John Springfield, a Deputy United States Marshal, residing in St. Clair
County, Alabama, had drawn upon himself the odium of the Ku Klux of that
county by accepting a position under the United States Government, the
duties of which he endeavored faithfully to discharge.
He had been approached on several occasions by members of the Klan, who
had made propositions to him to pervert his office, and shield certain
parties who were engaged in the illicit distillation of whiskey; but had
utterly refused to listen to any of these overtures, and was bold enough
to proclaim the fact that he should use his best endeavors to bring to
punishment the violators of the law wherever he found them.
The customary warning was sent to this intrepid officer, informing him
that "St. Clair County was getting hot for him," but that if he kept on in
his course he would "be sent to a hotter place in a hurry."
He was somewhat alarmed at this threat and moved about with great caution,
but was unremitting in his attention to his duties until the spring of
1871, when the Klan decided that he must be stopped. An edict was issued,
sealing Springfield's doom, and the second night thereafter he was
followed by three members of the Klan, disguised in black gowns and with
their faces blackened, and was shot dead within a few feet of his house.
This murder was charged upon the negroes, and up to the present writing,
the instigators and perpetrators have escaped punishment.