The Portland daily press., 1871-09-21
purposes, and that all is peace and quiet in
THE NUMRER OF MEMBERS.

THE NUMBER OF MEMBERS !
Its, of course, impossible to do more than
estimate rudely the number of members OF tne
Ku-klux order, taking as the basis OF esuna.e
certain known facts The order is known 10 10
exist aud flourish extensively IN every par vi |
Tennessee, in Middle and Southern hentuchs,
in Louisiana, Texas, Northern Mississippi anu
Alabama, Northwest Georgia, mlaut Ear an
western parts of the North aod Soutu Ca'o
mas In smaller numbers, but still! suhc ently
graat tn he worthy OF notice, 1T exists IN AT
kansas, Middle and southern A,aoani" "ud d
Mississippi, the remainder OF usotgla ond
narts OF Florida, the remainder OF Nortn ara
Sonth Carolina, ard to some extent IN South
I'm VIRGINIA In one town of about fifteen
hundred inhabitants in Western South Caro-
lima. there are ten klans with an average OF
| twelve members each. Ia the same county,
| in one township more than three-fourths OF the
white voters are members OF the ORDER In
peighboring county, a gentleman OF character,
| who, though denying membership, was Ger.
| tainly not such an enemy of the order as to ex-
| aggerate its numbers, testified before the con-
| pressional committee that be believed there
| was not respectable unmarried white man in
| thecounty town who was not member of the
| Ku-KuX order. During the election riots in
| Laurens, one prominent man in that town was
| able, in less than ten minutes alter the first
| shot was fired, to go from tho court house
| among the crowd in the street and put seventy
men in line, fully armed and organized, willis
| within the succeeding twelve hours over twelve
| hundred men assembled at the town, and
showing from the first every evidence of thor
ough organization. When the negro prison
ers were taken from the Jail in Union aud muI
dered, five hundred Ku KluX, perfectly organ
| lied and in admirable discipline, as shown by
their conduct, were engaged in the outrage
| They are known to have assembled upon no
iiee sent to the neighboring counties, and tt
| have come frota twenty-five to thirty hive
miles over winter roads, from every point OF thu
compass, between Saturday morning and sun
day night, meeting 10 Union county at the ap'
, pointed hour midnight on Sunday.
Recently, daring the vigorous pursuit OF tns
1 | order by Judge Logan in Rutherford and Shell
2 by counties, North Carolina, where iarg'
| number OF the Ku-Klux made full confession
| identifying as members great numbers or per
[ | sons SO many fled from the wrath Oh the law
!. | executed by fearful judge that in one place il
Shelby county it was difficult to get togetbe
0 enough men TO bury the body of man VIII
had died there. -
! The best-informed persons in the most dis
u turbed districts in this state estimate tina
y | from two thirds to three .fourths of all tn
| white men, between the ages of sixteen an
= fifty, are members of the Ku-klux order; an
l, that of the young unmarried men six eventh
q | are members. The members OF the order clal1
!, | even larger membership than this. Z
: course, everywhere large proportion OF thes
b are not active members, except upon very In
| portant occasions. This estimate, Learly coil
| Gliding with the assertions of members OF tn
order, their statements may be taken as fa
n data for estimating the number ELSEWHERE
e The order claims that it has membership
= over five hundred thousand in the who
d South. Making due allowance for exagger
. ton, there is little doubt that very ,moderal
: estimate would place the membership at p
. less than two hundred and fifty thousan
| When to this is added that Part of the remain
ing " hite population which is in very clos
| sympathy with the order, the estimate OF i
numbers by the order itself is not extrav
ef | CANT