K. K. K. Sketches, Humorous and Didactic Part 3

The Klan never did its Work by Halves--How General Orders were Transmitted--Form of General Order--Its Imbroglios with the League--Avoided Conflict with United States Troops--Ku-Klux Prosecutions a Weakness of the Courts--League Informers--K. K. K.

Intimidation of Witnesses--_Memento Mori_--Crusade of the Ermined Ranks--Misdirected Prosecutions--Obligation to Disregard Judicial Oaths when they Conflicted with the Plans and Policy of the Order--No Patch-spots in its System of Government--Weird Drill--Absenteeism not one of the Strong Points of the Brotherhood--The Klan a Bitter Enemy of those Unorganized Parties of Ruffians who made War on their kind in the former's Name--Its Right to Borrow Sympathy on this Exchange a Grave Question of Doubt--Vendettas Conducted against the "Shams."

The Klan never did its work by halves, nor never p.r.o.nounced a meaningless threat. If an individual was warned to leave the country at a certain date, there was no help for it, neither were there any extensions of time or modifications of original orders. Had members of the Order been incarcerated in a county prison for Klan offences, and a rescue been planned, the bars must yield at a certain hour. If some poor wretch was doomed by order of the Council to suffer under its laws of extradition, the weird scout was "over the borders and away" ere its absence could be noted, or electric messages sent to notify the authorities of the impending outrage.

When the Grand Wizard wished to promulgate an order, the newspapers were the medium commonly sought. His commands in the use of this means were delivered to the next in rank, and by him transmitted to the Grand Giant of the province named, an officer who maintained constant communications with the Den system. No Den was required to execute a general order within the territory which it occupied, and in but rare instances did it proceed to enforce its own _local_ measures. This force was, in almost every instance, employed beyond its own boundaries, and not unfrequently crossed the borders of the province, and even the realm to which it belonged, in the execution of raiding commands. The territorial subdivisions of the Order were each numbered according to cla.s.s, a precaution which was found to be indispensable in the transmission of "general orders." The latter were usually in the following form:

_To the Grand Cyclops of Den No. 5, Province No. 4, Realm No. 3._

Greeting: You are hereby commanded to report with your entire command to the Grand Giant of your province for duty in D. 6, P. 5, R. 4.

Speed. G. W.

These t.i.tles were not always employed in the published orders; but where they were omitted, some descriptive term equally well understood was subst.i.tuted.

The raiding force always moved in the night season, and members of the Order never exhibited themselves in the Ku-Klux role in the daytime. When the c.o.c.k crew, no churchyard edition of the animal ever sought the friendly shadow of the daisies with greater precipitancy than did the individual K. K. K. the inner chambers of the Den.

Their imbroglios were in almost all cases with the organization known as the Loyal League; but though they bore arms, and waged a campaign whose avowed object was the annihilation of this hated enemy, yet in their dealings with its members their ultimatum rarely bore an emphasis strong enough to excite the opposition of the local authorities. And to their credit it must likewise be said (a fact that was considered by the State authorities at a recent date in promulgating pardons to members of the Klan), that they avoided collisions with the United States troops, and in no instance, though frequently pursued, and sometimes driven to the wall by the exertions of the latter when employed in behalf of their enemies, were they ever known to burn powder against their country's armed servitors. Neither did they interfere with the courts of the country in administering the laws from a national standpoint, though in some instances criminals were taken from the county jails before "oyer" had been p.r.o.nounced in their cases.

Members of the Order did not, nor could not, according to their construction of Klan government, belong to the jurisdiction of the courts, more especially the Federal courts. And though trials were never interfered with until their officers had satisfied themselves that it would be impossible to convict one of its members on a charge of complicity in its affairs, yet in the event of an unfavorable verdict and attempted sentence, it is certain that resistance of some character would have been offered. Ku-Klux trials were one of the weaknesses of the courts at this period, and while numbers were arraigned on this charge who were guilty, and merited discipline, it may be safely estimated that a majority of these prosecutions were conducted against persons who were not only innocent of collusion in its affairs, but who execrated the Klan as heartily as did their over zealous inquisitors. Members of the League were the informers, and not unfrequently the only witnesses in these trials; and when it is remembered that their zeal for justice, as the blind G.o.ddess was viewed by them, burned with about equal warmth against that portion of the white population who were symbolized in this way and those who were not, the farcical nature of these proceedings in numberless instances will be understood. But when it was known that testimony had been suborned against members of the Order, the Klan proceeded to extreme lengths in construing the statute for perjury, and in visiting its penalties on the offender. Not only so, but on the eve of these judicial examinations, the Dens, as well as individual members thereof, were particularly active in the work of destroying testimony by intimidating witnesses, a common form of the threats employed being the words _memento mori_ written plainly on a blank sheet of paper, and clandestinely conveyed to the suspected party. To ignorant persons, the mystery of this latter proceeding alone went not a little way towards accomplishing the object in view.

While such precautions were taken, and no doubt proved of vast service in enabling the Order to resist that crusade of the ermined ranks to which we have referred, the leaders of the K. K. K. succeeded in obtaining, from the membership at large, a very important concession in morals affecting this subject, and one which we believe has been hitherto resisted by the draft of secret societies on this continent, viz., an obligation to disregard judicial oaths where they conflicted with the plans and policy of the Order. To ill.u.s.trate this point, a leading form of the interrogatory propounded to witnesses in these trials was: "Are you aware of the existence of a secret political organization known as the Ku Klux Klan?" and though parties thus addressed were often possessed of the most incontestable evidence of the truth sought to be elicited, it was not deemed dishonest, nor in any sense immoral, to reply negatively. The oath of secrecy which members (voluntarily) took upon themselves when they entered the Klan was supposed to extinguish the guilt of this transaction, though we are not told precisely in what way the _double entendres_ and tricks of evasion, practised by such witnesses at subsequent stages of the trial, were to be construed.

But as we shall have occasion to refer to this topic from time to time, as the work progresses, we will not at present allude further to the subject of Ku-Klux trials and their furniture of fiction.

The Klan was thoroughly organized. There were no patch-spots in its system of government. Its tactics of drill were in some sense peculiar, but it sufficiently resembled that adopted by the cavalry branch of the United States army to be mistaken for it in all the leading manoeuvres. The men were perfect in company drill, and were required to attend all Den meetings, or be a.s.sessed onerous fines or other penalties. Absenteeism was not, however, one of the strong points of the brotherhood; and a Den rarely moved towards raiding territory without its full quota of men. The raids moved with astonishing celerity--a circ.u.mstance which was rendered necessary to the most perfect secrecy of these movements, and was also imperative in view of the long distances to be traversed. The hours between twilight in the evening and dawn, according to a Medean law of the K. K. K., as we have antic.i.p.ated, could only be appropriated to this labor; and when it is explained that companies of men frequently left the Den rendezvous for raiding objectives forty miles distant, and returned to the former point without dismounting, our conclusion above will be seen to be authorized.

The Grand Cyclops was not only the chief of the Den Council and an absolutist in authority as to its domestic affairs, but was also the chief officer in command of a raid, and must have been looked to for all special directions regarding its conduct. The Exchequer possessed a similar prerogative, and became the orderly or adjutant on the march.

The Klan was the bitter enemy of those unorganized parties of ruffians who made war on their kind in the former's name, and the sum of whose villanies never failed to be debited in this way. Hardly a week pa.s.sed, during the excitement which gave rise to both, and which they, in turn, converted into a reign of terror whose strong points the Duke of Alva might have studied to advantage, in which the secret organization was not made to suffer under some such confidence arrangement; and to say that its adipose suffered under this bereavement of men's regards which it could so illy spare, will not, we fear, adequately present the situation. It, however, had placed itself in a position by which its motives were liable to be misinterpreted; and as one of its professed foibles was its ability to cover up its tracks in the least mysterious of its transactions; and, as during the French Renaissance, times a.n.a.logous to these, to wear a mask was esteemed a crime from which all other crimes might be inferred, we doubt whether its right to borrow sympathy on this exchange could be logically maintained.

But while the Klan was doomed to nurse its woes of this character in not a few instances, they proved immedicable wounds; and where the perpetrators became known, or even suspected, it conducted a vendetta against the individual conspirators which proved far more effective than all the organized efforts of the "best government."

CHAPTER IX.

THE KLAN IN TENNESSEE.

Misgovernment in Tennessee--The Loyal League and the State Administration--The K. K. K. an Outgrowth of the Conditions which the former Inspired--Rapid Development of the Order on Tennessee Soil--Its Purposes of Revenge--Legislation on the Subject--A Governor's Proclamation--Militia called out and Detectives Employed--The State p.r.o.nounced a Ku-Klux Barracks--The Loyal League in various Localities Succ.u.mbing to the New Element of Conquest--A State Council of the League Summoned to meet at Nashville--The Governor to Preside--The Secret out, and Counter Measures Resolved upon by the Rival Party--Spies sent to Nashville--League Places of Rendezvous throughout the State subjected to Espionage--A War of Extermination against the Latter--A Simultaneous Uprising of the K.

K. K. throughout the State and Concerted Raids against the L. L.

Rendezvous in various Neighborhoods--Military Accomplishments of the Grand Wizard--Subcommanders in Charge of the Expedition--Capture of Secret Papers--Ku-Klux Hollow-square--Oath administered to Captives--Success of the Undertaking--Shifting of Conditions.

As early as the spring of 1866, the head of the Order announced that the recruiting-books for the State of Tennessee showed a force of eighty thousand men; and it was here, and about this date, that some of the most eventful scenes connected with the history of the K. K. K. were enacted.

This State had been committed to League control early after peace was declared by the general government, and the bitter proscription at once inaugurated against the white race, under the combined patronage of the League and the existing State government, not only excited the strenuous opposition of all those who anch.o.r.ed their faith to the Conservative idea in politics throughout this and neighboring States, but called forth a warm protest from those disinterested partisans at the North who had recently been erected into what is known as the moderate Republican or Independent party. Disfranchis.e.m.e.nt, in its most radical form, excluded the intelligent voters of the State from all partic.i.p.ation in its affairs; tax laws came up for amendment at each session of the State legislature, and in connection with other expenses of government (for such they had become), were s.e.xtupled in the end; the most quiet and law-abiding neighborhoods were placed under military surveillance, or driven to suffer the penalty of confiscation acts whose terms might have included the entire race of mankind; and finally, every device of ignorant and intemperate legislation applied, whose effect would be to render the government unsuited to the wants of the people, and convert the latter into a body of malcontents. This end appears, indeed, to have been contemplated by the League faction at that stage of its supremacy when its attainment seemed most improbable; but when the reality, or something which very much resembled it, came upon them, they disowned the abortion, and invited their friends at the North to behold with what consistency the old rebel stump was putting forth green shoots of disunion.

We shall not express a preference for either of these bad extremes of the politics of that period, but in order to a proper understanding of the question, we deem it no impropriety to state that it was a fact well known, and ill.u.s.trated elsewhere, that wheresoever the League animal deposited its sp.a.w.n, with due regard for atmospheric conditions, the K. K.

K. insect would shortly drop its chrysalis.

In looking over the history of those times in Tennessee, the student need be at no loss in seeking out the exact causes of the Ku-Klux movement as it existed on her soil, nor of finding its dimensions from this given mean. As large as was the Klan force, it probably did not exceed the League in numbers, and had many disadvantages to meet which the latter, helped forward by its government patronage, did not regard as impediments.

But it had injuries to redress, burning wrongs to avenge, and cherishing these incentives, it laughed at legislative penalties, and burned to join battle with those dispensers of Ku-Klux halters who dealt in this and like judicial pleasantries at their expense.

Having had its birth in the western district of the State, where the elements of a rapid growth were found, it was quickly communicated to the central counties and the neighborhood of the capital, and finding its way thence over the c.u.mberland Mountains--before its presence was even suspected in that loyal quarter--developed a shamrock growth on the soil of East Tennessee. Within three months from the time the first Den was organized on her territory, the K. K. K. had reached its highest growth in numbers and strength of resources, and announced itself ready and anxious to meet the army in buckram, whom it a.s.serted represented the cause of misgovernment on Tennessee soil. Its plans were quickly developed, and the destruction of a half dozen or more dark-lantern societies, which lay more on the surface of things than was thought to be polite, alarmed the State functionaries, and called attention to their proceedings in a form quite as disagreeable as the most ultra of the party could have desired. The subject first came before the legislature, and steps were taken which it was presumed would "put a head on the monster" (to literally quote one of the Buncombe addresses before that august body), but the indescribable nonchalance of the proceedings, which seemed directed at a child's toy-house rather than a nest of boa constrictors, only excited the K.'s to new activity. A Governor's proclamation was next called for; soon afterwards secret measures were inst.i.tuted looking to the employment of a force of detectives; and finally, the militia were summoned to a.s.semble, but, despite all, the crooked wonder grew, and the more industrious the efforts put forth to curtail its existence the more it grew and the greater the occasion it saw for this exertion.

In the summer of this year, the members of the legislature of Tennessee, in council a.s.sembled, p.r.o.nounced the State a Ku-Klux barracks, and resolved themselves unsafe in their granite citadel at Nashville. The League head-quarters in various parts of the State were succ.u.mbing one by one to the new element of conquest, and, indeed, the State seemed on the eve of a revolution, by which, if no more serious results were attained, its territory would be rendered untenable for that cla.s.s of its population which was known to its enemies as the dark-lantern faction. In this emergency, the leaders of the L. L. resolved to call a State council of the Order, over whose deliberations the Governor should preside, and whose object would be to devise ways and means for the destruction of their troublesome enemies. Great preparations were made accordingly, and without divulging their plans, it was resolved, at the conclusion of the secret proceedings, to hold a ma.s.s meeting at the capital which should review the whole subject. This body a.s.sembled at the specified date, but not before the rival party had become fully acquainted with its plans and purposes, and in convention a.s.sembled resolved upon counter measures.

On the very evening which the Council had set apart for its introductory proceedings (in the city of Nashville), the indefatigable K.'s had issued commands throughout the State requiring every member of the Order to report at his Den head-quarters for special service. A force of spies was dispatched to the neighborhood of the League Council, and the brief period which was to elapse before the Solons would arrive and enter upon the solemn business in hand was appropriated by these secret agents, and their co-conspirators in other neighborhoods, to the work of obtaining information from deserters, chance prisoners, etc., as to the exact location and surroundings of the League places of rendezvous throughout the State. Indeed, while the League had busied itself with a very red conflagration devoted to the Ku-Klux fat, whensoever they should overtake that slippery substance, the much persecuted "krookeds" had doubled back on them, and only awaited a fair wind to convert their little game into a "double reversible," quite as complicated as any that had dawned upon the patent-machine mind previous to that date.

A war of extermination against the League had been resolved upon months before by the leaders of the Klan, but a favorable moment for a decisive blow, or the emergency requiring it, had not arrived, until both were visible in the proposed State council of the Order and the objects it would consider. Now, destiny seemed rushing upon them, and the time almost too brief to make an intelligent feint on the enemy's front. But promptness of stratagem, and rapid development of pa.s.sing advantages, was perhaps the strongest point in the military character of the distinguished leader of this movement, for where others halted, awed by the proportions of an undertaking, or the suddenness of combinations effected in their front, he only felt an inspiration to go forward. The force which partic.i.p.ated in the attack on the evening of ---- 19th, 1866, did not fall far short of one hundred thousand men, and yet, thirty-six hours previous to this time, the occasion had not presented itself to the mind of the veteran who planned the attack as suitable therefor. A well organized and lightly-equipped force proved unquestionably a _sine qua non_ in rendering the dispositions of the commander successful; but we doubt if it would be fair to subtract this circ.u.mstance from the glory of the undertaking, if the reader is informed that it had been developed from the same ingenious source with special reference thereto.

In the attack which followed, each Den const.i.tuted an independent force, and was under the immediate command of the Grand Cyclops. Indeed, no other officer was known on the field, though it was sufficiently apparent, at the time, that each had received his allotted task from a superior, and it was afterwards divulged that they had acted under written orders. At ten o'clock precisely, the commands moved (from the various points of rendezvous selected), and were allotted one hour to each ten miles of distance to be traversed. They were in full uniform, and though they carried arms, were commanded not to fire, nor to return a fire, except under orders. _En route_ they avoided public roads and dense settlements, and on approaching their destination changed the order of march (by twos) to close column by fours, when the command was "charge." After the building, which formed the object of attack, came in view, no time was to be lost, and its investment completed as rapidly as possible. Attempted refugees were to be forced back within the walls, and in no event was an escape to be permitted. A party of six resolute men were detached from each squadron for special duty, in securing the papers, books, and other written doc.u.ments of the League meeting, and this movement was so far pivotal in its character, that their comrades were commanded to keep their proceedings in view, and be ready at a signal to render them a.s.sistance.

After a thorough search of the premises had been accomplished, the dismounted men without were commanded to take their station within the building, and form the hollow-square of the order.

As so much has been said concerning this feature of their drill, and so little really known, we give the exact figure in the cut below. It may be imitated by arranging two letters K with their backs to each other, and doubtless originated from this device.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ku-Klux Hollow-square.]

This ghostly evolution having been performed, and the trembling Leaguers finding themselves invested at every point, the Grand Cyclops had orders to ascend the rostrum, and from that elevated position deliver to the (constructive) culprits an oath whose princ.i.p.al features were as follows: To forever abjure all allegiance to the secret organization known as the Loyal League; to cease to employ the elective franchise as an instrument of oppression against the white population of the State; to forsake the acquaintance of all men, irrespective of party, who sought to profit by their votes; and finally, to abstain, under pain of the severest penalties; from all efforts to investigate or otherwise disturb the mystical beings who stood before them, and who, at some future time, if deemed expedient, would accord them further and more convincing proofs of their ghostly genealogy. This command having been executed, the lights were to be blown out at a signal, and the parties, disappearing by the most secret routes possible, to hasten forward to a point of rendezvous one mile distant.

Such was the plan of campaign resolved upon by the Grand Wizard and his advisers; and that it was successful in every particular is a fact which we need hardly repeat, in view of the numerous hints conveyed in the written history of those times. While the State Council of the Loyal League was guessing itself dry over the great "konundrum," and, at the same time, making such a _sine die_ disposition of its remains as was rendered feasible by broadsides of eloquence and sixthlies of courageous resolve, that lively "korps(e)" had frisked from its abode, and with the alacrity of a "monkey on a trapeze-bar" (in the language of the oil-regions) "went through them."

CHAPTER X.

THE LOYAL LEAGUE IN COUNCIL.

Speech of Hon. Bones b.u.t.ton before the State Council of the Loyal League--What followed--Amusing Contretemps.

Mr. Cheermon, and Gemmens: Der crisis am upon us. I repeats, surs, and wishes dat dis obserwashun should sink down into de conclusibness ob ebery individooal who heers me. Der Ku--crisis am upon us. As a member of dis spectifle body, I am de las' pusson who would wish to use my perfesshun to cover up dis sollum trufe. We is stannin', Mr. Cheermon, upon de ragged confouns ob de b.l.o.o.d.y kazzum; and I repeats, dat de question for us to solve dis ebenin' is: Shall we go fowards, or be pushed fowards.

[Sensation.] Fur be it frum me to "sing de song ob de sirum" when de liberties ob de black man am inwaded, and de na.s.shumal honor is bein'

piled in de dust by de rabble (rebel) a.s.stocracy. But, surs, lookin' up to de umbragus folds ob dat spar-strangled banner, I is impressed with anoder conclushun, and it is in dese wurds follerin, to wit: We is occupyin' de ticklish edge ob a dillemmer, in de lite ob which de man who crossed de Rubimcom am but a faint epistle. Yes, my spectifle feller-bredren, to use a catephoricle flower ob de tropics, we have arriv' at a t.i.te spot. We am obfusticated, so to speak. [a.s.senting groans throughout the a.s.sembly.] Den de riddle for us to read dis ebenin', in de light ob dese distressin'

surk.u.mstances, is: What ar' to be did? In addressin' de collectiv' wisdum of dis orguss resemblage, I axes, is we to go fowards? Is we to wait till de nex' ebenin' or de nex' year? Is we to fold our hans behind our bax, and hole our bref suspinely until de Klu-Krux animile has squatted hisself squar' down on our liberties? Is we, I ax, to b.u.mp down in de middle ob dat rode whar' de Klu-Krux Juggernox goes tootin' majestercally along over de dethroned carca.s.ses ob de black man, and whar you may holler peace!

peace! but you can't be heard; and you wouldn't be notissed if you was.

But, Mr. Cheermon, before perceedin' fudder wid de docturnal pints of dis discusshun, I shall have sumfin to say in respex to Klu-Krux-Klam from a scienticular pint of obserwashun. How is dis, I ax? Whar is de gettin' out place, de tail, so to speak, of dis conundrum? [A pause, during which several members are observed to scratch their heads meditatively.] Dar am a proverb which says, "Ketch a Klu-Krux before you puts him to _def_," or words to dat effec. Dat feature of de bizness I disposes to ten' to in pusson, Mr. Cheermon, and if I can git de contention of de brilyunt dissembly what sits in judgment upon dis and oder topics dis ebenin', I will open de merits of dis opinyun to de verymost chile in understandin'.

Sposen dat we takes dese wurds, "Klu Krux Klam," as dey 'peers in de original Greek, and transplants dem into de original Inglish. Take de word Klu, dat wurd about which dare has been so much unsiantickle sputin, and what is dare in it? Is dare an individooal under de soun' of my voice who duzzent know de orfograthy of a wurd of three monysimples? Is dare, I axes, in dis orguss body, a pusson who is sich a babe in understandin' dat he duzzent know dat b-a-k-e-r spells baccer? Den I say to my spectifle feller-sitterzens, dat if you will take de wurd Klu, and hang its ole fashyun'd Inglish close on it, dat it will spell "clew," and if dat is so, what fudder clew could you have to dis whole subjec'? [A member here rose to a point of order, objecting to the "orfograthy" of the Hon. Bones'

premise, and claiming that the word under discussion was not "klu," but "ku." There is no telling what this might have resulted in, if the individual had been provided with doc.u.mentary proof of his statement; but as he was not, he was compelled to retire amid the jeers of the audience and the loud taunts of the speaker, who elevated himself on a bench in order that his rhetoric in this instance might have its full effect.] Den, my feller-sitterzens, if de wurd "klu" means what it says it duz, de wurd "krux" means krux, and de wurd "klam" means klam--dat is to say, if the wurd klu means _clew_, neither of dese wurds means nuffin'. Dat pint is suffishuntly clur to a man up a tree, and no doubt is understood by de gemmen who spells "klu" widout a l.

But, c.u.mmin' back to de merits of de discushun, I disposes now, Mr.

Cheermon, to angeline de word klu, which, as I has before tuk occashun to say, is de clew to dis whole mystery. Let us taik de consummant k, which is de indecks letter, and pints to what follers. Duz dis letter have any siggerfication apart from its connectin' links in dis wurd, or duz it hav such a siggerfication? I beleevs dat de intellumgence of every pusson in dis orgunce, if I may except one individooal, will bar me out dat it duz.

Dat pint bein' settled in a excloosive way, which, I may sugges', is much de smallest part of de wurk, we must now perceed to find de siggerfication aforesed, and de logickle delusions upon which it rests. What, may I ax, duz de letter k stan' fur? Duz it stan' for cow? Is dare a pusson in dis orgunce, who will lif' his head and dissert that k stans for cow? Wall, if it duzzent stan' for cow, is it a far prejux for crow? Would a cup set on its flatness, Mr. Cheermon, with rich a handle as k to it? Will the gemmen who spells klu widout a l, pertend to spell cat widout a c? I persoom not.

Wall, then, my feller-sitterzens, if k duzzent stan' for cow; if it is too crooked for cup; if it wooldn't spell crow widout bein' turned wrong side foremos'; if it duzzent suit the gemmen's noshuns of cat; an' is too crooked and not crooked enough for "crooked," den what, may I ax, duz dis unekest of alfybetic frenonymongs outline wid de adumkate purpyscruity. If it am eber used as de forefix fur knife, knot, k.n.o.b, knock-under, and sich like, it ar' bekase its crookedness let it out'n de rite paf, and not 'kase it felt called on in de way of tendin' to its own bizness.