West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1906-03-22

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lmpeached Governor Holden, re
moved him from office and deprive,
him of his citizenship.
Colonel McAfee was in many re
speots a typical leader of the Klan
He was in the official language o
the Invisible Empire Grand Tltal
that is TO say, the commander o
a Congressional district. The chic
was Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest
OF Tennessee, the daring and brill
liant cavalry commander of the Con
federate forces of the Southwest
His title was Grand Wizard of tn,
Empire. The Grand Dragon oom
manded the State, the Giant
county, the Cyclops a township den
A glance at the portrait OF Colo,
mel McAfee will convince even a
Boston Abolilionist that he could
hardly be called a rufiian, scound DIRE
or desperado. He was a man OF
gentle manners, courteous, kindly.
brave and considerate, an alumnus
OF the University of North Carolina,
and a veteran of the Confederate
army who led a company of volun-
teers to the from; the first day of the
war, and surrendered 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 Antrim in the north of Ireland
with the great martyr mIgrations
which peopled America with 900. 600
Scotch Covenanters.
The Ku Klux Klan was command.
ed and led TO its triumph by these
sturdy clansmen of Scottish ances-
try. Genearl Forrest and George
Gordon of Tennessee, and John b.
Gordon, of Georgia, were al. of
Scotch blood, and the hill counties
Of the South were the scenes of
their victories, in the duel for sup
remacy between the union
League" girdled with bayonets, and
the Invislble Empire"
No adequate history of America
will be written until full credit be
given the people of Covenanter
blood for the part they played in
creating the nation and developing
It's life. Here Judge Tourgee should
have found the secret of that magni-
hcent audacity which so captivated
his imagination. The Covenanter
Of the South, had he dreamed of
Negro dominion as the result of sur
render, would have chosen to con-
llnue the Civil war, and could have
kept an army of half million men
busy for forty years. His race had
iehed the Crown of Great Britain a
hundred years from the caves and
"ilds of Scotland and Ireland,
taught the English people how TO
'lay king and build a common
wealth, and driven into exile In
America, led our Revolution, peopl-
cd the hills of the South, and cor
Iuered the West.
/ have always felt it pity that
Governor VIM. w. Holden, of North
Carolina, died unforgiven by the
state for the part he played IN the
ragedy Of Reconstruction. With
Ill his faults he was a man Of
genuine culture, and high order of
ale mt When I lived in Raleigh
nc was forlorn figure haunting the
Capitol petitioniDg each Legislature
70 remove his disabilities. But the
'tate refused to forgive the man who
lad for any cause suspended the
writ of habeas corpus and raised an
lrmy OF aliens to enforce a military
.ule. The last time / saw the old
Governor, he had been partly para.
yzed and spoke with difficulty. /
greeted him cordially and he trie d
% respond, stopped, and feebly
irawing from his pocket an envelope
wrote across 1t quotation from
seneca in a quaint old fashioned
ityle Of handwriting hand
which wrote the fatal signature to a
proclamation which cost him his
citizenship. lie did not know that
ny mother was Col. McAfee's sister
Ind I did not tell him, for I felt
hen, as DO now, that he suffered
or others sins as we'll as his own.
Ind that it would have been a mob.
er thing to have forgiven him.
When Col. McAfee returned from
he Legislature after the overthrow
'f the Reconstruction government.
le disbanded the Ku Klux Klan in
his district in accordance with Cen.
;ral Forests orders. Younger and
more desperate men reorganized il
IS a local fraternity to their own
iorrow and the disgrace to some
section Of our mountain region. It's
iegeneracy into fierce neighborhood