The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-02-11
A COCK AND BULL STORY.
I'll T. IA NOUS FOOL HISoID RI
MSS of h1sREPRE ESENT
Taliyrand il Was Who Said Ian.uayr
was t.isen To Conceal Thoughts: Tour
gee L >e> 1T for SIanderou. Iuruo>s.

Taliyrand ii Was Who Said Language
was Given To Conceal Thoughts: Tour
gee t>e> 1T for Sianderou, Purpose.
Judge Albion ". Iourgee as.e to North
C&FoAIGa - tAe close ot the Iale Ma
hlIe III the state lie affiliated with lie
+ Republicans and WAS by them elected
Judge OF tie Superior Court of the state.
lie was Il good LAWYER, we'll educated aud
/ a strong and trenchaut writer. The p,a-
I PIE OF North Carolina newer loved hua.
+ lie wa one of the men Who helped us 10
negro rule and all It's concomitaut evils
lie was one Of the men who aided allotted
or looked on without reproof when the
hadical steailngs Of 1865, etc. were gong
Oh. lie adopted as his principle bat "a
white man IS as good as a negro if he be-
haNes himself But notwithstanding. his
conduct III thls state our people were not
disposed 10 follow him when he returned
10 his home in the North with on, spoken
cenSure. They were willing 10 forget that
ne had helped lhis great ability made his
work effectIye) 10 heap disgrace and hu-
limitations upon our people. They were
glad 10 get rid of him and his notions ana
10 wash their hands Of him
He has not yet finished his msrepreseu-
tatlons of US. After losing all his money
III Our Continent Publishing Co. he under
! takes Il lecturing tour, his subject being
"A Story Tcler's Story" or a Fools Er-
rand, by one Of the fools. In this he ira
duces, yllities, denounc,s. and misrepre-
sents our people most shamefuly, and re
counts his heroic exploits with an air of
Behold the Hero that diSgusts sensible
men who love the truth. Ia his Three
Decades Of Federal Legislation" Hon S
). Cox, referring to the conduct Of the
Republicans in trying to defeat him in
1898, says: II was compelled to meet from
| Republicans Of Ohio a campaign unexam-
| pied for lis 'nproyoked tierceness, It's base
and baseesS charges OF personal cOrrup-
ton, Its concelt, its ignorance, its poltroon-
cry, Its billingsgate, its fanatical folly, its
untagging sling, its drunken saturnalia,
and its unblushing libels and piOus hy-
| pocrisy."
Nearly If not all-these things has
North Carolina been subjected to by this
man Tourgee.
But we started out to publish an extract
| from a highly colored life of Tourgee which
was published in the cleveland Ohio
Leader and Herald q few days before nc
! spoke there. North CarohnianS ought To
! see how little this fellow regards the truth
and visit hilI with merited contempt.
! The following is an account Of how he
claims to have helped eAterminate the
KukluX klan i'll North Carolina. 1t first
appeared in the Buffalo EApress and reads:
1T is no wonder, after all, that the bar
| held a meeting when lie was elected judge
to decide whether it Should practice be
! fore him, or
Run Him on the Bench.
! What use had they for a man who declar-
/ ed for Manhood, equal rights free schools,
! free iurtts, free offices, free press, free
| speech free men p And vet, as Judge.
| they were bound to admire his ability, his
! fairness, his intrepidity. When occasion
| seemed TO warrant, he promptly put the
| Oldest member Of his bar under contempt.
! They found they couldn't scare him, and
! they couldn't walk on him. Personal viO-
lence was always imminent. Warned once
| by friends that protection could not be
/ guaranteed, his reply was, damn protec-
ton He knew the people he had to deal
with. In his contagious humor and a bold
! ness which, if sometimes rash, was always
unfailing, doubtless lay the great sources
of his security. He bluntly told his grand
| jury on one occasion that he knew there
were members of the KukluX klan among
them. AT least two of you, gentlemen;
are known to me as officers Of the hlan,
he said, sternly; land | know Of Il Ger
tainty that there is blood on your hands,
whereupon one eminently respectable cit
izen who was on the jury tainted away. 1t
was Judge Tourgee, practically alone and
| single handed, who exposed kukluXisn.
He ferreted out its secrets and brought the
principal offenders to Justice. He has never
told the writer the story of this affair,
| though the following account IS from 4
| Trustworthy source. The story has never
been published, and the people Of North
| Carolina do not know to this day how the
secrets Of the klan were discovered. Be
fore Judge Tourgee, at one OF the courts
of his circuit, Two brothers were brought,
charged with whipping q minister The
lash had been laid on the victims back in
true overseer fashion, leaving a ghastly
checker board of gashes. The minister's
offense was that he had preached a sermon
over the dead body of the prisoners faith
er, which had incensed them. The minis
ter was made to repeat the sermon IN
court. 1t was proved to be
A Most Outrageous Assault
on the deceased, who was pictured as
whitening in hell's hottest flames. As the
Judge listened he grew indignant The
men were found guilty and brought up for
sentence. Instead of giving them a very
heavy punishment as ne might, he gave
them the lghtest the law allowed, a few
days imprisonment and fine, or something
of the sort.
That for a prelude. Long after the
journey, over a forest road, was over
taken by night and missed his way After
a disagreeable time of it he blundercd into
a clearing where was an isolated house.
Some one gruffiy challenged him. The
Judge explained the situation and asked
lodging for the night. 1t was refused,
point blank. The traveller, however, had
ideas of his own on the subject. In the
South if white man himself attends to
the details of caring for his horse, he loses
caste.
We'll, stranger. I reckon it don't much
matter here sleep. but my horse is go
ing to eat hay from yonder stack tonight.
SO saying the Judge vaulted from the sad
die, tossed the reigns TO the astOnlshed
man and turning to the house without
another word bounded up the steps and
suddenly burst into the room. Opposite
the door was great fireplace and on
either side sat men in the fuH kukluS
garb. with the spoOky masks over THEN
| faces However much aStoniShed the in
truder may have been, he did not lose
presence of mind. Going straight up to
the fire he scuatted and began to warm
his hands befo-c the blaze. Looking u
in dare devil way al the still motionles>
figures, he said
You cut handsome figure in that rig
don't you You're damned fine looking
specimens Don't you feel proud Of your
selves ?.
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