Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-08-19
Correspondence of the Cincinnati Gazette.
Curious Bands of Regulators

LEXINGTON, KY. July 90.
The eecentricities of Kentuckisns
will never cease. The beauty of their
women, the fatness of their cattle,
| heetness of their horses, size and
strength of their meD, is only equaled
by the personal habits of this grand and
peculiar people. Not long since an
organization was started near Crab
Orchard for the suppression of lsziness
and drunkenness. The "Clan," as it
was called, was said to be made up of
both Union men and rebels, the Union
men preiominating, and their object
was TO regulate the labor and manners
of their county. If 8 fellow was found
loafng at a crossroads grocery too
much, he was notified TO stop IT, or he
would be hogged within an inch OF his
life; if 8 fellow was drinking too
much, he received notice to clew up,
OF take a threshing; if a man neglec-
ted his family, or run after other
women, q threat of a rope or rawhide
generally brought him to a realizing
sense of his duty. These men, in the
administration of their justice, were
perfectly impartial, threshiug rebels
and Union men alike, and failing ut
tarly to discriminate on account of
color. When the doings of the band
were reported to the military authori-
ties at Lexington, they refused to in
terfere with them, and an officer ex-
pressed himself so highly pleased with
the operations of the gang that he de-
clared if he knew the chief he would
invite him to Lexington, as there were
several men in the town who might be
larruped, with the best possible adyan-
tage to society.
One of the acts of the Clan il thus
related: An old man who lived in the
country, and. was rich, was so miserly
that he denied his family almost the
necesssFies of life. The band notified
him that be must do better, but failing
to properly notice the admonitIon
given him, the gang seized him one
night and took him out to the woods,
where they tied him TO tree and then
stripped him naked to the waist, after
which, they proceeded to read to him
certain charges. Among other things
it was alleged that be was rich, yet he
lived in & mean and beggarly manner,
having no decent furniture, carpets, nor
any thing else in his house; that he had
worn the same coat for dozen years,
until il was filthy and greasy; that he
had compelled his daughter, almost a
young woman, to 90 into the market
town in her bare feet and with insult
cient clothing on that he had depriv-
ed his wife and daughter of hoops,
tyrannically and brutally declaring
they were of no use. The committee,
therefore, after mature deliberation on
all of his offenses, had awarded him
q penalty of one hundred lashes on the
bare skin. The old man begged hard |
10 be let of, and promised to do better. 1
The committee finally agreed to give
him three days grace on all the
charges, except the last one, fol, which !
they gave him Eve rousing cuts. Next
day the old fellow went to town and |
bought three hundred dollars worth of /
stuff, not forgetting the hoops for both
wife and daughter. 1t il said that
when the old fellow gets obstreperous |
q hint from his wife that perhaps the
regulators will be round soon again |
subdues him in an instant, and he buys |
them what they want with astonishing
will. The family profess themselves
well satisfied with the operations of
the Clan, and are now living in q
decently furnished and well carpeted
house. while daddy sports bran new
coat, for which he paid the Ito himl
sum of twelve dollars, but
there was no help for it. This curing
of a miser is certainly one of the most
We ever beard of, aud in
itself not a had thing.