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Roy Davis: Difference between revisions
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==Starting on the wrong foot?== | ==Starting on the wrong foot?== | ||
Roy Davis was born on April 24, 1890, in Texas. By 1912, at age twenty-two, Davis was traveling regularly and preaching as a Christian minister connected to the Baptist Missionary Association.<ref>Convention Schedule, The Weekly Herald of Weatherford Texas, October 21, 1915 | Roy Davis was born on April 24, 1890, in Texas. By 1912, at age twenty-two, Davis was traveling regularly and preaching as a Christian minister connected to the Baptist Missionary Association.<ref>Convention Schedule, The Weekly Herald of Weatherford Texas, October 21, 1915</ref> | ||
Davis was frequently involved in criminal activity. In 1916, he went on a forgery crime spree with his brothers who seem to have operated with him as a gang. Davis presented himself as a minister at a bank asking them to cash a fraudulent cashier's check created by his brother who presented himself as a business owner making a donation to Davis's ministry. Davis's swindle involved multiple banks, including Continental State Bank, First State Bank, and Toyah Valley State Bank in west Texas during 1916. Davis was pursued by local law enforcement for his crimes causing him to flee the state. He abandoned his wife and three children in Texas and fled to Georgia where he took the alias of Lon Davis and married another woman.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sheriff Mann Goes To Tipton|date=March 10, 1916|publisher=Wise County Messenger}}</ref><ref name="rdms" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Bank Duped By Young 'Minister'|date=March 18, 1916|publisher=Wise County Messenger}}</ref> Davis was apprehended in Georgia during May 1917 after being turned in by a woman who recognized him and was upset that he had abandoned his Texas family and remarried illegally.<ref>{{cite news|title=Young Lady Knew Davis As A Preacher in Texas|date=May 26, 1917|publisher=Wise County Messenger}}</ref> Davis was returned to Texas where he was convicted on swindling and forgery charges and given a two-year jail sentence on June 29, 1917.<ref name="rdms">{{cite news|title=Rev. Davis, Singer and Masher, Goes to Prison|publisher=Wise County Messenger|date=June 29, 1917}}</ref> | Davis was frequently involved in criminal activity. In 1916, he went on a forgery crime spree with his brothers who seem to have operated with him as a gang. Davis presented himself as a minister at a bank asking them to cash a fraudulent cashier's check created by his brother who presented himself as a business owner making a donation to Davis's ministry. Davis's swindle involved multiple banks, including Continental State Bank, First State Bank, and Toyah Valley State Bank in west Texas during 1916. Davis was pursued by local law enforcement for his crimes causing him to flee the state. He abandoned his wife and three children in Texas and fled to Georgia where he took the alias of Lon Davis and married another woman.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sheriff Mann Goes To Tipton|date=March 10, 1916|publisher=Wise County Messenger}}</ref><ref name="rdms" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Bank Duped By Young 'Minister'|date=March 18, 1916|publisher=Wise County Messenger}}</ref> Davis was apprehended in Georgia during May 1917 after being turned in by a woman who recognized him and was upset that he had abandoned his Texas family and remarried illegally.<ref>{{cite news|title=Young Lady Knew Davis As A Preacher in Texas|date=May 26, 1917|publisher=Wise County Messenger}}</ref> Davis was returned to Texas where he was convicted on swindling and forgery charges and given a two-year jail sentence on June 29, 1917.<ref name="rdms">{{cite news|title=Rev. Davis, Singer and Masher, Goes to Prison|publisher=Wise County Messenger|date=June 29, 1917}}</ref> | ||
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Davis ran into legal problems again in 1921. He purchased the printing press for ''The Progress'' newsletter using a fraudulent check, swindling the seller out of $1,000.<ref>{{cite news|title=Davis' Record in Texas Aired By Ku Klux Klan|publisher=Wise County Messenger|date=August 26, 1921}}</ref> After being exposed in Georgia, Davis left the state, leaving by train with his wife and their five-year-old daughter. They traveled to Oklahoma where Davis continued holding revival meetings in Baptist churches and conducting KKK recruiting.<ref>{{cite news|title=Revival Meetings|publisher=McCurtain Gazzette|date=August 3, 1921}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Great Revival At Shults being Held By Rev, Davis|publisher=McCurtain Gazzette|date=August 27, 1921}}</ref> | Davis ran into legal problems again in 1921. He purchased the printing press for ''The Progress'' newsletter using a fraudulent check, swindling the seller out of $1,000.<ref>{{cite news|title=Davis' Record in Texas Aired By Ku Klux Klan|publisher=Wise County Messenger|date=August 26, 1921}}</ref> After being exposed in Georgia, Davis left the state, leaving by train with his wife and their five-year-old daughter. They traveled to Oklahoma where Davis continued holding revival meetings in Baptist churches and conducting KKK recruiting.<ref>{{cite news|title=Revival Meetings|publisher=McCurtain Gazzette|date=August 3, 1921}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Great Revival At Shults being Held By Rev, Davis|publisher=McCurtain Gazzette|date=August 27, 1921}}</ref> | ||
Davis was reported to be among the founding members of the William J. Simmons revival of the Ku Klux Klan. Davis also told newspaper reporters that he was a coauthor of the KKK's constitution, bylaws and rituals which were first published in 1921.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ku Klux Klan Active In Shreveport Area|publisher=The Times of Shreveport|date=February 10, 1961}}</ref> | |||
==Ku Klux Klan== | ==Ku Klux Klan== | ||