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And The "Posse Comitatus"

By Eugene H. Beach, Jr.

Reprinted from the Beach Family Journal, Vol. VI, No. 2 (Summer, 1998)

It is human nature to stress the positive while ignoring, if not outright denying the negative. So it is that genealogical publications often focus on the veterans, clergymen, statesmen, artists and other family members whose accomplishments are a source of justifiable pride, while paying little attention to those whose life and/or deeds are more "controversial". It is a rare family, however, which does not have at least one "black sheep" somewhere along the line. To ignore his or her existence and/or and the reasons for his or her dubious reputation is to practice family hagiography - not family history.

With these thoughts in mind we present the case of Henry Lamont a/k/a "Mike" Beach; a dry-cleaning executive in Portland, Oregon. He first gained notoriety in the 1930's as the state liaison officer for the Silver Shirts; a pro-German isolationist movement founded by William Dudley Pelley. While that organization collapsed with America's entry in World War II and Pelley's subsequent arrest on charges of sedition, many former Silver Shirts gravitated toward other "right wing" or "extremist" organizations after the war's end.

In 1969 Beach himself organized the Sheriff's Posse Comitatus; a forerunner of the so-called "militia" groups much in the news today. As a legal term of art, posse comitatus [Latin for "power of the county"] refers to citizens who act under the direction of the county sheriff, e.g., the ubiquitous "posse" in countless Western movies. Taking this concept to an extreme, Beach championed the idea that all govenment functions are properly limited to the local, county level. He accordingly held that the federal government had exceeded its Constitutional authority and usurped powers which rightfully belongs to the people, acting through and with the local sheriff.

It was not so much this theory per se, however, as the means advocated for its adoption that earned Beach a questionable place in history. In the group's handbook Beach reportedly wrote that "[O]fficials of government who commit criminal acts or who violate their oath of office... shall be removed by the posse to the most populated intersection of streets in the township and, at high noon, be hung by the neck, the body remaining until sundown as an example to those who would subvert the law." Some identified with the Posse Comitatus would later take this admonition to heart, e.g., Gordon W. Kahl, a North Dakota farmer, who in 1983 shot several U.S. Marshalls trying to arrest him on charges related to Posse-inspired tax evasion. In recent years the Posse has become associated with a variety of white supremacy and anti-government groups.

The references we have consulted do not say what ultimately became of Henry L. Beach. We likewise have not, as of this writing, been able to establish his ancestry. Whatever one's opinion of his politics or methodology, however, our commitment to document the history of all persons named Beach or Beech compels us to make note of his existence.

References

Ridgeway, James, Blood In The Face: The Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, Nazi Skinheads and the Rise of a New White Culture, Thunder's Mouth Press, 1991, pp. 15, 111, 113-114

The Posse Comitatus, a background paper dated Feb 19, 1995, posted on the World Wide Web at http://www.scimitar.com/revolution/by-topic/commerce/taxes/posse.html