The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1888-01-27
rHE FiRsr ku-KLux.
where and For what the Afterward Law
less Brotherhood Was Organized.


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 a writer in the Detroit Free Press.
Although not a 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 few of US band together and
have a secret society which will be a mys-
terry to the old folks"
1t was agreed TO, and Mr.. Grove, F. O..
McCord, John c. Lester, Calvin Jones,
John Kennedy, I. L. Sheppard and r.
Reed met one evening in the law office of
Young jones' father who was a lawyer
and absent from town, and formed the
first Ku-Klux organization ever held in
this country
1t was not then named, and the object,
as all state, and es 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 a hill out
sidethe town. A tornado had partially de
mOlished the house and Frustrated many
of the cedars in the groves around it,
making a wild and lonely place, and it
was at night. and amidst these ruins, that
the first candidates were initiated. The
name Ku-KIux was adopted from Greek
word, and the boys originated the form
of initiation and the various grips
and passwords. The idea, as
stated, was fun and mystery, and
to carry this out every member was priv
LEGGED 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 q threatening
letter nor gave man warning, other or
CARNATIONS were formed with a different
aim in view. Every member was dis
guised, and each one surrounded himself
with as great a mystery as he 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 it
was 10 grapple with this evil that the
Ku-Klux societies sprang into existence
all over that section. There were in
stances where the work was carried too
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, ana 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 CRAFTY
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 Mr.. 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.