City Council Kills Anti-Mask Ordinance, 6 to 2

One Hundred Years Ago – From The Indianapolis Star, Tuesday, June 19, 1923: Last night the Indianapolis city council voted 2 to 6 to defeat a proposed ordinance that would prohibit the wearing of masks in public by anyone except on Halloween. A crowd of nearly 1,000 citizens, mostly made up of members of the American Unity League who supported the measure aimed at the Ku Klux Klan, jeered and hissed following the vote. Democrats Otto Ray and William Clauer voted “Aye” and Republicans Theodore Bernd, Ira Bramblett, Lloyd Claycombe, Ben Thompson, and John King along with Democrat Heydon Buchanan voted “Nay.” Councilor Buchanan’s name appeared in the anti-Klan paper Tolerance as a member of the secret organization. Councilor Ray said, “It is a serious political mistake made by Republican members to vote against this; you will find out how disastrous it will be later.”

“City Council Kills Anti-Mask Ordinance, 6 to 2,” The Indianapolis Star, 19 June 1923, p. 1:7