The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-01-04
Correspondence CT Cincinnati. Gazette
TIE KU-KLUI TRIALS
CoLUMBIA. S.CDe.

COLUMBIA, s. c. Dec, Is.
This morning the District Attorney
called the case Of the United State vs.
Thomas b. Whitesides and John W.
Mitchell. John w. Mitchell Is 8 high
ly respectable citizen of York County
and Whitesides is = physician il good
standing. They both plead mot gull
[ ty."
Ir. Stanbery and Mr.. Johnson
have apparently retired from the tri-
ais in these cases. Neither was there
this morning, and local counsel took
charge of the defense.
The first testimony produced was
Of general character almost identical
with the first part Of the testimony
in the Robert Hayes Mitchell case.
The general conspiracy, its nature,
purposes, modes Of carrying into exc
cutIon its designs, thus fully estab-
lished, the prosecution offered some
very direct and very strong evidence
against the defendants, which identi-
t1ed them with raids in which outra-
/ ges were committed upon "Radieals, Z"
and here all Republicans are known
as Radicals because they were such.
Mr.. Foster, a member OF the klan of
which Mitchell was chief, connected
him with the order in the most direct
manner, and under Judge Bonds
charge to the jury, yesterday, that
/ alone is enough to convict.
The Court said, in that case, that if
one prisoner was proved to be a men,
Der Of general conspiracy, and any
/ particular numerical division Of that
conspiracy engaged in acts of violence,
in furtheranee Of the objects Of the
conspiracy, the prisoner was liable for
/ the acts with the rest.
DR.. Whitesides was identified very
clearly as a member of the order, but
the testimony was rather weak as to
his actual participation in the raids.
Among the acts prove d to have
been committed by members of this
general conspiracy, in furtheranee of
its objects, without reference to the
prisoners, except so far as they are IL
able for the acts Of their cO-eOnspira-
tors, was q rape committed upon a
negro woman by three disguised Ku-
KluX. She testified that after raw
ishing her they left her lying insen-
sible in the road. After that she and
her husband slept in the woods many
nights to avoid the Ku-Klux, and du-
ring one of these nights her house
was burned. All this, together with
the whipping of her husband, as, du-
ring the whipping, was stated by the
Ku-Klux, was to make him a "goOd
Democrat"
Another case was proved by q men,
Der of the klan, Bowen, who was a
participant with them in the tragedy.
For some cause, whether for prOsti-
tuition, ON the return from raid, or
other purpose, did not appear, but by
the mem bers of the moving cOnspira-
ey a white woman was compelled to
lie naked in the road while one of
these fiends poured a mixture of tar
gave her notice to leave the neigh
bOrhOOd in three days.
The same witness told of the mur-
der of negro at which he was pres
ent. The circumstances were these :
The witness and Others of the K. X.
x. visited the house of Tom Round /
tree, a cOlOred man, and kind of Re
publican oracle, and fired through the |
windows and cracks into the house. |
The negro took advantage of toe first
opportunity, and fired back. His |
shot took effect in the wrist of one Of |
the Ku-KluX. The negro then jump !
ed from the house to the ground and |
started to run, but was brought to |
earth by vOlley and while lying |
there, still struggling, the brother of |
the wounded man cut his throat with |
a bowie knife from ear to ear.
One of the witnesses, a negro, de- |
in a manner that would have
shamed any but an actor of the high |
est ability, the coming of the Ku-Klux !
to his house at midnight their man
ner, their disguised voices, their threat
nings to hang him, his own terror,
and his wife's agony and finally, the
brutal whipping he received, which
disabled him for weeks. He initiated
their gestures and his own; their
manner OF talking, and his own
trembling words; and when describ- |
ing the blow that felled him to the |
ground, he threw himself full length |
upon the floor, suddenly and heavily, |
near the Judges feet.
Il was noticeable that but few wit |
nesses were crOss-eXamined, and even |
when crOss-examined the examina- |
tiOn was very superficial and forced. |
The counsel looked, and undoubtedly |
were, discouraged to the last degree. |
II they ever before knew, as some of
them very likely did, the extent and |
beastliness Of the conspiracy they /
were defending, they had relied upon 4
its almost perfect organization, and |
trusted that its secrets were entOmb-
ed in the bOsOms of thOse who guard
ed them under the penalty of death
for divulging. They tind themselves de-
ceived. The darkest deeds are paraded
forth to the minutest detail; the mea
who thought their connection asecret,
and secure, and their arrest only a
Yankee scare" find their names,
day after day mentioned in connec-
ton with the most terrible atrocities.
The trials proceed as rapidly as cir
will permit, and the pros
ecutiOn continue their testimony In
the case tom OrrOW