The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-05
The Story of The Ku Klux Klan.

I disgrace of some sections of our noun
! tain region. It's degeneraey into fierce
neighborhood feuds and its perversion
by the lawless swiftly followed until il
became necessary for the organizers Of
the original Khan 10 aid in the suppress
sion OF its spurious successors
My father, Rev. Thomas Dixon, Sr.
was a member of the original Khan un-
der Colonel McAfees leadership and
aided him in the suppression of its
reckless imitators. He was pre-emi-
nently the type of man whose name
made the Khan q resistless power the
first two years of it's existence. He
never attended meeting of the order
or took any active part in it's work
except as an elder counselor of wisdom
and moderation TO its chosen leaders
/ but his name was tower of strength.
He is and always man of large parti-
otto views, though an ardent southern
er. He comes of the CtOck that crea-
ted the republic. His grandfather,
Lieut.. Colonel Frederick Hambright
was i member of the Continental
congress and commanded a regiment
of revolutionary patriots at the battle
of Kings Mountain. He is today n
venerable minister of Christ, who i'm a
ministry of sixty years has built
twenty tiourisbing churches I'm Pied
mont, North Carolina. He knew and
dreaded the dangerous power of a Sc
! cret oath bound political order. He
! went into il reluctantly. He joined
with every other minister in the coun-
! ty, only because il was the last resort
/ of despair 10 save society from the IN
tolerable curse of negro dominion, in
science and crime.
Mr. Laps d. McCord Of Tennessee, is
| a man whose portrait scarcely bears
Af "a
Clansman McCOrd was the printer in
the Office of the pulaski Citizen" who
set the type. printed and stitched the
complete edition of the ritual of the
order. He never knew until years
after the author Of the manuscript, or
from whose hands he received il. He
got one day an anonymous letter tell
ing him TO remove the middle brick in
| the space beneath q certain window
/ in his printing Office. He did SO and
! found that the brick in the center of
the wall had been taken out and in its
place lay roll of manuscript contain
/ ing the ritual of the Invisible En-
pire. No name appeared in the title.
| II was merely marked with three stars.
| He was instructed to print and bind in
! the night and on a certain date be-
! tween the hours of ! and a. m. TO
/ place the bundle of complete copies
| outside the door. He did as ordered
and unseen hands bore them away in
! the darkness.
! The only two copies in this ritual
| known TO exist are to be found in the
| library of Columbia college and the
! archives of the state of Tennessee.
| It's author is General George ". Cor
/ don of Memphis.
! An extract from a letter written to
| me by the Rev. DIR. J. \. Clifton of
| Orangeburg. s. c., gives his official
| rank: II was the Grand Cyciops of
! the East Chester Den and my territory
was very large. Dr. Bratton of York,
was the Cyclops adjoining me- and we
were compelled to do many severe
] things in these days 10 protect our
! homes. l fear I was almost savage
| in keeping saVages in their places,
| but felt it was my duty This terri
| tory is the immediate scene of my nov
] ell, 1.-THE Clansmans
One of the most interesting figures in
! the inner history OF the Kan is that OF
| Hon. John w. Morton, the present sec
rotary of state of Tennessee who was
| General FORESTS chief Of artillery.
! Pale and boyish in appearance, he was
! in fact but q boy, yet he Won the ut
most confidence of sthe general. who
| relied on bin as Stuart aid on Pelham,
and Lee on Jackson. Forrest called
him the little bit q a kid with a great
big backbone"