100 Years Ago: March 24-April 6

From The Indianapolis Times, Tuesday, March 27, 1923: Rev. Daisy Douglass Barr, president of the Indiana War Mothers, resigned last evening after a number of gold star mothers had “strongly disapproved” of her reported efforts in organizing a woman’s Cu Clux Clan while attending to her duties as president of their organization. In her letter of resignation to the executive committee, Rev. Barr only mentions that “her evangelical duties and her plans to go abroad this summer made it impossible for her to give the proper attention to the affairs of the State War Mothers.” Alice French, founder of Indiana War Mothers, said a majority of the organization’s members “are not in favor of a woman’s secret organization to correspond to the Ku Klux Klan” and did not approve Rev. Barr’s “using our time and our organization for this purpose.”

From The Indianapolis Star, Monday, April 2, 1923: Last evening during the service being conducted by Rev. Dr. Ellwood Bulgin before a crowd of 12,000 persons at the Cadle Tabernacle, eighteen masked white-robed members of the Ku Klux Klan marched down the aisle, their leader carrying an American flag, to the dais where they formed a circle behind the Oregon evangelist and presented him with an envelope containing $600 (2021: $9,897) in 50-dollar bills and a letter from the “Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Indianapolis Klan, Realm of Indiana.” The letter expressed appreciation for Rev. Bulgin’s work and designated that $300 was for him and $300 was for the Cadle Tabernacle Association. The leader of the group presented the flag to the Tabernacle, and Rev. Bulgin thanked the group as the audience stood and cheered them as they left.