I was telling about the post the other day on the Bald Knobbers. One of my co workers turned and said that his family, when they lived in Missouri, had a personal experience with them!
Apparently, during the time of this incident, the co workers relative was riding home one night, and had stopped to open a fence across the road. He heard horsemen galloping up, and given the time of day and the knowledge that vigilantes were active, he rode off the road and hid in the trees.
In fact, it was a group of Bald Knobbers on their way to burn a neighbor's house down. This neighbor had somehow earned their hostility, and they were out to drive this man out of the territory. As the Knobbers were stopped and in the process of opening the gate, they were speaking of their plan to burn the neighbor out, when one of them actually mentioned the name of the co workers relative, and wondered if he should have his home burned as well.
Fortunately, the consensus was that "he was OK," and so he was left unmolested, but heavens to betsy, that's a close call! He heard them with his own ears!
That, my friends, is your unique historical anecdote for the day.
Group-think can be very dangerous.
ReplyDeleteMy dad's best high school friend was Catholic and apparently some of the KKK around here had it in for Catholics. They sent word through the grapevine that they were going to burn a cross in his back pasture. He sent word back that any man who climbed over his fence would be CARRIED back across. They didn't bother him.
ReplyDeleteShortly after the Civil War, my great-great grandmother was murdered on their farm in Southern Illinois by two "guerillas" (Quantrelle raider types, probably from Missouri)that were hired to help with the harvest. The locals tracked them down and strung 'em up on the spot. A Lutheran minister tried to stop the lynching, but was ignored. All this information was researched by my uncle in their church's archives.
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