Student Question
Why were the KKK chasing Elias in "The Five Orange Pips" from The Best of Sherlock Holmes?
Quick answer:
The Ku Klux Klan is pursuing Elias in "The Five Orange Pips" because he fled America with crucial documents that could incriminate prominent Southern men as Klan members. These papers pose a threat to the Klan by revealing their identities and activities, prompting them to chase Elias to recover the documents and protect their secrecy.
The Ku Klux Klan was a real group that did spring up after the Civil War in the United States. At the time that it began it was dedicated to ending the Northern rule of the South during Reconstruction. The group was made illegal soon after it was created.
The KKK are chasing after him because he has run away from America with some of their important papers in his possession. They are worried because the papers he is carrying will implicate some of the more important men in the South -- it will show that they are members of this group.
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