National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-09-27
BLOOD-RED RECORD.
TWENTY YEARS HISTORY OF THE SOUTH,
BY GREEN u. RAUN.
The Bourbons Charged with the Responsibility
for the Crimes which Have Overturned
Republican Government in the south-men
and Women Murdered for Opinion Sake.


ERN OLiGARCHY. BY GEN. GREEN b.
RAUN. Illustrated. II mo. sl50.
Prior to the civil war such glimpses as
one got Of southern life and civilization
were the most desultory and fragmentary.
"Unclo Toms Cabin" furnished TO
thought men and women everywhere
ample testimony that tho relations of the
two races south were amicable only SO
long as tho negro yielded complete sub
lection TO his master. Since the war Judge
Tourgee has addressed the American
people through his fascinat ing pages upon
IN post-bellum south and its tendencies
But there has been up to this time no
succinct history Of that thrilling period
embraced between tho years 1865 and 1854
The writer Of such history becomes, in
the eyes Of the principal actors, an icono.
'clast, tearing dow the popular idols o I
southern chivalry, honor. and generosity.
Mr.. Raum has undertaken this difficult
task, and IL must DO admitted has accom-
plished IL we'll. He writes from the stand
point Of republican, and boldly charges
upon the democratic party the RESPONSE
bility for, and active agency in, the crimes
committed in the southern states for tho
past nineteen year, But his narrative Is
told without bitterness, and Is fortified
by so many we'll authenticated facts that
the reader blushes for American civiliza-
tion as he scans the sickening details of
murder and brutality committed in the
name of freedom. The result of the civil
war was to leave the south in o phe-
nomenal condition, for which 1t had to
thank its leaders. If south Of Mason and
Dixon's line there then existed largo
unoducated and ignorant mass of human
beings suddenly invested by the logic of
events with citizenship-this was the
penalty Of antecedent circumstances.
Murder was an atrocous remedy.
"The existing conflict between republic
can government and southern oligarchy"
presupposes an erroneous theory of gov
eminent upon the part of the southern
leaders and their following Mr.. Raum
briefly states the fundamental principles
of q republican government as formulated
by Thomas Jefferson, and shows that "the
suppression OF free speech and a (ree
ballot" is q crime against such system.
That this was the deliberate purpose of
the late slaveowners was proved, the
author thinks in the first instance by
the passage of what were known as
''the black codes" of 1865. These were
enacted by the reorganized legislatures
assembled in December, 1865, it found
itself AZ variance with Mr.. johnson upon
the subject of reconstruction. The four
teenth amendment was adopted as part
of the constitution, and the negro was
accorded a civil status, while the late in
surgent states were halted at the thresh-
hold until the act of March Q, 1867, pro-
vided for their temporary arrangement
into five military districts. Mr.. Raum
follows the process OF reconstruction
through its various stages and narrates
the bitterness engendered thereby. Then
follows tho story of the massacre at Me-
chanics' institute, Now Orleans, which
sounds like an echo of st. Bartholomew
day.
The next step in the southern scheme
Of resistance seems to have been the or
ganization of the kuklux khan, whose
objects, constitution, and blood curdling
deeds are narrated at length in a thrill
ing chapter. With regard to the opera
tons of this band of assassins In Louisiana.
extracts from the congressional committee
report are quoted to show how thoroughly
that state was terrorized. Congress took
the matter in hand finally, and enacted
the law of May 81, 1870, which caused the
power of the Invisible Empire" to wane.
An investigation followed, of which Mr..
Raum says:
1t is impracticable within the compass OF
this volume to give anything more than a brief
survey Of the evidence taken by the commit
tee
The sckening details Of murders and out
RACES are found in every volume. Cruelties
unheard OF except In the annals OF Indian war
fare were perpetrated In every state where the
khan held sway, and 1t is confidently stated as
O fact that not one OF the Offenders was ever
punished by the sentence Of a state court.
II Is a remarkable proof of the objects for
which these terrible wrongs were perpetrated
to state the fact that these disguised raiders
disbanded and skunk away when II law to en-
force the right of suffrage was directed against
them. The crimes which could be punished
under this act of congress were those which
were committed after its passage. The per-
petrators of the mighty catalogue of outrage
and crime, from the Mechanics institute mas.
bacre, July 30, 1856, TO the date of the act of
congress OF May, 1870, go unwhipt of justice.
The investigation showed that this or
ganization had its branches in nearly
every southern state, and that the object
aimed at was the humiliation of FREQ
speech and fair ballot.
The khan gave visible expression in deeds to
the opinions entertained and freely expressed
by leading men all over the south.
Freedom, equal rights and the ballot for the
negro were regarded by them as an invasion OF
their rights, which was to be resisted to the
bitter end.
To have proper understanding of the con.
dition of things in the states oyerrun by the
kuklux, II must be kept in mind that the
courts In each state were open for the redress
OF all grievances and controversies arising be-
tween individuals, and also for the prosecu-
ton Of all Offenders against the laws, except
shown to have been the case by the testimony
OF judges and other prominent persons of I'M
fmpeachable character, and whose testimony
to that effect, taken by the committee was en-
tirply unpOutra1ipfp1 Hon lanes T, nf
South Carolina, testified fully to this effect as
heretofore quoted
The foundations of society were not broken
up. The states were not without laws, nor the
means of enforcing them. The people were
not thrown upon their own resources and
proves for the defense of their lives, prop
orty, reputation, and other rights, nor were
there combinations of men to deprive them,
by force or fraud of any of these rights. There
was, therefore, no Justification or excuse for
the establishment Of this great unlawful mill
tary organization, which spread over so many
of the southern states and had for its member
ship some of their most prominent citizens.
No good end was 10 be or could have been ac-
,omplished by such political association.
There is not generous or noble act recorded
Of ii. II professed, as one of It's purposes the
defense OF the weak and oppressed; 1t does
not appear that any of the dens ever sent ont
body of It's disguised members upon an or.
rand of mercy or charity, Wherever they
moved 1t was either 10 terrorlze Il community
by their numbers and hidcous appearance, or
else to drive some citizen from his home, to
inlet upon him some grlcyous bodily punish
ment, or actually TO take his life These out
RACES, too, were directed against republicans,
white and black; and IL thoroughly organized
and well-directed effort, IN all the states lately
In rebellion, was made TO- overthrow and de.
priye them of the just political pOwcrto which
their numbers would entitle them The news.
paper press poured ont continual stream of
abuse against republicans. White men
who dared to express an uplnOn in
favor Of giving the negroes equal political
and civil rights with the white man were bit
terly denounced Us enemies Of the white race,
II native TO the south, they were called "scala-
wngs;' If born in the north, they were called
"carpet'baggers." In the great majority OF
cases they We're socially OStmCi2cd and pro'
acribed-they and their wives and children,
Leading men In speechei and leading news
papers in editorials would advise democrats to
have nothing whatever 10 do, socially or in Il
Gus oulrages were perpetrnted upon their per-
sons and property without any cause or provo
los.