New-York tribune., 1871-11-16
SOUTH CAROLINA KU-KLUX
CONFESSIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE KHAN.


CONFESSIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE KHAN.
COMPLETE EXPOSURE OF THE CHARACTER,
STRENGTH, AND PURPOSE OF THE INFAMOUS
ORDER-OYER 800 MEN coNFESs THEMSELVES
KU-KLUX.
trRoN TaE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THR TRIBUNE /
YoRKvILLE, s. c., Nov. 1Os-EveTy day there
IA fresh arrival Of frightened and repentant KuKlux
from the country who IN foot on horseback,
in wagons drawn BY mues to report themselves Major
Merrill mako confession Of all part Of what they
know about the KAn and ask leave 10 60 home promising
not 10 away and 70 report again Whensver cent for
The number paroled in this s now over 90
parting injunction thoSs get from the Major Dis
trtctAttorney usually "You go home and stay there,
and mind your own business, and when you're wanted
youll be sent for. you haVn MT told ell you know 1t
win be the WOrss for you, for 1t will oil come out be.
fore get through" The tronbled Ku-Klux is usually
much relieved ct thia He says, Thank you, Major"
and shues TO the door, fumblng his dirty old OuChed
hat, and starts for homo with q great weight Oh his
mind When he left his log cabin in the morning he
feared he might sleep in the jail that night, and many
nights to come, and he goes back to his saterny SNUFF
dipping wife, and troop Of ragged dirty, yeloEfaoed
children, with lighter heart than be has had Tor tne
past three weeks.
Occasionally man does not escape easily. Prevl-
confessions that he has not told the Fuh ana
that instead of having been only passive member oi
tho order Obliged TO Join for his own proteeuoh NO mas
been actively engaged In raiding The Major says qu-
suy, 81 very SOrry Sir but sha have 70 send you
TO jail. know more about your doings than you seem
TO yourself" and he steps TO the door, cah guard ana
says CORPORAL take this TO jail and deliver him TO
Capt Ogden" The Ku-KluX Is marched on and Visi-
BILE gloom comes over the cOuntenances Of his friends
waiting outside "a no passes through their midst IL
sometimes happeus that man who comes in with
plausby made UP story Is asOnished TO find that Major
Merrill knows bis whole history the names Of all his ac-
auanances and Of every member OF the Khan to which
ho folda ata Nhou fha
Major talks to him somewhat In this way You are the
man have been wanting TO for time. You live
on the Howels Ferry road, and belong to the Rattle
snake Khan. You were in the raid when Jim Williams
was killed. Now l don't ask you TO tell anything or
make any promises but II you wish to make statement
you do so Tho poor devil forRets the lies he had
invented and blurts out the truth.
There are hundreds Of men, however, who forced
into tho Ordor against their will Some brutaly
whipped before they could TO rSade to join One man
set astride steer and whipped for I've miles along
the road to the gathering place Of the KlRn. By the
time he arrived there he was ready to take the OATH
great many Of the confessions are like this:
"The whippings and killings were goin' all about
part Of the country, and 1t u.s. peared like
man was safe. was mighty skeered for fear they'd
night Jim Brown he come to my house and said as
how l didn't join the Ku-Klux they was goin' to
done Joined so a. could live In peace. But, Major,
never believed In It POhSw and never went on no raid
along when any deVllment was EoiR on"
They hsrdlOOknR set Of men, these seltcon
viced KuRlux that throng about the Post Commanders
Ofice but they not Unlocking their
rades in jail who will not confess who insist that they
arc IS innocent as the dead" and who heard
there any such thing Ku-Klux until they were
arrested The average White of South Carolina is
the poorest specimen Of the Caucasian race have ever
either side Of tho Atlantic The most discOur
aging feature about him is that he shows desire to
improve his condition. What can be expected from a
who will not take the trouble to put window in
hA house. and who keeps his door shut by putting n
chunk Of wood against 1t, because he s too shftess
To whittle out latch or button. Brutal. cOwardly,
and lncOnCeivably ignorant he is KuKlux by nature
There are, OF course, few intelligent and worthy
sprnked over the country the semblance of civilized
society would not have been possible; and these liz
the old time controlled the lower orders absolutely
aid the Scottish chiefs their clans. Whenever in this
STATE such have opposed the KuKux organization
1t has never had any headway. Unfortunately, in this
county and in Spartanburg Union and Chester these
men, with exceptions few not to be worth mention
Ing, all joined the order-some from choice, others
through fear. or the latter class had good exam
pie, yesterday In old Squire Hope, venerable and
sensible man Of 70, who initiated by his brother
Justice Of the Peace Squire Brown, who told him that
the old men must join to control the young who
getting too wild. Brown however, Is shown to have
been mseK raider, and of his was the Chief
Of Klan
1t s scarcely exaggeraton TO say that the Organza
tiOn embraced the whole white voting population Of
the county. Major Merrill concludes, from his six !
months hard work In investigating the conspiracy that
Of the 2oO white voters herO are not 200 who have not
been initiated, and numerous the active mem-
hers that there Is doubt that the Grand Chief
Cyclops could any time in the Spring Summer have
assembled In "a hours time 900 mounted men, well
armed with guns and revolvers, uniformed In the dis
guses Of the order, sndlas thoroughly obedent to his
commands disciplined soldiers. II organization
of this strength in single county not conspiracy Of
sufficient magnitude TO warrant the General Govern
ment In taking it in hand 1t h not easy to see what
would BE- FOrty-hve Klans known to have existed
in York County Some ~ "hese have anciful or ferO
cous names, such the RattlesnAkes the Tigers the
White Panhers, the Black Panthers the White Rangers
the Pilots the Avengers &c. and others took the
Of their Chiefs or Of the localities where they
formed Each Kan elected its chief his Lieutenant
and two or three "nRhthaWks," who couRiers to
notify to the members gatherings Of the KAn and 10
communicate with the central authority in YOrkvle.
All the members had pistols and guns, many had Win
chester repeating rifles, which, there is believe
bought In NewYOrk, with funds raised there for
the purpose. Eight thousand Of these Known to
have been brought to South Carolina since the Ku-Kux
troubles began Most Of the who possess these
guns In their lives had enough at time
TO buy One for they cost 90 ESQ each and it s certain
that those that were not stolen from the negro militia
given to them by somebody. They were all well
supplied with the peculiar ammunition the guns rel
Quired. The discipline Of the Klans was severe. At
Limestone Spring, in spartanburg County, whipping
post was set up whore disObediens members were
noRged The word Of the Chief law to his Kan and
tho order Of the Grand Chief law to his ches In
all ordinary cases Of whipping and abusing negroes and
dSciplnng their KlauS the chiefs Acted their own
responsibility but when any important enterprise vss
contemplated the plot laid by the Grand Chef and
his Council and orders dispatched by "niRht hAws" to
the chefs who required to Cooperate to make de-
tail their KAns and march to the rendezvous at an