New-York tribune., 1871-12-28
THE KU.KLUX.
SOUTH CAROLINA.


the trial OF KuKlux. and has to-day disposed OF tne
s.cond case This is no faut OF the Court but s OWING
rather TO the delay caused by the counsel for the defense
who from the be ginning put every impeachment they pos
sny conld in the way OF progress There are scores OF
Ku-Klux already indicted ready for trial, ana, al
though trials in the hturc win be more rapidly gone
through with, the distinguished counsel from abroad
having departed yet there is no probability that ha
Of those arrested will 10 tried Tho was that
OF the United States ag DR.. Thomas B. WhNesides anu
John ". Mitchell. They indicted in our different
counts the first OF which general Conspiracy 'he
second cOnspring niure account OF the exercise Vi
the privilege of suagr the third consTring 10 pFe'en
the exercise Of It, and the fourth cOnsring 10 Jurc o
voting for particular person Tbs case Ai'ci no'
thorough hearing given to the jury Flu"! anu w
day verdict OF guilty rendered on the hrs' anu
third counts.
The prisoner Mitchell. captain in the Confederate
army and IS OF q good family II IS well known that
there are some leading fsmcs who control the efhu
mcnt systematically. AMI as certainly as Sehela
commands his army. Below such. III the soclai sca''
are good standlng and considerable lht"hReh'
who hndly follow the directions planned ont ny thosc
above them and in addition whatever influence they
may have to bring thr neichhOrs 10 the same way OF
thinking and acting hy persuasion 1rst-forcc next IL
needs be- John W. NJ; he. like many others who are
vet to be tried tn nd class and though better
educated Of a generally h!r grade M!tchel's cocoon
sp,rator DR. Tncu1. H. Niitcsides, is OF the
class Ten TO begin wI rt 1t he distinctly understood
that these ro oi that set so numerousy scat
tered throuch thC western part Of the State known
as "claycaers" "traCkciS." etc. people to certain
extent morally irrsIr .lC but they men OF good
understanding. a"6 C s.Hp so far as education and
cxperic every a! <"en at the North ApooSlsts
for Ku Kux can ri not9ns IN The way OF mbccility on
the part OF this class o u serve their end indeed
could they have IL, to the evidence, the most lost
to-grace Northern Democrat would have found no re
dcemng quality. b. might lt9c been affected as the
distinguished cOun ! were, when they left the court
room.
1t has been with 90" iar,L readiness accepted outside
this State that the Vie trash" committed these
outragcs whereas At Is VOW shown that they were
planned N.'d BY Of intelligence and these
Individually snt Jointly are rcsposibe for the SEN
timent and tie 81 tc communities The case or
the Government against III lol and Whtesides is as
follows: Mitcl el WI, cicf OF klan. OF which Dr.
whitesidcs was q n,rr mi not very active one
Several T. ids rtTel "Cainst Mitchell. and but one
against Whitesid :; hi, rad the raid charged in
the indictment to nprrcss anc nidate Charles Leech.
a cOlored voter uL Nh;.ce6ts was also Identified with
it, Three OF the p y lad + at Whitesides's house TO
manufacture di>I Sc: he hrce were Mitchell, White
Sides and Foster, .atI b, ing the Government wit
ness no related i,c iac,S Tey together to the
place Of rendezvous a1i there met the remainder OF
MitcheYs Elan and dEdhcr kan That night they sue
crssvcy visited tLrrr gcocs whipping each, and after
whipping them noticed them never to vote Radical
ticket again. AmJnL these Victims WAS Charles Leech.
The witness for T., prosecution said that he had been
informed since com!rg TO Columbia that the raid
occurred Oh the Oh Of January. Assuming this
10 lie the correct de ald without proving positively
that was the correct dte the defense put upon the
stand sever; wi'ncasts VINO testified that John W.
Mitchell and DIR. Whe9idcs at Mtches house with
his sick mother the SlOc Of Ii" night referred to- This
abb conclusively p.oycn would have resulted in an
acQuittsl the cl.rco Of mtimidatns, juring &C.,
Charles Leech; hut incidentally in the testimony. TO
show the connection of Mh hcl with the Kan another
raid proven OF which he had been present and in
order defend against bc chrgc Of general consprng
intimdate african citizens it necessary prove
alibi in Mitchcs that occasion. With this
view. prt upon tLe stand by the defense who
testified that be, the |i;n,s was one Of that raiding
party and that Mitccl not along with it that Sht
but that Mitchell ch CT Of Klan and he had met
him at several reongs Of til" Klan and had been with
him on several ler raids Mr. Wilson, attorney Of
Yorkylle rcpr, lcnad White .idcs land argued to the
alb entirely &C. D. Melton. ESQ., OF Columbia represented
Mitchell and at once admitted to the FURY, In his argu
rnent that Mitchell nC mbcr Of the Klan He then
insisted that no rand nad proved where Mitchell
was present AMI that the ohcs of the KuKlux organ
izaton were hml and lnate; that all these bor-
re outrages commit ed. not In pursuance OF the
purposes Of thu Order INT for the qualification OF per-
.onal malice !u.. Fl compared it with the Union
I.ague and the MasOas bat particularly with the
Communists. III, LIs; sOcc;y he explained TO he
perfectly laN lvli.snG p'ai,ewortby in itself; a
,o,icty Of wLrh Wcui,l! Ihllips-a man whose
purity of p3:,n' AID honesty Of heart he be-
lieycd were 'rNirp,ich Hlc-was the champion
IN America lrt d S0cHty that had had dishonor
cast upon it by hr acts Of individual MEM
bcrs q socciy I va stld nit fired Chicago. and had
LAID tine grca ..r pirt - Paris III ruins.
To the alib IF Ciamcrl ,a Attorney General OF the
state associai With ;hc Dtr ctAtOrney, replied that
10 Government vltuc positively fixed the date Of
the Charles L. Il rad and tiat the reason Foster had
que ssed at de a, al Iais; nc explained had certain
facts cone 10 IN Knowledge h fore the close Of the c>
rnouy instead OF afiorward t. the Gain Of nnoccncy
and haruessrcss in behalf Of the KuKlux Kan, be- ar
gued at Length, hut called particular attention to the
provision in the Ku-Kux Constitution, Bylaws, and
OATH a. he read them from the captured documents
which required member to provide himself with
pistol signal whst'c an Ku-Klux gown, and to the
provision which urhd revelation Of the secrets of
the order with death.
Mr. Chamberlan's rcftrcucc to facts which had come
TO his know ledge AZ the submission Of the is
would seem of sufficient consequence to notice One of
tie negroes who Was whipped came to Columbia as
witness. and here Lac. John W. Mitchell Mitchell asked
him be knew II, date Of LIS whipping he replied that
be did not then sad Mitchell. 81 can tell you; you
were whipped 'hr 9th o. January" The negro there
upon told Foster hal BE- understood that the raid
CURED on the 9Th q" la"ary and on the stand Foster
testified that he had he' tod that that the date.
Upon this basis mpted to prove tho alibi and
n0twth tandlng that Government witness in rebuttal
testified positively that whipped the night
with Charley L c aud t'ia it the 25tb, Goth,
nth Of January. tl defense relied upon their aliD for
asquttal.
The jury ont % hours and returned verdict Of
guilty Of the cU:- tcy and OF the outrage upon
INech. motion ct on"c recorded for news trial.
The Court then adjourned until Wednesday the 27th
Instant
Mr johnson has rctC n"d t. Baltimore and Mr. Stan.
berry remains the motion for new trial in the
case OF Robert U.Ncs Mil, bel.
II isa notahl, :aci th,t iht visit Of month which
these distinguished g tle have paid Columbia has
not sOfeued t- lO>:ahl" southern heart toward Yam
kcfb blood and that