The facts contained in the succeeding pages, have been compiled from
authenticated sources, and with especial reference to their truthfulness.
That portion derived from the diary of a gentleman, twelve years a
resident of the South, was not originally intended for public circulation;
but this, with a variety of other matter obtained from official records,
formed the basis of a lecture delivered at Tremont Temple, in the city of
Boston, on the evening of March 27th, 1872, and excited a great degree of
interest among the people to learn more of the subject-matter treated
upon.
Communications relating thereto came in from all parts of the country, and
it was decided by the friends of the compiler to present all the facts in
convenient form for general circulation, as the best means of complying
with this demand.
They are here given with such additions to the original matter, as will
enable the general reader more fully to comprehend the origin, rise and
progress of the various orders of the Ku Klux Klans, their social and
political significance, and their general bearing upon the welfare of the
nation at large.
The thrilling stories of outrage and crime herein narrated, are
authenticated beyond the power of refutation.
"Against all such crimes, as well as against incompetency and corruption
in office, the power of an intelligent public sentiment and of the courts
of justice should be invoked and united; and appealing for patience and
forbearance in the North, while time and these powers are doing their
work, let us also appeal to the good sense of Southern men, if they
sincerely desire to accomplish political reforms through a change in the
negro vote. If their theory is true that he votes solidly now with the
republican party, and is kept there by his ignorance and by deception, all
that is necessary to keep him there is to keep up by their countenance,
the Ku Klux Organization. Having the rights of a citizen and a voter,
neither of those rights can be abrogated by whipping him. If his political
opinions are erroneous, he will not take kindly to the opposite creed when
its apostles come to inflict the scourge upon himself, and outrage upon
his wife and children. If he is ignorant, he will not be educated by
burning his school houses and exiling his teachers. If he is wicked, he
will not be made better by banishing to Liberia his religious teachers. If
the resuscitation of the State is desired by his labor, neither will be
secured by a persecution which depopulates townships, and prevents the
introduction of new labor and of capital."
That these pages may be received in the same spirit of charity and kindly
feeling in which they have been penned, is the sincere and earnest wish of