The girl Susan, whose bravery and devotion to her family should have
challenged the admiration of these lawless marauders, instead of drawing
upon her their contempt, was next ordered to disrobe. Overwhelmed and
confused at the merest thought, even, of such indignity, she could hardly
command herself sufficiently to speak her denials; as soon as she did, she
utterly refused to comply with the order.
The more lecherous and brutal of the band sprang upon and threw her to the
floor, with no more regard for her person than if she had been a brute,
whom they were leading to slaughter. They stretched her out at full
length, and took her measure, as an intimation that they were going to dig
her grave.
"We will put her and her radical lies where she can't enjoy their good
company, without further trouble," said one. This was responded to by
another, who, with a coarse oath, ejaculated, "Six foot under ground makes
a good place for solitary confinement, by ----."
The work of "taking the measure" having been completed, Miss Furguson,
already suffering from the indelicate treatment she had received, was then
allowed to rise, and again ordered to divest herself of her clothes. "Is
it possible," she asked, "that you will submit _me_ to such an outrage?"
She had never conceived it possible these men, depraved as they were,
would really carry out a threat against which her whole nature revolted.
The reply was a sardonic laugh. The band had learned where the punishment
would sting the most, and they meant to apply it and spare not.
For the first time in all her hated experience with these desperate men,
she faltered and felt her courage failing her. To the high-toned and
sensitive spirit of this brave and beautiful girl, there was something in
this contemplated exposure of her person far more torturing than any
number of lashes, however mercilessly inflicted. Death itself were a
thousand times preferable, and, for the first moment in all her life, she
felt like supplicating for mercy. Her hands dropped nervously and
motionless at her side, and the stout-hearted heroine of the previous
hour, stood in the presence of her persecutors almost stricken dumb with
shame and confusion.
There was no sympathy in the glaring eyes that peered with lustful and
revengeful fires from behind the hideous masks of their tormentors; no
sentiment of pity, no hope, no help. She was given but little time to
decide. They fell upon her like hungry wolves famishing for their prey,
tearing one garment off after another, she resisting with all the strength
she could command, and entreating them to take her life, if they must, but
to spare her this last indignity.
Neither her piteous appeals nor her stubborn resistance availed her, and
she lay upon the hard floor at last, naked as when born into the world,
ashamed, degraded, broken in spirit, and her maidenly feelings outraged
beyond any power of description. Four of the defenders of the "white man's
race" seized her limbs and arms; stretched them to their fullest tension,
and placing their knees thereon, held her brutally and forcibly to the
floor. Her punishment was to be terrible.
The "executioners" were called, and five of the band came forward.
"Number one!" shouted the leader, and a stalwart member of the Klan that
had sworn to uphold the "white man's government," raising his knotted
strap in the air, brought it down upon the naked person of the helpless
girl with the terrible force of his muscular arm, cutting through the
delicate white skin and causing the blood to spurt at every stroke. He
administered thirty lashes, and was succeeded by "number two" and "number
three," until, as the witnesses state, one hundred and fifty lashes had
been administered, and her shoulders, loins, and limbs, were literally cut
into mince meat.
Her screams had ceased, and her unoffending body lay still and motionless
long before the punishment had ended. There was something in her young
heart far beyond the dread cruelty of this infliction, and she inwardly
prayed to God for death, to end her mental and bodily suffering. Lying
under this great mountain of sorrow and shame, she heeded not the rude and
obscene observations of her tormentors; and the unconsciousness produced
by the punishment, soon placed her beyond the power to listen to them.
Leaving her as one dead, and issuing the edict that if the family did not
leave the country, it would be "_death!_ DEATH! DEATH!" to all, the band
departed.
Thousands of honest hearts of all shades of political opinions, upon
perusing this truthful narration, will feel to wish that they could have
been present with power at this time to have utterly destroyed this band
of midnight raiders; but, let them remember the words of holy writ,
"Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay".... "Neither their
silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the
Lord's wrath: but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his
jealousy, for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell
in the land."
It was an hour after the departure of the band, before any of the party
exhibited evidences of life or animation. Henry Furguson, and the young
man Phillips, were the first to come to a realizing consciousness of the
awful scenes through which they had just passed. Wounded and bleeding as
they were, they felt the necessity for immediate action. The mother and
daughter still lay upon the floor, naked, lacerated and motionless. John
Furguson had fainted from the loss of blood he had sustained, and was
still unconscious, while Daniel was lying amid the debris of the bed,
groaning in the agony of the fever, and the wounds upon his body.
Hastily gathering up the dresses of the women, and throwing them over
their nude bodies, the young men lifted them tenderly to the bed, and gave
them such attention as they felt able to bestow. The remaining members of
the family were cared for as well as the circumstances permitted. Not a
doctor could be had in the vicinity, who was not in sympathy with the
Klan, and not a neighbor came to their assistance, although fully aware of
their distressed condition. The neglect of the neighbors was in no way
attributable to their indifference or their inhumanity. It was one of the
legitimate results of the feeling of terror that then pervaded the
community. A show of sympathy towards these unfortunates, they feared,
would place them under the ban, and subject them to a visitation, and they
dared not incur the risk.
In ten days another warning came to the Furgusons, that they must leave
the country within twenty-four hours, or the penalty of death would surely
be inflicted. They knew this warning must be heeded, and with broken
hearts and crushed spirits, they crawled out into the woods, under cover
of the darkness, and secreted themselves as they best could.
In an interview held with the writer, subsequent to this last outrage,
Miss Furguson stated that the weather, at this time, was cold and
disagreeable, sometimes frosting and sometimes raining; that they had to
lie out without a shelter, and suffered with the cold and hunger,
sometimes going twenty-four hours without food. Occasionally the neighbors
gave them something to eat, and finally the unfortunate wanderers sold to
them the right to what furniture they had left behind in the house, and
thus procured something upon which to subsist.
She stated further, that they were in the woods nearly a month, and that
as soon as they were able to travel they left the vicinity and procured a
home with a Mr. Dixon, on the lower edge of Chatham county.
An affidavit, based upon the statements of this young lady, was made
before the Hon. A. W. Schaffer, U. S. Commissioner at Raleigh, N. C., on
the 8th day of September, 1871. It charged the men, recognized by this
girl, as being present and concerned in the outrages above related.
Warrants were issued, and the officers of the U. S. Secret Service went to
Chatham county and arrested the parties and brought them before the
Commissioner. The more wealthy and influential members of the Klan rallied
to their rescue, became their bondsmen, and they were released to await
trial.
Miss Furguson's description of the dreadful indignities to which she and
the other members of the family were subjected, was of the most graphic
and thrilling character, and aroused the sympathies of many who heard it.
The defenders of the "white man's government" were alone amazed and
enraged at the persistency and courage of this young girl of the "white
man's race," and they determined to ferret her out and punish her again.
In this they were successful, although for greater safety, the family had
broken up, and the mother and daughter had secreted themselves, as they
supposed, beyond the knowledge of their persecutors.
On the night of the 20th of September, 1871, three men, armed and
disguised, and who had been detailed by the Camp for the purpose, appeared
suddenly before the miserable hut in which these unfortunates had taken
refuge. An entrance was easily effected, and the women were told that
their doom was sealed, and they were to be whipped to death.
These three protectors of the "white man's race," then fell upon the
women, beating them brutally. Susan recognized one of them, by his voice,
as a man named Jesse Dixon, whom she knew. The moment she called his name,
the three ran away, leaving their victims, who passed the remnant of the
night in the woods.
On the following day, the mother and daughter made their way to Raleigh,
where fresh complaints were entered, and the Secret Service officers,
armed with warrants, went out and succeeded in capturing two of the
murderous assailants, who were brought in and held for trial. Mrs.
Furguson and her daughter were then retained in the city as witnesses, at
the expense of the government, and to protect them from further outrages.
Susan J. Furguson, the heroine of the terrible experiences above related,
is now twenty-one years of age. She is a girl of commanding presence, is
endowed with a powerful constitution, great energy and force of character,
and an indomitable spirit. Her P. O. address is "Snow Camp Foundry,
Chatham Co., N. C.," where herself and other members of the family can be
found, in verification of the facts above related.
There are few narrations in the annals of "persecutions for opinion's
sake," more shocking in their inhuman details than the foregoing;
certainly, none that cry with a louder and more earnest voice to the
government, and the right-minded people of the country, for help for
those who have been the subjects thereof.
No amount of retributive justice can erase one solitary scar from the
knout-welted bodies of the Furgusons, or remove from their spirits the
dreadful memory of their disgrace; but to those who went forth to battle
in the days of "The Nation's Peril," who stood shoulder to shoulder amid
the roar of cannon, and, in vindication of the right, successfully
withstood the shock of rebellious armies, it must ever remain a matter of
profound gratification that the victories _then_ achieved in the field are
_now_ being perpetuated in such a firm and vigorous enforcement of the
laws as will have a tendency to make them substantial ones in the
repression of any and all such outrages in the future.