National Republican., 1876-02-14
MONDAY MoRNING:::::::FEBRU II 1876.
GEORGIA SINCE THE WAR-EX-KU-KLUX
GoRDoN-THE SOUTH GENERALLY.

G0RD0E-THE SOUTH GENERALLY.
In 1868, after Charles J. Jenkins the
tttular Governor of Georgil, had absconded
from the State, taking with him the contents
of the treasury, amounting to over 5000, 900,
the people Of that Commonwealth appeared
to have tired of Democratic misrule, and
they heralded the advent of the Republican
era, from the mountains TO the seabolrd.
The feeling against the old rebel leaders
was bitter, and the majority Of the white
Georgians resolved that henCeforth they
would refuse to follow the leaders Zip of the
class who had plunged their State into diff
ticulties from whence they were impotent
to extrcate it. Indeed. the feeling against
the ex-Cenfederate leaders Was almost as
great as Immediately after the war, when,
in the summer of 1865, photographs of JEFF.
Davis, attired in woman's garb, were eX-
posed for sale in Savannah print shops,
representing the Andersonville hero as he
appeared while endeavoring to escape from
Wilson's cavalry in the piney woods Of
Georgia.
Seeing the mcn' teheE upon the wall,
Gordon, Toombs, Hill, Colguitt, and other
malcontents, conceived the idea of resur.
recting the Democratic party. A canvass
of the State was made, and the former
placed at the head Of the ticket for Gov
ernor. The Republicans opposed him with
r. &. Bullock, who was elected by twelve
thousand majority, not counting the contents
of dozens of boxes which were burned at
strong Republican precints by the then en-
bryo ku KluX. The chivalry were enraged
at the result, and set themselves industri-
OuSly TO work to perfect party organiZl alton
by drawing the color line closely. The
white man was arrayed against the black,
and the ignorant had all the horrors of
social equality painted for their fancy by
the imaginative Ben. Hill.
The first step in the drama was taken in
May, 1868 In the city of Atlanta, the Ku-
Klux Klan was organized, with John B.
Gordon, now in the Senate, as its
grand cyclops. We remember to have
seen the Original constitution and
bylaws Of the Order, which, for hcllish
intrigue, surpassed anything We had ever
read. Intimidation now became the order
Of the day. Mounted men in disguise pa
trollcd the roads in remote localities, and
negroes were not allowed to leave their
homes after dark unless by consent of their
employers. Eorthern men and women,
who had gone there to aid in the enlighten-
ment of the enfranchised blacks, were in
suited, and, in numerous instances, mutt
lated and murdered. So thoroughly was !
the work performed that on the ensuing
election in November Seymour and Blair
carried Georgia by majority so large that
even the Democratic leaders were ashamed
of it. Thousands Of men who had voted
for Governor Bullock on the previous April
were thus overawed into remaining at their
homes 1t was then that Mr.. Hills remedy
Of intimidation and free use Of half dol
lars was first applied.
During the latter part Of 1868 and in the
early part Of 1861 there were no less than
four hundred political murders in Georgia,
about one fourth Of which were whites. 1t
was during this period that Messrs. Ash
burn, Adkins, Aver, Ruffin, Young and
other prominent Republicans fell victims
totAc ku Klux conspiracy. Hon. John A.
Madden, now of the Post Office Depart
ment, who served with credit in the Georgia
Legislature in 1870, can attest the truth
Of the above statement, as he was person
ally known to many Of the deceased.
There are those in the North who be-
come impatient when told Of the direful
effects of intimidation upon Southern Re
puJlicans, especially the blacks. They
lose sight of the fact that the new-made
citizen was but yesterday q chattel, subject
to such arbitrary treatment as to COW his
nature, and impair his manhood. Too
poo. to provide themselves with firearms,
and fearing to do so, even were they able,
lest they be suspected of ''insurrecting"
and bounded down by White-Line mobs,
they are but as clay in the hands of such
potters as Toombs, Gordon, Hill & Co.,
who find it easy work to overawe them.
Northerners should reflect that the same
spirit which intimidated and almost over
whelmed Union Congressman in the halls
Of Congress prior to the war, which i'm
pclled and encouraged the dastardly assault
upon Mr.. SumRer by the barbarous Brooks,
still survives; and while they do not dare
exhibit their hate in the present Congress
quite as fOrcibly as they did twenty years
ago, they make up for all of it by perse
cutting the poor negro in the South. The
unlettered Southerner sees in the negro
his late property, and envies him, and en-
braces every opportunity to outrage and
insult him.
In December 1910, an election was held
for Congressmen and members to State
Legislature. 1t was in that election that
the Klans rendered service of intimida-
tion well calculated to bring the blush of
shame to honorable cheeks. Gordon was
the director of the movement, and by
means Of printed circulars, signed by Hill
and Toombs, advising the disfranchisemeut
of the blacks, the nefarious work was &C
complished The Fifth Congressional dis
trict had elected Mr.. Prince, Republican, in
1868, by twelve thousand majority. The
Democrats put in nomination D. NJ. Du-
bose, a son-in-law Of Toombs, while the
Republican nominee was that old veteran,
Colonel l. S. Fannin. The sequel is told
in but few words Thousands of negroes
were driven from the polls, and in the
county of Burke, where the colored ma
jerity was sixteen hundred, the Democrats
seized the polls al d declared majority for
their party Of nine hundred votes, electing
DuBose by nearly twelve thousand major
ity. In several counties where the Repub-
lican majority was considerable in April,
1868, Colonel Fannin got less than one
hundred votes, and in one of the counties,
where there were nine hundred colored
voters, he never got single vote. Be it
said to the credit of Tunis G. CSmpbell,
who now pines in the Georgia penitentiary
on trumped-up charge of Instruction"
that he maintained the party supremacy in
his county and continued to carry it for the
party of Justice until his Incarceration last
year. Encouraged by the success which