Humorous and Didactic,
TREATING THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS OF
THE KU-KLUX-KLAN MOVEMENT
IN THE SOUTH.
WITH
A Discussion of the Causes which gave Rise
to it, and the Social and Political
Issues Emanating from it.
BY
JAMES MELVILLE BEARD.
PHILADELPHIA:
CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER,
624, 626 & 628 MARKET STREET.
1877.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by
CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
J. FAGAN & SON,
STEREOTYPERS, PHILAD’A.
Selheimer & Moore, Printers,
501 Chestnut Street.
INSCRIBED TO
Messrs. Geo. C. Reeler and H. R. and J. M. Park,
BOTH AS A MARK OF THE AUTHOR’S ESTEEM AND A TESTIMONIAL
OF GENEROUS AID RENDERED DURING
THE PROGRESS OF THE “SKETCHES.”
These sketches are placed before the public without other apology fortheir appearance than may be found in that demand for information on thesubject treated which renders a work of the character a positive necessityof the times. The secret political movement here introduced to the readerhas contributed more to the sensational character of American politics,and, at the same time, proven a more influential factor in those politicalquestions with which we have dealt as a people, than any or allcontemporaneous issues. And yet nothing has been written on the themebearing a just proportion thereto,—absolutely nothing,—if we subtractthe unknown quantity in the news problem of the day from this estimate,and for reasons as varied as obvious. We shall not weary the reader with astatement of the latter, nor a recitative of the conditions upon whichthey are or may have been based. It is enough that we know that noconsecutive nor reliable history of the Order could have been written atan earlier period; and even at this date, so broken and fragmentary arethose passages referring to its active career, compiled during months ofarduous labor, that the author has been necessitated to group them in aseries of historical sketches, or [Pg v]pen-pictures, and in treating thesubject to adopt the style of the romancist, rather than that of thehistorian. He flatters himself, however, that while the reliability of hishistorical information is not impaired by this method, that the work willthereby be rendered more attractive to a large class of readers; and, onthe other hand, as to facts connected with the morale of the weirdsubject, he is not hampered by these considerations, but is enabled topresent them in such a concise form, and as sententiously as regardsstyle, as their share of the task’s importance renders peremptory.
From the moment that the resolution to compose these sketches in theinterest of the reading public became fixed in the author’s mind, he hasbeen in constant communication with individuals who were not onlyinfluential leaders of the secret movement, but held high official rankunder it; so that the authenticity of his statements affecting itsregimé is placed so far beyond question that the reader is at liberty totake the latter as ex cathedra utterances of this singularly reticentbody. Should those passages which are occupied with the more exci