Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-05-11
NORTHERN KU-KLUN AND THE
SOCIAL OVrTIOOK

SOCIAL OUTLOOK
The Burlington Qowa) Gazette records
q recent Ku-Klux outrage in Radical
Iowa as follows:
"Hung be the heavens with black, for
the Yengeful men, the u-KluX, are upon
us, and what is worse, they are of our
selves. They made their appearance 8
short time since at the house of Mr..
Close, IN Flint River township, in Des
MONIES county, and within six miles of
the Aw-sbiding city of Burlington. These
frightful men, not having the fear of the
law before their eyes, forciby abducted
from the house of Mr.. Close one -
Peterson, ESQ.,, upon whom they inflicted
great bodily injury by severe blows and
ducklng him many times in water
course near by, at the imminent peril
of his life. Mr.. Peterson, we
ale informed, is an intelligent and
respectable mechanic, a wagon maker
by trade, and highly esteemed in the
neigbborhOOd. This lawless attack on
Mr.. Peterson was made between the
hours of midnight ard daylight. His as
ssilsnts were all disguised, their faces
blackened, and they wearing the costume
of Indians. We state facts derived from
old and upright citizens residing in the
vicinity of the outrage, and we demand
that the State, authorities of Iowa call
upon President Grant for detachment of
troops, to be sent for the protection of
our citizens residing in Flint River town
ship. Grant may hesitate to comply with
I,o In ~,
these cases are white men, and soldiers
are not needed in Iowa, at least in order
TO secure the vote of the State for the
Radicals.
These demonstrations or law breakers
are becoming very common in the North
ern States, and call as much for the con-
sideratiOn of Grant and his advisers and
keepers, as the condition of the South
docs. Crime has become so prevalent in
the North that it is beginning to appsl
the more considerate of our Radical con-
temporsries in that section. A few days
ago the New York Tribune contained an
exposure in regard to the clairvoyants
and fortuuetellers in that city, which
showed that they were simply PROGRESSES
of the most dangerous character. The
New York Times (RadicaD has long
article on that most horrible feature in
the alarming increase of vice and lawless-
ness, the frequent recurrence in that see
ton of the awful crime of parIicidc. In
New York and in New jersey two men
are under sentence of death for the muir
der of parent, and the Times records
two fresh instances of the same crime,
which in one case, however, happily
went no further than the intention.
In the other case, the son killed his
father in self-defcnse, drawing a revolver
anu putting three balls into his fathers
head. An abOItive attempt at parricide
is alleged in New Jersey, and the persons
concerned in this latter atrOcity are Of
such respectable social standing, and the
offense with which they are charged is 50
monstrous, that the story seems on the
| face of il incredible. Yet one Of the
ablest and most conscientious o. New
Jersey judges found in the accusation SUI
licient probability to warrant him in hold
/ ing the accused To answer in 50. 600 each.
/ The Times thinks in view OF sucl cases
and the general murder record, to which
may be added those nameless villainies to
his daughters for which a Connec-
ticut monster has Just beca sen
fenced 10 totally inadequate pun
ishment, that the social outlook is
not encouraging, The Baltimore SIN
very pOintedly asked, what would the
Times say if Southern journals should
treat these startling denominations as sig
niticant of the general character of the
Northern people instead Of exceptional
atrocities Yet every day it denounces
the South, in which such crimes as the
above were never heard of, holding it re-
sponsible for every act of lawlessness
into which individuals here and there
may be provoked, as if it were Indicative
of universal political and social demon
alizstion. While the Times thus bears
testimony as to the extraordinary preva-
lence of crime in the ''loysl" States of
the North, it may not be out of place to
repeat here what Radical Judge says of
the reported Ku-Klux outrsges in the
South. Judge Plantz, who presides over
the Court at Pensacola, Florida, is q Rad
ical-a son of Hon. Tobias A. Plantz-
formerly Radical member of Congress
from Ohio. In his charge to the Grand
Jury, only three weeks ago, the Judge
used the following significant language:
'Tt has been said that the South is dis