St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1872-08-09
Judge Poland and the Ku Klux Com
mittee.

The fact that Judge Poland WAS Sc
the Joint select committee on the ont
RACES in the late iI>urrcctIonarN states.
shows in " hat estimation he l. held i'll
Congress- No subject came before the
present Congress. that was 81 difficult
and Troublesome Ia deal with. In large
portions of the south, organizations tN-
i-lcd among the old rebel element
whose operations were travelling abroad
10y night. i'll large bands. armed to the
teeth. and concealed in horrible dis
yuiSc>. imtiictimg every form of cruelty
and often death upon the timid and in
offensive colorcd people. and on white
uni"niSts. and carrying terror and dis
may rvcryw where. and driving many
from their homes.
The local authorities were utterly
poWcIlcS>. even where they were dis
posed to bring them To justice. Hard
" an attempt was made to enforce the
was made it Was uniformly umSucceS>-
tul. What could he done to rcmed,
this evil. Was the first question for
Congress to decide. In the calN part
of the session, Il bill was passed design
ed To- remedy the evil. In iramim.
this act and securing its passage, both
Judge Poland and Mr.. Willard took AN
important part. and perhaps t" them.
more than to ANY others. l. due the
credit of framing the law. which should
he both ettectual to its intended end.
and at the same time avoid the con>ti-
tutional objection against interfering
with the proper jurisdiction of the state.
over its own internal policies.
But with the law passed, there still
remains the difficulty of obtaining proof
of thc>, midnight nutragc~, covered 10y
secret oath> and horrible di>gui>,S.
Both Houses of Congress agreed to Il
Nc>tigatinn of the whole matter. to con
si>t of >eNtn Senators and fourteen
Representatives. 1t was felt /" ht Il
most Important committee. and requlr-
ed in its conduct and management great
tirmmtS> and perseverance. united with
great prudence and caution. Judge
Poland WAS selected H. the proper man
to place at thc head of the House part
of this committee. lmdrr him were
Schoiield of Penn. and indeed the
whole committee was composed of the
prominent men of both parties. This
committee spent nearly the whole Va
cation of last NrilI. III taking testimony
and making examinations sitting ScN
clll months They took many thou
sand pages of testimony, filling some
twelve or fourteen large volumes. The
Disclosures effected 10y the labor of this
committee. were. the basis of all the
proceedings and prosecutions of ku
kluN III the south. resulting i'll many
cun\ iction>. and for the present. ut
least. has put Il stop To the horrible
harharitir> prarticed upon the black
and white umioniSt> there. Our read
cr> will remember. that We published Il
speech of Judge P"land> which better
explains the motives. objects and on
gin of these atrocitieS. and indeed sets
forth the whole philosophy of the sub
icct. the mischief and its remedy. bet
ter than anything We have elSew here
seen.
The result of the labor of this com
mittcc fully .iustitie> the placing Judge
Poland at its head Every Republican
in the state should read it. that they
may know to what condition of things
the south will again he condemned. if
the Democratic party again come int"
power.