The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-07-29
The ku-kFu1s Investigation
Testimony of General A. IL.
Wright, of Georgia.
An Exhibit of Affairs in that State
BY a Reliable and Intelligent
Witness. - 49,
From the Patriot, Nth,l

hours before the Ku-Klux committee
yesterday. Gen. Wright, in reply to a
question, said he was practicing law,
yer, and one of the editors Of the Chrcn
icle and Sentinel, at Augusta, Georgia.
He further testified that the people OF
that State were peaceful and law -abid,
ing, and that the laws are as fully en-
forced as they were before the late war.
The witness said that his law practice
extended to ten counties, and from his
personal observation and knowledge OF
the Stale, he could say the negroes en-
joyed all the privileges in the courts
accorded to the whites; in TACT, the
juries seemed to lean a little toward the
negroes, from apprehension or fear that
they might be suspected OF doing injus,
tice to them.
In reply to question whether he
knew of white men having committed
offenses against negroes, he replied, he
prosecuted a white man for the murder
of negro, who, however, was convicted
of manslaughter, and sentenced to the
full term allowed by the law. In the
same court in the same county white
man, charged with the murder of ne
gro, was found guilty and sentenced to
be hanged on the first Friday in Sep
TENDER While these two trials were
in progress twelve white citizens OF
Washington county were arrested under
the Ku-Klux law, carried one hundred
and thirty miles, and tried by United
States commission for assault and bat
terry on negroes. They were kept in
jail several days, but on investigation
before a carpet Dagger, Lee, and General
Swayne, they were acquitted. ..
The witness said he had no reason to
believe there was any organized band Of
Ku-Klux in Georgia for political pur-
poses, nor had he ever heard of any.
He, however, knew ola band of ma,
rauders, like Murrelrs gang, that ex.
tended through q portion OF the coun-
ties of the District in which he lived,
and the two white men convicted in
Washington county were suspected Of
belonging to the band. A man by the
name of Reese who had killed a negro,
was found guilty by a military com
mission, but was pardoned by President
johnson. This same man, not long ago,
killed another person, and was tried,
found guilty and sentenced to be eXcut-
ed on the 18th Of August. Governor
Bullock reprieved him, and his friends
said, in order to have him pardoned, 1t
was necessary TO enter into arrange
ments. In answer to a question as to
the nature OF the arrangements, the wit
ness replied they involved the raising OF
a sufficient amount Of money i'll further
ance Of that design.
The witness was Intercepted at some
length about the Georgia Legislature,
toe Republicans having in 1869, obtain
ed a majority through the action Of
General Terry, acting as he said, under
the order OF President Grant, and also
through the action Of Harris, a master
OF transportation. While Harris was
engaged iu organizing the House, Il
military commission, with General Ru-
ger at its head, was examining the qua
ification of It's members. General Kruger
and his board reported sixteen or twenty
members to he ineligible under the
constitutional amendments, and thus Sc
cured Republican majority. A Sena-
tor from the Forty-fourth District, who
had served two terms in the LegisIa-
ture died, when the commission, with
Harris, put in his place the man
whom the deceasrd had defeated nj the
election. =.
Having been asked what effect dis
reimbursement under the Fourteenth
Amendment had on the public mind,
the witness replied that it was a cause
of complaint among the people against
the Government.
The people murmured because the
men heretofore accustomed to conduct
public affairs were kept out OF office,
while their former slaves were now the
lawmakers. If the disabilities OF the
people were removed, and they were al
lowed to select their best men Tor the
nublic offices, there would be no cause
Of complaint against the Government.
The relations of the white and black
races were perfectly harmonious. The
negroes had been neither cheated nor
swindled, but fairly treated. Difficult
ties frequently arose because the negroes
could not tell, in calculating the shares
of crops, whether one-tenth or one-thIrd
was the most. Frequently arbltrators
were called in to determine the question
for them.
The witness having been asked
whether he knew of any persons having
been whipped by disguised persons re
nlied that a white man named Fergu
son, was seized by band OF negroes
stripped, and nearly whipped to death
nv them. A negro man was prosecuted
for living 10 adultery with white wo
man. He was tried and convicted, bu
was hardened by Governor Bullock
The frequent pardons produced much
mischief A little while after the above
named conviction, a white man wa:
convicted for living in adultery with
nero woman, but, through the efforts
Of Governor Bullocks prosecuun!
officer, the man was discharged on {
technical defect in the proceedings
The citizens whipped the white MAJ
and negro woman who had been living
in shame. a..
There were no politics in these occur
reuces. The people resorted 10 Suct
punishments because OF the miscnle.
to society, produced by the indiScrlmi
nate pardons Of Governor Bullock