The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-09
Columbus Disna.tch.

l1 Columbus Dispatch. /,
8. Il swear by God Almighty: by heaven,
His home; by the earth, His footrest. and
by hell. His prison house, to befriend and,
hold in the sacred bonds of brotherhood
all members of the band. I swear that+1
will lie for them, steal for them, die for
them will be burned in oil, cut to
pieces and salted rather than inform on
them l swear to obey my captain in all
things. even to the killing of my kins-
folk = And II in any way break this oath
/ hope God may strike me dead in my
tracks. And if He lets me live, may be
cut to pieces by the members OF the band
and may my whole life be damned
In the heart of the Kentucky noun
tains, in the counties of Knott and
Leacher 1900 men have secretly taken
the above oath, thus forming themselves
into the fletcher Ku KluX, or White Cap
Band" owning for their leader Morgan
Reynolds singular character Of more
than ordinarily good antecedents;
schoolmaster, a soldier in the Spanish
American war and now a notorious out
law, hiding in the mountains, with a price
set on his head by the governor Of Ken
lucky. q E@s-y.gEs T. 'g<=f
The Ku Klux m ovement, that has now
assumed such remarkable proportions In
this section of the state. was started two
and a. half years ago. It is claimed that
originally planned, the purpose Of the
organization was, IN a. sense good one,
the tintentions being to drive, out OF the
country such people as deserved but did
notafeceive, the penalties of the law for
evil-doiug! 81 There is always an apprecla :
BILE amount of lawlessness in the Kentucky
mountains. that the authorities are either
powerless or unwilling to. reach. and it
was to eradicate this that the Ku klux
leaders originally declared they had de-
voted themselves. But their purpose. II
it was ever a sincere one. never pore 1rult
that aided in the well-being Of the com
munity. On the contrary, the whole move
ment, from first to last, became grow
ing menace to the law, it pretended to
serve, and was speedily turned into an
organized system of shameful Whipp1ngs
highway robbery. q and, d 4hnaily, murder
that won for the two counties involved
a reputation that has resulted in making
travellers give the entire section wide
berth. j. s,.. ss ..-,... ,s>sa Z. .ts7.-;4a
The Detectives Leader.
In Knott county very little has been
done to- fight the Ku KluX organization
and it is said that the. opposition TO !,
there lis restricted from the fact that q
number of the, county officials are eithe1
members Of the band or else secretly ia
vor it. In Letcher county the war com
menced in earnest year ago under thu
leadership of John Wright, and although
the Ku Klux still holds it's own, still ter
rorizes the neighborhood with Its depre
dations and murders, it is believed tha
mountains will finally succeed In put
ting an end to this formidable demon
stration of outaWry. ~ -
Whatever his fame may be elsewhere
there are few people in Virginia, Yves
Virginia or Tennessee, and certainly non
In Kentucky, who have not heard Of JOIN
Wright. bad John he is sometime
called but that is by those who have ha'
reason to fear him. The law-a abiding peo
pie of the mountains pin their faith t.
him and dread the time when some en-
counter with knights of the wood, wit
whom he is continually at war, may prov
his last.
John Wrights operations here com
menced with the civil war During tina
conflict he was on the Confederate sid
and engaged in a number of desperat
exploits among the mountains that 500
attracted attention to his fearless char
acter and the deadly earnestness wit
which he could handle gun. In one q
these war experiences he and anothe
Confederate made a raid on twenty thre
union soldiers. His companion was killed
but Wright escaped .unscathed after XII
ing nine of his assailants. With the clos