The Portland daily press., 1895-06-29

property, but this claim did not hold
good Among many shipments that were
captured in Illinois and Indiana were in
the neighborhood of 16, 600 Garibaldi rifles
and ammunition for them ST. Louis
Mo-, being Southern town and full of
Confederate sympathizers at the time
was an outlet by rail and river to the
South, and at this time gave Gen. San
derson and his Scored Service men more
| trouble than at any other point. Here
an effort was made by the order to raise
military companies and get possession of
all the arms they possibly could under the
pretext of going into the Union army,
but the main object of these companies
was to join Gen. Price as soon as he sue
ceeded in capturing Springfield, Mo-, and
marching on to St. Louis and lay that
city in ashes and cross the Mississippi,
where he was to be joined by general
uprising of all branches of the Knights
of the Golden Circle. These companies
in ST. Louis were aided by good loyal
citizens.
The knights of the Golden Circle was
the most extensive of all these organiza-
tlons, and auxiliary force to the Southern
Confederacy, each member took an oath
or obligation, the violation of which was
determination from the face of the earth
by whatever process sentence were passed
by the order, whether to be hung. shot,
Soe1DCOo w uliO uCdIU POl-
soned or in any from to take the life of the
violator of the obligation. Another oath
or pledge was administered to the mem
bers to the effect that they would hence
forth and forever use every means in their
power to aid the Confederacy to gain
their independence to do all things neces-
sary and possible to assist rebel prisoners
to escape, to support no man for office
who was in favor of the prosecution of
the war and make all possible effort to
cause desertion from the Union army, to
aid and assist in every possible manner
the President and the members of his
Cabinet in the Southern Confederacy,
and all officers of their army to carry out
the object for which they were now strug
CLING, and II 1t became necessary to &C
eomplish this, all cities and towns in the
loyal section of the North, and all proper
ty belonging to such people must be de-
strOyed in order to accomplish their OBJ
ject That each and every member was
to act as spy and furnish information
as often as it was possible as to the num-
Der, condition and movements of the
forces OF the Union army from time to
time also each member of the Order was
to report at stated intervals the number
of soldiers who had returned from their
respective regiments, and if they were
away on leave of absence or sick fur
Tough. And at this juncture they were
to induce the soldiers II posi- Die to desert
and to furnish them such money as
might be necessary to send them out of
the country, or to keep them from going
back to the regiments.
These allied forces of the Confederacy
were by far more dangerous than the real
soldiers of the field. The latter were
brave and true men, defending cause
which they thought was right, but the
members of the knights of the Golden
Circle and it's various branches were
cooperative force, more powerful than
any known at the time that was con-
nected with the South 1t was secret in
it's operations, therefore powerful ally.
1t caused uneasiness, malignancy, and
all ill-feelings against the supporters of
the government throughout the length
and breadth of the North, or wherever
they were organized. They were in
structed that their oath was paramount
to any oath they might take to the U. S.
government, or any oath that might be
administered to them in any military or
civil court; in other words, their oath of
obligation to the order must be adhered
to in preference to any other. oath of al
legiance to any government.