The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-01-08
An Unjust Judge.

The address OF Judge Bond to the confes,
sing Ku-Klux prisoners, printed elsewhere,
is both unjust and unbecoming. 1t is Gus
tomary for a Judge to show to prisoner the
gravity OF the crime for which he has been
convicted; but, even in these days ofpol!ical
judgeships, it is monstrous wrong when a
high judicial officer sullies the ermine and
dishonors himself by wantonly maligning a
people whom his foreiathers, at least, re-
spected and understood.
We say. once and for all, that the crimes
revealed in the course OF the Ku-Klux trials
are horrible and revolting in the extreme,
and cannot find any classification or excuse in
the wrong-dolng ef the State Government
and it's officials. Judge Bond tells US that
.Kluxism, or Lynch Law, Is, In some cases,
justifiable. He says that, sin any other part OF
sthe United States" the citizen upon whom
.tsuch outrages were perpetrated, stung to
s.madness by the insult to his manhood,
.would be swift to follow the wrong-doer
.eo the end OF the world to make him atone
! "ior it." In other words, circumstances may
arise which warrant the individual in taking
the law into his own hands. This is the decla-
ration OF Judge Bond; and the secret organl-
cation formed in the upper part Of the State
contemplated nothing more than his words
would cover. II We understand its plan
Alright, it proposed to punish those guilty
persons whom the courts, for political rea-
sons, declined to touch. It did not sanction,
or encourage the disgusting deeds which have
been described in the United States Court
These deeds are regarded witt adherence
and loathipg by every intelligent citizen OF
the State The culprits are, as Juige'Bond
admits, in stats Of. deplorable ignorance,
and the responsibility for this ignorance
he endearors to iasten upon the Democracy
of South Carolina. While he recognizes the
callousness and depravity OF the prisoners.
who speak OF ''a brutal and unprovoked
"murder, done by themselves, with as little
T" apparent adherence as they would relate
''the incidents Of picnic, he lends will
ing ear to their excuse that they were forced
into the Klans by the men Of property, "who
"held them in abject slavery" But the truth
is mightier than Judge Bonds partisan rhe-
toric. All the sleuth hounds OF the Govern.
ment, all their soldiery, aIl their spies and
iniormers, all their convenient witnesses,
have not succeeded in connecting bali
dozen respectable citizens with the whip.
pings and ravishings in which his judicial
soul delights Scores, nay! hundreds, OF
citizens, of high and low degree, were ar
rested, but not more than two or three men,
Of even moderate prominence, have, to our
knowledge, been tried and convicted. The
Court was anxious to seize the leading men
of the State1whom the Radical organs de.
cl6red to be at the head Of the Ku-Klux
Klau. They have not been found. And the
reaso1fis, that none ot6er than the mostig-
norant and besotted OF the Yhites Of the
mountain districts had any part in the acts
which Judge Bond describes. The respecta-
bic citizens of the Stale are to blame for
forming secret political organization, un-
der the cloak Of which ignorant men have
committed crimes which bring q blush to
every honest cheek. But the founders OF
the organization, whoever they were, are
not guilty Of these crimes, and detest them
more earnestly than partisan Judge can
do. The outrages we're confined to counties
where the class Of ignorant whites was nu-
merically strong. In the low country not one
act of Ku.K Kluxism has been committed. But
in the border.distrcts the men OF " deplora.
"ble ignorance could not be restrained,
even if their Infamous behavior was general
" known. The attempt was made and it
failed.
From Judge Bond we expected nothing
but rancor and abuse, and We are not dis
appointed in his acts or in his words. He
is playing for high stakes, and, if there is
any gratitude in. Presidents, these ku-Klux
trials will bring him rich and speedy re-
ward. Others OF his race, less worldly wise,
have been content in the possession of the
esteem and respect Of their countrymen. To
this old-iashioned reward OF pure and
honorable life, Judge Bond, we fear, would
vainly aspire.
The Modern Novel.
fhoS nlA~