The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-11-10
THE CRUEL. CLAN.
That Tennessee's Military Power
is Now Rounding Up. !.
1T sWORE ITS oATIHs

In Dripping Blood, Enforced Its
Orders With Torture and Wanton
Murder, and Lived Up to Its. Mot
to, "Dead Men Tell No, Tales" En-
forcing Without Mercy.
Nashville, Tenn, Nov. dead
men tell no tales.
Neither do the oath-bound mem
bers of the dread Night Rider clan,
men who took their obligation in
the wild forests around Reelfoot lake
and signed their names in dripping
blood, while ABOUT them the stiffness
Of a night as dark as Erebus was bro
ken only by the weird scream of the
heron or the loud too-hoo of the
swamp owl.
But the terrible secrets Of this
fierce clan are being given up-and
by the living. Lips that have been
sealed through fear Of death,
through fear of the silent riding
band of masked men and horses with
muffled feet; lips that have feared
the oaths, the threats of the mid
night assassin, the moose, the swing
of death.
The bloody rule of the night riders
was enforced by torture and wanton
murder. 1t was unchallenged while
the sufferers were residents of the
wooded country surrounding the
lake. 1t promises now to be broken
by the power Of the State backed
by the flashing bayonets of the nat
ional guard.
Crimes local in their character had
been safe. When the red-handed
outlaws lynched Captain Quintia
Rankin and attempted TO kill Col
onel R. T. Taylor they awakened the
law-respecting sentiment of the State
and brought their leaders to the
shadow of the gallows.
THANK God, 1. can talk at last;
and 1 WILL" was the cry Of mother
in the Reelfoot lake country when
she beheld the soldiers and realized
that law was to supersede the rule
Eof murder.
/ She was the mother of a lad who
had been forced to join in a raid
to Hickman, Ky., where a family of
negroes was wiped out by the night
riders. This boy, who went unwil-
lingly, never returned, and after the
soldiers arrived story leaked out
of newly made grave in the woods.
A sweet-faced girl, wearing black
in memory of the lover who lay in
the grave, came to camp and the
secret Of that raid was revealed.
"Tid" Burton, who was induced to
turn States evidence, is a hunter
and fisherman. For hours he was
silent and defiant, but the temptation
of the promised reward Of $4,000
and a feeling of safety inspired by
the presence of the soldiers won him
over to the side of the State. He re-
vealed the secrets of the night rid
ing clan, and this and other informa-
ton gained by the authorities has
resulted in the arrest of 100 men.
Governor M. R. Patterson, who is
personally directing the work, be-
lieves that the ring-leaders are
among the prisoners. and that the
blood of Captain Rankin will be
avanged.
Tom Johnson, who is said to be
the captain of the night riders, is
one of those taken into custody. He
has maintained dogged silence.
His time is spent in pacing the mar
row confines of his cell, while he
gazes furtively and longingly toward
the recesses Of the forest.
While the grand jury investigation
is held secretly as possible, it is said
that the constitution and bylaws
of the Night Riders clan have been
offered in evidence. The penalty for
betrayal of the obligations imposed
by the ritual is death. The names
of members are signed with their
own blood. The clan decreed that
members should not employ negroes
after June, 1909, that banks should
not exact over per cent interest
On loans, that merchants should not
make over 10 per cent profit, and
that cotton and other commodities
should not bring less than a certain
figure.
Many Of the men who have set
tied on the lake are said to have left
for other regions between two suns.
In fact, at Reelfoot, as in the Pail
handle of Texas, it Is said to be bad
form to ask some people where
they came from, breech Of etiquel
that will be promptly resented.
Crack shots, men who know not the
sense of fear, men convinced that
others Of means were depriving them
of their just right to make living
of such are the night riders Of Reel
foot
1t Is believed that prompt and ef-
fective action by Tennessee will tend
to stamp out the scourge OF
night riding that has spread from
Kentucky over a wide area Of the