1923, Midnight KKK Initiation Ceremony in Marion

KKKWhat is believed to be the first initiation of the Ku Klux Klan within the confines of Williamson County since the days of the Bloody Vendetta, took place in a meadow south of Mission or Rascal Ridge schoolhouse shortly after midnight Saturday morning. Some 1500 to 2000 clansmen from Carbondale, Johnston City and other points had gathered to initiate two hundred candidates from various points in Williamson and Franklin County into the mysteries of the order. It is said that many of the candidates who took the oath of the Knights of the Flaming Cross last night are Marion residents, and that the roster of Marion includes many of the city’s most prominent citizens.

The Klansmen began gathering at the junction of the Johnston City and Herrin hard roads long before nine o’clock and at shortly after ten the order to proceed on to Marion was given.

The procession, some four hundred cars in length, winded its way southward, past Halfway and Quarterway to the Marion city limits. Then as the leading car turned east on DeYoung Street one of the occupants held out a red flare from the side of the car and immediately similar flares began burning from every car in line. With torches burning vividly the procession turned up North Market Street around the public square to West Main Street and then out toward the West Main Street hard roads. Many people saw them as they drove swiftly through the streets, but few realized that they were witnessing only the initial performance and that the Klansmen were preparing a show many times more spectacular and impressive than the torch bearer’s procession through the streets of Marion.

The Klansmen were unmasked as they drove through the city, a hood on the head of one of the drivers being the only clue to their identity as members of the Ku Klux Klan and it was noticeable that while there was considerable young blood in the procession, quite a few were men of middle age. The type of men who composed last night’s gathering seemed a refutation of the charge sometimes made that the clan is nothing but a bunch of hoodlums.

One noticeable feature of last night’s initiation was the thoroughness of organization evident in every phase. When the first cars reached the gate leading into the field there were white robed figures on hand to demand of every occupant, the mystic password of the Klan. These ghostly looking figures acted as tollgate keepers all during the initiation and the toll was the spoken password of the organization.

Drivers who did not have the mystic word of admission were told to turn around and drive back to Marion. Most of them obeyed. Some few of the more persistent sightseers managed to remain in the vicinity, but these were kept at a safe distance from the center of attention at the initiation.

White robed sentinels stalked along the fence surrounding the field, close, courteously, but firmly demanding that those who had not the password remain at a distance and warning those who ventured too close to remain at a distance.

As the Klansmen’s cars entered the field, a master of ceremonies directed them to parking places within a huge circle, with the automobile headlights all pointed to the center. This circle formed a barrier, obstructing the view of those outside. At an order, “Lights,” the headlights from the circle of automobiles made the enclosure as light as day. It was within this charmed circle that the initiation ceremony took place.

As the mystic hour of midnight drew closer, the scene took on more and more of a ghostly aspect. The white robed men with their peaked caps and masks looked like specters moving about through the darkness of the night. The Klansmen moved around in the dark with masks lifted, but it was noticeable that when the light of a passing automobile lit up the scene or when they ventured too near the lighted area, or when they asked some bold curiosity seeker for the password, the mask was always pulled down over the face.

At midnight the candidates, none of whom were robed, were lined up in a single column and a call was made in subdued voices. Then, while a lone cornet in broken strains played “Onward Christian Soldiers” they started marching slowly and silently toward the inner circle. As the front of the column reached the foot of the forty foot cross that had been erected for the occasion, the cross burst into flames, presenting the symbol of the Knights of The Flaming Cross against the background of the clouded sky.

While the windblown flames kept the symbol of their new affiliation before them, the two hundred odd candidates took their vows and became full-fledged members of the hooded order.

It was a weird impressive ceremony; lasting well into the wee hours of the morning and it is likely none of the initiates or the handful of non-organization spectators that witnessed the ceremony will ever forget it.

Sam’s Notes:  This ceremony would have taken place roughly were the VA hospital is located today and according to historical notes, these ceremonies were supposedly visible from the Patricia Ann Apartments at the corner of S. Carbon and Copeland Streets.

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(Article from the Marion Daily Republican, July 1923; Reprinted in “Footprints”, Volume 8, #2, 2005)

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