Chicago to Springfield:: Crime and Politics in the 1920s (Images of America (Arcadia Publishing)) (13 page)

The
Tribune
quoted William Harrison, “Len Small, you know that the Ku Klux Klan despises the people of our race and has despised, whipped, lynched, mutilated and murdered our people during all the years since the broken bodies of our forefathers dripped blood in the wake of the night-riding Klan. Len Small, now you ask the Negro vote. How dare you do so? Look at the picture and answer us. How dare you ask the citizens of our race to vote for you, the friend and ally of the Ku Klux Klan?” This bizarre picture shows the hooded hoodlums enjoying a day at the fairgrounds. (ALPLM.)

The legislature called Small to testify in 1923 about allowing the Klan to use state facilities, such as the state fairgrounds, the Chicago armory, and the Springfield arsenal, for their robe initiations and cross burnings. Small denied being a Klansman. Albert Livingstone, the secretary of the senate, said the Klan barred no one on account of religion or race. State representative Adelbert Roberts (seen here), an African American Republican from Chicago, shot back, “I am an American citizen and a college graduate. Please bring me an application for membership in the Ku Klux Klan tomorrow.” (KPL.)

Small’s Democratic opponent in 1924 was Judge Norman Jones, who claimed the Klan was openly working for Small. He said, “The Ku Klux Klan has made itself an issue in this campaign, not only by openly defying the Constitution of the United States but by injecting itself into politics in support of the reelection of its friend and aide, Gov. Len Small. We want no Klan-ruled state in Illinois.” Jones lost to Small in 1924. Jones served as a justice on the Illinois Supreme Court from 1931 until his death in 1940. (KPL.)

One of the most infamous tragedies in Illinois history is the Herrin massacre in 1922. During a coal strike, owners of the Herrin mine hired strikebreakers. An armed mob of union miners captured the strikebreakers and slaughtered 20 of them. (JR.)

This tragedy did not happen overnight. The strike was called on April 1, the strikebreakers arrived June 15, and the pot boiled until the massacre on June 22. National Guard colonel Samuel Hunter was there, and he reported to Governor Small and Gen. Carlos Black (above). But Governor Small did not send National Guard troops, as he was on trial for embezzlement at the time. Two days after the Herrin massacre, the jury found Governor Small not guilty. (JR.)

When the Ku Klux Klan took over parts of southern Illinois, local officials asked Small for National Guard troops. Small told them, “If you want the law enforced, go back and elect someone that will enforce the law.” It was taken as carte blanche by the Klan to do as it pleased. The reign of terror by Klansmen vigilantes brought beatings, gun battles, and two dozen murders. Also terrorizing southern Illinois were gangs led by Charlie Birger and the Shelton brothers, which mirrored the vice and violence of gangs in Chicago. Birger was hanged in 1928 for the murder of the mayor of West City. (Both KCC.)

Small’s legacy is the “good roads governor” who “pulled Illinois out of the mud.” The picture below shows rural roads that were muddy in wet weather, snowy and icy in the winter, and rutted in dry weather. Len Small had the good fortune to take office at a time when the automobile was coming into an era of mass popularity and hard roads were being built across the nation. (Above, JR; Below,
Illinois Blue Book
.)

It was Gov. Frank Lowden who got the state highway-building program going with a $60 million bond issue in 1918. Governor Small took more credit than he deserved. Small built 6,809 miles during eight prosperous years of the 1920s, while his successors built 8,109 miles during the next seven lean years of the Great Depression. (KPL.)

This 1925
Illinois Blue Book
image shows roadwork near Marion. Governor Small used the roads program as a political weapon, building roads where he had support and denying them where he had little support. He told voters they better vote for him if they wanted roads. And he said road building would cease if he were not reelected. However, they would have been built no matter who was governor. (KPL.)