The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1869-01-22
Outrages''---who COM
init Them?


have been pretty much filed with ac-
counts Of outrages charged to have
been committed by an organization CALI
cd the "Ku Klux Klan." The victims
generally seem to be negroes Of "quict
industrious habits and moral, virtuous
lives But occasionally white man
falls under the ban of the order and is
spirited away or disposed Of in some
manner so that he is never heard of
again. We seldom think 1t worth while
to reproduce these accounts, or at most
to give them more than a mere passing
notice-for the sufficient reason that in
large majority of cases they bear upon
their face the impress of being largely
exaggerated, or manufactured without
any foundation in fact to serve vile and
wicked purpose. Another popularity
about these "Kuklux Outrages" is, they
are periodic in appearance, and break
out more frequently when the Legisla-
turc is in session than at other times,
and when that staple commodity, loilty.
happens to show signs of heavy and
rapid decline. We make no charges
indulge no insinuations. We simply
re.state what every man blessed with
eyes and ears knows to be facts. There
arc said to be three secret political or
CARNATIONS in this State-the Loyal
League, the Grand Army of the Repub-
lie, and the Ku Klux Khan. The two
first we know exist, and from the many
accounts that reach us from beyond the
Cumberland range, we are constrained
to believe the last is something more
than mere myth. Among the men,
bers of the Loyal League are many
men who served in the Confederate ar
mics, and others who stayed at home,
made money and grew rich upon the
blood and misery Of the country, and
became excessively loyal Immediately
after the advent of the Federal troops.
But who compose the Ku Klux Khan ?
the mysterious and ferocious band,
whose members stalk abroad in dark
ness like pestilence and disappear no
one knows where or how; at whose
midnight touch prison cells fly open
and yield their inmates, and railroad
trains give up their passengers without
even the attentive and vigilant conduc-
tor being made cognizant of their pres
T., in, 20 of IN IL.
cation? OF course there is; but who
compose it, whether ex-rebels, original
Union men, quasi-radicals, or something
still worse, nobody seems TO know,
though the whole business is charitably
charged to the former. --
Here, candid reader, ict us pause
and think little. The organization
is said to exist in almost every county
of Middle and West Tennessee, and its
members to have an abiding place in
every ncighborhood; special legislation
coupled with strong inducements to
prosecution, has been enacted; out
RACES are reported to be of almost night
ly occurrence, and United States troops
have been stationed in the localities
said to be worst infested; and yet with
NIL this, and more to boot, so far as we
have heard not single man has ever
been arrested charged with being iden-
titled with the mysterious Khan, or
whose identity with it could be estab-
lished! A mystery indeed! and one
that calls for more plausible solution
than any that has yet been offered. We
don't deny that there are organized
bands in portions of the State who have
been committing gross outrages against
law and order; but we want to know
something more about the matter be-
they are made up altogether, or even in
part, of ex-rebels, or that they are SYM
pathized with and encouraged by that
large class of the people of Tennessee
who gave aid and comfort to the South
during the late fratracidal struggle, and
before we recognize the right of the
tuO lily
motive, to inflict irreparable evils upon
whole counties and communities for
crimes of which they may be, and
probably are, guiltless.
A few days ago in Arkansas, where
3hcll has been organized to perfection"
party Of Governor Clayton's militia
went to the house Of respectable wild
ow woman and brutally ravished her
three young and unprotected daughters
We don't suppose that any honest mind
would attempt to charge the whole rad
ical party of the State as sympathizing
with that and kindred outrages which
are daily being committed there-com-
mitted too in the name of law and order
We have frequently heard it said and
proof to the contrary challenged, that
the Loyal League carries its obligations
into all the relations of life; into bust
ness, into the schooi-house, the church,