New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-04-04

The etoxio0 q ~ to91l1ee - m9f-
derous besuA slIieg wiaisA Ars beig Pr
petrated BY thoss tahds Of outlaws
fnown - The Ka-Klux supon innocent
and unonsnding colorsd citizens and
Union mon throughout some Of the
Southern States, should make ~ pause
and ask the question, where are We
drifting To-? Men and women are as
sadlted, maltreated, whipped, and assassi-
mated, and the authors and instigators
of these deeds of outrage and cruelty
90 UNPUBLISHED, and sometimes their acts
are applauded by sympathizing COM
munity. These acts. of wrong, rapine
and murder are ON the increase. Men
are found all over the country with
bullet holes through their heads or
bodies, hung to trees by the road side,
in their Offices weltering in their blood,
upon sidewalks or in the cutters Of our
cities with necks broken, and when
coroners' juries are called the verdict is,
died from causes or by the hands Of
some person unknown. The contagion
of ku-kluxism is spreading throughout
the South like the fire on the prairie,
carrying death and destruction before it,
and leaving q desoldte and blackened
waste behind it. Few of the Southern
States appear to be free from this horri-
BILE and detestable association of mid
night Thugs.
Here in Louisiana we have to some
extent been relieved from the disgrace
and the terrors of the Ku-Klux, or. what
ever those men may be called who dis
guise themselves and seek the highways
at midnight, and visit the houses of in
nocent neighbors, while asleep, for the
purpose Of outrage and robbery. These
wretches have not even the poor apology
of the religious fanatics of the Eastern
Archipelago for their crimes and mis-
deeds and in their conduct and cruelty
they far exceed the barbarism of those
poor, ignorant creatures who have NOT
the advantages of education and enlight-
eminent of this year Of our Lord 1871.
These miserable miscreants are guilty Of
every crime known to the law, and are
fast bringing ruin to every State or com
munity where they are known to exist.
The impeachment of Governor Holden.
of North Carolina, and the attempt to
Dust Governor Clayton, Of Arkansas, are
parts of the hellish work which these
fiends are doing, by which they may re-
move the obstacles in their way to the
accomplishment Of their designs for the
overthrow of governments loyal to the
federal power Of the country.
And we see that these human hyenaa
find apologists and supporters from men
Of standing and position where they
exist. Were it mot for this, and if such
men would act with the power and energy
which they are known to possess, such
horrors as are now chronicled every day
would not appear. For instance, such a
man as Ex-Governor now Senator Steven
son, of Kentucky, stands up in his place
in the United States Senate and implores
pity and amnesty for these Ku-Klux
rufians, and calls them in his senile
sympathy, misguided young men,
Heaven save the mark. That these house
burners, assassins, thieves, pirates and
tcrturers should be called misguided, -
s'broken-hearted and poor" is more
than sublime in audaciousness. It
out-Herods Herod. It is more than
reasonable or reasoning human nature
would be willing to accept or allow as an
extenuation for the offenses which these
devils in human form commit If all the
broken-hearted, poor and misguided men
of the country are to be allowed to relieve
their feelings by lynching their neigh
bors, setting fire to their neighbors'
houses and barns, shooting and murder
ing such as are obnoxious to them, and
whipping and tortaring those who will
not submit to their, devilish ,whim or
caprice, we shall have the sorry spec
tacle of commonwealth where crimes
are committed in for1na pauper;s.
Suppose, as has been said,
that one of these violent gentry, when
called upon to plead to an indictment for
homicide, arson, or assault with intent to
kill, should submit his case to jury and
say: May it please your honor, and gen.
tlemen of the jury, I did do the deed for
which I am arraigned; but you can have
no idea how melancholy was at the time,
to say nothing of the dreadful fact that
I had not penny in my pocket, and
hardly pocket to put the penny in, even
if possessed it. Under these circum-
stances felt that if could kill some
body, or burn schoolhouse, it would
make me feel better" What would be
thought of such plea as this?
Have we not had enough Of these scenes
of cruelty, bloodshed and persecution for
opinions sake? Is it not time to put
forth our every power and effort. to the
end that these disguised demons should
be crushed and annihilated? Are we not
poor and miserable enough without the
curse of this deadly upas Of ku-kluxisn
to blast and destroy the hopes and pros
poets of people already weighed down
with the sorrows and sufferings of de-
vastating war? Up! up! men of the