The Knights of Liberty (sometimes Liberty Knights, Loyalty Knights, or Knights of Loyalty) was an American volunteer nationalist secret society and vigilance committee active circa 1917–1918, claiming responsibility for violence against perceived disloyalty during World War I. They are known for the 1917 Tulsa Outrage in Oklahoma, the 1918 lynching of Olli Kinkkonen in Minnesota, and a spree of 1918 tarring and feathering events in Wisconsin and California.

Background

On April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on the German Empire, entering into World War I. Needing additional manpower to ensure the nation's security domestically and appealing to Americans' sense of volunteerism and "vigilante tradition", President Woodrow Wilson authorized the founding of the semi-official American Protective League that year. Other similar organizations sprang up, including the Knights of Liberty, National Security League, Boy Spies of America, Sedition Slammers, American Rights League, American Defense League, and Anti-Yellow-Dog League. These organizations, encouraged by local, state, and federal government, had a goal of targeting those they considered disloyal.

The extent of the Knights of Liberty's relationship to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) has been debated. KKK member and Tulsa community leader W. Tate Brady was identified as having led the group's initial attack on Industrial Workers of the World members in 1917. Contemporaneously described as a "modern Ku Klux Klan", "Klu Klux Clan [sic] organization", and "'Ku-Klux' of Oklahomans", it is unclear whether such terms were comparisons to the Klan's secretive and violent nature or if the organizations were actually related. Since the second Klan, which was founded in 1915, is believed by most scholars to have barely existed outside of Georgia until around 1920, the 1917 articles referring to the Knights of Liberty as an "Oklahoma Klan" are probably referring to the similar violence, robes, and secrecy of the Knights of Liberty and the Reconstruction-era Klan, rather than an actual affiliation between the Knights of Liberty and the Georgia Klan that had started 2 years earlier. Some writers have referred to the Knights of Liberty as a "suspected branch" of the Klan, while others have called the KKK a "different franchise from the Knights perhaps, but with overlapping membership and a similar propensity for showy and sadistic violence." Some scholars have linked the Knights to the KKK participation in the later 1921 Tulsa race massacre, which has in turn, been questioned by others. In 1949, a member of one KKK offshoot told the Saturday Evening Post regarding such groups, "They go under all sorts of names. Some of them—like the Knights of Liberty and the Seventy-Sixers—don't even have the word Klan in their title. But they ain't a thing but old Ku Kluxes."

Criticism of the war effort led to a number of violent incidents, including abductions, beatings, tarring and feathering cases, and lynchings in 1917 and 1918. The Knights of Liberty claimed responsibility for a number of these incidents and threats. These included actions directed at those suspected of pro-German sentiment, as well as labor activists, pacifists, and "slackers" (similar to the later term draft dodgers) around the country. The Knights of Liberty's actions were covered in a number of US newspapers as well as abroad. The organization's membership and aims were described in 1918 by one newspaper:

Particularly in the spring of 1918, anti-German sentiment grew significantly as Americans heard of the happenings on the Western Front. A Council of National Defense representative for the Midwest commented, "All over this part of the country men are being tarred and feathered and some are being lynched. ... These cases do not get into the newspapers nor is an effort ever made to punish the individuals concerned. In fact, as a rule, it has the complete backing of public opinion ..." Though Wilson would later denounce mob violence in July 1918, a response described as slow and "muted", actions aimed at the disloyal continued; many believed in an obligation to assist the nation through patriotic vigilance and coercion.

Threats The Knights of Liberty's threats to local residents were published in newspapers:

Incidents

Oklahoma The organization initially started in 1917 as a vigilance committee focusing on labor: one author writes, "Tulsa business men organized the 'Knights of Liberty' to serve as their shock troops." Over the course of the year, the local Tulsa Daily World had focused on the supposed German control of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) union. On November 9, 1917, the Knights of Liberty perpetrated the Tulsa Outrage. That day, eleven I.W.W. members were convicted of vagrancy or failure to own liberty bonds. While being taken to the county jail along with six others who had been arrested, they were abducted by forty to fifty men – led by KKK member and Tulsa founder W. Tate Brady and police chief Ed Lucas – wearing black robes and masks calling themselves the Knights of Liberty. The seventeen men were taken to a deserted area where they were stripped and each bound to a tree, whipped, and tarred and feathered. Chased off with guns through barbed wire, they were turned away by local farmers "in the name of the outraged women and children of Belgium". The men returned to Tulsa to find threatening signs posted around the city signed by the "Vigilance Committee". Acting with state and local government support, prominent community members were among the mob. The local newspaper stated no effort was made to determine who the forty to fifty men were. Articles about the event were widely published throughout the country and other Knights of Liberty groups formed shortly afterwards. In 2001, the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa race massacre called the incident "an important step along the road to the race riot."

In March 1918, ten cars of masked men belonging to the Knights of Liberty kidnapped two farmers, Henry Huffman and O. F. Westbrook, in Altus, Oklahoma. The two were said to have supported German aims, not purchased liberty bonds, and "openly had cursed the government". They were stripped, whipped, tarred and feathered, and forced to kiss the American flag. They were told to leave the county. A newspaper report stated that the Knights of Liberty in southwest Oklahoma had over 500 members and that "more tarring and feathering activities are expected." Making a connection between the Knights of Liberty and the Ku Klux Klan, one newspaper headline regarding the incident read "Ku Klux Klans Are Busy", while another read "Modern Ku Klux to Chastise Slackers".

In Tulsa in April 1918, the Knights of Liberty kidnapped, stripped, whipped, and tarred and feathered John Kubecka, a German American. He was said to have made derogatory statements about the government.

In Durant, the Knights of Liberty abducted "Red" Scott, a man held in the city jail for vagrancy, in May that year. He was tied to a tree and flogged, with a threat signed by the Knights of Liberty posted above his head, stating, "This is a convict, loafer and thug. Loafers, disloyalists and crooks cannot stay in Durant. Every 'vag' not at work in twenty-four hours will be dealt with severely."

An Enid newspaper framed several June 1918 occurrences in positive, religious terms: "as a result of their evangelistic propaganda", an Austrian American farmer who had not purchased any liberty bonds was beaten and "[converted] to giving gospel" by the "accommodating Knights", while their "proselytizing" had a "wholesome", "salutory" impact on several others. In another event in Enid, a laundry wagon driver thought he had seen a portrait of the Kaiser on the wall of an old woman's home, leading him to notify the county clerk. The clerk in turn informed the Knights of Liberty, who went to her home to discover it was a portrait of Allied commander General Foch.

On September 20, 1918, the Knights of Liberty began to repeatedly threaten Julius Hüssy, the editor of , a German-language weekly newspaper. He was threatened with mob violence if he did not stop publishing the newspaper by October 4. On October 17, fifty men, some of whom were well-known community members or in public service, showed up and threatened him in person, causing him to shutter his newspaper after 18 years.

Two or three dozen black-clad and masked Knights of Liberty appeared in Tulsa in October 1918 to warn citizens to purchase liberty bonds. An October 1919 article stated the Tulsa Knights of Liberty were considering re-forming in order to fight car theft.

Minnesota The organization announced its presence in Minnesota in March 1918, when it began sending threats signed "The Knights of Liberty, Minnesota Division" to two suspected pro-German residents. At the time they were estimated to have 500 members in Duluth. There, their first victim – Gustaf Landin, a Swedish American photographer – had previously made negative comments about the sale of liberty bonds and "governmental things in general". He was lured from home under the pretense of photographing a wedding party, then driven to a deserted area. Landin's clothes were torn off; he was whipped, tarred and feathered. He was made to kiss the American flag and his life threatened. He was told to warn the other men they had previously threatened. The group was described as being a "thoroughly organized group of men". In April, they painted a Bemidji shop-owner's store yellow, telling him he had 30 days to leave town. Later that year in September, several Duluth men including Finnish American dockworker Olli Kinkkonen renounced their citizenship to avoid fighting in World War I. The Knights of Liberty threatened the men; the letter was published in the local news. Kinkkonen was abducted from his boarding house, tarred and feathered, and lynched in a Duluth park. His body was discovered two weeks later and declared a suicide due to humiliation. Stating the act was a warning to other slackers, the Knights of Liberty took responsibility. Other local newspapers and the Nonpartisan League decried the official explanation and lack of investigation into the event. The governor offered a reward for information but no further action was taken.

In April 1919, the Knights of Liberty claimed in an Ely newspaper that they were still active around the country.

Wisconsin At the beginning of World War I, Wisconsin – with its many German residents and first-generation German immigrants – had a lower level of support for war against the Germans, leading it to be called the "Traitor State". Organizations including the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion and Council of Defense took action to intimidate residents. The Knights of Liberty claimed responsibility for a series of tarring and feathering attacks in the Ashland area between the spring and fall of 1918, stating, "We have no purpose to do injustice to any man, but we do feel that any treasonable and seditious acts, or utterances, demand prompt punishment. These cases must not be allowed to run indefinitely, without anything being done. We want action and we want it now."

In March 1918, E. A. Schimler (sometimes spelled Schimmel), a language professor at Northland College from Germany, was suspected by the Knights of Liberty of being a German agent. They kidnapped, tarred and feathered him. He described the attack as well-organized; the Knights referred to their treatment of him as "lenient". The case was not investigated. Weeks later, suspected pro-German bartender Adolph Anton was abducted, stripped, tarred and feathered. He and his wife claimed to recognize two of the men; the cases were dismissed – a decision cheered by local spectators – and he moved to Indiana.