The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-08-01

which eachspne way killed, there seems
something akin to magic in thsnrare
powers ybu possess. Your wonderful
seif.depial- too. should not pass un-
praised. Though Major Merrill. the
great Ku Klux prosecutor, and who
knows, probably. moro about the voat-
RACES" than any other person, was
plosetea With you in your Office the very
eyening-before this list was pEblished,
and presumably atythe very time, you
Sefe Pfeparihg It, yet you Retained
from calling upon him. and trusted en-
tirelyyto throwing it together hastily
from memory" Truly, you are won
derful mani
But to our main subject. There are
the names OF two persons, Mr.. Union. in
your list, which we do deny to have been
murdered by Ku Klux. They are Mr..
and Mrs. Melton, of Chesterfield. Theirs,
II the accounts we have heard of it be
true. and we have no reason to doubt it,
was most daatardly and brutal murder;
but what authority have you for saying
that Ku Klux committed the deed, or
that there ever was Ku Klux Klan in
Chesterfield County,
We have heard of klans. or bodies of
men, armed and in DISCUSSES. in the
Counties of York, Chester, Fairfield,
Union and Spartanburg. We have ne7er
heard of any in the other twenty.six or
seven Counties of the State, and GER
tainly not in Chesterfield County. Mr..
Melton was. we have heard, Republi-
can, and We are inclined to believe was
assaulted and murdered on account of
his political opinions. Such being the
case, his murderers are proper subjects
Of punishment under the Enforcement
Acts OF Congress, which is more than
can be said of many others.
This article is already drawn out
longer than we like. but before we close,
MIR. Union, We desire to say few words
in relation to what you term our sympa-
thy with, and defence OF, Ku Klux out
RACES. We justify none of the murders
which have been committed. but we ex.
ouse or apologize for, if You like that
term better. some of the homioides
which have been committed, and which
you term IN Klux outrages. Such, for
instance. as the execution of the MUIR
derers of Mat. Stevens, the hanging of
Jim Williams. and the killing of Mac
Bobo. perhaps, and one or two others.
It is q miserable state of affairs, when
the people have to take the law in their
own hands, and such a course should
not be resorted to. except under the most
dire necessity. Such necessity, we be-
lieve, existed in the cases we have men
toned.
The Ku klux, then, in our Judgment,
did some things which were necessary to
be done, and are, therefore, excusable as
to them, They afterwards committed
number Of inhnman atrocities for which
there is noekcuse. and they deserve the
full punishment OF the law therefor.
The original purpose of the organization
called Kd' Kiux was :manifestly to serve
the apds of, vigilance committee, in
order to protect life and property. So
long asit followed that line, and there
was q necessity for it, the laws not being
duly administered BY the proper courts
OF justice, it was defensible; when it fell
from that high estate and became the in
strament merely Of private and political
revenge and malice, itbeoame indefensi-
BILE. ,gnd its aots may, with truth, be
ealled outrages.
10 Butwe do not mean to allow you, Mr.
Onion. or your. party in this State. wan
tonly to exaggerate the twelve or four
teen murders which were committed in
the state.- 'fohl though they be. into
s'Mousands," and thus attempt to justify
the tyrapnioal aots OF Gen. Grant. All
your testimony before the courts show
only fourteen murders. No effort was
made to bring the offenders to justice in
the State courts, nor even by the civil
authorities in the United States Courts.