The Indianapolis journal., 1896-04-06
INDIANA WHITE CAPS
A DREADED ORGANIZATION WHICH
HAS PASSED OUT Of EXISTENCE.
The killing OF Four OF Their Numb
by the Conrad brothers Complete
ly Broke Up the Band.
Louisville Commercial.

A<ouicNiuc OOlitutItidi
The curse of southern Indiana has about
been removed. and the dreaded White Cap
bands are no more. They have just gradual
ly dropped out of existence. until now one
seldom hears the name of the terrible or
ganization mentioned. even in the county
where it originated. For years and years it
cast Its whitening blight upon that fairest
section of all the Hoosier State. and people
were afraid to go there and locate They
read the stories of the outrages that were
perpetrated almost daily and nightly in
Harrison county. and they believed every
thing that they read.
This is why southern Indiana was so
long in becoming settled. Other parts of
the State built up. and had fine school
houses. splendid farms and good society,
but southern Indiana was as wretched
looking place as one might expect to find
in Siberia. The houses were little. squalid
places, as general thing, and the people
were scrawny. sunburned men and wom-
en-, with stringy hair. dirty clothes and not
much to eat In fact, they did not have
time to cultivate their farms to any great
extent. They were either electioneering for
some candidate preparing for a White
Cap invasion Of some other mans home.
The people of Indiana are great on poll
tics They know every phase of the politi-
cal question, and they sit on the boxes and
barrels at the 'stores" and discuss it by
the hour, even when their families need
them at home. An ordinary Hoosier would
quit good job at any time to go to
neighboring saloon and talk politics with
who was willing to pay for the
drinks OF course, do not mean by this
that the well-educated. enlightened ones
a
ones who do the voting, and are termed
my constituents" by the man who Is rum
trash by the same mans colored servants.
1t was only few years ago that the
writer made trip through the White-cap
in 1856, when the organization was In the
heydey Of its power, end men and women
were being taken out every night and
1 mixed in with the boys of the snow-white
masks, drank with Them told all the funny
stories / knew and made them talk. In
slider would not be able to hear. Just before
this time a reporter for the Chicago Record
went down there and boldly announced his
barely escaped with his life, and he never
came back.
MAKING THINGS RIGHT.
I was resolved not to run against the
snag that he did, and / told them that /
had come to write up the other side of the
story; that we felt there were two sides to
it, and that they were not the lawless ruff
fans that they had been made out to be.
This, together with the drinks and the
Stories put me all right with them. and 1
met several members Of the gang. They
explained the principles OF the organization
to me, and said that the bands were COM
posed of the very best men in the country
In every community there is class Of peo-
pie who never work, but who seem to be just
getting along and no one knows how they
do 1t. They must steal, but 1t can never be
proven on them in the courts. Then there
wives support them. Occasionally there Is a
wife-beater, whom a season in Jail only
seems to make more vicious The law does
not touch these people, and the White Caps
first tie bundle Of switches on their doors:
then, If they do not do better, they warn
them to leave the county, and finally they
M This is % what the society was first Organized
for, but 1t finally became simply means
for some men to get even with their neigh
While was wandering over this wild Sec
ton / heard many stories of their deeds.
There was man who lived down on Big
ever breathed. 1 know, because went over
to see him after having heard the story of
his getting whipped. He would not work.
offered him all he could do. He just hung
around the house and smoked, while his
wife took in washing and his mother sewed.
They had no wood in the house, and were
often cold for want Of fuel. Many of the
farmers had told the man that he might
have all the wood he wanted of the woods
that they owned IL he would take his ak out
and cut il, but he said he did not think he
would have time, and lighted his pipe again.
They warned him time and again, but II
did no good. He just laughed. Then one
night, when there was snow on the ground,
the farmers put their white gowns and
masks on and rode over to the house. They
nnf NJ had no h fxv, to
sled, and made him draw it to a forest
There he was unhtched, stripped and given
They hed terhes and made e hm cu euGp
of wood. After he had gotten 1t all cut they
made him place 1t on the sled and haul Il
and when iTng was se WAS bsH Kept a
vide for his family in the future. go to work
come again and give him another beating.
have heard since that he acted on their ad-
vice and has been hard working man ever
since His family Is In good circumstances
and he owns the little place where ne lives
A BAD MISTAKE.
Then I heard of a man who had been
lending money to the farmers and charg-
ing exorbitant interest. He took mortgages
on their property, and when their crops
failed that year, and they could not pay
he foreclosed. He would not allow them To
renew. Many were ruined. They took him
out to give him a whipping. but one of his
victims became too excited and shot and
killed him. This is the worst outrage ]
heard Of, and the only one; but then il must
be taken into consideration that the man
VINO did the shooting was a farmer, had
a family, saw himself ruined, his wife and
children without shelter and the wrecker
or his happiness In his power. OF course
| cannot say that think they did right in
killing him, but If had been a policeman
and was around when they wanted to give
him whipping / would have just looked
another way, and never seen thing Of It.
no matter how loudly he yelled.
For long time they whipped no one but
those who actually deserved it, but finally
they began to whip women and children
sent out by the newspaper correspondents
and Harrison county became known as q
terrible place. OF course. every account was
colored by the imagination OF the writer
and made Ii worse than 1t really was. The
society had begun TO lose its power abou,
the time they concluded to go down and
| give the Conrad brothers whipping. They
leaders were laid ccid in death by the bullets
Of the Conrads. This was all 1t needed tc
put the band out Of existence. The members
| then disbanded, and they have never come
| together since.
| Not long ago 1 was down in Harrison
| county, and / was surprised to see how
| things have changed. The people are new
! devoting their attention exclusively to theil
| farms. and on every hand are evidences oI
| of the White Cap bands and the people re-
| fuse to talk about them. The White Car
| has passed away, and IL is hoped he ha.
| gone for good, although 1T must be CON