The Waynesburg Republican. [volume] (Waynesburg, Pa.) 1867-18??, 1868-05-13


1t will be recollected that den of
the Ku-Klux Klan was recently bro
ken up in Memphis by the police, and
that the rebel papers of that city tried
hard to make it appear that the or
ganization was not connected with the
Ku-Klux, but was an innocent assem-
blago, Jack Campbell, formerly city
editor of the Aroianche, and "Grand
Cyclops" of the den, however, came
ont ina card in which he denied the
truth of the ap6logists' version of the
case, and declared plainly that the
object of the association was assassina-
tion. Since the appearance of the card
the Memphis Appeol-Albcrt Pixies
organ-published Il manifesto signed
by sixteen of the men arrested, in
which they proiessed entire innocence
of the designs attributed to them by
Campbell said that they were ere
ligiousIy educated" etc. To establish
his veracity, Campbell furnished the
following detailed account Of the or
ganizaticn and projects of the fcndish
conspiracy to the Memphis Bulletin, of
Friday last. We bespeak for it a care
fnl reading:
The appeal has, from time to time,
since the unfortunate publication OF
the card Of the religionsly trained, but
lying "Sixteen," taken occasion to deny
the truth of my statement, and to cast
personal reflections upon me. For the
latter [ have no concern, knowing that
if every asserted fact was true, that
even then my character would bear
favorable contrast with that of more
than one dttoche of that uns6rupulous
sheet. So much for the personal, now
for the facts. | never charged that
the organization with which | was ar
rested was a ku-Klux one, but | did
charge that it was a band of men, all
the way from nintcen years to beyond
middle age, banded together for the
purpose Of assas:inating men who had
rendered themselves Objectionable to
them. True, the fact is undeniable
that most of the men arrested were
young, and all the ihdiscreet signers
of the "card" were such, but behind
these are Il number of other men who
have not as yet joined in the assault
upon me, and whose names | do not
consider would be honorable to bring
into the matter. 1t is unnecessary for
me to 90 over the ground already COW
cred in my first communication, except
so reitera,c tla, every assertion made
then is strictly true. The association
et the title ofthe arrest co sisted of
about thirty-five members. nearly all
of whom had numbers.
The officers were all duly sworn in
upon the skull, and | Immediately as
sumed command Of the organization as
Cyclops, and gave the mem
bers presenta Il lecture in regard to cau-
ton and secrecy.
A. G.. Ferguson, all the time prom
inent, then moved that the masks and
badges should be procured, and that
at our next meeting all should be suit
ably clothed. The meeting then dis
persed, the members disappearing two
at tidic, at intervals of five minutes.
During this meeting much hard Ian
guage, and theats for the future in re-
gard to getting away" with several
obnoxious individuals was indul sod
in, in which took my share, being as
bitter, if not more so, than any of them
and not a word Of protest was made
by any of the religiously nurtured
Young men against the objects of the
organization, a. G, Fergusjr in par
ticular, being most blood thirsty in
clincd.
At the next meeting Che Thursday
following) about twenty-five members
were present, and again \. @. Fergu-
son, the portege of the appeal, loomed
up, and moved the appointment Of the
celebrated ASSASSINATION Committee"
IA nice appcndagc for a base ball or a
glee club, truly His motion was
seconded and against my protest aud
the protest Of most of the older headed
members it was carried, some of the
religious-nurturcd youths actually
cheering. FefSu.ous motion was the
that committee shou.d consist of seven:
This was lost, but the motion was
again renewed, AMI after | had sub
mitted it to the members, | called Mr..
L. i. Risk to the chair, spoke to the
question, and told them that if such
thing was carried through at all, that
the committee was too large; the men
selected would not feel like placing
their lives in the hands of more per-
sons than was necessary, and that when
the selection was made, it should be
done by placing the numbers of all
members in a hat, and that the first
three drawn out should be the men
however, that ifsuch thing
was done that should be placed at
the head of it, for the purpose of con-
trolling it and saving the hot headed
fools,who were ebent upon their own de-
This was done, and N. T.
Reeves, Il. NJ. Haley and J. w.
Dashiel selected as said committee,
the religious -ndrtnred" Mr.. A. C.|
Ferguson insisting that when any
"work" was to be done that he should