New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-04-11

little Roadway, Captain Boone disappeared
from South Carolina and appeared in Georgia
as cotton buyer from North Carolina, rebel
in sympathy, and violent in his talk against
the tyranny of the Federal Government He
joined the order then known as the White
Brotherhood, whose declared object was the
protection of the widows and orphans of de-
ceased rebel soldiers, and whose platform
included the banding together of all sympa-
thizers of the Lost Cause for the advance
ment of personal and political interest. The
society, which it was said had organized in
Washington, numbered at that time S34 ,00O
members, including all the rebel sympathiz-
ers in the South-merchants, lawyers, farm
ers, traders, mechanics. Hostility to me-
grOes showed itself in violence and outrage.
and even the leaders of the organization adj
mitted that in this way only could they
intimidate the blacks. Possessing himself
of all the signs, passwords, &C., Captain
Boone returned to South Carolina to put the
denials of such an organization in that State
to the test. He travelled extensively, was
recognized everywhere as a member of the
order, and saw all their plans and aims from
behind the scenes. The society adopted
the name ku-Klux to frighten the negroes,
and the reckless men of the order perpe-
trated Outrages that were never mentioned
in print. During the years '69-'70 ninety
three cold blOOded murders were perpetrated
in South Carolina alone. Hundreds of ne
grOes and many whites were brutally whipped
and otherwise abused. AT Lawrence court
house eighteen men were killed i'm one day,
and the struggle at Newberry was what
would have been wholesale slaughter of
Union men, had not Captain Boone managed
to have troops put in an OppOrtune appear
ance. In all his observations he collected
facts, names, dates. He thoroughly under
stood the animus of the order, and UNDER
stood their mode of action. Finally, when
his report to the State officers had caused
action, the signs and passwords of the order
were changed, and suspicion being directed
against himself, his usefulness ceased.
His statement made under oath before the
Investigating Committee at Washington and
substantiated by the records and by the cir
cumstances OF the many cases, and by the
testimony of others eminently hostile to him,
is strange chapter in the history of the
Southern States. The whole thing in nut
shell is that the outrages have not been ex-
aggerated, but on the contrary that not one
half have been reported, and that when re-
ported many of the acts lost something of
their brutality because of the absence of the
particulars that could not be made public in
newspaper.
The Government did not act in the Ku-
klux business a moment too soon. The Gov
eminent would have been criminal had it de-
layed longer. The Government acted with the
facts as learned by scores of men like Captain
Boone, and as coming in the stories of thou
sands of prosecuted citizens, before it's officers,
not trusting alone to the excited narrative of
refugees. And the time will come when all
good men, both North and South, will COM
mend this action of the Government as one
of its best deeds.-T6ieclo Blade.