K. K. K. Sketches, Humorous and Didactic Part 2

In a retired forest grove, distant from any settlement, was a dismantled church building, which had been resigned by the white settlers of Crow Hide to the slave population of the towns.h.i.+p in _ante bellum_ times, and the t.i.tle to which, in obedience to a policy of non-interference on the part of lawful claimants, had survived to their descendants in the golden era of freedom. This building performed innumerable offices for the foundlings of emanc.i.p.ation in those parts--marriages, funerals, revival meetings, society gatherings, etc., occupying it in turn, and even once in a while the dark-lantern fiend invading its precincts. From its sacred desk, battered with age and apostolic blows, and warped by the sunbeams of three generations, the venerable "parson" was wont to deliver castigations to the erring of his people on holy days, and anon, to receive from the High Tyc.o.o.n of the League--enthroned on the same heights--the most bitter denunciations of his political shortcomings. Here, the firstlings of the flock were dedicated to the higher life of Christian rect.i.tude in the holy rite of baptism. And here, too, the candidate for political preferment was made to feel the responsibilities of the step by being dipped seven times in the "witches' cauldron" ere he was referred for those special services which const.i.tute the "heated gridiron," the most beautifully suggestive of the ritualistic conditions of League members.h.i.+p. Here sisters and brothers, giving way to their better instincts, harmonized on meeting days; and here, brothers and sisters, with a broader display of those principles which govern human nature--if with less consistency--refused to harmonize on League days. Here, shouting and singing const.i.tuted the mercurial forces "jurin de roasen 'ere and kant meetin'" solstice, and here (_in hoc signo_) broken heads and scattered fragments of benches marked the political temperature, when the League machine held right on its course, over those sensitive members of the brotherhood, which it might not be proper to denominate "sore tails" without this circ.u.mlocution.

It was on this spot, and amid these venerable surroundings, contemporaneously with the Ku-Klux demonstration to which attention has been directed, that a scene was enacted which fills an excruciating pa.s.sage in our narrative, and which we have only been debarred from presenting to the reader by the obtrusion of details which could not be excerpted from the latter without injuring its consistency.

To say that the L. L. was in full bloom, and moving unflinchingly forward in the discharge of the numerous obligations which devolved upon it as a member of society, would be to depose facts that will be brought nearer to the comprehension of the reader, if we explain that three of its ablest-(bodied) speakers were coquetting for the favors of the chair, and denouncing each other in the most incendiary language--despite the remonstrance of the chair--in the same breath; that the speaker was hammering on his desk with a vehemence born of despair, and occasionally interlarding this performance with scowls that would have made his fortune in the lion-taming business; that the house had risen to its feet for the third time in a solid vote of remonstrance; and, finally, that two other members had felt themselves called upon to explain to the rebellious trio aforesaid the treasonable quality of their offence, the positive madness of their course, and, when called to order by the speaker, had flown in the face of that functionary with some very defiant language regarding their rights as citizens of a free country.

Maddened by a sense of the cold-blooded contempt aimed at him through this repeated disregard of his most cherished prerogative, the speaker (a white man) arose to his feet, and was in the act of aiming an inkstand at the pyramid of wool which served one of the malefactors the double purpose of a crown of glory and emblem of loyalty, when, lo! there was a crash, a mighty upheaval of moral forces, so to speak, a thunderous resurge of the waves of faction, and _presto_! the scene changes.

Now the echoes have gone to rest, and a palpable hush reigns over the a.s.sembly. Instead of those savage principles--war and rebellion--how emphatic the terms of contrast; meek-eyed peace sits enthroned on every brow. What means that half-suppressed sigh, that groan smothered in parturition? But hold! "'Sdeath" A creeping dread moves along the serried benches, laying its hand on the pulse-beat, invading the pants' legs, and nestling close to the seat of life of the _tableaux vivantes_ who await destiny (horrible reflection) on the ragged edge of "unfinished business."

Where late stood those mentors of the scene--shaken by the impulse of "thoughts that breathe," and bandying hot invectives with unsparing wrath--how changed, alas! the forms of cringing suppliants whose counterparts might have been spaded from the Theban catacombs any day for a thousand years. At yonder extremity of the building, surrounded by the insignia of more than despotic rule, where towered the "thunderer of the scene," transfixed _in articulo jactanti_, lo! an Ajax defying the lightning.

And now what weird forms from the "night's Plutonian sh.o.r.e" are those which, joined in close procession, invade the folding doors, and with thunderous steps--matched in echo--storm down the quaking aisles? Doomed spirits, or ministers of heaven's delayed vengeance, it matters little; and 'neath such a materialized spell from the echoless lands, who could doubt, or doubting, live? On they come, looking neither to the right nor left, neither mending their gait nor halting, until they have plunged _in medias res_, when, with a scarcely perceptible pause--those ponderous boot-heels, describing a half circle, smite the puncheon floor--every limb is adjusted to the most graceful of company manoeuvres; and turning on their march, they move with the same echoing tread down the aisles, out at the folding-doors and into the darkness--away--away.

But stop, ha! that sigh of relief springing to a hundred throats was premature--the fiend hath but dismissed his attendants, himself remains.

Standing ten feet in his boots, and clad in full Ku-Klux regalia (described in a previous chapter), an embodiment of rank ghostliness, he now occupied the centre of the building, and if anything was wanting to that "ghastly, grim, ungainly" ideal, which those who placed it there were seeking to embody, it was supplied in the most threatening of tragic postures, and a gesture whose very fixedness was not its least eloquent feature. This latter described a horizontal line from the shoulder to the finger-tips, and, _horribile dictu_, the index-finger was pointed squarely at the anatomy of the august personage who was--had been, we should say--presiding over the deliberations of the body. For about twenty seconds that individual had been viewing the landscape from the _de mortuis_ standpoint; but being recalled to animation by the excessive personality of this proceeding, he executed three handslings and a somersault, and was at rest for the time being in a pile of superannuated furniture at the far end of the hall. Then there was a rush from the "third person" element, who could but feel that the grammatical situation was getting momentarily worse. Benches and desks were overturned; stoves and stove furniture came tumbling about their heads; a pillar, swept from its moorings by the human wave, fell with a boom like cannon at sea, and, hark! louder still, and rising above the din, a human voice hoa.r.s.ely bawling, "Take him out!"

Who is there that has not witnessed examples of fell panic converted into a gallant defence, or brave onset, by the most seemingly trivial occurrence? It was so on the present occasion. A section of stove-pipe being projected against the uplifted arm of the ghostly personage,--who had, perhaps, contributed more than any other being to the tumult by which he was surrounded,--that member fell to the floor with a crash, and this movement having been witnessed by one of the refugees, his emotions took that form of expression which perhaps was best adapted to arrest the panic, if not to restore confidence.

The flying Leaguers turning their heads to discover the author of this seeming sacrilege, beheld, instead, the accident which inspired it, and instantly faced about with changed resolution. The individual who first sounded the alarm, though, evidently, still frightened by the tones of his voice, repeated it in the same words; and this second reminder was followed by a feeble rally, directed at the rear of the speaker's body.

While this manoeuvre was in course of evolution, a voice from the rear files shouted, "Forward!" but the effect of the command was so visible in widening the distance between the a.s.saulting column and the object of attack, that a dead silence fell on the a.s.sembly, and, for the s.p.a.ce of several minutes, each was busy for himself examining the salient points of the enemy's position.

The gallant chairman having recovered his legs by this time, and seeing, by the spasmodic movement in the crowd, answering to that muscular feat, that something was expected of him, proceeded instantly to measures.

Wearing a severe countenance, he called the house to order, and, looking around upon the a.s.sembly, announced a committee of five (greatly to the relief of the remaining threescore), whose duty it should be to rid the camp of the fell intruder. Why this had not been thought of before is one of the unsolved conundrums, and why it ever was thought of, the committee aforesaid are not yet prepared with a reply. Neither is there any good reason for the state of things which immediately followed, as a dead calm fell upon the a.s.sembly, which probably would not have been disturbed until this moment, if another of those fortunate occurrences, which seemed made to order for the occasion, had not reached the tide of League affairs at its swell.

Whether the machine was an eight-day affair, and had accomplished the moments of its destiny, or simply a piece of mechanism poorly planned, we are quite unable to say. But at the moment when the Quaker period of the aforesaid conference had reached its most eloquent pa.s.sage, a cracking sound was heard in the vicinity of his ghosts.h.i.+p, followed by a rattling explosion, whose fussiness could hardly be resembled to anything but an avalanche of dry bones hurled from some upper region; and, instantly, in obedience to this warning, a desire to forsake present surroundings for some less melancholy region took the form of an inspiration in the breast of each "politishun." In what way this manoeuvre would have been executed, if the chairman had persisted in the high-tragedy role he had a.s.signed himself, by remaining to announce some plan of retreat, is another mystery connected with this event, with which we are not concerned beyond the bare announcement. But it is certain that that individual, taking time by the forelock, had made a successful advance on the rear window, carrying the sash with him, and that his followers were engaged in a very animated game of leap-frog, directed towards similar advantages at other angles of the building. In less time than is consumed by a record of the event, the doors were blocked with a ma.s.s of rolling, tumbling, somersaulting Leaguers. The windows had their full quota of struggling, sweating pa.s.sengers. A large crack in the wall was in labor with three burly forms, and yet a score or more were unaccommodated, and, with heads ducked, were hurling themselves endwise against the retreating columns, with an energy which evinced the strong determination of each to avoid the fate of that hindmost unfortunate, whom Satan, from time immemorial, has exacted for toll.

But, though some confusion waited upon this exodus from the neighborhood of the big haunt, it was conducted with greater dispatch than had characterized any similar movement in the history of the rickety old building, and soon the boss straggler, having eluded the individual on two sticks by pigeon-winging it through a hole in the roof, rolled upon the green sward beneath with a grunt of overpowering relief.

When the building was completely deserted, and the swallows, half in doubt, had returned to their perch under its eaves, a sound, which could scarcely have been mistaken for aught but the hooting of an owl, broke the stillness of the neighboring forest, and was quickly replied to at the distance of perhaps a furlong in the opposite direction. The echoes awakened by these signals were still busy at hide-and-seek with the shadows in the old building, when two forms, clad in long robes and wearing high-peaked caps, crossed the plateau to its threshold, and giving way to an involuntary chuckle as they gazed first upon the wrecked surroundings, pa.s.sed to its inner precincts. Perhaps a full minute elapsed before they reappeared at the entrance way, and, being joined here by a companion with two led horses, they placed their bags of cow-bones on the latter, and, mounting, galloped swiftly into the darkness.

CHAPTER VI.

GHOST FEATURE OF THE MOVEMENT. ITS PHILOSOPHY.

Contrasted Views of the Organization inspired by its Dealings with the Public--Its Political Bearing--Its _Objects_ not deemed Harmful to Society--New England Transcendentalists, and the Ponderous Science which they put before the World under the t.i.tle of "Negropholism"--The Colored Man in the South--Kindly Feeling for the Race cherished by Native Southerners--Households Presided over by Colored Matrons--Superst.i.tious Tendencies of Cuffey--One of the Conditions of his Tropical Nativity--Heathenish Lapses--His Ideas about "Ghosts," and the Realm which they Inhabit--Interviewing the former--Spook Kinsfolk--He holds them in the highest Veneration--The ideal "Uncle Tom's Cabin"--Wherein it was a Failure--The "Infantile s.e.x" and their Greed for Ghost-lore--Fighting their way through Legions of Shadowy Foes to their "Curtained Rest"--Young Professors of the Spiritual Science--Painful Reminiscences--Use to which the Aged Patriarch, or Beldam, as the Case might be, put their Prerogative--Talent for relating Ghost Stories--The Young White Men of the South trained up in this School--Insight into Negro Character obtained therefrom--K. K. K. Affectation of the Supernatural based upon the latter.

The two preceding chapters may occur to those who were not informed of the nature and degree of the excitement which waited upon the movements of these secret organizations in obscure and uninformed neighborhoods, and among the negroes in various localities, as partaking of the hypercritical in narrative. But those who, by reason of residence or other accident, were made conversant with such scenes almost every week in the year, and who were not unfrequently drawn away from the contemplation of social misdemeanors or crimes of the most serious import to split their sides over some ludicrous _faux pas_, or intended farce, of the perpetrators, will not be slow to discover their basis of fact, nor accord to the author that honesty of purpose to which he lays claim in the conduct of these pages. It was stated in a previous chapter that the secret organization known as the Ku Klux Klan was a political movement intended to offset what was known as the Loyal League, an order whose draft was taken from the negro population, but which was controlled by, and in the interest of, a cla.s.s of political harpies known as carpet-baggers. The latter element, by means of this political engine, dominated the politics of the South for a period of more than five years, and while its power may not have been broken by the influences set in motion by the counter movement, and though the latter must be condemned on general principles, yet among the people where it had its origin, and stripped of the a.n.a.logies which the imaginations of fault-finders would be apt to supply, its objects were not deemed harmful to society. As to its wisdom, there can be no doubt that it was aimed at the most salient of the enemy's weak points.

In treating this proposition, we shall seek to avoid that ponderous science which that branch of transcendentalists who acknowledge Mr.

Wendell Phillips as their leader put before the world under the t.i.tle of Negropholism, and deal with the article as we find it--so much on the greasy surface of the native that the temptation of the carpet-bagger to use it for base ends must be regarded an uncommon one.

[The people of the South, young and old, who were brought up under that social regimen which embodied the negro as a prominent and necessary feature, will appreciate the feelings of the writer when he states that he has not, and never can have, any feeling of enmity towards this race. Some of the tenderest pa.s.sages in his heart history he is glad to refer to that period when negroes were not only admitted _en famille_ among the whites, but in innumerable instances given absolute control over the household affairs of their masters. He numbers among his cultured acquaintance scores of young men and maidens who never knew any other parentage, and who can never admit a dearer relation than their adopted paternity. The negroes, if vicious and mean, owe it to that cruel divorcement from the Southern social plan effected by their political leaders, and to the life of vagabondage to which they are doomed under the new system; they are not more so by nature than other men. If, therefore, the writer is tempted to speak of their weaknesses, it is in no irreverential sense, and with a laudable object in view, to which this policy will be seen to be strictly antecedent.]

That the negro is by nature grossly superst.i.tious, no one who has had even tolerable means of information will deny. In another chapter we have prevised something on general principles concerning the superst.i.tion of mankind, but the comparison to be drawn between the negro and all other branches of the Adamic tree, as to this particular fruitage, is so unequal, that we shall ask the reader to accept the former as a very modified presentation of a theory that was made to order for the crown of Cuffey. And however much this may be untrue with regard to other animals, this faculty of the individual under discussion has nothing whatever to do with his aesthetical being. It does not in any sense enlist that high poetic principle which is one of the conditions of his tropical nativity.

Left to himself, with all the appliances of civilization and the encouragement of its examples about him, his superst.i.tion will subject him, in the short s.p.a.ce of a twelvemonth, to heathenish lapses which the weak-headed Mongolian, under the same outward conditions, has resisted for a period of six thousand years. Voudooism is, perhaps, the weakest form of heathen wors.h.i.+p which this moral condition has developed, and, despite the few occasions admitted by the structure of our laws, it is strictly a native product. Those who contend that it is an African transplant, or borrowed from the congeners of the race on those sh.o.r.es, are surely not guided by convictions derived from an examination into its philosophy.

But it is a very radical form of savagism in wors.h.i.+p, including human sacrifices among its rites, and as we have antic.i.p.ated that it had its birth in the rice- and cotton-fields of the South, further remark on this division of the argument is deemed unnecessary.

In contrast with other races of beings, the world of shadows is to the imagination of the black man a thing of gloom. The existences who people this realm are hobgoblins, and the standard of the latter a mild abridgment of the arch-fiend. He, nevertheless, holds them in the highest veneration, and is prepared to accept their revelations concerning himself, and indeed all other subjects of mundane philosophy, as oracular.

He even holds familiar converse with them--when an interview can be contrived without endangering those barriers of etiquette which preserve to either a fair start in a foot-race--and calculates with tolerable accuracy that the churchyard sp.a.w.n who affect this characterization are counterfeits. On the latter subject he has doubts, however, which on occasion might be turned to his disadvantage.

Whether it is affectation with him, or a kind of prescience with which he is gifted in view of his moral structure, we do not pretend to decide; but he boasts a knowledge of the private affairs of his spook kinsfolk (they are invariably uncles, aunts, grand relations, etc.) which would be considered sacrilege in another being. If he deems you worthy of such confidence, he will describe to you the ghostly raiment they wear, diversified in other particulars, but always sombre-hued, and in no recorded instance cut bias. He is rarely at fault in a.s.signing the period of antiquity from which they date, and if opportunity served, could lead you to the exact spot where their archaeological remains "smell sweet." He can give, with that emphasis of detail which grows out of perfect familiarity with his subject, their occupations--ranging from yacht-building, horse-culture, and other of the fine arts, all the way down to book-making. And finally, if pressed for information, can state some astonis.h.i.+ng facts with regard to their phrenological development.

With him these essences are always evil spirits, and though he views them in the constant performance of deeds that would quickly promote them to the hangman's offices if enterprised in the flesh, yet his philosophy so confounds the means and extremes relating to the transaction, that he can see no way out of the difficulty but to respect the latter as proceeding from the former.

Though they cherish a causeless animosity against himself and his kind, and war on the latter with a chronic wastefulness of the vital spark, which could only proceed from a want of appreciation of this blessing inseparable from their standpoint, yet he cannot go behind his apotheosis to find fault with the system of government upon which it proceeds. In fact, though he avoids the "ghoul-haunted" precincts with which his neighborhood abounds, and trembles when he recites the deeds of valor performed by some warlike example against fleshly hosts, yet when he has taken his distance, and duly calculated the chances in his favor, he delights, above all things, to gather about himself the philosophic weaklings of his race, and, having launched upon his theme, observe the absolute failure of the kink in the woolly crown of each as a thing to be depended on in time of emergency.

The ideal "Uncle Tom's Cabin" had very little of the ghost element in its construction. In this respect, as in some others, it was a miserable failure. The real structure was a ghost's palace, where they came and went at pleasure, and not unfrequently took up their abode. To this habitation, in _ante bellum_ times, presided over by Uncle d.i.c.k or Aunt Rachel, it mattered little--for both were magicians of no mean order--the juveniles of both races flocked after nightfall for supplies of ghost-lore; and to say that they were accommodated will but faintly describe, we fear, that anguished state of soul (what Southern boy or man does not drop a tear on this reminiscence?) with which, a few hours later, they pa.s.sed out into the darkness and fought their way through legions of shadowy foes to their "curtained rest."

These ghost stories, which always resulted disastrously for flesh and blood, and had a churchyard tw.a.n.g about them that came with peculiar relish to the youngster under a strong glare of candle- or fire light, were the very apple-pie of farm-life to the "infantile s.e.x," despite the after-piece, which, after all, was a contingency that might be disposed of at will by the philanthropic source of the mischief. How often have we observed a circle of these young professors of the spiritual science defiantly "lean back" in their proclivities when the crooning narration began, and the great fireplace sent out effulgent rays, suddenly alter their manner for one of marked deference as the ghost-character came on with stately tread and took its place in the forefront of thrilling reminiscence; and then, as the rays of firelight went to sleep with the embers one by one, hitch up their seats within the margin that remained, getting nearer by degrees, until at length, as the story grew towards its denouement and the fire hung over its ashy tomb, crowding from all quarters, they threatened to overturn the narrator--so great was the terror inspired by the shadows which lay behind them.

But to no one had these performances such constant and deep relish as the aged patriarch or beldam, as the case might be, who was elevated by their young suffragans to the post of mentor for the time being. They revelled in this employment, first, because it suited their talents; and second, because it was perfectly adapted to their emotional nature. An African, moreover, is gratified beyond expression by the knowledge that he possesses authority, no matter how brief or weak in extent, which may be exercised over his fellows; and there is not, we believe, a living party to such a bequest of social right and liberty over conscience as that to which we have referred, who was not a sufferer under the arrangement to an extent which he rarely admits to stranger confidences. But this improvement of the occasion which came to him on the part of the fiction-vender was not always done in mere wantonness. Not unfrequently the result achieved was without design, and when the contrary was true, the design was quite an intelligent one. When he acted intelligently, the object kept in view was to gain such an ascendency over the minds of his young auditory that he might reap either present benefits, or call it up to advantage in the future; and when we reflect that his audiences were largely composed of his young masters and mistresses, whose influence was great at head-quarters, and who would one day succeed to the estate, the wisdom of his conclusions must be conceded.

Trained up in this school, and knowing by their later experience of men the precise extent to which the plantation darkey was controlled by the superst.i.tious notions which he disseminated (for he was no hypocrite), the young white men of the South were at no loss in adopting countervailing forces when the Loyal League storm burst upon the country. The superst.i.tion of the negro was not a weakness, but a ruling characteristic; and at this central idea of his being the Ku-Klux movement was directed.

Being thus addressed to his fears, it will be seen, by any one wis.h.i.+ng information on the subject, that the latter was designed to whip him into obedience to what was then thought, but is now known, to be the ruling element in Southern politics. We do not a.s.sert that it was a just expedient; we cannot believe, in view of later developments in our local politics, that it was a wise one; but its transactions have pa.s.sed into history, and it is with them that we are concerned.

CHAPTER VII.

DETAILS OF ORGANIZATION.

A Band of Regulators whose Force at this time numbered a Half Million well-organized and perfectly Drilled Men--Who composed its Draft--Considerations which recommended it to the Better Cla.s.ses of Society--Its Haunts--Oath-bound Covenant, and Penalties attached--Panoply of Lower Regions--Its Raiding Rendezvous--Galloping forth to Predestined Conquest--It proceeded under a rigid Const.i.tutional System--Territorial Subdivisions--Empire--Realm--Province--Den--Grand Wizard and his Cabinet--Grand Giant--The Commander of a Den--Grand Cyclops--Night-Hawks, etc.--Recruiting Agents--How Members were Initiated--Proposed Initiates might Retire if Displeased with the Conditions of Members.h.i.+p--How far the Klan was "Rebel" in its Draft--Members of State Legislatures, Congressmen, and Governors of States, took its Vows upon them--Its Political Suffrages--Compelling Ignorant Colored Men to relinquish the Franchise--K. K. K.

Placards--Empty Coffins containing Ukase of Banishment Carted to the Doors of Obnoxious White Citizens--Its Ideas of Social Decorum.

The mystic order of K. K. K. had scarcely emerged from its swaddling-clothes, as things go in the material universe, ere it had developed into a giant that filled the Southern zodiac, as effectually as the almanac dummy comprehends in his physical outlines the cardinal points of the seasons. Moving from county to county, and from one State to another, it invaded the most remote communities--until within three months from the time that the slogan call had been sounded on the eastern sh.o.r.e of the Mississippi, its bannerets formed a cordon around the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and its dominion over the Trans-Mississippi country was undisputed. A band of regulators, whose force at this time numbered a half million well-organized and perfectly drilled men, it aimed at nothing less than the subjection of the pending elements in the Southern State governments, and as a means thereto, the total overthrow and dispersion of all secret subsidiary agencies. In its ranks all conditions of white society in the South were represented--attracted partly by the weighty political considerations upon which the movement rested, and in not a few instances by its outside of novelty and vague promise of sensation.

Proceeding under an oath-bound covenant, it invoked, seemingly--by adopting the emblems of their rule--the powers of darkness to a.s.sume the protectorate over its affairs, and levied on the code of pirates for a rule of discipline that should awe the stoutest hearts into meek submissiveness. To break the least of its commandments was esteemed a crime for which death would be a weak expiation, and to retreat from its enterprises, good or evil, bold or weak, was to be exposed to a fate more horrible than the chain and vulture. Their periodical gatherings, or dark seances, were held in caves in the bowels of the earth, where they were surrounded by what might be aptly termed the panoply of the lower regions--rows of skulls, coffins and their furniture, human skeletons, ominous pictures _copied_ from the darkest pa.s.sages of the Inferno or Paradise Lost; and, brooding over all, that spell-like mystery which waited ever as an inspiration from the tomb upon the movements of the weird brotherhood. Here, habited in full regalia, and seated in alignment on raised benches, the members of the Order were wont to receive trembling initiates, commune together about affairs of government, and plan midnight raids against mortal enemies. Frequently these conferences were brief, but the fires were always lighted, in order that the still inspiration of the scene might not be wanting to the business of the evening--the ever-recurring raid on jail, or state-house, or Forest League. Gowned and helmeted, and mounted on strong chargers, invested, as far as possible, with the character of their riders, the ghostly phalanx galloped forth to predestined conquest, for an invisible host fought at its side, and each man bore a talisman in his outer garb which might have affrighted the armies of an empire from the field.

The government of the Klan proceeded under a rigid const.i.tutional system that was rarely or never amended. Its chief officer, or ruler of what was known as the _Empire_, was elected to an unlimited term of office, and entrusted with the means of despotic rule. His official t.i.tle was Grand Wizard, and he was, by virtue of his first appointment, commander-in-chief of the army or military force const.i.tuted under the Empire. The officers under the latter held their appointment from him, and composed his counsel, or cabinet. The Grand Division, or Empire, was subdivided into Realms, Provinces, and Dens. The geographical boundaries of the Realm corresponded with those of the congressional districts in the several States under Klan dominion, and hence were equal in number. The chief officer of a Realm was distinguished by the t.i.tle of Grand Vizier.

His territory, as we have indicated, was subdivided into Provinces, whose territorial limits were identical with those of counties in the same location. The ruler of a Province was termed a Grand Giant. Under Provinces, Dens were organized, which, so far as territorial dominion is concerned, had only a neighborhood signification. But they were really the executive force, and through them, as individuals, all the work was accomplished. The commander of a Den, contradistinguished from those of Realms and Provinces, owed his rank and authority to the suffrages of those whom he immediately ruled. He was ent.i.tled Grand Cyclops, and under him was an officer known as Exchequer, whose duties had a twofold signification, and applied to the administration of the treasury and recording secretarys.h.i.+p. There were from four to six scouts belonging to the Den, who performed courier duty, and to whom was applied the t.i.tular distinction of Night-Hawks; and in addition to these, and also in the non-commissioned rank, each thoroughly organized Den had its Conductors and Guardians, who were local, and the tenor of whose duties is sufficiently indicated by their t.i.tles respectively.

The Dens were the recruiting agencies, and the officers to whom was a.s.signed this duty conducted the work with the utmost secrecy and caution.

No individual was approached who was not known by his voluntary avowals to be in sympathy with the movement. When such a confession (which must have been made in public) was reported to the Den Council, if no objection was alleged against the individual, a committee was appointed to canva.s.s the subject and report at some future day. Afterwards, if no local disqualifications were still urged, recruiting agents were sent to interview the candidate, who proceeded with such circ.u.mspection that they rarely failed to obtain a reply to the inquiries they brought without committing themselves or their cause. A candidate for members.h.i.+p who had been approved was conducted to the Den Council in the night season and by circuitous and unknown routes. He was also securely blindfolded, and the Conductors (officers of escort) were forbidden to communicate with him, until their destination had been reached. Arriving in some sequestered forest grove, he was commanded to dismount, and with eyes still bandaged, and the former policy of secrecy maintained in all particulars, was conducted into the presence of the council. Here, without being permitted to ask questions, he was requested to give heed to what was about to be said, and when the Cyclops, or some individual commissioned by him, had revealed to him the objects and polity of the organization known as K. K.

K., and the quality of allegiance exacted from those who entered its ranks, he was requested to state whether he still wished to carry out his original design of connecting himself with the Order. If this interrogatory was replied to in the negative, some very positive oaths and threats enjoining secrecy as to what had transpired were delivered to him, and he was permitted to retire. [This policy was invariably pursued by the Klan, and it is not probable that its vows were ever committed to an individual who had not obtained the full consent of his mind to the concessions he was required to make.] On the contrary, if an affirmative reply was given, the ceremony of initiation was proceeded with,--a formula which we shall not describe in this place, further than to say that the vows, which were delivered in a kneeling posture, were of the most approved iron-clad pattern, and that to each was attached a string of penalties, categorically presented, which aimed at nothing less than the annihilation of the transgressor.

It is wrong to infer, as many have done, that because the political views maintained by the Klan corresponded to those which were avowedly held by ex-Confederate soldiers at that period, that the former was recruited from the latter in large measure, or, as the enemies of both were apt to suggest, as an entirety. Though occupying the territory in which they were domiciled, it is improbable that one-half the available force which the former boasted was derived from the latter source, and it is certain that a majority of the latter did not give their sanction nor countenance to the measures adopted by the Klan in seeking redress for alleged political wrongs. But a very large number of ex-Confederates entered its ranks, and, perhaps for prudential (not political) reasons, the administration of Klan affairs was, in a large measure, committed to this element. Its force, as has been antic.i.p.ated, was recruited from the entire white population of the States which it occupied; and it certainly was not wanting in that _respect_ for which such movements are almost wholly dependent on the character of their const.i.tuency. Members of State legislatures, congressmen, and governors of States, took its vows upon them, and were not unfrequently to be found at its midnight gatherings. In all National and State elections the Klan gave its political suffrages to members of the Order, or known sympathizers. Indeed, to effect its political ends (which were the ends of its organization), there were few extremes of contumacious conduct which it did not practise towards the existing State governments. Not only did it throw the weight of its suffrages in behalf of favorites--it forbade others the exercise of this privilege. Freedmen who were deemed too ignorant to cast an intelligent ballot were visited at their homes in the small hours of the night, and by measures of intimidation, which not unfrequently included the lash, were driven to accept an oath of lengthy abstinence from the League and the polls. White men, who were obnoxious because of their too active instrumentality in League affairs, or their excessive fondness for the cla.s.s of society which they encountered at its meetings, were equally unfortunate. During the quiet hours of the night ghostly placards, bearing the caption K. K. K. in large letters, and inscribed with the escutcheon of the Order (skull and cross-bones), were posted on their doors, commanding them to "skip out" (a technicality invented by the Klan), or expect the utmost vengeance of the Order. Where the rank of the offender required that some more dignified means of notification be employed, or where the individual was deemed to represent very obdurate qualities of soul, instead of the ordinary method aforesaid, an empty coffin was carted to his door, and in this horrible symbol of its anathemas was placed the order of ejectment.

The social system was sought to be renovated in the use of the same summary methods, and upon crimes of this nature the severest examples of Klan disfavor were constantly visited. The carpet-bag element recently introduced into the country suffered most frequently in this category; and it is not too much to say, that the strict construction placed upon the social laws of the country, and upon social decorum as an abstraction, by the weird fraternity, was to this cla.s.s one of the most intolerable burdens of Southern exile. To miscegenate was quite bad enough (and a privilege which the State laws denied them), but to be permitted to go a step further, and "conglomerate," was not to be thought of, and Klan discipline was brought to bear--one of its few acts which has received the unconditional endors.e.m.e.nt of both Northern and Southern society.

CHAPTER VIII.

K. K. K. CUSTOMS.