The Nation's Peril Part 4

The death of this n.o.ble martyr to the cause of truth, effected important changes. There were signs of dissatisfaction among some portions of the community, to whom the details of the awful tragedy had become known, and it was necessary that some measures should be taken to appease the feeling of indignation that was beginning to gain ground.

The Grand Jury of the county was summoned to sit for the purpose of taking some measures to suppress crime. Every member of the jury was a member of the C. U. G., or Ku Klux Klan. Their first step was to issue an address to the people of the county, stating that evidence had been brought before them to show that certain negroes had been guilty of gross outrages in the county, which all good men should deprecate, and calling upon the citizens to look out for the evil doers. This had but little effect, however, other than to confirm the few well-meaning ones in their former belief that Wilkinson county was in the hands of men who would leave no measures unturned, to drive out of it, every one known to differ from them politically.

Deason is not the first nor the last in the long procession of ill.u.s.trious martyrs who, in all ages of the world have forfeited their lives in the maintenance of their principles. Unlettered, uncouth, uncultivated in life, resolute and unyielding even in death, he stands recorded upon the pages of this brief history, a n.o.ble and brilliant example of the lineal descendants of those who came from the sh.o.r.es of a distant continent, more than an hundred years ago, to seek that freedom of thought, that civil and religious liberty that had been denied them at home.

Many such as he, now live and suffer in the deluded and misguided land of his birth, and like him, have for years carried their lives in their hands, for opinion's sake. In the good Providence of an all-seeing G.o.d--who has indeed imbued the present heads of the nation with the wisdom necessary to appreciate the situation, and devise the appropriate remedy--light begins to appear in the dark places, verifying the saying that, "sooner or later, insulted virtue avenges itself on states as well as on private individuals."

THE MURDER OF BRINTON PORTER.

While the Grand Jury were holding their sessions as previously stated, and only a short time after Deason's death, a band of twenty armed and disguised men rode into Irwinton and murdered one Brinton Porter, an intelligent citizen whose offense consisted like Deason's in his having disseminated Republican principles and voted the Republican ticket.

Porter had received a warning similar to that sent to Deason, but had said nothing about it, even to the members of his own family. After receiving the warning he had neither openly expressed his radical views, nor made recantation of his political faith, but as he had not left the country, as the warning stated he must do, his doom was p.r.o.nounced in the conclave of the Camp, and it was ordered that he should die.

On the 8th of September, 1871, after concluding the business of the day, and taking tea with his family, Mr. Porter left the family table, and, taking a chair, went out to his door stoop. His only child, a daughter of tender years, accompanied him and sat at his feet. He saw the band of disguised men approaching the house, and deeming himself in danger, immediately arose and was in the act of entering the house when he fell across the threshold pierced by half a dozen bullets, which had been discharged at him by the Klan. The child escaped unhurt. The Klan seeing they had accomplished their purpose, wheeled around and with derisive yells pa.s.sed out of the town at a sharp trot.

The agony of Porter's family beggars description. A wife widowed, and a child orphaned in a moment, because their natural protector had a.s.sumed the right guaranteed to him by the Const.i.tution and the laws, to exercise the elective franchise according to his own opinion, and the dictates of his own conscience. Can one believe, that in the civilization of the 19th century, and upon the American continent, the boasted refuge for the down-trodden, and the oppressed of all nations, such a scene as that above related could be enacted in the broad light of day, and the whole community not rise up against it? Alas, for the degradation to which political bigotry and a disregard of law, reduces a people, it is only too true.

The data upon which this truthful narration of the murder of Brinton Porter is founded, is a matter of record in the archives of the Government. The facts can neither be gainsaid nor palliated. It is to be hoped that the firm policy of the present administration may bring the people of the community in which Porter lived to such a sense of the great injustice done among them, that they will rally to aid the Government, in bursting the bands thrown about them by the subtletry of their own unprincipled leaders, and stand shoulder to shoulder with those who are doing all that human wisdom can devise to restore order and harmony, and promote prosperity and happiness among the people.

EXTERMINATING THE NEGRO RACE.

_Fiendish Designs of the Ku Klux of Wilkinson County._

THE EMASCULATION OF HENRY LOWTHER.

In some parts of Wilkinson County, there seemed to be a disposition to destroy every member of the colored race who should be found voting the radical ticket.

It was contended that scourgings and general maltreatment had not produced satisfactory results; and, on the other hand, blood was acc.u.mulating on the heads of the Klan, too fast even for their blunted consciences. Still the war must go on in some way, and something must be done to destroy the little leaven that bid fair to "leaven the whole lump." The subject was discussed in the conclave of the Camp, and it was finally decided that a more effectual way could be devised to accomplish the extermination of the colored race than either by whipping or murder. This was the fiendish resolve to castrate every negro who was guilty of radical proclivities, and who voted the radical ticket, a design worthy alone of the men who originated it.

In that county, and at that particular time, there were many colored men known as Republicans; and an opportunity was speedily afforded the Klan, to carry out this terrible species of cruelty; a greater crime against nature than all the others since it looked to the entire destruction of the species.

There had been, for sometime previous to September, 1871, a colored man in Wilkinson County, by the name of Henry Lowther. This person was favorably known among the negroes of the county, and expended a good deal of his leisure time in going from place to place, and talking Republican sentiments to members of his race, and urging them to vote the Republican ticket, as the only means of maintaining their right to freedom.

Previous to the dreadful visitation which subsequently came upon him, he had voted the Republican ticket upon two occasions, and had expressed his intentions to continue on in his political course in the future.

This had roused the indignation of the Ku Klux Camp at Irwinton beyond measure. A meeting of the Klan was called in which the edict was promulgated, that since Lowther would not abandon the propagation of his political opinions, he should be deprived of the power to propagate his race, and further, that he should receive no "warning" in the matter, but be proceeded against summarily, and "at once" was the time fixed for this outrage. Lowther had been followed all the day previous, and just after dusk was seized and thrown into a carriage, and driven rapidly away to the woods near Irwinton, by four men armed and disguised. While in the carriage, he was told that if he moved or made any resistance, his life would pay the forfeit; but that, otherwise, it would be spared.

Upon arriving at the woods, he was taken out of the carriage, and found himself in the midst of nearly one hundred persons. Notwithstanding the promise made by his first captors, he supposed his time had arrived and begged for his life. He was then told that he would not be killed, if he did not make too much resistance; that he had been preaching too much politics, and they intended to fix all the d--d radical breeders in the country; and had made up their minds to begin on him. Lowther did not fully comprehend them at first, but soon learned the awful significance of the words.

His arms were then firmly pinioned, and he was thrown upon the ground where he was tightly held by several of the band, and castrated in a most rude and brutal manner, begging piteously and writhing under the pains inflicted by his tormentors. After the operation had been performed, he was unpinioned and asked if he knew the residence of any doctors and on his replying that he did, he was told to go for one as he valued his life; and further, that if he ever voted the radical ticket again, or influenced any one else to do so, he should suffer death. Although shockingly mutilated and bleeding from the dreadful manner in which he had been treated, Lowther started to find a physician. Three different surgeons were applied to before he found one sufficiently humane to afford him a.s.sistance in dressing his wounds.

It was several weeks before the unfortunate negro was in a condition to walk about. The facts coming to the ears of the officers of the U. S.

secret service, they made diligent search for Lowther, whom they learned dared not complain of his treatment for fear of death; and having found and a.s.sured him of protection, he made affidavit to the facts as above set forth, affirming that, with other parties who instigated and consummated this outrage, were Eli c.u.mmings, the Mayor of Irwinton, Lewis Peac.o.c.k, then Sheriff of Wilkinson County, and others of equal prominence. Shall it be said after this that only the ignorant and uninfluential whites are engaged in the gross outrages charged upon the Southern community? and that there is no need there of the rigorous enforcement of the laws to secure to the well-meaning citizen, black and white, the security for life and property denied them under the rule of the lawless mob?

OUTRAGES BY THE KU KLUX KLAN.

PERSECUTION OF THE FURGUSON FAMILY FOR OPINION'S SAKE.--AGED WOMEN AND YOUNG GIRLS STRIPPED NAKED, AND BRUTALLY WHIPPED.--AN AWFUL HISTORY.

_For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: My father chastised you with whips, But I will chastise you with scorpions._ II CHRONICLES, X, 11.

The terrible narration that here ensues shows more conclusively, perhaps, than any that has preceded it, the extent of the moral degradation to which the community in which it was enacted was so surely and steadily drifting. It would seem that the authors of the outrage had forgotten that they were born of mothers, who had nursed them tenderly in infancy, or that there were any longer left in the bosoms of women those feelings of virtue and modesty usually ascribed to and found in the s.e.x, and the writer will here premise that the facts herein contained, dreadful though they are in their disgusting details, have been verified beyond cavil or the hope of questioning.

Just previous to the breaking out of the rebellion, Dennis Furguson, an intelligent and hard-working white man, resided with his family in Chatham county, North Carolina. The family consisted of himself, his wife Catherine, a daughter, Susan J. Furguson, and three sons, John, Henry and Daniel. The head of the household was one of the few devoted Unionists who were thoroughly opposed to the principles then being disseminated by those who were endeavoring to plunge the country into a civil war, and exerted all his influence to avoid the great catastrophe.

Mr. Furguson was known as being favorable to the Republicans, and had voted in the interest of the principles of the party of that name, whenever opportunity had offered. He had educated his children in a love of the Union, and taught them the blessings of civil and religious liberty with their evening prayers, and had succeeded in imbuing them with his own opinions to such an extent that the family became noted throughout Chatham county as Unionists and Radicals.

At the breaking out of the war, Furguson determined to remain a non-combatant, seeking as far as possible not to render himself obnoxious to his neighbors, but resolving at the same time to maintain a neutral position. In this, however, he was doomed to a bitter disappointment, being conscripted into the rebel army and sent to the front. He was taken prisoner at Fort Caswell, N. C., and was sent to Elmira, N. Y., where he died, never having seen his family from the night he was so rudely torn from their embrace, and compelled to serve in the army of the rebellion.

Neither this great calamity, nor the numerous other hards.h.i.+ps suffered by this family for opinion's sake, could shake their firm adherence to the Union cause. The daughter was a beautiful girl, of great natural intelligence, but who had been wholly without the advantages of an education. She was attached to her father with a rare devotion, and believed it to be a filial duty, which she owed to his memory, to continue to enunciate the principles in which he had so thoroughly instructed her.

His conscription had strengthened rather than weakened these sentiments, and she publicly spoke of his death as chargeable to the wicked designs of the men who had endeavored to overturn and destroy the country.

At the time of the organization of the first Camp of the "Const.i.tutional Union Guards," or Ku Klux Klan, in Chatham county, Susan Furguson was in her eighteenth year. Her case was the first one brought to the consideration of the Camp; but no special action was taken thereon until it was observed that the sons were following in the footsteps of the father, and were advocating the same principles of Unionism and Republicanism that he had taught them. They also learned that Miss Furguson lost no opportunity to express her convictions to the colored people with whom she came in contact, and in their eyes her course became intolerable.

During the October of 1870, the case of the Furguson family was again brought before the Camp as a flagrant violation of the principles of the white man's government, and it was resolved that an example should be made of them. A warning was sent to the family to renounce their political faith, and cease the promulgation of their opinions, or leave the country.

To this, and subsequent warnings of a similar character, no attention was paid, and an edict was finally issued by the Commander of the Camp, to have some, if not all the members of the family, scourged.

On the night of the 10th of November, 1870, the Furgusons retired to bed at about 10 o'clock. The family was then composed of the widow, Mrs.

Catherine Furguson, the daughter Susan, and the three sons. Between eleven and twelve o'clock, the attention of the daughter was called to a noise outside the house, resembling the tramp of horses' feet, and the running of men. In a moment afterwards, a voice shouted, "Open the door." The daughter arose hastily, threw a wrapper over her person, and went to the door and asked, "Who is there?"

The response to this was another command, delivered in more peremptory tones than at first--"Open the door!" and on her refusing to comply therewith, the frail structure was broken in, and a man, disguised beyond all hope of recognition, sprang into the apartment, confronting the girl with a most terrible oath.

In the dim glare of the candle which Miss Furguson had lighted, and now held above her head, this hideous looking object presented an appearance well calculated to terrify a stouter heart. A long black gown hung over his person to his knees, and his legs were encased in huge army boots, ornamented with a brace of iron spurs. Over his face was a black mask, with apertures for the eyes, nose, and mouth, and around these were drawn ghastly circles of white and red, rendering the face of the figure exceedingly repulsive. On his breast was the representation of a human skull worked in white, on a black ground, and surrounded with grotesque figures worked in red. His head was surmounted with a high conical-shaped black hat, on which were curious figures worked in white, and edged with red and yellow.

He commenced his interrogations by asking Miss Furguson if she had ever seen a KU KLUX; to which the brave girl replied she never had, nor did she wish to, unless it were more comely than he. This seemed to enrage him, and turning to the door, he shouted, "Come in!" A horde of twenty men, similarly disguised, rushed into the room, and the indecent orgies commenced.

The mother and the three brothers had remained in bed, at the earnest request of the sister, but were speedily dragged from their resting place.

Daniel was the first one a.s.sailed. His night clothes were torn from him in myriads of pieces, leaving him in an entirely nude state. He was then thrown down upon the floor, and stretched out at full length; four of the band seizing and holding him fast while two others came forward and administered to him upwards of an hundred lashes on the naked person, drawing the blood at every blow, and raising the quivering flesh in great ridges upon his back and limbs. The boy fainted under the terrible punishment, and was then thrown aside to make room for his brothers, Henry and John, who were each castigated in an equally severe manner.

John Furguson, who was more delicate than his brothers, uttered such piercing shrieks, as the heavy gum switches descended upon his back and loins, that his sister became almost insane. In her terrible agony she sprang upon the leader, and before she could be prevented, tore off his mask, and, to her horror and amazement, disclosed the face of Richard Taylor, one of her nearest neighbors, to whom she had often, since the death of her father, gone for advice and counsel. Taylor threw her rudely to the floor and replaced his mask as quickly as possible. The girl was severely stunned by the fall, but as soon as she recovered, cried out, "I know you, d.i.c.k Taylor, and I will have you punished for what you have done this night."

Taylor immediately discharged his revolver at her, but, in the dim light shed over the room by the candle, and the excitement of the moment, shot wide of the object. He then exclaimed, with an oath, "If you move again, I will kill you dead; and if I ever hear of your telling anybody of this affair, we will come back and kill you all."

Turning to Mrs. Furguson, he said, "Now, you take your folks and leave this country. If you are not gone in ten days, we will be here again and you shall all die."

During the entire time of this whipping the three sons, two of them men grown, were completely naked, and when the mother and daughter sought to avert their heads from the shameful spectacle, they were ordered to turn them back again on pain of instant death, the command being enforced with pistols presented at their heads, by the hands of men whom they now felt a.s.sured would not hesitate to use them if ordered.

Having issued the edict for the family to leave the country or suffer death, the gallant defenders of the "white man's government" and the protectors of the "white man's race" departed.

For more than three weeks succeeding this visitation, the Furguson brothers were confined to their beds, and the mother and daughter nursed their wounds, and labored for their support with untiring energy. During these three weeks Susan Furguson had spread the news of the outrage to all parts of Chatham County, characterizing the attack upon them as brutal and savage--a crime that, if left unpunished by men, would surely be punished by the hand of the Lord. She applied to the Justices of the Peace for relief, stated that she recognized d.i.c.k Taylor, and George and Joseph Blaylock, citizens of the place, as being present on the night of the a.s.sault, and partic.i.p.ating therein, and would make her affidavit to the facts, and support it with undeniable testimony.

She was everywhere laughed to scorn. The few who sympathized with her and her family, dared not give expression to their thoughts for fear of a similar fate. Chatham County was in the hands of the Ku Klux; a reign of terror had been inaugurated there; the mob had made laws for themselves, and justice was not to be had.