The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-02-06

oath. bound circle and are amazed at lis au.
dacity. It Is admitte by all, however, that it
is D. secret society with oaths, grips, incanta.
tio1s and all sorts ef ghastly mysteries, and
that its scope and purposes are purely pollti-
cal, and in the interest Of that portion OF the
Radical party which Is In communion with the
present State administration. My informants,
among the members OF the order, nave gene.
rally accompanied their statements with such
plenItude OF wnks and mods and poSlngs 10
The ribs az to intimate that of course they did
not desire their Information to be puolisned,
and merely impaired it in spirit OF supreme
good.fellowship, like the serio-comical fellow
in Punch, who
"Smole ghasty smile
While many wink wunk he."
The outsiders, on the contrary, have been
40 prolific of romantic and exaggerated de-
scriptions of the doings Of the new ku,klux
salt both sorts of statements, and to evolve
from the mass of Information the following
facts. eyery one of which appears to be
thoroughly established, and eaaiiy sascep1loie
of proof.
cation, aIthough it was from the first secret
and political society, did not contemplate at
its Inception any purposes or operations out
side of o local Influence in the City Of Colum-
bia. Internal dIssenslons Of more or less Be-
rious nature had existed for long tlme ID Ine
local councils of the Loyal League or the
Union League OF America, which ts composed
in this CITY of four ward clubs and one main
body or council. These local difficulties arose'as
Was emInently natural, In the distribution OF
local pap and plunder. and culminated upon
the division of spoils incidental TO CoiumDlas
latest and greatest swlndles-the building OF
the new city hall and market various 9 se5 enoIGs rus
the ranks of the Loyal League, but without
avail and OF last 1t came to the open secession
of large delegation, who Immediately ap,
plled to the Estate CounciF' OF the Loyal
League for ''dispensation" to authorize the
bia. but thew were refused the s'dispeDsatfon"
under tie operation Of Section IL OF the con.
;stitution of the Loyal League. which says that
.ssdlspensations for the establishment OF couu-
ellis shall be granted In the same manner as
charters. But no person ehall De alloWeo
dispensation except upon the recommends
tiOn OF q subordinate council, or OF at least
two-thirds vote of the members present at the
meeting at which the application therefor
may be acted upon"
In this dilemma they resolved upon setting
up an organization Of their own, independent
Inc about ior a title, adopted the high-sound-
ing and characteristic designation OF the Inde- M
nendent Order of United Brethren. This
answered very well, and the brethren grew
apace, steadily increasing 10 power and inhu,
ence, but still confning themselves 70 local
enterprises until one MsStep moJnap pep,sPppn appn
who Is known to be prolific CT brilliant IDEAS,
and who has the further commendable trait OF
thorough fidelity to his friends. Now, !. ).
Mackey has been for months the 1rlend,
tutor, coach and confident of Governor scott,
and his Excellency was just then In desperate
>ertrernis. This was about the first OF last De-
cember. The sword OF Danocles was suspend.
ed over the head of Scott In the shape OF
Bowen's impending resolutions OF lmpeacn-
ment, Whittemores report OF frauds un-
paralelled, the Baltimore bond6olders
of swindled creditors and plundered citizens.
It occurred to Mackey that something must De
done, and he thought also ian 'tWere well
done, 1t were well 'twere done quickly" me
Impeachment resolutions might be killed, and
a great many other things accomplished 6y
the use Of money from the GuoernatoIal
purse, but some mechanism was needed TO
distribute the brlbes and to organize the cam
palm In various directions. Then he thought
of The united brotherhood. There was an as
socIstlon organized purely and av0wedly for
purposes of plunder, and here was plunder
needing only an organization. Tnere were
votes seeking brides, and here was orioe
looking for votes. A long and confidential
conversation between the Governor and his
faithful preceptor was followed by An invita-
tion to tne leading lights of the I. o. o. B. to
champagne and oysters at the Executive mau-
sion on certain Thursday night. The Thurs
day night came, and so did the hungry
bre,hren. The oysters were devilled, and
so were the sardines. The Governors
.champagne was drunk and the brotherhood
was ditto, and then and there the /. o. Q. B.
was quietly bagged by the Governors right
hand man. This Junior MacchiaVelli ex-
plained to the off-color brethren that their
local arrangement was all very well In its
way, but that by coales:ing with Scott they
could become the head centres Of an orSant'
.zation which could be made 10 ramify through
every county and village In the State, that In.
cidental to the exculpation of their chief
would be their own elevation to any local
offices that they wished, and that last, but not
least, they would be paid down In cash for
their labor and their votes any reasonable
price they might demand. The sipulatlons,
on the other side, were simple, and 10 the
effect that the brethren should organize, as
quickly as possible, one Klan In every county.
crossroads; should pack the Radical State
convention on the 10th Of February, and the
next Gubernatoral convention In the interest
of Scott, defeat Impeachment, and elect Mr..
Mackey to the judgeship In the Sixth Judicial
Circuit.
The bargain and sale was promptly COM
pleted upon these terms, and the time that
has since elapsed has been employed in per-
fectiDg the organization and in steady, effec-
tive work for the Grand High Old Cyclops,
Scott. The first step was the securing Of
more ambitious quarters than those that had
satisfied the local organization. These were
soon found In the second story Of the building
on the corner of Main and Bridge street,
owned BY the county auditor of Richland. who
Is also clerk to the attorney-general, solicitor
Of the House, &c. This floor was hired 1.-THE
rent being quietly charged to the contingent
fund of the House as trent of committee
rooms,") and gorgeously furnished upon the
same scale and In much the same style as
Denniss ninety thousand dollar upholstery in
the lower House. The carpet Is of tapestry
with pattern of convoluted rings, aud the
furniture is appropriately made Of black wal
nut. Whiskey and other seductive fluids are
furnished by the barrel, and the appointments
of the lodge room include one handsome par
lor organ, the gilt Of prominent State official
The next step was to clothe this patent Ku
Klux with q show of legal sanction, and fol
this purpose the following bill was intro dueed
In the lower House on the 10th Of December
lii bod frta