Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-04-16
THE Ku-KLux-KLAN.
hsssssinstion OF the Hop. G.. w. wash
burn IN Cclunnbus, Georgia.
fof n Y


Correspondent Of Ghe ". Y. Tribune.
SIR: As Presiding Elder Of the La
Grange District, Georgia Mission Con-
ference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, 1 came TO this place last Friday
to hold my quarterly meeting. On Sat
urday, the 18th inst, / attended q mass
Republican meeting in the Court House
Square. The meeting was largely at
tended, addressesed by several speakers,
and conducted in.admirable spirit. Last
night was present at Temperance Hall
and heard the Rev. ii. NJ. Turner "a
colored delegate to the late Convention)
speak. Mr.. Ashburn came in while he
was speaking, sat iquietly till the close,
and then left. IL was about 2 O'Clock
the same night when messenger called
| at the house where was lodging, and
announced that Mr.. Ashburn had been
murdered 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
a Union man who was on the jury Of
inquest:
Between ~ and l o'clock last night
crowd of persons, estimated at frem 80
| to 40 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 eyes, one just below
and to the rear of the hip, and another
one in the mouth, which ranged upward.
His clothing had from ten to IA bullet
holes in them. Five persons entered
his room and did the murderous deed,
the rest were in other parts of the house
and in the yard. The crowd remained
from 10 to 10 minutes, during which
time no policeman made his appear
ance. AS the murdereus crew were dis
spersing, however, some policemen
made their appearance on the opposite
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 well dressed, showing that
they were of the "better class u of citi-
zens of Columbus. They are evidently
embers OF the secret political order
called the "KUK-KLUX-KLAN. - This
Llan" seems to have organized heIe
within the last week or two. 1t is now
about month since the first notice ap-
peared in the papers of its existence in
Tennessee. Within the last week their
cabalistie letters and signs have been
marked on fhe doors and walls through
ouv 1Feity; placards have been posted
at thSfdoors of Union men, containing
their mystic letters and signs, with skulls,
collins, skeletons, crossbones, deadly
weapons, and written sentences breath
ing out most terrible threatnings against
them. They were warned that their
time was short, that their days were
numbered, that they must prepare for
ssaddeps and. awful. death. They were
reminded that the time had come when
the blood of the Confederate dead would
be required at their hands, that the
spirits of the slain were swarming
through the atmosphere, and calling for
vengeance. Secret assassinations were
limited at in various ways. Noless than
three OF these mysterious placards were
hung up at the door of the Assessor of
Internal Revenue, Mr.. Joseph Webster.
On one of them he was warned to pre-
pare for suddent deaf. One them con-
tanned q coffin, with Ashburn's name
written near it, and the picture of q
skeleton lying in it. Among other
things bundle of bones was hung up
at Mr.. Webster's door. Several Union
men had received anonymous missives
warning them that they must prepare
to die. For several days before the
horrible tragedy one of the city papers,
The Columbus Sun, had contained a
number of notices of the 'K. X. K, "
and predicted some sudden and dreadful
event. On March "a that paper con-
tanned no less than three different ac-
counts of the 'Klan." The first was an
account of its origin and design, and was
copied from The Nashville Banner. 1t
justifies the organization, and plain ly
shows the design to be to resist what it
calls "Radicalism in Tennessee, "and
opposed to an organized system ofpub-
lie lava systematic, organized secret
force. The second article is leading
editorial. The editor justifies the organ
ization and says that it is ''large and
powerful, and conducted upon such a
system as TO defy detecton.s In the
third article, he speaks of it as
startling developements, and says
something awful has come to town. -
After naming several prominent Union
men, he. says: ''Ku-Kluk-Klan has
arrived, and a0oe to the degenerate. ~
"Something terrible floats on the breeze,
and in the dim silence are heard solemn
whisperes, dire imprecations against the
false ones who have proved recreant to
their faith and country. Strange mock
ing anomalies now fill the air. Look
out! On the 27-three days before
AshbuIn was assassinated-Ihe Sun
contained another article, headed "Mys-
terious and Awful Portents. :" Again,
| tne eullOr gives nOtlce To RarulCdlS "
and ''scallawags" of some terrible doom,
and adds the warning, "Let traitors
beware These are only few of the
many hintsand vague warnings, mingled
with threats of vengence against traitors
las he calls Union mem, which the edi-
tor of The Sun put forth time and
again during the week preceding the
assassination. How can an unprsiudi-
ced reader resist the conviction that he
knew beforehand what was going to
happen?
The speakers on Saturday. like The
Tribune of some days before, had treat
ed the mysterious 5 Ku-Klux as n huge
joke, as mere scheme to frighten the
ignorant and shpevsticious blacks land
whites too)in order either to control their
votes at the 'eIections, or keep them
away from the polls. The whole thing,
with all its preten ded mystery, was
ridiculed. The bones hung up at Mr.
Webster's door were discovered to be
turtles bones, and the blacks laughed
heartily when the discovery was an
nounced to them by one of tee speakers.
The miserable wreehes who thus attempt-
ed to trifle with and make light Of the
bones of their slaughtered braves (for
they pretended to bring up the bones OF
the Confederate dead, were made a
specticls of contempt even in the; eyes
Of negroes. The blacks were also anus
ed at the suggestion that the spirits Of
the Confederate slain were called forth
~ j q.