Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-05-07
vIeILANTEs.
Secret Organizations That Have Resu-
lated Morals,

viGiLANTEs.
Secret Organizations That Have Regu-
lated Morals.
Secret tribunals-the Vigilance Com
mittee, the Ku-Klux, the Night Rider
and the Whitecap-are the weapons to
which some men resort when social
conditions arise which appear to them
unjust or uncomfortable, whether from
the absence Of established legal tribu-
mails or from apparently unjust condi-
tions sanctioned and sought to be en-
forced In the name of the law itself.
It was the San Francisco Committee
of Vigilance of 1851 that gave the name
and model for all the illegitimate tri-
bunals that protected and purified, or
terrorized and abused as the case
might be, almost every community Of
consequences In the Far West. A Sc
ries OF fires kindled by thugs in order
to plunder the town while It burned led
to the organization of a committee Of
200 citizens who calmly took charge Of
the affairs Of the city, and what little
opposition there was to 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
or banished bad men" and sometimes
women.
The committees did not always hang:
they sometimes whipped thieves, and
several organizations branded stock
robbers with great III. T"-horse
thief.
A famous secret organization which
had many crimes charged against its
name was '@The Danites," Utah Nor
mon band. This grim and deadly COM.
pany was supposed to devote its ener-
gies to the encouragement Of undesir-
able immigration into the Mormon ter
ritory, but 1t early earned reputation
for murder and pillage prac.ised upon
parties Of pioneer settlers and caravans
bound for the California gold fields.
In 1856 conditions In San Francisco
became such that the Vigilance Conn
mittee again seemed to be demanded.
and 1t was reorganized with William
T. Coleman as president. This time
there were more than 5000 members,
with an executive committee Of forty.
whose orders were absolute. They took !.
charge Of the armories, organized ca
valry and artillery divisions and even
established marine battery.
BY this time the popular tribunal
idea had reached other states and ter
rftorfes. In Nevada people began to
find dead men swinging from trees with
a placard bearing the figures "601"
pinned to their clothing. This was the
number Of citizens composing one Of
the early vigilance committees, but the
mark was soon adopted as the "sign
manual of all the lynching organiza-
tions Of Utah and Nevada.
Northward through Oregon. Wash 3
ington and away up into Alaska the
movement spread. Gold-dust thieves,
highwaymen, 1cattls la11sgss -thfsves,-
bad men" and others who earned the
Ill VIII OF the regulators" were its
game.
"The Xxx" was as famous and feared
In Idaho as the "sO1" was in Nevada
and Utah, though this committee did
not begin signing its work until two
years after its organization. The first
year Of its organization 1t hanged
twenty-seven men who were said to
have been concerned In the murder Of
more than 100 persons.
To Montana belongs the fame Of hav-
ing maintained vigilance COMMITTEES
longer and more effective than any 9TH
or state-from 1854 to 1870.
The Ku-Klux Klan originally was the
south's weapon of resistance to the re-
gime of the carpet bagger, scalawag
and the lawless negro during recon-
struction days. Wisely and humanely.
or roughly and cruelty and criminally,
it did the work for which II was in
tended.
Originally the Ku-Klux was college
fraternity established at Pulaski. Tenn,
in May, 1866. The name is simply the
Greek word kulklos, circle or band.
To this was added the word khan. For
the purpose Of mystery the word was
split, and the word clan spelled with
tx" making 1t Ku-Klux Klan. 1t was
not a serious affair to start with, and
Il conditions had not been as they were
1t would probably have ended as 1t be-
gan, in fun.
In the course Of time many unscrup-
ulous men and organizations commit
ted al sorts of crimes In the name Of
the Ku-Klux Klan and brought the or
ganization into disrepute in its latter
days. Only two copies Of the original
ritual are known to be In existence.
One is in the library Of Columbia Col
lege, N. 2. and one In the archives OF
the state of Tennessee.
All the later organizations like the
Whitecaps and the Night Riders are
modelled upon the Ku-Klux.
The Night Riders or silent brigade,
came into existence in 1904 as an aux
iliary of the dark tobacco district Plan
ters' Protective Association Of Ken
lucky and Tennessee. The BLACK
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