The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-09-11

with bayonets and the Invisible En-
pire'
No adequate history of America
will be written until ful'cr be given
the people of Coyenanter blood for
the part they played in creating the
nation and developing it. Here Judge
Tourgee should have found the secret
Of that magnificent audacity which so
captivated his Imagination. The Cow
enanter Of the south, had he dreamed
Of negro domination as the result Of
surrender would have chosen to con.
tinue the Civil War. and could have
kept an army of half million men
busy for forty years. His race had de-
fled the crown Of Great Britain a hun
dred years from the caves and wids
Of Scotland and Ireland taught the
English people how to slay a king
and build "A commonwealth, and. driv.
en- into exile in America, led our
revolution. peopled the hills of the
south, and conquered the west.
have always felt it a pity that
Gov. William II. Holden of North Car
olina died unforgven by the state for
the part he played in the tragedy Of
reconstruction. with all his faults
he was a man of genuine culture.
and high order of talent. When /
lived in Raleigh he was a forlorn fig
ure haunting the capitol, pctitionng
each legislature TO remove his dis.
abilities. But the state refused to
forgive the man who for any cause
, suspended the writ of habeas corpus
and raised an army of aliens to en-.
force military rule.
The last time ! saw the old gov
crnor he had been partly paralyzcd
and spoke with difficulty. | greeted
him cordially and he tried to respond
stopped and, feebly drawing from his
pocket an envelope, wrote across It a
quotation from Seneca in quaint old
fashioned handwriting hand
which wrote the fatal signature o a
| proclamation which cost him his citi-
2enship He did not know that my
mother was Colonel McAfee's sister.
and did not tell him. for | felt then
as ! do now. that he suffered for
others sins as well as his own. and
/ that II would have been nobler
thing to have forgiven him.
When Colonel McAfee returned from
the Legislature after the overthrow e
the reconstruction government, he
disbanded the Ku Klux Klan in his
district in accordance with General
FORESTS orders Younger and more
desperate men rcorganized ii as a To-
cal fraternity to their own sorrow and
the disgrace e some sections OF our
mountain regions. Its degencracy into
fierce neighborhood feuds and its per.
version by the lawless swiftly fol.
lowed until It became necessary for
the organizers of the original Kan
to aid in the suppression of its spur.
ious successors.
Ny father. Rev Thomas Dixon. Sr.,
was a member Of the original Klan
under Colonel McAfee's leadership and
aided him In the suppression of It's
reckless mi'ators. He was pre.emi
nently the type Of man whose name
made the Klan a resistlcss power for
the first two years Of It's existence
He never attended a meeting Of tho
order or took any part in its work
except as an elder counsellor OF wis
dom and moderation 20 It's chosen
leaders. but his name was a tower oi
strength. He is and always was a mar
OF peace and q lover of order. He saw
the war begin with infinite sorrow
lie Is a man of large patriotic views
though an ardent southerner II.
comes Of the stock that created thi,
republic. His grandfather. It, Col
Frederick fIambrlsht, was "a member
Of the continental congress- and com
manded "a regiment Of revolutionary
patriots al the battle Of Kings Noun
tain. He IS today venerable minis
ter OF Christ. who in a ministry ol
sixty years has built twenty flourish
ing churches in Piedmont. Nor,l
Carolina He knew and dreaded ~,
dangerous power uf secret oath
bound political order He went into
it reluctantly. lie joined with every
other minister IN the country onlN
because u was he last resort ol
despair tu save society from the intol
erablc curse Of negro domination, In
science ana crime.
\ study ,s the portrait Of Tiad
deus stevens the man who create,
the Union League and sent on it'
mission OF revenge and confisclt:on
, and the face ut my father may set
tie the question as 70 which OF the ~,
was the desperate" q this strriul
drama. In the one Is seen the grin
= soul uf cynic and misauthropc. au
. dacity In every line Of his magnifi
cent head aud mcrcicss cruelty II
his terrible mouth In the other pa
tcncc good humor and boundles
, faith In God and man, Let the rcadc
u these two faces pick the 'ruffian
Of the two.
. But for Mr.. stevens there ncye
would have been Union League. an,
but for the Union League there ncy
, ,r would have been a Ku KluX Klan
Mr. Laps y. McCord OF Tennessee
, is another man whose portrait scarccl.
bears the description of a "dcsprra
do" Clansmon M,Cord was the prinic
In the office ot the Pulaski citizen
who set the type printed and sttchcO
: the complete edition or the Ritual O
/ the order he never knew until year
/ after the author Of the manurrip
, or from whose hands hc received II
lie got one day AN anonymous lcttv
telling him to remove the middl
brick In the space beneath a ccr,al'
window In his printing office. IT.