Self-Appointed Arbiters of Community Conduct: The White Caps

Posted on by hchm-curator

by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Curator

Part 2

 Click here for Part 1

“A few years ago on Easte 3 Street by the coal yard thair live a colord lady she had 2 little children & their was a white Man lives in thus city tride to forse Mrs. Harries the colored lady to lay with him. in the Mean time came in Bob Walace & the white Man let her alone. why is it you did not white cap him? Because he was white. those Boys did Not force those girls. -Black Caps” – Abe Weston, Evening Kansan Republican, 3 April 1896.

When Abe Weston questioned why the “White Caps” had not gone after the men who had assaulted Mrs. Harris, he was not expecting the impossible. The men in the White Cap organization had imposed their own type of justice on others in the community in the past.

Who Were the White Caps?

The White Caps was a group of self-appointed arbiters of community conduct, not necessarily concerned with race. They were concerned with preserving morality and maintaining social norms of the community. Both Black and white citizens were subject to their censure. The movement started in southern Indiana. It spread to other states and sometimes led to extreme violence. One of the most extreme incidents occurred in Sevier County, Tennesse where several people were murdered. In 1889, John S. Farmer described the White Caps as “a mysterious organization in Indiana” that was “trying to correct and purify society” where they felt the law was not adequately protecting citizens.

The organization’s name corresponded with its uniform. This description appeared in the Knoxville Sentinel, April 27, 1892: The White Caps scarcely ever ride horseback and wear coverings on their head similar to a hangman’s cap, also gowns or dusters reaching to, or below, their knees.

White Caps, 1889.

The Ominous Words ‘White Caps.’

In Harvey County, the organization was short-lived with only sporadic mentions in the newspapers over a 20-year time span, 1889-1909. The men involved were never named but at least twelve men participated.

At first, the “White Caps” were viewed as something of a joke by the editor of the Evening Kansan Republican. He was often dismissive of the group. Although a meeting was noted in the Evening Kansan Republican on December 29, 1888, subtle criticisms followed.

Evening Kansan Republican, 29 December 1888

Likely, they were planning for the New Year’s Day Parade. In the next issue of the paper the description included details about the parade.   The editor of the Evening Kansan Republican was not impressed with the White Caps and their contribution to the parade. He complained that “everything went along smoothly and without confusion . . . the only departure from this rule was in the case of the ‘White Caps’ who sailed around at the rate of one knot an hour in a covered wagon drawn by Frank Dickensheet’s prize oxen, and with the banners on the wagon bearing the ominous words ‘White Caps.’  (Evening Kansan Republican 2 January 1889)

Another clipping from the paper regarding the New Year’s Day parade.

Evening Kansan Republican,2 January 1889

A few years later, the editor of the Weekly Kansan Republican seemed annoyed by the group when he noted in a February 6, 1898 “that ‘white cap organization’ in this city is going the rounds. It is wonderful how familiar some people are with such things.”

The men of the group were serious about their duty of monitoring the morals and social activities of the community. In 1889, John Burns, a farmer living north of Sedgwick, caught their attention.

White Caps & John Burns – 1889

By February 1889, small notices appeared in the local newspapers making threats to those the White Caps felt were acting outside of the morals of the county. In the Evening Kansan Republican on February 8, 1889, a notice appeared from the Sedgwick White Caps. They explained that they had left a notice for Mr. Burns of Sedwick which stated:

John Burns: You are hereby notified to move off of this place inside of 3 days from this date. What you get tonight will be nothing compared to what you will get if we have to come back. We will hand you to the first tree we come to. – White Caps”

This followed the typical pattern of the group. The notifications would be sent to the offender as a warning. The notices always had “a regular skull and cross bones and red ink seal.” The note also stated that Burns’ daughter who was living at the house should leave “before that night as they would call on them.”  Burns’ son saw the note and for some reason did not share it with his father. He took his sister to visit a neighbor, leaving their father at home alone.

Alone in the farmhouse, Burns heard a number of men approaching. He blew out the lights and waited with an ax as his only weapon.  Later he reported; “The men came close to the house and after firing a large number of shots into it with revolvers left.” They also left a second notice written in red ink; “We will give you two days to leave and if at the end of that time we come and find you here, we will hang you to the nearest tree. – White Caps”

Burns reported the incident to Deputy Sheriff Groom, who investigated at once and promised to provide protection.  The editor pondered “what Mr. Burns has done to make himself offensive to the cowardly regulators.”  (Evening Kansan Republican 07 February 1889)

Apparently, Burns was ready for their next visit at which they “riddled his house with bullets” but nothing more. Perhaps they were scared off because Burns “had fifteen old army comrades with him and each armed with a rifle.” Burns insisted that he would remain in his house and that he was ready for the White Caps, which the newspaper editor noted, “will no doubt make it interesting for any that come to regulate him.”

What was the motivation for the White Caps to visit John Burns?

One of the activities that the White Caps frowned on was abusive behavior. From the pension records for John Burns, it is clear that he was abusive to his wife. The abuse was so bad that she often feared for her life and lived apart from him. In April 1902, he was declared insane and sent to the Asylum in Topeka, where he died a short time later on April 26, 1902.

Kansas, 1896

Walton White Caps

The youth of Walton caught the attention of the White Caps in 1892. The White Caps sent warnings to change their behavior. (Evening Kansan Republican, 16 January 1892) Nothing more could be found, presumably the young people changed their behavior.

The End of the White Caps

The group’s activities dwindled after 1896 and the incident with Abe Weston.

In 1909, there is one last mention in the Weekly Kansan.  It was reported that the two men run out of town by “so-styled White Caps” had returned. The men received a second warning from the group. Nothing more was reported in the paper.

For a short time, some in Harvey County resorted to a type of vigilante justice that had echoes of past groups like the KKK and perhaps foreshadowed the revival of the Klan in the 1920s in Harvey County.

 

For more on Abe Weston – “Not the Most Peaceful People on Earth” Abe Weston – Harvey County Historical Society

For John Burns’ story – “A Woman of Good Moral Character” John Burns Pension – Harvey County Historical Society

Sources

From the Archives: The Jayhawker American – Harvey Co & the Klan

Posted on by hchm-curator

by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Archivist/Curator

“In the mails this morning many citizens were said to have received copies of the first edition of what purports to be the official Kansas publication of the Klan. Where the paper, which is a small four-page publication, is printed is not revealed.” (Evening Kansan Republican, 13 September 1922.)

In the Archives at the Harvey County Historical Museum & Archives there is one issue of the Jayhawker American from 22 October 1922. This document sheds light on Klan activity in Harvey County in 1922-23.  A previous post, Hundreds of Automobiles Were Assembled, focused on newspaper accounts of Klan activities around the county. At that time, the publisher and editor of the Jayhawker American was unknown, but additional research has provided the answer.

Jayhawker American

As reported by the editor of the Evening Kansan Republican, the first edition of the Jayhawker American appeared September 12-13, 1922;

“in the mails this morning many citizens were said to have received copies of the first edition of what purports to be the official Kansas publication of the Klan. Where the paper, which is a small four-page publication, is printed is not revealed.”

The Jayhawker American was published weekly, first in Newton, later Wichita, in 1922.  To subscribe to the paper, interested men were directed to send $2.00 to Lock Box 112, Newton, Ks. The issue in the Archives dated October 7, 1922 is volume 7.

The paper reported national items of interest, and advertising. The October 19 issue included a lengthy letter from Imperial Klokard, Wm. J. Maloney to a Baptist Minister and an essay by Edward Young Park the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1915 to 1922, entitled “Awakening America!”

There is also a short item from Atlanta, GA warning of the dangers of H.G. Well’s “Outline of History.” The Imperial Klokard of the KKK declared that they “were taking steps to block what he terms ‘an organized effort’ to place the history in public schools and colleges . . . the book was teeming with Socialist doctrines . . . and would poison the minds of our youth with destructive propaganda of the worst kind.”

Jayhawker American, 19 October 1922

Who Published the Jayhawker?

Despite claims of transparency, a publisher or editor is not indicated with the paper. In May 1923, two Harvey County men and one former resident were subpoenaed to testify at the hearing regarding the ouster suit in Topeka. Men listed in the Evening Kansan Republican, included Lyle Norton, who had boldly proclaimed his membership in the Klan, and Bert  Fritz, Newton, former publisher of the Jayhawker American Klan publication. The third person was A. M. Morgan, formerly of Newton, who was also involved with the printing of the Jayhawker American. Morgan had moved the printing of the paper to Wichita by May 1923.

The three men were asked to bring any records regarding the Klan to Topeka with them. They all, however “denied that they have any records.”

Newton Kansan, 18 May 1923

Newton Klansman Testified 

“A Newton klansman testified he had led 16 kluxers into a church, where he had made a speech. He said he didn’t know the names of the kluxers. An organizer testified he had ‘lost’ all of the records two days before he was subpoenaed to testify . . . he admitted he had told the county attorney he had ‘disposed of’ the records and the state’s attorney Captain Rhodes ordered the witness held until the county attorney could be called to the stand.” (Emporia Gazette 18 May 1923)

The Newton man testifying was Lyle Norton who had dramatically removed his Klan hood at the church.

Evening Kansan Republican, 18 May 1923

The Printer: Bert Fritz

In the 1922 50th Anniversary Ed of the Newton Kansan, Bert Fritz was praised as a “wide awake hustler, and a consistent booster for Newton, cheerfully supporting all worthy enterprises in a public spirited, conscientious manner.” Fritz started out working at the Newton Kansan Republican as a “printer’s devil” and slowly worked his way up. He worked in various shops in Newton until August 1899 when he “entered the printing business for himself.”   In 1904, he purchased a lot at 114 E 4th and built a new print shop.

Evening Kansan Republican, 22 August 1922

A, M. Morgan also assisted with printing the Jayhawker American and later moved to Wichita, taking the printing of the newspaper with him.

” A Klan Organization in Every Town in Kansas”

During questioning during the “ouster” hearings, Noble T. McCall, former secretary of the Arkansas City Klan  observed that he “supposed there was a klan organization in every town in Kansas.” During the court proceedings evidence was presented that there were about 400 Klan members in Newton

Several of the men that were involved in other fraternal and civic organizations like the Masons and Lions Club were also involved in the Klan. Lyle Norton was heavily involved with the Lions Club and raising money for the Boy Scouts. During the ouster hearings, it became apparent that the Klan had recruited heavily from existing organizations like the Masons and Lions Clubs. On the surface these group had similar concerns for social, moral and civic welfare of the community. Groups like the Lions Club however worked with community groups “looking towards the elimination of class distinction” and integrating immigrants into American society, the opposite of the Klan’s purpose. (Evening Kansan Republican 18 May 1921)

Jayhawker American, 19 October 1922.

Mixed Feelings

There were mixed feeling in Harvey County about the Klan. There were local leaders and businessmen that were members of theKlan, but no one knew who. One local pastor spoke out against the Klan. Dr. J.R. Caffyn of the 1st Methodist Episcopal church spoke for an hour and a half on the subject of the Modern Ku Klux Klan.” (Evening Kansan Republican 9 October 1922) Dr. Caffyn’s speech was reprinted in the October 21, 1922 edition of the Evening Kansan Republican.

The editor of the Evening Kansan Republican was also a frequent critic of the Klan in Harvey County.

On the other hand, some Newton pastors felt the organization was a positive one. In April 1923, Rev. Arthur Brooks gave a speech entitled “Americanism” in ElDorado in which he “lauded the principles of the Ku Klux Klan.”  In an interview with the Evening Kansan Republican a pastor in Hesston, Rev. Tarvin “seemed to be impressed more favorably  . . . and indicated that he believed the organization might be doing a good work.” (Evening Kansan Republican, 20 February 1923). Tarvin had received a donation from the Klan earlier.

Who Were the Members?

Other than Lyle Norton, Bert Fritz and A.M. Morgan there are few clues on who other members might have been. In the testimony during the “ouster hearings”  in spring 1923, it was stated that Newton had a membership of 400.  There are perhaps clues in the  names of the advertisers in the Jayhawker American.  Many of these men were also involved in other civic and fraternal organizations. The original members of the Lions Club, established in 1921 in Harvey County, included several men who were advertisers in the Jayhawker including, Lyle Norton, C.V. McDaniel, N.R. Daugherty.

The list of advertisers in the Jayhawker included: E.W. Skidmore – Little Gem Cafe, Palmores Confectionary, B.H. Downs – Merchant Delivery, C.R. Miller – Tailor, Holman & Daughtery – Barbers ,  E.M. van Aken – Auditorium Cafe, Earl I Schaefer, O.S. Finch, Spear & Munro – owners of a clothing store.

After the Ouster

Even with the “ouster” of the Klan in Kansas, small groups remained somewhat active. In the Sedgwick Pantagraph, September 11, 1924, there was a cryptic note asking about the whereabouts of two men and two women in a Sedan, “no questions asked.”

Sedgwick Pantagraph, 11 September 1924

Meetings continued.

Sedgwick Pantagraph 2 October 1924

One of the last Klan events mentioned as of this writing was a Klan parade was held in Newton the week of August 8, 1927. It included women and children and men in full regalia without the  masks.

Additional Sources

  • Evening Kansan Republican, 22 August 1922.
  • Allerfeldt, Kristopher. “Jayhawker Fraternities: Masons, Klansmen and Kansas in the 1920s.” Journal of American STudies November 2012, Vol. 46, No. 4 (November 2012) pp. 1035-1053.
  • Egan, Timothy. A Fever in the Heartland: the Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them. New York, NY: Viking, 2023.