The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-12-07

tect its loyal citizens in the enjoyment Of aife,
1 liberty and the pursuit of happiness" ~ y
The negro was slave by virtue of the Con-
stitution Of the United States By the Gov
ernment of the United States he was emancipa;-
tedjand made alfree, American citizen. The
Government of the United States is, therefore,
morally bound to protect him in the full exer-
else of his vested rights, and, if need be, to ed
ucate him to exercise those rights understand
lngly, for he was kept in ignorance pursuant to
its laws. If the Government of the United
Statas fails, when necessary, to discharge this
duty, then emancipation was political crime,
and the negro is left to become the obedienr
tool or wretched victim of the disloyal enemies
of the Government, and to suffer outrage be-
cause he is, its. friend. Moreover, viewed the
use Of the military for the execution. Of the
4 laws. with extreme repugnance, and required
that the civil authorities should first exhaust
their powers through the posse consitatus. ,,
J The officers did not act, being either paralyzed
by fear or in sympathy with the criminals. In
common with many Others, the loyal men
al government, and to expect that the >Execu-
tive should discharge the duties of all the De-
partments of the State. y ~ = - - -:
At this juncturei determined To make afnal
effort to restore public order without military
force, and I therefore invited prominent citizens
of the disafected section to conference with
me at the capital. They were all recognized
leaders Of the opposition, and of acknowledged
influence in their respective Counties. I had
hoped much from their cooperation in the in
terest of law and order which they professed
h to advocate; knowing; as did, that themasses
4 Of the. whites in this State would, from the
4 mere force of former discipline, heed their ad-
monitions. The conference was held. ALI of
these gentlemen deprecated acts of violence,
but denied the existence of the Ku Klux or
ganization in South Carolina, while some Of
them indirecly sought to extenuate acts of. viQ-
Hence that they could not well deny, by refer.
ring them to what they were falsely pleased to
term "negro rule" - - : ,
They alleged numerous acts of incendiarism
by negroes, which allegations; derived from the
/ opposition press, and often repeated, have been
proved base fabrications, in the main, designed
to Offset or paljate the burning of school houses
erected for the instruction Of c0lered- children.
These gentlemen, however, promised me their
cooperation to the end in view, and / believed
them. am not advised that any effort was
made to fulfil those promises. Certainly they
effected nothing. Having exhausted all the
civil power under my control to suppress this
instruction against the constituted authori-
ties, ! made application, in accordance with the
Constitution of the United States, to the Ma
4 tional Government to protect the State against
4 domestic violence."o
/ The magnitude of this organized system of
crime was made apparent to Congress, the eyi,
dence in the possession of the Government
showing that the Ku Klux bands, in South
Carolina, were. Hbut parts of stupendous
dress of a-mere local grievance. Congress, aby
appropriate legislation" having granted the
necessary powers, His Excellepcy the Presi-
dsnt;of the United Statesj on; ths. l7sK! day i0f
October, 1871, suspended the writ Of Aa6eos
corpus in the Counties of Spartanburg, York,
Marion, Chester Laurens, Newberry, Fairfield,
Lancaster and Chesterfield -
The County of Marion was subsequently ex-
ceptea from this list, and the County of Union
very properly subtituted CHARACTERIZATION hav-
ing been originally embraced, instead of Union,
in the first proclamation of the President,
i through clerical error.
+ An adequate force of United States troops is
now in the State, and, under the direction of
an energetic and discreet commanding officer,
they are actively engaged in arresting the .Kn
KIux criminals wherever legal testimony OF
guilt is furnished. spr .sasi= ~ =. =
Many persons of the suspected class have
fed from the upper Counties, while at the same
time protesting their. innocence of crime
Flight. from arrest by officers of the lay -is not
4 tgenerally regarded as furnishing very strong
legal presumption of innocence. 1t would be
far better, however, for the State, that all of
this class should abandon it forever, than that
even one industrious laborer should be MUIR
dered or driven away from the pursuits of USE
full industry. The former are usually drones in
the human hive, while upon the products of
the toiling mass repose the whole wealth and
prosperity of the State. - -
am officially informed that thus far about
| six hundred arrests, have been made il this
State, under the Act of Congress The persons
arrested, and now, for the most part, held for
4 trial. represent almost every class in society;
from the humble laborer and small farmer, to
the wealthy planter, practicing physician, law
yer, and minister of the Gospel.
I / have endeavored to be historically exact in
recording what must pass into history as re-
proach to American civilization, and is now
1 known of all men as the shame Of the State.
1t presents the most extraordinary spectacle of
q complete relapse from civilization into bar
barism known in the annals of mankind sur
passing, in its atrocity, the 'Thugism" of India,
for the Thug spares woman and the aged, but
4 the Ku Klu1 exempts none from his vengeance,
Il in his effort to strangle Republicanism. If any
impartial man, jealous Of the honorof his kind,
hesitates to believe such things possible in a
civilized community, let him visit the Jail in
this city. He will there find scores of the YER
liable actors in these deeds of blood, many of
whom have voluntarily confessed their crimes
as Ku Klux, these last being poor, deluded
men, to whom trust the utmost clemency of
of the national Executive will be extended, for
they are but the blinded victims of their culti-
vated leaders. ~
i Some of them but recently showed, or offered
to show. their SCARED backs to distinguished