Capes and Crosses

Capes and Crosses

This novel is historical fiction. Some historical episodes in my story contain fictional characters intermingling with actual history. I intimately know the main characters I created, and I feel their trials need to be told. History cannot gloss over facts. It did happen. Colorado became a Ku Klux Klan state!

1915 to 1920, the Colorado KKK Dragon John Galen Locke pushed hard for followers. The public believed his hate and more Coloradans joined the Klan in the 1920s followed by:  

June 1921, the Colorado KKK announces its presence with an open letter in the Denver Times newspaper. The Klan quickly grew in power and grabbed top positions in the city, state, and federal governments. The Colorado Klan membership was at least 30,000 men.

May 1923, Ben Stapleton was elected Mayor of Denver after joining the Klan in order to get the votes needed to win. More Klansmen are installed at all levels of the city government.

August 1924, Stapleton manages to defeat a recall election and stays in office.

January 1925, Klansman Clarence Morley takes office as the Colorado Governor.

June 1925, Grand Dragon John Galen Locke is under investigation for tax evasion.

July 1925, Locke is ousted by the Klan leadership. He forms a new group called the Minute Men.

August to November 1925, brings the last days of the Ku Klux Klan openly in Colorado politics.

In these pages, the characters are Jenny and Gil who were ostracized by the KKK because they were Catholics and would not join the Klan. Gil could not obtain a job in Denver. He hopped the trains to find work elsewhere. More trouble followed him. Jenny was left searching for work in Denver to buy food for her family, including two children. Soon a Klansman harassed her. More trouble.

This novel cannot properly describe the troubles of Black people because this author cannot do justice to their suffering. However, this does reveal some of the struggles of others at that time who also received the KKK hate.