The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1906-10-26
SOME SCENES IN
THE CLANSMAN.''
THRILLING Situations Have Evoked
Warm Praise and Violent Protest
True, Anyhow, to History.

. When "The Clansman,' now on II
|. second Southern tour, plays at tn,
Greenwood opera house this evening
, Oct. 20, public interest will focus OF
the two great scenes Of the third ant
fourth acts. Both the situations re
ferred to have on the one hand been do,
nounced without stint and ON tho Other
side warmly extolled. The author Of
"The Clansman" takes both praise and
blame calmly. He simply asserts that
however unprecedented his Offering Is
ii Ia true to the facts of history.
The trial court Of the Ku Klux Khan
in a mountain cave near Piedmont, s. c.
Ia realistically presented. A negro &C.
cused Of the murder Of a white girl IL
brought before the white-robed and
masked Clansman, denying his guilt
with scream Of terror. When placed
under hypnotic influence, the eyes Of
the wretch become fred and CLASSY; he
sees as In a vision his awful crime and
~rehearses every step Of it-how he
lured the girl on and on by initiating
tho notes Of . bird, how he seized her
by the throat, how she escaped his
clutches and how, finally, frenzied with
fear, she threw herself ia her death over
q preclpice. After the story is told the
80 II OF ~hypnotism is removed, and the
shrieking prisoner is dragged of to exc
%cution, while the Clansman, waving aloft
the flaming cross Of st. Andrew, sends a
trusty messenger across the border to
summon their North Carolina brethren
for the llfe-and-death struggle with the
blacks,
The other scene shows the attempt OF
the then mdiatto Lieutenant-Governor
Of South Carolina to force an alliance
between himself and the daughter OF =
white man The girls father has organ
lied the Union League Of blacks and has
encouraged and protected Lynch in ev-
cry way. The latter naturally thinks
that old Stoneman is destitute Of race
feeling and will sanction the marriage"
By a ~strstagem the mulatto gets alone
with the girl in his library and tells her
Of his "love." He offers to free
her white lover twho Ia under sentence
Of DEATH IL she will marry him, the
mulatto. Her a Of protest are
quickly stiied by Lynch, who gags her
and has her removed to another room in
the custody Of two negro guards. Just
after this the girls father enters. He
asks the meaning Of the stifed cries in
tho adjoining room. Lynch answers
that it 10 nothing, and then he tell the
old man In a voice Of passion that he
loves a white and IT Ia the dream
Of his existence to make her his wife.
go ahead!' says Stoneman encourage
A theoretical believer Ia social
equality, the proposition does not shock
him.
II desire TO marry your daughter!"
continues Lynch.
The effect on the old N~ortherner Ia
magical. lie spurns his erstwhile negro
protegc az IL no had been a viper, for
bids him to ever approach his home
and tells him that four thousand
years Of Caucasian civilization had TT
ted his W family for something better
than ITO end In a breed OF mulatto
$50 this is your boasted social equal
yells Lynch. "Your daughter
is in the next room, the place is sur
rounded by negro guards, and you are
helpless. shall summon a negro chap
lain and Marcy her within the hour!'
Old atonemsn, mad with rage, whips
out = revolver and tries first to kill
and then himself. The march Of
troops Is heard In the dis
lance. Lynch thinks they are his ne
gro militia coming to help him subdue
the whites. He Is iubilant and taunts
the old a The troopers, without
warning, burst through the door. They
IRE not the negroes, but the members
Of the Ku Klux Khan, headed by their
Ben Cameron. Pointing his rife
the rash Lieutenant Governor, they
his surrender and save tho girl
the negro ruhi ms. Old Stoneman
sorrowfully acknowledges his mistake
that Of "trylng to make water RIM up
hill, to turn a negro into q white man,
IN animal into . king!" He says be will
30 to Washington and ask the Govern
ment to withdraw the Federal troops
from Southern territory and restore
peace and prosperity TO tho stricken
QstsAy. SprslMs aNd Swelln1s Cured.
I'm November, 1901, | canght cold and
had the qainsy. My throat was 70
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