Hi Dennis,
Barbara hit the nail on the head here. Lots of Klan activities during
the early twenties, but little mention of them prior to that time. That said
there were other agents acting in self righteousness from the 1870s through
the turn of the century called the "White Caps".
These were vigilantes, though originally organized for the proper
conduct of the community, took thing way to far and took it upon themselves
to chastize persons within the community they though violated common
decency. Their favor method of impressing their will upon someone was to
arrive at the persons house late at night, then through force take the
offender outside to face his accusors. Normally a beating followed, and the
person was left with scars to reflect upon. Good intentioned people turned
into a mob frenzy and things often got out of hand. There are cases where
women were taken out side in the dark of night, tied to a wagon wheel and
lashed with a whip until nearly dead. One horrendous case involved the
woman, accused of being of easy virtue, being tied to a wheel, lashed to
near death, her breast were then cut off and she was then deboweled. This
occurred in Mitchell.
The general view of the White Caps was that they stood outside the law
of the land and were totally out of control, but because of their
leadership, they were allowed to exist for some time. Men of good standing,
businessmen, churchmen, community leaders were involved. While they desired
to do only good, without the rule of law you have a mob and mobs often ran
amuck.
Around the turn of the century the law started dealing these vigilantes
heavy jail sentences and the practiced died down. While their practices were
similar to the Klan, the White Caps were vigilantes and their targets were
basically poor whites, while the Klan primarily aimed their hatred towards
the blacks, of which their weren't that many of on our County.
Tom Agan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis McCormick" <dmac(a)macol.net>
To: <INORANGE-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2001 5:50 PM
Subject: KKK
Does anyone have information on the KKK in Orange Co about 1890 to
1910?
It
appears that the 1st husband of the wife of an ancestor of mine had
some
sort of disagreement with the Klan and came out 2nd best. Any info or
suggestions will be appreciated.
Dennis
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