical nature, it was dangerous. The first thing to which a candidate is enjoined is absolute secrecy. This is carried to the utmost extremity. A newly made "citizen" must not tell his wife or his family that he belongs to the organization, and must give no hint of it to his most intimate friends and business associates. I at once saw that any movement built along such a line was dangerous, regardless of its intentions, because secrecy of this sort places upon the organization the vital necessity of receiving as members only men of the highest character whose positions and reputations in the community would be an absolute safeguard against mischief. A secret organization composed of men of a low standard of civic responsibility would be the worst thing that could get into any community.

My experience as a fraternal order man has been that the personnel of the order varies with different localities. Therefore, while it might be perfectly proper to build a strictly secret organization in Kingsport, Tennessee, there might be, in another town an entirely different class of membership which would cause the movement to jeopardize the peace and dignity of the community. The potential danger of the Ku Klux organization in this respect was the first thing that dawned upon my consciousness, and it made me careful of the class of people whom I permitted to become members.

My duties took me into several towns, and night after night I administered the obligation and put on the degree work until I became thoroughly familiar with the mechanical end of it. Gradually, however, a feeling developed within me that there was something wrong with the organization--that it was not the sort of "fraternal society" to which I had been accustomed for nearly twenty years. I thought at first that this was due to the fact that I had done so much lodge work in my lifetime that I was growing stale. But certain portions of the obligation, which at first had seemed merely perfunctory, stood out in my mind and challenged serious thought and consideration.

I studied everything I could find to help me in my work; I received printed matter from the organization: I talked with Klansmen from other cities; and I delved deeply into the origin and history of the original Ku Klux Klan. But business men of standing and prominence in the places where I worked asked me pointed questions about the organization, questions that I could not answer and on which I could get no satisfactory answers from above. Slowly my vague fears that there was something vitally wrong crystallized into stronger belief. I spoke to a few close friends in the organization, and asked them to give me their frank opinions about it. Without any prompting from me they voiced the same thoughts and gave expressions to the same doubts I had myself.

The portentous nature of my conclusions, however, weighed heavily upon me, and after the most serious consideration, I finally decided to repudiate the entire organization, and as an American citizen to expose the whole system, calling public attention to what seems to me to be the greatest menace that has ever been launched in this country.

My decision to take this step was a most difficult one to reach. In the first place, to give to the public the facts and inside workings of the "Invisible Empire" means to subject oneself to the penalty of death for disclosing a secret of the order. This is stated unequivocally in the secret Ku Klux ritual. It also means becoming the target for a torrent of abuse that is likely to tear one to shreds before it has spent its fury.

The most disagreeable feature of the whole procedure is the absolute necessity of going on record publicly as violating a solemn oath, a pledge of honor, and an obligation that would ordinarily be considered sacred. Is a man, having taken an oath, ever justified in breaking it? In my opinion, when one is convinced that the oath in question is illegal, and that a certain portion of it is of a nature to incite riot and lawlessness, a man is not only justified in breaking it, but is morally required to break it. It is a public duty he owes the state. The inherent strength of the "Invisible Empire" lies in the fact that its "citizens" having once taken its vicious obligation will not dare to violate it.

On the other hand, if I am right in the stand that I take, that the Ku Klux Klan is a secret, political, military machine, actually developing into an "Invisible Empire" and possessing potentialities that may undermine the very idea of representative government; if I am correct in my position that the whole scheme is an attempt to create class hatred and antagonism, which in the end will array race against race, class against class, and religion against religion; if my contention is just that the proposition is a money-making scheme; and, if the public adopts my viewpoint to the extent of demanding that the organization be legislated out of existence and made an outlaw in the world of open things, then I shall feel satisfied that the violation of this oath has been a public service.

There is no middle ground. I am either entirely right, or else I am entirely wrong.

JOINING THE KU KLUX KLAN

My first intimate contact with the "Invisible Empire" took place in upper East Tennessee, a section of the United States where one would least expect such a movement to take a definite foothold. There is practically no racial friction whatever in this section. The negro population is not large, and the negroes themselves are orderly and well-behaved people, industrious and well liked by the white people. A remarkable thing about East Tennessee is the scarcity of Jews. It is very doubtful if a careful search of the entire fifteen counties would disclose enough Jewish people to fill a synagogue. There is likewise a paucity of foreign population, for, with the exception of a few Greeks, the foreign element seems strangely absent. It is also remarkable that in this section the Roman Catholic religion does not seem to have been able to take root. While there is a small Catholic Church in Johnson City, and one in Greeneville that is opened but once a year, the other places have few, if any, Catholics in them. It is doubtful if one could find in all America a group of people who appear to be more overwhelmingly Americans or more uniformly Protestant in their religious views than the inhabitants of this section.

In January, 1921, I was sent by a Chattanooga business house with which I had been connected for some time, on an extended trip through East Tennessee.

In February I arrived at Johnson City, intending to make that my headquarters and visit the other towns, which are easy of access. Early in March, 1921, I noticed a young man of pleasing personality, but I had never talked with him until the morning of March 16, when we were thrown together at the breakfast table.

"What are you selling?" I asked, taking it for granted that he was a traveling salesman.

My curiosity was immediately aroused, and after the organizer had carefully examined my Masonic and Knights of Pythias cards, we had a long talk together. He was an excellent salesman of his proposition, and in a few minutes he had me completely sold. In response to questions, I seemed to qualify, for the organizer, or Kleagle, as he is officially called, told me to hold myself in readiness and he would take me in that night. When evening came, I accompanied the Kleagle to the office of a prominent business man who had assembled his brother and his entire office force, and nine of us were taken into the "Invisible Empire," Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The ceremony of "naturalization" was held in an inner office, the Kleagle wearing his white robe, with cape lined with red satin, and his peaked helmet with mask in which were cut two eye holes. It was my first glimpse of the Ku Klux regalia.

Next day, the Kleagle met me at breakfast again, and stated that he was compelled to go back to Knoxville, which was his headquarters, and asked me if I would not take hold of the work for a week, acting as his representative during his absence. He stated that, on account of newspaper opposition, he had been unable to make any rapid progress, but believed that on account of my more extensive acquaintance I could render some valuable service to the cause. This I agreed to do for him, and during the day was instructed in many matters connected with the soliciting work. On one point, he was very emphatic. "In your work," he said, "it is advisable to get the mayor, the sheriff and his deputies if they are eligible, and the police department. Also we want the telephone and telegraph people, and the better class of railroaders." With this special injunction, the Kleagle boarded the train for Knoxville, and left me in charge of the field, first notifying the Klansmen that he had so designated me.

On April 6, 1921, the Kleagle was suddenly called to Atlanta for a conference with the Imperial Kleagle, or chief organizer, and notified me that I should have to take charge of the work temporarily during his absence. He returned, however, on the evening of April 8, 1921, in time to obligate a class of thirty-six men whom I had waiting for him. He brought with him a commission as Kleagle made out in my name, and placed me in charge of the field, with the statement that he had been made a King Kleagle in another field. That night we conferred until very late, going over the entire work, and I had several papers which had to be made out. One of these papers was one of the most remarkable documents I have ever seen. It is called the "Kleagle's Pledge of Loyalty," and reads as follows:

"I, the undersigned, in order to be a regular appointed Kleagle of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan , do freely and voluntarily promise, pledge and fully guarantee a lofty respect, whole-hearted loyalty and unwavering devotion at all times and under all circumstances and conditions from this day and date forward to William Joseph Simmons as Imperial Wizard and Emperor of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan . I shall work in all respects in perfect harmony with him and under his authority and directions, in all his plans for the extension and government of the Society, and under his directions, with any and all of my officially superior officers duly appointed by him.

"I shall at any and all times be faithful and true in all things, and most especially in preventing and suppressing any factions, cisms or conspiracies against him or his plans and purposes for the peace and harmony of the Society which may arise or attempt to rise. I shall discourage and strenuously oppose any degree of disloyalty or disrespect on the part of myself or any klansman, anywhere and at any time or place, towards him as the founder and as the supreme chief governing head of the Society above named.

"This pledge, promise and guarantee I make as a condition precedent to my appointment stated above, and the continuity of my appointment as a Kleagle, and it is fully agreed that any deviation by me from this pledge will instantly automatically cancel and completely void my appointment together with all its prerogatives, my membership in the Society, and I shall forfeit all remunerations which may be then due me.

"I make this solemn pledge on my Oath of Allegiance and on my integrity and honor as a man and as a klansman, with serious purpose to keep same inviolate."

MY WITHDRAWAL

It is doubtful if one could find anywhere in the country a finer, cleaner or better lot of men than those among whom I worked as an agent of Ku Kluxism. As individuals they were successful business and professional men, nearly all of them devout church members, married men with families, and just the sort of men to make up a prosperous community; yet, in spite of all this it seemed to me that the protection afforded by membership in an ultra secret movement like the "Invisible Empire" tended to inculcate lawlessness even among some of them. There is but little original law-breaking in this world. Most of it is due to precedent or suggestion. The power of suggestion is one of the most potent factors in every phase of human activity, and I believe that the mere fact of being a member of an organization that can go abroad in the land white-robed and masked is a suggestive force that encourages men to take the law into their own hands.

"Oh, that's all right," he replied, "when we are fully organized the Klan will control the politics of this town. We will apply for a permit, and if we don't get it, we will parade anyhow. Nobody will dare stop us."

The other instance was a conversation I had with a man with whom I was most friendly. He was a younger man than the one just mentioned, but is considered a person of responsibility and good judgment. It happened that the largest restaurant in Johnson City is owned and operated by Greeks, and this man seemed to be especially hostile to foreigners. In discussing them one day he said to me:

"I don't like to see these Greeks make such progress here. They are driving good Americans out of business. We've got twenty-eight robes in our lodge room, and I am in favor of getting a bunch some night, breaking open their restaurant and dumping all their fixtures and merchandise into the streets. That will serve as an object lesson that they are not wanted in Johnson City."

Now, from my knowledge of that man I do not believe that he would deliberately violate the law. In fact, if I were sheriff of his county and wanted a real man to head a posse, I would call on this man and swear him in as a deputy. I doubt very much if he would even lead a mob of masked men to tear up a Greek restaurant, but the mob spirit was there, and it was put there because he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

The old Ku Klux Klan performed its functions, not so much by overt acts, as by creating the impression of what it could do and by inspiring terror in the minds of the people it desired to reach. It operated largely on the principle of suggestion. It soon began to appear to me that the modern movement began to plant evil suggestions in the minds of some of its members, almost from the time they became connected with the organization.

While working among the different towns in my territory, we noticed in the papers occasionally a reference to some act of lawlessness or violence committed in other States by men disguised in white robes and masks. As the details, at the time, were very meager, and as the Atlanta headquarters denied that any of the members of the Ku Klux Klan were connected with them, the Klansmen in my field paid but little attention to these outrages. In fact, I, myself, did not believe that the organization could be guilty of committing such open and flagrant outrages, until I had a conversation with the King Kleagle some time around June 1, 1921. I had met him at Knoxville for the purpose of urging that the charters for three towns be immediately granted. He began talking about the work of the other Klans, and stated that in Houston, Texas, a young negro, charged with familiarity with white women, had been taken out into the country and mutilated. The King Kleagle said that this was done by the Houston Klan, which ran things its own way, as it had the mayor, the police force and practically all of the politicians.

During the months of May and the early part of June, 1921, while following a busy routine, I began studying the Ku Klux movement and going carefully into every detail that suggested itself. I had already become suspicious of the movement as a result of the apparent "one man power" of Simmons as exemplified in his scheme of employment of Kleagles; the questions that had been asked me had started a second line of investigation; and then a third cause of dissatisfaction arose from a feeling of disgust at the way in which the work was propagated. I jumped at no hasty conclusions in the matter, but a gradual feeling of revolt against the movement developed in my mind, which feeling I communicated to a few friends. I also asked several members of the organization, with whom I was intimately acquainted, what they thought of the organization, and I found that my own doubts and fears were shared by them. The leader of the Kingsport Klan was an out-and-out skeptic on the whole movement. Then again, from inquiries I had made as to the work in near-by towns outside my territory, I learned that Kleagles were selling memberships as they would sell insurance or stock.

Although I was supposed to canvass for members, I made it a rule, during my period of service as Kleagle, to do no soliciting whatever. My system was to establish a membership committee in each community in my territory and permit the committees to select their own material. This policy made the personnel in my territory very high, as each individual was elected to membership before he was invited to join the organization.

In addition to its field force, the propagation department of the Ku Klux Klan, I learned, uses motion pictures and paid lecturers to spread the germs of Ku Kluxism. There is a picture entitled, "The Face at Your Window" that is being used extensively as an aid to the canvassing Kleagles. The film company arranges with the local Kleagle to have this picture exhibited on a certain day, and each Klansman is requested to bring a friend with him to see it. At the close of the performance the Klansman hands his friend an application blank and through the psychological effect of the picture usually gets the other to join. The system of using lecturers seems to help considerably to swell the Ku Klux roster.

Still another method of winning members was by newspaper advertising. The Exalted Cyclops, the head, of the Knoxville Klan showed me the copy for a full page advertisement that his Klan intended inserting in the Knoxville papers to secure the five hundred membership necessary before their Klan could procure a charter. I saw that such wholesale solicitation of members could have but one result--inevitably the control of this secret organization would pass into hands least competent to exercise it.

As I became more familiar with the movement, as it was being propagated elsewhere, and from my own study and observation, I reached some definite conclusions. From the first, I had observed carefully the classes of men who were being enrolled, the motives for their enlisting, and the effect the organization had upon them. The result as a whole had been disturbing, but it was from my study of the organization itself that I finally turned in revulsion from it. It was not easy to get the real facts. I asked many questions, both in writing and orally, of the King Kleagle, some of which he could answer, but most of them he could not. The Constitution of the organization I could not get. The King Kleagle had no copy and had never seen a copy. It was not until a short time before my withdrawal that I was shown the constitution and the reading of the document confirmed all too well the suspicions I had already formed about the menace that lay in Ku Kluxism. That it was a political money-making scheme rather than a fraternal order, I began to comprehend from the sales-methods I saw around me. It also seemed to me that there were certain potential dangers inherent in it. When I had once asked the King Kleagle how a Klan should function when once it was organized, "Tell them," he had answered, "to clean up their towns." That "cleaning up a town" by illegal means could end only in mob rule was clear enough to any thinking man, and the fact that the newspapers had been reporting outrages in various Southern States--outrages committed by masked men--did not make me feel any more comfortable.

Oppressed therefore by its potential dangers, disgusted with a ritualistic work which really seemed to me a sacrilege, and revolted by the spirit of religious and racial hatred which it inculcated, I decided to resign my work as Kleagle, and accordingly mailed my resignation to the King Kleagle on June 15, 1921.

I was invited by McArthur to attend two meetings of the Klan in Chattanooga, where I found the movement strongly organized. At one of these meetings the leader of the local Klan, a physician, made one of the most incendiary speeches I have ever heard, a speech that was vociferously applauded by a large gathering of Klansmen. He made a violent attack on Jews, Negroes and Catholics, and stated that: "the Knights of Columbus have 2,000 rifles stored in the Catholic church; they will before long march down Market Street armed with their rifles; and the Ku Klux Klan must organize and arm itself for the purpose of protecting the city from the designs of this murderous organization."

"You are hereby notified that I have this day voluntarily withdrawn as a 'citizen' of the 'Invisible Empire,' Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., and shall no longer consider myself in any way connected with the organization. After five months of 'citizenship' in the 'Invisible Empire,' three months of which were spent as a Kleagle, I have reached the conclusion that your proposition is a historical fraud; that it is a money-making scheme run for the benefit of a few insiders; that it is engaged in an evil propaganda in promoting unwarranted religious and racial hatred against Jews, Roman Catholics, negroes, and foreign-born American citizens; that your entire scheme is a dangerous public menace that will inevitably lead to bloodshed and if successful must result in revolution; and that, in the interests of decent Americanism, it should be suppressed by the Federal and State authorities.

"I further notify you that I utterly repudiate and refuse to be bound in any way by any and all portions of the 'oath of allegiance' to the 'Invisible Empire' formerly taken by me, excepting that portion pledging allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and of my State, with which portion you have camouflaged the real purport and meaning of the oath. The remainder of the oath conflicts with a higher obligation I have previously assumed as an officer of the Reserve Corps of the United States Army. I therefore denounce said remaining portions of said oath as illegal, and detrimental to the fundamental principles which underlie the entire legal structure of this country. I further decline, any longer, to keep secret any part or parts of your scheme to establish in free America an 'Invisible Empire' fraudulent in its conception, vicious in its nature, political in its objects, and subject to the will of a self-constituted 'Emperor' who seeks to exploit the American people for his own personal aggrandizement.

"In defiance of your threats of 'dishonor, disgrace, and death' as contained in your ritual--written and copyrighted by yourself--I denounce your ritualistic work as an insult to all Christian people in America, as an attempt to hypocritically obtain money from the public under the cloak of sanctimonious piety; and, I charge that the principal feature of your ceremony of 'naturalization' into the 'Invisible Empire' is a blasphemous and sacrilegious mockery of the holy rite of baptism, wherein for political and financial purposes, you have polluted with your infamous parody those things that Christians, regardless of creed or dogma, hold most sacred.

"I further charge that when in your printed literature you claim that your organization is the 'genuine original Klan,' this statement is a fraud historically and a fraud in principle. While you have--without any right whatever--appropriated to yourself the name, regalia, and certain nomenclature of the original Klan, your scheme is radically different in conception, in organization, and in purpose. A careful study, which I have made, of the Prescript of the original Klan and all available history and literature on the subject, reveals the fact that there is little, if anything, in common between the two organizations. Your false pretenses of 'genuineness' are therefore insults to the history, the traditions, and the entire record of the South.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet