Excerpted stories in Crawford County newspaper archives 100 Years Ago May 17, 1923 Two Pittsburg residents identified as leaders of the city’s Ku Klux Klan lodge testified today at Topeka to the investigation of the state’s ouster suit against the klan. Ernest H. Fikes, life insurance agent, and Albert Scates, building contractor, told the hearing that there are about 2,000 klansmen in Pittsburg Lodge No. 22, Realm of Kansas.