July 29, 1921.—Ben Wiley, of Lufkin, Tex., was put into a sack and tarred and feathered.
In the State of Missouri, a farmer aged sixty-eight years, was taken from his bed at night, removed out of doors and severely beaten by masked men; and a woman in Birmingham, Ala., was also maltreated by a mob composed of the same sort of individuals.
In most cases local sentiment appears to have been strongly with the perpetrators of the outrages, this being especially true at Waco, Tex. A man was assaulted by masked men at that place, but the victim succeeded in escaping from his attackers, recognizing three of the men who had seized him. He had them arrested, and they were bound over to await the session of the Grand Jury. Five preachers and the President of a Texas University signed the bonds of the men accused of mob violence.
In some parts of Texas, however, the depredations of masked individuals brought into being a counter movement, and the Dallas News notes the receipt of the following anonymous communication:
“To the citizens of North Texas and the Ku Klux Klan:
“The Anti-Ku Klux Klan of North Texas announces its being in the form of a mob.
“We intend and will do no violence unless the Ku Klux Klan shows violence. We are in being and in force. If necessary we will travel in force to do business in the form of open warfare.
“The law will have its chance to show that we have laws against mobs, white-capping, and acts of violence. But we warn that being in Rome we do as the Romans do.
“We are unknown and unknowable. We will remain that way. We hope that we will not have to resort to populating lamp posts and using cold steel, but if so, Oakland and Greenwood will boast of much activity and the price of black crepe will rise. ‘Anti-Ku Klux Klan of North Texas.’”
A similar organization was announced from southeast Texas. In an Associated Press dispatch from Beaumont, under date of July 27, 1921, it was reported: