Page 15 of So in Love
“The letter from Dell is to the Grand Cyclops, who would’ve been the leader of the KKK Den.That was a man named Redmond Stowe, and he was a prominent resident of Ribbon Ridge.”
“How prominent?”
“He was the mayor in the 1880s and his son, Hoyt, was mayor at the time of this letter.The timing, as you’ll see, is important.”He slid the paper, which was in a protective sleeve, in front of her.
The date was scrawled in the upper right corner:July 24, 1902.
Crystal started to read the letter but had trouble deciphering some of the words.The handwriting was terrible, and what she could read showed a deficit of spelling ability, not that Crystal’s was great.
She got to one paragraph that she could read in its entirety.She gasped and lifted her hand to her mouth.
We’re set to meet you at dusk on the 28thwith torshes.That horehouse will go up like a tinderbox.
Crystal lifted her gaze to that of Darryl, who nodded slowly.“Yeah, I think this is about Bird’s Nest Ranch,” he said.“It matches the date of the fire—or at least your archaeology team’s best guess.”
The archaeologists had narrowed the fire to about 1902, so this definitely supported that.“You think this was a Klan attack of some kind?”Crystal asked.
“I don’t know what I think,” Darryl said.“It sure looks that way, though.”
Crystal finished reading the letter, which was signed,Itsub, Dell.
She looked back over at Darryl.“What’s Itsub?”
“A common Klan sign-off: ‘In the sacred unfailing bond.’”
Crystal’s lip curled.“That’s disgusting.”
“I can’t disagree with you there.The Klan was very active in Oregon in the 1920s, but this is the first I’ve seen of it earlier than that.I’m keen to do more research of course.”
“I bet.”She wasn’t surprised; Darryl was just as interested in all this as she was.Everything she’d learned about research was because of him.She sat back in her chair.“So, we’ve got a KKK—what did you call it?”
“A Den.That’s what the local chapters were called.Look up Klan terminology on Wikipedia if you want to check out all the silly names they employed.”
“Such as Grand Cyclops.”She shook her head.“Ridiculous.So he was the guy in charge,andhe was mayor of Ribbon Ridge.”She blew out a breath, wondering what her friends would think, whatanyonein Ribbon Ridge would think.Did they even know?“You mentioned this is the first you’ve found of KKK activity before the 1920s.Is it strange that you haven’t run into this before?”
He lifted a shoulder.“Perhaps.Or not.The Klan was very active in the years after the Civil War, but then it faded somewhat until around 1915 when there was a resurgence with the rise of nationalism.”
Crystal thought for a moment.“We read a ton of documents from the Archers, and I never saw anything about the Klan or about the Stowe family.In fact, I don’t know any Stowes—not that I know everyone in Ribbon Ridge.Maybe they died out or moved on?”
He wagged his eyebrows at her over the top of his glasses.“You must know I already have an answer for that.”
She laughed.“Yes, you’re quite thorough.What did you find out?”
“One Stowe in Ribbon Ridge—Randy.Born in 1958.I have an address and phone number.”His unanswered question hung in the air—did they want to contact him?
Crystal slumped in her chair.“How does that conversation go exactly?‘Hi, I wanted to talk to you about your ancestor who was a leader in the KKK and may have burned down a brothel outside town.Do you know anything about that?’”
Darryl leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest.“I have the same concerns.I’m trying to think of a way to approach it.We just have to come from a purely academic place.”
“Agreed.Let me talk to Kelsey.Since she’s the librarian in Ribbon Ridge and the one in charge of the history project there, maybe she’s the person who should approach him.”
“Not a bad idea.I’m happy to lend my support.”
“That would be good too.”
He peered at her, cocking his head to the side.“Have you decided what you’re going to do with what you learn?”Before the holidays, he’d asked what she planned to do with all the information she’d accumulated.“Your passion for this shouldn’t be wasted.I still say you should write a book.”
Except she wasn’t a good writer.Or so she thought.Alaina was constantly telling her to write about this too.She’d started to consider it, and now the story seemed like it was begging to be told.She just wasn’t sure if she was the right person to bring it to life.
