Semper Victurus
"Disce Quasi Semper
Victurus Vive Quasi Cras Moriturus"
("Study like you will live forever; live like you will die
tomorrow".)
Starting in the late
1870's, this rather intimidating phrase was the
Scholastic Magazine credo. Ironically, the Scholastic
proved to be the vehicle which has allowed the daily experiences of Notre
Dame students during the past 150 years to truly "live forever".
Scholastics are a virtual gold mine of Notre Dame history, and more
importantly, of insight into the daily lives of its students. These first
hand reports of campus life, written by student reporters, give a candid and
personal view of important (and trivial) events on the Notre Dame campus.
Joe Madonia, an '82 alum and partner in the Chicago law firm of Wildman,
Harrold, Allen & Dixon, will edit a monthly column of excerpts from his
rare and wonderful collection of original Scholastic Magazines spanning the
period from 1869 - 1931.
There was no mention of the ND-KKK clash in the Scholastic of the period, so
we offer the following article from the April 30, 1974 edition of the Notre
Dame campus newspaper, The Observer. The author was Mary Ellen McAndrews.
THE DAY THE KKK CAME TO TOWN.
It was not Knute Rockne and the Notre Dame football team that made the national wire service that day. Events began Friday evening, May 16, 1924.
Chet Grant who had just come in from Chicago was passing the South Shore Railroad station when he saw groups of people, disembarking, carrying
bundles. The visitors where being met by groups of young men who quickly engaged the visitors in skirmishes in an attempt to wrest their bundles from
them. Mr. Grant who was 32 years old at the time, got curious and it was not
long before he was involved.
That the Ku Klux Klan should have come to South Bend that spring weekend was
not unusual. The Klansmen believed that a big parade and picnic would bring out its members and sympathizers in St. Joseph County and show their power
in an area that was considered to be a Catholic stronghold in Indiana.
Authorities at the University of Notre Dame were worried when they learned that the Klan was coming to town. Long a target of the Klan's anti-Catholic
agitation, Fr. Matthew Walsh, the president, and others were afraid what might ensue if the students were given the chance to express their feelings
about the Klan.
Accordingly, Friday afternoon, May 16th, Fr. Holderith, the Director of Off-Campus students, met with South Bend Chief of Police, Larry Lane, and
talked about the parade that the Klan had scheduled for the next day. Fr. J.H. O'Donnell, Prefect of Discipline, also present at the meeting reported
to Fr. Walsh that Lane had explicitly promised that there would be no parade. O'Donnell explained the problem to Lane:
"You can appreciate my position, Mr. Lane, in trying to keep two thousand red-blooded young men on campus at Notre Dame when an occasion like this
presents itself."
O'Donnell went on to emphasize that it was that it was an orderly student
body and supposedly Lane agreed, not anticipating any trouble the next day.
Still worried, Fr. Walsh issued a bulletin early Saturday morning. It said in part: '...Notre Dame is interested in the proposed meeting of the Klan
but not to the extent of wishing to interfere with whatever plans may have been made for a demonstration. Similar attempts of the Klan to flaunt its
strength have resulted in riotous situations, sometimes in the loss of life...There is only one duty that presents itself to Notre Dame men, under
the circumstances and that is to ignore whatever demonstration may take place today. This suggestion should be taken in all seriousness...Let the
South Bend authorities take care of the situation. The place for Notre Dame men is on the Notre Dame campus..."
Yet, as the day arrived at the campus for their Saturday morning classes they began telling their friends of the number of Klansmen that were pouring
into town and that the "fiery" red [electric] cross that was being burned on
the side of the Klan headquarters at Michigan and Wayne Streets. Heedless of
Fr. Walsh's warning, groups of young men began walking or riding the trolley
downtown that overcast morning.
At about 9:00 am Klansmen, fully robed, began appearing on the street corners of the business district, especially between in the area of the W.
Washington Ave. and Jefferson Blvd. intersections with Michigan Street and at the intersection of Lincoln Way with Jefferson Blvd. They were directing
the incoming visitors from neighboring towns and states to the picnic grounds at Island Park (now Veterans Memorial Park on the North Shore
Drive at the Twychenham Bridge.)
Soon after this activity commenced, groups of Notre Dame students began arriving. By the time an hour had passed half a dozen Klansmen had their
robes torn from them. A Tribune writer reported that "groups of Notre Dame students jumped on Klan sentries, ripped off their regalia and gave them a
roughing up."
As the morning progressed the clashes continued. Mayor Seebirt, sensing possible trouble had a week earlier refused the Klan a permit to parade.
Yet at this time, Klan leaders were still planning to hold it. Before noon Deputy Sheriff John Culley thought he should call out the 152nd infantry of
the National Guard. However, the Governor's permission was needed and when telephoned in Indianapolis, he did not think the situation warrranted it.
Instead thirty special deputies were called up.
According to an article in the Fellowship Forum on May 31, a paper sympathetic to the Klan, the students had taken "forcible possession of the
town" in the morning. The article, entitled "Roman Students of Notre Dame Trample Flag," asserted that the students were largely at fault and that
they roamed the town with little interference from the law:
"To all apprearences the attack by the students was carefully planned. This belief is strengthened by the fact that the Klan count not 'put on anything
in South Bend."
The accounts of who was to blame and whether or not the law officials had done all they could to control the situation varied with the baises of the
reporter. Klan publicity including their official paper, The Fiery Cross condemned the students and other anti-Kluxers while the South Bend Tribune
and the South Bend News tended not to blame wither side directly or else to blame the Klan.
Noontime brought a lull to the violence. Members of the Klan group retired to their headquarters to have lunch and make plans for the afternoon. At
this time, the city again announced that the parade permit was denied. With the Klan gathered inside, a large crowd composed of well over two hundred
students and other anti-Klan sympathizers gathered in the street and sidewalks outside. Members of the crowd began throwing potatoes at the side
of the building. They broke a window on the second floor and two on the third. Bulbs, form the electric red cross which was hanging on the side of
the building were shattered and the cross was soon removed.
All of sudden about one hundred students and a few others entered the building and rushed up the stairs. They were met by Rev. J.H. Horton of the
Calvary Baptist Church (on Blaine and California Avenues) who greeted them with a pointed revolver. He held them at bay and explaining that he was
only protecting the women inside who were eating their lunch.
About 2:00 pm Horton allowed four Notre Dame students to enter the room. The
two sides conferred for about a half and hour. The Klan agreed not to wear their hoods in public and in return the students agreed not to attack the
participants in the parade. Evidently many still believed the parade would be held even though the mayor had said no.
At 2:30, Rev. Horton and D.C. Stephenson jointly announced that the parade would be called off to prevent any further bloodshed. The permit had
been withdrawn they noted, and they did not wish to violate the law. An editorial
in the Fiery Cross later in the week remarked that the hate expressed by the
Notre Dame students was "almost beyond the belief of an American citizen." The editorial blamed the city authorities for not preventing trouble, noting
that since Chief of Police, Lane, and sixty percent of his citizens were Catholic, the Klansmen where left to fend for themselves.
Once the parade was definitely off, the Klan decided to leave town. Chief of
Police Lane went to the park and conferred with Klan leaders. It was agreed that the parade would be rescheduled for sometime in the future. The 1,500
to 2,000 people that had gathered to picnic slowly began to leave.
That afternoon, before Lane had gone to Island Park, Father O'Donnell, Prefect of Dicsipline, had again met with him. Reportedly Lane was notworried and felt that he could handle the situation. He asked Father
O'Donnell to circulate the news that there would be no parade which the later agreed to do.
Anit-Kluxers either did not yet know of the Klan's decision or were just planning for eventualities. At about 3:30 some students and others
gathered in a poolroom on Washington Avenue where one young man asked the group to
stay orderly, should the parade occur. Yet the mood was still anticipatory of trouble as they agreed that they would respond "two thousand strong" if
the police should ask for their help. Most of them left at 5:00 pm having arranged to meet once again on the Jefferson Street bridge at 6:30 pm.
About 6:00 pm it started to rain. It would continue well until midnight. By 6:30 there was a group of anti-Kluxers assembled on the Jefferson St.
bridge. Some Klansmen had already left town; others, including those on a special train from Chicago and four special bus loads from Michigan City,
were just arriving. The crowd was restless and their were a few small clashes.
An anti-Kluxer pulled down a trolley car and was arrested. The streets were filled with people all evening and despite the fact that it was raining and
no parade was to be had. At one point, the state highway patrolman, Gordon Otstot, reputedly active in Klan affairs talked to several of the young men
assembled and warned them that there were 5,000 members of the 'hooded organization" from various states gathered not far outside South Bend.
Luckily no major incidents occured that night. The rain was a great help in dampening people's enthusiasms for battle.
Eight actual arrests had been made that day. Six were said to be anti-Klan sympathizers; it was not mentioned specifically whether they were Notre
Dame students. Three were arrested for assault and battery, tow for using profane
language and one for interfering with a street car. One Klansmen was arrested for carrying a weapon; another for intent to assault, allegedly
with a baseball bat.
The school day Monday was normal. The students talked of the weekend confrontation with the Klan but there was also much talk of the track
team's victory over the Michigan Aggies at Lansing on Saturday. After beating the
University of Illinois 7-0 Friday afternoon, the baseball team lost to St. Viator of Bourbannais, Illinois, 11-6 on Saturday. The New York
Giants, coached by "Jawa" J. McGraw had come to town and had beaten the local team
12-3 Sunday afternoon at Springbrook Park.
However by the time lights went out Monday night trouble had begun anew. Apparently students had heard that Klansmen were holding a meeting in
town and they were going to see what was going on. About 500 began marching toward Klan headquarters but before they arrived they were met by some
Klansmen. Bottles, stones and other objects began to fly between the two groups.
The news got back to campus fast. Someone downtown, most likely a student, telephoned the students' booth in Freshmen Hall (a temporary hall erected in
1922 to relieve the housing shortage). The caller informed the person at the
other end to hurry down, that a well known student was being beaten to death
down by the courthouse. The alarm spread and a number of students began running toward town. They proceeded to get involved and shortly thereafter a
detail of police led by Chief Corwin Hartwick arrived on the scene. Arrests were made. Accounts vary as to the seriousness of the injuries sustained.
some reported that a lot of heads had been bashed in. A Tribune report stated however that there were no real serious injuries; Sgt. Benjamin
Roberts was struck in the jaw and may have broken it. Apart from that, the most serious injury was a broken nose suffered by Bruce Monroe, of 214 Irwin
Ave.
As the police began carting the offenders away to jail, people began to go off in different directions. A number of students gathered in front of the
courthouse and listened as Fr. Walsh mounted the cannon and began to speak.
Walsh urged the students to return to campus whereupon the students formed ranks and in columns of four, marched back to Notre Dame.
On Tuesday morning Mayor Seebirt met with Klan officials and by the end of the day the town was beginning to get back to normal. Out at Notre Dame,
the incident was not soon forgotten. Sentries nervously patrolled the grounds
and every night for the next couple of weeks expecting a Klan attack.
Students had other things to think about too. With less than a month left of
school, the work was piling up and the seniors were thinking of graduation and all that entailed. Senior Ball Week, a big social event was upcoming May
21-23. The Notre Dame Daily was a year old that May and it was being claimed
that the yearbook The Dome was the best ever.
Thus as the days got warmer and vacation grew nearer the incidents of the May 17 weekend were relegated to the past. The Juggler, the literary
magazine commemorated the event in a piece entitled "For a Better Notre Dame." In jest the line "Washington Hall - rent it as a Klan meeting place;
they'll provide the entertainment."
Thus the time was not forgotten and indeed in the next couple of years as the Klan remained strong, the organization's presence would continue to be
felt. But for the time being at least, it would be over.
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