On the evening of December 15, 1924, the teenage daughter of a Harrisburg capitalist, A. L. Ensinger, was allegedly accosted in her bedroom by a man who carved the initials of the Ku Klux Klan on her face, leaving her bleeding and in shock. A threatening note was found. The case was investigated by the state and local police, but no one was ever arrested and charged.
Home invasions were a typical tactic used by the Klan and these became part of the message of intimidation that they hoped to convey to the people they were against — basically anyone who was not a white Protestant — as well as any white Protestants who dared speak out against them. No doubt the “branding” of this young girl had the desired effect. This tactic was also used as a recruiting method to get new initiates. From 1925 to 1927, the Klan grew exponentially in the Lykens Valley area.
The story of the “branding” is told in newspapers of the time:
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, December 16, 1924:
DOROTHY ENSINGER FOUND UNCONSCIOUS IN ROOM;
SAYS MAN BRANDED HER
Mystery surrounds the placing of three Ks upon the forehead and cheeks of pretty 15-year-old Dorothy Ensinger, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Ensinger, 700 North Eighteenth Street, who last night at 9:30 o’clock was found unconscious in her bed with blood oozing from the fresh-made initials.
State police who have been working on the case through the night and all of today have been made unable to throw any light upon the matter, for at the time, the girl’s face was scratched her father and mother, her brother-in-law Herbert E. Sarver and his wife, and a smaller sister were downstairs.
There was no possible means of getting into the house except over a front porch or through a third story window, and the investigation of the State police so far has shown no footprints that have not been identified as those of members of the family.
The police are not inclined to believe that the work is that of the Ku Klux Klan.
To add to the gravity of the case the parents found a note in the bed room of the girl. This read:
“Beware — We mean to kill Warning.”
Scratched With Needle
When the father entered the bedroom of the girl, attracted by a low moan or scream, his daughter was in a semi-conscious condition. On her forehead was a K reversed, on her right cheek was the same initial in its proper position and on the left cheek another reversed K. The letters had been scratched with a needle or pin, apparently. The letters appeared thus:
The girl shortly afterward regained consciousness, but was unable to talk coherently at first, owing to fright. When she could find her speech she said she could only remember a man in an overcoat leaving the door leading to the second story porch at the front of the house.
Working on Case
Dr. J. Y. Burnite, Eighteenth and State Streets, and Dr. W. H. West, 1801 Green Street, were summoned and found the girl in a highly nervous state. At the same time the barracks of Troop E, of the State Police, also was called. Sergeant Bitner and several troopers have been working on the case continuously since then.
The Ensinger house is virtually burglar-proof from the ground floor, for the front and rear, entrances are surrounded with glass-enclosed porches. To get to the second-floor over the porch front is difficult but possible as the State Police proved upon their arrival.
The police learned that the door leading to the porch and screen door at the same entrance had been open last night. Ensinger had gone to the porch after being attracted to his daughter’s room and the police easily identified his foot marks in the dust, as he had worn overshoes at the time, having recently come home.
There is no evidence that any effort to enter the house from the rear third-story window had been made. Access there could only have been made from the house adjoining. Several boys of the neighborhood were examined last night by the State Police who took their fingerprints and prints of their shoes.
Quit School Recently
Dorothy Ensinger is an attractive girl who some time ago quit school because of heart trouble and has been working in a store. She and her family know of no enemies and nobody is suspected of having placed the marring marks upon her face and forehead.
Just how long prior to the discovery of the girl’s plight the entrance to the room was affected is unknown as one of her sisters had been playing a piano.
Mrs. Ensinger and her daughter, Mrs. Sarver, however, today recalled having heard footsteps upstairs some time before they finally heard the moan.
They placed no significance to this, however, as Dorothy had gone upstairs some time before to wash her hair.
Probe “Peeping Tom”
The police are investigating the case of a “Peeping Tom” who last evening visited the house of Berkey H. Boyd, Superintendent of Property and Supplies at the Capitol. Boyd’s residence is at 917 North Seventeenth Street. While Boyd and members of his family were visiting next door, Charles Wiley Jr., aged 13, a nephew of Boyd and a son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wiley, who reside at the Boyd residence, ran next door to say that a man had been looking in the windows of the house. The boy was studying his lessons at the time he saw a face peering through a window. The man’s face disappeared and came back at another window. Frightened, the youngster ran next door to spread the alarm.
Earlier in the evening a youngster selling holly wreaths and who said he lived in the Blue Mountains, visited all of the houses in the vicinity of the Ensinger and Boyd residences. He was a bright boy who seemed little interested in his wares, and the people of the neighborhood believe he was locating houses where nobody was at home.
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From Public Opinion, Chambersburg, December 17, 1924:
K. K. K. SCRATCHED ON FACE OF GIRL IN OWN HOME
HARRISBURG, December 17 [1924] — State and city police are attempting to unravel the mystery surrounding the scratching of K. K. K. on the face of 15-year-old Dorothy Ensinger, daughter of A. L. Ensinger, president of the Capitol City Iron and Steel Company. The girl was found unconscious in bed with blood oozing from the wounds.
At first on regaining consciousness, she told an incoherent story, but later said all she remembered was a man in an overcoat leaving by a door which led to a second-floor porch.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, December 18, 1924:
PARENTS INDIGNANT OVER K. K. K. STORY
DENY ASSERTION THAT DOROTHY ENSINGER MARKED FOREHEAD AND FACE WITH KLAN INITIALS
DECLARE SELF-DISFIGUREMENT IS PHYSICAL IMPOSSIBILITY
Indignation was expressed today by parents of pretty 15-year-old Dorothy Ensinger at the statement given by investigators that she may have attempted to disfigure herself by slashing the initials of the Ku Klux Klan on her face while alone in her bedroom Monday night.
They ridiculed the theory as absurd and declared they are determined to learn the identity of the criminal who made the attack.
Two boys are suspected by the parents with having done the cutting from jealousy and unless State Police soon capture the intruder whom the girl saw leaving the room, the parents say they will employ detectives to investigate the case.
Declare It Impossible
Vehemently declaring that it would be impossible for the girl to hold a mirror in front of her while she cut the initials on her cheeks and forehead because of the pain, the parents showed the long raw gashed made in reproducing the symbol of the hooded order.
The scratches evidently were inflicted with a sharp-edged tool much like a razor and are long and ugly looking. It is evident that they must have caused considerable pain but physicians hold out they will not permanently mar the girl’s face.
Muffled in lounging robes, the little victim of the affair vigorously denied with tears in her eyes that she cut herself. She said she was alone in her room when the intruder approached her while she was in bed. What happened next she doesn’t know. Her mother thinks Dorothy fainted.
According to Mrs. Ensinger, the intruder drugged the girl with chloroform. While under the influence of the drug, he stuck three pins into the girl’s hip to see if she was still unconscious and cut the initials on her face when she made no response.
Girl Saw Intruder
While semi-conscious, the girl said she saw a tall man stepping through the balcony door and is thought to have fainted the second time. Blood was oozing from the wounds on he face when she awoke. He low moans of pain attracted the father as he was passing her door and he called down the stairway to the mother telling her to “hurry, something has happened to Dorothy.”
The mother said the little girl was barely able to talk when she entered the room. Her tongue was enlarged and stiff in it is this fact which leads her to believe the little girl was drugged. The father immediately investigated the balcony but was unable to find anything which would lead to how the intruder made his entrance. The balcony door was found standing ajar and has led the father to believe the person made his escape that way.
Deny Statement
Parents of the girl said State Police had quizzed the girl during their absence from the room, asking is she had done the cutting herself. However, the girl denied it indignantly and told her parents, who were indignant also. The parents declare Dorothy is under the required age to be permitted to drive a car, as erroneously reported, and does not know how to drive the family machine.
State Police investigating the case admit that they are unable to secure any inkling as to how the assault was made and are puzzled as to the identity of the identity of the intruder. Although they maintain that circumstantial evidence is strongly against anyone entering the house under the glare of a street light at the intersection which is bare of trees, the authorities admit it could be done.
Examination of the boys suspected by the parents as having been responsible for the marks, have been made but failed to reveal any clues. The parents base their suspicions on the fact that they refused to permit the little girl to associate with them and that they may have done the branding through a jealous desire for revenge.
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, December 18, 1924:
DOROTHY ENSINGER IS REPORTED RESTING WELL
Dorothy Ensinger, the 18-year-0ld daughter of Mr. an Mrs. A. L. Ensinger, 700 North Eighteenth Street whose face was scratched with three K’s, she says, by someone unknown to her Monday, was recovering from her fright today. She was resting easily, her father said, and was apparently getting over her nervousness.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, December 20. 1924:
K. K. K. MARKS WILL NOT BE PERMANENT
Hope for the recovery of 15-year-old Dorothy Ensinger, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Ensinger, 700 North Eighteenth Street (right, above in photo), who was threatened with a nervous breakdown as the result of having the symbols of the Ku Klux Klan inscribed on her face while alone in her room Monday night, has been expressed by physicians.
It was feared at first that the marks would be permanent, but under the constant care of physicians the marks promise to heal without leaving any trace. State Police are continuing their investigation. The snapshot was taken while Dorothy (right) was seated with a girl friend shown on the left.
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The Harrisburg Evening News of January 2, 1915, printed the photo of Dorothy Ensinger and friend, the same photo that was in the December 20, 1924 edition of the Harrisburg Telegraph, but with new caption:
BRANDED WHILE SHE SLEPT. Dorothy Ensinger, 15, found letters K. K. K. cut deeply into cheeks and forehead after intruder had entered room in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, home.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
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