Sneakout

Around 1865 Thomas Jefferson (“Jeff”) Eubanks, a farmer in Cave Twp, Franklin Co, Illinois, established a sawmill on the west bank of Ewing Creek, where it was crossed by the road from Benton to Thompsonville. Houses were built for the new mill workers, a store was started, and a jail was erected. Why a jail in such a small community? It was probably needed. In addition to a handful of houses, a mill, and a store, the village had six saloons! Men (and it was only men in those days) sneaking out of their houses to booze it up gave the community its name, “Sneakout.” Yes, that was really the village name.

Sneakout had a bad name and a bad reputation. The village was not only a source of excessive drinking, aided by Hiram Summers, who supplied liquor, it was notorious for its roughness. Worse of all, Sneakout was headquarters of the KKK (sometimes called the “Golden Ring”) of Williamson and Franklin counties. The location was ideal for the Klan. Cave Twp bordered "Bloody" Williamson Co, and the area was isolated and lawless.

It was in Sneakout that Aaron Neal organized the group of masked miscreants, many of whom farmed in Cave, Frankfort (particularly in the Crawford’s Prairie area), and Eastern townships. Aaron, who was designated “Grand Master” and who claimed earlier membership in the original Klan, was everything a KKK member was not expected to be. He had served in the Union Army during the Civil War, he was the son of a Primitive Baptist minister, and he had read law, entering into private practice. Come to think of it, being a Baptist minister’s son might not have been a detriment at the time.

Church or school, possibly at Sneakout, Mar 2007.

Little, possibly nothing, remains of Sneakout today. During a 2007 trip, a search for the remnants revealed an old Church or School, but nothing else. The village vanished when good timber for the sawmill was used up and when a new train track ended its isolation. And the loss of saloon clientele when the KKK was (temporarily) vanquished also impacted the community. But more on that later.

Many Franklin Co towns have disappeared over the years. Sheldon R. Jones has produced an informative map of Franklin Co, showing its towns, both extant and extinct, and has granted permission to use it in the Summers book.

Map of Franklin Co, Sheldon R. Jones. Some locations are estimates. Sneakout has been marked with an added red arrow.

The Egyptian Klan

With its large influx of southerners, Little Egypt, Southern Illinois, had a worrisome number of Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War. Active in the region was The Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC), a pro-slavery group. It was claimed that in 1862 Williamson Co had 1000 Knights, an incredibly large number considering that in 1860, the county had only 12,205 residents. It has been proposed that the KGC was the forerunner of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Southern Illinois and certainly the viewpoints of the two organizations were similar.

The KKK originated in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, and is said to have reached Southern Illinois by 1867. It had certainly arrived by 1871, when forty men attacked the farm of John Baker on the Williamson-Franklin county line, driving him and his family off. The following year, on 22 Apr 1872, fourteen (some say ten) riders in masks, robes, and pointed caps hung Isaac Vancil, a 73-year-old Williamson Co farmer known for his multitude of illegitimate children and rough, ignorant, and overbearing life style. Though the hanging was carried out in Williamson Co, members of the Franklin Co Klan were present. At least two trial witnesses who testified against the Klan for Vancil's slaying were afterwards murdered.

The seven southern Illinois counties with KKK activity, 1867–1875.

The Klan increased its activity, eventually operating in seven Southern Illinois counties: Franklin, Williamson, Jackson, Saline, Johnson, Union, and Pope. During 1874 and 1875, the "Egyptian Night Riders" claimed to have conducted about one hundred raids in Franklin Co. There was little activity against African Americans, who were nearly nonexistent in most of Southern Illinois. The Klan acted instead as vigilantes, claiming to right wrongs and to punish miscreants living immoral lives. In fact, much of the activity appears to have been to settle personal grudges. One newspaper reporter at the time said the cause was just “inherent ‘cussedness’.”

Were the night riders in Southern Illinois really the Ku Klux Klan? They called themselves Klansmen, their dress and oaths resembled those of the original Klan, and they were considered KKK members by government officials and newspaper reporters. If it walks like a duck…

On the other hand, the Illinois organizations appeared to be relatively nonpolitical. Some members were even said to be Republican, an absolute “no-no” for Klan members in the deep south. And some Illinois Klansmen had fought in the Union Army during the Civil War. But, for convenience, we will continue to refer to the Southern Illinois masked rider groups as the KKK. They certainly believed they were.

St. Louis Republican newspaper, 23 Aug 1875

Dr. Andy Hall, a prominent early 20th century Mt. Vernon, Illinois, physician, who lived in Franklin Co at the time of the KKK, has described their activities. 

The headgear of the Franklin county. clansmen consisted of a tall white cap with peep holes and a long flowing robe that covered the entire body. And as they always completely covered with white blankets, even the heads of the animals except for the peep holes through which to see. This was to prevent the possible identity of the animal, disclosing the name of the rider.

 At one time they were so numerous and active in that community that one could seldom start out on the highway without meeting from ten to thirty clansmen. Their principal activities were directed to supervising all the social, moral and business affairs of the community. Unfortunately they administered punishment to their personal enemies and to those who dared to disobey their orders or warnings. For several months they carried on unmolested, visiting isolated farm houses in the dead hours of the night, called the occupants outside and warning them what they should do or should not do and frequently punishing them in various ways.

But what does all of this have to do with the Summers family? We shall soon see.