The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1913-09-11

white terror could intimidate every
negro in the state unless he could arm
| them all, suspend the writ Of habeas
corpus, and place every county under
! the strictest martial law.
Washington was besieged by a ter
rified army of the loyal" who saw
! their occupation threatened. They
begged for more troops, more guns for
negro militia, and for the re-establish-
Inent of universal martial law until
| the votes We're properly counted.
But the great statesmen laughed
| them to scorn as set of weak cow
ards and fools frightened by negro
stories Of ghosts. 1t was incredible to
them that the crushed, poverty stricken
| and unarmed south could dare chal-
lenge the power of the national gov
| eminent. They were sent back with
scant comfort.
The night that Ezra Perkins and
Haley got back from Washington they
saw sight that made their souls
quake.
I At 10 o'clock the Ku KIux Khan held
a. formal parade through the streets
Of Hambright. How the news was
circulated nobody knew, but it seemed
everybody in the county knew of it.
The streets were lined with thousands
Of people who had poured into town
that afternoon.
At exactly 10 o'clock bugle call was
wi ho hi 20 4ho
town. and the muffied tread of soft
shod horses came family on their
ears. Women stood On the sidewalks,
holding their babies and smiling, and
children we're laughing and playing in
the streets
They rode four abreast in perfect
order slowly through the town. It was
| utterly impossible to recognize a man
or horse so complete was the simple
| disguise of the white sheet which
blanketed the horse, fitting closely over
his head and ears and falling grace
fully over his form toward the ground
No citizen of Hambright was in the
procession. They were in the streets
watching it pass. There were fifteen
hundred men in line. But the reports
next day all agreed in fixing the num-
Der at more than 5000 ~-,
Perkins. and Haley had watched it
{ from darkened room.
"Rrether Haley. that's the end!, Lord
wish l was back in Michigan, Jail err
no Jail" said Perkins, hopping the
Precipitation from his brow
We'll have ter dig out purity quick.
I reckon" answered Haley.
"And to think them fools at Wash
tngton laughed at us!" cried Perkins.
clinching his fists.
And that night mothers and fathers
gathered their children to bed with a
sense of grateful security they had
not felt through years of war and
.urmOil.
rhe. election was remarkably quiet
| Thousands Of soldiers were used at
i the polls by Hogg's orders. But they
seemed to make no impression on the
| determined men who marched up be-
tween their files and put the ballots in
the box. Thousands of negroes made
no attempt TO vote.
Legree's ticket was buried beneath
TN avalanche. The new Conservative
party carried every county in the state
save twelve, and elected 1O6 members
of the new legislature out of total of
l2O.
The next day hundreds of carpet
Dagger thieves fed to the north, and
Legree led the procession.
Legree had on deposit in New York
! 100000. and the total amount of his
part of the thefts he had engineered
! reached $5,OO0,O0O. He opened an Of
| fee on Wall street, bought seat In
the Stock Exchange. and became one
| Of the most daring and successful
| Of a group of robbers who preyed on
the industries of the nation.
| The new legislature appointed 8
! fraud commission which uncovered
the infamies of the Legree regime, but
! every thief had escaped. They prompt
" impeached the governor and removed
: him from office, and the old common
I wealth once more lifted up her head
and took her place in the ranks OF civ
| ilized communities.
The Khan was promptly disbanded
by it's organizers and promptly reor
! gained in local groups by reckless
Young leaders.
CHAPTER x.