The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-04-20

very fine gold watch that ne offered 10
T. and asked him to take care OF 1t
for him. He was afraid that some OF
our men would take it from him and
right he was for thinking so. But L.
promised him that he should not be
robbed and he had some trouble IN
carrying out this promise. but he sue
ceeded in saving his watch for HIM
and when he left them this lieutenant
asked T. his name and he gave him
his name, county and state. tie wrote
it down in a memorandum. This was
the last they saw of each other dur
ing the war, and so far as 7. was con-
cerned, he forgot the incident until
after the war, in the days Of recon-
struction here at the south when ev-
ery old Confederate was considered
Ku Klux and all that was necessary
to have them arrested as Ku Klux
was, for a negro to go to the com
mandant Of any Of the posts and
swear out a warrant for any man and
saw that he belonged to the Ku klux
Klan, and he would be arrested and
lodged in prison and never given any
showing whatever. He was denied the
right Of habeas corpus and had to he
=, ,,.;eo,, until his friends could ran
som him or get him out some crooked
way probably to be rearrested IN a
few-days and he would have to pay
another ransom if he could. This
caused a great many Of our young
men. to leave "and seek homes IN the
west.
During this time T. had settled
down in his old home in Laurens coun-
ty and was trying to run farm with
newly freed negroes who felt their
freedom too much and their response
bility too little, which made them a
hard lot to get along with. Ii you
had any difficulty with one, he would
step into the yankee camp and report
YOU as a Ku Klux; which would IN
sure your arrest in a few days. I. had
difficulty with negro boy and gave
him a Gaming. The negro went to the
yankees and reported him and swore
out a Ku Klux warrant for him. L.
left home and came to Newberry and
in company with T. NJ. Paysinger was
standing on law range, near the office
Of the eommandant. They saw the
officer coming to his Office. He stop
ped and took close look at I. and
as he started to leave, he asked him
to come into his Office before he lett
town that he wanted to see him. The
officer went in and left him and Pay
singer talking. Paysinger told I.
thew had warrant for him and that
he had better not 60 in. 7. was con-
siderably worried about it, felt sure
they had a warrant for him and he
did not intend to hide out and it was
only question Of short time before
they would have him and he did not
relish the thought Of having to lie in
Jail and be denied the right Of giving
bail and probably be in jail for
months before he would be tried and
doubtful of what the end would be,
he decided to 60 in and see, what the
yankee officer wanted to see hlm
about. So he mustered up all his
courage and put on a bold front and
stepped in. The officer took another
close look at him and asked his name
and then referred to little memo
randum which he took from his pock-
ct and remarked: eyes, that is the
right name.' He then took from a
pigeon hole a bunch Of warrants and
ran over them and took one from
among them saying, II have a war
rant for you as being captain, OF a
Ku Klux Klan and the names of sew
eral of your neighbors as belonging
to your Klan. Now, am not asking
YOU to say whether you,o or they are, or
are not Ku Klux, but look over the
batch and whenever you come to a
warrant for one Of your neighbors,
YOU throw it to one side.' As he did
so, the officer would put red cross
mark on them and then took them up,
bundled them together and put them
into his pocket. T. expected to be az
rested then, but he thought he would
make out like he was going to see if
he would arrest him, but instead the
officer asked him to sit down that he
wanted to talk to him little more, so
he sat down and the officer drew that
!