The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-04-06
and this an act Of deliberate muir.

| complished, and this an act Of deliberate NOR.
der, there was no return TO society. SO the
swamp, which was their refuge, became their
home.
There is excitement and apparently immu-
nifty enough in the life OF an outlaw, especially
| ia country as interesting and impenetrable
as the North Carolina swamp regions to make
adventurous men welcome it. When society
has no power to guarantee protection to us
people it is almost impossible to exact ODE
dience to the laws. These tramps see
that in the South there is really
no assured law. They know that all
over the South men who served in the war
with courage, and who have the blue blood of
the old ruling race in their veins, have formed
Ku Kux clans for purposes of political ter
rorism. These are suspicious, superstitious
men, and they ask naturally why should the
public opinion which encourages and gene
rates the Ku Klux clans make war upon
them The clans kill and plumber at
midnight, under masks and garbs Why
should not they kill their enemies in broad
day and rob bank when they want money!
The spirit inspiring the Ku Kux rests with
them. In the beginning they had wrongs-the
result of their vengeance was outlawry.
Society has nothing for them but the gallows
and yet society does not rebuke group of
schoolhouse, or for shooting carpet
bag Congressman sitting on his hearth. There
may be no reason, law or logic in this. Be-
cause men kill their neighbors under a Ku
Klux mask, Lowery is not justified in killing
men by process Of open and deliberate assas-
sination. But this maxim belongs to civiliza-
ton. We can understand it in New York
but there is no such civilization in North
Carolina. In the North the existence OF
Lowery gang in any neighborhood-say
in Long Island or in the Adiron-
dacks or down among the Jersey pines, or
lowed by a general uprising Of the people,
who would pursue them as they would pursue
tiger or pack OF wolves. But no such
thing is seen in Robson county The people
tolerate and rather admire their Lowery gang,
| and would, no doubt, protect them as far as
pOSSlDie III tu0 eVtut VI q uiltCuTy puISuits
| This is what we mean when we say that the
existence of a gang like these ''Swamp
Angels" shows deeper cause of discomfort
than would appear upon the surface. We
| fear we shall continue to have these phe-
nomena Of outlawry until the South is thor
oughly purified and RECONSTRUCTED: With psci=
| fcation and reconstruction mus. come instruc-
ton. We must smite the Lowery gang and
the Ku Klux clan with the strong arm of the
law. We must remove from the South by
general amnesty and wise legislation those
irritating causes which underlie and, in many
respects, justify the universal discomfort ex-
listing among its people. Then we must send
the schoolmaster and the missionary. A good,
painstaking missionary (Archbishop McClos-
key or Bishop Simpson could name one In an
hour) would do more good in Robson county
than regiment of soldiers. Let there be
law, then justice, then mercy, and above
all, light. Let us deal with the South upon
these principles, and we shall have no more
| romantic scandals like what we print this
morning in North Carolina or in any other
| Southern State.