"Well, the Klan won the election and it looks to me like my next move had better be to some locality where the night gown devils have not yet made their appearance."
"What's the matter, Hennesy? Gettin' cold feet?" asked Stover.
"Well, prospects here in Wilford Springs are not looking any too bright, I'm frank to admit," Hennesy replied.
"Don't give up and quit the game. Stay with us and we'll whip them yet," McBryan assured him.
"Well, I've a good business here, as you all know, and am perfectly willing to stay if there is any chance to win; but with Dan Brown, a Klansman, elected sheriff, and C.M. Stanton, another Klansman, elected county attorney, it looks mighty bad for my line of business."
"We'll drive the Klan out of business, and when the sheriff and attorney find themselves without the support of hundreds of Klansmen whom they are expecting to back them when they take office, they will become tame enough."
"But how are you going to destroy the Klan? It's growing stronger every day," said Stover. "I don't see why people are such fools," he added.
"I had a little talk with our friend here, Mike McMichael, and he has a plan that I think will be a winner if it is carried out. I asked Mike to come down tonight and explain it to you," said McBryan.
McMichael rose, spread his legs apart, and clasped his hands behind him. (A favorite position when addressing a jury.) "Gentlemen," he began, "the situation is serious. Something needs to be done and done quickly. You boys laid a plan and executed it in an effort to carry the election. The plan seemed feasible enough, but it did not work. It was bungled in several particulars. I am attorney for Krouse in the damage suit in which he is suing the county for permitting mob violence, and it's doubtful if you fellows have furnished enough evidence to make it stick. It was a mistake to paint his back instead of whipping him. A light whipping wouldn't have hurt that husky Dutchman. At any rate, he should have been willing to submit to a mild whipping for the good of the cause."
"I think he would have submitted to it if we had asked it, but we were of the opinion that painted stripes would do just as well," McBryan, interrupting him, explained.