The Invisible Empire Strikes Back

Our Graphical History Tour returns today to Oklahoma in 1923, when Progressive Democrat Governor John C. Walton resorted to martial law to combat the Ku Klux Klan.

"The Outcast" by Sam Armstrong in Tacoma News-Tribune Oct. 3, 1923

When we left Oklahoma last month. Walton had put the military in charge of Tulsa and Okmulgee Counties to put an end to the Klan's reign of terror there. Walton then extended martial law to the rest of the state, censoring the press, and widening military authority to investigate and prosecute crimes of the Klan.

"The Zero Hour" by Grover Page in Louisville Courier-Journal, Oct. 2, 1023

Outraged by Walton's actions, the state legislature scheduled a popular referendum for Tuesday, October 2, asking voters to approve an amendment to the state constitution allowing the legislature to convene a special session — something up to then only the Governor could do — for the purpose of impeaching Walton.

"Which" by Loring in Daily Oklahoman, Oct. 2, 1923

In my post a fortnight ago, I commented that it's a shame there were no local editorial cartoonists in Oklahoma; but I have since found an apparently home-grown editorial cartoon. It ran on the front page of the Daily Oklahoman on election day, and appears to be the only Loring cartoon to appear in the Daily Oklahoman all October. (Their editorial page ran "Ding" Darling cartoons nearly every day.)

"When Night-hood Was in Flower" by Butler in Oklahoma Leader, Oct. 5, 1923

The Farmer-Labor weekly Oklahoma Leader appears to have taken on a cartoonist named Butler for a series of front-page cartoons titled "When Night-hood Was In Flower." (The klansman's wife in the above cartoon is saying "—My very best sheet, too!")

"When Night-hood Was in Flower" by Butler in Oklahoma Leader, Oct. 12, 1923

Butler's cartoons, at least those in October, were more focused on mocking the Klan than having anything at all to say about the governor or the legislature.

"Sitting on the Lid" by Roy James in St. Louis Star, October 2, 1923

Meanwhile: Walton threatened to send out 22,000 armed officers to prevent the election from being held, and there were brief confrontations in Tulsa the day before the election. Officials in Cimmaron, Bryan, and Harper Counties ignored the legislature's call to open polling places, voting was heavy, however, in Oklahoma's remaining 74 counties — in spite of heavy rains.

"I'm Still Governor" by Clifford Berryman in Washington Evening Star, October 3, 1923

When the votes were counted, Walton lost decisively throughout the state, including in Red River Valley counties where he had found his strongest support in the previous year's election. The legislature proceeded to call its special session.

"The fight on the Invisible Empire has just started," Walton defiantly told reporters. "I am still Governor of Oklahoma." 

Walton then turned to the state Supreme Court, asking it to nullify the October 2 election on the grounds of being unconstitutional.

"It Doesn't Look So Bad Today" by Bill Sykes for Philadelphia Public Ledger, October (?), 1923

The Daily Oklahoman ran this cartoon on its front page on October 4; I don't have its original date of publication in Philadelphia, so there is a possibility that it predated the election. In that case, the caption may have been the creation of the Oklahoman's editors rather than the cartoonist.

This next Sykes cartoon was certainly drawn after the election results were known.

"Logical Results" by Bill Sykes in Philadelphia Public Ledger, by Oct. 11, 1923

If, other than the Louisville Courier-Journal's Grover Page, out-of-state cartoonists who had earlier praised Walton for standing up to the Klan were now silent, perhaps they saw his ends as admirable, but the means indefensible. Yet one could hardly criticize the governor without seeming to sympathize with the Klan, which was, of course, actively supporting impeachment proceedings. Editorial cartoons are not particularly well-suited to nuance.

The Klan's influence inside the Oklahoma legislature was a known fact. Some of the representatives in state government were not merely sympathetic to the Klan, but members of it. Oklahoma-based Harlow's Weekly editorialized on October 6: "[T]he responsibility of Klan members of the legislature to be certain that everything they do is absolutely justifiable by facts made clear to the people of the state and the rest of the nation, is multiplied many times. No impeachment of Governor Walton which is based merely upon the fact that he is attacking the Klan can be made to stand up in the public's mind."

"Job" by Dennis McCarthy in Fort Worth Record, Oct. 18, 1923

Interrupting Oklahoma's political upheaval, those heavy rains that dampened the October 2 election kept pounding the state over the next two weeks — unleashing a horrific flood on Oklahoma City in mid-October. Thousands were left homeless.

The Oklahoma House would, a week after the flooding, vote to impeach Governor Walton.

"All Set for the Big Show" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, Oct. 14, 1923