“Violators of Almost Every Right”
Analyzing the Ku Klux Klan of 1920’s Fresno
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
It is difficult to approach a topic that is as divisive as the Ku Klux
Klan. Images of burning crosses, menacing hooded figures, and stories of
violence, murders, and terror enter the minds of many when the topic of the
Klan arises, for understandable reasons. The original incarnation of the group
sought to avenge perceived injustices meted out against white southerners
in the Reconstructed South through violence and terror. Following the
Klan’s resurrection in the early twentieth century as the “Invisible Empire,”
violence continued to be a powerful tool in the groups arsenal. Because of this
association, the American public came to believe that the Invisible Empire
was composed solely of small minded individuals who held onto outdated and
dangerous values. To the public, only fringe members of society could have
promoted and participated in Klan activities which included mob violence,
penning threatening letters, and political manipulation. Yet, analyzing the
revived Klan tells a story not of ignorant laborers but of doctors, salesmen,
and other skilled workers of upper and middle-class society who not only
supported the racial and “true-American” values of the Klan but were also
focused on fixing local issues within their respective communities.
In the early 1920s, a Klan chapter was organized in Fresno, California
which displayed similar characteristics to other chapters created around
this time yet enough distinctions exist to mark the Fresno chapter as fairly
unique. The Fresno Klan reflected the values and complex membership roster
of other Klan chapters in America yet did not fully embrace the political
activities that other chapters promoted and participated in during this era.
Either through choice or poor leadership, the Fresno Klan characterized
itself as more of a racial fraternity than an active political body. What this
represents is that while prevailing notions of race existed at all levels and
146
regions of the United States. during this time each Klan chapter followed
its own distinct program. While Klan chapters were intent on spreading
Klan ideals the methods varied from city to city. To categorize the entirety
of the Invisible Empire of this time as wholly violence-based or a collection
of grassroots political bodies would be erroneous. The Fresno Klan stood
apart from both definitions and attempted to garner membership and public
support for the Empire mostly through pageantry.
The Klan of the 1920’s is not a direct descendent of the Reconstruction
Era Klan which tyrannized the South following the Civil War, rather it was
born from a highly-romanticized portrayal in the film The Birth of a Nation.
The 1915 film presented the original Klan as American heroes despite its
“blatant racism and historical inaccuracies,” fostering what historian Shawn
Lay described as a “promising opportunity for a revival of the Invisible
Empire.”
1
“Colonel” William Joseph Simmons laid the foundation for
reviving the Klan in 1915, having worked as a professional recruiter for
various fraternities, he dreamed of building a patriotic group of his own “that
would ‘destroy from the hearts of men the Mason and Dixon line and build
thereupon a great American solidarity.’”
2
In 1924, the Fresno Klan proudly
displayed Simmons’ values in an advertisement printed in the daily Fresno
Morning Republican. The ad stated that Klan stood for “white supremacy,”
“the Tenets of the Christian religion,” the “sanctity of the home, the...
protection of...pure womanhood,” and, interestingly, for “preventing the
causes of mob violence and lynchings.”
3
While the stance on mob violence
was perhaps a later addition to the Klan’s values due to public pressure,
it must be noted that first and foremost among the twelve beliefs stood
adherence to the Constitution.
4
On a national level, the Invisible Empire
adhered to Simmons’ version of patriotism and, in a sense, did succeed in
removing the Mason Dixon line from the hearts of Klan members.
From his fraternity experience, Simmons was able to draw from
1.
The Invisible Empire in the West, ed. Shawn Lay (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 1992), 4-5.
2.
Ibid.
, 5.
3.
“We Stand for the Following – Do You?,” Fresno Morning Republican (Fresno,
CA), May 18, 1924.
4.
Ibid.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
147
a wellspring of Masonic inspiration, designing the Klan’s ceremonies
and infamous attire with Masonic tinges.
5
The Klan’s chain of command
and various managerial positions received titles such as “klaliffs, kludds,
kligrapps, klabees, kladds, and klexters”
with individual chapters being titled
“klaverns.”
6
In 1915, Simmons gathered thirty-four initial members and
successfully petitioned the state of Georgia for an official charter, igniting a
cross on Stone Mountain Thanksgiving night to formally signal the revival
of the Ku Klux Klan in America.
7
While certainly dramatic, the Invisible
Empire remained contained to Georgia and Alabama through the rest of
the decade but that quickly changed after Simmons gained the aid of the
Southern Publicity Association and the business acumen of Edward Young
Clarke and Elizabeth Tyler in 1920.
8
The pair reorganized membership
procedures, hired full-time recruiters known as “kleagles,” and promptly
sent representatives throughout the South.
9
Klan activity and membership
increased rapidly, so much so that it caught the attention of the New York
World which then published an expose on the organization in 1921.
10
The
free exposure by the press and official inquest by Congress only served to
drive public interest in the organization higher, enough so that the Empire
eventually spread to California.
11
Sometime in 1921, during this atmosphere of interest and under so
far unknown circumstances, the Invisible Empire arrived in Fresno. On July
23,
the Kleagles operating within Fresno sent the first list of member names
to California Klan headquarters in Los Angeles.
12
The klavern seemed to
operate in secret, as no news on Klan activity in the city existed before
the events in spring of 1922 brought mass public attention its presence.
5
. Invisible Empire, 6.
6.
Ibid.
7.
Ibid.
8.
Ibid.
, 7.
9.
Ibid.
10.
Ibid.
, 8-9.
11. Ibid.
, 7-8.
12.
“District Attorney Announces Names on Kleagle’s Lists,” Fresno Morning
Republican (Fresno, CA), May 5, 1922.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
148
In Inglewood, California, a small suburb of Los Angeles, Klansmen led
a raid against alleged moonshiners that wound up shattering the secrecy
surrounding the Fresno klavern. With prohibition in full swing at the time,
the Klansmen of Inglewood sought to bring about vigilante-style justice on
the supposed moonshiners in accordance with “Colonel” Simmons’s desire
for his new Empire to adhere to the Constitution. While moonshiners may
not come to mind as the typical victims of Klan violence, Klansmen saw it as
their duty to uphold law and order when they deemed it necessary. However,
the actions of the Inglewood klavern came to a disastrous end, resulting in
the death of a constable and an official investigation on the nature of the
Klan in California.
On the night of April 22, 1922 Inglewood Klansmen raided the
home of “Spaniards who conducted a winery under federal license” but
who had been presumed by the Klansmen to be bootleggers.
13
A marshal
arrived at the scene of the raid and, following a scuffle, proceeded to shoot
and kill Constable M. B. Mosher who was a part of the masked mob.
14
During the coroner’s inquest on the matter, the members of the mob were
gathered for testimony where it was uncovered that the Inglewood klavern
was responsible.
15
Judge Frank R. Willis announced that a jury would be
called to fully investigate the nature of the organization in Inglewood.
16
The
Fresno Morning Republican remained an attentive reporter of the situation
as it unfolded. On April 27,1922 the Republican reprinted an evening report
which stated that the District Attorney of L.A. directed a successful raid on
Klan headquarters in the business district of the city.
17
The investigators
acquired membership applications, regalia with name tags, and all manner
of personal and professional papers.
18
When the L.A. investigators began to
13.
Associated Press, “Fatal Los Angeles Raid Attributed To Klan After Inquest,”
Fresno Morning Republican (Fresno, CA), April 26, 1922.
14.
Ibid.
15
.
Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17.
Associated Press, “Officials Seize Klan Papers Of Grand Goblin,” Fresno
Morning Republican (Fresno, CA), April 27, 1922.
18.
Ibid.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
149
comb through this evidence they unearthed massive amounts of information
about the network of the Invisible Empire in California and began to make
rosters and other evidence available to public officials from cities found to
have klaverns. Without the ineptitude of the Inglewood Klansmen, Fresno’s
klavern would have most likely remained hidden until they had organized
well enough to safely announce their existence.
“Investigation of Ku Klux Klansmen Turned to Fresno” ran on the
first page of the Republican on April 29, bringing the existence of Fresno’s
klavern to public knowledge.
19
The drama unfolded through May of 1922
and public officials were quick to suppress any possible avenue of Klan
activity. Fresno’s District Attorney B. W. Gearhart presented the names
of six police officers who were among those listed on membership rosters
for the Fresno klavern and said that he would “break [the Klan] up and
prevent any outrages.”
20
On May 1, “Inside Fresno Klan Story Bared”
headed the entire first page of the Republican and nearly every column was
devoted to news on the organization.
21
Names of Kings County members
were presented along with a photograph of the first threat letter sent within
Fresno which ordered one W. A. Colquhoun to leave town.
22
Without the
advantage of time and secrecy, the Fresno Klan may have ultimately been
crippled in its ability to exert any sort of lasting control over the city. While
this point will be brought up again later, it must be stated now that the
full weight of the District Attorney and the public being pressed upon the
Fresno Klan less than a full year from its possible inception may have
stunted any chance of gaining more talented and effective members. Before
the exposure, however, the Fresno Klan did manage to gather a wide range
of respected Fresno natives into its ranks.
One particular article titled “Gearhart Condemns Klan as Violators
19.
“Investigation Of Ku Klux Klansmen Turned To Fresno,” Fresno Morning
Republican (Fresno, CA), April 29, 1922.
20.
Ibid.
21
. “Inside Fresno Klan Story Bared,” Fresno Morning Republican (Fresno, CA),
May 1, 1922.
22.
“26 Names Of Kings County Men On Lists,”Fresno Morning Republican
(Fresno, CA), May 1, 1922; and “Threat Letter Sent In Fresno,” Fresno Morning
Republican (Fresno, CA), May 1, 1922.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
150
of Every Right” presented the names of fifteen members of the Fresno
klavern which included “five dentists, a former city trustee, a member of
the Fresno fire department, a member of the public works department...
and several prominent businessmen...”
23
Among these names were Dr. L. F.
Luckie, a physician and “Exalted Cyclops,” or head, of the Fresno Klan, and
one J. M. Euless, a local real estate broker.
24
While information on Dr. Luckie
was scarce, Euless existed as a rather prominent figure in Fresno history. In
the 1946 Fresno Community Book which presented small biographies on
notable Fresnans, Euless’s achievements are presented in no short order. The
book proudly proclaims his successful organization of the Euless-Dermer
raisin pool which “[sold] the raisins of all its members for more than the
outsider was able to obtain, and paid all the pools obligations, and still had
money left in the treasury.”
25
Euless had also been a member of the Fresno
County Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Bureau, a member of the Elks
Lodge and Odd Fellows and had a “liveable [sic] six-acre estate, located
at the corner of Huntington Boulevard and Peach street.”
26
The biography
makes no mention of his previous affiliation with the Klan. J. M. Euless
was not a man who existed on the fringes of society. He was a respected
businessman with ties to the agrarian elite, a far cry from the dangerous
vigilante that D.A. Gearhart was painting the local Klansmen to be.
The notion of the Klan being made up of ignorant members has roots
in the same decade the organization resurfaced and is tied to the 1924 book
by John Moffatt Mecklin The Ku Klux Klan: A Study of the American Mind.
In his book, Mecklin states that the resurgent Klan’s “masks and parades,
its anonymous threatening letters, its childish attempts to intimidate its
enemies...can find no justification in a well-ordered society.”
27
The typical
23.
“Gearhart Condemns Klan As Violator Of Almost Every Right,” Fresno
Morning Republican (Fresno, CA), May 1, 1922.
24.
Ibid.
25.
Ben R. Walker, Fresno Community Book (Fresno: Managing Editor and
Publisher Arthur H. Cawston, 1946), 230.
26. Ibid.
, 231.
27.
Floyd H. Allport, “Review of The Ku Klux Klan: A Study of the American
Mind,” in The Journal Of Abnormal Psychology And Social Psychology 19, no. 4 (1925),
430.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
151
Klansmen, according to Mecklin, was a part of a “diminishing stock” who
were dismayed by the arrival of foreigners and “the growing strength of
the Catholic faith” in the United States.
28
Mecklin further describes the
movement as “small town” and states that the organization helped the
members compensate for their mediocre existences along with senses of
“personal or civic inferiority,” through the ornate pageantry.
29
This stance
on the Klan was hardly countered through the rest of the twentieth century.
As Leonard J. Moore notes in his section of The Invisible Empire in the
West, many historians tended to agree with the belief that the movement was
made in response to “the benighted culture of rural, small-town America.”
30
Yet, Euless certainly did not embody this small-mindedness that Mecklin
and others projected onto the average Klansman. He was a prominent
businessman fully involved in the Fresno community. He had no need to
compensate for an inferiority complex and his banking and organization of
a grower’s pool certainly afforded no sense towards keeping Fresno small.
Was Euless simply an anomaly? A rare, well-reasoned individual standing
within a crowd of small-minded men?
On May 5, 1922, the Fresno Morning Republican printed a list
of 240 alleged members of the Ku Klux Klan in Fresno County.
31
This
presented the opportunity for the author to analyze who the Klan had
managed to attract as members. Several names were cross checked with
the 1922 Fresno City Directory and produced interesting results. Fred W.
Loomis was listed as a manager at Reliable Auto Trimmin Company; H.
L. Owensbey was listed as a rancher; R. B. Tucker was a salesman; R. W.
Goodell a carpenter; and J. G. Hewlings a tower man for Sante Fe rail.
32
Working men to be sure, but skilled ones. The names released earlier also
28.
Allport, “Review of The Ku Klux Klan,” 430.
29.
Ibid.
, 429-430.
30.
Leonard J. Moor, “Historical Interpretations of the 1920’s Klan,” in The
Invisible Empire in the West, ed. Shawn Lay (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992),
22.
31.
“District Attorney Announces Names On Kleagle’s Lists,” Fresno Morning
Republican (Fresno, CA), May 5, 1922.
32.
Fresno City and Fresno County Directory 1922 (Sacramento: Polk-Husted
Directory Company, 1922), Sections G, H, L, O, T.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
152
listed doctors, businessmen, and a fireman meaning that the Fresno Klan
did not fully encapsulate the social stereotype which Mecklin painted the
organization with. How these men came to join the organization helps to
paint a picture of the membership composition as well. In an exposé on the
Fresno klavern, W. N. Gilliam stated that he had been approached by his
friend, Dr. L. H. Irwin to join the local klavern and that initiates were sworn
in at the Odd Fellows Hall of Fresno.
33
This suggests that the kleagles who
recruited in Fresno did so through the local fraternities which were likely
comprised of educated, middle-class gentry, the complete opposite of
Mecklin’s description. These were men who had influence and control over
the affairs of the community and could have been organized into a well-
funded, and tactical, political arm.
The findings of seven historians who presented their work in
The Invisible Empire in the West also refute Mecklin’s portrayal of
1920s Klansmen. The collection of essays includes detailed analyses of
membership demographics of the klaverns organized in El Paso, Denver,
Anaheim, Salt Lake City, and Eugene and La Grande, Oregon. The findings
are very similar to the cursory analysis of Fresno’s klavern. Due to a
1924 application book, historian Robert Goldberg was able to statistically
analyze the 17,000 members of the Denver Klan and found that members
belonged to varying social classes with many of the early joiners being
middle to upper-class as a result of recruitment techniques which focused
on local fraternities.
34
As the Invisible Empire grew in prominence within
the city, the roster began to represent “a near occupational cross section of
the local community.”
35
To Shawn Lay, official membership rosters were
unavailable but citing a study which found that the number of white collar
workers were made up primarily of “Non-Spanish-surnamed workers,” he
concludes that the majority of El Paso Klansmen were most likely white-
33.
“My Experiences As A Klansman,” Fresno Morning Republican (Fresno,
CA), May 2, 1922.
34.
Robert A. Goldberg, “Denver: Queen City of the Colorado Realm,” in Invisible
Empire in the West, ed. Shawn Lay (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992), 50-53.
35
.
Ibid.
, 53.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
153
collar workers.
36
Christopher Cocoltchos’s analysis of Anaheim membership
demographics concluded that they were “neither economically nor socially
insecure” as Klansmen owned a fair amount of property and were very active
in civic activities.
37
Thus the Fresno membership reflected a middle-class
composition which made up klaverns in other parts of the United States at
this time.
The ultimate argument of The Invisible Empire in the West is that
the driving forces behind the popularity of the Klan in the 1920s were
entwined with grassroots social and political motivations. That is, that
the broad “true American” values the Klan stood for could be applied in a
variety of local situations and looked to be an answer to perceived failures
or injustices that Klansmen saw present in their communities. Shawn Lay’s
essay “Imperial Outpost on the Border: El Paso’s Frontier Klan No. 100”
argues that the rise of the KKK in El Paso was due in part to “widespread
anger and frustration over what was perceived to be a general breakdown
of law, order, and social morality.”
38
The years of chaos resulting from the
1910 Mexican Revolution had scared residents along the border and fed
into suspicions that Mexicans were inherently violent and cruel.
39
When the
Mexican vote helped defeat local prohibition in 1918, residents felt it was
evidence of Mexican immorality allowing the Klan to appeal to this belief
for support.
40
Robert Goldberg found in his study of the Denver klavern that
while the organization played on racial tensions to attract members they also
pledged to clean the city of its crime problem, Denver having been plagued
with bootleggers, brothels, and police corruption charges.
41
The surging
membership allowed the Denver Klan to secretly support the election of
36
. Shawn Lay, “Imperial Outpost on the Border: El Paso’s Frontier Klan No.
100,” in Invisible Empire in the West, ed. By Shawn Lay (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 1992), 84.
37.
Christopher N. Cocoltchos, “The Invisible Empire and the Search for the
Orderly Community: The Ku Klux Klan in Anaheim, California,” in Invisible Empire in the
West, ed. By Shawn Lay (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992),105-107.
38.
Lay, “Imperial Outpost on the Border,” 67.
39.
Ibid.
, 69.
40 . Ibid.
, 70.
41.
Goldberg, “Denver, ”44-46.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
154
Benjamin F. Stapleton on a platform of city clean-up in 1923.
42
He quickly
set to purging the police department of corruption and amplified activity
against criminal actions.
43
Klan membership was fueled by these local
concerns and the various klaverns acted as voting blocs that could influence
local and state governments to desired effects.
Fresno Klansmen seemed concerned with upholding the law but not
to the same extent as the klaverns researched by the seven other historians.
One of the only instances where Klansmen were involved in promoting a
measure of lawful activity came in the form of one article in the evening
newspaper The Fresno Bee. On June 16, 1923 The Bee reported that a railroad
worker named W. S. Armstrong was fined for possession of liquor in Big
Creek, a city within Fresno County, but he claimed it was a frame up staged
by Big Creek’s Klan.
44
Armstrong asserted that he had been approached by
an informal acquaintance on where to acquire liquor and was then jumped
by a group of men after obtaining it, some of whom Armstrong recognized
as local Klan members.
45
Armstrong’s story concludes here but on June
30 an order was passed banning the utilization of “stool pigeon tactics,”
using a decoy to facilitate a transaction, for the purposes of liquor arrests in
Fresno.
46
This was possibly due to the entrapment utilized in Armstrong’s
case but more importantly this is the only piece of information that could
be found which indicated that Fresno County Klansmen were concerned
over lawfulness in the local populace. The extent at which local concerns
played into recruitment and activities of the Fresno Klan is not as apparent
or existent as with other klaverns across the country in the 1920s.
Also unlike the cases presented in The Invisible Empire in the West,
research into the Fresno klavern uncovered no evidence of extensive activity
in local politics. This is likely due to the city’s quick response upon discovering
the Klan’s presence. On May 2, 1922 Deputy Charles Farnam resigned after
42.
Goldberg, “Denver, ” 47-48.
43.
Ibid.
44.
“Gang Violence Is Charged [In] Liquor Arrest,” The Fresno Bee (Fresno, CA),
June 16, 1923.
45.
Ibid.
46.
“Death Knell Of ‘Stool Pigeons’ Sounded To-Day,” The Fresno Bee (Fresno,
CA), June 30, 1923.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
155
admitting he was a member of the local Klan and the following day Mayor
Truman G. Hart “removed seven members of the [police] department who
had taken the oath of allegiance to the Klan.”
47
These police resignations
were the only real high profile removal of Klansmen in public positions but
showcased how the city was quick to check the Klan’s ability to influence
city affairs at any avenue. Where secrecy afforded the Denver and El Paso
klaverns to exert large amounts of control over local government, the early
exposure and response would have made it difficult for the Fresno Klan to
operate on the same level.
The activity in neighboring Kern County, where the lawlessness of the
Empire was displayed with vigor, almost certainly fueled public resistance
to the Klan’s presence in Fresno as well. The Republican reported on May
7, 1922 that several high-ranking members of Kern County were associated
with the Klan, including the deputy sheriff, the chief of police, the chairman
of the Board of Supervisors, and a former assistant district attorney.
48
The
days leading up to this revelation were also rife with reports of violence in
the county. On March 6, 1922 the Republican reported incidents of “night
riders” who terrorized local citizens including George N. Bowman who had
been ordered to leave town after being dragged through oil.
49
The extent of
control the Empire assumed in Kern County undoubtedly frightened Fresno
officials, both in the methods and values it represented. The secrecy and
underhandedness of the organization, no matter how patriotic it claimed to
be, did not sit well with the accepted American values of the public. The
Klan’s activities in Kern County and elsewhere flew in the face of legality
and people did not want to be associated with it.
The Fresno Klan did not falter completely under the public glare
and managed to garner new members in the following months. On May 4,
1922 the local chapter boasted in the Republican of 12 new initiates who
47.
“4 More Policemen of Fresno Found On Ku Klux Klan List,” Fresno Morning
Republican (Fresno, CA), May 2, 1922; “City Policemen Discharged For Oath To Klan,”
Fresno Morning Republican (Fresno, CA), May 3, 1922.
48.
“Chief of Police, Supervisor Head, Among Members,” Fresno Morning
Republican (Fresno, CA), May 7, 1922.
49.
“Night Riders Halt Raids But Marked Victims Still Flee,” Fresno Morning
Republican (Fresno, CA), March 6, 1922.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
156
joined to “a great deal of applause” during the height of the exposure.
50
The
previous day, May 3, a threat letter was sent to District Attorney Gearhart
which stated that he had underestimated the power of the Fresno Klan and
claimed the group would only grow due to the exposure.
51
On May 21, 1923
The Fresno Bee quoted the Exalted Cyclops, the title of a klavern head, Dr.
L. F. Luckie as claiming that nearly 100 people had joined the organization
at a weekend gathering at Huntington Lake.
52
Some of these new members
had joined the Big Creek chapter and likely had a part to play in the scuffle
with Armstrong the following month. While time proved the Fresno chapter
slightly correct in their 1922 assertion that they would continue to expand,
the slow rate at which it occurred is almost certainly attributed to the early
exposure brought upon them.
Klan activity largely stagnated in the city until the early summer of
1924, being reduced to very minor news pieces in the interceding year since
their exposure. In October of 1923, the klavern decorated the grave of a
fallen member with an arrangement of K’s laid across a floral piece.
53
This
disgusted a non-Klan associate of the deceased who then tore down, only
to have the arrangements put back up with the support of the family.
54
The
only other quarrel the Fresno Klan was involved in was an editorial one. In
December of 1922, the Fresno klavern sent a letter to The Fresno Bee decrying
an editorial The Bee had posted which criticized the Berkeley klavern’s
use of a school auditorium to hold a rally.
55
The Klan’s letter denounced
the piece as defamatory and claimed that the organization only stood for
upholding American morals and values, not “hatred, religious prejudice and
50
. “12 Initiated Into Klan At Meeting On Friday Night,” Fresno Morning
Republican (Fresno, CA), May 4, 1922.
51.
“Gearhart Gets Threat Letter Signed ‘K.K.K.,’” Fresno Morning Republican
(Fresno, CA), May 3, 1922.
52.
“Many Joined Klan, Says Fresno Doctor,” The Fresno Bee (Fresno, CA), May
21, 1923.
53
. “Invisible Empire Guards Grave,” The Fresno Bee (Fresno, CA), October 11,
1923.
54.
Ibid.
55.
“Fresno Ku Klux Klan Condemns Fresno Bee,” The Fresno Bee (Fresno, CA),
December 11, 1922.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
157
mob rule.”
56
The Fresno Bee published a response which offered a list of
reported instances of violence perpetuated by the Kern klavern along with
news that other fraternal organizations had declared the Invisible Empire
un-American as evidence to the contrary.
57
The editorial ended the assertion
that “if the local...Klan does not know these facts then it has failed to follow
the current events of the past two years.”
58
Beyond these two instances, the
Big Creek issue, and the claim of new members in May 1923 the Fresno
Klan largely disappeared into the background of local affairs and it raises
questions as to why.
Beyond the obvious stunting affect early exposure had on the
organization, another possible explanation for the relatively quiet two-
year period between major stories may be that the local chapter underwent
serious internal reorganization. The 1922 December editorial to The Bee
is signed Fresno Klan No. 1 but advertisements run in the Republican in
1924 are signed Fresno Klan No. 2, indicating some type of restructuring.
Internal friction between members may possibly account for this. While it
is possible that members of the group elected to retain a largely ceremonial
and fraternal organization, a lack of strong leadership under the Exalted
Cyclops Dr. L. F. Luckie in organizing the Klan’s activity could have stunted
its potential in influencing the community.
In W. N. Gilliam’s three-part exposé on the Fresno Klan he detailed
the lack of true activity that the Fresno Klan seemed to possess in its early
existence. According to Gilliam, the meeting he attended began with
commendations for local officers whom upheld the law, denial of reports
on Klan lawlessness, and making “defamatory remarks” against Jews,
Catholics, Japanese, and African Americans.
59
At the meeting it was also
discussed how they could threaten officers for not enforcing city ordinances
but “No actual threats against officers were made” while Gilliam was a
56.
“Fresno Ku Klux Klan Condemns Fresno Bee,” The Fresno Bee, December
11, 1922.
57.
“Mirror Of Facts For The Ku Klux Klan,” The Fresno Bee (Fresno, CA),
December 11, 1922.
58.
Ibid.
59.
“My Experiences As A Klansman,” Fresno Morning Republican (Fresno, CA),
May 3, 1922.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
158
member.
60
Gilliam also mentioned that when a “citizen” of the Invisible
Empire, Clyde Young, attempted to offer a suggestion of what the Klan
could do in the city he was told sit and be quiet.
61
Gilliam claimed that
Cyclops Luckie had ruled that “he [Luckie] was boss, and that any subject
that he did not want discussed would not be allowed.”
62
The next day,
Young was expelled without reason and 31 members, including Gilliam,
withdrew themselves from the organization due to its practicing of what
they deemed to be undemocratic fraternal practices.
63
If Luckie had actually
acted in such a manner then it would suggest that he was a very incapable
leader. Rather than organize members into a cohesive unit, it is possible
that Luckie’s dictatorial leadership only compounded the issues the klavern
found itself in. While Gilliam’s expose is undoubtedly biased with his own
desire to downplay his support and involvement with anything illegal or
reprehensible, his depiction of Luckie seems to be an accurate representation
of the man.
Information on the internal workings of the Fresno Klan is scarce, but
Luckie’s public boasting of gaining new members in May of 1922 and 1923
showed his devotion to the Klan. He also appears in the story concerning
the decorations of the dead Klansman, having supported the family’s
decision to reinstall the floral K’s which were torn down. His appearances
set a precedent for his presence in any news concerning his klavern. Where
the Fresno Klan needed a voice, he was there. Yet, no mention of Luckie
is made in a 1924 report by the Republican of 100 women being sworn
into the organization at the Fresno Fairgrounds, nor of those in subsequent
articles posted by the Fresno Bee.
64
This suggests that at some point before
May 1924, Luckie was either removed or voluntarily left the klavern. It
can be assumed that this would have occurred during or resulted from the
reorganization of the klavern as Fresno Klan No. 2. The combination of
60.
“My Experiences As A Klansman,” Fresno Morning Republican, May 3, 1922.
61.
“Klansman’s Experiences,” Fresno Morning Republican (Fresno, CA), May 4,
1922.
62. Ibid.
63 . Ibid.
64.
“Klan Initiate 100 Women In Public Service,” Fresno Morning Republican
(Fresno, CA), May 20, 1924.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
159
exposure and poor leadership may have stunted the growth and activity
of the Fresno Klan from 1922 to 1923 and despite reorganizing itself the
Fresno Klan would never fully recover.
News of the Fresno klavern remained scarce until May 13, 1924
when an advertisement in the Republican marked a month-long flurry
of Klan activity in Fresno. On page seven of the paper, dominating the
bottom right corner, ran an ad proudly presenting the “Ku Klux Klan State
Wide Fiesta” which included such attractions as a Klan wedding, no less
than three ceremonials, and lectures by prominent Klan officials all to be
held at the Fresno Fair grounds.
65
In a display of journalistic humor, the
Republican reported on this new development the following day with a
small article hidden on page nine which simply was simply titled “Klan
Expects To Add Many New Members.”
66
Despite running advertisements
for the fiesta throughout the month, the Republican offered little exposure
to the event compared to The Fresno Bee. The Bee followed the fiesta
throughout its duration and presented detailed, if sometimes minor, reports
on the lectures made by Reverend Horace Lackey and other speakers. Rev.
Lackey lectured on a series of topics ranging from alcoholism to reasserting
that immigrants should be made to “kiss that starry flag and swear allegiance
to the constitution.”
67
On May 25, the Republican offered one of its few
reports on the Fiesta stating that around 600 people had marched in a Klan
parade through the city.
68
While certainly grand in scale and pageantry, the
Fresno fiesta would prove to be the last big hurrah of the Klan in the county
in the 1920s.
On May 29
the Fresno Bee reported on the end of the fiesta, stating
in a tiny column on page two that, after all the glowing words and parades,
a collection hat was passed around the gathered Klansmen in order to solicit
65.
“Fresno Ku Klux Klan State Wide Fiesta And Public Ceremonial,” Fresno
Morning Republican (Fresno, CA), May 13, 1924.
66.
“Klan Expects To Add Many New Members,” Fresno Morning Republican
(Fresno, CA), May 14, 1924.
67.
“Klansman Vows Alien Convicts Must Kiss Flag,” The Fresno Bee (Fresno,
CA), May 21, 1924.
68.
“600 March In Klan Parade,” Fresno Morning Republican (Fresno, CA), May
25, 1924.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
160
donations for cause.
69
Information on the Fresno Klan becomes scarce
beyond this point but it would be presumptuous to declare what fate the
klavern succumbed to. More importantly, the Fiesta proved that the Fresno
Klan had major connections with klaverns across California and the United
States and also had the means of organizing mass activity. But it the Fiesta
occurred two years after being discovered in the city and during a time when
Klan activity was starting to taper off across the nation. The Fiesta came at
the height of the Fresno Klan’s power yet fizzled away just as quickly.
The Fresno Klan was not overtly political in its motivations like
Denver, El Paso, or Anaheim, nor did it commit to violent acts like the
klavern of Kern County. But the klavern’s middle-class and skilled worker
membership certainly reflects the roster of other klaverns in the United
States and thus counters the idea of John Moffatt Mecklin that Klansmen
were mostly ignorant, rural, working class men. The Fresno Klan shared the
core beliefs of the organization, standing for white supremacy, adherence
to the Constitution, and general Americanism and gathered a few hundred
members over its lifespan suggesting wider appeal in the area for these
ideals. While the Fresno Klan embodies some of the ideas that are presented
by the works of Shawn Lay and his colleagues it was not fully motivated
to act in accordance to grassroots concerns. The Fresno chapter seemed
content with remaining a fraternal organization even after reorganizing into
an effective body. A basic summation of the reports on Fresno Klan activity
can be read as having burnt a few crosses, sent a few letters one of which
sparked an editorial tiff with The Fresno Bee, been associated with a beating
in Big Creek, decorated a grave, and helped to organize a statewide fiesta.
Due to the combination of public pressure and poor leadership, the Fresno
Klan never grew into a secretive political arm or violent band. It instead
focused on fraternal pageantry as a means of promoting Klan ideals within
the community.
When District Attorney B. W. Gearhart declared the Invisible
Empire to be “Violators of Almost Every Right” he was certainly correct in
regarding it to the organization as a whole. The Fresno Klan was a branch
of a fraternity which promoted racism, participated in mob violence, and
69.
“Donations Asked At Klan Fiesta,” The Fresno Bee (Fresno, CA), May 29
1924.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
161
attempted political manipulation of cities and states. These facts are damning
and should not be ignored when analyzing any part of the Invisible Empire.
Yet, taken by itself the Fresno Klan seems to have been far a “Violator of
Almost Every Right.” The Fresno Klan largely failed in influencing the
city’s actions or its citizens. It had been forced, through pressure or choice,
to focus on the public image of itself and the Klan as a whole. The Fresno
Klan of the 1920’s ultimately existed as an ineffectual, perverse fraternity
with only one grand fiesta to its name.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
162
B
iBliograPhy
P
rimary
s
ourcEs
“4 More Policemen of Fresno Found On Ku Klux Klan List,” Fresno
Morning Republican. May 2, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“12 Initiated Into Klan At Meeting On Friday Night,” Fresno Morning
Republican.
May 4, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“600 March In Klan Parade.” Fresno Morning Republican. May 25,
1924. Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box
131, Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
Associated Press. “Fatal Los Angeles Raid Attributed To Klan After
Inquest.”
Fresno Morning Republican. April 26, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16- May1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
Associated Press. “Officials Seize Klan Papers Of Grand Goblin.” Fresno
Morning Republican, April 27, 1922.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
163
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA “Death Knell Of ‘Stool Pigeons’ Sounded To-Day.”
The Fresno Bee, June 30, 1923.
The Fresno Bee July 1923, Box 5, Microfilm, San JoaquinValley Heritage
& Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“District Attorney Announces Names on Kleagle’s Lists.” Fresno Morning
Republican,
May 5, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“Donations Asked At Klan Fiesta.” The Fresno Bee, May 29, 1924.
The Fresno Bee May thru June 1924, Box 10, Microfilm, San Joaquin
Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“Chief of Police, Supervisor Head, Among Members,” Fresno Morning
Republican (Fresno, CA), May 7, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“City Policemen Discharged For Oath To Klan,” Fresno Morning
Republican (Fresno, CA), May 3, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
164
“Coolidge Losing For ‘Dirty Trick,’ Aver Klansman,” The Fresno Bee
(Fresno, CA), May 22, 1924.
Fresno City and Fresno County Directory 1922.
Sacramento: Polk-Husted Dirctory Company, 1922.
Fresno City Directories 1922-1923, Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley
Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“Fresno Ku Klux Klan Condemns Fresno Bee.” The Fresno Bee,
December 11, 1922.
The Fresno Bee Oct. 17. 1922 – Dec. 20, 1922, Box 1, Microfilm, San
Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“Fresno Ku Klux Klan State Wide Fiesta And Public Ceremonial.” Fresno
Morning Republican, May 13, 1924.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily May-June 1924, Box 145, Microfilm,
San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“Gang Violence Is Charged [In] Liquor Arrest.” The Fresno Bee, June 16,
1923.
The Fresno Bee July 1923, Box 5, Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage
& Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA. “Gearhart Condemns Klan As
Violator Of Almost Every Right.” Fresno Morning Republican.
May 1, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
165
“Gearhart Gets Threat Letter Signed ‘K.K.K.’” Fresno Morning
Republican.
May 3, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“Inside Fresno Klan Story Bared.” Fresno Morning Republican, May 1,
1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“Invisible Empire Guards Grave.” The Fresno Bee, October 11, 1923. The
Fresno Bee October thru December, Box 7, Microfilm, San Joaquin
Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“Investigation Of Ku Klux Klansmen Turned To Fresno.” Fresno Morning
Republican. April 29, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“Klan Bars ‘Isms’, Asserts Lackey,” The Fresno Bee (Fresno, CA), May
27, 1924.
The Fresno Bee May thru June 1924, Box 10, Microfilm, San Joaquin
Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“Klan Initiate 100 Women In Public Service,” Fresno Morning Republican
(Fresno, CA), May 20, 1924.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
166
Fresno Morning Republican Daily May-June 1924, Box 145, Microfilm,
San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“Klansman’s Experiences.” Fresno Morning Republican. May 4, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“Klan Expects To Add Many New Members.” Fresno Morning
Republican.
May 14, 1924.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily May-June 1924, Box 145, Microfilm,
San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“Klansman Vows Alien Convicts Must Kiss Flag.” The Fresno Bee. May
21, 1924.
The Fresno Bee May thru June 1924, Box 10, Microfilm, San Joaquin
Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“Many Joined Klan, Says Fresno Doctor.” The Fresno Bee, May 21, 1923.
The Fresno Bee May thru June 1923, Box 4, Microfilm, San Joaquin
Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“Mirror Of Facts For The Ku Klux Klan.” The Fresno Bee, December 11,
1922.
The Fresno Bee Oct. 17. 1922 – Dec. 20, 1922, Box 1, Microfilm, San
Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
“My Experiences As A Klansman.” Fresno Morning Republican. May 2,
1922.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
167
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“My Experiences As A Klansman.” Fresno Morning Republican. May 3, 1
922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box 131,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“Threat Letter Sent in Fresno.” Fresno Morning Republican, May 1,
1922. Fresno Morning Republican Daily April 16-May 1922, Box
131, Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“Night Riders Halt Raids But Marked Victims Still Flee.” Fresno Morning
Republican. March 6, 1922.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily March-April 16 1922, Box 130,
Microfilm, San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center,
Fresno, CA.
“We Stand For the Following – Do You?” Fresno Morning Republican,
May 18, 1924.
Fresno Morning Republican Daily May-June 1924, Box 145, Microfilm,
San Joaquin Valley Heritage & Genealogy Center, Fresno, CA.
s
EconDary
s
ourcEs
Allport, Floyd H. 1925. “Review of The Ku Klux Klan: A study of the
American mind.” The Journal Of Abnormal Psychology And Social
Psychology 19, no. 4 (1925): 429-431.
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
168
Lay, Shawn. The Invisible Empire in the West: Toward a New Historical
Appraisal of the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920’s. Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1992.
Walker, Ben R. Fresno Community Book. Fresno: Managing Editor and
Publisher Arthur H. Cawston, 1946.
Geoffrey A. Ramirez
169
”VIOLATORS OF ALMOST EVERY RIGHT”
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