Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-11-22
GEORGIA AND FLORIDA.
Facts About fhe Kuklux Oufrages and the
Remedy DemRnded-What the Organize.
lion has Done.

| ga, rIOIIua anu NOfIn anu SOuIn CdFOIl-
ma, of which Hon. Horace Maynard, of
your city, is Chairman, has completed its
tour through the States named, reaching
this city to-day, noon. The Committee
held two sessions, one in Georgia Mt At
| lanta of twenty days and one in Florida at
Jacksonville, of four days. During this
! time they examined one hundred and thir-
! ty-eight witnesses in Georgia and thirty
! four in Florida-one hundred and seventy
! two in all, It's labOrs have been arduous,
and, to the able Chairman of the Commit
| tee, laborious.
! have not heretofore deemed it expe-
! dent to refer to the character Of the testi-
mOny elected but as the Democratic press
of Georgia have, with a bitterness and
mendacity astonishing to every fair man,
traduced the members Of the Committee
and misrepresented their motives and the
results they have secured, | deem it but
| Just to notice some of these more aggra-
waited charges.
! In the first place, it has been alleged that
! the Committee was strictly PARTISAN, and
| that the people of the South had no OPP
pOrtunity to meet the falsehOOds testified
to by perjured wenches y and "debascd
scOundrelsn 1t is only necessary to say
i'll reply to this that two of the five men,
hers of the Committee were able, Jealous
Democrats, and that every request on their
part for Summoning witnesses in their be-
half was promptly granted by the major
ity, and that their cross examinations were
full and comprehensive.
The next charge relied upon to create
popular prejudice against the Committee
was, that the witnesses examined were
mostly "niggers" The best answer to
this is given in the fact that, when the
Committee reached Georgia, some seventy
or more witnesses, who had been III at
tendance upon the United States Court tes-
tifying before the Grand Jury, remained
after that Court adjourned and narrated
their tales of horror to the Committee, and
in the further fact that they are generally
the victims of these outrages. They
were Lot turned away by the Commit
tee, for their mutilated bodies were, in
themselves, the strongest testimony
TO the utter barbarity of this most
inhuman organization. Some of these wit
nesses testified to cases of such gross inhu-
mainly as to move to tears every member
of the Committee. 1t frequently happen
ed that the most indignant and severest
denunCiatiOn of such conduct came from
Senator Bayard, one of the Democratic
members of the Committee. Mr.. Voorhees,
left the Committee soon after it met on ac-
count of sickness. Extreme cases of whip
ping and ScOurging were numerous. WO-
compelled to strip and submit to inhuman
outragcs and beatings. The Committee
had before them one smart, bright colored
man who had been cdStrGtGd by q band of
disguised wretches. No wonder that when
such monstrOus evidence, truthful 6cyond
doubt, was adduced the Democratic press
of Georgia with scarcely an honorable eX-
ceptiOn. found it necessary to denounce
the Committee and impeach by general
IL,
lures who bore on their persons marks of
great violence were denounced as 'perjur-
ed wenches" by high toned (:') Democratic
sheets, because as was falsely alleged on
some immaterial facts, they did not agree.
But | do not propose here to notice the
policy of these journals, further than to
say, generally, that either directly or indi-
Tectly they excused these felOns who had
disgraced their State. Occasionally, even
in articles condemning the khan, they
would half break the force of their articles
by apologies,
The Committee found in some sections
of Georgia great lawlessness and cOndi-
ton Of affairs bordering on anarchy. Evil
dence was aduced showing in some cOun-
ties that jurors and witnesses were so in
Inundated that the officers Of the law, even
when willing, were unable to prosecute
guilty parties.
Witnesses declared to the Committee that
they feared to go back to their homes, be-
lieving their lives in danger and very
many testified that, for months, they had
slept away from their homes like beasts in
the woods and secure retreats. One wit
ness paid, as the price of testifying in re-
Spouse to his summons, twelve thousand
dollars; for, on the night of the day when
he offended the khan by telling of their
Outrages, they burned his mills and cotton.
OF course, there were plenty Of gentlemen
to swear that all was quiet and peaceable
But, in the face of the fact that murders
and scOurgings and burnings and lawless-
ness of every kiud Enthusiastically exist,
and, worse than all, when the offenders
are Unpublished, what does such negative
testimony amount to? 1t is the old story
of two men swearing they did not see the
whipping to one who produced the scars
and who felt the blows.
/ have no authority for saying what ac-
ton will follow the publication of thismas
of testimony. The facts are sufficient to
warrant extreme measures, and unless the
people of Georgia and Florida make up
their mind to set their own houses in Or
der, to make their local courts enforce
laws and protect the helpless, the General
Government most certainly will. 1t would
be a crime to suffer such oppression and
Outrages to continue. Every unoffending
citizen is entitled to the protection COM
moAly granted in civilized society and the
men who are now oppressed because OF
their adherence to the government or the
dominant political party, must be protect
ed by the strong arm of the government.
In Florida, pretty much the same facts
were proved. In one county, since the
war, one hundred and .ffty-three murders
have been committed, and to-day not a
white radical can live in the county,
and not colOred man openly express his
sentiments. Not guilty wretch has been
punished for any one of these crimes. The
best remedy for these evils is unquestion-
ably local legislation and the vigorous en-
forcement of the laws by State courts; but
where this is evidently 'cithheLd or po,cer-
less, some stronger remedy is demanded.
This will come, as l believe, unless the bet
ter policy suggested is speedily pursued.
In Florida the complete organization and
nneratiOn of the klan was eXpOsed The