The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-15
KU-KLUX- WAS
 VERY SHORT LIVED
Order Did Some Good for the
 Stricken South
IT SPREAD VERY RAPIDLY
"pensy Were Established in Many of the Southern States and Kan Was Powerful Just After
 Civil War.
BY PAUL COOK.

BY PAUL COOK.
 While the mysterious order known as the Ku Klux Klan is familiar enough to older people who lived through the trying times of the reconstruction period, 1t calls up midnight raids. ghostly performances and a host of skull and bone legends to the minds of the younger generation. The Ku Klux <lan played an important part in shaping the destinies of the south after the war. for it taught the negroes that their former masters were even yet su- preme and it also convinced the lawiess that they would not be permitted to go unpunished for crimes committed under the protection afforded by disordered con- ditions. The good the Klan accomplished was during the early part of its existence. As is well known the order afterwards became typical of that lawlessness which gave it birth
 The Ku Klux Klan was organized at Pulaski, Tenn, in 1866. Its membership was composed of young men who had served together in the Confederate army and it was at first purely a social organ ization. The members derived vast amount of amusement from their mysteri- ous rites and the initiation of candidates, the initatory ceremonial closely resemb- ling that of the college fraternity, Alpha Sigma Sigma. On account of the mys- tery that surrounded the Ku Klux Klan it soon became popular among adventur- ous spirits and there were many applica- tions for membership.
 In course of time the order spread out. There were many new 'Dens'' established in various parts of the south Among the towns of Alabama, Tennessee, Geor- gia, Mississippi and the two Carolinas the order spread rapidly and soon became very strong. The Pulaski Den was looked upon as the mother Den" al- though it was without any real authority over Its offspring. The connection be- tween the various "Dens" was rather loose, so the purposes of the Ku Klux Klan soon underwent marked change.
 Acts as Police Patrol.
 When the members discovered their power to frighten the superstitious ne- groes trouble began, although prior to that time many had joined. believing in the serious character of the order. The various "Dens" soon began to perform the duties of a police patrol and were very effective in curbing the lawless spirit that was much in evidence during the re- gime of the carpet baggers. The various bands became a terror to plundering blacks as well as white Tories" who took advantage of the troubled conditions prevailing to rob their neighbors. By the year 1867 the Ku Klux Klan had become a body of widespread regulators.
 At some time in April or May of the year 1867 requests were sent out by the Grand Cyclops of the Pulaski Den for delegates to attend convention of the several states to be held at Nashville for the purpose of completing the organ ization. This call was issued as a re- suit of the violence which had ensued when it was seen that the Pulaski Den could not exercise any control over the other branches of the Klan. The con- vention drew up a constitution and set of bylaws, as 1t were, which was called the "Prescript of the s" the three stars standing for Ku Klux Klan. The pre- script centralized the order, placed offi- cers with designated authority over the various Dens and made Memphis the headquarters of the Klan. To one who reads the prescript today it appears fam tastic and nonsensical to a degree, but there was strength hidden behind the bombastic titles bestowed upon the off, cefs.
 Prescript is Revised.
 In 1868 a revised and amended prescript of the Ku K1ux Klan was issued secretly from the office of the Pulaski Citizen copies of which are still in existence The effect of the amnded prescript was to further centralze the order and place ab- solute control in the hands of the chief officer, who was called the Grand Wizard and is said to have been General N. B. Forrest Nearly all the officers who were formerly elective were now made appoin- tive. The Klan then began to wage a vigorous war on the 'Tories' who had sided against the southern sympathizers during the war and continued to harrass them after the struggle was ended
 In 1869 efforts to crush the order made by the carpet bag regime, resulted in forcing the more violent spirits to the head of affairs, and the outrages that made the Ku Klux Klan notorious in his- tory were then committed. Many crimes were charged to the Klan, the good men began to desert and finally the Grand Wizard issued an order disbanding the Klan and commanding all regalia to be de- stroyed. The order was obeyed so thor oughly that practically every vestige of the Klan except the name was elimi- mated.
 After this time the Klan fell into dis order and the Ku Klux movement divid- ed. LaWiess Dands In various parts of the south were responsible for many depra- dations, such as beating and shooting ne- groes Various names were given to the bands. as the Invisible Empire, Con- stitutional Union Guards, Pale Faces. White Brotherhood White League, Knights of the White Camelia, and scores of others. In fact the membership of the Ku Klux Klan war now largely com posed of outlaws who adopted the garb of the order as a protection and com mitted crimes with impunity.
 Order Again Revived.
 So many outrages were committed and attributed to the Ku Klux Klan that the original order was again revived, but the members were much harsher in their methods than before and instead of harm lessly soaring negroes they resorted to the shotgun and the rope. As long as the unsettled conditions brought about by the carpet baggers prevailed the Ku Klux Klan was kept alive by men who would not submit to oppression in any form, but the order as a whole was never re- vived and the various Dens acted inde- pendently.
 thrown in the years from 1874 to 1876 the as there was no further necessity for it's operation.
 In reviewing the organization of the Ku Klux Klan it must be remembered that there was much buncomb and high-sound- ing fol de rol connected with the order.