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 class 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 endorsement of both Northern and Southern society.
CHAPTER VIII.
K. K. K. CUSTOMS.
The Klan never did its Work by Halves—How General Orders were Transmitted—Form of General Order—Its Imbroglios with the League—Avoided Conflict with United States Troops—Ku-Klux Prosecutions a Weakness of the Courts—League Informers—K. K. K. Intimidation of Witnesses—Memento Mori—Crusade of the Ermined Ranks—Misdirected Prosecutions—Obligation to Disregard Judicial Oaths when they Conflicted with the Plans and Policy of the Order—No Patch-spots in its System of Government—Weird Drill—Absenteeism not one of the Strong Points of the Brotherhood—The Klan a Bitter Enemy of those Unorganized Parties of Ruffians who made War on their kind in the former’s Name—Its Right to Borrow Sympathy on this Exchange a Grave Question of Doubt—Vendettas Conducted against the “Shams.”
The Klan never did its work by halves, nor never pronounced a meaningless threat. If an individual was warned to leave the country at a certain date, there was no help for it, neither were there any extensions of time or modifications of original orders. Had members of the Order been incarcerated in a county prison for Klan offences, and a rescue been planned, the bars must yield at a certain hour. If some poor wretch was doomed by order of the Council to suffer under its laws of extradition, the weird scout was “over the borders and away” ere its absence could be noted, or electric messages sent to notify the authorities of the impending outrage.
When the Grand Wizard wished to promulgate an order, the newspapers were the medium commonly sought. His commands in the use of this means were delivered to the next in rank, and by him transmitted to the Grand Giant of the province named, an officer who maintained constant communications with the Den system. No Den was required to execute a general order within the territory which it occupied, and in but rare instances did it proceed to enforce its own local measures. This force was, in almost every instance, employed beyond its own boundaries, and not unfrequently crossed the borders of the province, and even the realm to which it belonged, in the execution of raiding commands. The territorial subdivisions of the Order were each numbered according to class, a precaution which was found to be indispensable in the transmission of “general orders.” The latter were usually in the following form:
To the Grand Cyclops of Den No. 5, Province No. 4, Realm No. 3.
Greeting: You are hereby commanded to report with your entire command to the Grand Giant of your province for duty in D. 6, P. 5, R. 4.