SUBORDINATE ORDER RITUAL. PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL ORDER OF THE ANTI-HORSE-THIEF ASSOCIATION
Author: Anti-Horse Thief Association
Title: SUBORDINATE ORDER RITUAL. PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL ORDER OF THE ANTI-HORSE-THIEF ASSOCIATION
Publication: St. Paul, Kansas: National Order of the Anti-Horse Thief Association, 1915
Description: Staplebound Pamphlet. Pamphlet, 6.5 in. x 4.5 in. pp. 16. Orange-brown cloth wrappers. Rubbing and light soiling to wraps with vertical crease at center. Bent corners. Pencil writing to verso of rear cover. Age-toning to pages. Good.
"A number of vigilance groups were created in the United States in an effort to prevent and punish the theft of horses, but the most notable was the Anti-Horse Thief Association (AHTA), which was founded in Missouri in 1863. Operating like a fraternal lodge, complete with passwords and initiation ceremonies, the organization presented itself as a supplement to law enforcement. At the time the AHTA was established, horse thievery was considered a crime of the greatest severity....
"In 1915, Fayetteville hosted the national organizations annual meeting, with seventy-five delegates from across the country joining 125 or so state delegates. With the rise of the poultry industry in Arkansas, the AHTA began to tackle chicken thievery, too. However, by the following year, the order had begun to experience a decline, and the 1916 state convention in Bentonville voted to de-emphasize investigating horse theft for the moral education of the young. The organization began to wane in popularity in the 1920s due to the rise of more exciting social groups such as the renewed Ku Klux Klan and the decreasing importance of horses in peoples lives and economies, especially as the automobile became more affordable." (from The Encyclopedia of Arkansas).
Seller ID: 88506
Subject: Americana
