The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1871-03-01
DEVOTED TO LITERATURE MORALITY and GENERAL INTELLIGENCE

the contrary, regard with indifference
the deed in the abstract their only
feeling is sympathy for the murdered
prisoners.
The manifesto LETT here by the Ku
Klux sufficiently explains the immediate
cause of the last raid on our Jail. 70
take these prisoners-two of them red
to the elbow with the blood Of Stevens
to Columbia, where the Legislature
was 10 session, composed, it was believ-
ed, of men in active sympathy with the
murderers, was thought to be tautamount
to a release. 1t was unfortunate that
Judge Thomas, did not order the return
to the writ of haJeas corpus to be made
before him at Union, or at his home,
which, it is presumed, is within the
limits of his circuit. The letter to the
Judge indicates that he would sacrifice
the peace of society here, and turn the
prisoners loose, to save his Office. The
Ku .Klux thought the escape of the
prisoners would be an evil, compared to
which the loss Of Judge Thomas to the
bench of the Sixth Circuit would be
insignificant. Such escape would be
wrong to their race, and one of those
wrongs which could find redress only
from their band. Tkey were-under
another pame-a vigilance committee,
with this Observation-Disclosures COM
mittees generally have the tacit ap-
proval of their government the Ku.
Kiux operate upon crimes committed
by a class of citizens specially protected,
bcfriended and honored by our State
The vigilance committee is, however, an
unlawful organizatiou-so is the Ku-
Klux. The acts of the one find an
exact counterpart in the other; for, so
far as known, the victims Of the Ku-
Klux have been bad men-dangerous
citizens and well-known murderers.
We are no apolosist for the Ku-
Klux. Nothing here written is an
apology. The reader who so construes
this letter fines excuse sufficient in what
We have enumerated simply as couses.-
We cannot excuse these self.coustituted
avengers Of white mems wrongs. Crime
begets crime, b1.. does not excuse it
To kill murderer:is murder. To be
prosecutor, judge, jury and sheriff is a
fearful sin-a sin legally and morally,
and sin in His eyes to whom belongeth
vengeance. We may have no justice,
but letter to suffer and to wait. A bad
government is better than no govern
ment at all. Injustice is better than
anarchy.
Negro militia can never step the evil,
no matter how strong in numbers.
The Columbia Union advises that
they be sent, and the county taxed to
pay for them. We advise the Union to
make a calculation of the cost Of main
tainiug thousand soldiers Cor year,
and compare it with the assessed value
Of property in this county. The pro-
position is ridiculous. Negro militia
are powerless against them. They may
be stopped, but only in one way-remove
the causes which made them fancy their
organization necessity; restore goVd
government; give the State upright
and able judges and honest officials !;
stop the frightful expenditure of pub
lie mcney in Columbia; prosecute: indict
and bring to trial such men as Neagle,
Parker and Crews; disbard the negro
militia; give the people intelligent
jurors, and let convicts be punished,
and then will the Ku Klux be thing
Of the past. But let the Legislature
and the State officials go on as they
have gone Oh, aud the time will soon. be
when raids into Columbia, and around
that capitol building, will cause our
highly yirtuous and intelligent legisla
tors to forget Union and Union murder
ers.
One more word. We are all suspect
ed of active sympathy With the Ku
Klux, because We do not bring them to
trial. The thing is impossible. They
shroud themselves in mystery which
no one can unravel. Whence they come
and whittier they go, no one knows
Their voi:es are not recognized; their
horses are not known. They are never
seen iu daylight; only in night. 1t would
seem that negroes would know when their
masters left home, and took their horses
out of the stable; would sometimes see
their disguises, notice the jaded appear
ance of man and horse, after night Of
wakefuluess and hard riding But is not
so. No negro knows single member
of the band if they did, they would tell
it, if not here for fear, at any rate 10
Columbia. The whole negro race desire
the suppression Of the Ku-Klux; but
they can make no discoveries. Is it
singular, then, that the white man, who
spends his evenings ct howe-whose
opportunities for detection are so much
less-should fail to find out names
We do not say that all condemn the Ku-
Klux. Many see the immediate good,
and think not of the consequent evil.
But many, very many, oppose and abhor
these deeds, committed without any legal
sanction, and they express their abhor-
euce 10 unmeasured terms.
This letter has been made too long.
We wrote, however, to show that the
Ku-Klux were combating evils as
dangerous to tie peace OF society as the
counter evils they perpetunte; and that
these fearful counter evils were not ap-
proved of BY all the people Of upper