Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-03-02

believed, of men in active sympathy
|! with the murderers,- was thought to be
.iitanamount to release. 1t was unfor-
I, talafe' that Judge Thomas did not or
| der the return etothess writ offaha6eas
cWpsts to be made before him at Union,
orA his home, whicASit is presumed,
is within the limits of his circuit. The
letter Of 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 aseaaipe Of the prisoners would be an
esssI compared to which the loss Of
judge, Thomas TO the, bench of the
Sixth Circuit would be insignificant.
Such escape. would be, a wrong to their
race, and one of i those wrongs which
oulaofndlredress only from theirlband.
They were-under another name-a
vigilance committee, with this differ
IenceA vigilance committees generally
have the tacitapproval Of their govern
hient;S the Ku Klux operate upon crimes
committed by class of citizens spe-
Icislls protected, .befriended and honor
led dspy+ our State. The vigilance com,
mittse is, however, an unlawful ,orgsni-
zation-go is the Ku Klux..si4The aacts.
one find an exact counterpart in
ithepther; for, so far as known, the
victims;of the Ku Klux; have. been bad
men dangerous citizens and well-known
Imurderers. ...
I'VE are no apologist for the Ku KIux,
INofHihg here written is an apology.
TIE eTeaderr who so eonstrues this letter
finds excuse sufficient in in what we have
Ieini6iimierated iiii simply as causes: We can
n6E excuse these self-constituted .aven-
gers M Of white. men $ wrongs, Crime
6egetss crime, but does not excuse it. To
kifla murderer is murder. To be prose-
cutsr, Judge, jury and sheriff, is fear.
fatI sin-a sin legally and morally, and
a sin il. His eyes to whom belongeth
vengeance. We. may have, no justice,
but better to suffer and to wait A bad
government is better.than no govern
lnenttatiall. Injustice is better than
anarchy Negromihtia can never stop
the evil, mo matter how strongin num-
bers. s''-.s-7a 74f.-' - 80
The Columbia onion advises that
they be sent, and the County taxed to
pay ; for them. We advise the Union
to make calculation Of the cost Of
maintaining thousand soldiers for
year, and compare it with the assessed
yfal1e Of property in this County. The
proposition is ridiculous. Negro mill
tia are powerless against them. They
may be stopped, but only in one way
remove the causes which made them
fancy their organization a necessity
restore good government give the State
upright and able judges and honest Off
cialG stop the frightful expenditure of
l1yui6ffo yi5dfft5 ,s.o,.os IN Gnlllmbia prosecute
indict and bring to trial such men as
Neasle, Parker and Crews; disband the
negro militia give the people intelli-
gent jurors, and let convicts be punish
ed, and then will the Ku Klux be
thing of the past. But let the Legisla
ture and the State oficialsgo on as they
have gone on, and the time will soon be
when raids into Columbia, and around
that capitol building, will cause our
highly virtuous and in elligent Legisla-
ture to forget Union and Union mur-
derers
One more word. Weare 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 a mystery which
no one can unravel. Whence they come,
and WHITTIER they go, no one knows,
Their voices are not recognized; their
horses are not known. They are never
seen i'll daylight; only in night. 1t
would seem that negroes would know
when their masters left home, and took
their horses ont of the stable; would
sometimes see their disguises, notice
tile jaded appearance of man and horse
after a night of wakefulness and hard
riding. But it is not so. No negro
knows a single member Of the band il so
they would tell it, if not here Tor fear,
at any rate in Columbia. The whole
negro race desire tie suppression OF the
Kn Klux; but they can make no dis
coverics. Is it singular, then, that the
whit. man, who spends his evening at
home-whose opportunities for detec-
tion 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 adherence IN
unmeasured terms.
This letter has been made too long.
We wrote, however, to show that the
Ku Klux were combating evils as dam
gerous to the peace Of society as the
counter evils they perpetrate and
that these fearful counter evils were
not approved of by all the people OF
upper South Carolina. nnr-n17,
A YOUNG LADY oFSAvANNAH BURNT
TO DEATH.-Informatio was received