The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-01-05
unlooked.for Testimony.

The question as TO the truth con-
cerning the alleged Ku Klux outrages
in South Carolina has been one of
uncertainty among many fair minded
persons in the North. There have
been so many exaggerated accounts
of outrages in the South, put in cir
culation for political or sensational
purposes, that it is not surprising
there should be some hesitancy in
crediting the stories of unmitigated
fendishness that have come up with
in few months from South Carroll
ma. The facts that have come to
light during the trials within the
past two or three weeks have opened
the eyes of some, but there are
others who cannot bring themselves /,
to believe, still more who are deter
mined not to believe, that an organ
lzations so malignant in its purpose
and so relentless in the execution of
that purpose, can exist in the coun-
try.
But a witness to the truth has
been found where least expected.
A Democratic lawyer of national re-
putation, who willingly undertook
the task of defending the accused
Ku Klux before the courts, has been
compelled by the evidence to openly
declare in court his belief in the ex-
Istence Of the organization and in the
fact of their. crimes, and add his de-
nunciation of them and their acts.
With that expression Of his disgust
and dctestation he left the Ku Klux
to their fate and returned home.
The cases on trial were those of
DR.. Whiteside, a physician and lead
ing man Of his neighberhood, and
Captain Mitchell. an ex Confederate
officer, both of them men of ednca-
tion and social position, whose inau-
ence had been eXerted in organizing
and directing the murderous bands
Of Ku Klux.
One Of the counsel of the accused
was Mr.. Reverdy johnson, and in
seeking to shield his clients from
punishment, Mr.. johnson was com
PEELED to admit the fact Of the alleged
outrageH, but assumed that his eli
ents were not connected with them.
In the opening Of his argument he
expressed his confidence in the fair
ness Of the jury, part of whom were
colored, and in the course of his ap-
peal made this unexpected confes-
sion Of his conviction that the
stories of wrong and outrage had not
been exaggerated:
81 have listened with unmixed
horror to some of the testimony
which has been brought before you.
The outrages proved are shocking to
humanity; they admit of neither eX-
cuse nor justification; they violate
every obligation which law and ma
ture impose upon men; they show
that the parties engaged were brutes
insensible to the obligations of hu-
manity and religion. The day will
come, however, if it has not already
arrived, when they will deeply la
ment it. Even ifjustice shall not
overtake them, there is one tribunal
from which there is no escape. Il
is their own judgement-that tribu-
nal which sits in the breast of every
living man-that small, still, voice,
that thrills through the heart-the
soul Of the mind, as it speaks, gives
happiness or torture-the voice of
conscience, the voice of God. If it
has not already spoken to them in
tones which have startled them to
the enormity of their conduct,
trust, in the mercy of Heaven, that
that voice will speak before they
shall be called above to account for
the transactions of this world. That
it will speak so as to make them
penitent, and that trusting in the dis
pensations of Heaven, whose justice
is dispensed with mercy, when they
shall be brought before the bar of
their great tribunal, there will be
found in the fact of their penitence,
or in their previous lives, some
grounds upon which God may say
pardon"
On the conclusion of the trial, and
the conviction Of his clients, Mr..
johnson shook the dust of South
Carolina from his feet and went
home, sadder and wiser man.