The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-03-22
The secret Order in the Kanawha
-. Valley. ~

The Secret order IN Tue hahaWu1
'ls-aF Valley. =
Colonel Ben, SMITHS letter 1puRliShed
In our paper Of Saturday Is not the )fst
iptimatlon we have h1d Of the existence
q secret political 0florin tlfiS State, in
the interest and under the auspices 81. the
Democratic party. We have reason to
believe that such IN order was part Of
their machinery In the campdg of 1903,
audGif soY 1T win no doubt be brought into
play in 'the elections this year. W. b
In the KauAwha Valley It seems that
this secret order, whose existence y 50
wGl1,lnown to Col. SAITH, hasn wide
spread existence, andih It's existence, and
its sympathlcs. II not its actual practices
closely resembles the regular KuaKlux
Klans Of the South. ' ls, - st3' 5 ssa ag
The animns ofthe organization, accord
ing to Col. SMrTH's letter Is hostility ito
the Radical party quite an indefinite
purpose apparently, but made more def:
mite by the explanation Of the Kanawha
Journal, that its object Is to "wipc every
negro in the county md State out Of ex'
istence, so far as civil law and civil justice
are concerned" Perhaps this object is
part Of what the Colonel understands by
Legitimate hostility to the Radical party
We all know that he Is not stickler
about the ways and means Of resisting
that party. He gave us an
inkllng of his ideas on that subject In
1866, when he was u candidate for
Governor, and was holding the position
of o. s. Attorney for this State II
was in that year that he went about sug'
costing resistance to the law, even unto
actual violence; and it may be, for oil we
know to the contrary, TINT the secret or
der which he defends in his letter grew
out Of his own precepts and example at
TINT very time. as.rt
At all events, it Is proper that the poo
pie Of West Virginia should know thus
early in the year, that there Is in exist
ence In their midst q secret political or
der Of oath.bound men whose aims and
workings are yelled in the dark. When
prominent Democrats like Col. SMITH arc
bold enough to come out and ayow and
vindicate the existence Of such midnight
machinery in our politics, is 1t not time
the really aw.ablding portion Of the poo
pic began to bethfnk themselves as ia
what action is necessary to counterfeit
such dangerous influences?
We had hoped that the days Of Sc
Cret political orders Ind passed away In
their very nature, to say nothing of any
special purpose like that apparently con
trolling this one Of which VIC are speak
ing, they are inimicAl 70 the best interests
oGsOciety. They arc generally inthc hands
of unprincipled and too often, desperate
men. To what straits must tho Democracy
bereduced when they thus band themselves
together in clans, by secret oaths, after
bOasting for years Of their record against
secret political societies in the great cam'
paign against Know Nothlnglsm in 1855 ?
They have, however, only gone back on
their record inthat particular us they have
In other respects; and while we do not
suppose that they will add materially to
their strength by this secret machinery, at
least not to the extent Of achieving any
permanent success many county of the
State, still It is well that citizens generally
should understand just whatihflucnces are
at work among them, and thus be better
prepared 20 meet any emergencies that
may arise.
1t Is certainly very foolish in the DEM
ocracy Of Kanawha county to be cnlisting
recruits into their order with the idea Of
preventing Tue negro from exercising the
political privileges that have been vouch'
saied him by tho United States Govern
mcnL 1t Is too late in the day for any
such Vaccinations, The negro will exGr'
else his privileges in Kanawha county al
elsewhere throughout this and every
other statcIin thu, Uniom and tho men
who have banded themselves together
down there in midnight associations with
the idea Of Overthrowing Radicalism on
that issue may as well disbAnd at once.