The Washington herald., 1909-07-04
VIGILANTES.
Secret Organizations that Have
Regulated Morals.
Ii Y street nu--hrrs:

Regulated Morals.
From the Kansas City star
Secret tFibUnals-Lhs Vigilance Commit
tee, the Ku-Nux. the Night Rider. and
the Whitecap-sre the weapons 10 which
some men resort when social conditions
arise which appear 70 them unjust, or
unendUrable. whether from The absence
Of established legal tribunals OF from ap-
parently unjust conditions sanctioned
and sought 70 be enforced IN the name
Of the law itself. II was the san Fran
cisco committee o. Vigilance OF 1s5I that
gave the name and model for all uIegiti-
mate tribunals that protected and puri-
fed. or terrorized and abused as the case
might be. almost every community of
consequence IN the Ear West A series
OF fires. kindIed by thugs IN order 20
plunder the town while II burned. led 70
the organization OF a committee OF 90
citizens who calmly took charge Of the
affairs Of the city. and what little oppo-
sIJlon there was 20 them they as
calmly awed into silence.
Gradually the vigilance idea spread
throughout California. and committees.
originally modelled on the lines OF the
san Francisco body. hanged. branded.
OF banished bad men and sometimes
women.
The committees did not always hang:
they sometimes whipped thieves, and
several organizations branded stock rob
bers with a great H T."-horse thief
A famous secret organization which had
many crimes charged against its name
was the -Danices. a Utah Mormon hand
This grim and deadly company was sup
posed - devote its energies 20 the dis
cOUragemeGI Of undesirable emigration
into the Mormon territory. but X early
earned a reputation for murder and Pill
lage pracuced upon parties q pioneer
settlers and caravans bound for The Cali
fornia gold fields.
In 1876 conditions IN san Francisco be-
came such that the Vigilance Committee
again seemed 20 be demanded. and ir was
recognized With william T. Coleman
as president This time there were more
than go members, with an executive
committee OF forty. whose orders wers
absolute They took charge OF the a.
mOries. organized cavalry and artillery d.
visions. and even established a marine
battery.
By this time the popular tribunal idea
had reached other States and Territories.
In Nevada people began 20 ind dead men
swinging from trees with q placard bear
ing the figures --51l' pinned 10 their cloth
ing This was the number OF citizens
composing one OF the early vigilance COM
uittees. but the mark was soon adopted
as the sign manual of al the lynching
organizations ol Utah and Nevada
NoTthwar5 through Oregon, Washing
ton and away Up into Alaska the move
Delt spread. G0ld-dUst thieves. highway
men. cattle and horse thieves. "bad men.
and others who earned the III VIII Of the
regulators" were its game
The XIX was as famous and feared
IN Idaho as the ~6o1' in Nevada and
Utah. though this committee cid not be-
gin signing its work until two years az
ter its organization The first year Of its
organization il hanged twenty-seven men
who were said 20 have been concerned IN
the murder Of more than 100 persons.
To Montana belongs the fame OF having
maintained a vigilance committee longer
and more effective than any other State
from 1854 70 IS1o.
The ku-klUX klan originally was the
SoUth's weapon Of resistance TO the re-
gine OF the caTpet-bs gger. scalawag. and
the lawless negro during reconstruction
DAYS Wisely and humanely, or roughly
and cruelty and crimlnally. Il did the
work for which Il was intended
Originally the KU-klUx was q college
fraternity established az Pulaski, Tenn.
n Nay. 1S6s. The name IS simply the
Greek word kuklos. q circle or band. To
this was added the word klan For the
purpose OF mystery the word was split
and the word clan spelled with q * p"
making II ~ lux klan. u was not 6
serious affair TO start with. and L con
ditions had not been as they were &
would probably have ended as 81 began,
IN fun
In the course Of time many unscrupU-
l0us men and organizations committed
all sorts OF crime n the name OF the
KU-klux Khan and brought the organ
izsti0n into disrepute n It's latter days.
Only two copies OF the original ritual
are known 70 be in existence. one Is IN
the library OF Columbia College, New
York, and one IS IN the archives Of the
State OF Tennessee
All the later organizations ike the
Whitecappers and the Night Riders are
modelled upon the ku-klux
The Night Riders. or silent brigade.
came into existence in 1904 as an auxil-
iary OF the dark tobacco district Planters
Protective Association Of Kentucky and
tennessee. The black patch" IN which
this dark tobacco is produced lies in
Western Kentucky and Tennessee. and
dark tobacco IS raised nowhere else in
the world. although II can be grown IN
the blue grass region which produces
the quality Of tobacco known as hurley.
The chance for deviltry and immunity
afterward brought criminals. 'plugugiies."
and thugs into the order. and these BY
intimidation brought others. To join the
Night Riders was both life and FIRE IN
suranCe- Those who refused 10 join the
associations 0f The Night Riders were
shot or whipped or beaten. their tobacco
beds ''scraped, % "salted." or otherwise de-
stroye6. Their barns and houses were
burned and a reign OF terror inaugu-
rated Last year the Night Rider made
his appearance in Arkansas and Texas.
Cotton gins were burned and farmers
warned not 10 sell their cotton untl
prices reached a certain figure.
The phase Of night riding with which the
public Is most familiar Is that around
ReelfOOt Lake. Tenn. where Capt Quen-
tin Rankin was shot and hanged and
his companion and law partner. Col r z
Taylor, escaped only BY swimming =
swamp under ere.