The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-03-17
The Committee ON "Outrages.3

1t seems almost impossible for the
Radical organization in Congress, eth.
er collectively or through its commit.
tees, to do any act that is either frank
or upright. The committee appointed
to investigate alleged "outrages" in the
Southern States have been consistent
with this practice. Before they had
well proceeded with the inquiry, Mr..
Scott, the chairman, presented himself
at a Republican caucus, and asserted
that the testimony revealed a "Ku-kluX
organization Of 10000 men in North
Carolina" That allegation was wholly
unfounded, and when it was subse.
quently challenged by Mr.. Blair in
open Senate, its author did not dare to
assume the responsibility of repeating
what he had said in secret. But it is
proved to be false by the record now
produced.
A large number of witnesses had
been summoned here, and others were
to be called; who would have most Sc.
riously damaged the charges, had they
been allowed to testify. But the drift
of all the reliable evidence had so COM
pletely upset the calculations of the
majority, that without notice of any
kind, or the least intimation of such a
purpose, they suddenly, on Wednesday
last, determined to close the investiga-
tion. And as if to establish the delib-
erateness of this snapjudgment on the
minority, Mr.. Scott produced a pre-.
pared report, which might as well have
been written before the investigation
began. All the clamor and claptrap.
perry cannot change the disgraceful
character of this proceeding. The
same charges, the same witnesses, the
same localities, and the same in cidents
that have figured so often for the last
two or three years, and some of them
older, are reproduced on the stage in
the old, familiar costumes. A few de
pendants upon the Federal and State
treasury have been added to bolster up
the perjury Of their interested confed-
crates. Holden, Kirk, Bergen, and
others like them, whose very names
are redolent of fraud, outrage, robbery
and oppression, are the wretches who
have been brought here to sustain a
conspiracy against the peaceful people
Of North Carolina, whom they first
plundered and then sought to crush by
armed rutlianism. The very miscre-
ants, conspirators, thieves, and political
knaves who planned and executed a
wholesale system Of plunder and cru
city, many Of whom are now under in.
dictment and others fugitives from jus.
tice, are chosen by this committee as
witnesses to uphold new outrage upon
public decency. So shameful specta-
Gle has hardly ever before been wit
messed.
Notwithstanding the trick in closing
the doors of Investigation, the minori.
ty of the committee have collected Il
mass of evidence, from most respecta-
BILE and responsible citizens, which es.
tablishes, beyond all doubt, that the
State government of North Carolina,
under Holden, was an organized con-
spiracy against the lives, liberties, and
property of the people. Such a record
of crime as the career of these men fur
nishes is without parallel in this coun-
try. Their iniquities almost exceed be-
lief. Colored witnesses called by the
majority prove conclusively that four
cases out of six alleged "Ku.klux out
rages' were perpetrated by negroes,
who assumed that char acter by the in
struction of Holden or his tools. AS
he imported such ruffians as Kirk from
Tennessee to invade parts of North
Carolina, so he adopted other instrus
mentalities for purposes equally crimi-
nal. He himself was at the head of
a secret organization by which the pro-
perty of law-abiding citizens who re-
fused to obey his political dictation
was destroyed by fire under orders
from Raleigh.
This committee has aimed at two OBJ.
jects, and failed in both. They have
sought to protect the base instruments
by which Radicalism has maintained a
footing in North Carolina, from the
penalties of their crimes, and to fabri-
cate pretended case for moro uncon-
stitutional legislation. The country
will not only recoi from new agita-
tion, such as these desperate dema-
gogues propose, but it will hold Mr..
Scott and his associates to strict ac.
count for the frauds which they have
attempted to- impose upon the people
as fact, by swift witnesses to whom
perjury has become Il Profession
Washington Patriot.
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