Harold the Klansman

Ruth Babcock was a heroine. To be sure folk did not think of her as deserving a place in any catalogue where the names of heroic folk are recorded. She was known in the community as a girl with a kindly heart and plenty of grit. She was descended from fighting stock--her mother, who had died when she was twelve years old, was the daughter of an ex-confederate colonel, Clayton Jameson. She had run away from home to marry Fred Babcock, the son of Major Babcock of General Sherman's staff.

The Jamesons were opposed to the match. Their family was one of the oldest and most aristocratic of Virginia. They knew nothing of young Babcock except that he was an intelligent, well mannered young man and the son of a major who had fought against the Southland during the war. Caroline Jameson had a number of suitors, scions of "best families," but, contrary to her parents' wishes, she refused to accept any of these and insisted on marrying Fred Babcock. When her parents positively refused to give their consent, she defied them and eloped with him.

They came West and settled in the town of Zala, where young Babcock secured employment in the only bank of the town. When the baby came and Caroline Babcock wrote her parents that they had named their baby girl Ruth, in honor of her mother, the Babcocks received a letter, by return mail, containing a message of forgiveness and blessing and insisting that they come home on a visit and give the grandparents an opportunity to become acquainted with their granddaughter. In this way the estrangement came to an end.

Two years before this story opens, when Ruth was eighteen, an event happened which brought Ruth, who had just graduated from high school, face to face with the stern realities of life. Her father was at this time president of the bank where he had worked for twenty years. Through careful economy he had become the principal stockholder. Ruth had noticed for several weeks that her father was nervous and worried. One night he was called out of bed and had a conference with Dick Watson, his cashier, and Jim Stover, the president of Wilford Springs Central State Bank. The next morning after this conference her father told her that Stover was helping him out of a little difficulty he was having in his banking business. That morning Stover took charge of the Ranchmen's Bank of Zala. The same afternoon her father was hurt in an automobile accident. He was seriously injured, and for a time his life was despaired of. He had partially recovered from the injury, but with his memory destroyed to the extent that he could remember nothing that had transpired before the accident.

When Ruth inquired about the business she was told by Stover that he had bought her father's bank stock for twenty thousand dollars. She found a balance of only twelve hundred dollars to her father's credit. Stover informed her that her father had been in debt to him in the sum of twenty thousand dollars and that he had taken the stock to accommodate him. He showed her the assignment which her father had made.

Most of the twelve hundred dollars was spent for hospital fees and doctor bills. When her father was brought home, unable still to take up active work and with his memory gone, Ruth found herself confronted with the problem of how to earn a living for herself and family.

After consulting with Mr. Stover, she decided to take a stenographic course in a business college. In order to provide the money to do this she sold the home in Zala and moved with her father and aunt (who, since the death of her mother, had been their housekeeper) to Wilford Springs where there was a good business college. As she must husband her resources she felt it would be advisable to rent a residence and live at home; another consideration was her father's condition. She could not bring herself to the point where she was willing to leave him in Zala with her aunt; besides, after disposing of the home, she concluded that the expense of living in Wilford Springs with the family all together would not be as great as if part were to remain at Zala. After a year in business college she felt qualified for a position. It was imperative that she get employment as soon as possible as her finances were getting low again.

She went to her friend and former advisor, Jim Stover, to ask his assistance in securing employment. Much to her surprise he offered her a position in the Wilford Springs Central State Bank. It was with a great deal of figuring--close figuring, too--that she met the bills of her family with the meager salary she received as stenographer.

One evening, after she had been employed in the bank about a year, as she stepped out on the street she met her friend Harold King, a young architect, whom she had met soon after coming to Wilford Springs.

"Hello, Ruth."

"Hello, Harold."

"Which way, Ruth?"

"I am going down to Smith and Son's Grocery Store to get some groceries, then I intend to catch a Sylvan Avenue car."

"If you have no objections I will walk with you to the grocery."

"None whatever. I always enjoy good company."

"How is your father?"

"Apparently there is no change in him. He has a good appetite and rests well but gets very nervous at times and his memory doesn't come back to him. If I only had the money I would take him to Dr. Lilly, who is recognized as one of the best mental and nerve specialists in the United States."

"It is too bad that so many of us have to be so often hampered for money," he remarked.

"I can stand it except when we need it for the services of a doctor. I don't mind having to wear the old dress longer than most girls wear theirs, but when Daddy is in the condition he is and I think there might be some help for him if I just had the money then the lack of it hurts."

"Don't worry," he remarked, endeavoring to comfort her, "circumstances may soon change."

"Circumstances must change. I'll make them change," she said with determination.

"Ruth, I wish I could help in some way. Maybe, if someone would suggest to Stover that he raise your salary he would do so."

"He might. I have worked there a year. He seems pleased with my work but has raised my salary only once and that raise was but ten dollars. Of course, I wouldn't want to ask any of my friends to make a suggestion of that kind to my employer."

The subject of salary was dropped and Ruth remarked, "There was a man in the bank today who said that there is an organizer of the Ku Klux Klan in town and that he wants to organize here."

"I hadn't heard that," he replied, "but I have been reading considerable about Klan activities."

"You haven't read much that was good of them, have you?" she asked.

"Well, yes; I have read of some charitable deeds of the Klan and also of some other good things that they have done."

"The most I have read of them were accounts of where they had whipped someone or given somebody a coat of tar and feathers. Mr. Stover said that it would be a disgrace to the city to have a Klan here. He says that it's an outlaw organization."

"Really, Ruth, I don't know enough about it to judge."

"Here is Smith and Son's. Goodbye."

When she reached home, not seeing her father, she asked for him.

"He just went for a little walk down the street."

"How is he?"

"He has been talking all day about that safe combination," Aunt Clara answered.

"I was in hopes he had gotten his mind off of that. He hadn't mentioned it before since I told him they had found the combination and opened the safe. Which way did he go? I will go and meet him."

"He started east on this street."

She walked several blocks east but saw nothing of her father, and was about to turn back when she looked down a side street and saw him only a short distance away. She waved her hand to him and he waved his in answer. She was soon by his side. "How are you, Daddy?" she asked.

"Busy, Ruth; very busy. I have been trying to remember the combination to that safe. I almost had it once--I got as far as two turns to the right and then back to the left to forty. I can't remember any more."

"What safe is it, Daddy?"

"My safe; where all our money is locked up. We wouldn't be poor if I could find that safe and get it open."