National Republican., 1878-04-19
FROM AN EX-KU-KLUx CONVICT.

sacrifice Of truth for the 1eeting gratifica-
tion of desire to be smart"
|
| FROM AN Ex-KU-KLUX CONVICT.
| Captain RANDOLPH A. SHoTwEII., now Of
Raleigh, n. C., and 'late of the Albany PEN
uentary," is out in long address to his
fsllow-citizens of the Old North State, in
which he makes some strange, though truth
ful, admissions regarding the existence of
the Ku-Klux in lS7O-'72 SHoTwELL was
convicted and sentenced to the Albany PEN
itcntiary before Judge BOND, and, having
been released, Is now engaged in running
the political machine at his old home. He
will therefore be accepted rs pretty good
authority upon the subiect-mat.cr Of the
address above alluded to, from which we
make the following extract:
"Such revival had already taken place in
upper South Carolina under the name of the
| Invisible Empire aud rs nearly all the pro-
duce Of Polk Cleveland, Rutherford, and other
border counties Is marketed in South Carolina,
the returning farmers brought the seeds of the
new order, which were borne FAR and near like
fiuf on the wind! Wherever the Leagues
wero strongest, there came the Klan. Scores
and hundreds Of our best citizens Of all social
RIdutS anu DtCHDle nCmDcTs Ol IL.
| some of the noblest women | ever knew not
only approved Of the order, but were informed
OF its operations. Tho people of the Ruther-
ford region, especially, had began to feel there
was no hope of protection from the legal au
thorities, and there was nothing in the oath or
policy of the Klan that any gentleman need
disavow."
Noblest women, ell? They approved of
the operations of the Klan "where the
, Leagues were the strongest that is, where
| the Republican vote was the largest, for the
Leagues here referred to were Union
r Leagues, the membership of which was
: confined to Republicans. And what were
+ those operations? Let SHoTwELL, who
} carefully conceals all allusion to actual
murder, answer this question himself, as he
does in the following extracts from the
came address:
Unfortunately, great many wild, reckless
young men gained admittance to the order.
; There were also hundreds of false Ku.Klux /;
! that is, men who learned enough about tho
working Of the order to enable them to put on
pense. At a picnic on Cherry
= Mountain twenty miles from the village) it
, was decided to make raid the following
night. The Cherry Mountain men wished to
punish old PUKEY' BIGGERsTAFF, who had
twice broken his promises to them, and the
! men from about Island Ford desired to punish
, JEFF DowNEY A few Of them had special
designs upon JAMES JUSTICE. Hearing of the
a extended scope of the raid l determined to
= walk out of the village aid meet them, for
there were a hundred rumors in the air US to
what would be done. Here let me say do
not pretend to be any better than am, aud
e while would not give positive orders for II
va nprfpctly willing that DOWNING and
BIGGERsTAFP (who was tried for shooting
into his own halfbrOthers house with
# intent to slay him NJ he slept) and even
JAMES JUSTICE should be soundly thrashed and
made to stop their abominable conduct.
The raiders had divided; one
party going after JAMES JUSTICE, the others
searching for old BTGGERsTAFF The two houses
were near each other aud BIGGERsTAFF escaped
q on hearing the noise of the other party, which
/. no sooner captured JUSTICE than they began
firing their pistols and shouting nosily, fright
ening the town. Meanwhile an equally sense
/, less proceeding was in progress at the Star
( office, paper edited by Judge I.oGANs son, and
= which had bitterly denounced not only the
h Klan, but many leading Democrats. Who did
n this mischief never learned, but portion OF
r the type was spilled on the floor. the
n cases thrown out Of the windows and the files
Y twisted in huge fambeaux, which the bearers
lighted and bore about the square, in hali-tipsy
G fun, to show the citizens what real KuKlux
looked like. The party that
captured JAMES JUSTICE carried him a few
hundred yards out of the village and began to
= catcchise him concerning his deeds and
Z speeches, and also as to the whereabouts OF
, his friend, BIGGERsTAFF. lie begged, pleaded
y promised and prayed; apolOgizing for all he
l. had ever done. especially his threats against
o the young men in the courthouse, and after
h solemnLy taking oaths, he was sent back home
: under guard of four men."
1t will DO noticed, as we have said, that
- SHOTwELL avoids all allusion to any Incl.
=, dent in these reckless raids" these buoyant
- sprees, as it were, which resulted in murder
or downright assassination; but his admis
: sions are 50 fir-reaching in their scope US te
!, leave no other conclusion than that murder
! was frequently committed. But these ore
old, olt-told tales, are bye-gones, are fancieG
. shadows evoked by the ghost of the Bloody
>, Shirt, and all that sort of thing. Those
people of the North who did not believe il
- the existence of the Ku-Klux in the cam
. paign of 1872 will not believe now that thi,
ex-convict tells the truth when he declare,
that some of the nOblest women he eve
knew and he is respectable (so-called
:, North Carolina Democrat, an editor of wild,
repuee, and member of the church (Epis
= copal, we believeJ-"n not only approved o
=. the order but were informed Of its opera
J., tons" There are many, however, who
= will believe every word he says.
ir WHAT Is CONSTITUTIONAL MONEY p
z To a thoughtful observer of the practica
working of legislation under form of gov
J. ernment in which the supreme law is Sc
= down in written constitution, there is t
. constantly recurring phenomenon whicl
+ invites attention and threatens danger
+ close scrutiny discovers that this arise
e from the elusive nature of the Sovereign
/. power, and the protcan facility with whicl
l. it is ever escaping from its constituted
y guardians to consort with strange compan
d ions. Not unfequently an attempt on tn,