Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-10-27


failed only because of a warning re-
ceived in time. And yet this big
Drained. self f-poised Yankee sat down
afterwards and wrote the tribute to
his foes I quote. We southerners are
much too intense In our feelings to do
such things.
It never occurred to Judge Tourgee
at the time he wrote this book that
the members Of this Klan were mere
ly a set Of scoundrels and despera-
does.
Nothing perhaps better illustrates
the chaotic conditions Of the times
than the manner in which Judge Tour
gee obtained his title. He applied to
the supreme court Of North Carolina
for license to practice law and fell
through on the examination. He
cursed the ancient and honorable
court, composed Of men Of great abil-
ty, as an aggregation Of solemn asses
ran for the legislature on the negro
ticket and was elected. He passed a
bill through the Black Parliament to
deprive the supreme court Of the right
to examine candidates and put this
power in the hands Of this body, many
Of whom were negroes who could not
read or write. He went before a magis-
trate, paid his fee Of twenty dollars,
got his license to practice law without
examination, ran for Judge and took
his seat on the bench.
/ do not record this fact in any dis
respect to the memory Of Judge Tour
gee. He was a man the people Of
North Carolina would have been de-
lighted to know under nobler condi-
tions. He was one Of the few men In
our state government at the time who
had any brains or conscience at ALL
He was a prince among the Judges"
who sat with him in those trying days.
We would have thanked God for the
privilege of trading half-dozen seal
awags of the native breed for one
such Yankee of ability.
| When the reign of terror which fol-
lowed negro rule reached its climax
as many as nine burning barns were
seen at one time from the Court House
Square Of the town Of Dallas In Gas
ton county, North Carolina.
Taxpayer conventions met and ap-
pealed to Washington in vain. The
administration answered by sending
more rifles to arm the negro militia.
The laws forbidding the intermar-
riage os races were repealed by mil
ing general of North Carolina took
negro woman with him over the state
in special car and made speeches
from the platform, declaring that she
dawned IN the history Of the world,
and that he was there to enforce its
spirit with the bayonet II need be.
In this the darkest hour Of the life
of the south, and the lowest in public
morals ever known in the nation, the
Invisible Empire suddenly rose from
the field of death and challenged the
visible to mortal combat.
Within q few months after the ap-
pearance of the white. brotherhood, the
disorders Of anarchy were succeeded
by a strange peace, positively weird
In its completeness, according to the
Acknowledgement of Judge Tourgee.
In the first campaign they overturned
the negro governments of six southern
states, and the others, one by one,
were redeemed under the inspiration
Of this success.
| In North Carolina, my uncle, Colonel
Leroy McAfee. was elected to the leg
islature from Cleveland county and as
he representative of the Klan on the
| judiciary committee. impeached Gov
ernor Holden removed him from office
and deprived him Of his citizenship.
| Colonel McAfee was in many res
rects a typical leader Of the Klan.
He was In the official language of the
Invisible Empire a Grand Titan-that
Is to say, the commander Of a congress
sional district The chief was Cen
eral Nathan Bedford Forrest Of Ten
nessea, the daring and brilliant cavalry
comma 1der of the Confederate forces
Of the southwest. His title was Grand
Wizard of the Empire. The Grand
Dragon commanded the state. the
Giant a county, the Cyclops a Town
ship Den.
| He was a man of gentle manners.
courteous. kindly brave and consid
/ oil nf ha TTniUarSitv
North Carolina. and a veteran Of the
| Confederate army who led a company
Of volunteers to the front the first day
of he war. and surrendered a shattered
brigade with Lee at Appomattox.
His people in the old world, of the
clans Of McAlpin and Ferguson. were
Of the best blood Of Scotland. They
came to America from Down and An
trim In the north of Ireland with the
great martyr migra.ions which peopled
America with 100000 Scotch Covenan-
ters.
The Ku Klux Kla1 was commanded
and led to its triumph by these sturdy
clansmen of Scottish ancestry. Cen
erals Forrest and George Gordon Of
Tennessee, and John B. Gordon Of
Georgia, were all Of Scotch blood, and
the hill countries Of the south were
the scenes of their struggle and their
victories, in the duel for supremacy
between the Union League" girdled
with bayonets and the Invisible EN-
pire."
No adequate history Of America will
be written until full credit be given
the people Of Coyenanter blood for the
part they played in creating the ma
tion and developing its life. Here
Judge Tourgee should have found the
secret Of that magnificent audacity
which so captivated his imagination
The Covenanter of the south, had he
dreamed of negro dominion as the re-
suit Of surrender would have chosen
to continue the Civil war, and could
have kept an army Of half million
men busy for forty years. His race
had defied the crown Of Great Brit
ain a hundred years from the caves
and wilds of Scotland and Ireland,
| taught the English DeODle how to Slay