It railed against African Americans, Catholics, immigrants, and Jews, and supported Protestants, whites, Prohibition, and law and order.
According to Arnold Rice’s book, “ The Ku Klux Klan in American Politics,” the Klan stood for “America “ anything that wasn’t red, white, and blue was wrong and that was a long list. This second-generation Klan arose as a self-proclaimed morality police. Herrin - the epicenter of much of the area’s violence - even had its own Klan newspaper, the Herrin Herald. This included the Ku Klux Klan, which was popular in the area. Some supported Prohibition and wanted it enforced. They paid off local officials and law enforcement to ignore their vice, but not all cooperated. Carl Shelton, the leader, and his brothers, Bernie and Earl, oversaw the illegal booze business throughout Southern Illinois. The Shelton Gang was headed by a triumvirate of brothers who grew up poor in southeastern Illinois’ Wayne County. Both turned into armies that fought pitched gun battles during which local law enforcement and elected officials just got out of the way.” And on the opposition came the vigorous emergence of the Ku Klux Klan…The bootleggers and the KKK mixed like oil and water. “The ban on brewing and consumption of liquor gave way to a sordid underbelly of Southern Illinois terrorism,” says Taylor Pensoneau, who grew up in the region and authored the book, “Brothers Notorious: The Sheltons, Southern Illinois’ Legendary Gangsters.” “On one side you had the bootleggers, led by the infamous Shelton Gang. The 1922 Herrin coal mine strike, also called the Herrin Mine Massacre, left 23 dead and earned the county the nickname “Bloody Williamson.” Prohibition brought more murders. While Al Capone has international fame, the Shelton Gang’s and Charlie Birger’s names only bring chills to the region they terrorized for decades.īefore Prohibition, parts of Southern Illinois had developed a reputation for murder stemming from family feuds and labor strife. However, few people outside of those bottomlands know their names today. In the 1920s, among Southern Illinois’ hundreds of moonshine stills, hills and hamlets were gangsters whose lawlessness rivaled Chicago’s. Its effect in Chicago is well-known, but its impact on Southern Illinois was equally devastating. When Prohibition became law 100 years ago, it led to bootlegging and gang warfare throughout Illinois.
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