Part 9

He was a brave fellow, and only at the urgent solicitation of Elfie, did he decide to quit his former residence, after the scourging above alluded to. But he went to Gaston County, found occupation readily and pursued his labor faithfully. The old love of "freedom of opinion" went with him, and his zeal for his colored fellow brethren soon cropped out, in his new location. He was "warned" to leave Hoylestown, just as he had been compelled by the mandate of the Klan to flee from Moore County, but refused to go.

On the night of February 7, 1871, Aleck was sitting with his family before the fire in his little cabin, after a hard day's work; and the children were about the room, one of the little girls being at the moment beside his knee. The mother was busy getting the homely evening meal ready, and was just in the act of removing from before the glowing fire the pone and hoe cakes for supper, when the door of the hut flew open, suddenly, a musket shot rang out, and _she_ fell head-foremost in upon the blazing logs, with a bullet through her brain!

Aleck sprang from his stool, caught his wife in his arms, and drew her out of the flames upon the floor. She never spoke from that instant, and, amid the screams of the terrified children, Aleck found himself in the gripe of two or three disguised ruffians, who entered in advance of half a dozen others of the Klan, who quickly pinioned him, and informed him that "his time had come."

His wife, whom he tenderly loved, lay dead before his startled and dumfounded gaze, and he could not command himself to speak for a moment. Then he commenced to struggle with the brutes, the screams of his little ones bringing him back to himself. "What is this for," he exclaimed. "Come along!" was the sharp reply of the leader of the gang, "You're played out, and now you're _our_ meat!" And they swiftly bore the wretched father out of the hut, and away from his slaughtered wife and horrified crying babes.

Aleck was taken to the woods, half a mile distant, where the gang tore and cut his clothes off of him, and then proceeded to flay him, in accordance with the decision of the Camp in that county; the members of which had first been put upon his track by members of the Moore County Klan. Upon this second visitation, the edict was to "whip the nigger to death." And they did the bidding of their leader, as the sequel proved, to the letter. He was cut and slashed, and beaten until the breath of life was almost gone out of his poor defenceless body, and then their victim was hurled into the chapparal, and left to the night wolves of the forest to devour.

It sometimes occurs that our strength increases in proportion to the strain that is imposed upon it. Wounds and rough hardship enure the sturdy, and provoke their courage, oftentimes, and there is a natural instinct in the heart of man, which, under the severest trials and abuses, steels his very nerves _not_ to yield to the heaviest blows of calamity or adversity--mental or physical.

Aleck was brave-hearted to a fault. He was likewise physically courageous, and could bear the worst kind of punishment, ordinarily, without flinching. He was now vanquished, for hours he lay like one who had "given up the ghost," beyond conjecture. Still he did not die until the following night. He was providentially discovered by some negroes, in the woods, taken to his cabin, and brought to consciousness.

Before he expired he told his dreadful story to four witnesses, who gave it in substance to the United States authorities, as we have now stated the details; but unfortunately--on account of the disguises of his heartless tormenters and murderers--he could give no description that pointed to the personal identity of the offenders.

He learned that his wife was dead, before his own lamp of life went out, and simply asking of the colored friends who gathered about his death-bed-side, that the humble pair might be laid in the same grave, poor Aleck Noye sank to his final rest, and yielded up his spirit to the God who gave it. The children were taken away by some of the poor neighbors who esteemed the quadroon family for their virtues, and universal kindness towards them, and thus closed another awful tragedy in North Carolina--of which over six hundred came under the knowledge of the United States District Attorney, in a single county, (not all of them fatal, to be sure), and which have been duly reported by him, officially, within a comparatively limited period, since the close of the war.

Is there no "combination of purpose or design" in all these instances of wrong? Does there exist "no organization among these men" for evil? And have these terrible doings no "political significance" as is asserted in the minority Report of the Congressional Committee upon the Ku Klux Klan outrages? In the face of this accumulated, overwhelming, damning evidence--will _any_ one believe that the Honorable gentlemen (who have put forth this paper in opposition to the majority Report of that Committee), are not themselves convinced that all this is true; and that not one half of the shocking story of the infamy of this wretched Klan has been told?

Will it be impressed upon the minds of the public of this enlighted nation, North or South, through any sophistry, argument or theorising, that all these living witnesses and victims are liars, and perjurors? Have not these events occurred? And if so, what is the _cause_ of the wrong doing? It happens, unfortunately, for the "Union Democracy," who flout at these accounts of the doings of the Klans, that none _but_ Radicals or negroes are assailed. And also that _never_ has a Radical been found associating with these Ku Klux midnight marauders and, butchers, in an attack upon one of their victims! Is there "no political significance" in this fact?

It is simply idle to propose such a fallacious and utterly groundless doctrine. The fact is patent, and the matter is clear as that the sun shines over the earth at mid-day--to the mind of every intelligent being who can see or read--that the opponents of the Republican party, in the guise of Ku Klux Klans, supported unblushingly by the "Union Democracy" of the country, and their Democratic allies, are the combined movers, operators, sustainers and abettors of this crusade, and that their first and last and continuous aim and hope is to weaken or destroy the Radical sentiment in the land.

Thus far, however, thanks be to God! the American people have not been deceived by the theories or the assertions of those who would tear down the fabric of our wholesome Republican Government. And far distant be the day when such attempts to overturn that government may succeed. "There is a right way for us and for our children, and the hand of God is upon all them for good, that seek him; but his wrath is against all them that forsake him."... And it is written, that "he who shunneth iniquity and oppression, and followeth after righteousness, alone findeth life, righteousness and honor."

THEN AND NOW.

THE NATION'S SALVATION!

The outrages narrated in the preceding pages are ample for the purposes of this work, in giving such authenticated facts as show the existence of a deep-seated conspiracy against law, and the well-being of society.

They have been selected at random, from hundreds of similar instances that have come under the personal observation of the writer, and that bear with them the same irrefutable evidences of the truth, and serve to enable the general reader to comprehend the awful scenes that have been enacted in various parts of the South since the close of the war of the Rebellion.

In the light of these outrages, and the positive manner in which the responsibility of their authorship has been fixed upon those who had determined to ride into power, even though fraud and violence were necessary to that end, who shall say that the unfortunate South has not suffered vastly more from its pretended friends than from those whom, by corrupt means, its people had been led to suppose were their worst enemies.

Under the pernicious rule of Andrew Johnson, the disturbing elements of the South gathered renewed hope for the final success of the ambitious aspirations which had been dissipated by a long and bloody war. That which had been lost to them through the unswerving integrity of our great captains in the field, they thought would be secured through the treason of the traitor in the Cabinet, and they marshalled their forces with that end in view, and initiated a reign of terror, such as had hitherto been unknown even in the darkest hours of adversity within the history of the Republic.

The accession of General Grant to the presidency, caused a halt in this wild and mad career, and there was a momentary lull in the operations of the conspirators. It remained to be seen whether one, coming so fresh from the people--a plain and unassuming man, although laden with honors second to that of no military chieftain of ancient or modern time--would be indifferent to the cry for help which was coming up from all parts of the then famished land, and fail to apply the appropriate remedy, or whether he would appreciate the true situation of affairs there, and would be able to say to the disturbing elements of the South, in language which they could not well mistake: LET US HAVE PEACE.

Time, which gives the just solution to the most intricate of social and political problems, has informed the nation that it had not long to remain in doubt. The results thus far attained, show the elaboration of a plan, conceived in wisdom, founded upon reason and righteousness, and prosecuted with an even regard for the rights of all, that has commended itself to civilization everywhere.

The writer has taken especial pains to ascertain, from persons well versed in the political situation at this juncture, the policy to be pursued by this Administration, and the wisdom of which seems to have been amply verified by what followed. The plan to be adopted, they state, was decided upon only after the most mature deliberations into which the counsels of the best minds of the country were called. It was necessary that the condition of affairs in the South should be arrived at with an accuracy that would place the information sought to be obtained beyond all doubt as to its genuineness and reliability, as the only means by which such an intelligent and comprehensive understanding of the evil could be obtained as would enable President Grant to inforce the laws applicable to the case, or, in the absence of such, to recommend to Congress the enactment of those commensurate with the magnitude of the subject. This was accordingly done.

Agents for the work were selected, with no reference whatever to their political principles. They were placed under the general charge of a competent officer, in whose judgment great confidence was reposed, and were instructed to get at the facts regardless of political bias.

Each one of these agents supposed that he had been sent on a special mission to ascertain if a certain condition of affairs, said to exist in a certain locality, did so exist, and had not the remotest idea that several others had been sent on similar missions to sections of the Southern country remote from his field of operations.

The evidence of the existence of an armed organization, pernicious in its policy and its tendencies, and looking to the disruption of society and the compelling of the adoption of political principles obnoxious to the people upon whom they were attempted to be forced, came in from all quarters. The reports differed in minor details, but had a general correspondence that was remarkable.

Some of these agents--and to whom the writer is indebted for many of the facts herein contained--stated that all strangers in the localities visited by them were looked upon with the greatest suspicion, and they soon learned that the security of their lives depended largely upon the enunciation of principles according with the Democracy; that the word democrat was the _open sesame_ to the confidence of the leading spirits in the various communities through which they passed; that Democracy in the South meant rebellion, and that Ku Kluxism meant both, and they governed themselves accordingly.

To attain the object, and get the most comprehensive view possible of the condition of the people, these men, for the time being, were "Democrats," and "Rebels," and would gladly be "Ku Klux." By adroit and skillful management they procured themselves to be initiated into the various orders of the K. K. K., and were enabled thus to discover the numbers, resources, operations, designs, and ultimate purposes of the same. The names and residences of the victims, the outrages committed by the Klan, were also obtained, until an array was presented that almost challenged belief.

The information was full, thorough, and reliable. It left no longer room for doubt. Action--vigorous and energetic action--based upon laws enacted with special reference to the evil to be met, must be had. The suffering sons and daughters of the South demanded it; the cause of human justice and human freedom demanded it; the enforcement of the rights of the recently emancipated bondmen demanded it; and in the interest of law and order everywhere throughout the land, there came a demand for the adoption of such measures as would save the people of the South from themselves, and thus verify the scriptural saying:

"And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy, and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant, saith the Lord."

It was evident that if they were left to their own devices, the people must fall into complete anarchy and ruin. Urgent as were these demands, nothing could be done hastily. The salvation of a people and the well being of a nation was in the balance, and the most profound and mature deliberation was necessary at every step.

It was wisely deemed by the Executive that a continuation of the policy adopted by him at the outset of his official career with regard to all sections of the country would apply to this, viz., the judicious enforcement of appropriate laws, enacted with special reference to the existing emergency. This was considered a measure which, while it could give no just grounds of offense to _any_, would afford the most available means for securing the rights of _all_, and attaining the desired end. There must be no halting by the wayside. The noblest and best blood of the nation had been expended for a purpose not yet accomplished. Nothing save the complete restoration of order, the harmonization of conflicting elements, and the vindication of the rights of _all_ to their own individual opinion, and the expression of the same through the ballot-box, as their conscience might dictate, could be in any manner commensurate with this great sacrifice.

The words of a just and righteous God to a suffering people must be redeemed: "And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee and thou shalt take thy rest in safety; also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid."

On the 23d of March, 1871, President Grant sent to Congress a message, in which he touched delicately but unmistakably upon this subject, as follows:

_"A condition of affairs now exists in some of the States of the Union rendering life and property insecure, and the carrying of the mails and the collection of the revenue dangerous. The proof that such a condition of affairs exists in some localities is now before the Senate. That the power to correct these evils is beyond the control of State authorities, I do not doubt. That the power of the Executive of the United States, acting within the limits of existing laws, is sufficient for present emergencies is not clear."_

It was further suggested that such legislation should be had as would secure life, liberty, and property in all parts of the United States; and in pursuance of this recommendation, an act was passed by Congress, and approved April 20th, 1871, entitled, "An Act to enforce the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes."

This was a blow under which the various orders of the Ku Klux Klans reeled and staggered like quivering aspens. The leaders of these Klans had so long disregarded law as to come to think, apparently, that they were no longer amenable to it, and might be a law unto themselves. They predicted that any attempt to interfere with them would lead to results in comparison with which the scenes enacted during the war of the rebellion would sink to insignificance; but, as the results have thus far shown, they had reckoned without their host.

They sought to stand upon something like tenable ground and to fortify their position before the world, by arguments that were worn threadbare long before the war of the Rebellion, and they failed most signally. Their fallacious reasonings were impotent to justify their acts, and they neither enlisted the sympathies, nor gained the support of those to whom they appealed.

The march of progressive republicanism, irresistible in the force of its teachings, and the spread of the God-like principles of truth, justice, and equality among men, without distinction of race or color, which had _then_ encountered the fiercest obstruction within the power of the slaveocracy to throw in its way, _now_ swept over the country, uprooting the tyrannical oligarchy of the South, tearing asunder the flimsy veil behind which the great wrongs done to the bondmen were sought to be hid, and destined, in its onward course, to remove every vestige of those pernicious principles so inimical to sound doctrine and the stability of governments.

The results produced by the spread of these principles, and the enforcement of the laws based thereon, can hardly be estimated. Taking the condition of the Southern States both before and after the war--

THEN AND NOW--

and we have an array of facts in support of these principles, surpassing all theories and arguments.

THEN, only white male citizens, twenty-one years of age and over, were voters.

NOW, _all_ male citizens of twenty-one years and over, having the necessary qualifications of residence, etc., have the right of suffrage.

THEN, voting was _viva voce_.

NOW, it is by ballot.

THEN, there was no registry of voters.

NOW, all electors are required to register before voting.

THEN, "returning officers," and those issuing commissions, were bound by the arithmetical results of the polls, and were required to give the commission or certificate of election to the person having the highest number of votes.

NOW, there are boards of canvassers who are required not only to count the returns, but to pass upon questions of violence and fraud, and to exclude returns from precincts where they find the elections to have been controlled by such means.

THEN, the basis of representation was property, or property and slaves, or slaves by enumerating three-fifths of all.

NOW, it is all the _inhabitants_ of the land.

THEN, white male citizens, and, in some localities, property holders only, were eligible to office.

NOW, _all_ male citizens, save the few under disabilities by the Constitution of the United States, are eligible.

Coming down to a later period in the history of the country, from the time when the death of the lamented Lincoln had left the Republic in the hands of its worst enemies, to the presidential election in 1868, and what is the situation?

THEN, the leaders had succeeded in ripening the people for a revolution against law and order, if that were necessary for the maintenance of issues, differing in character, but similar in design and spirit, to those sought to be gained by the war of the rebellion.

THEN, a reign of terror had been inaugurated in the community which compelled the tacit acquiescence of those who, desiring to express their opinions, were denied the right through the fear of social and political ostracism and physical violence.

THEN, the Government was in the hands of Andrew Johnson, and the hopes of good and just men everywhere, in all sections of the country, of arriving at a peaceful solution of the difficulties through reconstruction, were blasted, and gave no signs of verification in fruition.

THEN, the same spirit was rampant that plunged the country into a sanguinary war, and did not hesitate to express itself in a determined resistance to the new order of things produced by that war.

THEN, men embraced and kissed their wives and children at night, as if leaving them for a far-off journey, not knowing, when they lay down, whether they should awake to peaceful sunlight or to a cabin strewn with the bodies of the loved ones.

THEN had begun the first fruits of the great judgments through which the people were eventually to pass, and by which alone, it appeared they could be redeemed.

AND NOW CAME THE PROMISE of a new order of things. The political situation of the country had changed. The reins of government passed into the hands of men of whom much was expected. Three years have intervened. The false issues that had been raised among the masses are _now_ being swept away. The disorganizing elements are tottering to a fall, and those who had fostered them are seeking to excuse and palliate their course.

They complain that the civil government of the Southern States had passed into the hands of carpet-baggers, who had been forced upon them, who were engaged in plundering the people, encouraging the negroes to pillage and destroy the property of the country, and placing them in positions where they could rule over white men.

But this was not in any manner the real trouble. The same oppressive spirit that actuated these men during the days when slavery was a recognized institution among them, still obtained. Neither the men of the South nor the sojourners from the North were allowed in those days to freely express their opinions, if those opinions chanced to be in opposition to slavery.

What was treason _then_ against the social and political rights of these would-be-masters of a race, is treason _now_ in their minds; for they have not yet learned to tolerate the free expression of sentiments in such exact antipodes to their early educational training.

To preach the principles of republicanism, to advocate the education of the negro, to urge his right to the elective franchise, were deemed seditious practices, and were opposed _then_ just as they are _now_; there is simply a difference in the mode by which this opposition is manifested.

THEN, it was by argument, supported by local and Federal legislation.

NOW, it is by violence, and the subversion of all law.

THEN the North reasoned and counselled with the South; endeavored to show them the great wrongs done to the bondman, and that the nation could not prosper under the terrible curse of slavery.

NOW the strong arm of the Government is put forth to compel a respect for the rights accorded to _all_ under the law; a situation which, it appears, nothing but the determined front presented by the Administration will lead the people of the South finally to accept.

The efforts of the wicked leaders to misguide the masses are persistent. Many right-minded people of the South are misled by the false statements put forth by those who should, and do know, better, and the pernicious results of whose influence time and the dissemination of truthful intelligence can alone eradicate.

In many instances Republicans have been elected to office, and these are the so-called carpet-baggers. In some localities negroes and mulattoes have been elevated to places of power and trust, and, for this, the people of the South are largely indebted to their own willful neglect.