Oklahoma KKK Submits to Order to Remove Robes and Masks; Promises Action at Next Election, Sept. 11, 1923

Ku Klux Ordered to Discard Masks and Robes in Future. . . Invisible Empire in Oklahoma Submits to the Edict Governor Walton Against Masked Parades. . . Masks and Hoods No More in Public. . . The Klan Decided to Bow to Ultimatum Laid Down by Gov. Walton, but Not Without Protest

By the Associated Press

Oklahoma City, Okla., Sept. 11—The Invisible Empire has laid aside its invisibility in Oklahoma, submitting to the edict of Governor J.C. Walton against masked parades and meetings.

All members of the Ku Klux Klan in the State have orders from the Grand Dragon of Oklahoma realm that robes and hoods must no longer be worn in public.

The unmasking of the Klan left Gov. Walton in command of the field in his war on secret organizations, to which he attributes floggings and other outrages, but it was not without protest that the Klan officials decided to bow to his ultimatum.

Grand Dragon Jewett made a claim that only the governor’s threat of martial law for communities in which the masked demonstrations were held led to the decision to discard the robes and masks in the future.

The Klan meeting near Bristow last night was the first to unmask.

Basil H. Newton of Atlanta, a national lecturer, delivered the principal address, declared the Klansmen in Oklahoma would not resist the “czar” but would satisfy themselves with action in the next election.

From the front page of the Concord Daily Tribune, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 1923