Klansmen Flog Al Barker, Bud Combs, Man Named Turnmire, for "Misconduct," Feb. 7, 1925

Whipping of Three Men May Lead Now to Suits in Court. . . Rumored That One Man of West Jefferson Who was Flogged by Masked Men Will Take Case to Court. . . Klansmen Charged with Floggings. . . Sheriff of County Says He and Other Officers Are Capable of Preserving Law and Order Without Klan

By the Associated Press

Jefferson, N.C., Feb. 7—With legal action threatened against alleged members of the Knights of the Ku Klux by at least one victim of masked and robed floggers, and reports of an anti-Klan organization being secretly formed, tension persisted at West Jefferson today, although there had been no raids such as characterized several nights last week for three or four days. Several liquor raids, and at least three floggings occurred in and around West Jefferson, all performed by men in masks and robes, and alleged to claim membership in the Klan.

Reports that many persons were arming and that further activities by the masked bands might be followed by bloodshed persisted.

Sheriff J.W. Hampton in a statement declared that there was no need for the Ku Klux Klan in Ashe county, and that the love enforcement agencies had not broken down. He asserted that he and his men were doing all possible to enforce the law, and that they stood ready to serve any warrants issued for any offense whatsoever. He pleaded for the support of the citizens of the county “as citizens.”

The tree men who were flogged, it is said, committed no crimes, the floggers merely making general charges of misconduct. They were: Al Barker, Bud Combs, and a man named Turnmire. Barker, it is said, plans legal action against some men as yet unnamed.

As many as 200 masked and robed men have participated in one raid, according to word from West Jefferson. This many one night stopped a small coupe by shooting at it, and puncturing the gasoline tank. Nothing illegal was found in the car, but it is alleged that file gallons of whiskey was found in the bushes nearby. W.S. Graybeard of Hemlock, who was in the car, was taken before the United States commissioner and held as a witness. Warrants were sworn out against Henry Hartson and Guy Riddle, but neither has been apprehended. On this night Major Allen of West Jefferson and Alderman W.C. Johnson and Constable W.V. Woodie were called out by the masked men and accompanied them on the raid.

From the front page of the Concord Daily Tribune, Feb. 7, 1925

newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1925-02-07/ed-1/seq-1/#words=FEBRUARY+7%2C+1925