KLAN TAKES VENGENCE ON SAND RIDGE PREACHER IN 1910

(03/10/2024)
KLAN WHIPPINGS AT SAND RIDGE

1910 - Dispatches from Grantsville, in Calhoun county, say Rev. Scott Williams, Holiness preacher, was dragged from his bed by fifty Klan whitecaps and severely whipped, after which his tabernacle at Sand Ridge was burned.

Albert and Wesley Poling, who tried to persuade the crowd not to molest the preacher, are also said to have been whipped.

The mob is said to have left with the warning that unless the preacher left the vicinity in ten days he would be visited again and "left hanging to a tree."

The Holiness preacher and his followers have been holding meetings at Sand Ridge for some time and have been the target for bitter criticism, having been threatened several times.

The mob forced its way into the preacher's home by using a fence rail as a battering ram and burst into the room where Rev. Williams and his wife and children were sleeping.

To prevent an outcry, a pillow was held over the face of Mrs. Williams so tightly that she and her baby were almost smothered. The grand jury will investigate.

- Read other stories about the Klan in Calhoun and region, cross burning continuing through 2000.