Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1868-08-06
WhssI - the Eu.Klux.Kla.:

RofIrAN HOTEL, WASHINGTON. ID.
C., AvGust ., l6os.-Editor Evenisg Star-Sir:
You an often soked "what is the Ku-Klux.
KID IND . Jour readers are mostlx lax
ersNts1gHyu1A, even at the expense OF tt Coz
vicacsR Vsepsse to tell them in q feV wore
TrKuIKiux is composed OF men " We
identlfisA v1Hh sSe Confederacy that JSey 81
knowu1o Be "truStw orthy."(D 60
The virgin. Of tie organization hAs zen
treated Of by tho leading Journals of the coun-
field lies IN Texas, where its horrors have been
more widespread. aud its victims more nu-
mereus than IN all the nest Of ths lind con-
bined The Khan Is believed to lh&se bsen
started in Texas by emissarIes from Memphis,
f0on-s Wo0ogst 0ggoosueo Meme eS0e vuft00s
villages along the lines Of railroads leading
out OF Galveston. These klans appointed del
gates TO grand camp. perfected q central or
gantzation, elected a q rand Cyciops, employed
''missionaries,p who travelled through the In.
terror portions of the state, ana ersanized
-klans IN every city, town, village, and neigh
The ostsnsi6le objects ofthe organization are
SO humane, and so emlnentiy proper. IN the
eyes OF the friends OF the lost cause, (the by
laws stating its object TO be simply TO perpetu-
'a.e the memory of the fallen heroes, and 70 pro-
vide for the widows and orphans of thar CAUSED
that any unfriendly allusion to them, arouse
the Ire of q large and influential class Of the
older and more su bstantial citizens, intending
the better class Of journalists, who while NOT
members, are let into the superficial m ysteries
sufficiently to enlist their warmest sympathies.
The great mass of the organization, composed
OF young aud active men from the superior
oruers of society, are first initiated into an
order whose principles are similar to the old
"Sons OF Malta" the forms Of which are the
most solemn buriesques of negro murders;
skeleton professions, blood drinking, &c, &c.
These classes are the apologists for the order.
Ii as from these that the constant and persist.
eat contradictions Of ou.rages come. AT times
they don't hesitate TO state that they are mem.
bers of the order. and know that 10 is innocent
and purely beneficiary, their journals intimate
that they speak ssby the book +" and indignantly
deny that the order is incendiarv or murder
ous."g ..t .. ..f'
The true object of this scheme lies beneath
all this 1t Is no less than an inner circle,
where, under the perfectly organized protec-
ton above described, the edicts OF life and death
are issued This circle embraces the fierce sa-
gacity Of the old leaders of the south, Invested
of It's noisy brsgadocia; with them campaigns
the Union League, spies are sent to the coun-
ellis, names of officers ascertained, spotted
and assassinated. Unless street quarrels
can be melted and the victim killed
in "personal difficulty" assassins are EN-.
ployed at a distance and often sent hundreds
of miles, that detection may be avoided. A
case IN point is the attempted murder of Hon.
A. o. Cooley, "a loyal State Senator) in 1866,
who was shot while at his home In Fredericks-
he had never seen before, named Dixos, who
lived on the lower Colorado, q distance OF
nearly three hundred miles. Judge Cooley
was so pure in his life among his neighbors
that quarrel was out of the question.
Yours, respectfully, TEXAN.