By the way, while the KKK was a without a doubt a murderous, racist organization, they were praised by black separatist Marcus Garvey (founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association) for the way that they kept their people in line.
No, I am not a fan of Garvey, either.
I don't think so. I think he was probably beating them,but the Klan didn't know about that or they WOULD have horsewhipped him. What they did know (the local grocer was a Kluxer) was that the old man wasn't buying the amount and types of food he should have been buying to feed two little girls,and that he had not been sending them to school. What you need to keep in mind is that the Klan at that time was a secret government,and in many cases the ONLY source of protection poor people had. The local sheriff's and judges didn't give a damn about anybody but prominent property owners and businessmen. The Klan stepped in and put both girls with the old man because they could help each other. When the old man failed in his responsibility,they stepped in to straighten him up.
The KKK was a SERIOUS political power in the early 1920's. They even held marches on DC that scared the hell out of both the Republicans AND the Dim-o-crats. They weren't the low-IQ cretins that compromise the modern Klan.