The Russellville Democrat., 1888-01-26
THE FIRST kU-kLux.
Where aud For What the Affsrward Law
 less Brotherhood Was Organized.

Where aud For What the Affsrward Law
 less Brotherhood Was Organized. In the fall of 1866 James R. Grove, now aresident of Sheffield, Ala, had returned to his home at Pulaski, Tenn., after three years service in the Confederate army, says writer in the Detroit Free Press. Although not young man in years, he was full of good-natured devil try and fond of adventure, and one day he said to one of his friends:
 .Let's a few of us band together and have secret society which will be inys- tery to the old folks.n
 It was agreed to, and Mir. Grove, F. O. McCord, John c. Lester. Calvin Jones, John Kennedy, l. L. Shappard and R. Reed met one evening in the law office of young Jones' father, who was lawyer and absent from town, and formed the first Ku-Klux organization ever held in this country.
 It was not then named, and the object, as all state, and as must be accepted as the truth, was simply for mystery and amusement. The SC cond meeting was held on the ground of Dr. Carter, on hill out sidethe town. A tornado had partially y de molished the house and prostrated many of the cedars in the groves around 1t, making a wild and lonely place, and 1t was at night aud amidst these ruins, that the first candidates were initiated. The name Ku-Klux was adopted from s is:e7a word, and the boys originated the form of initiation and the various grips and passwords. The idea. as stated, was fun and mystery, and te carry this out every member was priv ileged to disguise himself as he saw fit. Candidates were taken in one after an other and finally a public parade was held. This was the head and front of an organization which quickly spread over the whole South. While the Pulaski or ganization never posted threatening letter nor gave man warning, other or ganizations were formed with a different aim in view. Every member was dis guised, and each one surrounded himself with as great mystery as be could, and it was the awe which the public felt and expressed that encouraged other organ- cations with other objects.
 The close of the war had left the South full of bad men, both white and black. Law was powerless to reach them, and 1t was 10 grapple with this evil that the Ku-Klux societies sprang into existence all over that section. There were in
 
 far, and where bad men banded together to do evil, but the original object of every society which included the respectable citizens of the neighborhood, was solely to protect the community. And that object was accomplished by the earlier organizations more thor oughly than history has ever stated. Lawless characters who were preying on the people, and who cared nothing for law or life, were driven off or frightened into reform by the Ku-Klux. In time the organizations were made use of to gratify personal spites, and this led to great abuses, which were never contemplated by the originators of the order. There was no thought of politics or correction in the first society, and as soon as MT. Grove and his friends saw how the organiza- tions were spriEging into life, and the bad use being made of their power, they withdrew from it entirely.