Jim Bellows and the KKK: From other angles

J. Edgar Hoover reports Bellows' case to the Attorney General

According to information furnished by (name deleted), the two unrobed Klansmen gave each of the victims a pint of liquor and informed them they would either have to drink it or it would be thrown in their faces. The victims drank the liquor, as well as some vodka; however, only one of the victims, James G. Bellows, "passed out." It was reported that the other two victims were given some injections. (Name deleted) further informed (name deleted) that Carlton Johnson was in the backseat of the automobile and that the Klan members partially undressed him and placed victim Bellows in a position that would indicate that an act of sodomy was taking place. According to the victims, a photograph was taken of Johnson and Bellows in this position...

-- From James Bellows' FBI file, dated March 22, 1948

Time reports on 'Nightmare on Pine Mountain'

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The Ledger's photographer, Joe Talbot, 36, stepped forward, started shooting flashbulbs. He did not get many shots. The Klansmen grabbed him, began smashing his equipment. They also grabbed Talbot's colleagues, reporters James Bellows, 25, and Carlton Johnson, 22, both, like Talbot, Navy veterans. What happened after that the newsmen described in print next day. The Klansmen handed them each a bottle of whiskey and ordered them to drink. When they refused, the Klansmen shouted that they would pour the liquor down them. They drank -- a pint each within 30 minutes. Talbot recalled later: "Bellows just kinda folded up on the ground... They just threw him down beside the fire."

-- Time, National Affairs section, March 22, 1948

Bellows' version of mistreatment by Klansmen

More than 100 men milled on the Muscogee courthouse lawn Friday night, ready to attend Ku Klux Klan initiation rites in a tiny Pine Mountain Valley community house. The group left here at 7 p.m. in three chartered Howard buses, followed by a caravan of cars carrying officials of the robed order including the Grand Dragon himself.... A Ledger reporter, photographer and I trailed the procession and watched it travel the hour-long route to the schoolhouse some two miles outside Shiloh, Georgia ... The uninitiated Klansmen were gathered round a bonfire outside the rectangular schoolhouse, waiting for the pledge-taking. Some talked about the March wind whipping through the mountaintop. Others spoke of a coming war. And some simply wanted to know when they would be called to "take the obligation."... One tall, shabbily dressed youth paid his fee to a man who stepped outside of the dimly lit building. Then the first of the robed men told those gathered around the fire to line up...

-- Columbus (Georgia) Ledger, March 14, 1948

Copyright 2001 Jim Bellows. Reprinted with permission of Andrews McMeel Publishing. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.