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


us.
suPerstitious and awe inspiring Ku
Klux Klan I"
The terror of these silent ghosts.
riding IN the night, reduced the
Negro race to an immediate and
profound peace. The idea spread
to an adjoining county and rapidly
over the State of Tennessee which
was the first to psss beneath the
yoke of Negro supremacy.
In 1867 a secret convention of
pc ace-loving, law abidings God fear
ing, patriotic Southeras met in
Nashville and organized this society
INTO "The Invisible Empire"
adopted a ritual and adjourned.
They met in the ruins of an old
homestead within the picket lines
of IS, 600 troops sent there to en-
force the rule of the black slave
over his former master.
AS the young German patriots Of
1872 organized their struggle for
liberty under the noses of the gar
risons of Napolean, so these, dar.
ing men, girt by thoussnd Of bayo.
nets, discussed and adopted under
cover of darkness the ritual of "The
Invisible Empire
Within a few months this Empire
had overspread a territory larger
than modern Europe and brought
order out of chaos. The triumph
which they achieved was one of in
credible grandeur. They snatched
power out of defeat and death, and
tore the fruits of victory from twen-
tY million conquerors. Such achieve
ments have never been wrought by
arrant ruffians, scoundrels and des-
Peradoes. The sheer moral grand
eur of such deed gives the lie to
the assertion.
The truth of history is, that, as
originally organized and led, the
Ku Klux Klan was the sole guardian
of civilization in the South from
1867 to 1870 and Its members were
the salt of the earth.
Every hope of relief for the South
had been crushed. The assassina.
ton of Lincoln had so crazed the
masses of the North that the Radi-
cal wing of the party In power could
propose no outrage too monstrous
for the consideration of Congress.
Even a bill to tear from the starving
Southern people the remnant of
their property left by the war and
give it to the negroes and camp fol.
lowers Of the army was introduced
in the House of Representatives by
Thaddeus Stevens, the responsible
leader Of the Government, and bold
ly championed by this great man
with the audacity Of genius and the
faith of fanatic.
The Negro had been made the
ruler Of his former master who was
disfranchised and disarmed. The
hand of the thief and :he rufian
clutched at the every mans throat.
The Negro controlled the State,
county, city and town governments.
Their insolence grew apacc. Their
women were taught to insult their
old mistresses and mock their pov-
erty as they rassed in their faded
dresses. a black driver in town
near mine, struck a white child Of
six with a whip and when the mo
ther protested she was arrested bv
a negro policeman and fined ten dol
larr by a negro magistrate for in
sulting a freedman.
Thieves looted the treasury Of
every State and county, and taxes
mounted until as many as 1000
homestcads Of white men, many of
whom could not vote, were sold for
taxes in single county.
The negro and his ally the car
pet bag adventure had attained un
disputed control Of society through
the secret oeth.bound order known
as "The Union League"
The white people Of the South at
first secuted the idea that the
negroes, who had been faithful
through the war, could now be used
as their deadliest foes in the new
order Of society. But for the signs,
grips, passwords, and mysterious
blue flaming altar Of "The Union