The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-08-14
- 1ssorAnsnds Twenty-Sour to Hxeeutivs Her.
W-H1s Visit to the Albany Penitentiary-
what He Saw and Said There General Re
pSatsnos ofthe Prisoners Several Hard
cxsss- Tho Extent Of the Ku Klux
According to Colonel Whitley.


Sskev Tor On the subject
wen, Colonel said the reporter, vt should like
y Rnow,she Substance OF your report to the Attor-
aey Generate ,-r, e,.,- ASA, r..r f.r.-t4 sl
v'You must understand,n answered the Colonel, |
At- IN eog.sequence Of the report Of Mr.. Gerrit
- the President thought At to institute an OF
ai exaNS nation into the degree OF culpability OF
me ku KRy prisoners confined In the Albany Peni j
'ehtnry. The Attorney General cOnfded this mis-
aon 70 ne fastened to comply with his order. i
vent 10 Al bany on the 18th inst found Mr.. Lewis
.. f1lishu ~ In charge, the OF Amos Pilisbur y
Vno a. present is in Europe. told Mr.. Pil,sN Try
pusu Tess. and 1t was agreed that each prisf
hould 20 called out separately and examr ed as to
is par ucpaton In the acts Of outrage. INHas care
III taa my position should not be knowrtt to any OF
aeA as that would necessarily defeat tb object Of
ne visit. ] must premise by saying that 1t
al agreed that Mr. Pilsbury should be present
M Ing the conversation with each one Of the
~ soners. I did this for purpose a., Mr. Pllsbury
y astrong democrat, and wished htm to be able TO
stify that no prejudice party feeling Influenced
70 In the course OF my conversation with any Of
he Ku Klux prisoners. They we've then called out
one by one. found them frank and communica-
tive an "a quite disposed to fairygive me all the In
lorna hon OF which was IN search They didn't
seem 10 care to conceal their own participation In
the d. sings or the Ku Klux Society," but, on the con-
ACKNOWLEDGMENT III oVeSy case Ina' uey hau
pee lConnected with the order, though they said
:eD ssns that they did So The eA prisoners srs
20 sr, and generally have large families They be.
% Ag to what as called the white trash' Of the
q alag which surprised me was that they had en-
I cred the order Of the Ku Klux Khan
I: Fley pleaded that at the time they became mem.
Of ~ they were really quite ignorant ncat1
Ing they had Been ncssS q
3heis acts OF violence by the leaders, who
sOmpee to !S Or BEING eFn made
the Victims Of the Khan, and simply belonged
4 to save themselves. SIN others had
Vas mutual run protective Oel Society. A' When
they once BELONGED to it they found II was . So
don Of tae biacks' and the driving from the south
whites who SpSssd To- the Ksn pot
Who'll vas: me prisoners stated that the opera
many men who occupied high positions and in
whom they had always had entire confidence were
guilty esa 'TSs WS Ss
reason why many had Joined the society, and, very
Rsp Ss IN and made give t sne
conntenance to many acts which they really did
T made It point" continued Colonel Whitley,
s 20 ask every one OF the prisoners what they
thew al 1%S
and give this verbatim,
TO PUT DOWN MEANNESS IN THE COUNTRY
No prisoner knew that another had been called.
asked Il, them an what oath they took when they
The a an ras S ss a S s Gs
prevent the negroes from voting This great
deception 1t was that mised 80 many Of them, and
they now express their hearty adherence Of
carrying out Its edicts q speak Of certain
general general want ''' Of Intelligence and poverty
There are sixty-four Ku Klux prisoners at present
neOua, stated In to-day HERALD, to say that
] had recommended eighteen for Executive Gle,
twenfy-two and subsequently two more"
"WOuld you give me the names OF those you re-
commended to mercy ~ asked the reporter.
n hardly like to do that" said the Colonel, "for
two reasons. In the first place do not wish to do
upon them and, in the second place, premature
Publicaton would raise the hopes OF the friends or
for n
Ing, which Il Is unnecessary at present to create
M0weyer can N mention Ha some There , are Col
and Andrew Owen. These three are old men, and
think that in the main they never actively parti
present at any meetings or raids were there almost
perforce. also recommended Hezekiah Porter,
The others whom recommended are OF the class
have spoken to you about-ignorant men, who
assay THE " CASE i OF SAMUEL rS g. BROWN ROW. w.
Of York, York county, whom Gerrit Smith recon-
man has son who is chief Of the ' order, aud
,ephew who Is grand chief, chief-that is;, com.
$ the ku k SESn on a~ Of ,Ses
= ids and had been Justice Of the Peace for some
e. US in his district could find no palliation in
sSo ther case-that Of Randolph A. shotwell, who
vas schief Of the order in Rutherford, N. CT did
,of commend. This man told me that he still
mink. 'Ku Klnx are Unsuitable In their actions and
phon 3 them In every way. He does not show
nv ~ utrtion for having been connected with
hSm, n ut, on the contrary, is proud Of the fact.
Je war Sod and defiant and should deem 1t In
to relelSe either him a great manV
aSre Of quail intelligence and determination"
REpoRTA R-Ihese are the main points OF your re-
~ roio M, VHITLEy-Yes, and In some parts Of
vhst have stated the exact language Of the re-
ort Won ha We, indeed all except the names OF the
prisoners re- commended. closed my report with
warm eulogl iE STATE OF THE PRISON
vhere these m, n are confined. never saw prison
"nSar ntter AZ ciplne. IL has been stated that the
nrisoners were mder bad Influences. This Is not
frne Tor thourh they are In The same prison with
All classes OF erin dnas stl as no prisoner Is ever
CeIm Saeno 70 Ss sps injurious "''
RspoRTER-what do you think Of the amount Of
tne ssin men that On ~, whole
they have got on ore tty lightly. found that In
the main the psoncr cir als Tse nm ,ney
snv ~ them is Condemn I'd to is ten years, and as
these were certainly acc o toa NJ acts o. murdeI
sse dozen mn men en- there said it thing
she Khan was al tRs Ku Kux in the
Albany Penltentiary An, 49,,
80 ~ .srdar acaordi,y ia General Forest, the
S.ns S,uc,nsa nnr,lere6 5Lo 700 men, and In Ten
nessee alone there were ncted or nartc
patton in outrages upon persons acbns pyo Una,
In Sonth Carolina the number re- acnes over seven
hundred, and that Florida AabA ma tennessee Ten
louisiana Texas and other Statess, nsa ,nd
when, besides all this, not less n an 'w whitss
three thousand persons, black a." Mersd ssnc.,
have been scourged banised and mul he
the close OF the febelon you certainly camn0e Ue
surprised that there are slxtyour prsoi sas COM s
tract with this prison, which is the reason tney are