The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1902-10-21
DEATH Is IT'S SEAL.
THE DOlNGS OF THE X. K. KS.
IN PHILIPPINES.
The Society Is STEPPED In BIood-An
Initiatory Ceremony Terrible In Its
Significance, with Vows of Darkest
Meaning.

The K. X. K, the abhorent secret
society of the Philippines, has thriven
like a poisonous weed, surrounding it.
SELF with a miasma of foulest crime
sunny Italy has her dreaded Malta,
whose stilletto- clasping fingers reach
out even into other lands and claim
secretly doomed but unsuspecting vic
TINS Russia's Nihilists are haunting
terror to her rulers and the haughtiest
ard Wealthlest of her mobiles. The
very name of the organization strikes
with the chill of death on hearts that
know no other fear. The Thugs of In
dia do their deadly work moved by
common impulse, emanating from
central source-the serpent-wise, SER
pent-wicked heads of their murderous
order that live and die unknown, but
are obeyed as swiftly, unquestioningly
and as surely as Azrael himself. The
horrible scenes of the Indian mutiny
and Toussaint's Instruction were
made possible by previous secret meet
ings, secret oaths and secret signals;
and in our own country the Ku Klux
Khan OF the south, the Mollie Maguires
OF the coal region of Pennsylvania and
Ohio, and the White Caps of the middle
west, have all, with intent to right
some real or fancied injury, banded
themselves together by hidden myster-
les and worked in concert for some de-
sired end. To this class of secret So
cleties does the K. K. K. of the Philip
pines belong.
In the open story of the Philippines
and in the various books and articles
which have been written about these
Islands since they sprung into unex-
pected prominence in the horizon OF
national affairs, the Katipunan Ter
roneously spelled Catapunan) society is
spoken of as being merely strong
political organization"-th strongest
In the Philippines" in fact. But while
1t most assuredly is this, it's secret
aims, achievements and potentialities
are such as to secure for it a position
In its own peculiar way second to that
of no organized aggregation OF OPP
pressed, mutinous and revengeful hui
mainly in the whole wide world
Death was its foundation thought;
death its eountersign, its emblem. its
seal, its penalty and its weapon. In
the days when it was first grudgingly
by the Spanish rulers of /
those longsuffering Malaysian ISL
ands that this rapidly growing and
widely extended organization was be-
coming a menacing power of which it
was necessary to take serious account
in all their calculations and plans for
the future, every member of the order I
was legal outcast. He was, in the /
estimation of the Spanish, a modern
Cain, except that he did not bear the
mark of Gods brand upon
his brow.
Prescribed, hunted and prosecuted,
the Katipunans held to their belief
and purposes with a tenacity that bod
ed i'll for their oppressors. They held
their meetings, performed their rights
and ceremonies, initiated new mem
bers, invented new methods of action
lnaugurated new movements, issued
new orders and enforced them, despite
all the efforts of those in authority to
disperse and destroy them
The Katipunans, though visible. are
as elusive and hooking as a will-o'-
-he-wisp. They appear here and there
rs the fancy moves them-like the
gnus fatuus, proving by their very
the presence of something
loisome and death-dealing, and leading
heir Inflated pursuers into trackless
norasses and deep-sunken pits where
40 hope of escape or rescue can ever
,ome.
Under the Spanish rule the spirit OF
'evolt grew strong in every Filipino