As an evidence that neither color or nationality formed any protection
against the evil machinations of the Ku Klux Klan, the case of Henry
Kaufmann, a well-to-do German residing in Bell County, Texas, may be
cited.
Kaufmann had come to this country after the war of the Rebellion, and,
having some means and an extensive knowledge as a stock raiser, made his
way South, finally locating in Texas, as the place best adapted for the
business of raising stock, which was one he intended to pursue. His family
consisted of his wife and two children, a boy and girl, aged respectively
nine and eleven years.
Texas at this time was the scene of many outrages, but the good-natured
German was for a long time unable to comprehend their significance. Like
most of his countrymen, he entertained republican sentiments; they were
the sentiments of his heart, while at home, in the land of his fathers,
and he had supposed, that in America, the asylum of the oppressed of all
nations, he would find them in all their purity, upheld and expressed
without fear, and honored by all.
In this respect, he was doomed to bitter disappointment. The nearest
neighbor to Kaufmann, was a man named McPherson, originally from the
North, but who had for some years resided in Texas, and was a
thorough-going Unionist. He did not hesitate, even among all the tumult
and disorder, by which he was surrounded, to express his union sentiments,
and had been repeatedly warned by the Ku Klux that he must change his
course.
As he paid no heed to these threats, he received a visitation during the
Spring of 1871, which utterly ruined him, and from which he escaped with
his life, only by the aid of Kaufmann. It appears that the Klan having
beat McPherson almost to death, gave him twenty-four hours in which to
leave the country, threatening to kill him if he did not do so. Suffering
terribly from the dreadful scourging, McPherson was just able to get as
far as Kaufmann's house, where he sought protection until such time as he
might be able to travel and get away from the place.
The good-natured German, filled with the humane instincts, natural to his
people, at once took the refugee into his house, and cared for him for
several days, without dreaming that he would incur the displeasure of
anyone for such an act. He nursed McPherson tenderly for some four days,
when the latter, dreading that the Klan might discover, and destroy, not
only him, but his generous benefactor, left the house at night, and
removed himself as far as possible from his persecutors.
The fact of his having been harbored by Kaufmann, became known to the
Klan, however, by some means, and they forthwith classed the latter as a
radical. On the third night after McPherson's departure, about eight
o'clock in the evening, the unsuspecting German was sitting with his wife
and children before a log-fire--as the weather was still chilly--when the
door was unceremoniously burst in and a score of the Klan filled the room.
Kaufmann was rudely seized and a demand made upon him to know what he had
done with that d--d radical McPherson.
To this he made reply that he "didn't know such mans." Upon this, one of
the band struck him a severe blow, telling him they meant to learn him not
to interfere with their business. Mrs. Kaufmann implored them in broken
English, not to hurt her husband; he had done nothing, and they had made a
mistake.
"He's done enough," said Butch Williams, the leader of the crowd, "You
can't make any mistake on these dutchmen, they are all d--d radicals
anyhow. Its born in 'em, but by ---- they shan't spit it out here."
Kaufmann was then securely pinioned and whipped until he became
unconscious. When the castigation was ended, the leader turning to Mrs.
Kaufmann, and pointing to the bruised and bleeding body of her husband, as
it lie upon the floor, said:--
"Now if that dirty, dutch scallawag ever comes to himself, you tell him to
sell out and get away from here, or we'll be the death of the whole of you
and burn the house over your heads. We'll give him just ten days to do it
in."
Kaufmann did revive at last, and when he learned the dread message which
the Klan had left behind, saw with sorrow that he must relinquish his
pleasant home, and become a wanderer; but the necessities of the case
admitted of no other course. His property was disposed of at a ruinous
sacrifice, and with his wife and little ones, he made his way to Illinois,
where he now is.
It would seem that the nationality of Kaufmann, and his probable ignorance
of what constituted an offence in the eyes of the Ku Klux, should have
saved him from this terrible visitation, so fraught with physical
chastisement and financial ruin; but to the vision of men who regarded no
law, who only saw the attainment of their despicable ends, through fraud
and violence, he appeared a "radical by nature."--One, who being a German,
must necessarily be a Republican, and hence they could make no mistake in
scourging him.