The Nation’s Peril.
TWELVE YEARS’ EXPERIENCE IN THE SOUTH.
THEN AND NOW.
The Ku Klux Klan
A COMPLETE EXPOSITION OF THE ORDER:
ITS PURPOSE, PLANS, OPERATIONS, SOCIAL
AND POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Nation’s Salvation.
Wherefore say unto the Children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments.—Exodus, VI, 6.
NEW YORK:
Published by the Friends of the Compiler.
1872.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, by
E. A. IRELAND,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
INTRODUCTORY.
The facts contained in the succeeding pages, have been compiled from authenticated sources, and with especial reference to their truthfulness.
That portion derived from the diary of a gentleman, twelve years a resident of the South, was not originally intended for public circulation; but this, with a variety of other matter obtained from official records, formed the basis of a lecture delivered at Tremont Temple, in the city of Boston, on the evening of March 27th, 1872, and excited a great degree of interest among the people to learn more of the subject-matter treated upon.
Communications relating thereto came in from all parts of the country, and it was decided by the friends of the compiler to present all the facts in convenient form for general circulation, as the best means of complying with this demand.
They are here given with such additions to the original matter, as will enable the general reader more fully to comprehend the origin, rise and progress of the various orders of the Ku Klux Klans, their social and political significance, and their general bearing upon the welfare of the nation at large.
The thrilling stories of outrage and crime herein narrated, are authenticated beyond the power of refutation.
“Against all such crimes, as well as against incompetency and corruption in office, the power of an intelligent public sentiment and of the courts of justice should be invoked and united; and appealing for patience and forbearance in the North, while time and these powers are doing their work, let us also appeal to the good sense of Southern men, if they sincerely desire to accomplish political reforms through a change in the negro vote. If their theory is true that he votes solidly now with the republican party, and is kept there by his ignorance and by deception, all that is necessary to keep him there is to keep up by their countenance, the Ku Klux Organization. Having the rights of a citizen and a voter, neither of those rights can be abrogated by whipping him. If his political opinions are erroneous, he will not take kindly to the opposite creed when its apostles come to inflict the scourge upon himself, and outrage upon his wife and children. If he is ignorant, he will not be educated by burning his school houses and exiling his teachers. If he is wicked, he will not be made better by banishing to Liberia his religious teachers. If the resuscitation of the State is desired by his labor, neither will be secured by a persecution which depopulates townships, and prevents the introduction of new labor and of capital.”
That these pages may be received in the same spirit of charity and kindly feeling in which they have been penned, is the sincere and earnest wish of
THE COMPILER.
THE NATION’S PERIL.
The transition of the social status of the colored classes in the South, from a condition of abject servitude to one of the most enlarged freedom, crowned with that dearest of all rights to the heart of the freeman, the elective franchise, although gradual, and attended with difficulties that have seemed at times almost insurmountable, goes steadily forward, under the hand of a beneficent and all seeing God, who watcheth alike over the just and the unjust, enjoining upon them, in return for his goodness, a strict observance of his commands towards one another.
Human progress in this country, during the past ten years, has taken giant strides, although met by obstacles of a character so formidable as to impose a most extraordinary task upon those engaged in the great work of social reform and the establishment of the rights of all to civil, religious and political liberty, as guaranteed by the Constitution. The spirit of the age is reformatory. Religion, politics, art and the sciences have ever been the subjects of reformation and progression, and by these have been lifted from comparative darkness in the past to the broad fields of light in the more intelligent present. In the grand plan of an all-wise Creator, nothing has been allowed to permanently obstruct the onward march of the races and nations of the earth; and for the accomplishment of this glorious purpose, no sacrifice, it appears, has been deemed too great that would aid in its fulfillment. The travail and labor of nations, the desolation and destruction of whole communities, and in some instances the entire annihilation of races of men, have been the penalties demanded and paid for their long persistence in the ways of sin and wickedness.
The American Republic has been no exception to the imperative rule. It bore within its folds the crime and curse of slavery, a foul and corroding ulcer that could only be burned out and destroyed by the terrible visitations of fire and the sword, and in the eradication of which all the wisdom of the nation’s greatest counselors, all the terrible enginery of modern warfare, and the skill and persistence of the chosen leaders of the people were to be brought into requisition. A fierce and sanguinary contest of four years’ duration ended, under the hand of God, in the grand triumph of the right; but the war of the rebellion left the South in a state of social disintegration, in which the leading spirits who had fomented the internecine contest assumed to control the masses, and perpetuate under another form, and accomplish by other means, that which had been lost to them in the surrender and disorganization of their armies.
The condition of the South, during the past twelve years, is vividly illustrated in a series of letters written by Mr. Justin Knight, a gentleman of undoubted integrity, a resident of the South during the period referred to, and which are here given in a narrative form for the better convenience of the reader. Speaking of himself and the peculiar circumstances that brought him to the Southern States, Mr. Knight says:
“Born in close proximity to the metropolis of New England, where I received the advantages of a collegiate education, and the religious instruction of parents who, without bigotry, were opposed to every species of wrong, I early conceived a desire to enter upon the ministry, which I did in 1857, almost immediately after the close of my collegiate life.
My constitution, at no time robust, was entirely inadequate to the labors imposed upon me by the duties of this new position. My health continued gradually to give way until the winter of 1859, when my physician decided that a change of climate was essentially necessary to my well-being, and under his advice I proceeded to Charleston, S. C., and took up my residence with a married sister, then living there in affluent circumstances.
At this peculiar epoch in the history of the country the political atmosphere of the South was literally pestilential. Under the manipulation of skillful, but unscrupulous leaders, whole communities had become imbued with a spirit hostile to the governing powers. They were led to believe that the time for argument had past, and that nothing was now left them, but to make a demand for what they were pleased to consider their inherent rights;—that of keeping their fellow men in bondage—and if this were refused, to declare themselves for war. The portentious clouds of the impending crisis continued gathering thick and fast, and it required no prophet’s eye to discern, or voice to foretell that they must soon burst upon the country in a deluge that could only be stayed by an enormous waste of blood and treasure.
A sojourn of nearly eighteen months among the southern people, and the facilities afforded me from the position occupied by my sister’s family, gave me an unusual opportunity to observe the passing pageant of events. The masses had been gradually worked over to the interests of the more intelligent leaders, until reason and argument ceased further to influence them. They seemed wholly given up to the one idea of slavery, or war, and they had been led to believe that the first demonstration of organized resistance to the regularly constituted powers, would bring the North at their feet in abject supplication for peace. I was anxious to know how the defiant and belligerent attitude that was being assumed would be received in the land of my birth, and as my health had sufficiently improved to warrant my again returning there, I did so at the earliest opportunity, only to realize that the people of the North were buckling on their armor, with the deep seated purpose of going forth to battle for the right.
There was a significance in all “this busy note of preparation,” that I could fully understand and appreciate. I had seen enough to convince me that nothing but the severest chastisement, administered by the hands of the Lord through the instrumentality of his chosen people, could bring our misguided brethren of the South to a just and proper sense of their duty to God and their fellow-men. They had long “eaten of the bread of wickedness; and drank the wine of violence,” and they had utterly forgotten that “righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.”
An opportunity was speedily afforded me to accompany a regiment to the field as chaplain, and I soon found myself marching southward with a body of noble men who had been foremost in responding to the call of President Lincoln, to defend the Union and preserve the integrity of the nation. The incidents of the four years of bloody strife that ensued, need not be alluded to here. They were passed by me, in the midst of danger, offering consolation to the dying, caring tenderly for the dead, when circumstances permitted, and coming out of all, through the hand of God, unscathed.
The results aimed at upon the part of the ruling powers, seemed to have been accomplished. The Proclamation of Emancipation had gone forth from the executive head of the nation, and solid rows of glittering steel had followed it up, and compelled its enforcement. The foulest blot upon the pages of our history as a Republic had been erased, and its down-trodden children liberated from a thraldom more humiliating in design, and wicked in purpose, than that which yoked the children of Israel under the hands of the Egyptian task masters. In them the promise of the Great Jehovah had been verified: “Wherefore:—say unto the Children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians.” The right had been vindicated; the shock of contending armies was over, and the nation waited patiently to see in what condition the contest had left the conquered.
It is my purpose, in these pages, to give the exact facts, “nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.” I shall endeavor neither to exaggerate the history, or conceal the truth. I am aware that the revelations which follow are so terrible in their nature as to almost pass the bounds of belief; that the agonizing scenes herein depicted, and which have been the results of the same demoniac spirit which actuated and prolonged the war, had they been told as occurring among the semi-barbaric nations in the uttermost parts of the earth, might be the more readily received by my countrymen as truthful relations; but which, transpiring at our own doors, within the sound and under the shadow of the Gospel, appear like the mythical creations of a distorted imagination rather than actual revelations from real life.
In the interest of all progress, and for the sake of God and humanity, I would it were so; but the contrary is the fact. Hundreds of living witnesses stand ready to verify the statements under oath. Scores of the unoffending skeletons of gibbeted negroes and whites attest the solemn truth. The exact localities, the names and residences of the victims, the hour and day, the month and year of their murderous whipping and ignominious death, are given with a fidelity that challenges contradiction, and forms an array of evidence at once incontrovertable and overwhelming.
The ever changing current of events again called me to the South. My sister’s family had been almost destroyed by the death of her husband, who had cast his fortunes with the cause of the rebellion and had paid the penalty with his life, and it was necessary I should aid her in adjusting the affairs of the estate which had been left in a very unsettled condition, and required much time to properly arrange. I was glad of the opportunity thus afforded me to observe the effects of the struggle that had just closed; and prepared my mind to take a calm and dispassionate view of the situation, as became a seeker for the truth who was desirous of arriving at the hidden springs underlying the social crust, with a view to the remedy of the impending evil, if such could be found. I believed in the integrity of the great mass of the people, and could see that they had been deceived and led on to destruction by the ingenious plans of men, skilled in human diplomacy, and having a profound knowledge of the character of the people whom they designed to move for their own wicked purposes.
The spirits of these leaders chafed under the bitter disappointment of defeat. It was apparent they would continue to foster seditions, organize conspiracies against the powers that be, and use every effort to fan into life the dying embers of the “lost cause.” These men controlled certain portions of the local press, and either threw obstacles in the way of the dissemination of proper and just principles, or used the power in their hands to sow the seeds of dissention broadcast throughout the States so lately in insurrection.
All the misery that had accrued from the war, the families that had been sundered; the blood of loved ones that had watered the various battle-fields of the South, and the bones of beloved kindred that lay whitening there; the numerous sacrifices of wealth, family, and social position that had been made, the property lost and destroyed; the general stagnation and prostration of business, and the feeling of dread and insecurity that followed, were all attributed to the rule of the republican North.
There were mutterings of revenge and breathings of threats and slaughter against the race that had just been raised up out of bondage. Slavery, the former bane and curse of this country, was already dead. Its putrid carcass was no longer of the material things of earth, but its ghostly spirit still stalked abroad among its mourners to keep alive the memory of its wicked example in the minds of those who, born and reared in the folds of its garments, and nurtured at its breast, could not cast aside their early prejudices and banish from their hearts, its former evil influences. They no longer remembered that “the way of the Lord is strength to the upright,” and that “destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.” Thousands of misguided and misdirected men cherished in their bosoms a spirit of animosity toward those who had aided with their blood and money in the liberation of the slave; and it was this very spirit of hatred which had in a manner demoralized the South and created a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity among men of capital, that proved a serious barrier to their investing in our railroads and factories, and the improvement of our lands; and, as a natural sequence, retarded our social and financial progress.
Society at this time was divided into several classes. Many who were disposed to accept and abide by the new order of things, dared not express their real sentiments from fear of social and political ostracism. Men of intelligence and education, but who had allowed the thirst for power and political preferment to absorb and swallow up the promptings of their better nature, had begun the process of gaining over to their interests the very worst elements in the social circle beneath them, with a view to carrying out their unholy designs. This class in turn, and under the management of the more intelligent, intimidated still another class and compelled them to join in a crusade that had for its objects the most infamous ends ever attempted to be gained by men. A complete connection had thus been formed, reaching from the unscrupulous leaders, to the masses, and embracing in its chain every class of society needed for the success of the general plan.
The standard bearers of the devil himself, coming direct from the lowest depths of the infernal regions, with seething vials of wrath and an earnest intention to do the bidding of their master, could scarcely have set on foot a conspiracy more damnable than this. Men, women and children were to be included in the portending storm, religion and human decency were to be outraged, the law of the land and its administrators defied, and justice scoffed at in the pillory. The ordinary safe-guards to the social well being of the community were to be swept away whenever they became inimical to the designs and objects of the unholy alliance thus formed. Men were to be banded together and bound by oaths that ignored all others and made these supreme. Where the life or liberty of one of the brotherhood was in jeopardy, he was to be saved at all hazards. Perjury and subornation of perjury were to over-ride courts of justice and render abortive, any attempt to bring these lawless bands to punishment through their instrumentality. Nothing was to be too sacred for the vandal hands of these marauders who, under the guidance of the more intelligent leaders, were to go abroad like a consuming flame, until the land, that God had made pre-eminently beautiful for the abode of peace and contentment, had been smitten with a scourge of fire and blood, and their own wicked purposes had been accomplished. It seemed as if the voice of the Lord had again spoken through the prophet Ezekiel, “say to the forest of the South, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree; the flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.”
It was to be a dual struggle. The colored races were to be subjugated or destroyed; and the humane efforts of the Government and the Administration to restore peace and harmony, and commercial prosperity, and to give to the citizens, of every creed and color, free and equal rights was everywhere to be opposed, that the experiment of reconstruction might become a hissing and a by-word, and go forth to the world an ignominious failure.
The masses were kept in utter ignorance of these designs. They were in a state bordering upon absolute frenzy at the losses they had incurred from the fratricidal war that had left them bankrupt as individuals and communities, and with the peculiar anxiety that seems to pervade the hearts of all men, to endeavor to find some reasonable excuse for sins committed, they accepted the theories that had been so ingeniously prepared, and so carefully put before them, and became, like the clay in the hands of the potter, ready to be fashioned in any manner of form that might be decided upon by their wicked counselors.
There was an oppressive and an ominous calm in the atmosphere of the South at this time (1866) that foreboded no good. Men viewed each other with distrust. Those who seemed well-disposed at first, and who had been casting about themselves and gathering up the fragments, with a view to renewing their peaceful pursuits, suddenly abandoned their labors. Rumors of outrages upon persons and property, vague at first and without apparent authenticity, began to fill the air. Bands of armed and disguised men were said to be travelling the highways, burning the dwellings, and robbing and murdering inoffensive citizens under the most revolting circumstances. The scriptural command to “devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee,” had seemingly become obsolete among the people. It was evident that the mysterious order, the existence of which had so long been hinted at, had begun its fearful work, and under the then complexion of affairs in the nation at large, none could divine the end.
The death of President Lincoln had left the Executive, in this the hour of the nation’s great peril, in the hands of one from whom the disorganizing elements of the South had much to hope. The hand of justice was for the time being paralyzed, and the occasion seemed most opportune for the conspirators to perfect their terrible organization, and set in motion the secret machinery by which it was hoped to accomplish their base purposes.
It was evident from such facts as could be gathered relative to these outrages, that there was a distinction as to the classes of people who were the sufferers. The negroes were, of course, the objects upon which the wrath of the new order was vented; but there were numerous instances, as will be observed in the succeeding pages, where whites were scourged and murdered as well. The fact that certain citizens, who had committed no offense against the laws, were selected from the various communities, and subjected to the grossest indignities, led to inquiry as to the causes that had brought these inflictions upon them.
It was ascertained that, in the preponderance of cases, warnings had been sent to the victims demanding that they must retract their political faith, cease to side with radicals, and abandon their interest in the negro, or they must leave the country; failing in this, they were to be scourged to death.
Negroes who approached the ballot-box to exercise the newly conferred right of suffrage were watched as to how they voted, and warned that they must not vote the “radical ticket.” If they paid no heed to this warning, and were detected in the independent exercise of the right of suffrage, they received a visitation; their houses were pillaged, the persons of their women violated, their children scattered, and themselves hung, shot or whipped to death. The reader, in perusing the chapter of authenticated outrages that follows will agree with the writer that there is no exaggeration of language here, nor need of any. Nothing is stated that has not been put to the severest test of truth; and nowhere are these incidents recorded, in which the living witnesses have not been found, and the facts obtained from them.
I was long in believing that such deeds, worthy alone of the incarnate fiend himself, could be perpetrated in a civilized community. I made all possible allowance for the political and social situation. I determined to know whereof I affirmed, and resolved that when I obtained this knowledge, I would give the information to the country. I was as free from political bias as it was possible for a man to be who felt it to be a part of the duty he owed to society to exercise the elective franchise. I had never mingled in politics, but had uniformly cast my vote with either political party which I deemed had the best interests of the nation, and the welfare and advancement of the people, at heart, and could not bring my mind to believe, at first, that there was a deep political significance underlying this movement, and that it had its ramifications from State to State, all leading to one great center, with one common head who, in the interest of any political party, governed and directed the dreadful machine, and that it meant nothing less than the subversion of the popular government.
The facts and figures gradually undeceived me. I could see that there was a mysterious something at work that had closed men’s mouths most effectually, and that disaffection, consternation and terror gained ground daily. Even, my brethren of the pulpit, with whom I was associated in the different places I visited, were affected to such a degree that they no longer dared to preach the free sentiments of their hearts.
No one but an actual resident of the South, at this time, can form anything like an adequate idea of the reign of terror, that this condition of affairs had inaugurated during the succeeding two years and more, of President Johnson’s administration. Everywhere throughout the South that I travelled, the hydra headed monster met me. I tried to believe in all charity that the movement sprung from the ignorant and uneducated masses who saw, or thought they saw, the origin and cause of all their misfortunes in the negro, and the liberal minded whites of the South who had countenanced and urged his enfranchisement in the interest of human progress; but the facts were everywhere against the theory.
It was evident that a formidable organization, the result of intelligent men counseling together, and devising wicked plans for the accomplishment of wicked purposes, existed in all the Southern States; that it had its ritual, its oaths, its signs, tokens and passwords, its constitution, by-laws and governing rules, its edicts, warnings, disguises, secret modes of communication, intelligent concert of action, and all framed and planned in a manner that showed the authors to be men of education and superior minds. In North and South Carolina, in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, in Florida, Mississippi and Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, it existed in a greater or less degree, and its advent was everywhere marked with the most brutal outrages.
The intelligence of these wrongs was not spread from one community to another by the newspapers. These, when not in the interest of the order itself, were intimidated into silence. When the outrages were so flagrant as to compel some show of attention, such as necessitated the action of a coroner, juries were selected, the members of which were members of this mysterious order, and the verdict usually was that the victim came to his death by injuries inflicted by himself or by negroes.
The disaffection spread daily. The seeds of the order, and their fruits everywhere manifested, were sown in the courts and grand juries. Under such a condition of affairs there was no longer security for life or property. The idea of obtaining justice for any of the wrongs perpetrated, passed out of the minds of the sufferers entirely. The effect was generally demoralizing. Official incompetency and corruption aided rather than stemmed the rushing torrent that was bearing this section of the Republic to anarchy and financial ruin.
A large class of persons not heretofore alluded to, but who formed a very important part of society, looked on without apparent interest. These were men of wealth and education, who neither sought to justify the wrongs being done, or made any attempt to oppose them, but by their very silence gave a tacit consent to the wicked plans of the conspirators. They were a class “who rejoice to do evil and delight in the forwardness of the wicked.”
A system arose exactly in counterpart with that of the old Spanish Inquisition. Personal hatred toward a citizen, black or white, was sufficient warrant for reporting his name and residence to the members of the order as a “radical republican” and a “negro worshiper,” and he was forthwith warned to leave the place on penalty of being whipped, or suffering a worse fate. Hundreds of young men with whom the writer has conferred, pointed to men of maturer age, property holders and men of influence, and confessed that they had been induced to enter the general conspiracy, because they were told these men were at its head and after joining it learned that they had not been deceived in this respect, and yet they found the order so arranged that they could discover nothing, and were allowed to know nothing, of its workings, beyond the circle to which they had been admitted, and however revolting the practices of their associates were to them, the oath they had taken, and the feeling of terror inspired by the initiation and the penalty attached to recanting members, compelled them to continue their allegiance, and acquiesce and aid in the outrages.
Even the women seemed to have caught the general infection, and sought to justify the dreadful events transpiring about them upon the ground that this was the only way in which the rights and liberties of the South could be preserved.
That men holding high official positions, and moving in the most respectable circles, organized these outrages, selected the victims and accompanied the rabble in the execution of their designs, is indisputable. Inoffensive women seeing their husbands, fathers, and brothers torn from their sides and scourged in their presence, became infuriated at the indecent spectacle, and in their agonized frenzy, rushed upon the assailants and wrenched off the masks behind which they skulked, only to behold the faces of men who, up to that hour, they had deemed the ones to whom, from their superior intelligence, they should have looked for counsel.
Traveling from place to place and directing the general movement, were men who had held positions as generals in the armies of the rebellion. Disappointed political tricksters aiming to elevate to power a party whom they claimed had been in sympathy with the rebel cause North and South; and determined to do this though the land of their birth should go to ruin. Anarchy and confusion usurp the places of law and order, and the blood of the outraged ones reach up to heaven in cries for vengence.
These men overlooked the fact that they were setting in motion a power that was destined to pass from their control, and make them as a people of whom it was written: “I will even give them unto the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be as meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.” They desired to heed no note of warning regarding the future so that the ends of the present were accomplished; and under their guidance, lust and rapine and murder stalked abroad, and the land seemed to be wholly given up to the machinations of the evil one and the unbridled license of his chosen servants.
Nowhere upon the dial plate of the nineteenth century did the index finger of the hand of God point with such unerring and terrible certainty. It seemed as if the Lord had spoken once more as he spake in the days of the Prophet Isaiah:
“What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to. I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the walls thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns * * * for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant; and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.”
Good men bowed their heads in anguish. They had lifted their eyes to the far North, from whence should come their help, and they had looked in vain. The body corporate was too fatally diseased to cure itself Rottenness and corruption hung upon its borders, and were slowly sapping the foundations of its life. Its energies were prostrated, its internal recuperative power destroyed. Help must come from without; and the earnest prayers of the devoted and doomed went up to the throne of God in heartfelt supplication, that wisdom might dwell in the hearts of the counsellors to whom the destinies of the nation had been confided; but it seemed as if the heavens were as adamant that could not be pierced, and that no answer would be vouchsafed to the sincere appeal.”
Such was the situation at the close of President Johnson’s term of office, and the elevation of General Grant to the presidential chair. It remained to be seen whether the incoming administration would turn the deaf ear to the suffering and disorganized South as its predecessor had done, or whether, under the guidance of its new Executive head, order should be brought out of chaos, the crooked paths made straight, and the prophecy fulfilled: “Behold, I will redeem them with an outstretched arm.”
The recitals that follow give answer to this query more conclusively than the most elaborate of arguments. They show, from statistics gathered under the most favorable circumstances by the writer in person, the existence of a numerous and formidable organization of armed men, working in secret, disguising themselves beyond all hope of recognition, committing depredations upon persons and property, frequently resulting in the total destruction of both, and instituting the most bitter and inhuman persecutions, for opinion’s sake, that ever disgraced the history of a nation.
The facts are beyond all hope of successful denial. They are born out by the records of the local and federal courts, by the testimony of the surviving sufferers and by the voluntary confession of recanting members of the organization.
A full expose of the order, its origin and secrets, its designs and purposes, its operations and results, are related with an unswerving fidelity to the truth, and with all charity to the people with whom it had its rise, and among whom, by the grace of God, and under the firm but humane course pursued by the present administration in the enforcement of the law, and the establishment of the right, it must have its fall. The information came to the knowledge of the writer through those who had been active members of the order, and who had abandoned it the moment the strong arm of the Government had been felt in the vigorous enforcement of the laws, through its secret agents, thus rendering it safe for them to do so.
The revelations that follow, speak in tones that must reverberate throughout the length and breadth of the continent, and are submitted as terrible evidences of the fearful condition to which communities may be reduced, when, ignoring the cardinal principles of right and justice, they abandon themselves to the control of unscrupulous men, whose overweening ambition destroy every other sentiment, and who esteem no measures too vile or inhuman that will lead to the accomplishment of their own base ends.
ORDERS
OF THE
KU KLUX KLANS.
The Constitutional Union Guards.—Knights of the White Camelia.—Order of Invisible Empire.—The White Brotherhood.—Union and Young Men’s Democracy.
ORIGIN, ORGANIZATION, INITIATION, OATHS, OBJECTS AND OPERATIONS.
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He discovereth deep things out of darkness; And bringeth out to light the shadow of death. Job. XII., 22. |
In the early part of 1866, or nearly a year after the close of the war of the rebellion, there was organized in the Southern States, a secret order, known as the “Constitutional Union Guards,” having a constitution, by-laws, oaths of allegiance, modes of recognition and approach, and a ritual, all of which were legendary and unwritten. Its places of meetings were styled Camps. Its officers were: a “Commander,” “South Commander,” “Grand Commander,” “Chief of Dominion,” and “Grand Cyclops,” or supreme head of the order.
The Commander is the chief officer of a local Camp. He issues the call for, and presides over, all its meetings. Initiates members; administers the oath; invests them with the signs, grips, and passwords necessary in making themselves known as members of the Order; and imparts to them the signal code of sounds by which they are governed in their excursions, and at times when, for obvious reasons, it is not expedient to utter words of command.
The South Commander is, to all appearances, a lay member of the Camp. His power, however, when he chooses to exercise it, is superior to that of the Commander. He is an officer without apparent function, and yet it is a portion of the oath attached to the second, or supreme degree, that he shall be obeyed in preference to any other known or constituted authority. He can prorogue the Camp, or dissolve it altogether, whenever he deems fit, and is amenable to no one inside of the Camp of which he is a member.
The office of this functionary is not an elective one. Whenever a Camp is formed, the authority under which it works assigns to it a South Commander, and he is the only person through whom communications can be received from, or made to, that authority. All the doings of the Camp, the number and names of its members, the warnings issued, the persons visited, and all other proceedings, are carefully noted by the South Commander, and reported by him to the Grand Commander of the District in which the Camp is located, and he is the only member of the Camp who has knowledge of that officer. The South Commander is not permitted to know any Grand Commander save the one to whom he reports, nor does he know to whom his superior is amenable.
The Grand Commander has charge of a District comprising a certain number of Camps (usually seven), from the South Commanders of which he receives reports as above stated. It is his duty to condense these reports into cypher, which he transmits to the officer above him, known as the Chief of Dominion, and from whom he receives the general instructions and orders to be transmitted to the various Camps of his District through the South Commander. He in turn is not permitted to know any Chief of Dominion save the one to whom he reports; and, like his inferiors, is in utter ignorance as to whom his superior is amenable.
The Chief of Dominion has charge of all the operations of the Order in some State assigned to his care. He receives reports from the Grand Commanders thereof; and transmits the same to the “Grand Cyclops,” or supreme head of the Order, and President ex-officio of the “Supreme Grand Council.” This Supreme Grand Council is composed of the Chiefs of Dominions, and from them emanate the instructions which, being decided upon in the conclave of the Council, are promulgated to the rank and file through the Grand Commanders, South Commanders, and Commanders of Camps.
By this peculiar system of organization the moving spirits of the Order are conversant with all that transpires below them, while their own identity is carefully concealed from the masses whom they design to move for their own vile purposes. The objects of the Order are somewhat covertly set forth in the oaths administered to the members, but previous to this time the grand designs intended to be accomplished were known only to the members of the Supreme Grand Council. The initiation is comprised in two degrees, the first or probationary degree being intended to test the members, and the second or supreme degree for those of the first who have been found worthy of advancement. The signs, grips, &c., are the same in both degrees, with the exception of one test word, and a supplementary ritual hereafter to be explained.
ORDER OF INITIATION.
FIRST, OR PROBATIONARY DEGREE.
The first or probationary degree of the Order is intended for the masses. The candidate for initiation is selected, so far as possible, with reference to his political proclivities, if he has any. He must be known to the member proposing him to be opposed to the Radical party; to be or to have been in sympathy with the cause of the rebellion; to be opposed to the elevation of the negro to a social and political equality with the whites; and to have a hatred of negro worshipers, carpet-baggers, and scallawags, as those terms are interpreted in the Order.
These points being satisfactorily settled, he is notified to proceed to a secluded place on a designated night. There he is met by three Conductors, who blindfold and lead him to the vicinity of the Camp, which, in order the more effectually to guard against surprise, rarely assembles twice in the same place. On the way he and his Conductors are encountered by a guard or sentinel, who challenges the party with:
“Who comes here?”
His Conductors reply: “A friend.”
The guard asks: “A friend to what?”
He is answered: “My country.”
The candidate is then allowed to pass into the Camp, and is conducted to the center of the assembled members, when the following oath is administered to him by the Commander:
“You solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God and these witnesses, that you will never reveal the secrets that are about to be imparted to you, and that you will be true to the principles of this brotherhood and its members; that you are not now a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Red String Order, the Union League, Heroes of America, or any other organization whose aim and intention is to destroy the rights of the South, or to elevate the negro to a political equality with yourself; and that you will never assist at the initiation into this Order of any member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Red String Order, the Union League, Heroes of America, or any one holding Radical views or opinions. You furthermore swear that you will oppose all Radicals and negroes in all of their political designs, and that, should any Radical or negro impose on or abuse or injure any member of this brotherhood, you will assist in punishing him in any manner the Camp may direct; and you furthermore swear that you will never reveal any of the orders, acts, or edicts of this brotherhood, and that you will obey all calls and summonses from the Chief of your Camp or brotherhood, should it be in your power to do so; and that, should any member of the brotherhood or his family be in jeopardy, you will inform them of their danger, and go to their assistance. You further swear that you will never give the word of distress unless you are in great need of assistance; and should you hear it given by any brother, you will go to his or their assistance; and should any member of this brotherhood reveal any of its secrets, acts, orders, or edicts, you will assist in punishing him in any way the Camp may direct or approve, so help you God.”
During the administration of this oath, the members surround the initiate, dressed in long, white gowns, high, conical shaped, white hats, and their faces shrouded in white masks. At the conclusion of the oath, the candidate is made to kiss the book. The bandage is then removed from his eyes. The Commander approaches, and proceeds to instruct him in the
SIGNS, GRIPS, AND PASSWORD.
Signs of recognition and approach:
First.—Strike the fingers of the right hand briskly upon the hair over the right ear, bringing the hand forward and partially around the ear, as if describing a half moon.
Answer.—Same sign made with left hand over left ear.
Second.—Thrust the right hand into the pant’s pocket, with the exception of the thumb, at the same time bringing the right heel into the hollow of the left foot.
Answer.—Same sign with the left hand, bringing the left heel into the hollow of the right foot.
As a farther precaution search is made by the hailing party as if for a pin in the right lappel of the coat.
Answer.—A similar search in the left lappel of the coat.
The Grip is given by placing the forefinger on the pulse of the person you shake hands with.
Countersign.—If halted by a camp or picket on the public highway at night, the following colloquy ensues:
“Who comes there?”
“A friend!”
“A friend of what?”
“My country!”
“What country?”
“I, S, A, Y.” (Repeating each letter slowly.)
“N, O, T, H, I, N, G.” (Repeating each letter slowly.)
“The word?”
“Retribution!”
These countersigns are issued every three months. The one here given was in vogue at the time of the discovery of the order.
A member of any order of the Ku Klux Klan of the first or probationary degree, in distress, and requiring speedy aid, will use a word signal, or cry of distress: “Shiloh!”
In expeditions conducted under direction of the Commander, or any of the brethren detailed by him to act as head, a code of signals by sounds, made with whistles, is used, in order that the members may not be recognized by their voices.
DIVISIONS OF THE ORDER.
There are several divisions of the order of the Ku Klux Klans, all working under the same ritual and oaths, and having the same signs, grips, passwords, modes of approach, and general conduct of raids and midnight excursions. These are known under the names of “Knights of the White Camelia,” “The Invisible Empire,” “The White Brotherhood,” “The Unknown Multitude,” “The Union and Young Men’s Democracy.” All work in disguise, with the exception of the latter, who work openly as well as in disguise, and are all under the instructions of the “Grand Cyclops” and the Supreme Grand Council. They all have one and the same object, which is as plainly set forth in the oath as it well can be in an obligation of that character.
The difference in names and styles has been adopted for a two-fold purpose. First, to conceal the origin, object, and design of the order, and its founders and directors; secondly, to conceal its extent and numbers, and make it appear a mere local affair that has cropped out in different places without reference to any organized combination with one grand center.
The workings of the Klans over all the Southern country show more conclusively than any amount of subterfuge on the part of the leaders, that one common tie binds them all; that one common interest actuates them; that one common end is to be accomplished. The oath differs slightly in phraseology in different localities, to accommodate the varied circumstances under which it is administered, and with a view to greater concealment—the words “Unknown Multitude,” “Invisible Empire,” and “White Brotherhood” being substituted in North and South Carolina; the words “Union and Young Men’s Democracy,” in Georgia and Mississippi; and the words “Knights of the White Camelia,” in Louisiana and Texas and other States.
THE SECOND OR SUPREME DEGREE.
This degree differs from the first or probationary degree in the fact that those upon whom it is conferred are of the better class of the masses, and take upon themselves a more binding oath, administered under circumstances intended to be more impressive in character. The candidate for this degree is brought blind-folded into the center of the Camp, and caused to kneel at an altar erected for the occasion, his right hand placed upon a Bible, and his left upon a human skull. The Commander then says:
“Brethren, must it be done?”
The members respond, “It must!” and this in a tone intended to strike terror to the heart of the novitiate.
The candidate, of course, has no knowledge of what is meant by the ominous “Must it be done?” and there is a mournful groaning in the response “It must!” indicating that a terrible experience awaits him, which the Brotherhood would gladly spare him if they could.
A death-like silence ensues for a few moments, which seem ages to the candidate, and affords ample opportunity for his imagination to picture the unheard-of horrors through which he may possibly be called to pass. The silence is finally broken by the Commander, who says:
“Brethren, this brother now kneels at the altar of our faith, and asks to be bound to our fortunes by the more solemn and mysterious provisions of our Order. Fortunately for him in this hour of peril, he has been found worthy, and in commemoration of his being made one of the great ‘Unknown Multitude,’ I again ask, ‘Must it be done?’”
The brethren, in solemn tones, again respond, “It must!”
The Commander then says, in a stentorian tone of voice, “Let the blood of the traitor be spilled: bring the victim forth.”
The members here make a rustling noise, to resemble a struggle, a heavy blow is struck upon some appropriate substance, and a few drops of blood are trickled over the hand of the initiate that rests upon the skull. The brethren then surround him with knives and pistols presented in a circle about his head and neck, when the Commander then says:
“Must I swear him by the oath that shall forever bind, and never be broken?”
The brethren, placing their hands upon their left breasts, respond sepulchrally as before, “Swear him!”
The Commander now addresses the candidate as follows:
“My Brother, kneeling at the solemn altar of our faith, as one who desires that no government but the white man’s shall live in this country; and as one who will fight to the death all schisms, and factions, and parties, coming from whatsoever source they may, which have for their design the elevation of the negro to an equality with the white man, I am now about to administer to you the oath of this, the supreme degree, of our Order—that oath which shall forever bind, and never be broken; at the same time informing you that this oath, being taken in a cause which has for its object the deliverance of your country and the land of your birth from the rule of the negro-worshiper and the fanatic, is paramount to every other oath which you have taken, or may hereafter take, outside of this Order. You will now repeat after me, pronouncing your name in full, and your words aloud, on pain of instant death:
Oath of the Second or Supreme Degree.
“I, A. B., in the presence of Almighty God, and these my friends here assembled, kneeling at this altar, with my right hand upon the holy Bible, and my left washed in the blood of a traitor, and resting upon the skull of his brother in iniquity, and being fully impressed with the sacredness of this act, do solemnly swear that I will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, as it was handed down by our forefathers, in its original purity; that I will reject and oppose the principles of the Radical party in all its forms, and forever maintain and contend that intelligent white men shall govern this country. And I furthermore swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Order of the Constitutional Union Guards, and will never make known, by sign, word, or deed, any of its secrets now about to be, or that may hereafter be confided to me; that I will obey all its precepts, mandates, orders, instructions, and directions issued through the Commander, and aid and assist the brethren in carrying out and enforcing the same; and that I will keep secret, even unto death, the plans and movements of this society. I furthermore swear to obey the South Commander in the Camp, in preference to any known law, precept, or authority whatever, and to defend the brethren, if need be, with the sacrifice of my life. I swear that the enemies of the white man’s race, and the white man’s government, and the friends of negro equality shall be my enemies, and that I will uphold and defend the white man’s government against all comers, whether in the name of Radicals, Negro-worshipers, Carpet-baggers, Scallawags, or spies in the land. I swear to forever oppose the social and political elevation of the negro to an equality with the whites, and that I will come at every hour of the moon to execute the trust confided to me by the Commander and the brethren. I furthermore swear that, in case of our being interrupted in the establishment of the principles for which we are contending, that I will regard no oath that will convict one of the members of this Order, but under all circumstances will stand by the Order in blood and death. I furthermore swear that I will not give the signal cry of distress, only when in real distress, and that I will yield my life, if necessary, in aid of a brother giving the double cry of this degree. Lastly, I swear by this Bible, and this skull, and this blood, that should I ever prove unfaithful in any particular to the obligation I have now assumed, I hope to meet with the fearful and just penalty of the traitor, which is death, DEATH, DEATH, at the hands of the brethren. So help me God.”
The candidate having kissed the book, the bandage is removed from his eyes. He sees before him a human skull upon one side of the Bible, and a small chalice or cup filled with blood upon the other. The brethren are all disguised in long black gowns, covering them completely from neck to heels. Black masks and black conical shaped hats of enormous height, decorated with representations of death’s head and cross bones, complete the costume.
Some of the members bear pine torches, which throw a wierd and unearthly glare upon the unholy scene, and render it a fit counterpart to the abode of the demons who seem to have instigated the proceedings. When the bandage is removed, these torches are swung violently to and fro, and the brethren simultaneously utter a loud cry.
The candidate is now informed that the signs, grips, and passwords of the preceding degree are used in this, with the exception that the signal cry of distress in this is composed of two words: ”Shiloh, Avalanche.”
OPERATIONS
OF THE
KU KLUX KLAN.
An Authenticated Account of Outrages Committed in the South.—The Perpetrators and their Victims.
THE MURDER OF EDWARD THOMPSON.
From the close of the war, up to the fall of 1870, there resided in Lowndes county, Georgia, an exceedingly intelligent colored man, named Edward Thompson. He was noted for his piety, and the peculiar influence he exerted over the members of his race who resided in Lowndes county, and Hamilton county, Florida; and being thoroughly imbued with Republican principles, lost no opportunity in disseminating them among those of his race with whom he associated. Through his exertion, and by the force of his example, the negroes voted the ticket of the Republican party at every election, always seeking his advice before going to the polls to deposit their ballots.
Thompson’s case was brought before the Camp of Hamilton county, Florida—at that time, presided over by one Elihu Horn, Commander of the Camp—as one requiring energetic action upon the part of the Order. A warning was issued to Thompson, the import of which could hardly be mistaken. The following is a verbatim copy of the same taken from the original.
“K. K. K.
“His Supreme Highness of Hamilton to Edward Thompson.
“His Supreme and Mighty Highness has heard of your seditious practices in leading others astray, and encouraging them in opposition to the white man’s government. Time is given you to repent and submit as your fathers have done. Now this is to warn you, and all such as you, on pain of punishment and death, to abandon your vicious harangues, and abide by our orders. The moon is yet bright; it may turn to blood.
“By order,
“K. K. K.”
Thompson paid no heed to this warning, but continued to pursue the even tenor of his way. He had resided so long in the place, and been so favorably known there, both among the whites and blacks, that he scouted the idea that this meant anything more than a threat intended to intimidate him, and he continued exerting his influence in the Republican cause with his brethren, as had been his custom. Several warnings were subsequently sent to him with no better effect, and it was finally decided in the solemn conclave of the Camp, that he should receive the long threatened “visitation.”
On the 19th of September, 1870, Thompson retired to his bed between nine and ten o’clock, as was his usual custom. His family consisted of his wife and two children, all of whom occupied the same sleeping apartment. Between eleven and twelve o’clock they were aroused from their slumbers by the door being broken in with a tremendous crash, and before Thompson had time to collect himself, he was rudely seized and dragged from his bed by a number of men, armed and disguised, two of whom fired their revolvers into the roof of the cabin, as a menace, and assured Thompson they would turn the weapons upon him, if he offered the slightest resistance. His wife and children were also dragged from their beds, being at the same time severely struck by some members of the band, and told to remain quiet.
“In the name of the Lord, what is this?” asked Thompson, as soon as he could command his voice.
The response was a blow upon the head from the butt of a pistol, delivered with a brutality that convinced him that he was in the hands of those to whose hearts mercy was a stranger. He was then told to ask no questions, and make no noise, but to dress himself and go with the band.
His wife was subjected to the most revolting indecencies. The last garment that covered her nakedness was wrenched from her person and torn into shreds, leaving her utterly exposed to the malicious and lecherous eyes of the intruders. She was then told “to get her rags on,” and go with the party. The children terrified at seeing their parents thus brutally assailed, uttered the most piercing screams, but were ordered to remain behind and not leave the house, or they would be killed. The band started out with their captives in the direction of the house of John and Samuel Hogan, two white men who were known to be Republicans, and had thus rendered themselves obnoxious to the Camp. They compelled the Hogans to accompany them, and started for the woods, nearly a mile from Thompson’s house.
One Micajah Amerson, a colored man living near the scene of this outrage, hearing the report of the fire arms, arose, and dressed himself, and taking a shot gun, started for his son’s house on the Joseph Howell plantation. Amerson was just in time to meet the band having Thompson and his wife and the two Hogans in custody, and was at once seized and compelled to go with the party. Amerson seems to be the only one of the captives able or willing to give an intelligent account of what subsequently transpired, which he did to the writer as follows:
“I saw the company in the road, and knew they were the Ku Klux from their disguises. I saw it was no use to try and get away from them, and one of them told me to go along, at the same time striking me with a club. Edward Thompson and his wife (colored), and John and Samuel Hogan, two white men, were with them. Thompson said nothing but his wife moaned all the way on the road to the woods. We went about a quarter of a mile into the woods, and were then ordered to halt. When the halt was made, one of the band gave a peculiar whistle, which was answered almost directly by a similar sound. This proved to be the signal for the appearance of a party who was addressed as the Captain, and who at once took charge of the proceedings.
“I and the two white men were ordered to sit down, a pistol being placed at our heads to enforce obedience. The colored man (Thompson) was then told to strip himself naked. This he commenced very reluctantly to do, begging for mercy, and asking what he was going to be whipped for. The members of the band seemed to be enraged at this, and taking out their knives, commenced cutting his clothes off, wounding him in several places. The Captain then struck him a powerful blow with a gun, shattering the stock and knocking Thompson senseless.
“No one paid any attention to him as he lay upon the ground,—the Captain and two or three of the band holding a consultation. The Captain then asked for the “executioners.” Two men came forward and said: “Where are the warrants?” At this another of the party produced two long leather straps, and handing them to the two men, said: “Here they are.”
“These two then commenced to beat Thompson and his wife in a dreadful manner. The punishment on the wife was brief though cruel. That upon Thompson was continued until the “executioner” was thoroughly exhausted. He then handed the strap to another member of the band, who renewed the assault with great fury. Thompson, at first, made no exclamations, but on being struck in the more delicate parts of his body, screeched fearfully. He was brought to his feet several times while the punishment was being inflicted, only to be knocked down by the strap, and kicked by those who were standing around him. The members of the band laughed at his agony and said to the executioners: “Give it to the damned radical; learn the son of a b...h to keep his piety and politics to himself; we’ll teach him how to lead the niggers.”
“Thompson finally ceased to scream. His body was a mass of blood, and he appeared to be unconscious long before the beating was through with. I thought he must be dead, but dared not say anything. When the executioners had ceased, he lay perfectly still. One of the members said: “The d....d skunk is playing possum.” He then jumped at Thompson, kicked him several times in the side and back with great violence, and turning him over, ground his boot heel in his face. He lay for a long time unconscious, and was several times raised to his feet, but could not stand. His wife continued to pray during a portion of the time, asking God to bring her husband to life, and begging the Captain to spare him for the sake of his family, and let her try and get him home.
“The Captain finally said, she might do what she liked. It was easy to see that Thompson could not live, but some of the band were not satisfied. One of them called out:
“‘Captain Smart, can I shoot the dirty radical?’ to which the Captain replied:
“‘No! the black son of a b....h is dead enough.’ The Captain then said to me and the two white men:
“‘Now, you take this for a warning, and if we ever hear of you divulging anything about this, you may expect the same treatment.’
“The white men and myself were then taken to the road, where we were met by another party, also in disguise, making about forty in all. I was then told to go to the Joseph Howell plantation, and remain there two hours, or the rest of the band would take me and put me up the spout.
“I done as directed, and returned to my own house about 6 o’clock in the morning; I then went over to Thompson’s house, and found him dead. How he came there, I do not know; I heard that his wife got him home, and that he was not entirely dead, when he got there.”
In addition to the testimony of Amerson, as to the terrible details of this brutal murder, we have that of Mrs. Thompson and the two Hogans. Dr. Mapp, a physician residing near Thompson, was called to see him, and at the earnest entreaty of the wife dressed his wounds, although he saw that the poor victim could not live possibly. He was literally beaten to a jelly. One of his eyes had been forced completely out of its socket, and he was otherwise almost totally unrecognizable.
Elihu Horn, alias Capt. Smart, was known at the time as a respectable member of society in Hamilton county, Fla., and a leader in the democratic ranks in that vicinity, and violently opposed to the present administration. He was determined that no one should preach what he was pleased to term “the heresy of radicalism” in that county, and live, and his threat was fully carried out upon the body of the unfortunate Thompson.
In the light of such an outrage, can any one, of whatever creed or faith, question the policy of the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and the proclamation of martial law in such a community, or doubt the wisdom of the executive head of the nation, in his efforts to suppress the unlawful assemblages, who aspired to hold the life and liberty of our citizens in the hollow of their hands, and annihilate the hopes of newly-made freemen, by imposing upon them a bondage infinitely worse than that from which the nation, through the blood of her sons, had but so recently released them?
BRUTAL WHIPPING OF A WHITE MAN FOR OPINION’S SAKE.
Shortly after the outrage which resulted in the death of Edward Thompson, a Mr. Driggers, residing in the county of Echols, and not far from where Thompson had been murdered, received a warning from the Ku Klux Klan, that he must change his political opinions, or leave the State.
Mr. Driggers was a prominent republican, and had made no secret of his political faith. He had freely expressed his opinions in that regard whenever he desired to do so, and had steadily voted the republican, or what was known to the Ku Klux as the radical, ticket. He was generally esteemed among his fellows, and especially among the colored people, in whose welfare he took a great interest, and this latter fact was deemed an offense not to be tolerated by the defenders of the white man’s government.
Warning after warning was sent to him, and he was thus duly reminded, that, unless he recanted, the fate of Thompson would surely be his; but, he still regarded the matter as merely an idle threat, and time passed on until the night of the 25th of August, 1871, when a party of five men, armed, and disguised in black gowns and masks, visited his residence.
Mr. Driggers at once divined the object of this visitation, and was expostulating with the leader, when he was quickly overpowered and stripped in the presence of his family, and beaten with straps similar to those used upon Thompson.
He was dreadfully punished about the head, face, and back, and was informed by the Klan, that for the present they would accord him the mercy to live, but, unless he left the county, they would return and kill him, and destroy his property.
From similar outrages that had been perpetrated in the vicinity, Mr. Driggers was fully satisfied that this threat would be carried out to the letter. He was familiar with the brutal details of Thompson’s death, and was now convinced that the members of this terrible brotherhood would respect neither color, social standing, or respectability, and at once made hasty preparations, and abandoned his once happy home to become a wanderer. The visitation upon him was made solely for political reasons. He was a man that stood above reproach in the community, and no person could be found in Echol county that could impugn his character as a man, a gentleman, and an upright citizen. It was not contended that he had committed any other offense than that of being a radical republican, who, being too obstinate to change his politics, must be whipped into renouncing a faith that he could not be argued out of.
Is it any wonder that men who substitute brute force for argument, should so strenuously object to the efforts of the executive officers to enforce the law and bring order out of the chaos, into which their wild and licentious acts have plunged the respective communities in which they live? Thinking men will say “nay,” and will ask and demand that the policy now being pursued by the administration shall be continued until the supremacy of the law is fully established, and men of all shades of color and political faith may “sit under their own vine and fig tree, with none to molest or make them afraid.”
Allen Wicker, William Smith, Butcher Smith, James King, and Lewis Kinsey, all residents of Echol county, Ga., and members of the Camp that had decided that Mr. Drigger must surrender his political opinions, leave his home, or die, were the persons upon whom the officers of the United States Secret Service fastened the guilt of this outrage.
AN APPALLING TRAGEDY.
TERRIBLE DEATH OF A WHITE MAN IN WILKINSON COUNTY, GEORGIA.
One of the most appalling tragedies ever resulting from the free expression of political opinions, was that enacted at Irwinton, Wilkinson county, Georgia, on the night of the 31st of August, 1871.
For more than a year previous to this date, a white man, familiarly known throughout the county as Sheriff Deason, had taken a very active part in politics, having espoused the republican cause, as one might say, in the very den of the lion himself, and standing almost alone, in what he considered a contest for the right.
Deason was a large, powerfully built, and muscular man, inured to hardship from his youth, resolute in his purpose, tenacious of his principles, and ready under all circumstances to expound them, whenever it seemed good to him to do so. He was a man whose good nature was proverbial. He delighted to get into the country grocery, and there, surrounded by an admiring audience of colored men, and such of the whites as sympathized with him, although secretly, express his opinion, that the principles of the republican party were the only ones upon which a righteous government could be founded, and which would eventually bring the ship of State safely to a secure anchorage.
Among his hearers were many of those who had sworn to uphold the “white man’s government,” and who believed that Deason’s arguments were calculated to damage their labors in this respect, but, bold as they were, when in bands of twenty, armed and disguised, they assailed defenseless men and helpless women, they dare not single handed to make even so much as an utterance against his outspoken logic, and they writhed and twisted under it in silence. They comprehended, however, that seeds were being sown that would take root in the minds of thinking men, and produce results which they did not desire to see accomplished.
A formal presentation of Deason’s case was made to the Irwinton Camp of the C. U. G., to which Order, at that time, two-thirds of the white population of Wilkinson county belonged. As was usual in such cases, it was decided to issue a warning to the intended victim, which was forthwith done. Deason replied to it by pasting the warning upon the door of his house, where it remained an ever present witness to the contempt in which he held its authors, until it was washed away by the fall rains.
This was regarded as an act of defiance upon Deason’s part, that could not be overlooked. To add to this, he continued uttering his political views with the same freedom as before, and it was resolved that he must be stopped. This, however, was easier said than done; Deason was known to be thoroughly armed, a man of undoubted courage, and a terrible opponent when thoroughly aroused, although very quietly disposed when left to himself.
The Camp saw they had a serious subject to deal with, and for nearly a year after the first warning, he was little less than a thorn in their side. His example worked steadily upon thinking minds, and it was evident that he must be put out of the way, as the only measure whereby the spread of the peculiar political principles advocated by him could be stayed.
A final warning was sent to him, the substance of which was, that he “must leave the country, change his politics, or make up his mind to become Buzzard Bait.” In the Conclave of the Klan, when this warning was directed to be issued, it was announced that this was positively the last opportunity that would be given Deason to repent of his ways, and that in the event of its failure to bring him to a change of his views, or his location, the full penalty attached to the “negro worshiper” would be enforced. This, however, had no more effect than the previous warnings, and his death was resolved upon.
On the night of the 31st of August, 1871, twenty-five of the Klan who had been selected by the Commander, armed and disguised themselves for the purpose, and proceeded to Deason’s house on the outskirts of the place. Deason had retired for the night, having carefully locked and barred his doors and windows as usual. It was about midnight when he was aroused by a heavy knock at his door. He arose from his bed and requested to know who was there. The reply was a demand for him to come out and surrender himself to the Klan.
Deason responded to this with a defiant remark, telling them if they wanted him, they must come and take him. The band then commenced battering at the door, when Deason, placing his gun at a loop-hole which he had previously prepared, discharged both barrels. It appears, however, from some great misfortune to him, that neither of the shots produced any damaging effect upon the assailing party. The band were somewhat disconcerted at this, however, and withdrew a short distance from the house and held a consultation.
At the time of this visitation, Deason’s wife was away upon a visit, and the only other person in the house was a colored woman who was a servant in the family. She had already arisen and expressed her determination to assist Deason in the fight, to the extent of her ability. The latter had reloaded his gun and had just set it down when a sudden rushing noise, as of men running, drew his attention, and in a second afterwards, the door was crushed in by a joist, which the band, using as a battering ram, had forced against it.
The Klan poured in at once, and in full force. A terrible hand to hand fight ensued. Deason fought with great desperation, as did the colored woman. One after another of the Klan were stretched out upon the floor of the cabin, but the odds were too great, and Deason’s immense strength became exhausted under his tremendous exertions and the loss of blood which he sustained. He finally sank down pierced with over-twenty bullet and knife wounds, and died fighting to the last in the maintenance of the principles he had so long and so earnestly advocated.
The woman was soon dispatched, and the Klan then retired, taking their wounded with them. Deason’s mutilated body was found the next morning on the floor of the room in which he had met his dreadful fate, while that of the woman was found doubled up in one corner of the apartment, as if she had been thrown there like a bundle of worthless rags. The frontal bone of the dead man’s head had been broken, and the base of his skull crushed in, apparently by a club. The body had been shot and stabbed in more than twenty different places, and presented a most revolting spectacle.
The facts of the double murder soon spread abroad, and were reported to a Mr. Bush, coroner of Irwinton, and that gentleman, being a member of the Camp that had ordered Deason’s death, empanelled a jury of his fellow-brethren, and, according to his own confession, made since that time, went through the form of an inquest, the result of which was a verdict that the man Deason and the colored woman had met their death at the hands of certain colored persons, to the jury unknown.
The death of this noble martyr to the cause of truth, effected important changes. There were signs of dissatisfaction among some portions of the community, to whom the details of the awful tragedy had become known, and it was necessary that some measures should be taken to appease the feeling of indignation that was beginning to gain ground.
The Grand Jury of the county was summoned to sit for the purpose of taking some measures to suppress crime. Every member of the jury was a member of the C. U. G., or Ku Klux Klan. Their first step was to issue an address to the people of the county, stating that evidence had been brought before them to show that certain negroes had been guilty of gross outrages in the county, which all good men should deprecate, and calling upon the citizens to look out for the evil doers. This had but little effect, however, other than to confirm the few well-meaning ones in their former belief that Wilkinson county was in the hands of men who would leave no measures unturned, to drive out of it, every one known to differ from them politically.
Deason is not the first nor the last in the long procession of illustrious martyrs who, in all ages of the world have forfeited their lives in the maintenance of their principles. Unlettered, uncouth, uncultivated in life, resolute and unyielding even in death, he stands recorded upon the pages of this brief history, a noble and brilliant example of the lineal descendants of those who came from the shores of a distant continent, more than an hundred years ago, to seek that freedom of thought, that civil and religious liberty that had been denied them at home.
Many such as he, now live and suffer in the deluded and misguided land of his birth, and like him, have for years carried their lives in their hands, for opinion’s sake. In the good Providence of an all-seeing God—who has indeed imbued the present heads of the nation with the wisdom necessary to appreciate the situation, and devise the appropriate remedy—light begins to appear in the dark places, verifying the saying that, “sooner or later, insulted virtue avenges itself on states as well as on private individuals.”
THE MURDER OF BRINTON PORTER.
While the Grand Jury were holding their sessions as previously stated, and only a short time after Deason’s death, a band of twenty armed and disguised men rode into Irwinton and murdered one Brinton Porter, an intelligent citizen whose offense consisted like Deason’s in his having disseminated Republican principles and voted the Republican ticket.
Porter had received a warning similar to that sent to Deason, but had said nothing about it, even to the members of his own family. After receiving the warning he had neither openly expressed his radical views, nor made recantation of his political faith, but as he had not left the country, as the warning stated he must do, his doom was pronounced in the conclave of the Camp, and it was ordered that he should die.
On the 8th of September, 1871, after concluding the business of the day, and taking tea with his family, Mr. Porter left the family table, and, taking a chair, went out to his door stoop. His only child, a daughter of tender years, accompanied him and sat at his feet. He saw the band of disguised men approaching the house, and deeming himself in danger, immediately arose and was in the act of entering the house when he fell across the threshold pierced by half a dozen bullets, which had been discharged at him by the Klan. The child escaped unhurt. The Klan seeing they had accomplished their purpose, wheeled around and with derisive yells passed out of the town at a sharp trot.
The agony of Porter’s family beggars description. A wife widowed, and a child orphaned in a moment, because their natural protector had assumed the right guaranteed to him by the Constitution and the laws, to exercise the elective franchise according to his own opinion, and the dictates of his own conscience. Can one believe, that in the civilization of the 19th century, and upon the American continent, the boasted refuge for the down-trodden, and the oppressed of all nations, such a scene as that above related could be enacted in the broad light of day, and the whole community not rise up against it? Alas, for the degradation to which political bigotry and a disregard of law, reduces a people, it is only too true.
The data upon which this truthful narration of the murder of Brinton Porter is founded, is a matter of record in the archives of the Government. The facts can neither be gainsaid nor palliated. It is to be hoped that the firm policy of the present administration may bring the people of the community in which Porter lived to such a sense of the great injustice done among them, that they will rally to aid the Government, in bursting the bands thrown about them by the subtletry of their own unprincipled leaders, and stand shoulder to shoulder with those who are doing all that human wisdom can devise to restore order and harmony, and promote prosperity and happiness among the people.
EXTERMINATING THE NEGRO RACE.
Fiendish Designs of the Ku Klux of Wilkinson County.
THE EMASCULATION OF HENRY LOWTHER.
In some parts of Wilkinson County, there seemed to be a disposition to destroy every member of the colored race who should be found voting the radical ticket.
It was contended that scourgings and general maltreatment had not produced satisfactory results; and, on the other hand, blood was accumulating on the heads of the Klan, too fast even for their blunted consciences. Still the war must go on in some way, and something must be done to destroy the little leaven that bid fair to “leaven the whole lump.” The subject was discussed in the conclave of the Camp, and it was finally decided that a more effectual way could be devised to accomplish the extermination of the colored race than either by whipping or murder. This was the fiendish resolve to castrate every negro who was guilty of radical proclivities, and who voted the radical ticket, a design worthy alone of the men who originated it.
In that county, and at that particular time, there were many colored men known as Republicans; and an opportunity was speedily afforded the Klan, to carry out this terrible species of cruelty; a greater crime against nature than all the others since it looked to the entire destruction of the species.
There had been, for sometime previous to September, 1871, a colored man in Wilkinson County, by the name of Henry Lowther. This person was favorably known among the negroes of the county, and expended a good deal of his leisure time in going from place to place, and talking Republican sentiments to members of his race, and urging them to vote the Republican ticket, as the only means of maintaining their right to freedom.
Previous to the dreadful visitation which subsequently came upon him, he had voted the Republican ticket upon two occasions, and had expressed his intentions to continue on in his political course in the future.
This had roused the indignation of the Ku Klux Camp at Irwinton beyond measure. A meeting of the Klan was called in which the edict was promulgated, that since Lowther would not abandon the propagation of his political opinions, he should be deprived of the power to propagate his race, and further, that he should receive no “warning” in the matter, but be proceeded against summarily, and “at once” was the time fixed for this outrage. Lowther had been followed all the day previous, and just after dusk was seized and thrown into a carriage, and driven rapidly away to the woods near Irwinton, by four men armed and disguised. While in the carriage, he was told that if he moved or made any resistance, his life would pay the forfeit; but that, otherwise, it would be spared.
Upon arriving at the woods, he was taken out of the carriage, and found himself in the midst of nearly one hundred persons. Notwithstanding the promise made by his first captors, he supposed his time had arrived and begged for his life. He was then told that he would not be killed, if he did not make too much resistance; that he had been preaching too much politics, and they intended to fix all the d—d radical breeders in the country; and had made up their minds to begin on him. Lowther did not fully comprehend them at first, but soon learned the awful significance of the words.
His arms were then firmly pinioned, and he was thrown upon the ground where he was tightly held by several of the band, and castrated in a most rude and brutal manner, begging piteously and writhing under the pains inflicted by his tormentors. After the operation had been performed, he was unpinioned and asked if he knew the residence of any doctors and on his replying that he did, he was told to go for one as he valued his life; and further, that if he ever voted the radical ticket again, or influenced any one else to do so, he should suffer death. Although shockingly mutilated and bleeding from the dreadful manner in which he had been treated, Lowther started to find a physician. Three different surgeons were applied to before he found one sufficiently humane to afford him assistance in dressing his wounds.
It was several weeks before the unfortunate negro was in a condition to walk about. The facts coming to the ears of the officers of the U. S. secret service, they made diligent search for Lowther, whom they learned dared not complain of his treatment for fear of death; and having found and assured him of protection, he made affidavit to the facts as above set forth, affirming that, with other parties who instigated and consummated this outrage, were Eli Cummings, the Mayor of Irwinton, Lewis Peacock, then Sheriff of Wilkinson County, and others of equal prominence. Shall it be said after this that only the ignorant and uninfluential whites are engaged in the gross outrages charged upon the Southern community? and that there is no need there of the rigorous enforcement of the laws to secure to the well-meaning citizen, black and white, the security for life and property denied them under the rule of the lawless mob?
OUTRAGES
BY THE
KU KLUX KLAN.
Persecution of the Furguson Family for Opinion’s Sake.—Aged Women and Young Girls Stripped Naked, and Brutally Whipped.—An Awful History.
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For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: My father chastised you with whips, But I will chastise you with scorpions. II Chronicles, X, 11. |
The terrible narration that here ensues shows more conclusively, perhaps, than any that has preceded it, the extent of the moral degradation to which the community in which it was enacted was so surely and steadily drifting. It would seem that the authors of the outrage had forgotten that they were born of mothers, who had nursed them tenderly in infancy, or that there were any longer left in the bosoms of women those feelings of virtue and modesty usually ascribed to and found in the sex, and the writer will here premise that the facts herein contained, dreadful though they are in their disgusting details, have been verified beyond cavil or the hope of questioning.
Just previous to the breaking out of the rebellion, Dennis Furguson, an intelligent and hard-working white man, resided with his family in Chatham county, North Carolina. The family consisted of himself, his wife Catherine, a daughter, Susan J. Furguson, and three sons, John, Henry and Daniel. The head of the household was one of the few devoted Unionists who were thoroughly opposed to the principles then being disseminated by those who were endeavoring to plunge the country into a civil war, and exerted all his influence to avoid the great catastrophe.
Mr. Furguson was known as being favorable to the Republicans, and had voted in the interest of the principles of the party of that name, whenever opportunity had offered. He had educated his children in a love of the Union, and taught them the blessings of civil and religious liberty with their evening prayers, and had succeeded in imbuing them with his own opinions to such an extent that the family became noted throughout Chatham county as Unionists and Radicals.
At the breaking out of the war, Furguson determined to remain a non-combatant, seeking as far as possible not to render himself obnoxious to his neighbors, but resolving at the same time to maintain a neutral position. In this, however, he was doomed to a bitter disappointment, being conscripted into the rebel army and sent to the front. He was taken prisoner at Fort Caswell, N. C., and was sent to Elmira, N. Y., where he died, never having seen his family from the night he was so rudely torn from their embrace, and compelled to serve in the army of the rebellion.
Neither this great calamity, nor the numerous other hardships suffered by this family for opinion’s sake, could shake their firm adherence to the Union cause. The daughter was a beautiful girl, of great natural intelligence, but who had been wholly without the advantages of an education. She was attached to her father with a rare devotion, and believed it to be a filial duty, which she owed to his memory, to continue to enunciate the principles in which he had so thoroughly instructed her. His conscription had strengthened rather than weakened these sentiments, and she publicly spoke of his death as chargeable to the wicked designs of the men who had endeavored to overturn and destroy the country.
At the time of the organization of the first Camp of the “Constitutional Union Guards,” or Ku Klux Klan, in Chatham county, Susan Furguson was in her eighteenth year. Her case was the first one brought to the consideration of the Camp; but no special action was taken thereon until it was observed that the sons were following in the footsteps of the father, and were advocating the same principles of Unionism and Republicanism that he had taught them. They also learned that Miss Furguson lost no opportunity to express her convictions to the colored people with whom she came in contact, and in their eyes her course became intolerable.
During the October of 1870, the case of the Furguson family was again brought before the Camp as a flagrant violation of the principles of the white man’s government, and it was resolved that an example should be made of them. A warning was sent to the family to renounce their political faith, and cease the promulgation of their opinions, or leave the country. To this, and subsequent warnings of a similar character, no attention was paid, and an edict was finally issued by the Commander of the Camp, to have some, if not all the members of the family, scourged.
On the night of the 10th of November, 1870, the Furgusons retired to bed at about 10 o’clock. The family was then composed of the widow, Mrs. Catherine Furguson, the daughter Susan, and the three sons. Between eleven and twelve o’clock, the attention of the daughter was called to a noise outside the house, resembling the tramp of horses’ feet, and the running of men. In a moment afterwards, a voice shouted, “Open the door.” The daughter arose hastily, threw a wrapper over her person, and went to the door and asked, “Who is there?”
The response to this was another command, delivered in more peremptory tones than at first—“Open the door!” and on her refusing to comply therewith, the frail structure was broken in, and a man, disguised beyond all hope of recognition, sprang into the apartment, confronting the girl with a most terrible oath.
In the dim glare of the candle which Miss Furguson had lighted, and now held above her head, this hideous looking object presented an appearance well calculated to terrify a stouter heart. A long black gown hung over his person to his knees, and his legs were encased in huge army boots, ornamented with a brace of iron spurs. Over his face was a black mask, with apertures for the eyes, nose, and mouth, and around these were drawn ghastly circles of white and red, rendering the face of the figure exceedingly repulsive. On his breast was the representation of a human skull worked in white, on a black ground, and surrounded with grotesque figures worked in red. His head was surmounted with a high conical-shaped black hat, on which were curious figures worked in white, and edged with red and yellow.
He commenced his interrogations by asking Miss Furguson if she had ever seen a Ku Klux; to which the brave girl replied she never had, nor did she wish to, unless it were more comely than he. This seemed to enrage him, and turning to the door, he shouted, “Come in!” A horde of twenty men, similarly disguised, rushed into the room, and the indecent orgies commenced.
The mother and the three brothers had remained in bed, at the earnest request of the sister, but were speedily dragged from their resting place. Daniel was the first one assailed. His night clothes were torn from him in myriads of pieces, leaving him in an entirely nude state. He was then thrown down upon the floor, and stretched out at full length; four of the band seizing and holding him fast while two others came forward and administered to him upwards of an hundred lashes on the naked person, drawing the blood at every blow, and raising the quivering flesh in great ridges upon his back and limbs. The boy fainted under the terrible punishment, and was then thrown aside to make room for his brothers, Henry and John, who were each castigated in an equally severe manner.
John Furguson, who was more delicate than his brothers, uttered such piercing shrieks, as the heavy gum switches descended upon his back and loins, that his sister became almost insane. In her terrible agony she sprang upon the leader, and before she could be prevented, tore off his mask, and, to her horror and amazement, disclosed the face of Richard Taylor, one of her nearest neighbors, to whom she had often, since the death of her father, gone for advice and counsel. Taylor threw her rudely to the floor and replaced his mask as quickly as possible. The girl was severely stunned by the fall, but as soon as she recovered, cried out, “I know you, Dick Taylor, and I will have you punished for what you have done this night.”
Taylor immediately discharged his revolver at her, but, in the dim light shed over the room by the candle, and the excitement of the moment, shot wide of the object. He then exclaimed, with an oath, “If you move again, I will kill you dead; and if I ever hear of your telling anybody of this affair, we will come back and kill you all.”
Turning to Mrs. Furguson, he said, “Now, you take your folks and leave this country. If you are not gone in ten days, we will be here again and you shall all die.”
During the entire time of this whipping the three sons, two of them men grown, were completely naked, and when the mother and daughter sought to avert their heads from the shameful spectacle, they were ordered to turn them back again on pain of instant death, the command being enforced with pistols presented at their heads, by the hands of men whom they now felt assured would not hesitate to use them if ordered.
Having issued the edict for the family to leave the country or suffer death, the gallant defenders of the “white man’s government” and the protectors of the “white man’s race” departed.
For more than three weeks succeeding this visitation, the Furguson brothers were confined to their beds, and the mother and daughter nursed their wounds, and labored for their support with untiring energy. During these three weeks Susan Furguson had spread the news of the outrage to all parts of Chatham County, characterizing the attack upon them as brutal and savage—a crime that, if left unpunished by men, would surely be punished by the hand of the Lord. She applied to the Justices of the Peace for relief, stated that she recognized Dick Taylor, and George and Joseph Blaylock, citizens of the place, as being present on the night of the assault, and participating therein, and would make her affidavit to the facts, and support it with undeniable testimony.
She was everywhere laughed to scorn. The few who sympathized with her and her family, dared not give expression to their thoughts for fear of a similar fate. Chatham County was in the hands of the Ku Klux; a reign of terror had been inaugurated there; the mob had made laws for themselves, and justice was not to be had.
AN AGED WOMAN WHIPPED UPON HER NAKED PERSON.
On the fourth week after the visitation above recorded, and just when the Furguson brothers had about recovered from the effects of the brutal whipping, and were able to attend to their ordinary duties, the family were subjected to a second raid, far more revolting and indecent in its character than the first, and such as the sensitive mind naturally recoils from the contemplation of. The details are given here with a strict adherence to the truth, all the facts herein set forth having been personally verified to the writer by the sufferers themselves.
On the night of the 11th of December, 1870, Susan Furguson, and a young man named Eli Phillips, who had long known, and loved, and sympathized with her, were sitting before the fire in the room which had been the scene of the former outrage; the other members of the family, with the exception of John Furguson, had retired to bed.
Mrs. Furguson, the mother, was in very delicate health, caused by the shock produced by the visitation of the Klan four weeks previous, and the labor consequent upon nursing and caring for her sons. One of the brothers, Daniel, lay stricken with a fever that had prostrated him two days before, and was in an almost helpless condition.
About ten o’clock in the evening, the doors upon both sides of the house were broken in simultaneously, without previous warning, and a band of men, armed and disguised as before, and much larger in numbers, rushed into the room, uttering the most demoniac yells. A portion of the number proceeded directly to the bed where the mother was lying, terror-stricken and paralyzed from fear at their approach, and after first charging her with having exposed their former visit, dragged her from the bed and threw her violently to the floor. They then stood her up, and ordered her to remove her night dress and chemise. This she refused to do, pointing to her gray hairs and imploring mercy in the name of God, and for the sake of the mothers who had borne them.
Her appeals were made in vain. At the order of the Commander, the members commenced tearing off the only garments that concealed her nakedness, and this with the most shocking brutality. The daughter, maddened by the sight, rushed upon the assailants, but was anticipated by other members of the band, with whom she had a severe struggle, displacing the masks of four of them enough to enable her to recognize their faces.
She was quickly overpowered, and then beheld her mother completely naked, her brother John bleeding profusely from the blow of a club, and her brother Henry and the young man Phillips firmly secured.
The mother was then thrown upon the floor and there securely held, while two of the band beat her with twisted sticks, administering upwards of one hundred blows upon various parts of her person, and bandying the most obscene remarks and jests in relation to her. The daughter plead for her mother most eloquently, she informed them that she was in delicate health, and might die under the punishment, but this had no effect upon the executioners. The interest of the “white man’s race” was at stake, and they had sworn to uphold the “white man’s government,” and would not stay their hands.
Having chastised the mother until there seemed but little life left, they commanded John and Henry, and the young man Phillips, to remove their clothes, and upon their refusing to do so, tore them off until not a vestige was left upon their persons. They were then whipped one after another, with great severity, the beating of John being so terrible that his life was despaired of for several days afterwards. The bed upon which the helpless and fever-stricken Daniel lay, was knocked down from under him, and his already infirm body bruised and lacerated without stint. It was indeed “a chastisement with scorpions;” but the most indecent spectacle was reserved to the last.
OUTRAGE UPON A YOUNG GIRL.
SHE IS WHIPPED IN A NUDE STATE IN THE PRESENCE OF THIRTY MEN.
The girl Susan, whose bravery and devotion to her family should have challenged the admiration of these lawless marauders, instead of drawing upon her their contempt, was next ordered to disrobe. Overwhelmed and confused at the merest thought, even, of such indignity, she could hardly command herself sufficiently to speak her denials; as soon as she did, she utterly refused to comply with the order.
The more lecherous and brutal of the band sprang upon and threw her to the floor, with no more regard for her person than if she had been a brute, whom they were leading to slaughter. They stretched her out at full length, and took her measure, as an intimation that they were going to dig her grave.
“We will put her and her radical lies where she can’t enjoy their good company, without further trouble,” said one. This was responded to by another, who, with a coarse oath, ejaculated, “Six foot under ground makes a good place for solitary confinement, by ——.”
The work of “taking the measure” having been completed, Miss Furguson, already suffering from the indelicate treatment she had received, was then allowed to rise, and again ordered to divest herself of her clothes. “Is it possible,” she asked, “that you will submit me to such an outrage?” She had never conceived it possible these men, depraved as they were, would really carry out a threat against which her whole nature revolted. The reply was a sardonic laugh. The band had learned where the punishment would sting the most, and they meant to apply it and spare not.
For the first time in all her hated experience with these desperate men, she faltered and felt her courage failing her. To the high-toned and sensitive spirit of this brave and beautiful girl, there was something in this contemplated exposure of her person far more torturing than any number of lashes, however mercilessly inflicted. Death itself were a thousand times preferable, and, for the first moment in all her life, she felt like supplicating for mercy. Her hands dropped nervously and motionless at her side, and the stout-hearted heroine of the previous hour, stood in the presence of her persecutors almost stricken dumb with shame and confusion.
There was no sympathy in the glaring eyes that peered with lustful and revengeful fires from behind the hideous masks of their tormentors; no sentiment of pity, no hope, no help. She was given but little time to decide. They fell upon her like hungry wolves famishing for their prey, tearing one garment off after another, she resisting with all the strength she could command, and entreating them to take her life, if they must, but to spare her this last indignity.
Neither her piteous appeals nor her stubborn resistance availed her, and she lay upon the hard floor at last, naked as when born into the world, ashamed, degraded, broken in spirit, and her maidenly feelings outraged beyond any power of description. Four of the defenders of the “white man’s race” seized her limbs and arms; stretched them to their fullest tension, and placing their knees thereon, held her brutally and forcibly to the floor. Her punishment was to be terrible.
The “executioners” were called, and five of the band came forward. “Number one!” shouted the leader, and a stalwart member of the Klan that had sworn to uphold the “white man’s government,” raising his knotted strap in the air, brought it down upon the naked person of the helpless girl with the terrible force of his muscular arm, cutting through the delicate white skin and causing the blood to spurt at every stroke. He administered thirty lashes, and was succeeded by “number two” and “number three,” until, as the witnesses state, one hundred and fifty lashes had been administered, and her shoulders, loins, and limbs, were literally cut into mince meat.
Her screams had ceased, and her unoffending body lay still and motionless long before the punishment had ended. There was something in her young heart far beyond the dread cruelty of this infliction, and she inwardly prayed to God for death, to end her mental and bodily suffering. Lying under this great mountain of sorrow and shame, she heeded not the rude and obscene observations of her tormentors; and the unconsciousness produced by the punishment, soon placed her beyond the power to listen to them.
Leaving her as one dead, and issuing the edict that if the family did not leave the country, it would be “death! DEATH! DEATH!” to all, the band departed.
Thousands of honest hearts of all shades of political opinions, upon perusing this truthful narration, will feel to wish that they could have been present with power at this time to have utterly destroyed this band of midnight raiders; but, let them remember the words of holy writ, “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay”.... “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath: but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy, for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.”
It was an hour after the departure of the band, before any of the party exhibited evidences of life or animation. Henry Furguson, and the young man Phillips, were the first to come to a realizing consciousness of the awful scenes through which they had just passed. Wounded and bleeding as they were, they felt the necessity for immediate action. The mother and daughter still lay upon the floor, naked, lacerated and motionless. John Furguson had fainted from the loss of blood he had sustained, and was still unconscious, while Daniel was lying amid the debris of the bed, groaning in the agony of the fever, and the wounds upon his body.
Hastily gathering up the dresses of the women, and throwing them over their nude bodies, the young men lifted them tenderly to the bed, and gave them such attention as they felt able to bestow. The remaining members of the family were cared for as well as the circumstances permitted. Not a doctor could be had in the vicinity, who was not in sympathy with the Klan, and not a neighbor came to their assistance, although fully aware of their distressed condition. The neglect of the neighbors was in no way attributable to their indifference or their inhumanity. It was one of the legitimate results of the feeling of terror that then pervaded the community. A show of sympathy towards these unfortunates, they feared, would place them under the ban, and subject them to a visitation, and they dared not incur the risk.
In ten days another warning came to the Furgusons, that they must leave the country within twenty-four hours, or the penalty of death would surely be inflicted. They knew this warning must be heeded, and with broken hearts and crushed spirits, they crawled out into the woods, under cover of the darkness, and secreted themselves as they best could.
In an interview held with the writer, subsequent to this last outrage, Miss Furguson stated that the weather, at this time, was cold and disagreeable, sometimes frosting and sometimes raining; that they had to lie out without a shelter, and suffered with the cold and hunger, sometimes going twenty-four hours without food. Occasionally the neighbors gave them something to eat, and finally the unfortunate wanderers sold to them the right to what furniture they had left behind in the house, and thus procured something upon which to subsist.
She stated further, that they were in the woods nearly a month, and that as soon as they were able to travel they left the vicinity and procured a home with a Mr. Dixon, on the lower edge of Chatham county.
An affidavit, based upon the statements of this young lady, was made before the Hon. A. W. Schaffer, U. S. Commissioner at Raleigh, N. C., on the 8th day of September, 1871. It charged the men, recognized by this girl, as being present and concerned in the outrages above related. Warrants were issued, and the officers of the U. S. Secret Service went to Chatham county and arrested the parties and brought them before the Commissioner. The more wealthy and influential members of the Klan rallied to their rescue, became their bondsmen, and they were released to await trial.
Miss Furguson’s description of the dreadful indignities to which she and the other members of the family were subjected, was of the most graphic and thrilling character, and aroused the sympathies of many who heard it.
The defenders of the “white man’s government” were alone amazed and enraged at the persistency and courage of this young girl of the “white man’s race,” and they determined to ferret her out and punish her again. In this they were successful, although for greater safety, the family had broken up, and the mother and daughter had secreted themselves, as they supposed, beyond the knowledge of their persecutors.
On the night of the 20th of September, 1871, three men, armed and disguised, and who had been detailed by the Camp for the purpose, appeared suddenly before the miserable hut in which these unfortunates had taken refuge. An entrance was easily effected, and the women were told that their doom was sealed, and they were to be whipped to death.
These three protectors of the “white man’s race,” then fell upon the women, beating them brutally. Susan recognized one of them, by his voice, as a man named Jesse Dixon, whom she knew. The moment she called his name, the three ran away, leaving their victims, who passed the remnant of the night in the woods.
On the following day, the mother and daughter made their way to Raleigh, where fresh complaints were entered, and the Secret Service officers, armed with warrants, went out and succeeded in capturing two of the murderous assailants, who were brought in and held for trial. Mrs. Furguson and her daughter were then retained in the city as witnesses, at the expense of the government, and to protect them from further outrages.
Susan J. Furguson, the heroine of the terrible experiences above related, is now twenty-one years of age. She is a girl of commanding presence, is endowed with a powerful constitution, great energy and force of character, and an indomitable spirit. Her P. O. address is “Snow Camp Foundry, Chatham Co., N. C.,” where herself and other members of the family can be found, in verification of the facts above related.
There are few narrations in the annals of “persecutions for opinion’s sake,” more shocking in their inhuman details than the foregoing; certainly, none that cry with a louder and more earnest voice to the government, and the right-minded people of the country, for help for those who have been the subjects thereof.
No amount of retributive justice can erase one solitary scar from the knout-welted bodies of the Furgusons, or remove from their spirits the dreadful memory of their disgrace; but to those who went forth to battle in the days of “The Nation’s Peril,” who stood shoulder to shoulder amid the roar of cannon, and, in vindication of the right, successfully withstood the shock of rebellious armies, it must ever remain a matter of profound gratification that the victories then achieved in the field are now being perpetuated in such a firm and vigorous enforcement of the laws as will have a tendency to make them substantial ones in the repression of any and all such outrages in the future.
GEORGE W. ASHBURN.
SHOT TO DEATH FOR OPINION’S SAKE.
The shocking murder of this gentleman is still fresh in the minds of most readers of the daily journals, North and South. Mr. Ashburn was a sterling patriot, who entertained radical opinions, and through his fluency and ability, as well as his outspoken friendliness towards the colored race, had gained their confidence and support alike, with that of the Republican whites of the vicinity.
He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Georgia which met at Columbus, in the winter of 1867-8, and during his stay there, was refused admittance as a guest at the principal hotels of the place on account of the political prejudice existing against him. He occupied private rooms upon one of the main streets of the city, where he lived in an unostentatious and unpretending manner.
He was a man of extraordinary natural talents, a good speaker, of fair educational qualifications, and a most earnest defender and supporter of true Republican principles. On all occasions, and wherever he appeared, to discuss the political situation of the trying times he moved in, he spoke his sentiments unreservedly. He was far from ever having been a huckster or trickster in politics, but he was fearless and able, and his enemies doomed him!
At midnight, on the 31st day of March, 1868, a band of about forty men, who were armed and thoroughly disguised, made their appearance in an open lot of ground near his residence, and just opposite his private quarters. He had gone to bed in his room, and the door was just closed, when a summons from without called the servant, who opened it, and the Klan burst into the hall. Mr. Ashburn heard the noise, sprang out of bed, struck a light, and opened the door of his sleeping apartment. He did not fear death at the hands of these intruders, but he was alarmed at the rude demonstrations they made, and demanded to know what was their purpose.
With an oath and a brief exclamation of unwarrantable abuse, the foremost members of the Klan immediately fired upon and shot him down in his tracks like a dog. A white and colored woman in the house recognized three or four of the leading assailants, whom they subsequently identified, and these were among the first residents of the city of Columbus. The names of these parties, whose identity was sworn to, and who were afterwards placed on trial, are as follows:
Elisha J. Kirksey, Columbus C. Bedell, James W. Barber, William A. Duke, Robert Hudson, William D. Chipley, Alva C. Roper, James L. Wiggins, Robert A. Wood, Henry Hennis, Herbert W. Blair, and Milton Malone.
The morning after the assassination, a coroner’s jury was summoned, and, as was usual in such cases, the verdict of these men—who were all members of the Ku Klux Klan—was, that Mr. Ashburn came to his death “from wounds received from parties to the jury unknown.” The local authorities made a faint show of investigating the matter, but really did nothing towards actually ferreting out and bringing to justice the murderers.
This outrage was so revolting in its inception and consummation, that the military authorities considered it right that they should undertake to do what the local police and citizens of Columbus had apparently been so indifferent in performing.
In the then condition of affairs nobody dared to appear against the suspected parties, and consequently witnesses could not be had in the ordinary way.
At this juncture General Geo. G. Meade, then in command of the Military Department there—for the State of Georgia was at this time under martial law—telegraphed to Gen. Grant, in Washington, that he desired the services of a competent and able detective to assist in bringing the guilty parties to justice. A second dispatch was sent by Gen. Meade, requesting that Col. H. C. Whitley, of the United States Internal Revenue service (then absent under Department orders in Kansas), should be directed to report to him in person for the duty indicated. In pursuance of this request Col. Whitley went to Columbus and commenced his labors, which resulted in the arrest of the parties above named.
A military commission was at once convened to try the accused. The witnesses for the Government gave their testimony in a straightforward manner, their evidence being fully corroborated by that of the people in the house where the deed had been consummated, and the conviction of the parties seemed inevitable.
The citizens of Columbus raised a hue and cry; the local newspapers sharply criticized the proceedings; a furore of excitement was engendered; the ablest legal counsel to be had for the defence, with Alexander H. Stephens at the head, were engaged, and large sums of money were expended in behalf of the prisoners.
All parties were astounded, however, at the evidence which was produced against the accused. Its preparation showed a skill and ingenuity such as had never before been exhibited in working up a case before the courts of the district, and it was necessary that some measures should be devised to save the participants in the fearful tragedy from their justly merited punishment.
This could only be accomplished in one way—by the adoption of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, it being a clause in the law that, upon the adoption of this amendment by the legislature of any State, all cases of civilians pending before military tribunals organized in said State, should be taken cognizance of by the civil courts therein.
The Democratic members of the Georgia Legislature were between two fires; the 14th Amendment was a bitter pill, but the necks of their confreres were in danger, and they were compelled to vote solid with the Republicans, and thus end the proceedings before the military tribunal. By this means, the trials of the Ashburn murderers were taken out of the hands of the military authorities, the prisoners put under bail, the witnesses compelled to flee for their lives, and there the matter rests.
To the unobserving mind the murder of George W. Ashburn would seem totally unavenged; but to him who sees in every great event the hand of an over-ruling Providence, evolving good from evil, a different conclusion must be arrived at. In his life, he fought manfully for the establishment of civil rights, and the political equality of the oppressed race of which he was the chosen champion. In his death that result was consummated, in the State of Georgia, sooner perhaps by years than it would otherwise have been without this sacrifice. “Wherever a few great minds have made a stand against violence and fraud in the cause of liberty and reason,” there shall we find just such sacrifices as this, and there, too, “in the eternal fitness of things” and the onward march of law and the establishment of order, shall we find the triumphal vindication of those principles for which the republic has labored and travailed, and George W. Ashburn died.
A THRILLING NARRATIVE.
DESPERATE ENCOUNTER AND DEFEAT OF A BAND OF KU KLUX.