Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-04-25
The Presidents Message OH the
Ku-KIux.

W A5hlNO1ON, ApIIl H.
The President transmitted the follow
ing message to the House to-day:
To the House of Representatives -
In answer to the resolution of the
House of Representative of January
25th, have the honor to submit the fol-
lowing, accompanied by the report of
the Attorney General to whom the reso-
luton was referred
Representations having been made to
me that in certain portions of South
Carolina a condition of lawlessness and
terror existed, / instructed the Attorney
General, Alderman, to- visit the State,
and after a personal examination, to re-
port to me the facts in relation to the
subject. On the 10th of October last,
he addressed a communication from
South Carolina, in which he stated that
in the counties of Spartanburg, York,
Chester, Union, Lawrence, Newbury,
Fifield, Lancaster and Chesterfield, there
were combinations for the purpose of
preventing the free political action of
stitution and Government of the United
States and of depriying the emancipated
class of the equal protection of the laws
These combinations embrace at least
two-thirds of the active white men of
those. counties, and have the sympathy
and countenance of the majority of the
other third. They are connected with
similar combinations in other counties
and States, and are no doubt part of a
grand system of criminal associations
pervading most of the Southern States.
The members are bound to obey, and
obedience and secrecy is secured by oath,
which they are taught to regard as of
higher obligation than lawful oaths
taken before civil magistrates. They
are organized and armed. They effect
their objects by personal violence, often
extending to murder. They terrify
witnesses. They control juries in the
State courts and sometimes the courts of
the United States. Systematic spying
is one of the means by which the prose
cution of the members is defeated.
From information given by officers of
the State and of the United States, and
by creditable private citizens, | am jus
titled in affirming that the instances of
criminal violence perpetrated by these
combinations within the twelve months,
in the above named counties, could be
reckoned by the thousand.
| received information of a similar i'm
port from various sources, among which
were the joint committee of Congress
upon Southern Outrages, the officers of
the State, the military officers of the
United States in South Carolina. the
United States Attorney and Marshal and
other officers of the government, repent
ant and abjuring members of those I'M
lawful organizations, persons specially
employed by the department of justice
to detect crimes against the United
States and from other creditable sources.
All of the information, except that de-
rived from the Attorney General, came
to me orally, and was to the effect that
bhlS Sdid tpdlltlNo HtlC ullhEI illt SWAY
of powerful combinations perpetually
known as the Ku Klux Khan, the OBJ
jects of which are by force and terror
to prevent all political action not in
accord with the views of members. to
deprive colored citizens of the right TO
bear arms and of the right of free bal
lot, to suppress the schools in which col
ored children were taught, and to reduce
the colored people to condition closely
allied to that of slavery. That these
combinations were organized and aroused |
and had rendered the local law ineffec- /
tual to protect the classes whom they
desired to Cypress; that they had perpe-
trated many murders and hundreds of |
crimes of minor degree, all of which |
were unpublished, and that witnesses
could not safely testify in the courts
there unless the active members were l
placed under restraint.
(Signed9 L. S. GRANT.
Executive Mansion. April 10. 1872.