An example of how the Ku Klux Klan used terroristic methods in acting as “moral police” in area community. In addition to its opposition to African Americans, Jews, Catholics, immigrants, and others who were not white Protestants, the Klan took it upon itself to act outside the law and justice system against those who they believed were morally corrupt. The incident reported in this Sunbury Daily Item article of August 4, 1924, was representative of many more that did not make the newspapers, but were passed down in the oral history of the Lykens Valley area.
HOODED MEN WARN ERRING HUSBAND
Appearing as suddenly as though they had dropped from the skies, three men in white robes and hoods created a small sensation shortly before 10 o’clock Saturday night when they entered a home on Queen street between Second Street and Park Alley to leave a warning for the man of the house to mend his ways.
The hooded men entered the front door and after searching the place for the husband and father, went to his bedroom on the second floor and nailed their missive to a bureau. The note warned the man to improve his conduct toward his wife ad children or abide by the consequences. It was signed “Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”
The note was the third and final warning that has been given the man, who is alleged to be neglectful to his family and to be openly paying attention to another woman. After leaving the house, the hooded men hovered in the rear to await the return of their man but he did not appear. The appearance of the men created a small sensation and a big crowd soon gathered.
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News article from Newspapers.com.
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