by Thomas Dixon
CHAPTER V
THE REIGN OF THE KLAN
In quick succession every county followed the example of Ulster, and thearms furnished the negroes by the State and National governments were inthe hands of the Klan. The League began to collapse in a panic of terror.
A gale of chivalrous passion and high action, contagious and intoxicating,swept the white race. The moral, mental, and physical earthquake whichfollowed the first assault on one of their daughters revealed the unity ofthe racial life of the people. Within the span of a week they had lived acentury.
The spirit of the South "like lightning had at last leaped forth, halfstartled at itself, its feet upon the ashes and the rags," its handstight-gripped on the throat of tyrant, thug, and thief.
It was the resistless movement of a race, not of any man or leader of men.The secret weapon with which they struck was the most terrible andefficient in human history--these pale hosts of white-and-scarlethorsemen! They struck shrouded in a mantle of darkness and terror. Theystruck where the power of resistance was weakest and the blow leastsuspected. Discovery or retaliation was impossible. Not a single disguisewas ever penetrated. All was planned and ordered as by destiny. Theaccused was tried by secret tribunal, sentenced without a hearing,executed in the dead of night without warning, mercy, or appeal. Themovements of the Klan were like clockwork, without a word, save thewhistle of the Night Hawk, the crack of his revolver, and the hoofbeat ofswift horses moving like figures in a dream, and vanishing in mists andshadows.
The old club-footed Puritan, in his mad scheme of vengeance and partypower, had overlooked the Covenanter, the backbone of the South. This manhad just begun to fight! His race had defied the Crown of Great Britain ahundred years from the caves and wilds of Scotland and Ireland, taught theEnglish people how to slay a king and build a commonwealth, and, driveninto exile into the wilderness of America, led our Revolution, peopled thehills of the South, and conquered the West.
As the young German patriots of 1812 had organized the great struggle fortheir liberties under the noses of the garrisons of Napoleon, so BenCameron had met the leaders of his race in Nashville, Tennessee, withinthe picket lines of thirty-five thousand hostile troops, and in the ruinsof an old homestead discussed and adopted the ritual of the InvisibleEmpire.
Within a few months this Empire overspread a territory larger than modernEurope. In the approaching election it was reaching out its daring whitehands to tear the fruits of victory from twenty million victoriousconquerors.
The triumph at which they aimed was one of incredible grandeur. They hadrisen to snatch power out of defeat and death. Under their clan leadershipthe Southern people had suddenly developed the courage of the lion, thecunning of the fox, and the deathless faith of religious enthusiasts.
Society was fused in the white heat of one sublime thought and beat withthe pulse of the single will of the Grand Wizard of the Klan of Memphis.
Women and children had eyes and saw not, ears and heard not. Over fourthousand disguises for men and horses were made by the women of the South,and not one secret ever passed their lips!
With magnificent audacity, infinite patience, and remorseless zeal, aconquered people were struggling to turn his own weapon against theirconqueror, and beat his brains out with the bludgeon he had placed in thehands of their former slaves.
Behind the tragedy of Reconstruction stood the remarkable man whose ironwill alone had driven these terrible measures through the chaos ofpassion, corruption, and bewilderment which followed the firstassassination of an American President. As he leaned on his window in thisvillage of the South and watched in speechless rage the struggle at thatnegro armoury, he felt for the first time the foundations sinking beneathhis feet. As he saw the black cowards surrender in terror, noted theindifference and cool defiance with which those white horsemen rode andshot, he knew that he had collided with the ultimate force which his wholescheme had overlooked.
He turned on his big club foot from the window, clinched his fist andmuttered:
"But I'll hang that man for this deed if it's the last act of my life!"
The morning brought dismay to the negro, the carpet-bagger, and thescallawag of Ulster. A peculiar freak of weather in the early morningadded to their terror. The sun rose clear and bright except for a slightfog that floated from the river valley, increasing the roar of the falls.About nine o'clock a huge black shadow suddenly rushed over Piedmont fromthe west, and in a moment the town was shrouded in twilight. The cries ofbirds were hushed and chickens went to roost as in a total eclipse of thesun. Knots of people gathered on the streets and gazed uneasily at thethreatening skies. Hundreds of negroes began to sing and shout and pray,while sensible people feared a cyclone or cloud-burst. A furious downpourof rain was swiftly followed by sunshine, and the negroes rose from theirknees, shouting with joy to find the end of the world had after all beenpostponed.
But that the end of their brief reign in a white man's land had come, butfew of them doubted. The events of the night were sufficiently eloquent.The movement of the clouds in sympathy was unnecessary.
Old Stoneman sent for Lynch, and found he had fled to Columbia. He sentfor the only lawyer in town whom the Lieutenant-Governor had told himcould be trusted.
The lawyer was polite, but his refusal to undertake the prosecution of anyalleged member of the Klan was emphatic.
"I'm a sinful man, sir," he said with a smile. "Besides, I prefer to live,on general principles."
"I'll pay you well," urged the old man, "and if you secure the convictionof Ben Cameron, the man we believe to be the head of this Klan, I'll giveyou ten thousand dollars."
The lawyer was whittling on a piece of pine meditatively.
"That's a big lot of money in these hard times. I'd like to own it, butI'm afraid it wouldn't be good at the bank on the other side. I prefer thegreen fields of South Carolina to those of Eden. My harp isn't in tune."
Stoneman snorted in disgust:
"Will you ask the Mayor to call to see me at once?"
"We ain't got none," was the laconic answer.
"What do you mean?"
"Haven't you heard what happened to his Honour last night?"
"No."
"The Klan called to see him," went on the lawyer with a quizzical look "at3 A. M. Rather early for a visit of state. They gave him forty-nine lasheson his bare back, and persuaded him that the climate of Piedmont didn'tagree with him. His Honour, Mayor Bizzel, left this morning with his negrowife and brood of mulatto children for his home, the slums of Cleveland,Ohio. We are deprived of his illustrious example, and he may not be awiser man than when he came, but he's a much sadder one."
Stoneman dismissed the even-tempered member of the bar, and wired Lynch toreturn immediately to Piedmont. He determined to conduct the prosecutionof Ben Cameron in person. With the aid of the Lieutenant-Governor hesucceeded in finding a man who would dare to swear out a warrant againsthim.
As a preliminary skirmish he was charged with a violation of the statutorylaws of the United States relating to Reconstruction and arraigned beforea Commissioner.
Against Elsie's agonizing protest, old Stoneman appeared at the courthouseto conduct the prosecution.
In the absence of the United States Marshal, the warrant had been placedin the hands of the sheriff, returnable at ten o'clock on the morningfixed for the trial. The new sheriff of Ulster was no less a personagethan Uncle Aleck, who had resigned his seat in the House to accept themore profitable one of High Sheriff of the County.
There was a long delay in beginning the trial. At 10:30 not a singlewitness summoned had appeared, nor had the prisoner seen fit to honour thecourt with his presence.
Old Stoneman sat fumbling his hands in nervous, sullen rage, while Phillooked on with amusement.
"Send for the sheriff," he growled to the Commissioner.
In a moment Aleck appeared bowing humbly and politely to every white manhe passed. He bent halfway to the floor before the Commissioner and said
:
"Marse Ben be here in er minute, sah. He's er eatin' his breakfus'. I runerlong erhead."
Stoneman's face was a thundercloud as he scrambled to his feet and glaredat Aleck:
"_Marse_ Ben? Did you say _Marse_ Ben? Who's he?"
Aleck bowed low again.
"De young Colonel, sah--Marse Ben Cameron."
"And you the sheriff of this county trotted along in front to make the waysmooth for your prisoner?"
"Yessah!"
"Is that the way you escort prisoners before a court?"
"Dem kin' er prisoners--yessah."
"Why didn't you walk beside him?"
Aleck grinned from ear to ear and bowed very low:
"He say sumfin' to me, sah!"
"And what did he say?"
Aleck shook his head and laughed:
"I hates ter insinuate ter de cote, sah!"
"What did he say to you?" thundered Stoneman.
"He say--he say--ef I walk 'longside er him--he knock hell outen me,sah!"
"Indeed."
"Yessah, en I 'spec' he would," said Aleck insinuatingly. "La, he's agemman, sah, he is! He tell me he come right on. He be here sho'."
Stoneman whispered to Lynch, turned with a look of contempt to Aleck, andsaid:
"Mr. Sheriff, you interest me. Will you be kind enough to explain to thiscourt what has happened to you lately to so miraculously change yourmanners?"
Aleck glanced around the room nervously.
"I seed sumfin'--a vision, sah!"
"A vision? Are you given to visions?"
"Na-sah. Dis yere wuz er sho' 'nuff vision! I wuz er feelin' bad all dayyistiddy. Soon in de mawnin', ez I wuz gwine 'long de road, I see a bigblack bird er settin' on de fence. He flop his wings, look right at me ensay, 'Corpse! Corpse! Corpse!'"--Aleck's voice dropped to a whisper--"'enlas' night de Ku Kluxes come ter see me, sah!"
Stoneman lifted his beetling brows.
"That's interesting. We are searching for information on that subject."
"Yessah! Dey wuz Sperits, ridin' white hosses wid flowin' white robes, enbig blood-red eyes! De hosses wuz twenty feet high, en some er de Speritswuz higher dan dis cote-house! Dey wuz all bal' headed, 'cept right on detop whar dere wuz er straight blaze er fire shot up in de air ten foothigh!"
"What did they say to you?"
"Dey say dat ef I didn't design de sheriff's office, go back ter farmin'en behave myself, dey had er job waitin' fer me in hell, sah. En shos' youborn dey wuz right from dar!"
"Of course!" sneered the old Commoner.
"Yessah! Hit's des lak I tell yer. One ob 'em makes me fetch 'im er drinker water. I carry two bucketsful ter 'im 'fo' I git done, en I swar terGod he drink it all right dar 'fo' my eyes! He say hit wuz pow'ful drydown below, sah! En den I feel sumfin' bus' loose inside er me, en Idisremember all dat come ter pass! I made er jump fer de ribber bank, ende next I knowed I wuz er pullin' fur de odder sho'. I'se er pow'ful goodswimmer, sah, but I nebber git ercross er creek befo' ez quick ez I gotober de ribber las' night."
"And you think of going back to farming?"
"I done begin plowin' dis mornin', marster!"
"_Don't_ you call me marster!" yelled the old man. "Are you the sheriff ofthis county?"
Aleck laughed loudly.
"Na-sah! Dat's er joke! I ain't nuttin' but er plain nigger--I wantspeace, judge."
"Evidently we need a new sheriff."
"Dat's what I tell 'em, sah, dis mornin'--en I des flings mysef on deignance er de cote!"
Phil laughed aloud, and his father's colourless eyes began to spit coldpoison.
"About what time do you think your master, Colonel Cameron, will honour uswith his presence?" he asked Aleck.
Again the sheriff bowed.
"He's er comin' right now, lak I tole yer--he's er gemman, sah."
Ben walked briskly into the room and confronted the Commissioner.
Without apparently noticing his presence, Stoneman said:
"In the absence of witnesses we accept the discharge of this warrant,pending developments."
Ben turned on his heel, pressed Phil's hand as he passed through thecrowd, and disappeared.
The old Commoner drove to the telegraph office and sent a message of morethan a thousand words to the White House, a copy of which the operatordelivered to Ben Cameron within an hour.
President Grant next morning issued a proclamation declaring the nineScotch-Irish hill counties of South Carolina in a state of insurrection,ordered an army corps of five thousand men to report there for duty,pending the further necessity of martial law and the suspension of thewrit of _Habeas Corpus_.
