My Urgroßvater’s conversion to Weaverism was “a real curiosity”
“History is affected by discoveries we will make in the future.” — Karl Popper
On January 1, 1863, Port Royal became the site of one of the earliest readings of the Emancipation Proclamation. Union forces captured it and the surrounding South Carolina sea islands in November of 1861. The subsequent “rehearsal for Reconstruction” that took place there, known as the Port Royal Experiment, is how “Gideonite” became a derisive nickname for Abolitionists — and for my great-grandfather.
The “Weaverites” were supporters of James B. Weaver, the People’s Party (Populists) candidate for president in 1892. Their platform included a graduated income tax, public ownership of the railroads, telegraph, and telephone systems, and government-issued currency (Greenbacks). Weaver called for an end to lynchings and attempted to unite poor white farmers and blacks around economic issues. Weaverites were thus a threat to conservative Democrats in power in the South, which included some of my paternal ancestors. However, my great-grandfather (who owned the livery stable in my hometown) became a “real curiosity” for the local press by coming out in support of Weaver late in the campaign.
“The Mercury printed a letter from Maiden last week and credited it to The Enterprise the day before The Enterprise was printed. In this letter was given the name of the only convert from democracy to Thirdpartyism that we have seen claimed for weeks. As the name of any man who would turn to Weaver after his character has been laid bare in all its blackness would be a real curiosity, we give it here in big letters, GEO. KEENER. But Maiden Democrats have counted him as a Gideonite all along, so even this story of one conversion to Weaverism falls to the ground. Weaverites will find out at election that false statements are terrible boomerangs. Truth alone is effective.” — The Newton Enterprise (October 7, 1892)
According to September 30 (1892) edition of The Newton Enterprise, other alleged members of the Maiden Third Party club, according to a note they had received, included: D. F. Shrum, J. L. Shrum, G. P. Strutt, S. A. Bolch, Sidney Carpenter, W. C. Caldwell, Joe Caldwell, W. B. Cline, A. Cook, E. L, Clay, A. B. Eavin, W. A. Fish, J. W. Fisher, W. L. Fry, J. W. Hamlinton, Jonas Harbinson, Lee Howe, Lancen Hartsoe, col., Lee Woodfred, col., A. C. Cloninger, A. L. Keener, J. E. Keever, Q. S. Michael, Sam Parker, Will Parker, L. P. Parker, J. M. Piercy, C. G. Pitts, M. V. Ramsaur, A. M. Shrum, J. C. J. Tomlinson, Z. V. Whitener, R. L. Whitener, M. W. A. Bost, C. W. Measlin, A. W. Whitieer, W. A. Bolch, Charley Sigmon, J. F. Keener, J. R. Hull, M. P. Sigmon, Parker Campbell, E. L. Douglas, Bob Parker, T. L. Litten, W. C. Price, R. A. Bumgarner, J. C. Hope, Hart Lee, George Blankinship, Fed Keever, Pete Cline, Robert Ikerd, Col., Tom Rudisill, Col., and William Gook.
However, the paper also noted that: “People down that way can scan the names and ascertain whether this statement is correct. We imagine they will see a good many names on the list that have since joined the Prohibition club, and a good many others who will vote the Republican ticket.” In October, they editorialized that “it is evident that [Gideon’s Band] is a much worse organization than the Ku Klux, Red String, or any other secret organization that ever before existed in this State. Membership in it is a penitentiary offense, according to both the State and National laws. At least half the members in this county are easily spotted.” On the verge of the election, the November 4th edition of The Newton Enterprise accused a Republican-Weaverite coalition of buying votes in the county:
“The Republican-Gideonite corruption fund has struck Catawba. Sunday night a large slice of it was given to certain men in Newton to use in buying votes. Monday night Republican and Third-Party leaders met in Hickory and started $150 to Clines township Tuesday morning. They hope to buy with money certain men whom they have not been able to capture with their seductive lying words. Not till them coming of the party of the Gideonites was the bribery of voters ever attempted in Catawba…In Catawba township one Republican leader has $300 and has offered one man as high as $20 for his vote.”
Weaver received only 8.5% of the popular vote nationwide (best showing for a Third Party since the Civil War) but 15.8% in North Carolina. The Democrat (Grover Cleveland) won the presidency and unseated the Republican incumbent (Benjamin Harrison). The Democrats also won in Catawba County. According to the Hickory Press on November 17, “Radicalism with all its side-shows…has not been merely repulsed, but fearfully routed.”
“The rain clouds that hung over our city Monday gave forebordings [sic] of an ugly day Tuesday, but during the night the Deity that preserves us drew aside the dark drapery and Tuesday was bright and clear. Thus the democrats polled their appropriate strength and scored a victory over the combined forces of the 1/3ites and republicans — with the working force of the prohibitionists added. The masses were eager to vote and surged to the polls. In spite of the strong feeling and pent up energy the hand to hand conflict was waged quietly and without visible excitement. No more quiet election has ever been held. By 3 o-clock the principle work was done and the democrats were conceded a glorious victory. Whitener was defeated by 162 and the combined forces of our enemies were completely routed. Brave in the fight, we are proud of our victory.” — The Hickory Press (November 10, 1892).
By 1896, ongoing conflicts over fusion with the Democrats (and William Jennings Bryan) and the disenfranchisement of blacks (and poor whites) in the South led to the demise of the Populist Party and increased racial tensions in the South.
“At Maiden last Friday, Lonney Smith, white, and a negro by the name of Loretz got into a fight. Loretz knocked Smith down, Smith’s white friends went to his assistance and Loretz’s colored friend went to his. Before the battle ended about a dozen men were engaged on each side. George Keener knocked a negroe’s teeth out and George Strutt, while he had a negro on the ground, was hit in the head with a rock. Two of the negroes were bound over to court and were brought to Newton jail Saturday. The negroes for a while threatened to take the town and a big battle of the races seemed imminent.” — The Newton Enterprise (August 19, 1898).
In 1900, Charles Brantley Aycock was elected governor following his involvement in the Wilmington insurrection of 1898 and a disfranchisement amendment (authored by Locke Craig and others) was added to our state constitution requiring voters to pay a poll tax and to pass a literacy test. After the referendum approving the amendment passed, ‘The Newton Enterprise’ boasted (10 Aug 1900; Page 2), under a headline that read: “Victory: White Supremacy Sweeps The State,” that “the most notable political contest ever waged in North Carolina is over. The Anglo-Saxon has won. The negro has been taken out of politics.”
Seven year later a Confederate monument was erected on the courthouse lawn, ostensibly to honor Catawbans who participated in the mid-19th century insurgency to preserve slavery and destroy the American experiment. However, it is better understood as a celebration of the victory of this early 20th century White Supremacy Campaign in North Carolina. As noted in the official history of the Catawba County, ‘[t]he whites of the South had restored singular control of their society. The message of the monument left no other interpretation’ (The Catawbans: Crafters of a North Carolina County 1747–1900, Page 77). ‘The closer to Newton, the more some Catawbans clung to the Old South memory they manufactured about their past to help organize the future’ (Page 78).” At least one of George’s sons — my grandfather — would eventually join, then quit (allegedly), and later (at least privately among family) denounce the second Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s as discussed in my book (which I plan to update with new editions as my research continues). Like Bruce Craven, he “was credulous and was caught.”
“Looking back over the long and devious roads that lie between the barbarism of the past and the civilization of today, thinking of the centuries that rolled like waves between these distant shores, we can form some idea of what our fathers suffered — of the mistakes they made — some idea of their ignorance, their stupidity — and some idea of their sense, their goodness, their heroism.”
— Robert Ingersoll (1897)
