The North Coast times-eagle., March 01, 2003, Page 4, Image 4

PAGE 4
‘YOU’VE BEEN WANTING A CROSS, NOW
WE’LL GIVE YOU A D-—D FIERY ONE!’
CHARLES DANA GIBSON (1923)
BY HELEN HILL
Dark trends of fear and intolerance have at times swept like a forest fire
through this isolated stretch of coastal paradise. And like a forest fire the causes
of these trends are often difficult to pinpoint, and the remedy and prevention even
more elusive. Should we let the fires burn? Should we agree to accept a certain
amount of cyclical destruction of values; a nod to the same balance of negative
positive energy that keeps the very nucleus of an atom together? Or, by present­
ing the facts, by dedicating time and care to an analysis of the cycles of fear and
intolerance, will future fires be averted?
Imagine: a beautiful young woman in a small, isolated
coastal town whose husband is mysteriously ill in a Catholic
hospital 100 miles away. She is branded one stormy winter
midnight by mysterious men wearing white robes and hoods.
She attempts to level a lawsuit against the officials of the small
town for allowing outrageous acts against a citizen but is buried
at the grand jury hearing and disappears from history.
During this same time, an IWW labor organizer is
hunted down and jailed on charges of inciting anarchy as
one of the last descendants of a legendary tribal chief is hauled
to jail for having a pint of whiskey in his back pocket. Illegal
moonshine, rumors of loose women, concealed weapons, a
crooked police chief, all this in a small town where the local
newspaper editor accuses the big city papers of “mental orgies”
when they dare to report the mysterious events happening on
the other side of the coast range.
A Hollywood movie? No, this is 1923 Tillamook County.
It is difficult to assess the amount (if any) or degree of
terrorizing of the citizens of Tillamook carried out by the Ku Klux
Klan since neither the Klan-controlled Headlight nor the head-in-
the-sand Herald were likely to report these incidents. There are
no records of any personal accounts on file, not surprising since
the county clerk, the police chief and the sheriff were Klansmen
during the years in question. Certainly there were outrages
committed by the Klan in both rural and urban areas in other
parts of the state and the country at this time. In Medford,
a band of hooded night riders was terrorizing the town with
exercises of “100% Americanism.” On several occasions they
would kidnap “undesirables" and drive them to a remote area,
fit them with a hangman’s noose just long enough so that their
feet would barely scrape the ground and hang them for a few
minutes, let them down, and string them up again until they got
the desired confession, or sum of money, or whatever they were
after. The burning cross, symbol of the Klan's reign, was a
frequent sight on Skinner's Butte overlooking Eugene.
The only chance for the reporting of a Klan act against
a citizen in Tillamook County was if the information was leaked
to Portland and came to the attention of The Oregonian or the
I firmly believe that unexplored history can continue to subtly direct and
influence our relationships with each other as well as the institutions that shape
our lives; including our schools, hospitals, community colleges, newspapers,
clubs and social organizations. Perhaps there can be no significant movement
forward until the past is fully known. The value of learning from the past seems
of heightened importance in these challenging post September 11th times when
fear and intolerance have the potential to underline our attitude towards every
stranger we meet.
Portland Telegram or the Oregon Journal, all newspapers not
controlled by the Klan.
One such incident of a Klan attack on a Tillamook
Countian did indeed leak to the Portland papers in January
of 1923, and because it came to be so thoroughly discussed
in the Portland papers and even sent across the national
Associated Press wires, the Headlight was reluctantly forced
to address the incident.
As the only actual record case of a physical assault by
the Klan in Tillamook County, the story bears exploring in detail,
especially as it becomes more revealing as more details are
known. It is fascinating to compare this report of the branding
by the Klan-backed Tillamook Headlight with the investigation
by the Portland Oregonian, and Telegram, and the Associated
Press, which were considered to be objective news sources
during the Klan years. Incidentally, the Headlights rival paper,
the Herald, which seemed to be solidly committed to safely
riding the fence during the Klan years, did not attempt even the
smallest mention of this sensational local case.
First the Tillamook angle; from the top of the front page
of the Headlight, January 19, 1923:
BRANDING STORY GREATLY MAGNIFIED
The “pop dream" which was published in this week's
Sunday papers regarding an alleged branding outrage has
turned out to have been considerably magnified as to details,
according to later statements.
The supposed incident was said to have taken place
November 21 last, but was not brought out in a public way until a
few days ago, when Mrs.(Nevada) Standish and a friend others,
Mrs. Emil Larrson, were apprehended for carrying concealed
weapons in violation of city and state laws. They claimed that
they needed the guns for protection. City and county officials say
that the branding (of Nevada Standish) had later been brought
to their attention. It is said that C.B. Trombley was the first to be
notified of the assault by Mrs. Standish.
A number of statements that were first published were
refuted later by Mrs. Standish. One of these was that the brand­
ing was done by the Ku Klux Klan. Mrs. Standish stated earlier
this week that the branding was not done by the Ku Klux Klan
and stated further that she postively knew one of her assailants
and that the attack was made for fanatical reasons. She named
a man of this city who is well known to be anti-Klan in his
sentiments.
Saturday evening, when it was apparent that the story
was to be published by Portland papers, Mrs. Standish telegra­
phed those papers and stated that the stories they had were
untrue. This did not prevent the tales from appearing, however.
It is said Mrs. Standish has stated that R. H. McGrath
of this city had repeatedly called on her to get her to lay the
blame of the whole affair on the local Klan organization. This,
Mrs. Standish says, she refused to do. It is also rumored that
the Associated Press offered her a large sum of money to
make a positive statement that the Klan was responsible for the
outrage.
The local police were very incensed about a statement
in the Portland papers attributed to Webster Holmes of this city,
that Holmes had seen the police throw a stick of wood at the
Standish home near Stillwell Avenue and that they gave
“piercing yells" at the same time Upon Chief Henry White 's
interviewing Mr. Holmes, the latter said that he had never seen
such an incident So, by that time all the trimmings were taken
from the story and it doesn't amount to very much.
The Klan controlled Headlight was livid that a story
which dared discredit the Tillamook local Klavem 8 was being
aired out in the Portland press and the nationwide AP syndicate.
From a Headlight editorial by the paper’s owner, January 19,
1923:
The wild propaganda scattered to the four winds this
week by two national press associations regarding an alleged
branding in Tillamook shows to local people what little credence
can be placed on metropolitan newspapers in their reports
concerning little known and casual incidents. This practice of
dillating (sic) some small rumor that has been bandied about
from mouth to mouth and of circulating the same as truth has
been the cause of lowering the estimation of such so-called
news mediums in the minds of many vendors.
The worthy editorial staff of some of our larger contem­
poraries evidently believes that the crusade for education has
had small result when they attempt to “put over” such a mess
of verbal manure as appeared in Sunday papers this week.
Metropolitan newspapers these days are not to spread the truth,
they are simply intended as a means for entertainment and as
such they fill their places very well. It is hard for the average
person to comprehend the mental processes of such writers.
Poe can be excused, for he was a drug addict, and his mental
orgies were accepted for what they were.
Comparing the articles of the Portland Oregonian, the
Telegram and the Associated Press to the “mental orgies' of
a drug addict seems a bit extreme, but so was the need for
Tillamook to distance itself from this very damaging story. In
years to come, a compilation of exactly such outrages would
gradually bring about the demise of the Klan, as denials grew
less and less convincing.
The story is fascinating in its blatant contradictions.To
begin with, if Mrs. Standish had wanted to stage a branding in
order to discredit the Klan, as the Headlight claimed, why did
she remain silent and wait nearly two months to speak about the
incident? The scar was, as the Portland papers reported, almost
healed over by that time.There were other stories of Klan brand­
ings throughout the state and the country at this time, and why
then would Mrs. Standish not come forward and accomplish her
end in November when the brand was fresh? Obviously she was
intimidated and afraid of further assault.
The fact she was later arrested by the Klan controlled
Tillamook police for carrying a concealed weapon following the
branding is also interesting. It seems reasonable to assume she
was afraid of additional assaults. The Portland papers reported
that her father had given her the gun and told her to keep it on
her at all times, and to use it if she was assaulted again. How
and why did the Tillamook police arrest her for carrying a
concealed weapon? The circumstances under which she had
been stopped and searched are not told. It doesn’t seem far
fetched to assume that whatever anti-Klan activities she had
taken on which prompted them to brand her in order to silence
her, she had been silenced, but it seems she was still being
watched closely.
Webster Holmes, the attorney representing Mrs. Stan­
dish, stated in The Oregonian he knew of another branding that
had taken place in Bay City.TheOregon/an journalist interviewed
the city recorder of Bay City, who knew nothing of the branding
there, as it had not been reported.
Evidently Nevada's husband A. M. Standish was the
one who originally broke the story to the police and the Portland
papers In an interview he related that he was curious as to why
his wife was wearing an “awkward” high lace collar when she