#OTD in 1923, the Ku Klux Klan attempted to kidnap farmer and rail worker Otto Lange from his front porch in Burleson County. The resulting case shows the complicated relationship between Rangers and the Klan.
Lange was with his elderly mother and young daughter when the Klan arrived. When he resisted, Klansmen pistol-whipped his mother, shot his daughter in her hand, and killed Lange.
Acting Governor Lynch Davidson sent the Texas Rangers to investigate, but the case was apparently forgotten, with the Rangers reporting nothing back. In contrast, Texas papers widely reported on the involvement of the Klan.
This begs the question as to why the Ranger force dismissed the case as unimportant, not once, but twice, and drew the attention of the press for this direct disobedience of Davidson’s command.
However, Davidson’s pushing led to prosecution of Klan cases in the surrounding areas, with him sending Rangers to Port Arthur, Wichita Falls, and Amarillo to investigate flogging cases.
These investigations into floggings of the enemies of the Klan were headed by Frank Hamer, who would later gain national fame for his involvement in the pursuit and ambush of Bonnie and Clyde.
Hamer had previously threatened to kill J.T. Canales and had a track record of overlooking racial violence and extralegal killings, so the lack of evidence turned up in many of these cases is not surprising.
View previous Twitter thread on Frank Hammer.
Following these fruitless investigations by the Rangers, Davidson issued a $500 reward (today’s equivalent would be $8,870) for any information leading to the arrest of the man who had killed Lange.
This reward led to the June 1926 arrest of Kinch Shelburne and Charles Balke, for the murder of Otto Lange. With over twelve witnesses for the county testifying they had been members of the Klan at the time, the question of an unbiased jury was one raised during the trial.
While only Kinch ended up being charged, he received a light sentence- a mere 5 years for the murder of Lange, and was able to appeal his sentence in September of 1927.
The failure of Rangers to turn up anybody of interest in this investigation speaks to the priorities of the Rangers. Renowned for their violence against ethnic Mexicans, they were lackadaisical when it came to Klan violence.
In summation, this thread points to the negligence of the Rangers in finding the killer of Otto Lange, and shows they played little-to-no part in the following events that led to the arrest and charging of Kinch.
Information for this thread is thanks in large part to the newspaper archives of the University of North Texas, as well as David Mark Chalmers’ book, Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan.
This thread is a part of the #OTD in Ranger history campaign that @Refusing2Forget is running this year. Follow this twitter handle or https://refusingtoforget.org/ranger-bicentennial-project/, and visit our website https://refusingtoforget.org to learn more.
Refusing to Forget members are @ccarmonawriter @carmona2208 @acerift @soniahistoria @BenjaminHJohns1 @LeahLochoa @MonicaMnzMtz and @Alacranita, another co-founder is @GonzalesT956
@emmpask @sdcroll @HistoryBrian @LorienTinuviel @hangryhistorian, @ddsanchez432, @elprofeml, and @littlejohnjeff are other scholars working on this project.
