Year: 1864

JOuruMeHG All memUcrS were pTeScuC
The examination of VIM Clayton
! Government witness in the case of I'll


FL. Dodd. was completed this morning


he stated that the Township Temple was


subordinate to the County Temple; the


County Temple sent delegates to the


Grand Council, which met at Chicago in


July last; Mccartney and Griffith were
appointed as such delegates, who, on their


return, spoke of the appointments of a


military commander, whose name was not


known to any person but himself, and


who reported him to our Temple we did


not know anything of the removal of Sec


rotary at the meeting of tho Supreme
Council in Chicago in August last |


knew nothing of it except what | have
seen in the papers; he was informed that


only the Order in Missouri, Illinois, In-


diana and Ohio could be depended on, in


case of an uprising, because the other


States were not thoroughly organized /;


the witness understood the purpose of the


Order to be to help the South in case of
an outbreak he had conversed with rcb-
els from Missouri, who asked if they
would help them in an invasion Of Hi
nois, and he said some would the wit


ness understood the obligation he had ta-


ken in the Vestibule degree to "ta ke up
arms in the cause Of the oppressed in my
country first of all, against any monarch,
prince, potentate, power or government
usurped, which may be found in arms
and waging war against a people or peo-
pies who are endeavoring to establish or
have inaugurated a government for them
selves, etc, to refer TO the present war !;
that the South were oppressed, and the
Government and its army the Govern
ment usurped this was the common be-
lief in the Order, and it was to oppose the
Government as an usurpation, as we'll as
if its members were pushed pretty hard
by the draft The cross examination did
not damage the witness in the least.


Wesley Trantor, witness for the Gov
ernment, testified as follows: Reside at
Shoals Station. Martin County, Ind;
was formerly in the 18th regiment of In
diana Volunteers discharged for disabil-
ity; had been member of the Order of
the Knights Of the Golden Circle or Cir
Gle Of Honor joined at Shoals Station
There were forty or fifty members in this
temple had attended their meeting; their
object at first was stated to be to organize
and revive the Democratic party, and to
oppose the Administration, and to ascer-
tain what force they could muster the
officers and members said great deal a
bout the usurpations and tyranny of the
and about preparing to re-
sist oppression; some of the members had
rifles and shot guns, and two boxes of re-
yolvers were sent to the organization, and
a man by the name Of Coffin helped car
ry the boxes, which were marked as jew
elry Toward the last part of 1853 the
organization seemed to die, but in Janu
ary, 1864, the matter seemed to revive,
and the members of the Order were mott
fed that meeting of the greatest impor-
tance was to be held, and that all should
attend. Que John w Stone was the
speaker at the meeting; he said the Circle
of Honor had been reorganized, aud was
to be called by different name; he had
a little book or ritual with him, which
Stone said came from jeff Davis contain
ing the laws and regulations of the Order;
the new Order was called Knights of the
Golden Circle he said they were in com
munication with the Confederate author
tiles, and that the Order was preparing
to do something that would be felt; their
first organization was a kind of feeler
Stone said that the organization would
make simultaneous attack upon Indi-
annapolis, Springfield, Ill, and st. Louis;
they were to make dash with such arms
as they had, seize the arsenal, and by
this means arm themselves more complete
ly; Stone said there was no doubt they
would be able to capture these places, as
the United States soldiers were mostly to
the front; he said that when these places
were seized, it would wake up the friends
of liberty in Kentucky, Missouri and else
where, and the organization would have
such standing and character that the
Lincoln government would be checked !;
he reminded them that Old Abe was so
scared that he stopped the draft; "but, ;"
said he, eve viii give him something


worse to be scared for than that !" he said
that jeff Davis had three times offered to
compromise, but no notice was taken of
it. but that now JEFF Davis with the as
sistauce that could be; offered him from
the North, would force the Lincoln Gov
ernment, that would bring peace to this
country; the uprising was to be made not
far from the lst of April; Governor Nor
ton was to be visited before the attack by
a person who signed his name NJ. u. and


he was not to live long after that; Stone
said he guessed he would take sick and
die when the attack was to be made here


there would be general advance OF the


Rebel armies, and General Lee was to at.


tack Washington City; at the close OF


Stones remarks, some fifteen additional
members were enrolled in the order
each man getting two members 10


stand as his sponsors they were bound
- II a. tba ohliuations laid down