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The Fall of the House of Klux: Greed and hypocrisy run amok (3 of 3)
Klan-backed politicians won a big victory that they interpreted as a mandate for ethnic and religious cleansing, then found out the hard way that they'd misjudged the voters' intentions. (Statewide; …
Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago
How the Ku Klux Klan got into power in ’20s Oregon (2 of 3)
The secret society of anonymous xenophobic vigilantes spread through Oregon society like a virus in 1922, and by the time elections were held that year, it was ready to seize the reins of power. But …
Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Klan in Oregon was a multilevel-marketing grift
How a sinister, secretive hate-group found acceptance in 1920s Oregon with its message of '100-percent Americanism' and pledges of a moral cleanup. But undertones of masked vigilantism were there fro…
Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Dead hero-doctor’s identity stolen by serial swindler
When con artist Harry Virtue learned of Dr. Richard Barber's heroic demise, he guessed no one would bother to tell medical authorities in the UK. So he went there -- and, stealing Barber's name, went…
Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Real-life femme fatale got her young lover to murder her husband
The newlyweds, Alvin and Gladys, were on a little vacation at the Big Chief Auto Court in Truckee, Calif. — it may have been their honeymoon — when they went out together to the local cinema to see “…
Published on 5 months, 4 weeks ago
AWS spotted few enemies, but saved many friends
Although Oregon turned out to be harder for the Japanese navy to reach than folks thought, historian Bill McCash estimates the civilian plane-spotting service likely saved as many as 100 American avi…
Published on 6 months ago
Cottage Grove’s revenge for 'Nesmith County' incident was brutal
South Lane and north Douglas counties felt their county seats neglected them and treated them as a tax-revenue milch cow. So they proposed seceding and forming a new county, Nesmith County. Eugene ci…
Published on 6 months ago
Pro-tip: Model T engines make bad airplane motors
Part of the problem with owning and operating the only flight school in town in the 1920s and 1930s was, every time one of your students slapped together some home-built piece of kit, you’d be expect…
Published on 6 months ago
Portland’s play to beat The Dalles literally cost a mint
Gasping for hard currency to finance the Civil War, and awash in raw gold from two Eastern Oregon gold rushes, the federal government tried to build a mint in The Dalles in 1863. But the Oregon deleg…
Published on 6 months ago
Finn on KPNW's Wake Up Call: Governor's act of kindness was fatal for frontier city marshal
A recording of an on-air conversation with Bill Lundun and Gerry Snyder of the Wake Up Call on Eugene's KPNW Radio AM 1120. Topic: Reading between the lines of the story, it’s clear that Governor Osw…
Published on 6 months ago