From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Negro Uprising Scare, Lancester, KY
On July 31, 1917, J. V. Shipp, a landowner in Midway, KY, went to the office of L. O. Thompson in Lexington, KY to report that his two Negro employees, Robert and Eliza Withers, who lived in the Negro community of Logan Town near Lancaster, were being incited against the United States Government and whites.Shipp had gotten the information from his wife, who stated that the Withers said that Negroes would not fight against the Germans and talked in positive terms about Germans ruling the United States. There was a German settlement in the Knobbs, located near Logan Town, and Mrs. Shipp thought that someone in that area was inciting the Negroes to become German sympathizers. It was known in Lancaster that German residents near the Knobbs visited the homes of Negroes in Logan Town and that the two groups socialized together.
The Shipps' report was received and typed by L. O. Thompson, who forwarded the report to the War Department and asked if further action was needed. The Shipps agreed to continue to gain information from the Withers until they heard back from Thompson.
For more see the collection Federal Surveillance of Afro-Americans (1917-1925): The First World War, the Red Scare, and the Garvey Movement. Series: RG165 War Department: General and Special Staffs-Military Intelligence Division, Military Intelligence Division, Series 10218. Casefile 10218-2. War Department. Folder: 001360-019-0311. Title: Possible Uprising of Negroes (Lancaster, KY): Alleged Acts of German Sympathizers, report by L. O. Thompson, 7/31/1917, 2 pages. Proquest History Vault.