THE KLAN.
A Stirring Episode--Raising the Dead--Night-Hawk Abroad--Moving
toward the Rendezvous--Grand Cyclops of Den No. 5--Forming the Magic
Circle--Raiding Command--K. K. K. Drill--On the March--The _Tout
Ensemble_ of a Raiding Body--Weird Costuming--Arms and
Accoutrements--Banners Inscribed with the K. K. K. Escutcheon--How
the Scene Impressed Beholders.
In the month of November, A. D. 1866, in that portion of Western Tennessee
known to dwellers as the Kentucky purchase, was enacted a scene which
possessed romantic features entitling it to rank with the most exquisite
fancies of Lamartine or Moore, and which, conscious of our inability to
improve on its smallest detail, is presented to the reader without any
fictitious adornment whatever.
In one of the apartments of the elegant mansion of Paul Thorburn, Esq.,
was assembled a company of pale watchers, who seemed thoroughly enlisted
in behalf of their sick charge--an adult son of this gentleman, who for
weeks had been prostrated by a virulent fever. It was plainly to be seen
from the countenances of the good Samaritans who had been lingering near
the couch--but now conversed apart, or telegraphed signals to those who
waited without--that all hope of the invalid's recovery had vanished.
Since the physician had passed from the apartment, whispering an attendant
that he would return no more, the furniture of the room had been
readjusted as if in obedience to the crisis in the affairs of its owners;
that portion of the attendants who lingered had left their seats, and
stood with folded arms and reclined heads, and the entire surroundings
wore that abstracted and melancholy air which the reader cannot fail to
have associated in fancy with such scenes.
The mother of the young man, pale and distraught from long weeping, had
imprinted a kiss of heartbreaking farewell on the brow of her son, and
removed her station to a neighboring window, whence she looked out upon
the autumn landscape, and anon, as if seeking aid from afar, up at the
pale empress of night, which, as it neared the meridian, projected great
bars of golden light into the apartment. Her attitude had not changed for
many minutes, as if the burden of grief that pressed inwardly upon her had
taken away the power of motion, and now reclined against the casement--in
form and feature immobile as sculptured Psyche, the tableau engrossed the
attention of all who lingered in the vicinity. It may have been, too, that
by means of that subtle, unperceivable line of communications, established
between the emotions of beings and coming events which are to effect
their destinies, a signal had been telegraphed to the waiting company;
for from the moment that they had been attracted towards this scene, their
gaze had not once been removed from the form of the pale watcher, who
suddenly, and as if wrought upon by the conditions of some outward wonder,
developed a strong twitching of the facial muscles, and a dilatation of
the pupils of the eye, which took in the landscape in the direction of the
public road; then a nervousness of manner, betokening strong inward
excitement; then an expansion of frame, whose lineaments, clear cut
against the bas-relief of starlight, took on Titanic proportions; and
instantly, as if in keeping with this strange pantomime, a hush, deep,
all-pervading, filled the apartment, broken at length by an audible sigh
from the couch of the invalid, followed by the frightened whisper,
"Mother!" The reply, exploded in clear, ringing tones, was addressed to
nobody, transfixed everybody, and started waves of sound that chased each
other through every nook and angle of the large building--"Ku Klux!"
Six hours before the occurrence narrated here, a solitary horseman,
mounted on a strong charger, might have been seen galloping along the
highways, and thridding the bridle-paths of the voting precinct, since
famous as Crow Hide township. Except a brace of pistols attached to the
pommel of his saddle, and a something in his deportment which said as
plainly as words, "stand out of the way," there was nothing in the
appearance of the cavalier to excite special wonder; yet he succeeded so
well in drawing upon himself the attention of mortality thereabouts that
there was scarce an inhabitant in all Crow Hide who had not obtained a
glimpse of himself, or his foam-flecked steed, as they flashed by,
convoyed by clouds of dust, and imprecated by all the choristers of the
farm-yard. The windows of habitations along the route were thrown open ere
the apparition was fairly in sight; children at play were attracted by the
strange cynosure, and hurried to obtain counsel of parents regarding it;
horsemen, who were met under whip and spur, drew rein suddenly, and gazed
anxiously after their strange counterpart, and anon, as if slow in making
up their minds at the object which hid him from view; and in fact it was
as clearly apparent, to even such of the hogs and chickens as were not
frightened out of their wits, that a seven days' wonder was being enacted
in Crow Hide, as it was to more sentient creatures that the intangible
something in the wind was not lawful subject for gossip. But if the
majority were involved in doubt, and resolved to forget the incident as
the most comfortable way of disposing of it, some there were who had
cracked the conundrum, as was evident from their knowing deportment, their
desire to avoid conversation on this topic, and finally, a disposition,
plainly manifested, to convert the remainder of the afternoon into a
holiday season.
As the twilight hour approached, stables were visited, trappings placed in
readiness, and all those indispensables of a scout's toilet which might
be performed in secrecy, executed. These preparations required brief time,
and within an hour after night had fallen, steeds were being caparisoned,
riders were mounting in hot haste and moving off by clandestine routes,
the roads were filling with cavalcades of armed men, who seemed bent on
some undertaking of "pith and moment;" and all these movements proceeding
with such secrecy that even the watch-dogs of the vicinity, though vaguely
notified of the affair, hesitated to interfere. Though moving by different
routes, the various squadrons seemed tending to a common rendezvous
(located at a point on the outskirts of the settlement), a fact which was
made further apparent by the constant recruits which were being added to
each, at points where the highway was intersected by country-roads and
by-paths.
Approaching a dense forest, a sound resembling the hooting of an owl was
heard, and, turning their horses' heads in the direction whence it
proceeded, the various companies, as yet unorganized, galloped forward.
The Grand Cyclops of Den No. 5, Realm No. 3, accompanied by two of his
faithful Night-Hawks (scouts of the body), had been on the ground in
advance of his most punctual followers, and when the magic circle had been
formed, and the password circulated, that officer presented himself in
their midst, and by the use of a monosyllable, whose signification was
understood by all, indicated that the council-fires would not be lighted.
Nothing was added, and no word spoken in reply; but so thoroughly had his
full meaning been anticipated, that, within thirty minutes from the time
this vague proclamation was issued, the weird brotherhood had dispersed,
and, in full raiding costume and bearing aloft the banners of the order,
were awaiting the commands of their trusted leader at a point two miles
distant. The command moved in obedience to signs, and on this occasion,
notified by a signal which must have been unintelligible to persons not
versed in their strange drill, they wheeled rapidly into line, and
instantly broke off from the right of the column in double files, the
leaders pushing their horses to a gallop. No word was spoken as the
command moved, and so completely had that ghostly spell that attended all
the movements of the night-riders fallen upon the weird column, that even
the horses trod warily, and beasts of the forest, startled by a glimpse of
the dim procession, in vain consulted their organs of hearing for
confirmatory sounds.
This body of raiders was that viewed from the sick chamber in the Thorburn
mansion, described in the opening of this chapter; and we shall seek at
this juncture to present to the reader a pen-picture of the formidable
apparition as it passed along the highway, in full view, and within fifty
paces of the groups of excited observers who looked out from its windows.
Perhaps the feature of the pageant that would have been soonest apparent
to the beholder was that representing its means of locomotion. The horses
of the raid were powerful specimens of their race, and furnished with all
those _cap-a-pie_ appointments of K. K. K. regalia that were prominent in
other departments of the expedition. Their bodies were completely
enveloped in curtains of black cloth, worn under the saddle, and fastened
at the neck to a corselet of the same material, the skirts of the former
extending below their knees. Over their heads were masks, much of the same
description as those worn by their riders, the material being of a dark
color, and openings of suitable width having been contrived for the eyes
and nostrils. Each steed was decorated also with a white plume, carried
vertically above the head; and on the right and left of the housings of
black cloth which enveloped their bodies, appeared the mystical letters K.
K. K. Their trappings otherwise were army saddles of uniform pattern, and
bridles supplied with the regulation bit, used in both armies at the close
of the war.
The riders who bestrode these steeds were even more fantastically arrayed,
and in the uniforms which they wore the same sacrifice of taste to
picturesqueness was to be observed. The most prominent feature of their
ghostly toilet was a long black robe, extending from the head to the feet,
and decorated with innumerable tin buttons, an inch and a half in
diameter, which, under the influence of the starlight, shone like
miniature moons. These robes were slit in front and rear, in order that
they might not impede the movements of the rider, and were secured about
the waist with scarfs of red silk. Over their faces they wore masks of
some heavy material; the apertures for the eyes, nose, and mouth (which
were ample for these purposes) being lined with red cloth. The head-dress
was even more unique, and consisted of tall black caps, helmet-shaped, and
provided with havelocks, resembling those used by the military in the late
war. These were also decorated with the regulation button, and, when worn
by officers of commissioned rank, supplemented by gorgeous plumes, white,
red, or blue, according to rank. Each individual wore about his waist, in
addition to the scarf to which we have called attention, a belt supporting
two large army pistols, in scabbards; and on the flaps of the latter,
embroidered in white characters, appeared the devices of the order--skull
and cross-bones, and mystical K. K. K. The banners which were three in
number, and carried at intervals in the procession, were of black silk,
supporting in the centre two lions rampant on either side of the
regulation skull and cross-bones, and on the right, left, and middle, at
top, the mystic "K."
Absolute stillness reigned over the weird column, no man being permitted
to speak, even in a whisper, while the large bridle-bits, Texas spurs, and
other appendages of a cavalry outfit likely to create alarm in passing
through quiet neighborhoods were carefully muffled. These details
completed the unsightly pageant; and of the party who viewed it, as it
moved, at funereal pace, through the moonlit precincts of the Thorburn
estate, on the evening referred to, no individual ever forgot the scene,
or was ever known to whisper an irreverent word concerning the objects,
plans, or creed of the festive K. K. K.