I found the following in the Chickasaw Chieftain of November 16, 1893:
"There seems to be considerable white capping in the central part of the Strip. The seven men arrested Thursday near Pond Creek and taken before United States Commissioner at Enid, were charged with white capping a settler and ordering him off his claim; each placed under a bond of $5,000, in default of which they were sent to jail. The action is brought under the old Ku-Klux law and is causing considerable excitement, as it is understood there are many protective associations in the strip."
Will someone explain to me what "white capping" is? Is it some sort of harassment? And, why were people being whitecapped? The article seems to indicate the offenders were being indicted on civil rights violations, and that's not an offense one sees Federal officers and courts involved in much during this period.

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Will someone explain to me what "white capping" is?

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I, too, have often seen this phrase but didn't really know what it meant. From Webster's Third New International Dictionary: "a member of a group using a white cap as an identifying badge; esp. one of a self-appointed vigilance committee attempting by lynch-law methods to drive away or coerce persons obnoxious to it."

--meursault

The state of Mississippi Code of 1972 states:

SEC. 97-3-87. Threats and intimidation; whitecapping.

Any person or persons who shall, by placards, or other writing, or verbally, attempt by threats, direct or implied, of injury to the person or property of another, to intimidate such other person into an abandonment or change of home or employment, shall, upon conviction, be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding six months, or in the penitentiary not exceeding five years, as the court, in its discretion may determine.
SOURCES: Codes, 1906, Sec. 1398; Hemingway's 1917, Sec. 1141; 1930, Sec. 1173; 1942, Sec. 2416.

I would say it would not be too far of a stretch to state that the term "whitecapping" came from the days of the Ku Klux Klan (wore white "caps" and were out to intimidate).

Any other input?
On the Trail
Diron Ahlquist
Secretary/Editor Oklahombres Journal

Okay, this is from Kentucky: "Whitecapping" flourished from 1885 to 1895, according to court records and "old timers." The word "whitecapping" originated from the fact that men wore white hoods over their heads when they rode out at night to punish those who, in their eyes, were miscreants. White Caps, were people who seize by night, men or women who have given offense by their immoral life...drag them to the woods, flog them severely and warn them to quit the neighborhood." The White Caps were often compared to the Ku Klux Klan, perhaps differing only in that their victims were not solely or largely black. I also found that as time advanced, that by the 1900 to 1930 period, white caps and Klu Klux Klan were synomous in meaning.

Hey Mike, What's there to do down in that part of the Chickasaw Nation at 7:30 in the morning?

My research shows that white capping flourished in the Oklahoma Territory. Their main focus was running black people out of areas and towns where whites had settled. I have never heard of white capping takin place in the Indian Territory. The law was brought to bear on white capping in the Oklahoma Territory and it was curtailed, only to be resurrected after statehood with the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan.

Immediately after the Civil War, the Chickasaw Nation was inundated with freed slaves from the Southern States, many of whom settled in colonies established by Chickasaw freemen. Because they were penniless, petty theft jumped dramatically, driving area farmers and ranchers crazy. Many of these folk, new comers and born theres, were harassed by the Chickasaw authorities including whippings if they wondered too far from home. I've also heard stories of night rider attacks, although the term whitecapping was never used, not did the activity seem to be the work of organized Klan units. Violent discrimination remained a problem in the Chickasaw Nation well past statehood. I understand the mal-treatment was worse in the Choctaw Nation and that part of the reason the Chickasaw freedmen were successful in establishing communities was their willingnes to fight.
My sense of the original article is that it did not involve harassment of blacks as newspapers in this area were not in the least hesitant about crowing over discrimination of blacks and there are several stories about harassment of Bohemian and other sub-sets of miniorities who made the run or bought out someone who did. I'd like to know a bit more about it, anyone know a good resourse?

Mike, you are very correct. Even though whitecappers were not prevalent blacks suffered from time to time in the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations from the prevailing racial attitudes. A good book to read on racial attitudes and actions in the Indian and Oklahoma Territory isContested Territory: Whites, Native Americans and African Americans in Oklahoma, 1865-1907, by Murray Wickett. The book is published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

From Daniel Littlefield, Seminole Burning: A Story of Racial Vengeance (Jackson: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1996):

"Though Oklahoma Territory did not have a lynching record to match that of some states, it had its share of mob action during its short history. Groups . . . had attempted to intimidate black settlers who had come into the territory in such large numbers that whites began to fear what they called 'negro domination.' Generally labeled 'white caps,' these mobs in Oklahoma Territory had warned blacks to leave Downs in 1890, Norman in 1893 and 1896, and Blackwell in 1897. After the Cherokee "Strip opened in 1893, white caps and vigilance committees also intimidated sooners and claim jumpers, cattle and horse thieves, and politicians. They put sooners and claim jumpers on notice at Cross, Kremlin, and Round Pond; they ordered a townsite officer and the mayor of Round Pond out of town; and a vigilance committee organized at Enid to fight cattle rustlers and horse thieves . . . Elsewhere in Oklahoma, reports of vigilance committee activities came from Choctaw City in 1894, Edmond in 1895, and Perry in 1896. . . ."

"Oklahoma Territory had experienced its first lynching on the day after the land rush opened the territory in 1889. From then until 1898 there were at least nine other reported lynchings involving eighteen victims. The most striking statistics regard the race of the victims: two whites, two Mexicans, five blacks, and ten Indians. . . . Through the years, only the Langston City Herald, published at the all-black town of Langston, had consistently printed editorials against lynching and supported Anti-Lynch League organization"(pp. 103-104).

--meursault

That's what I was looking for. The common conception is that thousands of people filled millons of acres of emptiness overnight without conflict. I knew there had to be more to the story. Thanks.
Lee Cruse, 2nd Gov of Oklahoma, was blamed for the multiple lynchings in Oklahoma after statehood because of his insistence on commuting prisoners condemned to be executed. My research indicates that the lynchings Oklahoma experienced were a part of a national trend with wide public acceptance and encouragement. I've often wondered if the Federal Government, and its law enforcement bodies, had been more proactive toward providing equal protection, if there would have been fewer lynchings later.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tower,

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Originally posted by Oklahoma Kid:
I have never heard of white capping takin place in the Indian Territory.

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From Seminole Burning, by Daniel Littlefield:

"Though the national press had claimed that four lynchings had occurred in Indian Territory in 1896, the record was not substantiated. In fact, the territory was relatively free of lynching history. In 1880, a mob of Cherokees and others had crossed the line into the Creek Nation near Fort Gibson and taken two Creek freedmen, alleged to be horse thieves, back into the Cherokee Nation and hanged them. A mob of Creeks and U. S. citizens had threatened to lynch the Buck Gang after their capture at McDermott, Creek Nation, in 1895, but authorities spirited the outlaws off to jail at Fort Smith. As the white population grew in Indian Territory, tensions between them and blacks increased, but the local press had reported no lynchings"(pp. 112-113).

By the way, I highly recommend Littlefield's book. It has what is perhaps a definitive history of vigilantism in the Territories, plus a lot of stuff I'd not seen before on Heck Thomas and Bill Tilghman, who were extensively involved in the aftermath and trial of the mob leaders who burned the Seminole boys.

--meursault

There was some racial violence against blacks and Indians in the Indian Territory, but the perpetrators didn't wear white hoods or caps as they became organized.

I wrote an extensive article for the Oklahombres Journal on Bill Tilghman and the Seminole Burnings case. Another racial incident of note in the Indian Territory took place near the same time as the Seminole Burnings in March of 1898 at Wybark in the Creek Nation. A black man and white woman, farmers, were living common law when a white man attacked and killed them one night. This incident became known as the Wybark tragedy. A number of men from the Wagoner area were arrested, some worked for the MKT Railroad. I have not been able to find out if a trial took place or what eventually happened. I have been contacted by family of the murdered couple recently. There was a little boy that was their child, about 6 years old, who was their when the crime occurred. The little boy is not mentioned in the newspaper stories I have read. The family is trying to find out more information on the case.

In the previous message it states the couple were attacked by a white man. It should read a white mob. sorry about that.

Thanks Art--I'll look for your article. I know the Ft. Smith library has most if not all of the back issues.

The Seminole Burning incident interests me because many participants in the mob, and Mrs. Leard herself, the original murder victim, were members of the extended Lewis clan. By marriage the clan included such surnames as Leard, Early, McKibbon, Cowart, Roper, Adams, Guyer, and Clark. At one point most of them lived in the Choctaw nation, and even claimed to be part Choctaw, but their claim was disallowed by the tribal council.At that point they were evicted and moved into the Cherokee but primarily the Creek Nation. "There were probably some decent folk in the Lewis clan" writes Daniel Littlefield, "but there were a large number of rotten apples in the family barrel."

Bass Reeves had a similar opinion of them, describing the Leards in particular as "regular" whiskey peddlers who had been in business for "some time."

My particular interest is in Alexander S. Lewis, who was arrested by Kinney and Leflore on suspicion of involvement in robbing a Katy train at the Verdigris water tank. The arrest took place at Lewis's farm, or perhaps the land he farmed for others, near Tulsa in the Creek nation. Lewis was, like other members of the extended clan (if indeed he was a member) known to associate with outlaws, in his case the "notorious desperado" Kelp Queen and Jim Johnson, later sentenced to 25 years in the penitentiary for horse theft. And during the trials for the Seminole Burning, many of the accused mob members were defended by the same laywer who defended Alexander S. Lewis at his earlier trial for murder and train robbery--J. Warren Reed.

Suggestive as all this might be, I don't know for a fact if A. S. Lewis was connected with this family, "Lewis" being a very common surname. Nor do I know at this point how to find out. If Lewis was a member of this clan, it would go a long way toward explaining one of the oddities of his trial. Reed found more than a dozen alibi witnesses willing to swear, in what was later proven to be perjured testimony, that Lewis was seen elsewhere at the time of the train robbery. That so many complete strangers would vouch for his whereabouts strongly argues his innocence, for it would be in my opinion unlikely that testimony could be sold and bought on that large a scale, particularly in front in Judge Parker, who could be expected to take a dim view of such behavior. The only reason I can think of to explain this (assuming Lewis was guilty) was that these "complete strangers" were not that at all but members of the clan, as was he, helping out by perjury, something they had been known to do in the past.

If anybody knows anything more about the Lewis clan, and in particular if Alexander S. Lewis was a member of it, I would appreciate hearing about it.

--meursault

You should contact Dr. Littlefield at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He would be able to tell you if this Lewis is a member of the family. Dr. Littlefield has a good grasp on outlaw and lawmen of the Indian Territory.