White Caps

[Harry]

I've always wondered just what were "White Caps" and I don't mean in rough waters. There is mention in the newspapers of the time of the Grand Jury and Marshal Hilliard being threatened by "White Caps".

In the December 5, 1892 Evening Standard:

"We found a bill against Lizzie A. Borden the day before we came in," said the juryman, "and the next morning, when we were considering another case, the district attorney read us a letter which he had received from Brattleboro, Vt., which was to the effect that the best thing he (the district attorney) could do was to let Lizzie A. Borden out and give her her freedom and then lock Bridget Sullivan up in one cell and John V. Morse in another." And the letter ended: "Now if the jurors find a bill against Lizzie A. Borden look out for White Caps."

After Lizzie had been acquitted this was reported in the Boston Globe of June 24, 1893:

"FALL RIVER, June 23 – Marshal Hilliard has received hundreds of anonymous letters from cranks confessing the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Borden, and from others who threatened him for persecuting an innocent woman.
It is suggested by one correspondent that the friends of Miss Borden should organize and behead the marshal in public, as white-caps may overtake him."

I found the following information on "White Caps" at this site:

http://www.paulmusgrave.net/hoosiervigilantes.htm

"The “white caps,” a vigilante-like group bent on enforcing traditional moral standards with force, were first noticed in 1887 in Indiana before spreading across the nation. White caps refrained from deadly force, preferring to use whipping to punish those accused of being “wife beaters, drunkards, poor providers, immoral couples and individuals, lazy and shiftless men, and petty neighborhood thieves.”

Whether the senders of these letters were actual "White Cap" members or just using their notoriety as a threat is unknown.

[Kat]

I've read that reference but never knew what that was! Thanks Har!
It says they wore disguise. It sounds creepy.
Smacks of KKK.

I suppose in times of lawlessness, people had to do something, like The Bow Street Runners in England, prior to a police force. But 1887 is pretty late for a citizen posse or vigilanteeism (sp).

Interesting stuff...

[Edisto]

Well, the KKK has continued into the modern era, despite our having some kind of formal law-enforcement structure in our communities. I wonder why these "white caps," if indeed they were involved, thought Lizzie was innocent.

When I was a child in North Carolina (1940s), my mother told me a story about one of our neighbors. My mother and the neighbor came from the same home town, but my mother considered the neighbor's family to be her social inferiors. To explain why she felt that way, Mother told me that the neighbor's father had had a cross burned on his property by the KKK. I knew of the KKK only as an archaic organization that tried to keep African-Americans "in their place," and the neighbors were white, so that came as a surprise to me. It seems that our neighbor's mother had died quite young, and her father was left with several small children. He hired a housekeeper to care for the children, and a rumor arose in the neighborhood that he and the housekeeper had a closer relationship than the KKK considered seemly. As a result, they set up and burned a cross as a warning. I'm certainly glad I don't have to view the KKK as a social arbiter!

[nbcatlover]

Very interesting, Harry.