The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-10
Sixty Hooded Men Wearing
Robes of Black
Seize AgitatOrs While in Pos
session of Police.
iRETALIATE TERROR REIGN"
Taken Into Country, Beaten,
Warned Never To Return.
Acted "In Name of Belgian
Women and Children"

Tulsa, Okla, Nov. 10.-Just what le-
gal action. if any, will be taken by
the county authorities relative to the
work of the knights of Liberty in
fIogging and tarring and feathering
seventeen l. w. w. leaders here last
night could not be ascertained early
today. owing to the fact that County
Attorney George Reeves is out of the
city and will not return until late to-
day. The city is poWerless to act in
that the city ordinances provide no
penalty for such an offense, it was
announced by City Attorney John B.
Meserve.
Tulsa, Okla, Nov. 1O.-The where
abouts early today of seventeen half
naked. severely beaten members OF
the Industrial Workers of the World,
seized from policemen. logged with
cato mine tails tarred and feathered
here last night by band of sixty
black robed and hooded knights of
Liberty was unknown. With the
warning Never return to Tulsa" the
Il. w. VS. were started thru the
brush away from the city followed by
q fusiliade of shots. 'In the name of
the outraged women and children of
Belgium" the man in charge OF the
ceremony said as he applied the hot
pitch to the bl, eding backs.
Eleven of the 1. w. VS. were ar
irested in a recent raid on state head
quarters here. The other six had tes-
titled last night at the trials in city
court of their fellows. All were being
taken by a roundabout route to 1. w.
w headquarters in three touring cars
by city policemen when they were
halted by the black shrouded figures
who pointed rifles and pistols The
policemen had intended to exact from
the I. w. WIS a promise to leave the
city and not return, whereupon the
I1rar
pended.
Carefully Planned Plot.
That the plot to kidnap the I. w.
WIS had beer caref lily planned was
indicated by the machine like precis-
ion with which all details of the cap
ture were carried out. The policemen
in charge of the prisoners were offer
led no violence but were forced to
idrive the motor cars to the rendez-
lvous in a wild ravine at the edge of
the city and watch the work of the
knights" none of whom was recog-
nized becaue" of the Disgusting robes.
Later in the night the streets of
Tulsa were placarded with printed
signs bearing this legend:
NOTICE TO I. w. WIS
Don't let the sun set on you in Tulsa.
Vigilance Committee.
Arrived at the ravine, the cowed in
dustrial workers were ordered to. strip.
individual who previously had been
searched. and whose hands had been
tied with a rope. A circle of motor
cars was drawn about a huge tree and
in the glare of the headlights man
after man was tied up and dashed on
the back until the blood ran. Boiling
hot tar then was applied and handfuls
of feathers thrown into the tar
Residence Was Dynamited.
The ]. W. WIS talked but little, ac-
cording to one of the policemen who
was forced to witness the ceremony
with an armed guard on either side
Some boldly proclaimed their al
legiance. to the I. W. w. One old man
begged for mercy and cried that he
was not an !. w. w, but a Knight"
declared he had been arrested in the
raid on the state headquarters and he
took his turn at the whipping post.
When the residence of ]. Edgar
Pew. vice president of the Carter Oil
company was blown up here October
20 by a nitroglycerine bomb, city
county. state and federal officials as
serted il was the premature breaking
of a gigantic l. w. w. plot to terrorize
the oil industry of which Tulsa is a
center. The reign of terror, it was
said. was scheduled to be launched
November 1. Extensive plans were
made to combat the alleged aims of
the /. w. w, and there were no seri-
Gus developments.
The state headquarters of the IN
dustriaf Workers of the World here
recently were raided twice by city
policemen and once by federal officers