Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-11-17
THE CLMAXSSMAMN:
An Historical Romance Of the
Ku Klux Klan.
BY THOMAS DIXON, JR.
Author and Published by Doubleday, Page & Co.
Book THE Assassination.
CHAPTER VII.
THE FRENZY OF A NATION.

crowds with Margaret and Elsie, left
them at the hospital door, and ran to
the war department to report for duty.
Already the tramp of regiments ech-
oed down every great avenue.
Even as he ran, his heart beat with
a strange new stroke when he recalled
the look OF appeal in Margaret's dark
eyes as she nestled close to his side
and chung to his arm for protection.
He remembered with smile the al
most resistless impulse of the moment
to slip his arm around her and assure
her of safety. If he had only dared!
Elsie begged Mrs. Cameron and
Margaret to go home with her until
the city was quiet.
NO." said the mother. Il am not
afraid. Death has no terrors for me
any longer. We will not leave Ben
moment now. day or night. Ny soul
is sick with dread for what this awful
tragedy will mean for the south!
can't think Of my own safety. Can
any one undo this pardon noW! sne
asked anxiously.
II am sure they cannot. The name
on that paper should be mightier dead
than living"
"Ah, but will it be? Do you know
Mr. Johnson? Can he control Stan
ton? He seemed to be more powerful
than the president himself. What
will that man do now with those who
fall into his hands!"
He can do nothing with your son,
rest assured"
T wish 1 knew it," said the mother
wistfully.
A few moments after the president
died on Saturday morning, the rain
began to pour in torrents. The flags
that flew from a thousand gilt tipped
peaks in celebration Of victory dropped
to half-mast and hung weeping around
their staffs The litter Of burnt fire.
works, limp and crumbling, strewed the
streets, and the tri-colored lanterns
and balloons, hanging pathetically
from their wires, began to fall to
pieces.
Never in all the history Of man had
such a conjunction Of events befallen
a nation. From the heights Of heav-
ems rejoicing to be suddenly hurled
to the depths Of hell in piteous, help
less grief, Noon to midnight without
a moment between. A pail Of voiceless
horror spread it's shadows over the
land. Nothing short Of an earthquake
or the sound Of the archangeps trum-
pet could have produced the sense OF
helpless CONSERVATION, the black and
speechless despair. The people read
their papers in tears The morning
single feat could Death have carried
such peculiar horror to every home.
Around this giant figure, the heart
strings Of the people had been uncon-
sciously knit Even his political enc
mics had come to love him.
Above all, in just this moment he
was the incarnation Of the Triumphant
Union on the altar Of whose life every
house had laid the Offering of its first
born. The tragedy was stupefying-
1t was unthinkable-it was the mock
cry OF Fate!
Men walked the streets of the cities,
dazed with the sense Of blind grief.
Every note of music and rejoicing
became a dirge. All business ceased.
Every wheel in every mill stopped.
The roar Of the great city was huShed,
and Greed for a moment forgot his
cunning.
The army only moved with swifter
spring. Tightening its mighty grip on
the throat of the bleeding PROSTATE
south.
AS the day wore on its gloomy
hours and men began to find speech
they spoke to each other at first in
low tones OF Fate, of Life, of Death,
of Immortality, of God-and then as
grief found words the measureless rage
OF baffled strength grew slowly to
madness.
On every breeze from the north came
the deep -muttered curses.
Easter Sunday dawned after the
storm, clear and beautiful In flood OF
glorious sunshine. The churches were
thronged as never in their history. All
had been decorated for the double Gel
ebration of Easter and the triumph
of the Union. The preachers had pre-
pared sermons pitched in the highest
anthem key of victory-victory over
Death and the grave Of Calvary, and
victory for the Nation opening fu-
ture of boundless glory. The churches
were labyrinths of flowers, and around
every pulpit and from every gothic
arch hung the red, white, and blue
flags of the Republic.
And now. as II to mock this gorgeous
pageant, Death had in the night flung
a black mantle over every flag and
wound a strangling web OF Grape
round every Easter flower.
When the preachers faced the silent
crowd before them, looking into the
faces of fathers, mothers, brothers.
sisters. and lovers whose dear ones
had been slain in battle or died In
prison pens. the tide of grief and rage
rose and swept them from their feet!
The Easter sermon was laid aside. Fifty
thousand Christian ministers, stunned
and crazed by insane passion, standing
before the altars of God, hurled into
the broken hearts before them the
widest cries Of vengeance-cries inco-
herent chaotic, unreasoning, blind In
their awful fury!
The pulpits of New York and Brook
lyn led in the madness.
Next morning old Stoneman read
his paper with a cold smile playing
about his big stern mouth. while his
furrowed brow flushed with triumph,
nA In ha 10 iTnp I
last! At last"
Even Beecher. who had just spoken
his generous words at Fort Sumter,
declared
Never while time lasts while heav-
en- lasts, while hell rocks and groans.
will 1t be forgotten that slavery, by
its minioHs. slew him, and Staying him
made manifest its whole ma. .ure: "A
man can not be bred in its tainted air.
I shall find saints in hell sooner than
I shall find true manhood under its
accursed influences The breeding
ground of such monsters must be ut
terly and forever destroyed
DR.. Stephen Tying said:
THE leaders of this rebellion deserve
no pity from any human being. Now
ICt them go. Some other land must
be their home Their property Is just
ly forfeited to the Nation they nave
attempted TO Destroy"
In big black faced type stood DIT
Charles S. Robinson's bitter words:
This Is the earliest reply which
chivalry makes to our forbearance
Talk to me no more of the same race
OF the same blood. He is no brother
Of mine and of no race of mine VINO
crowns the barbarism Of Treason with
the murder of an unarmed husband
In the sight OF his wife. On the VII
lians who led this Rebellion let justice
fall swift and relentless. Death TO
every traitor Of the south! Pursue
them one by one! Let every door De
closed upon them and Judgment follow
swift and implacable as DEATH!
DR.. Theodore Cuyler exclaimed:
This Is no time to talk of lenlencS
and cOnciliation! I say before Goa
make no terms with rebellion short OIL
extinction. Booth welding the assas-
sins weapon is but the embodiment
OF the bowie knife barbarism OF a
sIavehOlding oligarchy."
Dr. J. p. Thompson said:
blot every southern state from the
IL nF