The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1868-08-27
Ku-KluXism In Tennessee---AttemDt to
ASSaSsinate GOV. Br0WniOW.

Col VIM H. Tuttle, Jr., of Memphis,
has addressed the Bulletin letter, giving
the following circumstantial account of an
organized effort to assassinate Gov.
Brownlow He says:
was passenger on the Tuesday even
ing train, IIth inst. from Decatur, Ala. ;,
to Nashville. The train, on stopping
at Athens, Ala. at 1890 q. H.. was
boarded by an armed body of meiI, masked
and otherwise uniformed. Five of them
were in the car in woich I was seated.
One remained at the rear door, where they
| entered four of them passed through,
and one of them returned through the car.
leaving it by the some door they came in,
thus passing twice through the same car.
They asked but one question, and that
was, rs Brownlow in this carp" This
they repeated frequently.
| mentioned the matter In Nashville to
a pew personal friends, who, with myself,
deplored the occurrence Instead of
assuming the role of a sensationaEst, [
kept rather quiet than otherwise, believ-
ing that the excitement the people was
already too intense upon the subject, and
would have kept SO but for this miserable
attempt of the Banner to hide the truth. |
have stated that five were in the same
car [ was in. The conductor, in reply
to my question, chow many were there
in the party" replied, ''about thirty,
should think"
/ confess that up to this time I never
for a moment believed in the actual ex-
istence at an organized band of ku Klux
''Seeing is believing" [ was wrong in
the past. Now the fact was well known to
all the passengers, to the officers of the
train and employees of the railroad COM
pany. Why should the Banner try to
suppress the truth? Why not admit and
deplore it, as all good men must?
For the information Of the curious. /
will describe the fantastic dress of these
assassins: They wore long gowns, reach
ing quite to the feet, rather loosely drawn
in about the waist by a belt of the same
material as the dress, which was supplied
with sleeves of the style of an ordinary
| shirt sleeve. From the neck there was a
cowl or hood mask, completely enveloping
the head and face. Small holes were per-
forated opposite the eyes and mouth of
! the wearer. The material of this diSguis
| ing uniform was that of cotton cloth or
muslin, liz stripes Of white and very dark
blue (as seen by candle light J; possibly
by daylight the stripes would be white
and green These stripes were alternately
placed, and about 4 inches in width run
ming from head to foot The eye and
mouth holes in the mask were covered
with red binding. The belt around the
waist was about three inches in width,
equally divided b. the colors of the suit.
| No other head dress was worn than the
striped cowla above described Ihisseemed
10 bc part ot' TIE i!l,,in dress and that
1t was a;inpy drawn in about the neck
They carried each Il large-sized pistol
Colts navy in size, in their right hands,
,Ylich were cooked and capped, ready for
instant use, as they passed through the
car.
| Ofthfs the Bulletin says, editorialiy:
We call the attention of the public to
:he communication of Col. VIM. III.
Fitch, Jr. which we publish this morn
ing, in reference to the searching of a
railroad train at Athens, Ala, on the
nigh of the ii tn inst, by a band of Ku
k'uA assassins. There is no reason to
doubt that if Gov. Brownlow had been
on the train ne would have been murdered
No man in this community, be his poll
tics what they may, will even pretend to
question the veracity of Col. Fitch. He
is to well known here.