Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-12-14
MANY persons Of the suspected class

Many persons Of the suspected clas
have fed from the upper counties
while at the same time protestin.
their innocence Of crime. Flight from
arrest by officers of the law is no,
generally regarded as furnishing a
very strong legal presumption of in.
nocence. It would be far better. how
ever, for the State, that all Of, this
class thouldt abandon it forever, than
that even one industrious laborel
should be murdered or driven away
from the pursuits Of useful 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.
81 I am officially informed that thus
far about six hundred arrests hayr
been made in this State, under the
act Of Congress. The persons arrest:
ed, and now, for the most part, held
for trial, represent almost every class,
in in society, from the humble hborer
and small farmer to the wealthy plan
ter and practisciIn1g physician "a and ].
lawyer -, =" .
Thave tendeayored to be historically
exact ii recording what must passsih-
to history as "a reproach to American
civilization, and IS now known of all
men as the shame of the StateiEwr il
presents the most extraordinary spec
tacle Of acomplete collapse from ely.
ilization into barbarisfn known in The
annals of nankind; sirpsssinglin its
atrocity the 'MTldgisln" y Of India,
for the Thug spares women and the
aged, but the Ka-Klpx iexempts none
from his vengeance, in his effort, to
strangle Repnblicanisn. Ifoany' i'm.
partial ma !, jealousof the honor OF
his kind, hesieates to believe such
things possible q civilized comnp-
nifty, let him visit-the jail IN this city.
He will there find scores Of the iyeri-
table actors in these deeds Of blood,
many of whom have voluntarily con-
fessed their crimes as Ku-Klux, these
last being poor, deluded men,, to,
whom | trust the utmost clemency Of
the National . Executive will beck
tended, for they ere but the blinded
victims of their cultivated leaders!
11Some of them, But recently, showed
or offered to show, their SCARED backs
to a distinguished United States sem
ator from Rhode Island, (Mr. Spragnel
they having been lashed by order Of
officers Of their own klan, becaIse,,
when ordered to shoot men marked,
murder, they had, out OF natural
pity, only vhpped"i the intended
victims. gl.E ,:+stJ..Gl .-.':f]s,.
l. Those who, y an air ofoindigna
.tion, and wit well-afected concern
oraconstitu' nal:liberty'ands State
isovereigntJ,' demand who has caused
the military Intervention of the Uni-
ted States ID the atfairs:o the.State.
may be Justly referred to the 7Ku-;
Klux2 ? aud their organizers and aiderk;
and abettorsG for their answer. 9t.i
:. In the foregoing remarks, l:hayt-
Reluctantly used political designations,
contrary to what 4 deem a proper
custom in message Of the Chiei
Magistrate of the State who, q 2inFhis
offiyisIcapacity, should;know no par!
sts found this un2vofa an
Itreas&g Of these gteatsicrines, that
sprung solely from political causes.
Nor can 1 I-regard 'n.en. loyal to the
COVE. nment who set its laws at dehf
ance, and use every means in theil
power to destroy its influence.