The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-09-16

give an illustrations: The city Of New
bern, N. c., with resident population Of
less than 5000 whites, had in 1866-67 a
floating population Of nearly 10000 ne
groes, although only a few miles in the
adjacent country farm servants could not
be hired at any price. AS might have
been expected. crime and disorder were
fearfully frequent Being at the time as.
socfate editor of the Daily Journal Of
Commerce, I had occasion to chronicle q
dozen or more murders in less than half
as many months. Burglary and highway
robbery were the regular morning news
items. r ;e..~-s9s s. Is
Now in the sedate, law-abiding old
North State capital crimes have never
been common, and a murder makes ter
rible noise, so that the new order of
things created great alarm and indigna-
ton. At this juncture more threaten
ing aspect was given to our domestic per-
plexities by the Introduction of the league
Having long foreseen that negro suffrage
was inevitable, the .wirepullers of the Re-
publican party, under the leadership, Of
Holden, who had recently suffered an
overwhelming defeat, began the scheme
for the new political element. The first
votes cast by freedmen were seven in
number for Maj. John Hughes-a lifelong
Democrat and model Southern gentleman.
Which event so alarmed the Holdenites
that they speedily enlisted the whole in
fuence of the government in favor OF
the league; and in a few months there
were not 100 colored voters in the, state
scarcely as many in the South-unbound
by an oath, torvote, for the radical candi-
dates. Large number of timid men. were
likewise driven into the radical khan by
dread Of confiscation, and. loss Of their
civil privileges, it being asserted on the
stump by league ora tors that the gov
eminent designed to take away the bal
LOFT al WI iii M WOO e+o,-
Republican rolls. ''>- 80 90 '' -. -
The election for a convention to form e
constitution demonstrated the power of
the league. I was candidate for that
convention and was told weeks before
hand that would be beaten by precise
number of votes: the result justified the
prediction, showing a thorough degree of
organization among the leaguers. In Poll.
county my opponent was rian Of low
origin and questionable character, who, it
is said, could not write his own name
No wonder that a constitution framed. by
men of such caliber should prove defec-
tive and convulse the state with repeated
efforts to abolish or amend it.
The first legislature after it's adoption
was largely composed of carpet-baggers
and negroes, and, save a mere handful
of conservatives, soon organized itself
into the most gigantic ring on record.
In few months the state was plundered
of over thirty millions-her credit wasted,
her bonds dishonored. her: courts I1rosti-
tuted, her fair name blackened3 and her
quiet disturbed by political squabbles Of
the most disgraceful sort. In short, she
was bankrupted in peace and prosperity
The fncompetency and corruption Of the
new judiciary was felt more acutely than
anything, else, except the fearful .multipn=i
cation Of the taxes. because the people
of North Carolina had been ever acCus-
toned to regard their courts with great
pride and veneration. The new judges
had been chosen not for their ability or
merit, but solely in reward Of their SER
vices as party leaders,. Several Of them
were notoriously incompetent; one is
said to habitually spell January with
small j. -.......... .,...,rs .,...
d; In view Of these facts is it surprising
that our people lost respect for the courts
may, that sometimes they forsook them
and took the law In their own hands?
Such state Of things was certainly
provocative Of disorder. And-well,
have not exaggerated the picture. Every
conservative newspaper tn North Caro-
lima has animadverted on the incompe-
tcncy, indecency and corruption Of the
judiciary and deied contradiction. I have
confined myself to North Carolina, but,
the same grievances and disgusting fea-
lures were common to all the Southern
states. ...,,.-.... Ga.
We are now ready for the introduction
of the khan. The feeling had become al
most universal that there should be some
organization of good men for the suppress
sion Of crime and to counterfeit the per-
nicious teachings of the league! i !
In East Tennessee a mutual; self.nro-
tective association had long existed
among the returned refugees, who We're
in hourly danger of their lives from their
bushwhacking neighbors. -
N.,I,~ u .-~x3
the zenith Of his despotic reign, overrun-
ming the state with bands of armed ne
groes, this nucleus was reorganized and
expanded POSSIBLY by some .leaven of the
Knights Of the Golden Circle) into the
Constitutional Union Guard. So ripe was
the public mind for the new movement
that in a few months it had spread over
the entire South, and had assumed the
proportions, though not the harmony, Of
a general plan of organization. In North
Carolina and elsewhere it was for
period known as the white Brother
hood It, T.. ,r.ss..-,g. .-,.
Q.-what were it's chief features?
A.--The original scheme provided for a
supreme chief, council, ETC., for the
South-chiefs Of state; of congressional
districts and of counties. Counties had
an indefinite number of camps or COM
panies, each with a chief and other offs
GERS, subordinate to- the grand chief.
buC lllS ySCHeHe never came 10 peTIGC-
ton, either as whole or in any of it's
parts. -s.&.3 .T @a@G %EhE 1fs5-
Q.-The avowed objects Of the order?
A.-Were embodied in the oath, which
had five principal clauses, viz:
To oppose and denounce the radical
maintain that intelligent white men
should govern the United States.
To mutually assist each other when in
distress. as
To take all lone females, widows and
their households under our especial care
and protection.
The final clause bound the neophyte to
secresy and obedience, and imprecated
death upon the head of the traitor
Q.-Was it not, then, an exclusively po-
litical organization?
A.-Certainly not. distinctly assert
that the Kuk1u,es Khan was no more than
a secret cooperative society-of the ma
ture of vigilance committee or patrol,
designed to correct such civil abuses as
did not come within the purview Of the
law or were neglected by the officers of
the law, and also to shield our women
and children from the insolence, rapacity
and brutal passions Of vile desperadoes,
white or black. So we'll is this under
stood at the South that you will find
but few Of our noble ladies' to-day who
do not sympathize warmly with the con-l
victed kuklux in this prison. They do,
not approve of every act, particularly
the more violent ones committed by, or
at least attributed to, the. klan. But
they know that its general aims were
good, and. feel Indebted to It for "a GER
tain degree Of safety which they could.
not have had without it.
~ Q.-Still IL was a partisan order. All
your members were Democrats? Z.
A.--Not, all. In my own immediate
command i had a score or two Of men
who had voted for Grant To UNDER