The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-08-03
KU-KLUX OUTRAGES PROVED
BEFORE THE CONGRESS
SIGNAL COMMITTEE.

the existence and outrages Of the South
ern Ku Klux, part of which we shall,
from time to time, lay before our readers.
For the present we can not do better than
to publish the following editorial from
the Chicago Tribune of Tuesday:
THE. SOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRACY.
The Congressional Committee upon
Southern Outrages visited Columbia,
South Carolina, some two weeks or more
ago. The fact of their visit had been
made known, and when they arrived they
found one hundred refugees, fugitives
from violence, who had sought safety III
the city. The committee, however, adj
journed to Spartansburg the central point
Of the Democratic outrages, where they
were overwhelmed with visitors-all the
victims of the lash, the knife, the torch, or
the bullet These people showed their
wounds, told the story of their cruel
sufferings, and related the particulars of
the many murders of men, women, and
Children friends, relatives, and
neighbors. These people had for the
most part been compelled to abandon
their houses by night, and secrete them
selves in the woods They exhibited
their sacrificed backs and limbs, their
gunshot wounds, their cropped ears, and
all the other visible evidences Of the
fendish cruelty with which they had been
treated, In one township there had been
IFS cases Of whipping.f Some Of these
personal outrages were Of so beastly a
character asfto be unfit for publication.
The persons whipped were compelled to
sign cards renouncing the Republican
party if they refused, the whipping was
renewed, or they were shot Though
numerous white llen informed the COM
mittee, in confidence, that they were Re
jpubicans, they dared not publiclyavow
| it. The persons elected to Office st the
last election had been compelled to resign,
and many toleave that-part of the country.
A Democratic lawyer brayely stated that
''almOst every respectable unmarried
white man IN the community belonged
to the Ku-KluX," and that there were al
that time 600 within days march Of
the village. A Methodist preacher, named
Thompson, was notified not to preach and
Designating the notice, he was tied and
W hipped, tied to q horse and dragged for
miles, whipped again, and, when he died
under the Darbarity, they mutilated his
person, and then hung the lifeless body,
and afterwards threw it into the river
The country is occasionally startled by &C
counts of the cruelties and barbarities
perpetrated by Indian savages upon
prisoners falling into their hands; but
the .Comanches have meyer exceeded tha
infamies committed by these white Dem.
ocrats claiming to be the chivalry Of
South Carolina. The Turks. in the ollen
time, used to subject the Christian
soldiers to fortunes and barbarity, but the
Turks have long since abandoned that
mode Of treatment, which seems to have
found its last champions among the
cowardly braggarts and lazy scoundrels
who style themselves the. white race Of
South Carolina - #
stopped at YorkviIle, where they were
joined by Mr.. Wallace, the member of
Congress representing that district The
chivalry had in anticipation of the event
arranged that a wretch named Berry
should assault Wallace at the table
with the other members of Congress. Berry
did his part of the disgraceful job, and
owes his miserable life TO the forbear
ance of the other rmembers of Con
gress
The Democratic leaders at the South
attempt to conceal or gloss over this
horrid business. Many Of them swear
that there are no KuKlux that thew
have never heard of them others admit
that1such bands may exist, but have no
personal knowledge of them and still
others admit that such hands do eXist.and
are composed of "the most respectable"
menssof the community but do no more
than patrol the country, suppressing dis
order, Furnishing crime, and generally en-
forcing the ten commandments.
1t is difficult to say how the General
Government should proceed to remedy
these matters. These outrages are VIC.
latlons Of State law, are, in fact. insur.
rections against the authority of the State.
1t the State Government has not the means
sufficient to suppress these bands, it is
authorized to ask the aid Of the General
Government, and it should dose. IF the
State has the force necessary to maintain
Its authority and protect its people,it is q
disgrace to civilization that it does not
use that force for that purpose. The
further continuance Of these barbarities
should not be tolerated, even il it he
necessary to, place a soldier in South
Carolina for every Ku-Kluk in the State
MONEY ORDER TREATY.--The President
J has signed the treaty for the Interchange
of post office money-orders between this
!, IcOuntrv and Great Rritain Thio vii