Shortly after the outrage which resulted in the death of Edward Thompson,
a Mr. Driggers, residing in the county of Echols, and not far from where
Thompson had been murdered, received a warning from the Ku Klux Klan, that
he must change his political opinions, or leave the State.
Mr. Driggers was a prominent republican, and had made no secret of his
political faith. He had freely expressed his opinions in that regard
whenever he desired to do so, and had steadily voted the republican, or
what was known to the Ku Klux as the radical, ticket. He was generally
esteemed among his fellows, and especially among the colored people, in
whose welfare he took a great interest, and this latter fact was deemed an
offense not to be tolerated by the defenders of the white man's
government.
Warning after warning was sent to him, and he was thus duly reminded,
that, unless he recanted, the fate of Thompson would surely be his; but,
he still regarded the matter as merely an idle threat, and time passed on
until the night of the 25th of August, 1871, when a party of five men,
armed, and disguised in black gowns and masks, visited his residence.
Mr. Driggers at once divined the object of this visitation, and was
expostulating with the leader, when he was quickly overpowered and
stripped in the presence of his family, and beaten with straps similar to
those used upon Thompson.
He was dreadfully punished about the head, face, and back, and was
informed by the Klan, that for the present they would accord him the mercy
to live, but, unless he left the county, they would return and kill him,
and destroy his property.
From similar outrages that had been perpetrated in the vicinity, Mr.
Driggers was fully satisfied that this threat would be carried out to the
letter. He was familiar with the brutal details of Thompson's death, and
was now convinced that the members of this terrible brotherhood would
respect neither color, social standing, or respectability, and at once
made hasty preparations, and abandoned his once happy home to become a
wanderer. The visitation upon him was made solely for political reasons.
He was a man that stood above reproach in the community, and no person
could be found in Echol county that could impugn his character as a man, a
gentleman, and an upright citizen. It was not contended that he had
committed any other offense than that of being a radical republican, who,
being too obstinate to change his politics, must be whipped into
renouncing a faith that he could not be argued out of.
Is it any wonder that men who substitute brute force for argument, should
so strenuously object to the efforts of the executive officers to enforce
the law and bring order out of the chaos, into which their wild and
licentious acts have plunged the respective communities in which they
live? Thinking men will say "nay," and will ask and demand that the policy
now being pursued by the administration shall be continued until the
supremacy of the law is fully established, and men of all shades of color
and political faith may "sit under their own vine and fig tree, with none
to molest or make them afraid."
Allen Wicker, William Smith, Butcher Smith, James King, and Lewis Kinsey,
all residents of Echol county, Ga., and members of the Camp that had
decided that Mr. Drigger must surrender his political opinions, leave his
home, or die, were the persons upon whom the officers of the United States
Secret Service fastened the guilt of this outrage.