The Ku Klux Klan was known to show up at church services, many times unannounced, and then before leaving, present the pastor with a monetary gift. In the case of the Primitive Methodist Church of Mount Carmel, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1926, the sermon topic seemed to appeal to the Klan and their showing up may have been a way to signal to other ministers that they too could obtain a “purse” if they preached similarly.
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From the Mount Carmel Item, April 12, 1926:
KU KLUX KLAN AT PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCH
About 200 members of the order of [the] Ku Klux Klan, from Northumberland County, surprised the members of the Primitive Methodist Church last night by attending their church service in a body.
Several anthems were sung by the choir, and several selections were sung by the male chorus, led by Mr. George Webster, after which the pastor, Rev. George E. Harrison, brought a message on “The Tragedy of Lost Power, Because of Compromise,” taking his text from Judges 16:19. “And she made him sleep upon her knees.”
The large auditorium and Sunday School room was filled to overflowing, every foot of floor space being used to accommodate the large crowd, and then many could not get in.
The visiting order expressed their appreciation by presenting the pastor with a substantial purse.
This post is a continuation of the reporting on hate groups that were active in the Lykens Valley area. It was a widely known fact that the Ku Klux Klan had a significant presence in the Lykens Valley and adjacent valleys during the early years of the 20th Century. This iteration of the Klan was strongly white supremacist and was opposed to equal rights for African Americans, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants.
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News article from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.