The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-02-26
The Laurens Advertiser.
SLIGO Per Year in Advance.
A KLU KLUx "REMINISCENCES
How DR.. J. Rufus Bratton was
kidnapped at His Home In Can

How Dr. J. Rufus Bratton was
Kidnapped at His Home In Can
ada.
DIR. II. j. Massey, a former resident
of South Carolina, now living in At
lanta, Ga, was a companion in the
Confederate army with DR.. j. Rufus
Bratton, now deceased, Of Yorkville,
sc. and revives the story of the kidnap-
ping case that attracted much atten-
ton in the early '70s, q case that with
q little contrariness on the part of
General Grant, then president, might
have caused war between England and
the United States. DR.. Massey's story
is as follows:
DIR. j.. II. Bratton, formerly of York
willie, S. c., is known by his hosts OF
friends throughout the South as Or.
"Rufe B~ratton." Many years before
become a very popular physician and
pension of hostilities and the surrender
of the Confederate forces, his name
had become familiar in almost every
Southern household on account of his
having been kidnapped in London,
Canada, and brought by force without
show of law or authority back to the
United States.
DIR. d. r.. Bratton, a member of
Bratton's pha9mlcy OF Atlanta, relates
the following Ie2ts:
During the tryiug ordeal through
which all the Southern States passed
in the bitter tih'c3 of reconstruction,
South Carolina is thought to Lave suf-
fered more than any other State.
Owing TO the leading part she assumed
in the act of secession she was made to
feel In every possible conceivable man
ner the direful effects of her action.
AS all the older residents of the South
ern States will remember, there came
down amongst us from The North vast
hordes of Adventures, whom we fifty
dubbed as s'carpetbaggers." These
nc were interruptions and uncom-
promising to the last degree, and COM
bining with a resident element of
whites favoring their nefarlous acts
and designs, quickly availed themselves
of the advantages which they could
easily gain by taking under then
management and guidance the ianor.
ant and u~nsuspecting negroes who had
just been freed and felt that they owed
%something to the present government
for having given them their "freedom,'
as they called it.
Through the agency of these carpet
baggers and scalawags, as the white
people who joined them were called
these blacks literally held sway ant
were made to do everything in thei
power to humiliate and persecute thu
former slave-owner or respectable Gle
ment of the white people. This stat
of affairs continued daily to grow
worse until the whites in their desper
alton could stand it no longer. The.
prepared themselves for defense. Tn
spirit of independence and resentmen
for constant and repeated wrongs a
the hands of these people compelle'
them to self-protection, even at Tn
point of bayonets. In many instances
they took great delight III p~unishin
the negroes for their insolence, impu
dences and other mean practices.
About this time there was a secre
organization formed all over the Sout
known as the Ku-KluX-Klan. If
did not originate in South Carolina, sh
wa by no means slow TO have ku
kluxes all over the State. What thes
Ku-Klux-Klans did and what the
didn't, L am unable to say, but man
mysterious and almost miraculou
deeds were ascribed to them. On
thing certain, however, they becam
the great terror of every darkey i
the South, besides sometimes eXer
cising a very wholesome Influence in
great many instances over the abov
mentioned carpetbaggers and scala
wags. AT other times the acts an
doings of the three KS gave the ba
whites color and p%retense for othe
acts of oppression and violence o.
their part. Often, between sunset all
sunrise, a mean and turbulent negr
was said to pass out of existence, to b
heard of no more, hencefolth an
forever, and it is whispered That some
times a white man of unsayory charac
ter travelled the same path. OF thes
things ] know nothing except wha
Madame Rumor hath said.
However, in the late '60s a very NEAR
negro who possessed quite an influence
over other blacks in prosecuting thu
whites, was disposed of n night. IL
the disposal of him DIR. Bratton wa
said 10 be connected. 1t was nevel
proven that he had anything to dc
with the tragic ending of this negro
There was, however, a warrant sworn
out for The doctor from the United
States court, and placed in the hands
of a marshal by the name of Hester
for service. DR.. Bratton was arrested
by Hester one night, eluded the vigil
ance of this officer and quietly trans
ferred himself to the Dominion Of
Canada. He took the oath of citizen.
ship to Great Britain, settled in Lon
don and resumed the practice of his
profession. He had been there but q
few months when, one Sunday after.
noon, out walking on the lawn, a mar
shall by the name of j. ID. Conwell,
who was hired by the same Hester.
slipped up behind Bratton and with
the assistance of a hickman, seized