Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-04-15
The ku-kluX klan.
ASSASSINATION OF THE HON. c. w. ASHBURN IN
COLUMBUS. GEORGIA


ASSASSINATION OF THE HON. c. W. AsHBURN IN
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA
To the Editor Of The Tribune.
SIR As Presiding Elder of the La Grange
District, Georgia Mission Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, | came to this
place last Friday to hold my quarterly meet
ing. On Saturday, the Doth inst, attended
mass Republican meeting in the Court
House Square. The meeting was largely at
tended, addressed by several speakers, and
conducted in an admirable spirit. Last night
was present at Temperance Hall and heard
the Rev. Ii. NJ. Turner Ga colored delegate to
the late Convention) speak. Mr.. Ashburn
came in while he was speaking, sat quietly
till the close, and then left. 1t about ,
O'Clock the same night when messenger
called at the house where | was lodging, and
announced that Mr.. Ashburn had been muir
dered in his room. | have spent the whole
day in trying to gather up all the particulars
of this atrociOus murder. The following facts
were stated to me by Union man who was
on the jury of inquest
Between - and l O'Clock last night
crowd of persons, estimated at from 30 10 10
in number, went TO the house where Mr..
Ashburn lodged, surrounded the building,
broke open the rear and front doors, and
murdered him in his room. He received
| three fatal shots one in the head between the
| ewes one Just below and to the rear of the
/ hip, and another one in the month, which
| ranged upward His clothing had from 10
| to ii bullet holes in them. Five persons en-
! tered his room and did the murderous deed, 3,
the rest were in the other parts of the house
and in the ward. The crowd remained from
/ 10 u 10 minutes, during which time no po-
liceman made his appearance As the muir
derous crew were dispensing, however, some
policeman made their appearance on the op-
posite side of the street. They could give no
account of the affair when examined. This
deed was perpetrated on one of the principal
streets, in the most public part of the city,
and not far from the Perry House. All the
assassins wore masks, and were we'll dressed,
showing they were of the - better class : of
citizens Of Columbus. They are evidently
members of the new secret political order
called the - kUKLUX-kLAN." This :. klan'
seems to have organized here within the last
week or two. 1t is now about month since
the first notice appeared in the papers of its
existence in Tennessee. Within the last week
their cabalistic letters and signs have been
marked on the doors and walls throughout
this city placards have been posted up nj
the doors of Union men, containing their
mystic letters and signs, with skulls, collins,
skeletons, crOss-bones, deadly weapons, and
written sentences breathing out most terrible
threatenings against item. They were warn
ed that their time short, that their days
were numbered. that they must prepare for
sudden and awful death. They were remind
ed that the time had come when the blood
of the Confederate dead would be required al
their hands, that the spirits of the slain were
swarming through the atmosphere, and call
ing for vengeance. Secret assasslnations
were limited at in various ways No less than
three of these mysterious placards were hung
| be If no Of nj
Revenue, Mr.. Joseph Webster. On one OF
them he was warned to prepare for sudden
death. One of them contained coffin, with
Ashburn s name written near 1t, and the pic
; ture of a skeleton lying in it. Among other
things a bundle of bones was hung up at Mr.
Websters door. Several Union men had re
, ceved anonymous missives warning them tha
they must prepare to die. For several day:
before the horrible tragedy one of the city
papers, The CoIunib,ts Sun, had contained ;
! number of notices Of the d" K. K. k anC
predicted some sudden and dreadful event
On March oath that paper contained no less
than three different accounts of the ''klan.
The first was an account of its origin and de
sign, and was copied from The NashriH
Banner. 1t justifes the organization, anC
plainly shows the design to be to resist what
1 it calls '' Radicalsm in Tennessee" and op
8 posed to an organized system of public law
ID Systematic. OTganlZcU, secret force. Int
. second article is q leading editorial The ed
itor justiies the organization and says that il
is /" large and powerful, and conducted upor
such a system as to defy detection In tn,
third article, he speaks of it '' startlin:
developments,' and says something awfu
has come to town" After naming severa
l prominent Union men, he says: The Ku
] Klux-klan has arrived, and ,cOe 10 the dege'a
erdte.'' Something terrible floats on tn,
breeze, and in the dim silences are heard sol
emn whispers, dire imprecations against th'
false ones who have proved recreant to thei
faith and country. Strange mocking anoma
27th-three days before Ashburn was assas
sinated-Ihe Sun contained another article
headed 90 Mysterious and Awful Pertents. ;
Again, the editor gives notice to Radicals
and ''scallawags" of some terrible doom, ant
adds the warning, 90 Let traitors beware.
These are only few of the many hints anC
vague warnings, mingled with threats o
vengeance against traitors Gas he calls UnioI
= men, which the editor of he San put fortl
time and again during the week precedin;
the assassination. How can an unpreJudice'
reader resist the conviction that he knew be
, forehand what was going to happen?
: A correspondent of the N. Y. World, wh
is of course a Democrat, and knows of wha
he writes, ina letter from Augusta, Georgia
} thus sketches the Klan
And now, to leave pleasant city, on
the invalid or traveller for amusement woul
linger in, let me say word of the Ku-kluk
Everybody, by this time, must have heard
the Klan-the Ku Klux Klan-'K. X. X
Beware and wondered what it was a
about. Ku-Klux, then, is a secret organi