The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-01-04
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LErrEn 81 rIsoM 3 E.T. wiNkLEI. 5. D.

I LETTER iFtSOA =. IT, WINALEfs, I'D
I To tie gafo,.e or tee Enquire. and Caro&icte.
i. Ny DEAR BROTHER: The admis-
! sion of the reporters, the lawyers, the
judges, the whole. community, that in
/ the ku-kIux cases now on trial in
South Carolina the lowest class of our
population furnishes the iuformers,
ought to awaken grave doubts III re-
gard to the truth of the charges now
urged against the most respectable,
wealthy, and influential citizens of the
State. The people who have made
these astounding revelations in regard
to the social state of the up country
! are familiarly known as ''Crackers,
g Clay-eaters,o and natives of Ozark
Corners" Most of them can neither
read nor write. Many of them arc
the offspring of illicit connections
ISome of them affirm that they have
been led to- expect better. remunera-
| ton in their present line of business
than they ever had before--comforta-
BILE lodgings in the Jail, and So day
during the time of their incarceration.
Now, just suppose that such an in
i ducement had been offered to the citi-
zens of Five Points, to testify against
the most respectable citizens of New
York suppose that the informers had
been backed by the Ward politicians,
Eand the wealth and power of the ma
tional government; and then judge
i for yourself what, after all may be,the
real condition of South Carolina!
CRIME AND CORRUPTION.
am not in sympathy with the Ku-
/ Klux Klan. do not know any of
its members there are none in the
section of the State where reside
j Yet must confess that I have long
4 felt the need of some sort of legisla-
i tion and some justice, such as we have
mot had in our State for many years.
Just look; at the situation" The
bly despoiled. Their cotton is plum
fscorner shops" Their stock is butch
cred in the woods. Their property is
assessed above its market value, and
is sometimes taxed beyond what it
produces or would sell for. Many
j persons have evaded taxation by offer
/ ing their plantations to the tax-gather-
ber. This has been frequently done in
/ Barnwell county. And crime goes
/ unpunished. 1t is not easy to arrest a
criminal it is harder to keep him in
i Jail /; harder still to secure his convic-
tion, andllmpossible to keep the Coy
ernor from pardoning him. A voter
is rarely allowed to serve out his time
in the penitentiary. 1t matters not
what he has done; whether he has
broken into house or burned it down,
whether he has committed rape or q
murder. AT any event his right to
vote at the next election must be se-
cared by Executive clemeney. Nay,
more-as all Wall street knows by
this time--our State is largely under
4 the control of criminals. Many of
our highest offices are filed by men
once OF broken fortunes and broken
characters. but now invested with au-
thority, clothed in purple and fine linen
and faring sumptuously every day
| Our Governor is seedy doctor from
Onio--now become millionaire. Our
/ leading lobbyist is a jockey-rider from
Jerome Park. The leader of the
+ Senate 1sa convicted brIbe-takef. The
leader of the House is pardoned big
amist. On my way to the late st.
Louis convention, /, with other dele
gates, saw a judge of the State en-
bracing a prostitute in the public cars,
and near by him was legislator en-
gagged in like obscene and shameless
dalliance. We were all thankful when
these Wretched creatures left the cars
with their women at Graaiteville.-
During the last year our corrupt State
government has robbed an impover-
ished people of more than S22, 900 per
day and the estimate must be too low,
for it is founded OH Governor SCOTS
message to lhe Legislature. 4..4#
iHa HEAR BOTH SIDES. W m
You will, hope, pardon me for
suggestions that such state of society
requires some relief quite different
from that afforded by the penal laws
! of Congress. When vigilance COM
mittee has inflicted summary justice
the court ought to consider the whole
case. It numbered not only the scars,
but thr crimes of the victim. 1t should
be invested with certain supreme
| power. 1t should be armed with states
manship. In a state of society where
there is no law, and where men must
form temporary organizations for the
maintenance of social order. justice
these organizations. Here for exam
pie is g John Doe" whose daughter
has been ruined by Richard Roe::v
whose crop has been stolen or pur-
chased in the seed by " Richard Roe"
whose Clubhouse has been burned
down with the whole crop of the year
by Richard Roe :" whose life has
been ambuscaded by " Richard Roe :"
but who has at last turned upon his
enemy, as even worm will turn
against crushing foot, and who has
scourged his oppressor with forty
lashes save one. Does it become o
great government, in such an instance
to chastise John Doe," who looked
in vain to it for protection, and to let
Richard Roe" go free? Yet this is
precisely what the United states gov
ernment are now doing in South Car
olina! The national officials are hunt
ing down and imprisoning the best
citizens of the Southern counties at
the instance of malefactors and sand
hillers, whose lives defy the law, and
who would not be believed on their
oaths, in any other case. We, who
have no connection with Ku-Kluxism
look with wonder and consternat,on
upon q sharp dragonade, such as Dnce
decimated France for the enrichment
of South Carolina, and is now wasting
South Carolina for the enrichment of
neighboring and even foreign States.
We encountered among the United
States soldiers, SCARED. triumphant
veterans of war, who feel as keenly
as we do, that they have now been as
signed TO service painful and degrad-
ing-now, when the clash of arms has
ceased, and they feel their hearts
melting with fraternity. They are
required to deal with an association
of neighbors who are pledged to mu-
tual protection against the burners of
their houses and the plunderers of
their crops, as if these were an armed
and foreign foe. These soldiers, un-
der whatever pretext sent, do actually
drive from the field ripe for the har-
vest young and old, planter and labor
er; do suspend the industries of whole
counties; and do immune the proprie-
tors of the soil and the tax paYers of