Origin Of "white Caps."

"I suppose there are fewer people in this country who know the origin of the term 'white caps' than there are those who have fallen under the ban of the scoundrols in Indiana and other western states," said Hiram Berry, of New York, in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. "The term did not origínate in this country, but its origin dates back nearly a century to County Kerry, Irelaad. Nearly one hundred years ag'o, whcn Ireland was more populous than at present, and when the people were not so harassed by British misrule, there lived in County Kerry a large and iuflucntial family named Whitecap, who, whenever any of their neighbors became too obstreperous or immoral, waited on them in the night, took them from their houses and gave them a sound thrashing with a cat-o'-nine-tails as a warning to desist from their wrong doing and evil practices. Similar clans were formed in other sections of Ireland, all of whom were called whitecaps, not white caps, two words, as they are written in this country. The popular impression is that the appellation comes from the form and color of the headdress that the Indiana regulators wear when perpetrating one of their outrages, but this is a mistake, as the history of the movement proves. The Whitecaps in Ireland were a terror to evil-doers and were of value to the good order of the society of their day, but I don't know that there is need for them in any part of America."