Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-12-19
THE CLLAYSMMAN:
An Historical Romance of the
Ku Klux Klan.
BY THOMAS DIXON, JR.
the. Author and Published by Doubleday. Page Co.
Copyright by the Author and PuDNs
Book IV-The Ku klux klan.
CHAPTER I.
THE HUNT For THE ANIMAL.

Aunt Cindy came at Z o'clock to gel
breakfast, and finding the house closed
and no one at home, supposed Mrs. Le-
noir and Marion had remained at the
Cameron House for the night. She sal
down on the steps, waited grumblingly
an hour, and then hurried to the hotel
to scold her former mistress for keep
ing her out so long.
Accustomed to enter Familiarity, she
thrust her head into the dining-room
where the family were at breakfast
with a solitary guest, muttering the
speech she had been ~rehearsing on the
way:
Il lax ter know what sort er way
dis-whar's Miss Jeannie?"
Ben leaped to his feet.
Isn't she at home?"
Been waitin' dar two hours"
Great God" he groaned, springing
through the door and rushing to saddle
the mare. AS he left he called to his
father: Let no one know till I re-
turn"
At the house he could find no trace
Of the crime he had suspected. Every
room was in perfect order. He search
ed the yard carefully, and under the
cedar by the window he saw the bare
foot tracks of negro. The white man
was never born who could make that
track. The enormous heel projected
backward, and in the hollow Of the
instep where the dirt would scarcely
be touched by an Aryan was the deep
wide mark OF the Africans fiat foot.
He carefully measured it, brought from
an clubhouse a box. and fastened 1t
over the spot.
1t might have been an ordinary chick
en-thief, Of course. He could not tell,
but 1t was fact Of big import. sud-
den hope flashed through his mind
that they might have risen with the
sun and strolled to their favorite haunt
at Lovers Leap.
In two minutes he was there,
gazing with hard-set eyes at Marion's
hat and handkerchief lying on the
shelving rock
The mare bent her glistening neck,
touched the hat with her nose, lifted
her head. dilated her delicate nostrils,
looked out over the cliff with her great
soft half-human eyes and whinnied
gently
Ben leaped to the ground, picked up
the handkerchief and looked at the
initials m. L." worked in the corner.
He knew what lay on the rivers brink
below as well as II he stood over the
dead bodies. He kissed the letters Of
her rame, crushed the handkerchief in
his locked hands. and cried:
Now, Lord God. give me strength
for the service of my people!"
He hurriedly examined the ground,
amazed to find no trace of a struggle
or crime. Could it be possible they had
len over?
He hurried to report to his father
his discoveries, Instructed his mother
and Margaret to keep the servants
quiet until the truth was known, and
the two men returned along the rivers
DTlnh 10 Tie lOOl VI the Sllll
They found the bodies close to the
waters edge. Marion had been killed
instantly Her fair blonde head lay In
a crimson circle sharply defined in the
white sand. But the mother was still
warm with life. She had scarcely
&C eased to breathe In one last desper-
ate throb Of love the trembling soul
had dragged the dying body to the girls
side, and she had died with her head
resting on the fair round neck as
though she had kissed her and fallen
asleep.
Father and son clasped hands and
stood for a moment with uncovered
heads. The doctor said at length:
Go to the coroner at once, and see
that he summons the jury you select
and hand to him. Bring them imme-
diately. will examine the bodies be-
fore they arrive"
Ben took the negro coroner into his
office alone. turned the key, told him
of the discovery, and handed him the
list of the jury.
"Pll halter see Mr.. Lynch fust, sab,
he answered.
Ben placed his hand on his hip
pocket and said coldly:
Put your cross mark on those forms
I've made out there for you, go with me
Immediately, and summon these men
II you dare put a negro on this jury
or open your mouth as to what has
occurred in this room, I'll kill you"
The negro tremblingly did as he was
commanded.
The coroner's jury reported that the
mother and daughter had been killed
by accidentally falling over the cliff.
In all the throng of grief-stricker
friends who came to the little cottage
that day, but two men knew the hell-iit
secret beneath the tragedy.
When the bodies reached the home
Doctor Cameron placed Mrs. Cameron
and Margaret outside to receive visi'
tors and prevent any one from dis
turbing him. He took Ben into TIT
room and locked the doors.
My boy, wish you to witness al
experiment"
He drew from it's case a powerful
microscope of French make.
What on earth are you going u
do, sir?"
The doctors brilliant eyes flashed
with a mystic light as he replied:
Find the fiend who did this crime
and then we will hang him on gal
lows so high that all men from the riv
ers to ends of the earth shall see ant
feel and know the might of an uncon
qutrable race of men,"
But there's no trace of him here
I'VE shall see" said the doctor, ad
justing his instrument.
II believe that microscope or suf
ficient power will reveal on the retin
of these dead eyes the image of thi
devil as If etched there by fire. Tn
experiment has been made successful
ly in France. No word or deed of ma