Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-03-31
..owu,ow and she Kukiux.

1
Leaguers, is condemned by all the 70
spectacle Republican journals Of thu
North, such as tho New York Times and
Cincinnati Commercial, for instance
They say that to inoite one irresponsible
organization to. violence against another
| is TO initiate disorder and mobs, and
leads to civil war-that such thing can
not be done by good man nor BY
any Governor not demon. Lei
the streets Of Nashville, Knoxville
and Memphis run red with the blood Of
their wickedly disfranchised people, and
Brownlow will lick his lips and exult like
a ehoul. There is no harm in theits'
robberies, rapes. arson and murder by
Loyal IAaguers But let a single hair OF
lock of wool of one of the murderous
tends be touched and the madusn, who
governs Tennessee by the unerampted
forbsarance of its citizens, at once lets
slip his dogs of war and proclaims as
Governor, by his advice to murder, that
he will pardon and deliver from all ex-
actions Of justice every murderer OF a
Conservative in TENNESSEE In all Sc
riousness, we ask, is not something to
be done in such state of things as this 7
If there is no secret organization for the
purpose of self protection it may be time
to ask whether there ought not to be an
organization, secret or public. We are
free to say that we think So Men have
been frequently sent to jails and peniten'
tiaries and hanged for murders and other
crimes. But we are unable to name any
one of them all whose crime was equal to
that of their Governor, or against whom
the same essential ingredient of malice
could be so concusively established.
The following is taken from the Knox
vile Wig, and its senior editor is we'll
known to be William G. Brownlow
That there is in Tennessee such an
organization as the one above named,
no doubt cas- be entertained. 1t is true
the Conservative press and party at
tempted to ridicule the idea, and TO
denounce and stigmatize as weak and
over credulous those who believe IN the
existence of the Ku-Klux Khan yet,
dses such ridicule disprove their exist
enee? Does it disarm them OF MUIR
derous intent and wicked purpose Can
the rebel and Conservative press whistle
high.handed murder and terrorism down
the wind2 Will derision and sneers
give us back to life the pale victims OF
their fendish wickedness2 Yes, the
Kuklux Khan exist. They are known to
he formidable in Middle and West Ten
nessee. Their murderous, bushwhack-
ing conduct in the counties of Dyer,
Lincoln and Rutherford are now mat
tiers of history.
Their organizations have not appeared
in force in East Tennessee, but they are
evidently organizing. As they burrow
in darkness and skulk behind mysterious
names and forms, they may think to
escape detection, and even to elude sus-
picion. Yet they are observed, and their
movements more known than they them
selves imagine.
Who make up these organizations
They are rebels and Conservatives-men
who fought in the ranks of the rebel ar
mics during the war, and those who then
sympathized with them, but who, through
sheer cowardice, gave the battlefield q
wide berth. Those Conservatives fully
sympathize with the "lost cause" now.
They work for il, vote for it when they
can plan for it, and now, at last, go into
Ku. klux klans, to help by lGwless Vio-
Ience. viot and murder, what can no longer
be kept alive by fair, legitimate methods.
What are their objects7 Precisely the
objects that have animated the whole
rebel crew, from JEFF Davis down to the
veriest pimp that huzzahed tor the rebel
lion all along during the war They hate
LOYALTY. and the men who uphold and
embody it. Loyalty, in black or white,
is so odions to them, and especially 10
black men, that they cannot refrain from
venting their hell inspired malignity upon
them. They seek to compass their 90.
iects by intinidating colored men, and
by breaking vengeance upon white Rad
icals. Their objects are the overthrow
of LOYALTY, which they loath and hate, by
apy and every means, whether right or
wrong. lawful or unlawful, honorable or
despicabIe, true or false, and more gem
orally by the latter than the form eF.
Union men, leaguers, beware OF them J
Watch them spot them In nearly
every county you have strength, sufficient
TO make yourselves terrible to these mid
night assassins aad lawless desperadoes,
and to visit swift and signal punishment
on those fiends in human form who may
break the peace of the country, aId mob
and terrify honest, innocent citizensi
and if in any case you lack the numbers
or the means to do this, there are more
than a million swords ready to be un-
sheathed TO aVengs your fall, or to
facilitate your victory. Especially
in East Tennessee are you hume
rous and strong enough to hold the
situation. Our counsel, once for all ls,
that whenever these vile miscreants make
their appearance among US, mounted,
booted and spurred, and however dis
guised, let the white and colored radicals
meet them promptly, and, in the spirit oil
their own laEess mission, dispense them,
and if need, require this in dispensing
them, exterminste them. 1t all events,
aud at whatever cost, let these inhuHan
scouudrels learn that in East Tennessee,
at least, they will not be allowed to carry
forward this cowardly, miserably speak
ing kind of warfare.
We speak earnestly, because the occa'
sion demands it. But we are ealm-we
we're never more so. Desperate cases
require desperate remedies. If the Ku-
klux Klans attempt to run riot over our
law, order, And the public safety, by these
midnight raids, 10 disguise aud darkness,