Finally, as it seemed impossible to secure a president, the regents determined to open the University with Richards as acting president.[1732] On April 1, 1869, the University opened with thirty students, twenty-eight of whom were beneficiaries.[1733] The Monitor said that the members of the faculty were known as Shanghai, Cockeye, Tanglefoot, Old Dicks, etc. Another woodcut appeared in the Monitor—of Richards, this time.[1734]
Thirty was the highest enrolment reached under the Reconstruction faculty. The number gradually dwindled away until at the end of the session there were only ten. The next session ended with only three. In October, 1870, there were ten students, four of whom were sons of professors. William R. Smith[1735] was elected president during this session, but he reported that there was no prospect of success under the present conditions and resigned. By the end of the session not one student remained. The scientific apparatus was scattered and lost, as were also the museum specimens and library books, and the $2000 object-glass of the telescope had disappeared.[1736]
The people of Alabama did not favor the continuance of the University under the reconstructed faculty, and were glad when the doors were closed. The Ku Klux Klan took part in the work of breaking down the venture. Notices were posted on the doors, directed to the students, advising them to leave. One sent to the son of Governor Smith read as follows:—
David Smith: You have received one notice from us, and this shall be our last. You nor no other d—d son of a d—d radical traitor shall stay at our University. Leave here in less than ten days, for in that time we will visit the place and it will not be well for you to be found out there. The state is ours and so shall our University be.
Written by the Secretary by order of the Klan.
Charles Muncel, son of Joel Muncel, the publisher, of Albany, New York,[1737] received the following notice:—
Charles Muncel. You had better get back where you came from. We don’t want any d—d Yank at our colleges. In less than ten days we will come to see if you obey our warning. If not, look out for hell, for d—n you, we will show you that you shall not stay, you nor no one else, in that college. This is your first notice; let it be your last.
The Klan by the Secretary.
The next warning was sent to a lone Democrat:—
Horton: They say you are of good Democratic family. If you are, leave the University and that quick. We don’t intend that the concern shall run any longer. This is the second notice you have received; you will get no other. In less than ten days we intend to clear out the concern. We will have good Southern men there or none.