The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-07-18
Series of Tar and Feather
Parties Sweeps South.
Mrs. BeuIah johnson Is Victim
in Tenaha, Texas.
WAS MARRIED THREE TIMES
Minister Whipped and Tarred
at Miami, Fla, Sunday.
Missouri and Texas Men Vic
tins of Secret Groups.

DdlIaS, IeX.s july 16.-AuthOr1IleS
in widely separated sections of the
southern states today are taking cog
, nizance of a series of attacks in which
the victims are tarred and feathered,
apparently by widely organized secret
groups. The instances now number j
score or more within the last three
months and indicate the existence of
a secret organization with activities
similar to those of the Ku Klux Kla1
of reconstruction days. The secrecy
of the perpetrators has usually kept
hidden even the exact motive of the
attacks. altho they have generally
seemed to be for moral reasons.
Wc-:an Is Victim.
The latest attack was the first re-
ported as made against woman. The
victim was Mrs. Beulah Johnson, who
was taken from a hotel porch IN
Tenaha. Tex, last night, stripped
, tarred and feathered. 1t was said she
was a bigamist.' The attackers wore
white uniforms. Driving up to the
hotel with a display of firearms, they
are said to have taken the woman
into one of their motor cars and to
Eave proceeded several miles into the
! country, where Mrs. Johnson's clothing
was removed and tar applied. after
which she was returned to the town.
Mrs. johnson said she was employed
at the hotel as a maid and cook.
According to information the au-
thorities have Mrs johnson had been
married three times, the first husband
being dead, while the two others are
still living. The third marriage. II
was said, took place within the las<
eighteen months.
A man named Mcknight of Macog-
odfches, Tex, was beaten by masked
men at Timpson Saturday light.
Minister Is Whipped.
irrt,k cIr cd on
waylaid the Rev. Philip S. Irwin,
white archdeacon of the English
Episcopal church and head of that
church's work among south Florida
negroes. on Sunday evening, took MIN
into the woods and whipped him. then
applied a coat of tar and feathers.
He was returned to town and dumped
from an automobile into the street.
Irwin said his assailants accused him
of preaching social equality to the
negroes.
At Warrensburg. Mo-, on Sunday
night, Richard Johnson, a retired
farmer, was seized and whipped by
three masked men. He was warned
to leave the county, he said.
r. F. Scott, world war veteran, was
dumped from an automobile in coat
of tar and feathers at Beaumont, Tex,
on Saturday night. He was seized by
masked men, while riding along a
country road with two women
Citizens Condemn MobS.
Beeville, Tex, July 1S.-Four hun
dred Bee. county citizens today con-
demned the methods of masked men
and white capperS' in this section
and pledged themselves to give every
aid to police in upholding duly consti-
tuted authority in this county,
1t was brought out that formation
of the Ku Klux Klan in many cities
in Texas had made it easy for bands
rf S1E Cd RnnnPPfPd
the Klan, to commit acts of violence
against victims classified as "unde-
sirable citizens and that men inno-
cent of any charge had been dragged
into automobiles and tarred and
feathered or lashed with whips. A
reward OF $100 has been offered to
any member of the so-called Ku Klux
/ Klan who would stand before a meet
, ing of citizens here and reveal the or
ganization's principles.
To Arrest Missouri Men.
! Warrensburg, Mo, July 18.-Ar-
rests were expected today of three
masked men who late Saturday night
administered a whipping to Richard
Johnson, a 70-year-old farmer. John
son was taken from his wagon as he
was returning to his home. tied to
tree, his clothes torn from him. and
He recognized all three of the men
who flogged him. A family quarrel
is reported as the reason for the at
tack
Victim In Serious Condition.
Nacogodoches, Tex, July 1S.-
Frank Mcknight of Timpson, a neigh
boring town, was reported in a serious
condition today as a result of a flog-
, ging administered Saturday night by
a party of masked men who took him
outside the town, tied him to a tree
and lashed him across the back.