UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 
3 
 
 
 
"LIGHTFOOT WAS DE HORSE DAT SOT MISS TOLLY OFF so/' PAGE 130. 
 
The K* K* K. 
 
 By C. W. TYLER. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 "Who would bear the law's delay 
 when he himself might his quietus make 
 with a bare bodkin." 
 
 HAMLET. 
 
 NORTH RIVER PUBLISHING HOUSE 
 
 J6J BANK STREET j* & NEW YORK. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 
COPYRIGHTED 1903 
 BY 
 
 NORTH RIVER PUBLISHING HOUSE. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. In which the readei is taken to a goodly land, and intro 
 duced to pleasant company 5 
 
 II. A midnight alarm 15 
 
 III. Swift retribution follows a fearful crime 19 
 
 IV. The old widow tells a plain unvarnished tale 29 
 
 V. A grievous mistake having been made, certain well disposed 
 
 persons do their endeavor to rectify it 39 
 
 VI. " The moon's on the lake, and the mist on the brae ; 
 
 And the clan has a name that is nameless by day." 47 
 
 VII. Young Mr. Templeton sallies forth to uphold the majesty of 
 the law, but comes near forgetting the errand upon which 
 
 he is bent 55 
 
 VIII. In which there is great cry, and little wool 64 
 
 IX. Pete Kinchen goes in quest of his mother's cow ; and finds 
 
 what he was not looking for 73 
 
 X. Betty Hightower's husband has a pleasant confab with the 
 
 sheriff's wife 84 
 
 XL Lawyer Palaver gives vent to righteous indignation ; and 
 
 Lawyer Slowboy hooks a client for the firm 89 
 
 XII. There being undue excitement in the public mind the case of 
 the State versus Ankerstrom is continued to the following 
 term 99 
 
 XIII. Young Mr. Templeton changes his mind when out of humor, 
 
 and reverts to his former opinion when cheerfulness is 
 restored 110 
 
 XIV. Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, and Matilda the housemaid, have a 
 
 singular experience with a Bible agent 122 
 
 XV. Some jolly good fellows meet at the tavern ; and the case of 
 
 the State versus Ankerstrom is again called in court 134 
 
 XVI. There being undue excitement in the public mind a change of 
 venue is granted in the Ankerstrom case. An old farmer 
 rides out of town on a young lady's horse, and thereby adds 
 
 to the excitement in the public mind. .,.,,, 146 
 
 3 
 
4 Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XVII. In which the reader is introduced to two cave dwellers, 
 
 not of the pre-historic kind 159 
 
 XVIII. The exuberant fancy of Sam Quackenboss brings him 
 into trouble ; and the old farmer delivers a free lecture 
 to a select audience 168 
 
 XIX. The old farmer attends a business meeting of the K. K. K., 
 
 and hears something not to his advantage 180 
 
 XX. The exciting adventure of Sam Quackenboss, and Mr. 
 
 Hardrider, with two hobgoblins on the highway 189 
 
 XXI. The Ankerstrom case is called in another county. The 
 
 judge ignores a powerful affidavit, and the trial begins. 199 
 XXII. Miss Sue Bascombe takes the stand, and there ensues a 
 
 very learned argument on a very grave point 209 
 
 XXIII. The judge sentences the prisoner to hang speedily ; but 
 
 the latter grants himself a respite of a year or so 221 
 
 XXIV. In which there is much rash counsel, and some sage coun 
 
 sel, followed by a prudent conclusion 228 
 
 XXV. Lawyer Slowboy displays great shrewdness at the horse 
 
 market ; and then calls upon a lady acquaintance. . . , . . 235 
 XXVI. Mr. Slowboy travels a lonely road by night, and soon finds 
 
 himself in decidedly queer company 246 
 
 XXVII. Mr. Bob Lee Templeton distinguishes himself at the wood 
 pile 264 
 
 XXVIII. The case of the State versus Ankerstrom is heard in the re 
 vising court, and the wisdom of the ancients is upheld. 276 
 XXIX. Which tells of a carousal at the jail ; and a soberer gather 
 ing in the wood , 287 
 
 XXX. The ungentlemanly behavior of Alabama Sam, and de 
 
 little ole white man, at the abode of Patsy Kinchen 297 
 
 XXXI. An intrepid lad, and his dog, having tramped all their 
 
 lives for nothing, concluded to tramp a while for pay . . 304 
 XXXII. Terrific combat in the cavern betwixt Pete Kinchen, 
 
 Jineral Beauregard, and de little ole white man 313 
 
 XXXIII. Which tells how a young lady took a horseback ride, and 
 
 made a murderous assault on a poor old beggar 323 
 
 XXXIV. A second trial of the Ankerstrom case in the inferior court 
 
 results in a hung jury. Lawyer Palaver takes a drink 
 
 with an agreeable young gentleman 333 
 
 XXXV. A noted individual shuffles off this mortal coil, and leaves 
 
 the world none the poorer . . 841 
 
 The prompter rings his little bell? and the curtain falls. , , , 849 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Few intelligent persons in this country can have failed to note 
 the rapid growth of mob law among us in the last few years. 
 Formerly the punishment of offenders was the business of the 
 courts, and illegal executions in the name of justice never resorted 
 to except in rare instances when some deed of peculiar atrocity 
 stirred an entire community to frenzy. Now human beings are 
 frequently sent out of the world by hasty assemblages of excited 
 men, not only in open defiance of the authorities but often where 
 the offense charged would not have been punishable with death 
 under the law. In some instances, to our shame as a people be it 
 said, the irresponsible mob has burned helpless captives at the 
 stake, thus introducing into an enlightened country a practice 
 hitherto unknown except among the most cruel savages. 
 
 Surely, the time has come when serious enquiry should be made 
 into the causes back of this rapidly growing evil, with the view of 
 staying its further progress if possible. Having been for a number 
 of years the judge of a court in my State with criminal jurisdiction, 
 I have become convinced that the only reason why good citizens 
 countenance mob violence is that they have lost faith in the ability 
 of the courts to deal effectually with crime. They weary of the 
 delay attending criminal prosecutions, and the frequent failure of 
 justice in the end exasperates them. If this be true then the 
 remedy for mob law is to substitute for it speedy trial, and prompt 
 punishment, of all offenders through our regularly established 
 courts of justice. In dealing with criminals we had for the pres 
 ent better err on the side of too much despatch than to pursue fur 
 ther the procrastinating methods that have awakened a protest in 
 the minds of thousands of the soberest men in the country, and 
 brought some portions of our wide republic to the verge of 
 anarchy. 
 
 In framing the present story it was my purpose to show on the 
 one 'hand how easily the vengeance of a mob may be misplaced, and 
 
4 Preface. 
 
 on the other how provoking to the patience of those interested in 
 the suppression of crime and the preservation of order must be 
 the progress of a modern criminal trial as it drags its slow length 
 along through the courts. Some of the incidents here narrated are 
 real, others fictitious, and I have endeavored to weave them all 
 into a story that while carrying a moral with it would not be 
 without interest to the general reader. The name of the book, I 
 may add, was taken from that of a secret society which soon after 
 the close of the civil war was organized in my community for the 
 purpose of administering speedy justice to evil-doers at a time 
 when this end could not be attained through the courts. The 
 title, therefore, when chosen was not without significance to me, 
 though doubtless it will be meaningless to most of those who 
 glance over my pages. 
 
 I am aware of the fact that this story lacks the polish it would 
 have possessed had it come from more skillful hands. It was 
 written however for the honest purpose of striking at a grave 
 existing evil, and, such as it is, I send it forth without apology, 
 hoping it may find a few friends among the millions of readers in 
 this great country, and be in the end productive of some good. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 July 27th, 1903. 
 
THE K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IN WHICH THE READER IS TAKEN TO A GOODLY LAND AND INTRO 
 DUCED TO PLEASANT COMPANY. 
 
 IF you ever take occasion to descend the Cumberland River by 
 steamer from Nashville, Tennessee, you will observe on the right 
 bank of that picturesque stream, not far from the rapids called 
 Harpeth Shoals, a rolling tract of highlands extending for some 
 distance along your route, and stretching as far back into the in 
 terior as the eye can reach. This highland territory is known to 
 the dwellers within its borders, and the good folk of the re 
 gion roundabout, as " The Marrowbone Hills." It embraces 
 a considerable expanse of country, but as it recedes north 
 wardly narrows some distance out from the river into a long and 
 precipitous neck of upland, which for some mysterious reason 
 has been dubbed " Paradise Ridge." I say for some mysterious 
 reason this rugged elevation has been so designated, but the old 
 settlers thereabouts will tell you that the " movers " trekking from 
 Carolina and Virginia, a hundred years ago, and encountering 
 this formidable obstacle in their path, named it " Paradise Ridge " 
 in fine scorn. Lumbering farm wagons, often a dozen or more 
 together, constituted the transportation trains of that early period, 
 and to surmount this frowning barrier with such a vehicle, well 
 laden with wife, children, and household goods, was a feat scarcely 
 paralleled by the notable one of Bonaparte's crossing the Alps. In 
 spite of vigorous application of the lash, and the liberal use of pro 
 fanity, the desperate teams often stalled here on the upward 
 climb, and when the summit at last was reached and the descent 
 on the opposite side begun, the situation was found to be changed 
 by no means for the better, 
 
 5 
 
& The K. K. K. 
 
 Notwithstanding locked wheels and constant tugging against 
 the breeching on the part of the hindmost mules, the conveyance 
 now went forward at headlong rate, bumping against huge boul 
 ders, and scattering the fearful housewife's plunder, with now 
 and then a few of the children, promiscuously along the route. 
 Oftentimes spokes and tires were smashed, axles broken, or 
 tongues shattered, and it took days to mend up and start afresh 
 on the journey to a new home in the wilderness. All this was in 
 the good old times that we dream so fondly about, and which no 
 body in his senses would like to have restored. The railroad from 
 St. Louis to Nashville now cleaves in twain this exasperating Par 
 adise Ridge, and the sleepy traveler may glide smoothly down 
 from Ridgetop to Baker's, at the foot, without ever being 
 aroused from his nap. 
 
 The Marrowbone Hills, however, lie back of the narrow ridge 
 just described, which stretches out from among them like the 
 crooked handle of a gourd. The hill country proper is a pleasant 
 land, where moderate heights and fertile valleys, wooded tracts, 
 cleared fields, and running waters greet the eye of the traveler 
 in agreeable diversity. The soil, even on the steep hillsides, yields 
 a fair return to honest labor, and the atmosphere, owing to the 
 general elevation of the country, is bracing and healthy nearly 
 all the year round. The plain farmer folk who till the earth and 
 spend their days here seldom achieve, or aspire to, great wealth, 
 but they constitute a manly class, who hold their heads up, and 
 generally manage as they themselves frequently boast to get 
 through life without begging, borrowing or stealing. 
 
 Close to the borders of this hill region may be seen a singular 
 succession of high conical mounds, called knobs ; and beyond these 
 stretches a broad, level expanse of country as productive and 
 beautiful to the eye as ever the crow flew over. In this lowland 
 territory the dwellers are more pretentious than on the hills, and 
 the soil for the most part is cultivated by negroes. These, as else 
 where at the South, constitute a class to themselves, and would 
 prove more satisfactory as laborers but for their unfortunate pro 
 pensity to shift their dwelling-places with a frequency that is dis 
 couraging to the landowner, and oftentimes baffling to the would- 
 be collectors of poll-tax. As it is, the relation between the two 
 races is by no means unkindly, though the negroes are a little too 
 suspicious of the good intentions of the whites, and the latter, as 
 a rule, too prone to charge up to the inferior race all offenses of 
 
A Goodly Land and Pleasant Company. 7 
 
 whatever description that cannot be immediately traced to some 
 other source. 
 
 At the time when my story begins for I may as well confess 
 now to the gentle reader that it is my purpose to inflict upon him 
 a narrative in which fact is more or less mingled with fiction 
 there stood within the confines of the hill country, but not far from 
 the c>order line, the substantial log house of an old woman who 
 had dwelt there in peace and comparative comfort nearly all her 
 days. She owned a snug little farm about her home, or, rather, 
 had a life interest in the property, for the fee at her death vested 
 in her granddaughter, a comely girl of some eighteen years, who 
 dwelt with her. The old lady, Mrs. Susan Bascombe, was alto 
 gether illiterate, but honest, independent, courageous beyond most 
 of her sex, and possessed of a fund of native good sense which 
 stood her often in hand when mere " book Tarnin' " would have 
 been of no avail. She was quite an original character this 
 Widow Bascombe, as she was usually called decidedly sharp- 
 tongued when she fancied occasion demanded, but as a general 
 thing kindly in her deportment toward others, and very popular 
 with her neighbors. 
 
 Her granddaughter and namesake was, I make bold to say, 
 as handsome and spirited a damsel as could have been found 
 within the length and breadth of the Marrowbone Hills, or, for 
 that matter, within the whole country far and near, without re 
 striction of territory. The father and mother of the girl had both 
 died when she was a wee thing, and left her to the care of the old 
 lady, who had raised her, and endeavored to train her up in the 
 way she should go. As she grew to womanhood the neighbors 
 about did not fail to note that she had inherited from her grand 
 mother a tall and shapely person, and that she resembled the old 
 widow also in being the possessor of a strong character, of which 
 self-reliance constituted the principal trait. In one particular the 
 girl had decidedly the advantage of the elder female, and that was 
 in the matter of education. She had trotted back and forth as a 
 child to the rough log school-house in her neighborhood wagging 
 often under a load of books that would have borne her down if 
 she had not been strong for her years and had so acquired smat 
 tering information upon many subjects and genuine knowledge 
 of a few. She was quick witted, like her grandmother, and very 
 ambitious, so that the pupil who stood above her in her classes 
 was required to rise early and retire late. At this backwoods insti- 
 
8 The K. K. K. 
 
 tute little Sue Bascombe, having no sensational novels to devour, 
 acquired a taste for solid reading, which she afterward cultivated 
 nt home in the midst of increasing household duties. By the time 
 she had donned long skirts and abandoned her school satchel she 
 was quite a superior sort of young person, mentally as well as 
 physically, and could more justly have been deemed thoroughly 
 accomplished than many a graduate from a famed city academy. 
 
 The house where the two . omen dwelt was a double log struc 
 ture with an open passageway between the lower rooms, such as 
 are still quite common in that part of the country. It was a story 
 and a half high, and the two contracted apartments above were 
 used, the one as a general lumber room, the other as a snug dor 
 mitory, where the grateful wayfarer was allowed to repose in a 
 fat feather bed, with about six inches of breathing space betwixt 
 his nose and the, well-seasoned rafters overhead. The genteel 
 room of the mansion was below and across the open passageway 
 from that occupied by the widow and her granddaughter. This 
 special company room- had great brass dog-irons on the hearth, 
 in the well-scrubbed knobs of which one might detect his own 
 countenance dancing about when the fire* was briskly ablaze. 
 There was a high-post bed here, with a canopy overhead, which 
 was seldom occupied, and indeed was kept more for ornament than 
 utility. A young man of scholastic attainments and solemn de 
 meanor boarded with the family during the pedagogic months of 
 the year; but though he was permitted to use the company room 
 for chat and study during his sojourn, he was required always to 
 betake himself to the cuddy apartment upstairs when bedtime 
 came. He was now absent upon his summer vacation, whiling 
 away the time with some distant relatives who had consented to 
 supply him with food and lodging for the benefit of his society. 
 
 The schoolmaster being away, the old ladv and her grand 
 daughter were left alone in the house, but they were not apprehen 
 sive of danger or specially lonely, for they were not timid, and 
 had come to derive a good deal of comfort from each other's so 
 ciety. Besides, there were kindly neighbors scattered around 
 them, and visits from one or more of these was an almost daily 
 occurrence. On the widow's farm, about a half-mile from the 
 dwelling, a negro named Sandy Kinchen lived in a single-room 
 cabin with his wife and one child. His closest friend was a little 
 dog of the fox terrier variety, and the general opinion in regard 
 to them both was that they were no better than they should be. 
 
A Goodly Land and Pleasant Company. 9 
 
 Th.3 Kinchcn, with his dog ^t his heels, would tramp the country 
 all night in search of 'coons and 'possums, or on worse business, 
 but could seldom be induced to tread a corn furrow or tobacco 
 row by day with the view of paying his rent or earning a support 
 for his family. He was indeed a worthfess fellow, and little 
 thought of by the neighbors, many of whom expressed surprise 
 that the old widow would suffer him to loaf about on her premises. 
 Leaving his laziness out of the question, however, no worse was 
 suspected of him as yet than that he cherished an undue fondness 
 for watermelons not grown in his own patch and chickens that 
 roosted away from his wife's henhouse. 
 
 At the time of the year which I write it was an evening in 
 early June the leaves on the trees had but recently corne to full 
 growth, and there was a newness and freshness about the verdure 
 everywhere that presently would be dulled by the scorching heat 
 of summer and the dust from the roads and fields. The sun had 
 just disappeared behind the crest of a high hill that loomed up 
 immediately back of the old farmhouse, and a deep shadow had 
 crept across the yard and was now encroaching upon a little 
 piece of meadow land that lay in front beyond the highway. Sue 
 Bascombe had stood for some minutes in the open doorway of the 
 family room, looking down the road toward the level country, as if 
 she expected some one to approach from that direction. Near 
 the center of the room her grandmother sat in a split-bottomed 
 chair smoking a cob pipe. Early as the hour was the two had 
 supped, and all evidences of the evening meal had been cleared 
 away. The girl stood in the open doorway with her arms folded 
 and her head resting carelessly against the framework on her 
 right. She was trim and square-shouldered, with a good suit of 
 black hair and eyes to match. A stranger could not have failed 
 to notice the striking resemblance between herself and grand 
 mother, notwithstanding the great disparity in their ages. 
 
 " You needn't look so hard, Sue," remarked the old lady, re 
 moving the pipe from her mouth as she spoke. " Looking won't 
 fetch him, child/' 
 
 " I'm not trying to fetch him," answered the girl, with a trace 
 of resentment at the insinuation. " If he doesn't want to come he 
 can stay away." 
 
 The old woman laughed. " Somebody would have a fit of the 
 blues if he did," she replied, and began sucking at her pipe- 
 stem again. 
 
io The K. K. K. 
 
 The girl made no answer. Her grandmother smoked on in 
 silence a while longer. Then she continued between whiffs: 
 " Wai, wal, honey, I ain't a blamin' you for bein' a little anxious. 
 I 'members the time when I'd a been anxious too ef my beau 
 hadn't turned up jess at the very minute he sot. Gals is gals ; gals 
 is gals." 
 
 " I'm not anxious, Granny," remarked the young lady in the 
 doorway. 
 
 " Naw, you ain't, and yit you is. Wal, wal, I used to be a gal 
 myself, and I finds fault with no person for bein' a gal. Times 
 has changed though sence I was a gal. Laws a mussy, jess to 
 think how times has changed. The Pearsons, they used to be reg 
 ular highflyers, and your grandpappy, you. know, he was a over 
 seer " 
 
 " I hope he was a good one," interjected Sue, who had family 
 pride of the right sort. 
 
 " That's what he was," replied the. old woman promptly. " He 
 was giv' up to be the best in all the country. Up and down, fur 
 and wide, there wa'n't no better overseer than Lemuel Bascombe, 
 and them that says to the contrary tells what ain't so. Times has 
 changed though, as I was a sayin'; times has changed. Laws a 
 mussy, jess to think of it! This here world moves round and 
 round ; and some goes up while some comes down. That's a true 
 word as ever was spoke. Your grandpappy, Lemuel Bascombe " 
 folks called him Lem for short used to oversee for Ran Pear 
 son's daddy. That was in the old times, child, the old times. One 
 lived at the big house then and t'other at the quarter. I remember 
 it all as well as if it had been yistiddy. Mighty stuck up, I tell you, 
 was ole Miss Pearson, Ran's -mammy ; -mighty -stuck up ; mighty 
 stuck up. When she driv by in her carriage she hilf her head high, 
 and was jess as like not to speak to a body as. to speak. Proud she 
 was, I tell you, and her ways was ways of grondeur. That was 
 in the long time ago, and now here's her own dear son a hitchin' 
 his hoss at my gate, and a comin' in to keep com.pany with my 
 granddarter. Wal, wal ; will wonders never cease ? " 
 
 " He needn't come, I'm sure, unless he wants to," retorted Miss 
 Sue, tossing her head. 
 
 "Mighty uppish, mighty uppish," replied old Mrs. Bascombe, 
 surveying her granddaughter, however, with considerable pride 
 as she spoke. " Wal, wal ; we'll let bygones be bygones that's 
 the best way. Ran Pearson is a clever fellow, Sue ; and it never 
 
A Goodly Land and Pleasant Company. n 
 
 hurt anybody yit that be come of a good fambly. Even a dog of 
 good breed is better'n a low down cur. Ran is a gentleman, a 
 gentleman born, and a gentleman in his ways, and them what says 
 to the contrary tells what ain't so. To be sho, to be sho, he's git 
 tin' along now to be considerable of a old bachelor, considerable 
 of a old bachelor, but he can't help that." 
 
 " He's not forty yet/' replied the girl. 
 
 " Ef he ain't," replied the old woman, " he's so nigh thar ain't 
 no fun in it. Lemme see," taking her pipe from her mouth to 
 reflect, " come, thirty-nire year next November or was it thirty- 
 eight ? But that's neither here nor thar. Ran is old enough to be 
 stiddy, and yit he ain't hurt with age. That much anybody can say 
 for him and tell no lie. He hain't put on specks yit, and he's 
 still supple in his j'ints; but he's gittin' along, gittin' along, Ran 
 is. Ef him and a right spry youn^ chap was sparkin' the same 
 gal, I'm afraid he'd git left ; but when it's a race 'twixt him and a 
 poke-easy fellow like the schoolmarster I'll lay my last dollar on 
 Ran" 
 
 " The schoolmarster, fiddlesticks," rejoined the young lady im 
 patiently. " Who's thinking of him ? " 
 
 " Ah, never mind, never mind," answered the old woman. " I 
 tell you what " 
 
 " What does he care for me, I'd like to know ? " interrupted the 
 girl. 
 
 " He cares a heap for you," replied her grandmother, " and 
 you know it as well as you know you're standin' thar." 
 
 " He wouldn't give a page of his dry Latin and Greek for the 
 best girl in Marrowbone Hills," said Miss Sue. 
 
 " He'd put all his books in a pile and burn 'em for Sue Bas- 
 combe; and you needn't let on like you don't think he would," re 
 plied the old lady. 
 
 " He's downright stupid," cried Miss Sue from her place in the 
 doorway. " He's stupid as an owl, for all he's so dreadfully 
 wise." 
 
 " He's a fine young fellow," answered old Mrs. Bascombe, 
 "and the best gal in the country might be proud to git 
 him." 
 
 " I wouldn't give a snap of my finger for him," said Sue, suit 
 ing the action to the word, and snapping her middle finger sharply 
 Against her thumb. 
 v " You mout go further and do wuss," retorted the old woman, 
 
12 The K. K. K. 
 
 who never allowed herself to be worsted in debate if she could 
 help it. 
 
 What further would have followed between these two high-spir 
 ited females must forever remain a matter of conjecture, for at 
 this moment fche sound of a horse's feet was heard up the road and 
 the girl abruptly left the doorway. She lit a candle that stood on 
 z little shelf against the wall it was now growing dark in the 
 room and taking up a brush and comb began to arrange her hair. 
 The did not need to primp much, for she ha3 been expecting her 
 visitor, but a few touches at the last moment are never out of 
 place. The mirror before which she stood was an old-fashioned 
 looking-glass, with two ships depicted at the top, sailing over a 
 singularly blue sea. About half her figure was reflected in this, 
 and she had no reason to be dissatisfied with the hurried inspection 
 she took of her person. After a few moments spent in tidying, 
 she blew out the candle, and, crossing the open passageway into 
 the spare room, lit a lamp that stood on a center table there. The 
 old woman, without invitation, arose and followed her. She was 
 fond of company, and she didn't believe in leaving unmarried peo 
 ple of different sexes to themselves. She took her seat in a large 
 arm-chair by the lamp and began knitting industriously, rocking 
 back and forth as she did so. Sue went to the window curtains 
 and gave them a shake, though there wasn't anything specially the 
 matter with them. She then searched the corners of the room 
 with a keen eye for cobwebs, but none were visible. A step was 
 now heard in the passage, and afterward a rap on the bare floor, 
 made with the heavy end of a riding-whip or the heel of a boot. 
 
 " Come in," cried Sue. 
 
 The visitor who entered at this invitation looked to be forty 
 years of age, if he wasn't. The hair on the summit of his head 
 was decidedly thin, so much so that his pate glistened through it 
 in places, but it could not be fairly said as yet that he was bald. 
 His face was serious a good, honest face, one would say and 
 in manner he was rather retiring. Indeed, there was a sort of stiff 
 ness about him as he returned their salutation, which indicated 
 that he was not entirely at ease in company ; and this perhaps was 
 the highest compliment he could have paid those on whom he had 
 called. It was convincing proof that while the old woman might 
 have considered it a half-condescension on his part to visit them, 
 there was no such idea predominant in his own mind. Randolph 
 Pearson always felt somewhat constrained in the presence of fe- 
 
A Goodly Land and Pleasant Company. 13 
 
 males, for he had never been a society man. His father had been 
 wealthy, but extravagant, and the son at his death inherited from 
 him a comparatively small patrimony. He had added to this ma 
 terially, however, by frugality, sobriety, and strict attention to his 
 business, and by pursuing this course for a number of years had 
 finally won for himself among the good ladies of the vicinity the 
 double reputation of being a desirable catch and a confirmed old 
 bachelor. He had begun casting a wistful eye upon the Bascombe 
 girl while she was yet tramping to and from the country school- 
 house, loaded down with books. When she grew up to be a 
 young lady, and a handsome one to boot, he made bold to call 
 upon her, and as this was a startling step for a man of his habits, 
 his first visit set the tongue of rumor wagging in his neighborhood 
 most industriously. 
 
 Between two entertaining females Mr. Pearson managed on this 
 occasion to while away the time quite agreeably. He discoursed 
 with the old lady about the best method of protecting her fowls 
 from varmints, and the safest preventive against the ravages of 
 the potato bug in the garden. He listened politely while she in 
 dulged in reminiscences of the days when, her husband Lem Bas 
 combe, folk called him was overseer for his father. 
 
 " Terbacker brought better figgers them times than nowadays. 
 All you had to do was to haul it to the river, and it floated down 
 natural to New Ileens. Now it's got to be loaded on the steam 
 cars, and drug across the country away off to New Yark, and 
 that costs money. Three acres of terbacker them times was a 
 average crop for a field hand, and he had to tend it or take the 
 consequences. Now, bless your life, niggers is too genteel to sile 
 thar fingers with suckers and horn worms. 'Stidder puttin' in 
 thar best licks on the farm, they go trapesing about with guns, 
 shootin' rabbits, and plottin' all manner of devilment agin the 
 whites." 
 
 Miss Sue was a party to much of the above promiscuous talk, 
 occasionally agreeing with her grandmother, sometimes taking 
 issue with her stoutly. Now and then a subject was sprung where 
 the discourse for a time was necessarily between the damsel and 
 her steady-going wooer, but on the whole it would have been dif 
 ficult to tell from the drift of the talk whether Pearson's visit was 
 to the old lady, the young lady, or the family. He remained until 
 nine o'clock which is considered honest bedtime in the Marrow 
 bone Hills and when he took his departure the girl accompanied 
 
14 The K. K. K. 
 
 him out to the stile block. There presumably they had some chat 
 of a nature customary and proper between bachelor and maiden 
 who contemplate establishing between themselves a firmer and 
 more lasting union. Even this confidential confab, however, was 
 of no great duration, and, after the lapse of a further half -hour, 
 the visitor mounted and rode away. 
 
 The girl stood at the fence till the sound of the horse's feet had 
 died away in the distance. Then she walked slowly back to the 
 house. She fastened the windows down in the spare room, ex 
 tinguished the light and locked the door. This done, she crossed 
 the passageway to the apartment occupied by herself and grand 
 mother. The old lady had preceded her and was now preparing 
 for bed; but the girl took her stand again in the open doorway, 
 as she had done in the early evening. The night was pleasant, 
 and not very dark. There were stars a plenty in the blue vault of 
 the sky, but no moon. 
 
A Midnight Alarm. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A MIDNIGHT ALARM. 
 
 THE girl stood in the doorway and looked up at the sky and out 
 into the dim night for some time. "Somehow, I feel lonesome 
 to-night, Granny," she said, after a while, without turning her 
 head. " I wonder what's the matter with me ? " 
 
 " Go to bed, go to bed," said the old woman, " and git up early 
 in the mornin', and let's have breakfast betimes." 
 
 The girl made no reply, but continued looking out across the lit 
 tle meadow in front of the house. She could discern dim outlines 
 beyond, but no objects could be distinguished. A screech owl, 
 from a dead tree in the wood, set up its harrowing cry. 
 
 " Heigho," said the girl, after a silence of some minutes, " some 
 how I feel lonesome to-night." 
 
 " Go to bed, go to bed," repeated the old woman. " Thar ain't 
 but two ways to drive off a lonesome feel. One is to drap off to 
 sleep and f urgit it ; t'other is to lay to and work like the mis 
 chief." 
 
 " What was that Mr. Pearson said about the robbers breaking 
 into Lipscombe's house and stealing his watch and money ? " 
 
 " He said they done it, that's all." 
 
 " Tramps ? " inquired the girl. 
 
 " Niggers," answered the old woman. " I know in reason they 
 was niggers. In these parts they is gettin' wuss and wuss. They 
 always would take little things when nobody wa'n't lookin'. Now 
 they break in at night, and rob, and murder, and the Lord knows 
 what. I dunno what the country is a comin' to." 
 
 " It was last Saturday night, he said." 
 
 " Yes, Sadday night, Sadday night. That's the devil's own 
 night. Low-lived folks makes out to kinder behave theyselves 
 during the week, but let Sadday night come, and they loads up on 
 mean whisky and plays the wild. Whisky and the devil go to 
 gether, and have done so sence the world begun." 
 
16 The K. K. K. 
 
 ' This is Saturday night, Granny." 
 
 " So 'tis, so 'tis. I clean forgot. Wai, mark my words ; the 
 next time you read your paper you'll find whar some devilment's 
 been did to-night. Thar was Abe Statidfield, for an insty, a ridin' 
 home on a Sadday night, and shot down dead from a cornder of 
 the fence. Johnny Allbright was tuck up for it, and it went pooty 
 hard with him." 
 
 "Did they hang him?" 
 
 " Naw, naw ; naw, naw. They seesawed, and seesawed, 'twix' 
 courts and courts with him. They drug him here and thar, and 
 lawyers, judges, witnesses and clerks, all sot on him more times 
 'n I've got fingers and toes. They worried him till his head turned 
 gray, and atter so long a time 'mongst hands of 'em they got all his 
 money and turned him loose." 
 
 " Is he dead now? " 
 
 " Dead, child, dead. I seed him atter he was laid away in his 
 coffin, and thar wa'n't none of the trouble in his face that they said 
 the lawyers and judges had writ thar while he was passin' through 
 the deep waters. Dead and gone, dead and gone these many years 
 is Johnny Allbright, like so many more I have know'd in this sor 
 rowful world." 
 
 The screech owl, from the dead tree in the wood, repeated its 
 tremulous, plaintive cry again and again, again and again. 
 
 " Come to bed," said the old woman, who had already lain down. 
 " Ye ain't a goin' to stand thar all night, be ye, Sue ? " 
 
 The girl stepped back into the room and closed the door. She 
 undressed in a few minutes, knelt down and said her prayers, and 
 retired for the night. There were two beds in the room. Her 
 grandmother occupied one in a corner near the door, she the other 
 on the opposite side of the room. By her bed was a window, 
 which was often left open on sultry summer nights. The sash 
 was raised now, but the blind was closed. 
 
 The screech owl, from the dead tree in the wood, kept repeating 
 its mournful cry. At regular intervals its pitiful plaint broke the 
 stillness of the night again and again, again and again. 
 
 " I wish it would quit," cried the girl after a while, in the dark 
 ness. She had been endeavoring in vain to compose herself to 
 sleep. 
 
 " Some say the thing sees hants," replied the old woman. " For 
 my part, I don't believe in no sich. If livin' folks will let me 
 alone I ain't afeered of the dead ones." 
 
A Midnight Alarm. 17 
 
 " It makes my flesh creep," said the girl, impatiently. " I believe 
 I'll go out and shoo it away." 
 
 " Go to sleep, go to sleep," replied the old woman. " Don't be 
 skeered out of your senses by a night bird. Screech owls has been 
 hollerin' around this house for thirty year and no harm ain't befell 
 us yit." 
 
 The old woman dropped into a doze and then into profound 
 slumber. The girl continued restless and wakeful in spite of her 
 self. She counted a hundred backwards, fixed her mind on un 
 interesting subjects, tried all the plans she had ever heard of for 
 wooing sleep, but her faculties remained keenly alive to all that 
 was passing about her. The night bird at last flew away. Its con 
 stantly recurring plaint came no more to startle her and banish re 
 pose from her pillow. Other sounds familiar to the night suc 
 ceeded, but these smote not so discordantly upon her ear. An old 
 cow on a neighboring farm bellowed a long time, presumably 
 for her missing calf. So far away was the sound that it was mel 
 lowed by distance, and, though vexed a little at first, she was 
 finally soothed by it. Fainter and fainter grew the note, till now 
 it died away entirely. Either the anxious call had ceased to float 
 over field and timber land or the drowsy ear of the maiden had 
 grown too dull to catch it. 
 
 It was now past midnight, and the occupants of the old house 
 were both asleep. In the immediate vicinity, and through all the 
 region of the Marrowbone Hills, stillness reigned, broken only by 
 the usual noise^ of the night. From some lonely farmhouse the 
 hoarse bark of a watch-dog arose occasionally to warn unseen in 
 truders away. An old rooster, safely perched among the pullets 
 in his henhouse, awoke, crew drowsily, and went to sleep again. 
 A prowling fox near by turned his ear toward the inspiring note, 
 hesitated a while, then trotted off down the deserted road, his 
 stealthy footfall giving back no sound. Through all the region 
 of the Marrowbone Hills almost unbroken stillness reigned. 
 
 Suddenly, penetrating for a long distance the quiet of the night, 
 the shrill cry of a human being arose. It roused in an instant all 
 those upon whose startled ears it fell, for it was unmistakably the 
 cry of a woman in distress. Many of those who heard it left their 
 beds, and in more than one habitation opened their doors to listen. 
 The note of alarm rose the second time, more vehemently than 
 at first, but abruptly ended, as if cut short by some violent 
 agency. 
 a 
 
i8 The K. K. K. 
 
 Now the sky above the place from which the wild cry of distress 
 had come began to glow faintly. Soon it became a dull red, then 
 brightened, and all the heaven was lit. Long streaks of light 
 climbed next toward the zenith, and a ruddy blaze leaped high 
 amid a thick volume of ascending smoke. 
 
 Those who had been called hurriedly from their beds were at no 
 loss to determine the spot from which the flames arose. The 
 old Bascombe house was on fire. 
 
Swift Retribution Follows a Fearful Crime. 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 'SWIFT RETRIBUTION FOLLOWS A FEARFUL CRIME. 
 
 " HANG him ! hang him ! hang him ! " 
 
 The captive negro struggled for a while in the midst of the 
 crowd of infuriated white men. Then he paused and gasped for 
 breath; then, by a sudden wrench, jerked himself loose from the 
 strong hand that had gripped his collar and fled into the darkness. 
 Over the yard fence he leaped like a deer, down the road, then out 
 across the meadow, scarcely touching the earth with his feet, he 
 fled for his life. His wild burst of speed was vain, for the angry 
 mob was at his heels, their determination to avenge as strong as his 
 to escape. He had on no coat, but the foremost among his pur 
 suers seized his loose shirt and snatched him violently backward to 
 the earth. 
 
 He was a slim, black fellow, rather undersized, with low fore 
 head, and manifestly of no high order of intelligence. Whatever 
 guilty impulse might have prompted him a few hours before, ab 
 ject terror alone possessed him now. His teeth chattered, his eye 
 balls seemed about to start from their sockets, and his hurried 
 glance from side to side showed that he meditated another break, 
 and another desperate rush for liberty, if the slightest opportunity 
 should again be presented. 
 
 It is wonderful how quickly news of a startling nature flies in 
 a neighborhood where the means of communication are slight. 
 Scarcely two hours had elapsed since the flames took possession 
 of the Bascombe house, and now dozens of excited men were 
 tramping the earth about the place, and more were coming in 
 every minute. Those who first reached the spot after the alarm 
 was given found the building nearly destroyed, and old Mrs. Bas 
 combe at some distance away, unconscious from a fearful wound 
 on her head, but still alive. She had evidently been closer to the 
 flames, for her lower limbs were badly burned, and her nightgown 
 had been partially consumed by fire. Hurried search was made 
 
20 The K. K. K/ 
 
 about the premises, and an ax was picked up with the blade all 
 bloody. This, they made sure, was the weapon with which the 
 fearful gash on the old woman's head had been inflicted. 
 
 Sue Bascombe was by her grandmother's side when the first 
 visitors reached the scene of the tragedy, and to these she related 
 with singular calmness the startling incidents of the night. As 
 she lay after midnight in light slumber, she was suddenly awak 
 ened by steps on the floor of the open passage between the two 
 lower rooms of the house. The next moment, without prelimi 
 nary knock or demand for admittance, some heavy object was 
 dashed violently against the door leading from the passage into 
 the room which she and her grandmother occupied. There was a 
 slight interval and then a second blow, more violent if possible 
 than the first, was delivered. Old Mrs. Bascombe, who was un 
 commonly active for one of her years, arose and made for the door 
 near her bed, which opened into the front yard. As the quickest 
 methodof egress for herself the girl undid the bolt of the window 
 close at hand and leaped through the open space into the back yard 
 just as some one entered the room over the fragments of the shat 
 tered door. She saw at a glance the outlines of a man's figure, 
 but it was too dark to distinguish features. Not knowing how 
 many others were behind the intruder, and supposing her grand 
 mother had escaped, she followed the instinct of self-preservation, 
 and fled into the thick copse that covered the hillside behind the 
 house. She ran in her bare feet over the rough stones, how far 
 she hardly knew. Then she stopped for breath, and, as she did so, 
 heard the old widow's uplifted voice that alarmed the neighbor 
 hood. Without hesitation she started back to her relief. Then the 
 second outcry arose, which was quickly suppressed, and for a 
 time all about the house was still. The girl stole softly down 
 the hill now, till she almost reached the yard fence. Flames from 
 the burning house lit up the space around ; she heard hurrying 
 footsteps, voices, and the bark of a dog. Determined at all haz 
 ard to ascertain her grandmother's fate, she ventured forward 
 and found the old woman lying senseless on the ground a little 
 way off from the burning dwelling. No one else was near, for 
 ths brutal assailants, whoever they were, had fled from the scene 
 of the crime. 
 
 This was the tale Sue Bascombe told to those who, roused by the 
 fire and the wild cry in the night, hurried to her ruined home. She 
 was herself barefooted and in her nightgown, but clothing was 
 
Swift Retribution Follows a Fearful Crime. 21 
 
 soon brought for her from the house of the nearest neigh 
 bor. 
 
 Old Mrs. Bascombe lay out in her yard, unconscious, and ap 
 parently near death's door. They gave her whisky, sent off for 
 a doctor, and applied such palliatives to her wounds as were at 
 hand. Little else could be done, however, except to stanch the 
 flow of blood from her head by liberal applications of cold water, 
 and to lessen temporarily the pain of her burns by the use of wet 
 bandages. Presently, under the influence of the liberal stimulants 
 that had been administered, she began to revive. 
 
 "Did they ketch him?" she cried suddenly, opening her eyes 
 wide, and striving to rise. " Whar's Sandy Kinchen ? " 
 
 They crowded about her and listened for more, but the effort 
 had exhausted her, and she sank into a stupor again. A man at 
 her side took her by the arm and shook her rather roughly. She 
 opened her eyes again and stared at him. He stooped down and 
 asked in a loud voice though his face was close to hers : 
 
 " Say, do you hear me ? " 
 
 " Yes," she answered, staring blankly at him. 
 
 " Did you see Sandy Kinchen ? " 
 
 "Hey?" 
 
 He repeated the question, and she gazed at him for some mo 
 ments longer. Then she replied in a low tone, but distinctly : 
 
 " Yas, I seen him." 
 
 " Was he here? Is he the man that done this devilment? " 
 
 She had sunk into a stupor again. He shook her by the arm, 
 but she made no answer. He shook her again more roughly, 
 but she only uttered unintelligible words. 
 
 " Let her alone, let her alone," cried those standing around. 
 " Don't worry a dying woman. Hang the man that committed 
 this outrage. Catch him and hang him." 
 
 Then another one of the crowd spoke up, addressing Sue Bas 
 combe : 
 
 " Did you say you heard the bark of a dog ? " 
 
 " Yes, I heard that," replied the girl. 
 
 " Was it Kinchen's little dog? " 
 
 She hesitated and turned a little red in the face. " I I thought 
 so," she replied, " but I will not say that." 
 
 " Hang him, hang him, hang him ! " now the cry arose on 
 every hand. " Hang the scoundrel that did this murder ! " 
 
 In a few minutes dozens of men were scouring the country for 
 
22 The K. K. K. 
 
 the negro tenant whose name the old woman had pronounced, 
 and whose dog was known to be his close attendant upon all occa 
 sions. They went at once to the cabin where he dwelt, but he was 
 not there. He had left soon after dark, his wife said, with the little 
 dog, and she had not seen him since. Presently they came upon 
 him hiding behind a tree, not far from the spot where the old 
 woman lay. With blows and curses they dragged him to the 
 scene of his crime. It was with difficulty that some of the more 
 hasty among them were prevented from killing m'm on the way. 
 
 The widow Bascombe was still in a stupor when they drew 
 nigh. The doctor, who had just arrived, felt her pulse, and said 
 she had but a brief while longer to live. Her breathing could 
 scarcely be detected, and there was* no speculation in her wide- 
 open eyes. Her ghastly wound and scorched limbs cried aloud 
 for vengeance. 
 
 The infuriated crowd pressed about the negro and strove to 
 snatch him from the few having him in custody. " Hang him, 
 hang him, hang him ! " cried a dozen voices at once. " Burn him, 
 burn him ! " demanded others. " Throw him into the old house 
 and burn him to death ! " 
 
 " Ho-ho-hole on, gin'lemen ! " exclaimed the shaking culprit, as 
 the yells of the mob assailed him. " Ho-ho-hole on ; hole on. 
 Ye gwine too fast. Ye is in fack; ye is in fack. Dis here ole 
 lady dis here dis here ole lady " 
 
 " Tell the truth, damn you " cried an angry man, shaking his 
 clenched fist at the culprit. " What are you stuttering about ? " 
 
 " Yas, sir ; yas, sir ; yas, sir. I is gwy tell de truf e. To' God, 
 gin'lemen, I is gwy tell de trufe." 
 
 " Have you been here before to-night ? " 
 
 " Has I been here before to-night? Has I been here before to 
 night? Has I " 
 
 " Can't you hear ? " thundered the man who had before accosted 
 him. " Speak quick and tell the truth or you're a dead nigger." 
 
 " Yas, sir ; yas, sir ; yas, sir, I is gwy tell de trufe. 'Fo' God, 
 gin'lemen, I is gwy tell de trufe/' 
 
 " Have you been here before to-night ? " 
 
 He looked from one to another of those about him. Then he 
 lifted his voice and proclaimed vehemently so that all might 
 hear: 
 
 " To' God, gin'lemen, I has not." 
 
 " The widow Bascombe told a damned lie then when she said 
 
Swift Retribution Follows a Fearful Crime. 23 
 
 you had ? " cried the exasperated individual who was interrogat 
 ing. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; yes, sir. Ef she said dat she tole a damn lie. Ef 
 she said dat she tole a damn lie. Sho's yer born, gin'lemen. Sho's 
 yer born." 
 
 They dragged him toward the burning house, as if to cast him 
 into the fire. It was then he managed to break away and flee 
 for his life. When recaptured, some loudly demanded that he 
 be burned to death, but the less savage among them prevailed. 
 They tied his hands and took him some distance away from the 
 spot where the old woman lay. They found a deep hollow in the 
 wood, known as Gallows Hollow to this day. Some one had 
 procured a strong rope from a neighboring stable, and a noose 
 at one end of this was slipped about the prisoner's neck. He 
 was lifted from the ground by dozens of hands and placed on the 
 back of a gentle horse belonging to one of the party. The animal 
 was brought to a stand directly under a stout limb branching 
 out nearly horizontally from a scrubby tree, and an active fellow 
 climbing up to this limb fastened the loose end of the rope to 
 it. The malefactor sat on the horse shivering, grimacing, turning 
 from one to another in the surging mass about him as if he hoped 
 to find a pitying face. More than once he essayed to speak, but 
 the voice of the angry crowd drowned his own. Finally, when 
 he saw they were about to lead the animal from under him, he 
 broke again into wild and incoherent talk. 
 
 " Ho-ho-hole on, gin'lemen ; ho-ho-hole on. You is fixin' to do 
 the wrong thing. You is in fack. You is in fack. Now I'm 
 gwy give you de trufe. I'm gwy give you de Gawd's trufe." 
 
 "Tell it then. Tell it. Tell it," came from a hundred 
 throats. 
 
 " Yas, sir ; yas, sir ; yas sir. I was dar. I was dar. I drug 
 de ole lady out'n de fire. Dat's de fack. Dat's de fack." 
 
 " You told an infernal lie then when you said just now you 
 hadn't seen her, did you ? " asked one, sneeringly. 
 
 " Yas, sir, I did. Yas, sir, I did. Sho's dar's breff in my 
 body, gin'lemen, I tole a infernal lie. I tole a infernal lie." 
 
 At this a great uproar arose. Many were instant with loud 
 voices : " Hang the scoundrel ! Hang him, hang him ! " 
 
 " Ho-ho-hole on, gin'lemen. Ho-ho-hole on, for Gawd's sake." 
 
 A young man, apparently fresh from school, had been regard 
 ing the prisoner for some moments with painful interest. He 
 
24 The K. K. K. 
 
 seemed to be a stranger, for he had as yet spoken to no one, and 
 was dressed with more care than most of those about him. He 
 looked over the turbulent throng now, and with some hesitation 
 lifted his voice and sought to attract attention to himself. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he cried in a loud voice that trembled a little 
 from excitement, " please listen to me a moment. We are about 
 to do a very rash thing here to-night. I'm afraid we are about 
 to do a very rash thing. Would it not be well to make a thorough 
 investigation of this matter before we take a step that cannot be 
 retracted?" 
 
 At this there was silence for a moment or two. Then some 
 one in the crowd propounded the not unnatural inquiry : " Who 
 are you ? " 
 
 " My name is Robert Lee Templeton," replied the youth in a 
 tone that showed he derived some satisfaction from imparting the 
 information. " I do not live in your county, but being by acci 
 dent in this neighborhood to-night, I saw the fire and came to it. 
 Now, gentlemen, I submit to you again that we should do nothing 
 rash here to-night. In so grave a matter as this we should pro 
 ceed like sober-minded citizens. This negro fellow most probably 
 deserves hanging, and if you'll turn him over to the authorities 
 at the proper time, and in the proper manner, he'll get his dues. 
 If he is the perpetrator of the fearful crime committed to-night, 
 hanging is a mild punishment for him. But it does not follow 
 that he should be hung right up here to this limb without any sort 
 of investigation. For us to take the law in our own hands thus 
 will bring reproach on the entire community. Besides, gentle 
 men, when you come to think of it, you will see that such a course 
 must encourage all evil-disposed persons in your midst to bad 
 deeds. When you trample the law underfoot, you teach them 
 contempt for the law." 
 
 The young gentleman had a persuasive manner, and a clear 
 voice that penetrated a good way. His nervousness added to his 
 earnestness and drew toward him a considerable portion of the 
 crowd. There is always a disposition in a promiscuous and ex 
 cited assemblage to follow any one who chooses to constitute him 
 self a leader. Most of those present on this occasion were moral, 
 law-abiding people, not inclined as a rule to heed rash counsel, but 
 greatly wrought upon now by the shocking crime that had just 
 been committed. These were disposed to listen to the speaker, 
 and a few drew close to him to catch his words more distinctly, 
 
Swift Retribution Follows a Fearful Crime. 25 
 
 " Why have a law ? " continued Templeton, earnestly, " and not 
 live up to it? This fellow, I say, may be guilty " 
 
 " Thar ain't no doubt about it," interrupted a voice from the 
 crowd. " Not a bit not a damned bit," echoed others. 
 
 " Very well," replied Templeton, " then there can be no doubt 
 about the fact that he'll be hung by the sheriff as soon as his guilt 
 can be established in the court. Let the law take hold of him right 
 now. Surely there ought to be some sort of deliberation when 
 the life of a human being is at stake. Let the coroner or some 
 legal officer take charge of this man, swear a jury and inquire 
 into this transaction right here on the spot." 
 
 " What do yer want with the curriner? " inquired a rude fellow 
 in the rear of the assemblage. " Thar ain't nobody dead yit." 
 
 Templeton looked rather blank at this, and another individual 
 in the crowd undertook to enlighten him. " Coroners sists on 
 dead folks, young fellow. You've got to have a corpse afo' you 
 can summon a coroner's jury." 
 
 At this a laugh arose at the young man's expense. It was evi 
 dent he was losing his hold upon the fickle crowd. He recov 
 ered, however, from the temporary confusion into which he had 
 been thrown, and was about to continue his plea for deliberation 
 and more thorough investigation, when another speaker a few 
 steps off waved his hat over his head and broke in vehemently : 
 
 " Why are we wasting time here, men, listening to this school 
 boy talk about turning this scoundrel over to the courts and 
 the lawyers ? Who is it doesn't know what that means ? Who is 
 it wants to see him wrangled over for years, and finally, maybe, 
 go scot free on a quibble ? This is no time for child's play. We've 
 got all the proof we need, and right here, right now, we ought to 
 deal with him, Has the old Bascombe house been burned or not ? 
 Has the good old lady there been butchered with an ax or not? 
 Did Sue Bascombe have to run off barefooted to the woods to 
 escape the clutches of this devil or not ? Did old Mrs. Bascombe 
 give this nigger's name to us or not ? Did his dog bark and give 
 him away while he was murdering her or not? What are we 
 fooling away time here for? Who dares to talk about courts, and 
 lawyers, and dilly-dallying now ? Do we want our homes burned 
 at night over our heads, our good old women murdered in cold 
 blood, our daughters hiding in the bushes from human devils? 
 Talk about wasting a lifetime in the courts over a case like this 
 haven't we got sense enough to deal with this brute as he deserves? 
 
26 The K. K. K. 
 
 If a tiger was loose in the community would you catch him, and 
 take him to the law, or would you kill him wherever you found 
 him ? I tell you, men, it makes my very blood boil " 
 
 But they stayed no further question. From all sides came 
 fierce demands for the negro's death. " Kill the brute, kill the 
 brute! Hang him, hane him, hang him! Let the horse go! 
 Drive the horse from under him ! " These and other furious cries 
 rent the air, and the mob surged to and fro like a storm-beaten 
 sea. 
 
 The young man who had called himself Templeton did his best 
 to lull the tempest that had been raised. He lifted his hand high 
 and shook it vehemently in the effort to obtain once more a 
 hearing. He lifted his voice on high and shouted with all his 
 might : " Hold on ; hold on ! One word more. Give me one 
 word more." In the midst of the tumult there seemed still a few 
 who favored moderate counsel. " Hear the young man ; hear 
 him," cried one or two persons in the assemblage. " Hang the 
 damned nigger. Hang him ; hang him ! " shouted a dozen others. 
 
 A brutal-looking fellow here forced his way into the center of 
 the tumultuous crowd. He was a ruffian whose appearance would 
 have attracted attention anywhere. He wore no hat, and his 
 shaggy head of reddish hair was set on broad, stooping shoulders. 
 His dirty matted locks almost hid his low forehead and his scowl 
 ing eyes were so badly crossed that they both seemingly never 
 rested on the same object at once. His arms, like those of an 
 orang-outang, appeared too long for his body and were manifestly 
 of prodigious strength. In his right hand he held a stout branch, 
 which he must have wrested from some tree as he came along, and 
 this he held uplifted as high as his long arm could reach, giving 
 vent at the same time to hoarse, loud cries, as if to strike terror 
 into the animal on which the pinioned negro sat. 
 
 The infuriated crowd noted the ruffian's conduct and greeted 
 him with a yell of approval. " Strike the old horse, strike the 
 old horse ! " cried first one and then another. " Hurrah for 
 Cross-eyed Jack," shouted others. The fellow looked about him 
 and grinned, flourishing his branch at the same time in such a way 
 as to set the horse nearly wild. 
 
 Templeton implored a minute's delay; a few about him cried, 
 " Hold, hold," but the ruffian who had been applauded as Cross 
 eyed Jack brought down his branch with all his might on the 
 withers of the excited horse. With such strength did he wield his 
 
Swift Retribution Follows a Fearful Crime. 27 
 
 long arm that the blow was heard on the uttermost verge of the as 
 semblage. The maddened animal plunged forward, nearly over 
 turning the man at its head, and ran until it was halted several 
 yards away. The desperate negro clutched the body beneath 
 tightly with his legs, but at the first bound his frail hold was 
 broken, and he swung to and fro in the air, suspended by the neck 
 from the strong limb above him. 
 
 Templeton, when he saw what was done, fell back from the 
 harrowing scene. He Imd a few others who had urged delay 
 were hustled unceremoniously aside, while the ruder spirits of the 
 mob crowded to the front, treading on each other's feet in their 
 anxiety to view the death agony of a human creature. They were 
 not bad men most of those who had hurriedly assembled on this 
 occasion. It was such a crowd as might have been gathered to 
 gether on short notice almost anywhere, north, south, east or west, 
 in this great country. They were fearfully wrought upon by the 
 horrible crime that had just been committed, but let the whole 
 truth be told. Mob law had more than once of late been resorted 
 to in their community, and brutalized by its exercise they were 
 eager actors now in a scene from the mere contemplation of which 
 they would at one time have shrunk in horror. Man in the 
 moments of his loftiest inspirations may be a creature but little 
 lower than the angels, yet the fierce instincts of a rude ancestry 
 lurk still in his nature, ready at any unguarded moment to drag 
 him down and make a savage of him. 
 
 The malefactor died a lingering-, apparently a painful death. 
 In his prolonged struggle his feet more than once touched the 
 foremost of those who pressed about him. They stood by, for 
 the most part in silence, noting closely every movement, every 
 contortion of his suffering frame. A few had savage satisfaction 
 at the pitiful spectacle depicted in their countenances ; a few wore 
 painful expressions ; the majority seemed to be animated by no 
 stronger feeling than curiosity at a novel sight. 
 
 After life was extinct the bystanders gradually fell back and 
 separated into groups, discussing the outrage that had been com 
 mitted, and justifying the prompt punishment of the offender. 
 When the space immediately around the corpse had thus been 
 cleared, a small dog, till then unnoticed, crept tremblingly forward, 
 and crouching humbly under the negro's feet set up a mournful 
 howl. Of all present the little creature was the dead man's only 
 friend, and its desolate note ascended so sorrowfully that it 
 touched the hearts of the rudest spirits in the assemblage. The 
 
28 The K. K. K. 
 
 ruffian known as Cross-eyed Jack, however, seemed stirred to un 
 governable rage by it. Rushing forward with his stout branch 
 uplifted he aimed a blow at the dog that must have ended its ex 
 istence if it had fallen as intended. Fortunately the little animal 
 became aware of the danger in time, and springing nimbly aside 
 fled with a yelp of mingled rage and terror from the scene. 
 
The Old Widow Tells a Plain, Unvarnished Tale. 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE OLD WIDOW TELLS A PLAIN, UNVARNISHED TALE. 
 
 DAY was breaking when the mob finally dispersed. One by 
 one they had ridden away after the purpose that assembled them 
 had been accomplished, a few only lingering until the reddening 
 east warned them off. Before the sun rose the last loiterer had 
 retired from the scene, leaving the dead negro alone in the woods. 
 
 The birds now began to twitter cheerfully and to spread their 
 wings and fly from place to place in the forest. One perched 
 upon the limb from which the lifeless body hung, and by discor 
 dant cries called others to view the grewsome sight. As the day 
 advanced human creatures came again upon the spot. Dressed 
 all in their Sunday best for it was the Sabbath day they came 
 now in groups of two and three, gazed curiously at the suspended 
 corpse and went their way to church or to some place of country 
 pastime. Little boys crept .softly to the spot, supped their full of 
 horror, and stole, open-eyed and open-mouthed, away. As the 
 noon hour approached, the number of visitors so increased that 
 a path was beaten from the highway to the spot where the dead 
 man with his arms pinioned swung to and fro. They stood about 
 and talked, but touched not the body of Sandy Kinchen ; for while 
 a mob of excited men might hang him up, none but the law's offi 
 cers could take the responsibility of cutting him down. 
 
 It was nearly night when the coroner came. He rode gravely 
 into the assemblage and made several circuits on horseback round 
 the corpse before he dismounted. He had been notified early in 
 the day that a dead man hung in the woods near the old Bascombe 
 place, but official duty, or something else, kept him away. Perhaps 
 he thought if he responded to the notice too promptly he might 
 obtain more information than he cared to possess. Now he rode 
 round and round the fatal tree, dismounted, looked into the faces 
 of the promiscuous assemblage, and said it was a bad business. 
 He then took a well-thumbed New Testament from his pocket, 
 
30 The K. K. K. 
 
 swore in seven of the bystanders as jurors and proceeded to hold 
 an inquest. Numerous witnesses were called, all of whom swore 
 positively that they knew nothing at all about the matter in hand. 
 Most inclined to the belief that the body now hanging stark and 
 stiff from the limb was the body of the late Sandy Kinchen, but 
 upon this there was some divergence of opinion. Some said it 
 was Sandy ; others said no, but it looks like him. All doubt on this 
 point, however, was soon set at rest by Reuben Kinchen, brother 
 of Sandy, who, being brought to the spot, testified without hes 
 itation that it was the corpse of his younger brother, Sandy, 
 swinging from the limb. The coroner then prepared his return, 
 setting forth the fact that he and the seven jurors had viewed the 
 body of a man there hanging dead before them, who had come 
 to his death by violence at the hands of some person or persons 
 unknown. The return further set forth the fact that the body of 
 the man so hanging dead before the jury they found from all the 
 evidence to be that of one Sandy Kinchen, a man of color. All 
 the jurors signed this report, and the body of Sandy Kinchen was 
 then cut down with the coroner's own knife. Reuben, who stood 
 respectfully by, was now notified that he might take his brother 
 Sandy off somewhere and bury him, the law being through with 
 him. 
 
 Perhaps it occurred to Reuben that the law would have been 
 more efficient if it had taken hold of Sandy's case in his lifetime, 
 but if any such notion came into his head he was wise enough to 
 keep it to himself. He remarked, as he gently straightened out 
 his brother's legs, that his mammy had tried to raise the boy right, 
 and that they had never known him to be guilty of such a trick 
 before. 
 
 " He played hell when he did make a break," said one of the 
 jurors, " and got just what he deserved for his conduct." 
 
 " I ain't 'sputin' dat, sir," replied Reuben, meekly. " Dem what 
 sins must suffer." 
 
 Then they fell to abusing the dead man in the presence of his 
 brother, who responded not at all. When they laid the lifeless 
 body in a cart to be hauled away, Reuben took off his hat and said 
 to those present : " It looks bad for Sandy now, gentlemen, but I 
 hopes you all will believe me when I tells you that afo' this we 
 never know'd no wuss of him than that he would go meandering 
 Up and down the country of nights." 
 
 So they took Sandy Kinchen off and buried him ; and from that 
 
The Old Widow Tells a Plain, Unvarnished Tale. 31 
 
 time forth he meandered no more up and down the country of 
 nights. Whatever might have been thought otherwise of the 
 action of the mob, it had at least cured him of this reprehensible 
 habit. 
 
 Old Mrs. Bascombe held on to life bravely. The doctor 
 thought when he first saw her that she could not live an hour, but 
 she lay in a stupor most of the following day, muttering and bab 
 bling constantly, and occasionally uttering when aroused a few 
 coherent words. It was thought best not to attempt to remove 
 her from the spot where she was found, and a tent was improvised 
 of stout cloth and set up over her. The young man who had 
 called himself Robert Lee Templeton, and who seemed to be a 
 handy youth as well as an obliging one, attended to the erection 
 of this tent. He stretched it overhead so as to ward off sun and 
 possible shower, looped up the walls so as to allow free passage for 
 the air, and did his best in every way to add to the comfort of the 
 desperately stricken creature who lay underneath the shelter. Sue 
 Bascombe, the granddaughter, and most of the kindly neighbors 
 took a fancy to him, for nothing else except sympathy and gene 
 rosity of disposition could have prompted him to the course he was 
 now pursuing. His home, they learned, was in an adjoining 
 county. He had just graduated from college, and some errand 
 of business or pleasure had brought him into the Marrowbone 
 Hills at this time. 
 
 As the day advanced the old woman seemed to revive, and her 
 mind cleared up considerably. The physician said the improve 
 ment in her condition was only temporary; that for the present 
 she was buoyed up with fever and brandy, but in a short time her 
 system would relax and the inevitable would follow. However 
 this might be, she certainly was better and brighter late in the 
 afternoon following the infliction of her wound. 
 
 Toward sundown she called for food, and some chicken broth 
 having been administered by her granddaughter, she wiped her 
 mouth with the sleeve of her gown and seemed disposed for con 
 versation. 
 
 " Have they kotched him ? " she asked in a low tone, her head 
 turned in the direction of Sue. 
 
 The girl nodded to her in reply. 
 
 " Whar is he?" inquired the old woman. "I want to sec 
 him." 
 
 " They had him here last night," said the girl, evasively. 
 
32 The K. K. K. 
 
 " Why didn't they let me know ? I wanted to talk to the low 
 lived scoundrel." 
 
 " They asked you about him, Granny. You talked about him 
 last night. Don't you remember ? " 
 
 " I wa'n't in my right mind," replied the old woman. " Fetch 
 him here now. I'm all right now. I want to see him, and I want 
 him to see his work." 
 
 The girl made no answer. 
 
 "Has they jailed him?" inquired the old woman, again ad 
 dressing her granddaughter. " Wai, its all right, I reckon ; all 
 right, I reckon. I'll be thar at the trial, though. You kin count 
 on that." 
 
 She looked around now from one to another of those about her, 
 and inspected curiously the tent that had been erected above her. 
 She picked at the light coverlet that had been thrown over her, 
 which two old women in attendance whispered each other was a 
 bad sign. She dozed a little, then roused suddenly, and spoke 
 again to the girl : 
 
 " Sandy is a good nigger," she said to her granddaughter. " I 
 tell you he's as good as they make 'em." 
 
 The girl looked at her in surprise. 
 
 " He's as good as they make 'em," repeated the old woman. 
 " Whar would I be now but for Sandy? " 
 
 There were some half-dozen persons in the group, and they all 
 eyed her inquiringly. 
 
 " Whar's Sandy ? " continued the old woman, looking from one 
 to another of them. *' I don't see him amongst ye. Thar ain't 
 no occasion for him to be makin' himself skerce. He didn't make 
 himself skerce las' night when he drug me out'n the fire, and he 
 needn't make himself skerce now. Fetch him here ; I want ye all 
 to hear me tell him how much I'm 'bleeged to him for runnin' up 
 at the nick of time and draggin' me out'n the fire. He's a nig 
 ger, I'll own to that, but, nigger or no nigger, I'm beholden to 
 him for what he done for me, and I want to tell him so. A friend 
 in need is a friend indeed, as the school chillern write down in 
 their copy-books. Tell Sandy to step in here ; I want to see him." 
 him." 
 
 A portly, middle-aged matron one of that numerous class 
 whose delight it always is to impart unpleasant intelligence here 
 leaned over, and, speaking slowly and distinctly, said to the old 
 
The Old Widow Tells a Plain, Unvarnished Tale. 33 
 
 " They hung Sandy last night to a black-jack tree up yander 
 on the side of the hill." 
 
 " Done which ? " inquired the old woman, as if unable to at once 
 grasp the full import of the words she had heard. 
 
 " They hung him," repeated her informant in a higher key. 
 " They hung Sandy last night sho's yer born." 
 
 " What fur ? " asked the old woman in astonishment. 
 
 " Fur murderin' uv you ; and a burnin' your house ; and a run- 
 nin' Sue off to the woods." 
 
 " Wai' now, ye hev did it," exclaimed the old woman with more 
 strength in her tone that they thought she could command. " Ye 
 are jess a passle of id juts, that's what ye are. To think 
 ye'd hev no more gumption than that, no more gumption 
 than that." 
 
 " Mrs. Bascombe," said Templeton, seeing she was becoming 
 too much excited, " don't worry over the matter. You are not 
 exactly at yourself just now. We did hang him because he com 
 mitted an outrageous crime, but don't trouble yourself now 
 about it." 
 
 " Ye did hang him, did ye ? " exclaimed the old woman, taunt 
 ingly. " Wai, I 'lowed 'twas some sich smart Aleck as you. 
 Whar'd you come from, anyhow ? " 
 
 Seeing that his presence exasperated her, the young man re 
 tired. The old woman now looked at her granddaughter, and 
 into such familiar faces as she saw about her. " Hev they hung 
 him sho nuff ? " she inquired. 
 
 One or two said " Yes," others nodded their heads by way of 
 assent. Then the old woman railed at them from her pallet on 
 the ground. 
 
 " Ye've gone and hung Sandy, hev ye ? Wai now, s'pos V ye 
 take me out and hang me. Ye hung him for draggin' me out'n 
 the fire; now hang me for bein' drug out'n the fire. Hung 
 Sandy, hung Sandy! Wai, ye are jess a passle of idjuts, the 
 last one of ye. And tell me what ye did to Cross-eyed Jack, will 
 ye? I s'pos'n' ye turned him aloose, and gin him a chromo." 
 
 " Cross-eyed Jack ? " inquired the woman who had first spoken. 
 "What about him?" 
 
 " What about him ? No wonder ye ax what about him. He 
 
 bu'sted my door open in the middle of the night, sot my house on 
 
 fire, split my head open with a ax, and skert Sue nigh out'n her 
 
 senses. That's all he done. So now jess give him a chromo, 
 
 3 
 
34 The K. K. K. 
 
 and turn him aloose. Do that, and then come finish your job by 
 hangin' me to a black-jack tree 'longside of Sandy. Jess do that 
 now ; do that, and I'll take it as a favor. Go 'way from here, all 
 of ye ! she cried with sudden indignation. " Go 'way, I tell ye. 
 I don't want to lay eyes on none of ye no more." 
 
 " Granny, Granny," said Sue, soothingly, and she gave her 
 some quieting medicine. The old woman lay in silence for a few 
 moments, then she spoke out again : 
 
 " Let 'em go away ; let 'em go away. I don't want to lay eyes 
 on none of 'em again. Betwixt white folks that don't help in 
 time of trouble, and niggers that does, I'm on the side of the 
 niggers. Wai, wal, wal, wal ! The idjuts hev gone and hung 
 Sandy, hung poor Sandy. Hung him to a sour apple tree, as the 
 sayin' goes. No, it was to a black-jack tree this time, a black 
 jack tree. Wal, wal, wal ! " 
 
 " Mrs. Bascombe," began Templeton, hoping to get a connected 
 story from the old woman. 
 
 " I don't keer to hear another word from ye," she interrupted 
 emphatically. " Ye needn't speak a single solitary word to me. 
 Smooth talk ain't a gwine to fetch that nigger back to life; so 
 hold your tongue, and save your manners. But I tell ye now, 
 young fellow, some things kin be stood, and some is too aggra- 
 vatin' to be stood. Ye've hung a good nigger for befriending a 
 lone widder, and when I'm up from here I'm going to have the 
 law on the last one of ye." 
 
 " Did Sandy Kinchen befriend you? " 
 
 " Did he? Hain't I jess told ye what he did? Do ye want me 
 to begin at the fust, and tell it all? Wal, I will. Here come 
 Cross-eyed Jack, a low-lived scoundrel, slippin' up to the house, 
 with me dead asleep, and the gal, I s'pose, a cat-nappin'. ^ Afo' 
 anybody know'd what he was about, he slams the ax agin the 
 door with all his might. Right 'pon top of that comes another 
 lick; the door flies open, I jumps up, and the gal pops out'n the 
 winder. Bein' young and spry she pops out'n the winder, and 
 runs up the hill, I make no doubt, like a wild turkey. I was fust 
 on the floor, and I makes for the yard door as fast as I kin, as 
 fast as ever I kin. I got clean out, and most down to the big 
 road, when I looked back and seed a great blaze in the house. 
 Mebbe that devil, Cross-eyed Jack, drapped a match accidental 
 huntin' about for me and Sue. Mebbe he sot the room a fire 
 a purpose I dunno, I dunno. He's none too good to do sich a 
 
The Old Widow Tells a Plain, Unvarnished Tale. 35 
 
 thing, and I b'lieve he sot it a fire a purpose. Anyhow, thar 
 was a bright blaze by the time I got a little piece off from the 
 house. When I seed that I couldn't stand to have my things 
 burned up, so I turned back and fetched a yell to 'larm the coun 
 try. ' Hush,' he says, ' you old ' and with that he called me a 
 
 bad name, which bein' a church member I'm not a gwine to 
 mention." 
 
 " Granny," interrupted Sue, " you're talking too much. Be- 
 quiet now a little while, and then you can go on again." 
 
 " Never you mind ; I know what I'm 'bout. Gimme another 
 taste of that liquor, gal. Lawful sakes, whar was I ? Hung 
 Sandy, hung Sandy; yas, yas. Here he comes bustin' towards 
 me, and he calls me a owdacious name, and I says to him, ' I 
 know ye, and I'll have the law on ye, ye cross-eyed scoundrel.' 
 Them's jess the words I said, and right at 
 
 " Granny, Granny, you're talking too much." 
 
 " Never you mind, gal. I'm a tellin' it for the benefit of them 
 that's gone and hung Sandy. ' I know ye/ says I. ' I know ye.' 
 With that he raised his ax, and with that I fetched another yell, 
 and with that Lord, have massy 'pon me he hit me right squar' 
 on the head, and knocked me cold as a wedge. Then I s'pos'n' he 
 tuck to his heels and leff them parts. And befo' I come to right 
 good I thought of Sue a runnin' from that cross-eyed devil. It 
 was on my mind, on my mind. And when I come to laws a 
 massy, laws a massy the house was a burnin' and the smoke and 
 fire a rushin' out at the door, and me not able to move. I reckon 
 ye wouldn't a liked that, none of ye, and yit, that's jess the identi 
 cal fix I was in. Presently there was a little dog barkin', barkin' 
 and a snifflin' round me. And presently here comes a feller run 
 nin' I heerd him, I heerd him and he grabs me, and he drags 
 me out'n the fire and smoke, and off from the house. I'm a givin' it 
 to ye straight. Whar's them that hung Sandy? Let 'em come 
 forrards and listen. He was a nigger feller, this here feller was, 
 and I don't in jineral bemean myself by 'sociatin' with niggers, 
 but this time I was glad for a while to 'sociate with niggers, I 
 kin tell you. Whiles he was a draggin' me out'n the smoke and 
 fire, and the dog was barkin', barkin', I opened my eyes, and I 
 looked at the nigger feller hard, and it was Sandy Kinchen ; nei 
 ther more nor less, nor yit any other pusson but Sandy Kinchen. 
 I knowed him well ; I seed him good, and I tell you 'twas Sandy 
 Kinchen; the very identical nigger that this here young smart 
 
36 The K. K. K. 
 
 Aleck, and a lot of other smart Alecks, has gone and hung to a 
 black-jack tree. And the little dog that was barkin', barkin', I 
 seed him good, too, and I tells you 'twas the identical little dog 
 which keeps company with Sandy, and which everybody calls Jin- 
 eral Beauregard, sich bein' the outlandish name Sandy guv him." 
 
 " Granny, Granny ! " 
 
 " Lemme 'lone, I tell you, gal. 'Twas Sandy Kinchen, I tell 
 you, which you know'd as well as I did, and never know'd no spe 
 cial harm of him, nother. He put my gown out, which was afire ; 
 and he looked at my head, which was split open, and he seed the 
 blood a spurtin' and a streamin' every whicher way, and he says 
 the nigger did, I heard him plain ' Gawd A 'mighty, what shill 
 I do ? ' Then I says to him, ' Run for the doctor, Sandy,' and with 
 that he run, and the dog run ; and I hain't seed nary one of 'em 
 sence. Hain't seed 'em; hain't seed 'em. Did they hang the 
 dog, too? Now I wonder if they hung the little dog to a black 
 jack tree, becase he was around, and jess as deep into it as Sandy. 
 Lord, Lord, to think of what they have gone and did ; jess to think 
 of it ; jess to think of it." 
 
 The doctor here came in and felt her pulse. She did not seem 
 to have been weakened by her effort. Indeed, her voice was 
 stronger now than at any time since she received the injury. 
 
 " Mrs. Bascombe," said Templeton, kneeling by her, " you've 
 surprised us all very much by your story " 
 
 " No wonder," interrupted the old woman. " But that ain't 
 a gwine to git you out'n the scrape you're in ; I tell you that." 
 
 " Mrs. Bascombe," pursued Templeton, " are you perfectly 
 certain it was the man called Cross-eyed Jack who struck you? 
 You may not be living when the court meets, and " 
 
 " Me not be living when the court meets ? I hain't no notion 
 of dyin', young feller ; I tell you that. You summons me to the 
 trial and I'll be thar." 
 
 " Could you swear positively to the man who struck you ? " 
 
 " Kin I swar to him ? I'd swar to him on a stack of Bibles high 
 as the house he burned. Hain't he worked in my gyarden, and 
 Txmt on the place? Work, did I say? I'll take that back. He 
 jess only piddled 'round, and made believe to work. Didn't he 
 make bold to set up to Sue, and didn't she snub him the wust 
 kind ? Didn't I have to turn him off at last for a lazy, cross-eyed, 
 impudent rascal ? Me not know him when he faced me last night ? 
 You summons me to the court house when the trial comes off, and 
 
The Old Widow Tells a Plain, Unvarnished Tale. 37 
 
 I'll p'int my finger at him, and tell him all I've told here, and 
 more besides. I'll give him the whole truth right to his ugly face, 
 and he dassn't deny my words. I'll swar to it all before judge and 
 jury when the time comes ; see if I don't, see if I don't. You 
 summons me to the court house, young feller; I'll be than" 
 
 One of those who had been a willing participator in the untimely 
 taking off of poor Sandy, here asked : 
 
 " Why didn't the nigger come back to you after he'd gone his 
 errand?" 
 
 " Oh, I dunno, I dunno. Mebbe he come in sight and was 
 afeared to venture up. You all was tearin' round, I reckon, mad 
 as blazes, and when a mob is on a rampage in these parts, the 
 smartest thing a nigger can do is to hide out. Ef I'd a been in 
 Sandy's place you never would a laid hands on me, I tell you that. 
 Whar he played the fool was in lettin' himself git caught." 
 
 " He told us he hadn't seen you," persisted the speaker. " He 
 lied about having been here at all." 
 
 " Oh, I s'pos'n' he did," rejoined the old woman, impatiently. 
 " Ef he had 'fessed to being here, ye'd a hung him for that ; but 
 he lied about it, and so ye hung him for lyin'. You was bound to 
 have a hanging that's a fact, and wa'n't very particular whose 
 neck was pulled. Ef 'twa'n't easy to ketch the right man, ruther 
 than wait ye'd string up the wrong man. When you fellers git 
 started, you're like young dogs on a hunt ; you'll chase any kind 
 of game, jess to be barkin' and runnin'." 
 
 To this the individual who had provoked the old woman's sar 
 casm did not deem it prudent to reply. 
 
 " The next time you all gits up a mob," she continued, address 
 ing him, sneerlngly, " you better git a sensible woman to head 
 you. Wimmen is jest as excitable as men, but they ain't so bloody- 
 minded." 
 
 After this she became quiet and dozed for a half hour or more. 
 When she awoke they gave her a stimulant, and she seemed 
 calmer and more cheerful. Seeing Templeton's face among those 
 near her, she addressed him in a good, strong voice, and in a not 
 unkindly tone : 
 
 " I'll be at the court house, young feller, by the time you and 
 Cross-eyed Jack gits thar ; don't you be nowise oneasy." 
 
 " You're better, ain't you, Granny ? " queried Sue. 
 
 " Yes, I'm better," answered the old woman, " and I mean tp 
 keep on gittin' better," 
 
38 The K. K. K. 
 
 She remained quiet now for some time, and then spoke, again, 
 to no one in particular : 
 
 " They was bound to hang somebody, and so they hung Sandy 
 Kinchen." 
 
 Shortly after this she dropped again into a doze, which soon 
 deepened into sound slumber. She slept and slept lying quite 
 still, and breathing now heavily, now more and more peacfully. 
 The doctor said it was a good indication, and quietly they all 
 slipped away from her presence, lest they might disturb her. 
 When shortly before midnight Sue Bascombe crept back into the 
 tent, and looked narrowly in her face, she had joined Sandy Kin 
 chen in the land of the leal. 
 
A Grievous Mistake. 39 
 
 ^CHAPTER V. 
 
 A GRIEVOUS MISTAKE HAVING BEEN MADE CERTAIN WELL-DISPOSED 
 PERSONS DO THEIR ENDEAVOR TO RECTIFY IT. 
 
 THE old woman's tale spread through the community almost 
 as rapidly as intelligence of the startling crime had done the night 
 before. The excitement, which had begun to die out, was kindled 
 afresh, and by nightfall a large crowd was again assembled on 
 the ground where the house had stood. They lingered in groups 
 about the decaying embers and discussed earnestly the latest de 
 velopments in the shocking tragedy. All regretted now the un 
 timely taking off of poor Sandy, and, as was natural under the 
 circumstances, nearly every man displayed a disposition to shift 
 the responsibility for this melancholy blunder from his own to the 
 shoulders of some one else. This individual never had acquiesced 
 in the hasty action of the mob, but, being timid about speaking in 
 public, had not raised his voice in protest against it. Another had 
 actually spoken out in favor of caution and a more thorough in 
 vestigation, but in the general hubbub that existed at the moment 
 nobody had overheard him. Every one who knew anything fa 
 vorable in Sandy's career now hastened to tell it, and the verdict 
 of the previous night that he was a deep-dyed scoundrel was re 
 versed almost as hastily as it had been rendered. 
 
 If expressions of sympathy, however, had now taken the place 
 of execrations in the case of the unfortunate negro, exactly the 
 opposite was true with the individual known to most people there 
 about as Cross-eyed Jack. This fellow had been one of the ring 
 leaders in the frenzied assemblage that had done an innocent man 
 to death for a fearful crime. Not only so, but he alone of all pres 
 ent knew the man was innocent who was being made to atone for 
 the monstrous wrong done. This Cross-eyed Jack, they were all 
 agreed now, was a diabolical scoundrel who should be compelled 
 to suffer the agonies of a thousand deaths, if such a penalty could 
 be inflicted upon him. What, burn a dwelling at midnight ; murder 
 
40 The K. K. K. 
 
 an inoffensive old woman in cold blood; compel a young girl to 
 hide from him like a partridge ; and then hurry an innocent man to 
 death for the crimes he had himself committed ! Do all this, and 
 expect to escape the vengeance of a deeply outraged community ! 
 Where was he? Where was he? Mount your horses, you good 
 men, and hunt the scoundrel down. Catch him, catch him, catch 
 him! this malignant devil in human shape; and hang him, draw 
 him, quarter him, burn him, send him out of the world as soon 
 as he is caught by the very roughest road any mortal creature has 
 ever been forced to travel. This was the angry sentence entered 
 up against Cross-eyed Jack as the infuriated crowd stood around 
 the ashes of the old Bascombe house, and contemplated their own 
 work of the night before, and the shocking depravity of the 
 wretch who had been foremost among them in the enterprise upon 
 which they nearly all at the time were so heartily bent. 
 
 The villain who was now the object of their fierce wrath perhaps 
 deserved all the anathemas that were being hurled against him, 
 and more besides. In appearance he was such a man-animal as 
 one may imagine roamed the earth millions of years ago when 
 human beings first began to claim ascendency over four-footed 
 creatures. In disposition he was, if possible, even uglier than in 
 face or figure. No human being is perhaps wholly depraved, but 
 if there was a single redeeming feature in the character of this 
 surly scoundrel, his mother had never been able to discover it. He 
 was of foreign parentage, as his name, Johan Ankerstrom, indi 
 cated, but had been reared in the lowest quarter of one of our 
 large American cities, from which he had been finally compelled 
 to withdraw because his frequent infractions of the law had placed 
 him on too familiar terms with the police. A few months before 
 the tragedy at the Bascombe place he had drifted into the Marrow 
 bone Hills, and wandering about, working at odd jobs, he became 
 known by sight to many of the good people of that section. His 
 name being unusual and a little more than mouthful for some 
 of his new acquaintances they had saddled upon him numerous 
 aliases, such as Cross-eyed Jack, Dutch Ankers, etc., for all of 
 which 'the callous Johan cared no more than a stray dog would 
 have cared if divers appellations had been bestowed upon him in 
 a community as he shifted his habitat from place to place. 
 
 This was the creature then for whom anxious inquiry was now 
 being made on all sides. The crowd was resolved to have him, 
 and the crowd was resolved to make short work of him when they 
 
A Grievous Mistake. 41 
 
 did get him. So they instituted hasty search, and up and down, 
 and across country, they rode and they ran. They picked up 
 scraps of information, and hastened back with each item to the 
 surging mass of human beings that waited for the capture of the 
 miscreant, and grew angrier with delay. A wagoner had brought 
 Johan Dutch Ankers he called him from a cross-roads village 
 in the hills the evening before, and had set him down not far 
 from the Bascombe place. Ankerstrom, however, when he left 
 the wagoner, had gone toward the house of a farmer, named Dot- 
 son, for whom he had at one time worked a few days. He carried 
 an ax on his shoulder, and told the wagoner that Dotson owed 
 him a bill which he wished to collect. As soon as this news was 
 brought one was sent off posthaste to inquire into the matter, and 
 soon brought back word from Dotson who was an honest but 
 cross-grained old chap that he had not seen hair nor hide of 
 Dutch Ankers, and moreover, that anybody who said he owed 
 him money was a liar. This showed that Ankerstrom had been 
 loafing about in the neighborhood on the night of the crime, but 
 his presence at the mobbing of Sandy proved that. The wagon 
 er's tale proved further, however, that the fellow carried an ax, 
 and this was a strong corroborating circumstance if any had been 
 needed to strengthen the narrative of old Mrs. Bascombe. 
 Much more to the point was the information, brought in later, 
 that the man whose appearance was so much desired had gotten 
 dinner on the preceding day Sunday at a house not five miles 
 away from the scene of the crime. After dinner he had laid down 
 under a tree in the yard, like one wholly free from concern, and 
 taken a long nap. When he woke he went off on foot toward 
 Nashville, saying he was going to that place to seek work. From 
 his conduct at this place it was argued that the house-burner and 
 double murderer was under no special apprehension, and might 
 be overtaken if prompt pursuit was made. He no doubt rested 
 under the assurance that the blow from his ax had rendered the 
 old widow forever incapable of telling tales, and the execution of 
 the negro by the mob would leave the public under the impression 
 that the real offender had been punished. A half-dozen men now 
 started on good horses to apprehend the scoundrel and bring him 
 back. These were specially enjoined by the large crowd that still 
 lingered on the ground for they were coming and going all the 
 time not to despatch Ankerstrom when they caught him, but to 
 fetch him back to the scene of his villainy, where the whole as- 
 
42 The K. K. K. 
 
 semblage might have the satisfaction of dealing with him. This 
 was late at night and many now stretched themselves out on the 
 bare ground to sleep away the time that must intervene before 
 the return of the squad that had been sent forth upon this mis 
 sion. 
 
 It was in the forenoon* on Sunday that Randolph Pearson first 
 learned of the terrible tragedy at the house from which he had 
 himself departed at bedtime on the evening before. He heard at the 
 same time that the negro, Kinchen, had been hung for the crime 
 by a mob of indignant citizens. Riding to the place as rapidly as 
 he could he found a large crowd assembled, the dwelling in ashes, 
 and the widow Bascombe dying in a corner of her yard under an 
 improvised tent. Pearson did not believe in mob law as a remedy 
 for any evil, and even under these trying circumstances he plainly 
 said to those whom he suspected of having been members of the 
 mob that it would have been better to have turned the negro over 
 to the courts, rather than deal with him themselves in such sum 
 mary fashion. The courts, he said, were slow, and sometimes 
 there was a failure of justice, but hurried uprisings at night af 
 forded but a poor substitute for deliberate investigation, such as 
 should be had when the life of a human being was at stake. 
 Moreover, when good citizens advertised to the world that they 
 had no faith in the laws under which' they lived, they gave to the 
 community in which they resided an unenviable notoriety. All 
 this, and more, said Randolph Pearsoi calmly to his neighbors at 
 a time when every one supposed the negro, Kinchen, had met a 
 just fate. That night, when the whole truth was out, and it was 
 found that the hasty execution of Sandy had been a terrible blun 
 der, Pearson indulged in no additional criticism on the conduct 
 of the mob, but resolved that a second individual should not be 
 hastily done to death for the same offense if he could avoid it. 
 He was an earnest, conscientious man, was Randolph Pearson, 
 much respected by all his neighbors ; but when he announced the 
 conclusion he had reached on this subject he was met by a storm 
 of indignation, and many of his best friends withstood him to the 
 teeth. There should be no delay they said in the punishment 
 of the scoundrel whose crime was too black to admit of any 
 thought of indulgence in his case. There should be no long legal 
 investigation to wear out the patience of witnesses, and maybe 
 result at last in the utter failure of justice. Mobs might sometimes 
 make mistakes, and hang the wrong man, but there was no doubt 
 
A Grievous Mistake. 43 
 
 about the guilt of this fellow, and swing he should to the very tree 
 on which poor Kinchen had died, just as soon as the squad that 
 had gone to seek him could lay hands on him and bring him 
 back. 
 
 Day broke, however, before the return of the squad that had 
 gone forth in quest of the murderer. Many had left, wearied with 
 the long delay, but others took their places, and by sunrise on 
 Monday morning the assemblage was greater than it had been 
 at any time before. Numerous persons were now present from a 
 distance, for the news of the terrible tragedy at the old Bascombe 
 place had spread far and wide through the country. All waited 
 impatiently to learn something of the whereabouts of the mur 
 derer, but for many hours waited in vain. About two hours after 
 sunrise the half-dozen horsemen returned with the report that they 
 had scoured the country for the missing man, but had failed to 
 find any trace of him after he left the place where he took dinner. 
 This intelligence was most disheartening to the crowd, but not 
 so to Pearson, who believed with diligent effort the fugitive could 
 be apprehended, and in the meantime suitable precaution could be 
 taken against his being swung up by the mob as soon as he was 
 caught. 
 
 It was necessary to act promptly, and Pearson resolved while 
 the interest was at white heat to organize a band of determined 
 men who would aid him in the double purpose he had formed, 
 first to effect the capture of the fugitive, and, second, to see that 
 he was not killed by a crowd of frenzied men as soon as overtaken. 
 To apprehend the criminal, it was now evident, would be no easy 
 task, but would probably require systematic search, in which it 
 might be necessary to employ skilled detectives. The sheriff 
 could ride the county, and the governor might be induced to 
 offer a reward, but other means must be resorted to if it was 
 expected to ferret out a hardened villain, who even now, no 
 doubt, was making his way secretly out of the country. 
 
 Thus said Randolph Pearson to those who were now more than 
 willing to listen to him, and it was agreed that a meeting should 
 be held that night for the purpose of organization, none to be 
 present except twenty or thirty active men, who were selected in 
 advance, and who could be relied on to render material aid in the 
 contemplated work. Upon one point the author of this plan was 
 compelled to make some concession. Those who had agreed to 
 band together were divided upon the question as to whether the 
 
44 The K. K. K. 
 
 fugitive should be turned over to trie courts when caught or dealt 
 with by themselves. After some discussion, however, they con 
 cluded, first, to work unitedly for the arrest of the murderer, and 
 when this was accomplished to leave his subsequent disposition 
 to a decision of a majority of their own number. 
 
 The young gentleman who had given his name as Robert Lee 
 Templeton was not among those who had agreed to organize for 
 the purpose of apprehending and punishing the murderer. He 
 was a stranger in the vicinity and could not have co-operated with 
 the other members regularly, even if he had been made one of 
 their number ; and, besides, having little knowledge of his charac 
 ter and habits, they were not disposed to admit him at once into 
 full fellowship with them. He was undoubtedly a whole-souled 
 generous young fellow, however, and a task was therefore as 
 signed him which he was glad to undertake as soon as he had re 
 ceived the suggestion from some of the older citizens present. 
 This was to ride to the county town, a dozen or more miles away, 
 swear out a warrant for the arrest of the murderer, Ankerstrom, 
 and place the writ without delay into the hands of the sheriff. By 
 giving the law officer a description of the personal appearance of 
 Cross-eyed Jack, he could make sure of his recognition where- 
 ever found. Templeton, however, when this latter suggestion was 
 made to him, declared he would not only give the writ to the 
 sheriff, but would accompany that officer and help him arrest the 
 murderer whenever they came upon him. 
 
 Before the large assemblage dispersed, Pearson and a few other 
 charitable persons imposed on themselves another duty which 
 they thought was demanded by simple justice under the circum 
 stances. Taking advantage of the sympathy that was openly ex 
 pressed for the innocent negro who had fallen a victim to mob 
 violence, they sought to obtain substantial aid for the family he 
 had left behind. Kinchen, .fortunately, had not raised such a 
 brood as is usually to be found around the cabins of members of 
 his race, and therefore provision for his family could be the more 
 easily made. His wife Patsy and his young son Pete consti 
 tuted the entire connection that remained to mourn him, if we ex 
 cept the little fox terrier that came so near meeting death under 
 the same gallows tree with his master. By heading a subscrip 
 tion list with a liberal donation of their own, and going first to 
 those who were able and willing to contribute generously, they 
 soon obtained a fund sufficient to buy a few acres of hill land as a 
 
A Grievous Mistake. 45 
 
 permanent home for Patsy Kinchen, widow of the late Sandy. As 
 the opportunity for inquiry was favorable, they learned also of a 
 piece of ground back in the uplands with which the owner was 
 Willing to part for a modest remuneration. This little tract had 
 timber and running water, two essentials in that locality, but 
 lacked a dwelling. Numerous individuals who sympathized with 
 the object, but lacked money, now came forward and offered to 
 cut logs for the tenement, and give a house-raising on the place 
 one day during the following week. The necessary preliminaries 
 being thus arranged, the bargain was struck, the land paid for and 
 a binding agreement entered into for the erection of a substantial 
 log residence for Patsy Kinchen ; all within less than forty-eight 
 hours after her husband's unexpected departure from this world. 
 .Sandy himself, while a sojourner upon earth, had come to forty 
 years or thereabouts, and had never accumulated any property 
 but a dog. Viewed strictly from a business standpoint, therefore, 
 his wife Patsy, though a loud and sincere mourner at his funeral, 
 was not seriously a loser by the hasty action of the mob. 
 
 That night, after the veil of darkness enveloped the earth, and 
 most good folk in the neighborhood were abed resting from the 
 fatigue and excitement of the past two days, a score or more of en 
 ergetic citizens met at a designated spot to form the organization 
 that had been determined upon in the morning. They met out of 
 doors because the night was pleasant, and they wished to avoid 
 the notoriety that must have followed their assembling at any farm 
 house. A secret organization was preferable too, because by this 
 'means undesirable persons could be more readily kept out of the 
 (association, and the determination to overtake the murderer and 
 deal with him as they saw fit could be more easily accomplished. 
 As very often happens in such enterprises, the original design to 
 iform a temporary union for the accomplishment of a single pur 
 pose expanded as they conferred on the occasion of their first 
 meeting, and they thought it expedient to unite themselves into 
 >a company of regulators, or patrolers, which should undertake ( 
 mot only to bring Ankerstrom to justice for his offense, but also 
 !to take some steps toward bringing about a more settled condition 
 iof affairs in their community. Lawlessness, if not rampant, had 
 Igotten to be quite common among them, and negroes were un 
 doubtedly the principal depredators as far as minor offenses were 
 concerned. Now and then they were unjustly suspected, as was 
 shown by the terrible mistake in the Kinchen case, but their 
 
46 The K. K. K. 
 
 peccadilloes in the way of hog stealing, hen-roost robberies and 
 the like were sufficiently well established to make it expedient if 
 possible to put some kind of check upon them. In addition, there 
 was among good citizens in the community a growing contempt 
 for the law, and a consequent disposition after every criminal 
 offense to substitute hasty retribution for judicial investigation, 
 and this dangerous tendency needed to be curbed in some prudent 
 manner. 
 
 All things considered, the little group that met under the green 
 wood tree on this occasion thought it best to organize a band of 
 regulators in their section, and as they cast about them for rules 
 and regulations by which to govern such an association, they 
 could stumble on no better plan than to resurrect an old society 
 that had exerted a great influence on their community shortly 
 after the close of the civil war. Times had greatly changed, but 
 the purpose of the former order, as generally understood, did not 
 differ materially from those now sought to be accomplished. 
 Three or four members of this old secret society were present, and 
 from these all the grips and pass-words were obtained, together 
 with the substance of the constitution and by-laws as well as the 
 latter had been preserved in faithful memories. Under the quiet 
 stars, then, and at considerable distance from any human habita 
 tion, the mysterious order of the K. K. K. was revived, its ritual 
 restored, its officers chosen and solemnly sworn, its members 
 bound to secrecy by a vow so dreadful that the lightest among 
 them would not dare afterward to violate his obligation. This 
 done, they prepared to take action on some other matters they 
 deemed worthy their attention, perfected their plans for the appre 
 hension of the murderer, and rode away each man to his home, 
 none other than themselves being aware of the fact that they had 
 assembled at all. 
 
 The dead society which they had thus galvanized into life is 
 perhaps worthy of passing mention before proceeding to the 
 narration of what transpired subsequently. 
 
" The Clan has a Name that is Nameless by Day. 47 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " THE MOON'S ON THE LAKE, AND THE MIST ON THE BRAE ; 
 AND THE CLAN HAS A NAME THAT IS NAMELESS BY DAY." 
 
 ONCE upon a time in Tennessee, and possibly in some other 
 States of the South, there existed an order which was called into 
 being no one knew how, created a great stir for a season, and then 
 died away as mysteriously as it had originated. Its aims and pur 
 poses were widely misrepresented and misunderstood, for while 
 unique in its organization and methods, it was, in the principal 
 object sought to be attained, not different from those voluntary 
 associations which good citizens in many parts of the wide 
 country have often been compelled to form when they found 
 the law im their particular locality insufficient for the protection of 
 life and property. The order of which I write was known to the 
 general public at the time as the Klu Klux Klan, or, more briefly, 
 the K. K. K., and was so obnoxious to those in power during the 
 carpet-bag reign in Tennessee that it was a penitentiary offense 
 to belong to it ; no citizen was permitted to sit on a jury or give 
 evidence in court without swearing he was in no way connected 
 with it; and hostile grand juries were given inquisitorial powers 
 in the effort to drag to light the conspirators who assembled by 
 night at its summons and obeyed its unholy mandates. Yet, in 
 spite of all this terrifying proscription, perhaps to no small extent 
 in consequence of it, the midnight society grew and flourished 
 apace, and during the brief period of its existence exercised a 
 profound influence, at least, in those sections of the State to which 
 its operations were confined. 
 
 In its main purpose the preservation of order and the pro 
 tection of life and property this society of the K. K. K. did not 
 differ, as I have said, from the vigilance committees and other 
 like associations that at various times in our history have been 
 openly formed in many of the States and Territories of the Union. 
 Its grotesque methods, however, its peculiar organization, and the 
 
48 The K. K. K. 
 
 mystery by which it was enshrouded, distinguished it from all 
 of these, and gave it a unique place in the history of such popular 
 movements. Yet, these peculiarities were not, as may have been 
 supposed, the result of whim or caprice on the part of its foun 
 ders, but followed necessarily from the troubled condition of the 
 times. The emergency that called the association into life was 
 such as would have demanded anywhere the banding together 
 of orderly citizens for their own protection, and yet an open or 
 ganization at the time was impossible, and, had it been possible, 
 would have been far less effective than a widespread secret order 
 whose very existence could not legally be proven and whose aims 
 could only be guessed at. 
 
 For two or three years immediately following the civil war 
 the situation in Middle Tennessee may be fairly described as 
 chaotic. Nearly all the white men there capable of bearing arms 
 had sided with the South, and when those who survived the 
 struggle returned home, they found farms uncultivated, homes 
 devastated, cattle and work-stock confiscated, and the negroes 
 emancipated. More than this, they found themselves disfran 
 chised for their sins, the ballot in the hands of their late slaves, 
 and William G. Brownlow in the governor's chair. This meant 
 to the recently disloyal that they must look out for themselves, 
 for they need expect neither aid nor sympathy from those in their 
 own State who -now held the whip hand over them. Parson 
 Brownlow, as he was familiarly termed, had been a noted charac 
 ter in Tennessee for many years. He was a man of personal in 
 tegrity and of active mind, but seemingly without one drop of 
 the milk of human kindness in his composition. As editor of 
 " The Knoxville Whig " in the ante-bellum days, he proved him 
 self to be a master of invective. Clinging with obstinacy to his 
 own views on all questions, through the columns of his news- 
 
 faper he berated as scoundrels all who saw fit to differ from him. 
 f he had been domesticated in Middle or West Tennessee at the 
 outbreak of the civil war, he would have most probably out- 
 Heroded Herod in his advocacy of secession; but, hailing from 
 the eastern division of the State, he was a most bitter Unionist, and 
 literally, by means of his paper, " dealt damnation round the land 
 on each he deemed his foe." The restoration of federal authority 
 in Tennessee found this honest but exceedingly vindictive old 
 man in the governor's chair, and he was about as much in place 
 there as John Calvin would have been over a congregation of 
 
" The Clan has a Name that is Nameless by Day." 49 
 
 papists or a devout Catholic ruler of the sixteenth century over 
 a colony of heretics. When soon after the close of the war a 
 demand arose for the restoration of the ex-Confederates to their 
 civil rights, the governor of Tennessee replied in a public speech 
 that traitors to their country had but two rights he was willing 
 to concede : one the right to be hung in this world, the other the 
 right to be damned in the next. This characteristic utterance at 
 least was attributed to him all over the State, and taking their cue 
 from it, the Carpet-baggers, scalawags, and such disorderly 
 negroes as these could influence, ruled the roost in the fairest por 
 tions of Tennessee. They terrorized whole communities, and 
 neither life nor property was safe while their sway continued, for 
 none looked to the laws as then administered to protect good cit 
 izens under the ban of disloyalty or to punish evildoers who 
 vaunted themselves as friends of the government. 
 
 The better class of the negroes in the State, to their credit be 
 it said, did not sympathize with the lawless element that prevented 
 their earning a support by peaceful labor, but their quiet protest 
 was unheeded, as was that of the respectable white people among 
 whom they dwelt. The example of a few lawless blacks in each 
 community, however, soon had its effect on others of their race, 
 and the idea gained ground rapidly among the recently emanci 
 pated slaves of the State that liberty meant unbridled license and 
 the freedom to do as they chose. The times, indeed, were out 
 of joint, and the returning ex-Confederates, who otherwise could 
 easily have mastered the situation, seemed powerless to restore 
 order. Nothing could be accomplished by them without united 
 effort, while any open attempt on their part to organize would, 
 they knew, be regarded as an act of treason, and the leaders of 
 such a movement subjected to instant arrest. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that whether in jest or 
 earnest I cannot say the singular society known as the Klu Klux 
 Klan was mysteriously called into being. The general under 
 standing now is that it originated as a practical joke gotten up 
 by a few mischievous ex-rebels to frighten negroes and other 
 superstitious persons in their locality. If so, the authors of the 
 plan must soon have been astonished at the startling propor 
 tions of the edifice of which they had laid the foundation. Their 
 queer capers and ghostly garbs excited the terror of the negroes 
 and induced them to remain indoors after dark. Rumor ex 
 aggerated their pranks, which doubtless were mad enough in 
 4 
 
So The K. K. K. 
 
 themselves. Their example soon found imitators, and before a 
 great while serious men adopted the fantastic idea and sought 
 to apply it to a useful end. A formidable secret society was or 
 ganized, numbering its branches by the hundred and its member 
 ship by thousands. The strictest secrecy on the part of the 
 persons connected with it was easily maintained, since none of 
 these dared to avow his fellowship with the order. Ghostly 
 raiment and extravagant capers were found to be really useful 
 features, striking more terror to the souls of the superstitious 
 Africans than could the substance of ten thousand men, armed in 
 the proof. Perfect order throughout the entire organization was 
 easily preserved, for nearly all the members had been recently 
 discharged from the Southern army, and their leaders in the main 
 were those whom they had followed through all the weary and 
 bloody campaigns of the civil war. Thus it came to pass that 
 almost in a night there sprang into existence on the soil of Ten 
 nessee the most powerful and thoroughly disciplined secret so 
 ciety that has ever been known to exist on the American continent. 
 Its influence from the outset was widespread and beneficent. 
 Good people breathed more freely when they knew there was a 
 klan in their midst able to protect them, and the desperadoes who 
 had infested the country in most instances fled before they were 
 actually apprehended or molested. 
 
 I have spoken of the organization of the society as grotesque, 
 and this was certainly true. Not only were the most astonish 
 ing performances among its regular exercises, but the titles be 
 stowed on all its officials were outlandish and preposterous. The 
 head or captain of each separate band was styled " The Grand 
 Cyclops of the Klan." Above him was another official with a 
 high-sounding title, controlling a dozen klans or so, and over all 
 was the commander-in-chief, who was impressively styled " The 
 Grand Dragon of the Realm." Each separate company of 
 mounted men was called a " klan," and the men in the ranks 
 were designated as " hobgoblins." The true name of the order 
 was not " The Klu Klux Klan," but the master of ceremonies 
 usually whispered instead on initiation night some very long hard 
 word in an unknown language, with a supposed very deep mean 
 ing, which all were forbidden to repeat, and which none ever 
 could remember afterwards. 
 
 The peculiar feature of this order, however, and the one that 
 distingushed it from all similar associations that I have read of, 
 
"The Clan has a Name that is Nameless by Day." 51 
 
 was a standing 1 judicial tribunal of three men, which formed part 
 of the organization of each " klan." Without the order of this 
 court which, if I am correctly informed, was termed " The 
 Dreadful Ulema " no member of the klan could be punished for 
 infraction of its rules, nor could any obnoxious character in the 
 community be made to pay the penalty oi his crimes. But for 
 this wise provision in the constitution of the order there can be 
 no doubt that many hasty acts of violence would have been com 
 mitted by the members in different sections of the State. It must 
 be borne in mind that the leaders of the movement desired to espe 
 cially avoid the commission of open deeds of violence, for a few 
 such acts would have drawn down upon them the condemnation 
 not only of the State, but also of the Federal Government. All the 
 operations of the society were therefore conducted with the 
 utmost secrecy and circumspection and its members at all times 
 subjected to the strictest discipline. If one was arrested whom 
 they thought the community should be rid of, the offender was 
 not shot or strung up to a limb, but taken before " The Dreadful 
 Ulema " for trial. The proceedings here were not conducted in 
 the actual presence of the accused, and were usually brief, but 
 extreme punishment was never inflicted if anything less would 
 suffice. If tne prisoner was discharged without bodily harm, as 
 often happened, he could betray no more than that he had been 
 taken at night by a company of very queer creatures, had been 
 instantly blindfolded, and had been released after a while, with 
 the injunction to betake himself speedily to some other part of 
 the world. Sometimes this injunction was preceded by the lash, 
 which, you may be sure, when ordered, was well laid on. Some 
 times, in very rare instances, it was death. Then the community 
 knew nothing more of the matter than that a certain obnoxious 
 individual had mysteriously disappeared, and after diligent search 
 by his friends could not be found. Whatever the sentence of 
 " The Dreadful Ulema," it was obeyed ; and without its deliberate 
 sentence none were ever done to death or subjected to bodily in 
 jury by members of the klan. 
 
 It may be inferred from what has gone before that the author 
 of this entertaining narrative was himself at one time connected 
 with the secret order he has sought to describe; and while he is 
 far from admitting such to be the fact, he does not mind stating 
 to the generous reader that he was at a certain misguided period 
 of his life an open enemy of the best government the world ever 
 
52 The K. K. K/ 
 
 knew. He wore the gray, the author did, during the years 1861- 
 65 and, by the way, a very ragged suit it was he had on when 
 the end came. Having returned home in the latter year a sadder 
 if not a wiser man, and seeking to earn a support by tilling his 
 mother -earth, he found himself in the very midst of the disorders 
 of which he has made mention and in the very locality where hob 
 goblins by night did cavort. This being so, and the author being 
 neither deaf, dumb, nor idiotic, he was enabled to pick up a few 
 scraps of information, which he now with pleasure imparts to the 
 curious reader. Following the usual form of legal affidavits, he 
 here avouches that those things which he has set down upon his 
 own knowledge he swears positively to be true, and those things 
 which he has set down upon information, he verily believes to be 
 true, and, drawing his conclusiors from both these sources, he 
 wishes to go further and make the deliberate statement which is 
 to be found in the following paragraph. 
 
 Though outlawed by the statutes of Tennessee, and denounced 
 in their day from one end of the country to the other, no associa 
 tion was ever formed in this country with worthier motives than 
 this secret order of the K. K. K. No kindlier band of gentlemen 
 ever assembled after nightfall in the deep greenwood, or rode in 
 queer disguises the lonely highway by the friendly light of the 
 moon. There is a streak of humor running all through the 
 southern character, as plainly discernible to the eye of the moral 
 ist as a vein of fine metal in a rock to the skilled mineralist. The 
 mystic order of which I write never could have come into being 
 anywhere else except among these people. It never could have 
 flourished as it did, mixing serious business with horseplay, 
 except among these people. That just home from the war, with 
 their cause utterly lost, and wreck and ruin about them, they 
 were able to extract fun at all from, the situation shows the won 
 derful elasticity of the southern temper. But they did, and their 
 merriment was honest merriment, while their earnestness of pur 
 pose at the same time, and along with it, was unquestionable. 
 Now that the queer order is a thing of the past, and most of the 
 ghosts that formed its ranks have gone to genuine ghostland, I 
 hope the reader will pardon this effort to rescue its memory from 
 undeserved reproach. The author can say of a truth that while 
 the society existed in his locality, he never knew human life taken 
 by those subject to its mandates, nor any man robbed of his prop- 
 
The Clan Has a Name That is Nameless by Day. 53 
 
 erty, nor any woman, white or black, treated with disrespect. 
 That the hobgoblins when abroad were all armed and knew how 
 to handle their weapons is not to be denied. That they were 
 prepared on their raids to repel attack and meet violence with 
 violence is not to be denied. That they were determined to pro 
 tect their homes and loved ones and banish certain disorderly 
 characters from their midst is not to be denied. Fortunately, 
 the mystery that surrounded the order, and the general convic 
 tion that it was a powerful and resolute brotherhood, sufficed in 
 themselves to attain the ends it had in view, and this achieved, 
 the members quietly disbanded. The dawn of day was then close 
 at hand for Tennesseeans, the time for the restoration of genuine 
 peace had come, and the secret order of the K. K. K. disappeared 
 from public notice as mysteriously as it had been called into 
 being. 
 
 So it came about that when Randolph Pearson and his com 
 panions met the night after the Bascombe murder to form a 
 league for the preservation of order in their midst, they adopted 
 the constitution of the old order just described: 
 
 First, because they found it ready made, and were saved the 
 trouble of cudgeling their brains to devise another that might 
 not have answered so well. 
 
 Secondly, because the younger members present were pleased 
 with the fantastic attire and gro^-esque ceremonies of the order 
 they were about to revive, and hoped to extract some fun from 
 a renewal of same. 
 
 Thirdly, because Pearson and his serious comrades expected 
 much good from the clause that provided a permanent court for 
 the order. If this tribunal was composed of temperate men, mob 
 law, in its most offensive sense, would be banished from the com 
 munity. The new klan would be strong! enough by prompt action 
 to take charge of all persons suspected of heinous crimes, and no 
 punishment would bo inflicted until after a deliberate hearing. 
 When the murderer, Ankerstrom, was apprehended, it would 
 be for the three judges to say whether he should be put to death 
 at once or turned over to the regular State authorities for trial. 
 Pearson was fully resolved that, if possible, the latter course 
 should be pursued. He knew the infuriated people of his vicinity 
 were bent on stringing the wretch up as soon as they laid hands 
 on him, but he made up his mind that when even so despicable 
 
54 The K. K.K. 
 
 a villain came to pay the penalty of his crimes, the sheriff of the 
 county, and none other, should act as hangman. 
 
 It was therefore with satisfaction that Randolph Pearson, when 
 the organization was effected, accepted the position of chief of the 
 advisory court of the klan, which was unanimously tendered him. 
 
Mr. Templeton Comes Near Forgetting His Errand. 55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 YOUNG MR. TEMPLETON SALLIES FORTH TO UPHOLD THE MAJESTY 
 OF THE LAW, BUT COMES NEAR FORGETTING THE ERRAND UPON 
 WHICH HE IS BENT. 
 
 TEMPLETON, riding* at a brisk gait, covered the distance he had 
 to travel in about three hours, and reached the county seat before 
 noon. Going 1 at once to the jail which contained apartments 
 for the sheriff's family, he found the officer away, but his wife, a 
 pleasant spoken woman, said he would return sometime during 
 the day. Thinking it advisable to await his coming, the young 
 man proceeded uptown, and making the necessary affidavit, pro 
 cured a warrant of arrest from a justice of the peace against the 
 absconding murderer. Placing this in his pocket so as to have 
 it in readiness when the sheriff returned, he next inquired for the 
 newspaper office of the village. It was only a few yards further 
 off, on the same street, and dropping in, he found a little old dried- 
 up man perched upon a high stool setting type. As there was 
 no other occupant of the room, Templeton bowed to this indivi 
 dual and politely inquired for the editor. 
 
 " I'm him," replied the person addressed, without for a moment 
 suspending the business he was at. 
 
 " Excuse me," said Templeton, politely, " I mistook you for 
 the printer." 
 
 " I'm him too," said the dried-up man on the high stool, pro 
 ceeding calmly with his work. 
 
 " Oh," said Templeton, " I see how it is. So you are both 
 editor and printer, are you ? " 
 
 " I'm the whole push," said the little dried-up man, taking off 
 his spectacles now and wiping them with his handkerchief. " I'm 
 the establishment, that's what I am," and he came down from his 
 stool, and walking up quite close to where Templeton stood, he 
 viewed him critically. His manner would have been impertinent 
 
56 The K. K. K. 
 
 had not the visitor recognized it as that of a man who was at the 
 same time both near-sighted and habitually on the hunt of an 
 item. 
 
 " Whar you from ? " inquired the dried-up man, approaching 
 as close to Templeton as he could without treading on the latter's 
 toes. "What's the news?" 
 
 " I thought possibly," answered the visitor, " that you might 
 wish to know something about the Bascombe murder." 
 
 " And the hanging of that nigger ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Got it all set up. Paper be out to-morrow. Full confession 
 and everything. Whole thing in to-morrow's issue. Price, five 
 cents." 
 
 " Whose confession have you got in the paper ? " asked Tem 
 pleton, turning interrogator. 
 
 "The nigger's, of course. Whose else could it be?" 
 
 "How do you know he confessed?" 
 
 " Oh, they always do ; and if they don't, we fix up one for 'em. 
 Part of our business, you know. We fix up one for 'em and we 
 fix it up right. The fellow that's hung ain't in a position to dis 
 pute a word of it, and the fellows that hung him they feel vindi 
 cated, and are well pleased, and come round and subscribe for the 
 paper see ? " 
 
 " But, the fact is," said Templeton, " the negro did not confess 
 in this case, as everybody knows. He died protesting his inno 
 cence, and the old lady, Mrs. Bascombe, revived before her death 
 and charged another man with her murder." 
 
 The little old dried-up man who said he was the establishment 
 here seized Templeton by the arm, and, without a word, dragged 
 him to the rear of the room. 
 
 " How's that ? how's that ? " then inquired the little dried-up 
 man, cocking his ear round curiously at the speaker. 
 
 " The negro made no confession ; and the old woman before she 
 died charged a white man with her murder." 
 
 The editor forced him to be seated on an inverted goods box 
 that stood near a dingy window. Taking a stool himself on the 
 opposite side, he seized a lead pencil and some sheets of crumpled 
 paper that were lying loose upon the box. " Now go," he said 
 to Templeton, when these hurried preparations were complete. 
 
 The visitor understood by this that he was to proceed with his 
 tale, which he did in a plain, straightforward way, and the com- 
 
Mr. Templeton Comes Near Forgetting His Errand. 57 
 
 bined editor and printer dashed ahead, covering sheet after sheet 
 of paper, and so amplifying the details that Templeton hardly rec 
 ognized them when the story came out in print twenty-four 
 hours later. When he finished and he wrote more rapidly than 
 the speaker could dictate Templeton handed him a dollar and 
 asked him to mail copies of his paper to different parts of the 
 country, in order that the public might be put on the watch for 
 the murderer. The dried-up man pocketed the dollar cheerfully, 
 and, following his visitor to the door, informed him confiden 
 tially that just back of the town there was as good a tree for the 
 hanging business as heart could wish, and when the real villain 
 was caught he would take pleasure in pointing it out. " I'll make 
 it all right and regular," he said to Templeton. " Startling con 
 fession mob completely vindicated. Tell 'em to have no fear 
 on that score." 
 
 Templeton thanked him for his kindly assurance, and, having 
 no further business in the newspaper line, sought to amuse him 
 self by another stroll up and down the streets while awaiting the 
 return of the law officer. Desiring to interest as many persons 
 as possible in the capture of the murderer, he told the story of 
 the crime to more than one group of listeners, and soon the whole 
 village was familiar with the facts. 
 
 About sundown the sheriff came jogging into town on a flea- 
 bitten gray horse and the warrant of arrest was handed him. 
 When he had read it he alighted in front of the store of Dixon & 
 Dix he had been halted as he was passing there and, with the 
 bridle rein over his arm, perused the document again. Having 
 inspected it sufficiently, he looked around over the little group 
 that had gathered about him and remarked: 
 
 " Well, consarn that fellow ; I met him just now in the road." 
 
 " Where ? Where ? " inquired several of the bystanders at 
 once. 
 
 The sheriff was a tall, thin man of serious demeanor and slow 
 spoken. He might have been mistaken for a preacher but for 
 the fact that most of the preachers in those parts were Methodist 
 circuit riders who were not of austere deportment, but usually 
 chipper and free with their jokes. Sanderson that was the 
 sheriff's name was a man of subdued manner, and though not 
 unsociable or uncommunicative, was inclined to take life sol 
 emnly. 
 
 " Where did you meet him ? " they inquired again. 
 
58 The K. K. K. 
 
 " Back yonder in the road," replied the sheriff, meditatively, 
 turning the paper over in his hand as he spoke. 
 
 "What did he say?" 
 
 " Nothin' much, nothin' much. We howdied, and talked a little 
 about one thing and another Well, consLrn that fellow." The 
 sheriff here whistled softly between his teeth for a while and 
 then inquired : " Who swore out this warrant, anyhow ? Who 
 is R. L. Templeton ? I thought I knew every man in the county, 
 but he's a new one on me." 
 
 " I'm Robert Lee Templeton," said the young gentleman, 
 coming to the front. " I swore out that warrant." 
 
 " You swore it out ? " 
 
 " Yes, on the statement of the old lady, Mrs. Bascombe." 
 
 " This nigger that was hung," said the sheriff, eying him 
 critically, " what did he have to do with it ? " 
 
 " Nothing in the world," the young man answered. " He was 
 hung under a mistake. There was great excitement, and no 
 legal officer to take charge of the investigation, so they hung him 
 without inquiring fully into the matter. It was just an excited 
 mob, with nobody especially in control. I was there, and " 
 
 The sheriff looked at him inquisitively. 
 
 " I was there," pursued Templeton, " but I didn't have any 
 thing to do with the hanging. I I, in fact, was opposed to it." 
 
 " You stick to that, young man," said the sheriff, gravely, 
 ''because there's a law in this country." 
 
 Templeton hesitated at this and displayed some embarrassment. 
 He was among strangers, and could not tell what construction 
 they might put on his admission. 
 
 " You just happened in, I s'pose," suggested the sheriff, " not 
 knowin' what was on the bills ? " 
 
 " That was just about the way of it," replied Templeton. 
 
 " And being there from curiosity, or in some such fashion, you 
 was bound to see things without takin' a hand in 'em ? " 
 
 Templeton acquiesced in this, feeling that it did not express 
 the entire truth, but was sufficient for the occasion. 
 
 " Now, you stick to that," said the sheriff, raising a long fore 
 finger and pointing it at him warningly, " because there's a law 
 in this country." 
 
 Those present eyed the young man closely, and several nodded 
 gravely to signify that the sheriff had given him good advice, 
 which it would be well for him to heed. 
 
Mr. Templeton Comes Near Forgetting His Errand. 59 
 
 After whistling again for a little while softly between his teeth, 
 the officer remounted his flea-bitten gray nag and turned its head 
 in the direction from which he had come. " I'm going after this 
 here Dutchman," he remarked to those present. " Does anybody 
 care to go along? " 
 
 Two or three volunteered, among them Mr. Bob Lee Temple- 
 ton. Darkness was enveloping the earth as they wound their way 
 down from the eminence on which the town of Ashton stood. _ It 
 was now Monday night and forty-eight hours after the burning 
 of the Bascombe house. 
 
 " He must be doubling on his track," said the sheriff after they 
 had proceeded some distance in silence. " Looks that way to 
 me." 
 
 " Why doesn't he try to get out of the country? " asked Tem 
 pleton, who was riding by the officer's side. " I don't understand 
 his hanging round here this way." 
 
 " Well, you see," replied Sheriff Sanderson, " the nigger's been 
 hung, which shows pretty conclusively that folks took him for 
 the guilty party. The old woman, though, didn't die right away, 
 and she might tell tales before she died. So Cross-eyed Jack 
 just dodged out of sight, bobbing up at first one place and then 
 another to make believe he wasn't hiding. That's the way I 
 happened to meet him in the road." 
 
 " He'll find out pretty soon that the world knows the truth. 
 Then he'll leave the country in a hurry." 
 
 " Maybe he will, maybe he will," responded the sheriff, du 
 biously. " There's no telling." 
 
 " I thought the instinct of a criminal was to flee as fast and as 
 far as possible from the scene of his crime ? " 
 
 " That was in the old time, when a fellow had only to outrun 
 them that was behind him. Now they send telegrams on ahead, 
 and they follow on his track by rail. The sharp rascals under 
 stand this, and their usual plan is to lie low until the hue and cry 
 dies out, and then steal off as quietly as they can. I knew a fellow 
 once," pursued the sheriff, growing reminiscent, " that robbed a 
 mail train. He was a boss hand at his trade, that fellow' was. 
 One night he bought a ticket for some place and boarded the 
 train like any other passenger. When they had gone a few miles 
 he rose and went forward to the express car. The agent was 
 sitting by the table, and there was a loaded pistol in the drawer, 
 .within reach of his hand. He'd been told always to keep a loaded 
 
60 The K. K. K. 
 
 pistol in that drawer, and he always kept it there. lie was sitting 
 by the table adding up a long column of figures. When he looked 
 up he saw a man standing in the door with a shiny pistol pointed 
 straight toward him. The man's aim was very steady and his 
 voice very calm as he told the agent to rise and fetch him the 
 money bag. That agent was in the habit of obeying orders, and 
 he obeyed orders this time. So would you have done if you had 
 been in his place. He picked up the bag, and such other things 
 as he was bidden to pick up, and laid them down in a pile close 
 to the stranger's feet. Then he went under orders to a corner 
 of the car and stood there with his back to the stranger and 
 his nose stuck as far into that corner as he could get it. The 
 stranger pulled the bell cord and the train stopped. The stranger 
 jumped off with his bags, and the agent explained to the con 
 ductor as soon as he got a chance. They searched high and low, 
 and they sent for bloodhounds, but they didn't catch the stranger. 
 The bloodhounds got on the track of a nigger fiddler and run 
 him five miles and treed him, but that didn't help the situation 
 much. Big rewards were offered, and the police picked up a 
 dozen different fellows in a dozen different towns, but they didn't 
 get the right man. Where was he? Why, he didn't go a mile 
 from the place of the robbery before he stopped and went into 
 camp. He picked a snug out-of-the-way place, close to water, 
 and lived on scant rations there two or three weeks. Then he 
 walked away and got clear out of the country without trouble. 
 
 " How did you find all this out ? " 
 
 " Why, in the easiest way imaginable. As soon as the fellow 
 got a long way off from the scene of his crime, and thought he 
 was entirely safe, he treated himself to a big drunk. It was in 
 Kansas City, and as he undertook to run the town, the police 
 locked him up. They found three or four pistols on him, and 
 more than a thousand dollars in money. Being a stranger, they 
 asked him where he came from. He told them a lie, and a rather 
 clumsy lie, being drunk. To make a long story short, they held 
 him a few days on suspicion, and then, having obtained sufficient 
 evidence, sent him back to Tennessee to answer for the train 
 robbery. He plead guilty when his trial came and took fifteen 
 years in the penitentiary. He's there now, I reckon, and a very 
 sociable, gentlemanly fellow he is, barring his trade." 
 
 As the sheriff beguiled the journey with this narrative, the 
 flea-bitten gray horse went steadily along at a fox trot toward the 
 
Mr. Templeton Comes Near Forgetting His Errand. 61 
 
 spot where his rider had encountered Cross-eyed Jack the evening 
 before. After the lapse of an hour or more they reached the 
 place, which Sanderson pointed out to his companions. They 
 made a brief halt here and then followed on down the road in 
 the direction the murderer had taken. 
 
 " Maybe he's found out by this time he's badly wanted, and 
 maybe he hasn't," said the sheriff, musingly. " I don't think 
 he knew it just now, or he would have tried to dodge when he 
 met me unexpectedly in the road. No telling, though ; no telling. 
 Some criminals are naturally scary, and some are bold as the 
 devil. Maybe he knew the truth was out, but counted on my not 
 knowing it." 
 
 It was now past nine o'clock, but the stars were all shining, 
 and they made their way without difficulty. The sheriff, after re 
 lating the incident from his personal experience just given, lapsed 
 into silence and began whistling softly between his teeth, which 
 was a way he had when he was cogitating. 
 
 Presently they heard the footsteps of galloping horsemen 
 behind them. They reined up, and in a few minutes a half dozen 
 young farmers joined them. These riders had searched the 
 country, far and near, for Cross-eyed Jack, they said, but had dis 
 covered no certain trace of him. Some person answering his 
 general description had passed along the road they were now trav 
 eling, but they were not sure it was the scoundrel they were 
 looking for. An imprudent member of the sheriff's squad in 
 formed them that it was certainly Ankerstrom who had walked 
 boldly along 'the highway a few hours before, and on receipt of 
 this news they stayed no further question, but st out at once to 
 overtake him. " We've got a rope," said one of the party as they 
 separated, " and we mean to hang the rascal as soon as we lay 
 hands on him." 
 
 " There's a law in this country, gentlemen," remonstrated the 
 sheriff, gently. 
 
 " So there is," replied the fellow, " and the very minute we are 
 through with Cross-eyed Jack we'll turn him over to the law. You 
 may have his corpse, Sanderson, if you want it." 
 
 Going some distance farther, the sheriff and his friends came 
 to a large frame house by the roadside. It was lit up invitingly, 
 and from within floated the pleasant voice of a young lady singing 
 to an accompaniment upon the piano. Here they halted, the 
 sheriff said, to make inquiries. 
 
62 The K. K. K. 
 
 " 'Light, gentlemen, 'light ! " cried a rather portly old gentle 
 man, advancing briskly to the front gate. 
 
 " Haven't time," responded the sheriff; " haven't time, Major." 
 
 " 'Light, 'light ! " persisted the old gentleman, who from his 
 hearty voice and manner evidently meant what he said. " Get 
 down and come in, one and all. Come in, all of you, and stay all 
 night." 
 
 " Haven't time, " responded the sheriff ; " haven't time, 
 Major." 
 
 " Get down," reiterated the old man, as if he hadn't heard the 
 officer. " Get down and come in, gentlemen. Here, Bill, Jim ! " 
 lifting his voice so as to be heard all over his premises. " Come 
 right along, you lazy rascals, and take these horses.'' 
 
 " Well," remarked the sheriff at this, " I reckon we'd as well 
 surrender," and he alighted from the flea-bitten gray, the tired 
 animal giving itself a good shake as soon as he quitted the 
 saddle. 
 
 A sleepy-looking negro fellow now made his appearance, fol 
 lowed soon by another, and the horses were led off to the 
 stable. The music ceased as they drew near the house, and quite 
 a stylish-looking young lady made her appearance in the front 
 door. Templeton had begun to regret that his zeal in behalf of 
 justice had prompted him to take such a wearisome night ride, but 
 now, beholding the stylish young lady, and being young and 
 rather susceptible, he congratulated himself that he had come 
 along with the sheriff. 
 
 After a hearty welcome had been extended all round, and an 
 ample supper partaken of, the Major, the sheriff, and two or three 
 other members of the posse comitatus engaged in friendly con 
 versation on the front porch, while Templeton and the young lady 
 drifted accidentally into the parlor, where they soon became quite 
 congenial. It was, of course, the duty of the young lady to assist 
 her father in the entertainment of his guests, and being a very 
 conscientious girl, and a very capable one to boot, she discharged 
 her duty on this particular occasion so thoroughly that I am quite 
 sure no feeling of self-reproach disturbed her after she had bidden 
 her visitor a pleasant adieu for the night. As for Mr. Templeton, 
 I speak nothing to his discredit when I say that before the 
 young lady rose and bade him good-night he had entirely for 
 gotten the matter that had brought him to the house, and after 
 seeking his couch and sinking into the kindly arms of Morpheus, 
 
Mr. Templeton Comes Near Forgetting His Errand. 63 
 
 he dreamed not of Cross-eyed Jack or the gallows-tree, but of a 
 certain fresh young face that was fair to see, and his slumbering 
 soul was soothed by the music of a voice ever soft and low, an 
 excellent thing in woman. 
 
64 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN WHICH THERE IS GREAT CRY AND LITTLE WOOL. 
 
 THE next morning early Sheriff Sanderson took a turn about 
 the place to see if he could learn anything as to the whereabouts 
 of the slippery individual for whom he had a writ of arrest. He 
 found the negroes all posted concerning- the hasty hanging of poor 
 Sandy, and the discovery of his complete innocence after the mis 
 chief had been done and could not be undone. They were in 
 formed, too? as to the active part Cross-eyed Jack had taken in the 
 proceedings, and from the rumors that had reached their ears 
 were" disposed to saddle on the shoulders of this villain the re 
 sponsibility for all that had taken place. A few of them knew the 
 fellow by sight, but most of them did not and had no desire to 
 cultivate his acquaintance. They regarded him now as more 
 devil than human, and feared it was his purpose to lay concealed 
 for a while, and then bob up somewhere unexpectedly in their 
 midst with his appetite whetted for murder. 
 
 " You mout as well s'arch for a needle in a haystack," said a 
 wise old darkey, " as try to find dat furriner twell he git ready to 
 make hisself known ag'in. He's hid out somewhar round here, 
 and jess zactly whar he is de good Lord I specks knows, but I 
 doesn't. Mebbe he done gone in a hole and pulled the hole in 
 atter him." 
 
 At this not very original attempt at humor the old man laughed 
 heartily, and Sheriff Sanderson, who was polite to high and low, 
 laughed too. " I'm inclined to think you're right, Uncle Davy," 
 he answered, " about his being hid out round here somewhere, but 
 the devil is more apt to know where he is than the good Lord." 
 
 " Dat's de trufe," responded the old man, shaking his head and 
 laughing again. "Dat's as true a word, marster, as ever you 
 spoke. Dis here Cross-eyed Jack and de devil is buzzum friends, 
 an' dat why he ain gwy be so easy kotch. When I was a leetle 
 
In Which There is Great Cry and Little Wool. 65 
 
 boy in Firginny I heerd talk of a flyin' Dutchman dat was buzzum 
 friend to de devil, and dat Dutchman dey never could ketch. Folk 
 seed him, folk heerd him, but when dey come to lay hands on him 
 he wa'n't thar." 
 
 " Mebbe dis here's de flyin' Dutchman," said a little negro boy 
 who had been an interested listener to the conversation. 
 
 " Son," rejoined the old man, solemnly, " I got de same notion 
 in my own head. Las' time de moon was on de change I dream 
 'bout dis flyin' Dutchman, and de nex' news I heerd Sandy Kin- 
 chen was dead and gone." 
 
 The breakfast bell now rang loudly, and Sheriff Sanderson re 
 turned toward the dwelling-house of Major Habersham, having 
 elicited no information of consequence from the negroes on the 
 place. When he reached the mansion house, he found the squad 
 which had ridden by him the night before was on hand, awaiting 
 breakfast. They were all weary and hungry, but brought no 
 tidings of the missing man. He had vanished completely after 
 his chance interview with the sheriff on the preceding afternoon, 
 and nothing could be learned of his subsequent course, except that 
 he did not keep to the highway. When Sanderson heard this he 
 announced his intention to return home, and advised the rest of 
 the posse to do the same thing, as the rascal they were in search 
 of was probably out of the neighborhood by that time. The fact 
 was, the sheriff had concluded that no matter where Ankerstrom 
 was the search for him should be conducted by quiet effort that 
 would not alarm him. He therefore deemed it best to act as if 
 he believed the fellow was not in his county, and at the same time 
 to keep an incessant watch for him, so as to be certain not to miss 
 him if he proved to be still lurking about in the vicinity of his 
 crime. 
 
 At the breakfast table the whole array, some twenty hungry 
 souls in all, were sumptuously entertained upon fried chicken, hot 
 biscuits, strong coffee, rich sweet milk, and other acceptable eata 
 bles and drinkables ; and not having a cent to pay, arose from the 
 feast with charity for all and malice toward none, except Johan 
 Ankerstrom, who was mysteriously at large and would not give 
 himself up to be hung. As they mounted and rode off, they bade 
 good-by to all, and received cordial adieus in return from the 
 members of the family, excepting Matilda, the housemaid, who 
 was distant in her manners. Sheriff Sanderson, on his fox-trot 
 ting nag, was among the last of the party to leave the premises, 
 5 
 
66 The K. K. K. 
 
 When he had departed no one was left behind except Mr. Bob 
 Lee Templeton, who still lingered with the Major and his daugh 
 ter at the front gate. 
 
 Mr. Templeton lingered at the front gate because he had a dif 
 ferent route to travel from that pursued by the others, being 
 bound now for his home in the adjoining county. He lingered 
 also because he found himself in pleasant company, and one as a 
 rule does not like to leave pleasant company. As he stood at the 
 gate, chatting and exchanging pleasant remarks, preparatory to 
 taking his departure, the Major suggested that it would be better 
 for him to remain over that day and take a fresh start next morn 
 ing. Mr. Templeton replied firmly that he had pressing business 
 awaiting him at home and was bound to go. The Major in re 
 joinder said that he, Templeton, must be somewhat fatigued from 
 the travel of the preceding day, and his steed likewise must be 
 off his mettle, and therefore not in trim for another full day's 
 ride. Mr. Templeton in sur rejoinder admitted that his nag 
 might be leg-weary from the previous day's use, but insisted that 
 his business at home was of such pressing nature that he must go 
 forward at once and look after it. 
 
 As Mr. Templeton thrust aside the Major's urgent invitation 
 to abide longer under his roof, and was in the very act of lifting 
 the latch of the front gate preparatory to passing out and riding 
 away it so chanced that he caught the eye of the Major's daugh 
 ter. Miss Polly Habersham had previously seconded the request 
 of her father that he should postpone his departure till the follow 
 ing morning, but she had done this in such a nonchalant off-hand 
 fashion that the guest didn't really believe she meant what 
 she said. At least he had been impelled by her indifferent man 
 ner to the conclusion that she didn't seriously care whether he 
 went or stayed. Now, however, as he lifted the latch of the gate, 
 turning his head slightly to one side at the same time, it came to 
 pass that as the saying goes he caught her eye. Precisely 
 what he read there I'm not able to inform you, but certain it is 
 that the very moment he caught her eye his fingers relaxed their 
 hold upon the gate latch. 
 
 " Stay, stay," persisted the Major. " If you start for home dead 
 tired, you won't be in any fix to attend to business when you get 
 there." 
 
 " One day more won't hurt," said the young lady, in the same 
 tone she had used before, Then she leaned her elbow 
 
In Which There is Great Cry and Little Wool. 67 
 
 on the top plank of the yard fence and gave the young man what 
 they call an expressive glance. 
 
 " Major," said Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, impulsively, to the 
 head of the establishment, " I'll be candid with you, sir. I would 
 like the best in the world to stop over with you another day, and 
 I'm going to tell you why. Last night ,sir, you delivered, as I am 
 informed, an excellent discourse to some of the gentlemen of my 
 company upon the state of the country at large. Owing to ah 
 circumstances, I could not be present, but I would like above all 
 things to be posted on that subject. Every man, I think, in this 
 great and free country should have some knowledge of the state 
 of the country at large, and I have therefore concluded to stop 
 over, and ah inform myself." 
 
 " Quite right, quite right," quoth the Major, heartily. " How 
 can a man vote intelligently if he doesn't inform himself ? " 
 
 " I should say so," chimed in Miss Polly Habersham. " It 
 seems to me, if I were a man, and couldn't inform myself before 
 offering to vote, I wouldn't vote at all." 
 
 The young gentleman's perfect candor on this occasion made a 
 favorable impression on the Major, as perfect candor always has 
 done and always will anywhere in this too deceitful world. The 
 horse that had stood at the rack was sent back to the stable, and 
 Mr. Templeton's contemplated journey homeward was postponed 
 till next morning. 
 
 Several lectures were delivered by the Major in the course of 
 the day on the subject of the state of the country at large, to all 
 of which his visitor gave flattering heed. At odd times he re 
 lieved his mind by light discourse with Miss Polly, who, though 
 not as deeply learned in statecraft as her father, proved herself to 
 be fairly entertaining in her way. With music and chat, strolls 
 and all that, she and the stranger within her gates whiled away 
 the time till the sun went down and the stars peeped out and the 
 lamp-lit hours slipped blissfully by, and the evening and the 
 morning were the first day. 
 
 When Mr. Bob Lee Templeton did mount his horse the next 
 morning, and did ride away from the premises, he felt exactly as 
 if he was leaving old and dear friends behind. The Major re 
 marked to his daughter that the young gentleman was a very 
 promising pupil, and would soon come to know as much about 
 the state of the country as he himself did. And the daughter re 
 marked to her father that he was a nice young man to boot, and 
 
68 The K. K. K. 
 
 quite a pleasant addition to her list of acquaintances. Uncle 
 Davy, the hostler, publicly proclaimed that the departed guest 
 was the most thorough gentleman who had visited the place since 
 Miss Polly came on the carpet. " I'm gwy tell you how I 
 know," said the old man, " and den you bound to own I'm right. 
 Bekase when I hilt de horse for him to mount he gin me a dollar. 
 Right dar is whar he showed his raisin'. A picayuny white man 
 would a gin me a dime, or mebbe if Miss Polly had made him 
 feel right proud o' hisseff, he mout a squeezed out a. quarter. A 
 tolerable nice beau would er let a half-dollar, or sich matter, slip 
 through his fingers, but this here up-headed young marster he 
 pitched me a dollar like he used to flingin' away money. Hit 
 minded me of de old times way back yander in Firginny, when 
 my young marster went callin' on de ladies in his gig, and I tuck 
 de middle of de road on a high-steppin' horse behind him, bofe 
 tm us dressed to kill. Lord, Lord, dem was de days when quality 
 folks walked right over poor white trash, and a gentleman's body 
 sarvant didn't bemean hisself by no kind of labor." 
 
 Sheriff Sanderson, as he took his way homeward, laid plots in 
 his mind for the capture of the fugitive murderer, and deviated 
 more than once from his direct path to put this or that trusty 
 friend of his on the lookout. A good reward had been offered for 
 the apprehension of the absconding scoundrel, and if there had 
 been none at all the whole community was bent on catching him 
 if he stayed above the ground. Randolph Pearson in his quiet 
 way rendered the law officer all the aid that was possible under 
 the circumstances. The members of his newly organized band 
 were assigned .to duty wherever it was thought they could be of 
 service, and a general and systematic search was instituted 
 throughout the entire country. Telegrams were sent off to dis 
 tant parts, letters were written giving a full description of the 
 person of the murderer, and the police in many different cities 
 were notified that a cross-eyed villain, called Johan Ankerstrom, 
 was badly wanted in the Marrowbone Hills, and a round sum of 
 money would be paid for his apprehension. 
 
 But though the sheriff kept his eyes open and his ears open 
 for several successive days, and Pearson and the members 
 of his vigilant band did the same thing, and numerous 
 noisy volunteers, with dogs and ropes, scoured the country, 
 not a thing could be learned of the whereabouts of the 
 slippery individual they were anxiously seeking. The im- 
 
In Which There is Great Cry and Little Wooh 69 
 
 pression came to be general that he had gotten entirely 
 away, a.nd would have to be sought for in some other part of 
 the world. The sheriff reached this conclusion and announced 
 it to his coadjutors over the country. The vigorous search was 
 almost abandoned, and the minds of people were becoming grad 
 ually occupied with other matters, when suddenly an incident oc 
 curred that at once threw the whole community again into the 
 wildest excitement. 
 
 At a lonely farmhouse some distance away from any public 
 road, there lived a man named Hopscn, with his wife and three 
 small children. The poor man was a consumptive, too much de 
 bilitated to perform manual labor. He lived in a small cottage 
 sadly out of repair, and possessed almost nothing in the way of 
 worldly goods. Indeed, his lot was one of such bitter poverty 
 that but for the charity of kind neighbors he and his household 
 must often have suffered for the necessaries of life. The folk 
 about him, though, were very attentive to his wants, and the Hop- 
 sons were worthy people who deserved all the sympathy that was 
 so freely accorded them. The good wife, Martha Ann Hopson, 
 was a cheerful and industrious body, laying to with a will at some 
 kind of work every day, and skimping all around in the manage 
 ment of household affairs as only a hard-pressed woman can. 
 
 A basket meeting had been going on for two or three days at a 
 church not far from the Hopson place of abode, and Mrs. Hop- 
 son, with her two younger children, had managed to attend the 
 place of worship, the elder boy, a lad of nine years, remaining at 
 home with his father. On the last day of the meeting, after din 
 ner, some charitable soul proposed that the fragments be gathered 
 up and donated as a lot to Sister Hopson. This proposition 
 meeting with universal favor, several baskets of provisions were 
 taken by zealous friends that afternoon to the Hopson place. The 
 good woman's cupboard was not only filled to overflowing, but 
 many tempting things were left over, and these the three children 
 set to work to devour, in order that nothing might be wasted. 
 The two younger, having surfeited at the basket meeting, could 
 not accomplish much in furthering this frugal intent, but the 
 older boy did his duty nobly. He disposed, indeed, of such a 
 quantity and so great a variety of edibles that when he retired to 
 bed he displayed symptoms of uneasiness that did not fail to 
 catch the ear of his vigilant mother. 
 
 It was owing to the above circumstance, as she afterward re- 
 
70 The K. K. K. 
 
 lated, that she was unusually wakeful on this particular night. 
 A little after midnight, hearing some disturbance among the 
 fowls in the yard, she arose and started forth to investigate. The 
 murder at the Bascombe place not above four miles away had 
 made her nervous, and she undid the bolt softly and peeped out 
 of doors before venturing beyond the protection of her roof. As 
 she did so a man with a long knife confronted her, pushing the door 
 open with his unoccupied hand in spite of such feeble resistance 
 as she could make. She retreated a few steps, and, following her 
 into the room, he ordered her in gruff tones to strike a light. This 
 command she promptly obeyed, making no outcry, for she knew 
 tha f neither her little children nor her weak husband could render 
 her any assistance. When the lamp was lit she saw that the rude 
 intruder had unusually long arms for a man of his stature. He 
 was bareheaded ; his uncombed hair was rilled with dirt and small 
 particles of leaves and dry twigs, and she shuddered when she ob 
 served that his eyes were badly crossed, for then she knew she 
 stood before the demon who had burned the Bascombe house and 
 murdered the good old woman who dwelt there. He carried now 
 in his hand a common tobacco knife, but as these are intended to 
 sever at a stroke the tough stalk of the plant, he could not have 
 procured a more dangerous weapon. Raising his hand in a 
 threatening manner, he demanded food, and the poor woman 
 without hesitation opened the door of her cupboard and showed 
 him all her precious supply. 
 
 When she had disclosed her stores to his greedy eyes, the vil 
 lain motioned with his sharp knife toward the bare table, and un 
 derstanding this to be a direction to place food thereon, she 
 brought an abundant supply, and covered the board with victuals 
 of every description. While she was thus engaged her husband 
 began to cough, and the murderer went on tiptoe to the bed, and 
 displaying the keen blade of his knife, commanded him to lie back 
 on his pillow, to which order the poor sufferer yielded trembling 
 obedience. The three children all slept in a trundle bed together, 
 and it was evident from the agitation of the cover that they were 
 now awake, though dreadful fear kept them all as still as mice. 
 From beneath a corner of the thin coverlet one eye of the little 
 girl might have been noted, keeping constant watch upon her 
 mother as she moved about the room. Now did the brutal scoun 
 drel seat himself at table, and, without ceremony or compunction, 
 proceed to devour like a ravenous animal such things as had been 
 
In Which There is Great Cry and Little Wool. 71 
 
 set before him. While with both hands he conveyed bits of 
 food to his mouth, his hungry eyes roved over the numerous 
 other good things with which the board was spread. When he 
 had stuffed himself to his satisfaction, he rose, and taking from 
 the shelf a figured bedspread, which was the poor woman's pride, 
 he opened it upon the floor and piled promiscuously on it as 
 much food of every description as he could pack off. Going then 
 up to the wife and mother, he held his sharp knife close to her 
 throat, while a murderous gleam lit up his tangled eyes. He 
 spoke no word, but she said afterward that somehow he conveyed 
 to her his meaning that they had better remain perfectly still 
 in the house after his departure or he would return and destroy 
 the entire family. Then he went away, carrying his entire stock 
 of provisions on his shoulder. 
 
 They were all hushed for hours after he had left ; indeed, they 
 did not dare to stir until the darkness of night had fled and the 
 sun of the following day was high in the heavens. Then one of 
 the neighbors happening to drop in the fearful tale was told, the 
 alarm was given, and the whole community again was thrown 
 into fierce convulsion. 
 
 A great crowd in a few hours thronged and surged about the 
 Hopson cottage as it had surged about the Bascombe place a fort 
 night before, when the old lady lay a dying in the yard. Great 
 was the tumult, loud and angry were the voices that arose on all 
 sides, but vain was the endeavor to trace the midnight robber to 
 his den, which, they all knew, could not be far from the scene of 
 his persistent outrages. The sheriff came as soon as he heard of 
 the affair and began a fresh search, but could not unravel the 
 mystery of the outlaw's lurking place. Barns, haystacks, hollow 
 trees, every possible place of concealment was subjected to mi 
 nute scrutiny, but none gave up the villain whom all were seek 
 ing. No trace of the robber, house-burner and murderer could be 
 found, and a feeling akin to consternation spread itself abroad 
 in the community. None could guess into whose house the 
 deadly scoundrel would next seek to thrust his ugly visage at 
 night and without warning. Doors and shutters were fast 
 bolted when the sun went down, and not opened again during the 
 dark hours, except at the summons of some well-known voice 
 from without. 
 
 The negroes of the vicinity were, of course, more demoralized 
 than the white people, and apprehension of being confronted with 
 
72 The K. K. K. 
 
 the now famous murderer accompanied them at every turn. In 
 the somewhat lonely cabin of Patsy Kinchen there was especial 
 trepidation, for the widow of the late Sandy was convinced the 
 murderous foreigner had sworn vengeance in his wicked heart 
 against the entire Kinchen family. 
 
 " I done told Pete," said Patsy, the lad's mother, to Pearson, 
 when the latter stopped one day to see how they were getting on 
 in their new abode " I done told Pete not for to go meanderin' 
 up and down de country wid no business on his mind, but to take 
 warnin' by his daddy which is dead and gone, Lord help his soul ! 
 If Sandy had been in de bed dat night, whar he oughter been, he 
 wouldn't a got kotched out from home and hung. 'Stidder dat 
 he must be up and gwine, bound for nowhars in particular, with 
 dat little dog, Jineral Beauregard, at his heels. As for dat dog, 
 Marse Ran, I hates to say a hard word of de dog, but he never 
 sot no very good example for Sandy, and he don't exercise the 
 right kind of influence over my boy now, no he don't. The dog 
 ain't feerd of nothin', and Pete he ain't feerd of nothin', so, spite 
 of all I kin do and say, here dey bofe goes, up and down, and 
 cross country, and everywheres. One of dese days mind what 
 I tell you in some out-of-de-way place, with nobody else in hol- 
 lerin' distance, dey gwy run right slap up on dat Flyin' Dutch 
 man. Den whar'll they be ? " 
 
Pete Kinchen Goes in Quest of His Mother's Cow. 73 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PETE KINCHEN GOES IN QUEST OF HIS MOTHER'S COW, AND FINDS 
 WHAT HE WAS NOT LOOKING FOR. 
 
 Miss SUE BASCOMBE, upon the death of her grandmother and 
 the burning of the old family home, went to reside with a rela 
 tive on her mother's side, who was in comfortable circumstances 
 and lived not far away. The girl herself was no pauper. She 
 owned now the Bascombe place, with the personal property at 
 tached thereto, and there was a little besides, in the way of notes 
 and money, for the old lady had been frugal in her time. Alto 
 gether, while almost anywhere else in the world her estate would 
 have been deemed a very small one, in the particular locality 
 where she resided it was sufficient to supply her modest necessi 
 ties and establish for her the desirable reputation of being inde 
 pendent. She was a girl with a pretty good business head, re 
 sembling her grandmother in this as in many other particulars, 
 and it was the general impression in the community that, if she 
 remained a spinster, she would be more apt to add to her respec 
 table patrimony than to waste it. 
 
 One morning, about a fortnight after the robbery of the Hop- 
 sons', as she stood at a front window of the house she now oc 
 cupied as a home, the girl noticed a little negro boy, with a small 
 dog at his heels, approaching the residence in an unusual manner. 
 An open wood lay immediately in front of the house, and the lad 
 in making progress dodged behind first one tree and then an 
 other, as if he had been an Indian who was minded, when he got 
 sufficiently near, to rush up and tomahawk the family. Not fully 
 understanding the significance of these maneuvers, Sue kept her 
 eye on him, and finally observed him crouch behind the woodpile, 
 a little distance beyond the yard inclosure. Determined to ascer 
 tain the character of his business, if he had any, she left the 
 house, and, advancing promptly upon his place of retreat, soon 
 stood close beside him. 
 
74 The K. K. K. 
 
 " Please, mum," said the urchin, rising when she came to a 
 halt and looked at him inquiringly. " I'm Sandy's little boy 
 Sandy Kinchen, mum, what didn't split ole Miss Bascombe's head 
 open wid dat ax." 
 
 As he submitted this remark Miss Bascombe took a calm sur 
 vey of the visitor's person. His raiment was a long ragged shirt, 
 not over clean, which hung upon him so loosely that there seemed 
 imminent danger all the while of its forsaking his body and^slip- 
 ping to the ground. He was hatless, and as it was summer time, 
 it goes without saying that he was barefooted. Indeed, his 
 ragged shirt was his costume, and, that having been intended by 
 the maker for some much larger person, and being without a 
 fastening of any kind at the throat, was kept on seemingly by fre 
 quent shoulder shrugs and occasional clutches from apprehensive 
 fingers. 
 
 " Please, mum," repeated the lad, " I'm Sandy's little boy ; and 
 I seed him dis very mornin' me and Jineral Beauregard 
 did." 
 
 " Seed who dis very mornin' ? " inquired the girl surprised at 
 what she heard, and unconsciously imitating the boy's tone and 
 language. 
 
 " Him, mum ; him what did split ole Miss Bascombe's head 
 open wid de ax. I seed him." 
 
 c< You don't mean " 
 
 . " Yas'm, I means him what folk calls de Flyin' Dutchman. I 
 seed him." 
 
 She looked at him for a moment in perplexity, hardly knowing 
 what was best to be done under the circumstances. 
 
 " You ain' gwy give me away, is you ? Kase if you does me 
 and Jineral Beauregard is bofe dead men." 
 
 She shook her head. "Where did you see that man?" she 
 asked. " Who told you to bring this tale to me? " 
 
 " Dey ain't nobody told me. I went to find Marse Ran, and he 
 wa'n't at home. Den I come to you." 
 
 " Well, tell me now where you saw this man." 
 
 " You ain' gwy give me away, is you? " 
 
 She shook her head. 
 " You ain' gwy never give me away ? " 
 
 She shook her head again. 
 
 " Wai, den, I'm gwy tell you. Dis mornin' I was a huntin' 
 for de muley cow what Marse Ran gin mammy when he sot her 
 
Pete Kinchen Goes in Quest of His Mother's Cow. 75 
 
 up a housekeepin j . She strayed off de cow did she all de time 
 at dat and never come home last night, but mammy she 'lowed 
 she heard de bell way off on de side of de hill. Dis mornin' 'fo' 
 day me and Jineral Beauregard we was 'bleeged to go for to get 
 de cow and drive de cow home. We climb 'long up on de side 
 of de ridge, and when we done got most to de top Jineral Beau- 
 regard he tuck out atter a rabbit, like I done tole him many a 
 time not to do. He rurt-dat rabbit, he did, round and round, un- 
 twell he run him into de thick briar patch what grows close up 
 agin de big bluff dey calls de chalk bluff. When he got in dar 
 I heerd him a growlin' and a snappin' like he done run up ag'in 
 sumpen he wa'n't 'spectin' to find. I crep' up tolerable clost, I 
 did, and den I lay down, kase I didn't know zactly what 'twas 
 Jineral Beauregard done run up agin in de briar patch. Pres 
 ently I heerd him holler, and he come running out'n de briar 
 patch and made for the place whar he leff me. Den I heerd 
 sumpen comin' behind him. I been huntin' for de cow, and fust 
 I thought it was de cow but den in a minit I know'd it wa'n't de 
 cow, kase it walked too light for de cow. Hit come out'n de 
 briar patch, and hit come on to the aidge of de broom sage field 
 what stand about de briar patch, walkin' kinder tiptoe. It wa'n't 
 hardly light good, but I seed him, and I know'd him, and hit was 
 de Flyin' Dutchman. He stood dar a little while, he did, and den 
 he crep' back to'ds de briar patch. 'Bout dat time here come Jin 
 eral Beauregard crawlin' on his belly, kase he done been to de 
 place whar I was, and struck my trail, and he was skeer'd. Den I 
 backed away from dar on my all fours, and soon as I got a little 
 piece off I riz and run for all I was wuth; and I ain't found dat 
 cow yit." 
 
 He ended his tale here, and stood looking at her ; and the dog 
 sat up dog-fashion and looked at her. It was an active little dog 
 of the fox terrier variety, with its tail bobbed and ears sharpened, 
 so as to impart to it a fiercer appearance than it would naturally 
 have borne. 
 
 "Where is the briar patch you speak of?" inquired Sue. 
 " Would you know it if you were to see it again ? " 
 
 " Yas'm, I'd know it," responded the lad. " But I ain't gwine 
 'bout dar no mo' I tells you dat." 
 
 " How will others find the place then ? " 
 
 " Dar's a dead tree clost to the aidge of de briar patch, and a 
 hawk or a buzzard most all the time a settin' on a limb of dat 
 
76 The K. K. K. 
 
 tree. Ef I could find Marse Ran I mout take him to whar I could 
 p'int out dat tree to him. Right dar I'm gwy stop." 
 
 " You say you've been to Marse Ran's house this morning ? " 
 
 " Yas'm." 
 
 " And he was not at home ? " 
 
 " Naw'm." 
 
 " Did they tell you where he was ? " 
 
 " Dey say dey didn't know. Dat's de reason I come here. I 
 thought you mout know." 
 
 Sue reflected a short time ; then she asked the little boy : 
 
 " Have you had your breakfast? " 
 
 " Naw'm ; me nur Jineral Beauregard ain't nary one had our 
 breakfast." 
 
 " Come with me and I'll get you something to eat." 
 
 She escorted the boy and dog to a spot in the back yard and 
 instructed the cook to administer to their bodily wants. She 
 then told the lad not to leave the premises until she dismissed 
 him, and, going into the house, she wrote a short note to a young 
 farmer friend of hers, named Mclntosh, who resided in the imme 
 diate neighborhood. This she dispatched by a house servant and 
 awaited an answer. 
 
 Within an hour, Mclntosh, as requested in the note, reported in 
 person to Miss Bascombe, and she gave him the substance of the 
 boy's story. It was agreed between them that Pearson must be 
 found without delay, as it was all important that the murderer's 
 hiding place should be surrounded before the sun went down. As 
 the dog had disturbed him, he would no doubt suspect the near 
 presence of some human being, and would almost certainly shift 
 his quarters that night. Mclntosh agreed to go in search of 
 Pearson, and suggested that the lad be detained until the arrival 
 of the latter. Pete was sent for and told to await further orders 
 in the back yard, but he shook his head. Finding him indisposed 
 to talk in the presence of a stranger, Sue escorted him back to the 
 woodpile, where the conference had begun. ^ 
 
 " I dunno nuthin' 'bout dat man," said the lad, pointing with 
 his thumb back over his shoulder toward the house. " I ain't gwy 
 talk where he is. He mout give me away." 
 
 " Very well. I've sent for Marse Ran. You stay here until he 
 comes." 
 
 Pete shook his head again. 
 
 "Can't you stay?" 
 
Pete Kinchen Goes in Quest of His Mother's Cow. 77 
 
 " Naw'm; my mammy don't 'low me to loaf 'round de. country. 
 She done tole me dat many times." 
 
 " I want Marse Ran to talk with you. How can he see you 
 if you go away ? " 
 
 The lad reflected a while before he replied: 
 
 " You tell him to ride down de road twell he gits to de place 
 whar de crick crosses it, beyant Marse Billy Winston's. When 
 he crosses de crick let him ride on slow a little piece furder. Me 
 and Jineral Beauregard will be in de woods on t'other side de 
 crick waitin' for him." 
 
 " How long can you wait there ? " 
 
 " I kin wait dar all day." 
 
 " And you will wait till Marse Ran comes ? " 
 
 " Yas'm." 
 
 " All right ; he will ride down that road just as soon as I can 
 find him and send him along. You and your dog can go now." 
 
 " You ain't gwy give us away ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Dis here yuther white man in de house, he ain't gwy give 
 us away ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 The lad turned and left the premises, with the ever-faithful 
 General Beauregard at his heels. Sue walked back into the house, 
 and Teddy Mclntosh in a few minutes was off on a quest for 
 Pearson. He found him about noon, and after a brief conference, 
 Teddy was sent off to summon about fifteen or twenty trusted 
 men, while Pearson proceeded without delay to the place on the 
 highway where he was to meet the boy. Mclntosh himself, and 
 all the citizens he was to notify, were members of the organization 
 which had been recently formed. The purpose was to assemble 
 these as quietly as possible and capture the murderer before the 
 general public had learned that his lurking place had been discov 
 ered. With this end in view Mclntosh was instructed to be as 
 reserved as the nature of his errand would permit, and to caution 
 each man notified not to confer with others outside the order, but 
 to go quietly to a designated spot to which Pearson was to re 
 turn after his interview with the lad. 
 
 In the very nature of things, however, it was impossible to keep 
 from the community a grave secret which had to be imparted in 
 rapid succession to fifteen or twenty different farmers scattered 
 
78 The K. K. K. 
 
 about over the neighborhood. The very fact that secrecy was 
 sought to be preserved perhaps caused the truth, or a suspicion 
 of the truth, to spread more rapidly over the country, and it was 
 soon generally understood that something was in the wind, and 
 that Sue Bascombe could tell all about it if she would. Very 
 soon this young lady had more company than she cared to enter 
 tain, and was asked more questions than she could politely parry ; 
 so, being a matter-of-fact girl, she plainly told all comers that a 
 secret of some consequence had been imparted to her that morn 
 ing, and that she proposed to keep it. Everybody then jumped to 
 the conclusion that those in the secret had gotten on the fresh 
 trail of the murderer, and, being determined to join in the chase, 
 boys and men soon gathered from the four points of the compass, 
 and, by following those who had been summoned, rallied with 
 the members of the clan at the appointed place of rendezvous. 
 Here they remained for quite a while, talking with each other in 
 loud and excited tones, and waiting impatiently for they knew 
 not what. 
 
 Pearson, following the directions that had been given him, met 
 the negro boy Pete in the wood beyond the creek, and was escorted 
 to a rising piece of ground at a considerable distance from the 
 road. A tall dead tree was then pointed out, about a half-mile 
 still further on, and near the summit of the ridge which the two 
 were ascending. 
 
 " Dar whar he is," said the boy. " Dat tree is on the aidge of a 
 little broom sage field, and in dat broom sage field you gwy find 
 at de fur end a briar patch so thick dat a hog couldn't git through 
 widout scratchin' hisseff more'n he gwy scratch hisseff ef he kin 
 help it. Right in dar is dat Flyin' Dutchman, which is buzzum 
 friend to de devil. Jineral Beauregard found him dar this morn- 
 in', and he dar right now ef he ain't riz up and flewd off some- 
 whars else." 
 
 Pearson noted the place carefully, and after thanking the boy, 
 and rewarding him with a silver coin, he led his horse back to the 
 road, and, mounting, galloped toward the spot where the others 
 had been directed to await his coming. Here he found a much 
 larger crowd than he had expected or wished to see. The captain 
 and several others of the secret order were absent, and Pearson 
 took command, therefore, of the entire assemblage, telling them 
 if they wished to capture the outlaw they must proceed quietly 
 and obey his orders literally. After proceeding a short distance, 
 
Pete Kinchen Goes in Quest of His Mother's Cow. 79 
 
 he placed himself at the head of about a dozen picked men, in 
 structing Mclntosh, with the rest of the assemblage, about ten 
 times as numerous, to follow on without noise or discourse a few 
 hundred yards in the rear. This order was obeyed for a while 
 with reasonable strictness, but as the crowd advanced they became 
 more impatient and more unmanageable, and before they had ac 
 complished half of their proposed journey, they trod close on the 
 heels of the advance guard. Pearson, in low tones, cautioned 
 them all to be quiet, and, calling a halt here, he instructed those 
 constituting the advance to hasten forward rapidly, while he him 
 self remained behind, and for a brief while held the crowd in 
 check. 
 
 The picked detachment now proceeded noiselessly with all dis 
 patch, and soon reached the small broom sedge field of two or 
 three acres, with the locality of which some of them were famil 
 iar. Dispersing here as skirmishers they closed in promptly on 
 the briar thicket thait grew against the bluff on the upper side. 
 Before they had quite succeeded in doing this the crowd in the 
 rear was heard approaching again in disorder, for Pearson had 
 found it impossible to restrain them. So tumultuously did those 
 now rush forward that it was evident the murderer would be 
 aroused to a sense of his danger, if he had not already made his 
 escape. Rushing into the broom sedge field, where the dead yel 
 low stems of the preceding year stood waist high and in thick 
 clusters, they pressed forward hurriedly, and without pretense of 
 order, upon the skirmish line in front. While they were thus in 
 tent on reaching the murderer's supposed hiding place close 
 against the bluff, suddenly from their midst, and in the rear of 
 most of them, a wild looking creature rose, and, without utterance 
 of any kind, darted swiftly down the hill in the direction from 
 which they had come. The front detachment, the men being a 
 considerable distance apart, had passed him without notice, and 
 none of those rushing pell-mell in the rear had thought to ex 
 amine narrowly the thick broom sedge to see if a human being 
 was lurking there. 
 
 " Here he goes, here he goes ! " cried a few of those next at 
 hand, when the fugitive made his break from the midst of the 
 crowd assembled to capture him. Then a pistol shot rang out, 
 confused cries arose, and the most part for a few moments were 
 uncertain as to the cause of the disturbance. Presently, however, 
 they were given to understand that the game had been jumped 
 
8o The K. K. K. 
 
 and was scurrying away, and, facing about as hurriedly as they 
 could, they gave rapid pursuit, each man for himself. 
 
 Those composing the skirmish line were in front when the out 
 cry was raised, and consequently brought up the rear as the whole 
 assemblage faced about and gave mad chase down the hill. The 
 pursuit was so reckless that the men engaged in it impeded 
 each other in their efforts to make speed. Pistol shots were 
 fired at random, and the foremost among the pursuers for a 
 few moments found themselves in more danger than the fugi 
 tive himself. This wild shooting ceased after a little angry 
 remonstrance, and the mob for it was nothing else set out 
 on a dead run down the hill, determined to capture or kill 
 the scoundrel in front before the chase was over. 
 
 The murderer sped now as only a desperate wretch can who 
 feels that his life depends upon his fleetness of foot. Springing 
 madly down the steep side of the ridge, he did not take steps 
 as a human being ordinarily would, but went forward by great 
 leaps, like a hunted deer, with the pack in full cry behind him. 
 It was plain to see, too, that he was making headway on his 
 pursuers, and yells of vengeance arose in his rear, which prompted 
 him to renewed effort. Shots were still fired at him by those 
 nearest, bullets whizzed around him, but these neither pierced his 
 body nor frightened him as was hoped into halting and sur 
 rendering. He felt sure that instant death would be his portion 
 if he was caught, and therefore resolved to take all chances 
 rather than become a prisoner. Now he leaped through bushes 
 that snatched from him fragments of his already scant supply of 
 clothing; now he tripped and fell in his desperate race, but rising, 
 sped onward without pause in his flight ; now tucking his head to 
 dodge deadly missiles; now running erect to facilitate speed, he 
 dashed without thought as to whither his steps were bent, away, 
 away, away from the mob yelling madly in his rear. 
 
 Two or three vicious cur dogs, that had been brought along by 
 their owners, now distanced all human competitors in the chase, 
 and, closing in on the fleeing outlaw, began snapping at him, oc 
 casionally sinking their sharp teeth into his flesh, so as to cause 
 the blood to flow freely. He heeded them not the least most prob 
 ably in his excitement was scarcely aware of their presence and, 
 with his whole mind centered on the supreme effort he was mak 
 ing, ran with all his might the desperate race before him. Near 
 the foot of the hill was a narrow country road which he must 
 
Pete Kinchen Goes in Quest of His Mother's Cow. 81 
 
 cross, and as he leaped nimbly into this he found himself within 
 a few feet of a man on horseback, who apparently had been await 
 ing his approach. 
 
 " Halt ! " said the man on horseback, aiming at the same time 
 an ugly looking pistol at the fugitive. 
 
 Ankerstrom halted, and, looking up, recognized the individual 
 who had brought him to a stand. It was Sheriff Sanderson. 
 Pearson had sent a runner for him, and he arrived on the scene 
 of action just in time to render efficient service to the cause of jus 
 tice. He sat now quietly on his horse, with his pistol directed 
 toward the panting murderer, and his forefinger resting lightly 
 against the trigger. In a few seconds the angry mob was down 
 upon them. As they recognized the figure of Ankerstrom stand 
 ing close by in the road the foremost raised a yell of triumph, but 
 when they caught sight of the sheriff and his pistol, they dis 
 creetly came to a halt also, not caring to bring themselves directly 
 in range. 
 
 Sheriff Sanderson was a brave man, and one who was minded 
 at all times to do his duty as a public officer. He saw now, how 
 ever, that it would be impossible for him to protect the panting 
 wretch before him from the vengeance of his pursuers, unless 
 there were among those giving chase a few prudent men who 
 could be induced to come to the aid of the law. Angry citizens 
 now filled the road behind him and formed a surging line on 
 both sides in front, leaving open only the narrow space covered 
 by his pistol, in the center of which stood the scowling, panting 
 captive. Casting his eye over the excited mass of human beings, 
 he recognized Randolph Pearson standing in the rear, among 
 the latest arrivals on the ground. 
 
 " I want ten good men to assist me in taking this fellow to jail," 
 proclaimed the sheriff in a calm tone. " Who will volunteer? " 
 
 " I will," responded Pearson, promptly. "And I think there are 
 others here who will be willing to aid in upholding the law." 
 
 As Pearson said this he pushed his way through the crowd 
 in front of him, and stepping into the road in front of the sheriff's 
 pistol, he laid his hands on Ankerstrom. 
 
 " I want ten men," said the sheriff. " Who else will volun 
 teer?" 
 
 One by one nine other men stepped into the road, and, each with 
 his pistol in his hand, formed a guard around the prisoner. 
 
 The sheriff then addressed those about him pleasantly. 
 6 
 
82 The K. K. K. 
 
 " You see how 'tis, men," he said. " This here fellow's got to 
 go to jail with me." 
 
 " It's a damned shame," cried an angry man in the crowd. 
 
 " It's an infernal outrage," proclaimed another. 
 
 " Let's take the scoundrel and hang him to a limb," shouted a 
 third individual. 
 
 " There's a law in this country, gentlemen," calmly replied the 
 sheriff. 
 
 By this time Ankerstrom's wrists had been securely linked with 
 a pair of handcuffs which the sheriff drew from his pocket for 
 the purpose. He snarled like a caged animal as they fettered him, 
 but made no actual resistance, for he knew their protection af 
 forded him a temporary respite from the hanging he deserved. 
 Pearson now stepped back a little way from the prisoner, and in 
 a few earnest words addressed the embittered mob of men and 
 boys about him. 
 
 " I know you are all indignant," he said, " and it is not at all 
 surprising that you should be. If ever a fellow on earth de 
 served hanging I reckon this scoundrel here does ; but it doesn't 
 follow that we should take it on ourselves to do the hanging. As 
 Sheriff Sanderson says, there's a law in this country. If we over 
 ride that law, we not only teach others to do the same, but we 
 bring our community into disrepute before the world." 
 
 " When monstrous outrages cease, mob law will cease," cried 
 a man in the crowd. 
 
 " I've heard that remark before," replied Pearson, " and, in my 
 opinion, the man that utters it offers a very poor excuse for an 
 indefensible act. The question for us, my friends, is not whether 
 criminals shall be punished for their misdeeds, but whether in this 
 enlightened age we can find no better method of suppressing crime 
 than having angry mobs rise up in haste to wreak vengeance on 
 the supposed offender. I believe I know this vile creature here 
 to be worthy of death, but let the law be his executioner." 
 
 " Suppose the law won't do it? " 
 
 " I'll not admit that until I'm compelled to admit it," replied 
 Pearson. " You need have no apprehension, my friends," he con 
 tinued, raising his voice so that all could hear. " This is a plain 
 case, and justice will be speedily administered through the courts. 
 Grave crimes must be punished, and promptly punished. Honest 
 men and women must have protection against midnight murderers 
 and other horrible villains. But trust to the law, trust to the law. 
 
Pete Kinchen Goes in Quest of His Mother's Cow. 83 
 
 Let us not advertise to the world that we have evils which our 
 laws are incapable of redressing." 
 
 So Sheriff Sanderson and a respectable posse comitatus es 
 corted the rascal, Johan Ankerstrom, to the county jail. The 
 crowd that had given such hot pursuit was compelled to disband 
 without wreaking vengeance on the object of their chase. The 
 search for the murderer of the widow Bascombe was at last ended, 
 and the people of the community slept more soundly when they 
 learned that the savage creature of whom all stood in dread had 
 been caught running wild on the hills, and was now fast locked 
 behind prison doors. 
 
84 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BETTY HIGHTOWER'S HUSBAND HAS A PLEASANT CONFAB WITH THE 
 SHERIFF'S WIFE. 
 
 WHEN Sheriff Sanderson had eaten his supper and smoked his 
 pipe, he ordered two fresh horses brought round from the stable, 
 in the rear of the jail. He was a good farmer as well as an ef 
 ficient officer of the State, was Sheriff Sanderson, and known all 
 the country round as an excellent judge of horseflesh. On his 
 well-kept place, a little way out from the county town, he raised 
 stock of all kinds for the market, and in his business trips over 
 his bailiwick he often effected sales to purchasers who had ready 
 cash, or whose credit was known by him to be good. Everybody 
 understands that horse-traders, as a rule, are common liars, but 
 Sanderson could be relied on to state candidly even the demerits 
 of the animal he was offering to dispose of. He would have 
 scorned to file the teeth of an old horse to make his mouth belie 
 his years, and for no consideration would he have foisted a moon- 
 eyed animal off on a customer at a time when the earth's satellite 
 was at a stage most favorable for the execution of such a scheme. 
 In lieu of all such contemptible tricks of the trade, he sought to 
 build up for himself a reputation for honesty and fair-dealing, 
 and there can be no doubt about the fact that he profited by this 
 course in the long run. 
 
 To-night, as said, the sheriff ordered brought round from his 
 stable two of his best horses, which indicated that he was minded 
 to go upon a journey of some length. The animals, being led 
 forth, were fastened to a rack near the gate, while the officer sat 
 on the front steps of the building that was occupied both as a 
 prison and a residence. 
 
 Presently came one on horseback, and, reining up at the gate, 
 cried " Hello," which is the common method of salutation in that 
 benighted part of the world. The sheriff, without reply, retired 
 into the house and soon reissued with another gentleman, who 
 
Betty Hightower's Husband has a Pleasant Confab. 85 
 
 must have been a particular friend of his, as he held him affection 
 ately by the arm. By the time these two reached the gate the indi 
 vidual who cried " Hello," had dismounted and unhitched the 
 horses that stood tied to the rack. When the sheriff and his friend 
 came up he assisted the latter to mount, and the three then rode 
 away from the jail, proceeding at a leisurely gait. They did not 
 pass through the town, but circled around it, and came on the far 
 side into a broad, beaten highway, which they followed. The 
 general direction of this road was down the Cumberland River, 
 though for much of the way it ran at a considerable distance from 
 the stream. It was known as the Coopertown road, and led to a 
 burg by that name about thirty miles below on the river. If the 
 horsemen were bound for this place, it was evident they had an all- 
 night ride before them. 
 
 As the three horsemen proceeded along this river road, the sin 
 gular circumstance might have been noticed that one of them 
 traveled with his wrists fastened together in front, while his arms 
 were pinioned close to his body by a strap that bound them firmly 
 from behind. This man rode always in the center, one of his 
 companions preceding him, while the other, the sheriff, brought 
 up the rear. A rope halter was fastened to the bridle of his horse, 
 and by means of this the individual in front led the animal along. 
 The man with his arms pinioned could not have guided his steed, 
 therefore, if he had so chosen. He might have leaped from his 
 horse and made off on foot, but refrained perhaps from fear of 
 being checked by a pistol ball from the quiet individual who jour 
 neyed in his rear. Thus they rode on in silence, nothing but the 
 steady tramp of the horses informing the folk along the road that 
 a party of mounted men were passing in the night. 
 
 Several hours after Sheriff Sanderson and his two companions 
 had set out from the jail a company of forty or fifty horsemen 
 rode two by two down the main street of the village. It was now 
 past midnight. The lights in the houses had all been extinguished, 
 and the stores had been barred and shuttered until the following 
 day. Deep sleep had fallen on most of the dwellers of the place, 
 and only the aimless barking of dogs disturbed the quiet of the 
 night. As the horsemen entered the town these dogs discovered 
 something to bark at, and opened up with redoubled vociferation 
 and vehemence. Signs of life now came from the houses along 
 the way. Here and there a shutter was cautiously opened and 
 hurriedly closed again, 
 
86 The K. K. K 
 
 When the horsemen reached the square they came to a halt. 
 About a third of the number here dismounted, leaving their horses 
 to the care of the remainder. Those on foot then proceeded noise 
 lessly, but rapidly, toward the jail. All was dark as they ap 
 proached. Reaching the front door of the building one of the 
 number rapped loudly upon it. 
 
 A light appeared from an upper window and a woman's head 
 was thrust out. " What is it ? " inquired this woman, in a high, 
 shrill tone, which those below thought indicative of nervousness. 
 
 " We've got a prisoner here, ma'am/' replied one of the party 
 at the door. " A chap from Nashville that there's a pretty good 
 reward for. Ask your husband to come down and get him, for 
 we want to be quit of him." 
 
 " John isn't here right now," said the woman at the window, 
 " and he tells me never to open the door at night when he's 
 away. Come back again in the morning." 
 
 ;' That's rather hard on us. Where is John? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ; uptown, maybe I don't know." 
 
 '* Tell us where he is and we'll go hunt him." 
 
 " Oh, you couldn't find him, I reckon. I almost know you 
 couldn't. Come back again in the morning." 
 
 " Mrs. Sanderson," said the gentleman below, who was spokes 
 man for the party, " you ought to know me. This is Watkins, 
 from up on Marrowbone Creek. I voted for your husband the 
 last time he run, and I'm going to do the same thing the next 
 time I get a chance. You know me, don't you, Mrs. Sanderson ? " 
 
 " Why, for sure ! That isn't Billy Watkins that married Betty 
 Hightower, is it ? " 
 
 " Just exactly who it is, ma'am." 
 
 "Well, I declare!" 
 
 " Let us in now, please, ma'am. We are all dead tired and want 
 to get some sleep to-night. Give us the keys and we'll lock this 
 fellow up ourselves." 
 
 "You're right sure that's Billy Watkins that married Betty 
 Hightower?" 
 
 " No mistake in the world about it, Mrs. Sanderson. I can 
 prove it by all these gentlemen here with me." 
 
 " This is Billy Watkins, ma'am," asserted several of that gen 
 tleman's companions. " It's him and no mistake." 
 
 " Well, then, I suppose I'll have to let you all in. It's dead 
 against John's rules, but I reckon I'll have to do it." 
 
 The head was withdrawn from the upper window and a 
 
Betty Hightower's Husband has a Pleasant Confab. 87 
 
 woman's light step was soon heard on the stairway, accompanied 
 by the jingling of keys. There was a fumbling about the lock, an 
 impatient exclamation or two from the inside and the bolt was 
 drawn back and the ponderous door swung wide open. 
 
 A dozen strong men swarmed into the hall and surrounded the 
 sheriff's wife. " Mrs. Sanderson," explained Mr. Watkins, po 
 litely, " we don't wish to alarm you. We're not going to hurt you, 
 ma'am ; you may rest assured of that. We've come for that scoun 
 drel, Cross-eyed Jack, though, and have him we must and will. 
 So please, ma'am, give us up the keys." 
 
 " Why, gentlemen," replied the sheriff's wife, pleasantly, " John 
 took that fellow away with him directly after supper, and where 
 he's gone to goodness only knows." 
 
 " I thought you said John was uptown somewhere ? " 
 
 " Oh, so I did, Mr. Watkins. One has to tell little fibs some 
 times in this business. You gentlemen surely understand that." 
 
 " May we search the house ? " 
 
 " Oh, certainly^ I'll go around with you. We've only 
 got two prisoners just now; one a white boy charged with being 
 crazy ; the other a negro for shooting craps." 
 
 Watkins and Mrs. Sanderson went up and inspected the two 
 prisoners, who were both asleep on one pallet. There was an 
 other cell or cage in the large room, but it was empty. On the re 
 turn trip Watkins came first down the stairway, while Mrs. San 
 derson followed, jingling her keys. When they reached the lower 
 hall where the others waited they all stood regarding each other in 
 silence. 
 
 " This is bad," said Watkins, after a little, in a disappointed 
 tone. 
 
 " It is, indeed," replied Mrs. Sanderson, sighing as if she had 
 met with a misfortune. 
 
 Then the men in the hall stood round awkwardly a few minutes 
 longer. 
 
 " How is Betty Hightower these days ? " inquired Mrs. Sander 
 son, politely. 
 
 " She's well enough, I reckon," answered Mr. Watkins, gruffly. 
 
 Then the men, one by one, passed out at the front door, only 
 two or three saying " Good-night." When they reached the street 
 some indulged in profane language, while others laughed aloud. 
 Mrs. Sanderson bolted the door behind them, and, going upstairs, 
 resumed her nap where she had left off a half-hour before. 
 
88 The K. K. K. 
 
 It was broad daylight when the sheriff and his night-riding 
 friend reached the respectable city of Coopertown, perched high 
 on the banks of the swiftly-flowing Cumberland. They proceeded 
 directly to a strongly constructed building, with barred windows, 
 situated not far from the water's edge, and here the three dis 
 mounted. By the cheerful light of day it could be easily discerned 
 that the individual who had ridden between the other two men 
 was decidedly cross-eyed and of repulsive visage generally. This 
 individual was now turned over to the keeper of the strong build 
 ing and a receipt taken for him as if he had been a piece of bag 
 gage. This formality dispensed with, the cross-eyed man was 
 locked up in a rather cramped apartment, while Sanderson and 
 his remaining companion of the night ride sat down with the head 
 of the establishment to a hearty breakfast. The party hobnobbed 
 here pleasantly for an hour or so, for they were all on excellent 
 terms, and before they separated Sanderson sold a horse to the 
 head of the establishment, who never had occasion, that I know 
 of, to repent of his bargain. 
 
 Johan Ankerstrom, alias Cross-eyed Jack, languished in prison 
 at Coopertown from day to day, and from week to week, and 
 was by all odds, the jailer said, the most disagreeable boarder that 
 had ever found lodging within the walls of his house. He sulked, 
 grumbled about his fare and everything else, and when the least 
 provoked, uttered guttural oaths in fragments of several different 
 languages. Finally he called for pen and paper and wrote a 
 scrawling, whining letter back to the home of his childhood, say 
 ing he was in a desperate predicament and needed help. The 
 sheriff, having read this epistle through in the presence of the 
 prisoner, thought he had summed up the situation correctly and 
 promised to mail the document for him. This promise he speed 
 ily complied with, and never received from the vicious Johan even 
 a thank for his courtesy. As to whether the recipients of the ruf 
 fian's message treated him with equal indifference, the reader will 
 soon be informed. 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Hooks a Client for the Firm. 89 
 
 ^ CHAPTER XL 
 
 LAWYER PALAVER GIVES VENT TO RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION, AND 
 LAWYER SLOWBOY HOOKS A CLIENT FOR THE FIRM. 
 
 " BEATS all the damned doings that ever was heard of," cried 
 Lawyer Palaver, clapping his clenched fist down emphatically 
 upon the table. " Why, sir, they ran my man round up yonder in 
 that infernal hill country as if he had been a rabbit chased him, 
 sir, with dogs through a briar thicket and a broom sedge patch ; 
 tore his clothes, bloodied his legs and sent bullets whizzing 
 around his head while he was running. Oh, they are great fel 
 lows, up in that country, I can tell you." 
 
 " That's pretty bad," said the friend, who was taking a convivial 
 glass with the lawyer. " What had your man done ? " 
 
 " Done ? Why, sir, you'll be astonished to learn he hadn't done 
 a damned thing except to flee from the wrath to come when a 
 howling mob was at his heels. They've got no case at all against 
 my man, I tell you. No case at all. Mark my prediction, sir, the 
 jury won't be out ten minutes, after they hear the judge's charge, 
 before they bring in a verdict of acquittal. No, sir, they won't be 
 out five minutes. No, sir, I'm damned if I believe they'll ever 
 leave the box." 
 
 " How was it the mob got after your man so hotly? " 
 
 " No wonder you inquire, sir, and I'll tell you just exactly how 
 it was. Up in the Marrowbone Hills when a crime is committed 
 they rise up and kill three or four people, and then take the 
 trouble to inquire into the matter. That's the way they do business 
 up in that infernal country. Well, sir, you understand, up there 
 somebody had murdered an old woman in the night. Bad piece 
 of work, sir ; no doubt about that. Calculated to exasperate them, 
 which it did. Well, sir, they rose up and seem to have found the 
 right man pretty quick. Of course they made short work of him, 
 but that only whetted their appetites. When a tiger gets a taste of 
 blood he's a bad tiger for some time afterward, and when a mob 
 
90 The K. K. K. 
 
 gets started up in that hill country they're hell to stop. My man 
 is a foreigner, and don't catch onto things, you see, like our folks. 
 When he found the whole country on a rampage he got a big 
 scare on him and tried to hide. Then it was they got dogs and 
 set out to catch him and kill him. So they would have done, but 
 luckily he saw the sheriff of the county passing and fled to that 
 officer for protection. That's the tale, sir, and a devil of a tale 
 it is, as I think you'll agree with me. The sheriff brought the poor 
 fellow down here for safe-keeping, and that very night the mob 
 surrounded the jail at Ashton, howling for his blood. Oh, them 
 fellows were fatally bent on mischief, I tell you." 
 
 " Your client seems to have had a pretty close shave of it." 
 
 " Didn't he, though ? He got off by the skin of his teeth, as the 
 saying goes. It's an outrage, sir, the way he was treated an 
 infamous outrage, and somebody ought to be made to smoke for 
 it. Why, sir, my client's folks are among the very best people up 
 round Chicago. The Ankerstroms, I tell you, are highly re 
 spected there. Thrifty, thrifty, thrifty. You haven't met the old 
 man, have you ? " 
 
 " Never saw him." 
 
 " Fine old citizen, fine old citizen. Distressed to death over the 
 trouble his son has gotten into. Afraid it will injure the standing 
 of the family. I tell him by the time we get through the shoe will 
 be on the other foot. Certain gentlemen in the Marrowbone Hills 
 will be shown up in their true colors, and the advertising they'll 
 get by this affair won't help them much, I can tell you. Palaver 
 & Slowboy have been employed for the prisoner, and when Pal 
 aver & Slowboy take hold of a case it doesn't generally suffer for 
 lack of attention ; I think I can say that much for the firm, any 
 way." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," replied the friend, wiping his lips after he had 
 absorbed the contents of his glass. " You might say a good deal 
 more than that for the firm, Colonel, and not stretch the truth." 
 
 " Possibly so, possibly so," returned Palaver, waving his hand 
 in a deprecating way. " As to how that is of course it's not proper 
 for me to say. The world knows Palaver, and the world knows 
 another thing damned well, and that is that Palaver never blows 
 his own horn. One remark, however, I feel myself at liberty to 
 make in this connection. One remark, which I make bold to say, 
 sir, will not be gainsaid by any person familiar with the facts. 
 Whatever may be thought or said of the senior member of the 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Hooks a Client for the Firm. 91 
 
 firm of Palaver & Slowboy, upon the junior member, sir, there is 
 no discount. Slowboy, sir, can be relied on under any and all cir 
 cumstances to do his best." 
 
 " That's saying a good deal for him." 
 
 " It's a high compliment upon him, sir, and it's a deserved com 
 pliment. Wake Slowboy up at the dead hour of the night, if you 
 will, with a demand for his services, and, damn me, if he don't 
 rise up and do his best. He's a deserving young fellow, Slowboy 
 is. Faithful, faithful, faithful. Not brilliant, I grant that. Not 
 showy, not a man of parts, as ah perhaps some other persons 
 are ; but, damn me, if he isn't reliable. It's the plodding fellows 
 that make the world go. Genius is the poor moth that flits about 
 the candle, you know. Well, you can look at Slowboy and tell 
 he's no genius. He was dull at school, and he's dull yet, but he 
 gets there all the same. Palaver & Slowboy, as I was saying, 
 have this case in hand, and the finding of the jury will be ' Not 
 guilty/ as soon as it comes the jury's time to speak. Maybe that 
 will be the end of it ; maybe no, for I tell you in confidence I ex 
 pect to get heavy damages out of the lively gentlemen back yonder 
 in the hills who run human beings round in the broom sedge with 
 dogs and shoot at 'em for pastime. The first thing, though, of 
 course, is to clear my man, and that, I tell you, will be as easy as 
 winking. They've kicked up a mighty hullabaloo over this mat 
 ter, but their case when they get into court won't stand up long 
 enough to be knocked down, mark my prediction." 
 
 In this overwhelmingly confident way did Lawyer Palaver ex 
 press himself as to the final outcome in the case of the State of 
 Tennessee versus Johan Ankerstrom, who now languished in 
 jail, awaiting his vindication at the hands of a jury. As yet the 
 prosecution had advanced no farther than the writ sworn out by 
 Templeton shortly after the death of the widow Bascombe. He 
 had been shrewd enough to waive an examination before a justice 
 of the peace in the county where his crime was committed, 
 and would now be held until the next term of the circuit court at 
 Ashton, when a grand jury of thirteen good and lawful men 
 would determine whether or no to present a true bill against him. 
 As the assembling of the court was three months off, and the State 
 as yet had made no effort to muster its witnesses against the ac 
 cused, it seemed a little premature for his attorney to predict that 
 whenever he faced the issue a triumphant acquittal was a fore 
 gone conclusion, But Palaver was one of those sanguine indi- 
 
92 The K. K. K. 
 
 viduals who always believed, and robustly maintained, that every 
 thing at all affecting his own future was going to turn out just 
 precisely as he would like to have it turn out. He was invariably 
 on the right side of a lawsuit, had facts and logic at his command 
 in such formidable array that they could not be withstood, and 
 was dead sure to win until he lost. Then he gave himself up 
 for a brief season to righteous indignation ; damned court, jury, 
 and everybody who was even remotely responsible for bringing 
 disaster upon him, and, after thus venting his spleen, flung him 
 self with unabated ardor into the next case. 
 
 But if Lawyer Palaver was prone at all times and under all cir 
 cumstances to take a roseate view of the future, Lawyer Slowboy 
 was by nature rather inclined to go to the opposite extreme. This 
 was singular, seeing that Palaver was bald-headed and spectacled, 
 while Slowboy was in what is usually termed the first flush of 
 youth, not having yet reached his twenty-third year. Neverthe 
 less, Slowboy was cautious, disposed to magnify the obstacles he 
 always saw in front of him, and inclined to place altogether too 
 modest an estimate upon his own abilties. During the progress of 
 a lawsuit he was nervously apprehensive as to the result, until the 
 conclusion brought either success or defeat to his cause. If 
 victory perched upon his banner, he sung the praises of Palaver, 
 declaring that the result was attributable alone to the unexampled 
 genius of that gentleman. If the firm encountered defeat, Slow- 
 boy took all the blame on himself, and maintained among his as 
 sociates that if he had only done thus and so, instead of this way 
 and that, the final outcome in all probability would have been dif 
 ferent. 
 
 Slowboy, as the reader needs not to be told, was an enthusiastic 
 admirer of his chieftain, Palaver. When but a small lad he had 
 sat on the hard benches in the rear of the court-room and listened 
 open-mouthed as eloquence flowed in unbroken current from the 
 lips of the gifted gentleman. He imagined Slowboy did that 
 if he could be brought in close communion with so talented a per 
 son, his fortune would be made. His mother, fortunately, was 
 kin to somebody who was kin to Palaver, and by this roundabout 
 means the desirable arrangement was at last effected. Slowboy 
 went into Palaver's office as a sort of clerk and general underling, 
 having the fact impressed upon him that if he was faithful and 
 diligent he might, after a while, hope to rise. If ever a youth on 
 this earth was faithful and diligent, Slowboy was faithful and 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Hooks a Client for the Firm. 93 
 
 diligent in the office of Lawyer Palaver. It could not be truthfully 
 said of him that he cleaned the windows and swept the floor, and 
 polished up the handle of the big front door, because, as a matter 
 of fact this particular service was not rendered by any one; 
 but certain it is that everything else in the way of drudgery 
 that was done at all was done by Slowboy. Finally, as 
 the planet upon which he abode revolved around the sun 
 the legs of the patient underling lengthened, and he passed 
 from the gosling stage into one where his voice more 
 nearly resembled that of a human being. Then the girls 
 began to call him Mr. Slowboy, and he felt proud. A respect 
 able middle-aged lady in the community also felt proud, for 
 he was the only son of his mother, and she a widow. By this 
 time he had come to write a neat, clerkly hand, being very pains 
 taking in whatever he undertook. He had also, by much cudgel 
 ing of his brains, gotten himself well-grounded in the elementary 
 principles of the law. If he didn't understand a proposition laid 
 down in a text-book, he went back and tackled it again, and 
 wrestled with it till he did understand it, and when he once got 
 it into his head it was there to stay. As for oratory, he used to 
 bemoan in secret to his mother the fact that the English language 
 wasn't at his command when he needed it, and that his exasper 
 ating mind wouldn't work when he wanted it to work. The older 
 lawyers patronized him, as older lawyers can always be relied on 
 to do, and fed him with the hope that if he would only keep ever 
 lastingly at it, he might, in time, climb to the dizzy height on 
 which they stood. Thus encouraged, Slowboy kept plodding 
 along. After some years of faithful service the auspicious morn 
 ing dawned on which the firm of Palaver & Slowboy solicited 
 their share of public patronage, and then his cup of happiness was 
 full. The articles of co-partnership were not perhaps as definite 
 as they might have been, but they amounted in substance to an 
 agreement that Slowboy should do all the work, and Palaver 
 should take all the money, and this understanding subject to 
 such variation as occasional exigency demanded -had now ex 
 isted amicably between them for some time. 
 
 Some weeks before the conversation narrated in the opening of 
 this chapter it happened that Slowboy sitting in his office, and 
 endeavoring to extract the kernel from a recent decision of the 
 Tennessee Supreme Court, was interrupted by a modest tap upon 
 his door. Bidding the person without to open and enter, he saw 
 
94 The K. K. K. 
 
 first a bared gray head obtruded into the apartment, and next the 
 diminutive person of an individual evidently considerably advanc 
 ed in years, but still brisk and alert of movement. The little old 
 gentleman held his hat in his hand, and bowed very low to Slow- 
 boy before making known his business, or even venturing forward 
 to take the chair that was politely proffered him. When he did 
 take a chair he hitched the heels of his shoes on the bottom round 
 thereof, and sat with his knees unduly elevated, and supporting his 
 elbows, which rested comfortably upon them. This attitude, which 
 was partially justified by the visitor's shortness of legs, was never 
 theless, in the opinion of the attorney, unbecoming and ungentle- 
 manly, and S lowboy, therefore, at the very outset of their ac 
 quaintance viewed the little old gentleman with suspicion. There 
 was also an air of humility about him not common with those 
 who are accustomed to meet in daily intercourse none but their 
 equals, and, moreover a circumstance which Slowboy did not 
 fail to note his raiment was brand new, but of that quality which 
 is usually handed down for inspection from the shelves of cheap 
 clothing stores. 
 
 When the old gentleman had taken a seat, and hooked his heels 
 firmly to the round of his chair, and propped his elbows comfort 
 ably upon his knees, he inspected the entire apartment critically, 
 as if taking a mental inventory of all the articles of value which 
 it contained. When he had completed his survey he turned to 
 Slowboy and addressed him with suavity. 
 
 " Kernell Perlaffer, vere is he? " 
 
 " He's out," replied Slowboy, sententiously. 
 
 " Ah ! " said the little old gentleman. " You are den perhaps 
 de young man ? " 
 
 " I'm his partner," answered Slowboy, with some pride mani 
 fested in his tone. " Palaver & Slowboy is the firm." 
 
 " Ah ! " said the little old gentleman, bowing again respectfully 
 to Slowboy. " Dat is so ? Dat is so ? Perlaffer & Slowboy. Ah ! 
 Dat is so ? Dis is Mister Slowboy, den ? " 
 
 Slowboy bowed. 
 
 " Mister Slowboy," said the little old gentleman, rising and ex 
 tending his hand, " I haff de pleasure." 
 
 The lawyer accepted the extended hand and gave it a not very 
 cordial shake. The old gentleman then resumed his seat and 
 opened discussion upon the business that had brought him thither. 
 
 " Mister Slowboy," he began and the lawyer could not help 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Hooks a Client for the Firm. 95 
 
 thinking there was veiled irony in the emphasis placed on the pre 
 fix to his name "I haff a case in de courts here, and vish to know 
 vat you sharge for taking mine case for me. Pizness is pizness." 
 
 " What is your case ? " inquired the attorney. 
 
 " I haff a son, a mizerble, onhappy son, vat lies down here in de 
 shail. S'help me, such a thing never did happen to one of de fam- 
 bly befo', but it haff happened now. My son lies in de shail, and 
 I vould get him out of de shail, and I speaks to you as mine f rient, 
 and mine lawyer. Vot you sharge to take de case, hey? " 
 
 " Ankerstrom is your name," asserted Slowboy, who had 
 learned that one of the few white persons in the county prison 
 was a foreigner named Ankerstrom, charged with murder. 
 
 " Yes, yes, yes. I vill not deny my name. Tis a coot name. 
 S'help me, de name never vas in throoble befo'. Vat you sharge 
 me?" 
 
 " Your son is accused of the murder of an old lady in the 
 county above this ? " 
 
 " Ah, yes, yes. Mine poor poy. He is lacking here." And 
 the old gentleman tapped his forehead with his finger significantly 
 two or three times. " He is lacking ; the poor poy is lacking. De 
 doctor vill tell you so. He is likevise innocent as de new porn 
 pabe. Vat you sharge me ? " 
 
 " Five hundred dollars," said Slowboy, at a venture. 
 
 " Mein Cot ! " cried the old gentleman, rising and dancing 
 about the room as if the lawyer's unexpected reply had literally 
 knocked him silly. " Ah, mein Cot ! No, no ! I have not de 
 money, young shentleman. You mistake me for Fanterpilt, a 
 Shay Cool, a Shon Shacob Astor, or peebles of dat kind. Five 
 hundred dollars ! Ter plessed Moses ! No, no ; no, no ! Mine 
 son must; hang ! My poor innocent shild must hang ! Five hun 
 dred dollars ! I haff not got de money." The old gentleman here 
 sat down again and bowed his head in his hands for a while; 
 then he raised it and addressed the lawyer respectfully: 
 
 " Dere are otter lawyers in dis town ? " 
 
 " Plenty of 'em," answered Slowboy. 
 
 " Coot lawyers, too, I make no doubt ? " 
 
 " First rate, first rate," answered Slowboy, heartily. " None 
 better in the State." 
 
 " Meppe dey vill not pe so hard upon me ? " 
 
 " Maybe not," answered Slowboy. " I advise you to try one of 
 'em." 
 
96 The K. K. K. 
 
 The old gentleman here sunk his head in his hands again in 
 deep despondency; then he raised it and once more addressed 
 the hardened youth before him : 
 
 " Kernell Perlaffer, vot time vill he be in ? " 
 
 " Can't say/' answered Slowboy. " Most any time." 
 
 " Veil, I must go to de shail to see mine poy. By two-thretty 
 ten I pe pack. At dat time I see Kernell Perlaffer. Five hun 
 dred dollars ! No, no ! I haff not got de money." 
 
 With these words the old gentleman withdrew, and Slowboy 
 sent a runner round the town to notify the senior member of the 
 firm that there was business awaiting at the office. When Palaver 
 came in they discussed the question of the fee. 
 
 " You put it too low," said the senior member of the firm. " A 
 thousand dollars would have been about the figure. Murder case ; 
 two or three trips to supreme court and back; trial in another 
 county ; half-dozen continuances ; change of venue ; damn me, if 
 a thousand dollars is a bit too high ! " 
 
 " He swears he can't pay five hundred dollars." 
 
 " He's a liar. He belongs, no doubt, to a gang of Chicago 
 swindlers, who always help each other out in time of trouble. I've 
 had some dealings with these scoundrels, and they pay well. Five 
 hundred dollars will do, though, Slowboy. Five hundred dollars 
 will help keep the pot boiling. Five hundred you've said, and five 
 hundred it shall be. What time will the old scoundrel be in ? " 
 
 "Half-past two." 
 
 "All right; I'll be here." 
 
 And at half-past two Colonel Palaver was on hand, and the 
 little old gentleman was on hand also, and negotiations between 
 them were conducted to a satisfactory conclusion. The old gen 
 tleman protested that he did not have five hundred dollars, and 
 could by no possibility raise five hundred dollars, but the Colonel 
 was obdurate, and the bargain was struck. Upon one point the 
 old gentleman was as obstinate as the lawyer. He flatly refused 
 to pay the entire fee in advance, though when the two men came 
 down to business he did not deny that he had the money in his 
 trousers pockets with which to liquidate the obligation. He finally 
 paid down, as a retainer fee, twenty-five per cent, of the sum total, 
 or one hundred and twenty-five dollars, in legal currency of the 
 United States. The remaining three hundred and seventy-five 
 dollars was then deposited in bank under a written agreement be 
 tween the parties that no part of it should be drawn out until the 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Hooks a Client for the Firm. 97 
 
 conclusion of the case, and then only upon a check to be signed 
 by both lawyer and client. To this agreement, deposited with 
 the banker, the little old gentleman signed his name, " Olof An- 
 kerstrom," in a respectable hand-writing that compared well with 
 the scrawl of the attorney above it. 
 
 Just here it may not be amiss to put in a word or two concern 
 ing the Ankerstrom family of Chicago and elsewhere. It was an 
 enterprising family in'its way, consisting of the little old gentle 
 man and some half-dozen sons and daughters, who had been ac 
 customed from infancy to dodge and hide and look out for them 
 selves, about as young foxes do. Johan was regarded as the least 
 promising of the flock. He was not so keen-witted as the others, 
 and was far more brutal by nature than any of the rest. The old 
 gentleman really expressed the family opinion when he tapped his 
 forehead and said to Slowboy that Johan was lacking. He was 
 lacking, just as many another human brute is lacking who has 
 nothing like a conscience to restrain him from the gratification of 
 his basest animal impulses. Whatever his vile nature prompted 
 him to do, he did, unless fear of immediate apprehension and pun 
 ishment deterred him. The other members of his family despised 
 him; they held their heads considerably above him; they would 
 have been glad at any moment to hear of his death, but they 
 always came to his rescue when he got in trouble. That they did 
 not shake him and carry out their oft-repeated threats to wash 
 their hands of him for good and all, can only be explained upon 
 the principle that family ties throughout the entire animal king 
 dom are mysteriously strong. Hogs are by nature the least sym 
 pathetic of all the brutes. They will jostle each other uncere 
 moniously from the feed trough, and pass and repass habitually 
 without even the courtesy of a friendly grunt. But let a maraud 
 ing shote get his head stuck fast in the crack of a fence and send 
 forth a lusty squeal for aid, round him will rally quickly his sis 
 ters, his cousins and his aunts, together with all his bachelor rela 
 tions, and with their bristles turned the wrong way the whole tribe 
 will go in, forgetful of themselves, to render such assistance as 
 they can to a supplicating brother in distress. 
 
 So it was when Johan Ankerstrom found himself behind the 
 bars of the Coopertown jail, with a charge laid against him that 
 might rid him of his worthless life, he sent forth such a squeal 
 that it reached the ears of his kinsmen beyond the Ohio River, as 
 he intended it should. And so it was when the family heard that 
 7 
 
98 The K. K. K. 
 
 Johan was once more in trouble, they called a council, and 
 cursed him, and damned him, and wished him well out of the 
 world, and not only out of the world, but in a very hot place 
 which is supposed to exist somewhere beyond the confines of this 
 earth. These preliminaries through, they got down to business, 
 raised a substantial purse and dispatched the old man south to see 
 what could be done in behalf of Johan. Journeying southward, 
 the old man reached Coopertown, as we know, and employed able 
 counsel to represent his son in the courts. He also hung around 
 the jail here for some time, winning the sympathy of many by 
 his pious aspect and dejected countenance. When the time came 
 for him to take his departure, he shook hands cordially with all 
 the jailer's family and presented his unfortunate offspring with 
 a copy of the Old Testament Scriptures, in one of the heavy cov 
 ers of which he had deftly inserted a very slender steel saw of 
 excellent temper. This parental duty discharged, he bestowed his 
 blessing upon the household and went his way for a season. 
 
The Case is Continued to the Following Term. 99 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THERE BEING UNDUE EXCITEMENT IN THE PUBLIC MIND THE CASE 
 OF THE STATE VERSUS ANKERSTROM IS CONTINUED TO THE FOL 
 LOWING TERM. 
 
 WHILE the old gentleman was making praiseworthy effort in 
 different ways to extricate his son from the perilous position in 
 which he found him, Mr. Bob Lee Templeton neither slumbered 
 nor slept in his anxious desire to bring this same son to close ac 
 quaintanceship with the hangman as speedily as possible. On the 
 night when Sandy Kinchen shuffled off his mortal coil under the 
 gallows-tree, Templeton, as will be remembered, plead for the 
 law, maintaining that it was in all respects sufficient for the trial 
 and punishment of criminals, and that society must look to the 
 law alone for redress of its wrongs. Now, when the brutal scoun 
 drel who ought to have died in Sandy's place was apprehended 
 and turned over to the sheriff, Templeton felt it incumbent upon 
 him to make good his assertion that the law could be relied on to 
 deal with evildoers, and he set to work to aid the law to the extent 
 of his ability. He was young, had leisure, some money not needed 
 for his immediate necessities, and he did not object, for more rea 
 sons than one, to putting in a considerable part of his time in and 
 about the region known as the Marrowbone Hills. He became 
 quite intimate here with Pearson, who was working up the case in 
 a quiet but effectual manner, and with others who were bending 
 their efforts in the same direction. He also, by occasional inter 
 views with Major Habersham, was enabled to inform himself 
 pretty well as to the state of the country, and at each of his visits 
 for this purpose he managed to while away a little time in the 
 society of the Major's daughter without being desperately 
 bored. 
 
 There were a half-dozen counties in the judicial circuit, and 
 neither the judge nor the attorney-general resided in that in which 
 Ankerstrom was to be arraigned and tried. Twice a year they 
 
too The K. K. K. 
 
 rode into the town of Ashton, and devoted themselves for two 
 weeks to the task of clearing the docket of such cases as they 
 found awaiting them. Usually more than half of this limited 
 period was consumed by the judge in hearing civil cases, and fully 
 half of the time of the attorney-general was taken up in drawing 
 indictments and examining witnesses before the grand jury, to the 
 end that fresh grist might be brought before the judicial mill to 
 be ground. When the two weeks had elapsed the grand and petit 
 juries were discharged, the minutes of the court were signed, and 
 the judge and the State's officer betook themselves to another 
 county to begin over again the process of administering justice 
 and upholding the majesty of the law. 
 
 The fall term of the court at Ashton began on the first Monday 
 in September, and, as it was important to- use dispatch, all the wit 
 nesses in the Ankerstrom case had been summoned, and were on 
 hand ready to give evidence before the grand jury. Both Tem- 
 pleton and Pearson had labored to secure their attendance; and, 
 when mustered, there was a goodly array of them, for as a matter 
 of precaution every person who knew anything of the case, either 
 by hearsay or otherwise, had been brought to court. The attorney- 
 general was a middle-aged gentleman, of somewhat nervous tem 
 perament, and rather prone to lose his temper on slight provoca 
 tion, but capable of getting through with a good deal of business 
 in the course of the day. He conversed on this occasion privately 
 with a good many persons, young and old, black and white, male 
 and female, who had been summoned to testify against divers of 
 fenders, and embodied the substance of the information thus ob 
 tained in indictments which he drew hurriedly for the considera 
 tion of the grand jury. Somewhat to the annoyance of Mr. Bob 
 Lee Templeton, he postponed speaking to the witnesses in the 
 Ankerstrom case until late in the afternoon, and after his confer 
 ence informed them that they must all come back the next day, as 
 he would not have time to draw so important an indictment until 
 he went to his room that night. This announcement caused grave 
 dissatisfaction among the witnesses, and Templeton indulged 
 in some censure upon the State's officer, but Pearson said he saw 
 nothing unreasonable in his behavior, and that when people came 
 to court they must expect to put up with a little inconvenience. 
 
 Next morning the witnesses were all on hand, most of them in 
 no very good humor; and during the course of the second day 
 they were admitted, one by one, into the sacred precincts of the 
 
The Case is Continued to the Following Term. 101 
 
 grand jury room, where each was permitted to tell his tale. Late 
 in the afternoon the grand jurors thirteen in number, headed by 
 an officer filed into the court-room with a formidable batch of 
 true bills and other important papers. These the foreman gravely 
 handed to the judge, who after brief inspection passed ^them to 
 the clerk who thrust them at once in his bosom with the air of one 
 who has a dreadful secret in his keeping which he would rather 
 die than divulge. 
 
 Pearson and Templeton received private information from the 
 attorney-general that several indictments against Ankerstrom 
 were in the batch of papers they had seen the clerk secrete in his 
 bosom, and as a special favor, after court adjourned, they were 
 allowed to inspect them. One charged the accused, Ankerstrom, 
 with having feloniously taken and carried away a chopping ax 
 of the value of two dollars, and of the goods and chattels of 
 Gabriel Havemeyer, with the intent on the part of the culprit to 
 deprive the true owner of his property and convert the same to 
 his own use. The second charged the offender with having 
 broken open a mansion house in the night time with the intent to 
 commit a felony therein. The third paper asserted that the same 
 criminal had wilfully and maliciously set fire to and burned the 
 dwelling house of Mrs. Susan Bascombe, and was therefore 
 guilty of the crime of arson. A fourth indictment charged the 
 wilful murder of the old lady, and when the two unprofessional 
 men reached this they supposed it was the last. The law they 
 found, however, had still another hold on Ankerstrom, for the 
 State's officer handed them an additional paper charging the 
 villain with having stolen from the Hopson family one tablecloth 
 worth fifty cents and divers and sundry articles of the aggregate 
 value of three dollars, to wit: two broiled chickens, three dozen 
 biscuits more or less, one boiled ham, one bag of sweet cakes, 
 a jar of cucumber pickles, twenty-seven dried-apple pies, com 
 monly known as " flapjacks," etc., etc. 
 
 When they had finished reading the last paper the attorney- 
 general informed them that he might have preferred a sixth 
 charge against the accused for personal assault upon the sick 
 man Hopson ; and possibly a seventh, for breaking into the house, 
 since some force was used in effecting an entrance. Many pros 
 ecuting attorneys in the State, he said, would have pursued this 
 course with a view of increasing costs, but he was not that sort 
 of a man, Templeton commended him for his frugality where the 
 
102 The K. K. K. 
 
 public interest was concerned, and inquired as to which of the 
 charges the accused would be brought to trial first upon, or 
 whether he would be held to answer them all at once. 
 
 "Why, no indeed," answered the State's officer. ''That 
 wouldn't do, you know. We will try him on one of these indict 
 ments, and if we fail we will take him to task on another; and 
 if we have bad luck there, we will drag him up on the third ; and 
 if our hold breaks there, we will tackle him on the fourth, and so 
 on. This is about the course we'll pursue, and by the time we're 
 through with him, unless I'm pretty badly fooled, there won't be 
 much left of him." 
 
 " Well," said Templeton, who being younger than Pearson 
 assumed the right to speak for them both, " this fellow has 
 committed murder, a cold-blooded and cowardly murder ; there 
 isn't any doubt about that. Suppose we therefore arraign him for 
 murder, and try him and hang him for murder right away, and 
 let the other charges against him be dismissed. When we've 
 hung him for his principal offense, he will have passed beyond 
 our reach, and there'll be nothing else we can do to him." 
 
 " There's sense in that," responded the attorney-general, mus 
 ingly ; and he looked out of the window as if he was turning the 
 proposition over in his mind. Templeton handed him a cigar, 
 and when he had puffed at this a while, and found it was a good 
 cigar, he seemed to attach even more importance to the young 
 man's proposition. " There's a good deal in that ; there's a good 
 deal in that," he repeated, nodding his head to Templeton. 
 " Well, we'll try that." 
 
 " Suppose we set the murder charge for one day next week," 
 said Templeton, " and try him and convict him on that. We 
 might possibly get ready by to-morrow, but we'd better not go 
 too fast. We can have all our witnesses back here next Tuesday, 
 and we'll take up the case on that day and go right along with it. 
 That is, of course, if it suits you." 
 
 " That's a good idea," said the attorney-general. " Fust rate ; 
 fust rate. I'll have the case set for that day. The fellow's down 
 here in jail at Coopertown, ain't he?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Who's his lawyer?" 
 
 " Nobody, I reckon. He's not able to employ a lawyer, and a 
 lawyer wouldn't do him any good. He's guilty beyond all ques 
 tion." 
 
The Case is Continued to the Following Term. 103 
 
 "All right; we'll try him next Tuesday. I'll get the judge 
 to assign some of these young fellows to defend him," and the 
 attorney-general walked away, and had the case of Ankerstrom, 
 charged with murder, set for the following Tuesday. He di 
 rected the clerk also to forward without delay a copy of the in 
 dictment to the prisoner in the Coopertown jail. 
 
 Seeing that the attorney-general had his hands full of other 
 matters, our two friends, together with other active persons from 
 the neighborhood of the tragedy, set to work at once to make 
 ready the state's case by the following Tuesday. The witnesses 
 were all resummoned to appear, and trusty individuals were de 
 tailed to look after those about whose voluntary attendance there 
 was some doubt. Mr. Bob Lee Templeton had entirely recovered 
 from his discontent of the evening before, and now cheerfully did 
 his endeavor to put everybody else in a hopeful frame of mind, 
 and induce them to return to court at the appointed time. There 
 were some grumblers, of course, and some prophets of evil, but 
 all these were put to silence by the assurances and encouragement 
 of the candid youth. 
 
 " You fellows be sure to come back," cried Mr. Templeton to 
 a group of witnesses, who were muttering about the distance 
 they had to travel in going to and from the court. " Let every 
 man of you come back next Tuesday. If a few stay away, don't 
 you see, that will spoil the whole business, for like as not some of 
 the missing ones may be important witnesses, and the case would 
 have to be continued for lack of proof. That will never do in the 
 world. So let every man be on hand to answer to his name next 
 Tuesday." 
 
 " I've lost two days already," replied one of his auditors, " and 
 the worms are eating up my tobacco." 
 
 "That's bad; that's bad," rejoined Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, in 
 a sympathetic tone. " I know just how it is, my friend, for I'm 
 a farmer myself. But come one more time just one more time. 
 Don't forget that a good old woman has been murdered, and that 
 the scoundrel who killed her should be hung without delay. I 
 know just what I'm talking about, and I tell you one more day in 
 this cause will be sufficient. I and the State's attorney have talked 
 the thing over, and you can all depend on what I say." 
 
 When the following Tuesday came around the witnesses were 
 all again in attendance, and court having been called to order, 
 sheriff Sanderson appeared at the bar with the prisoner, Anker- 
 
104 The K. K. K. 
 
 strom, who the day before had been brought from the jail at 
 Coopertown. The attorney-general called upon the fellow to 
 hold up his right hand, which command the sheriff finally induced 
 him to obey. The indictment was a lengthy one for the State's 
 ofBcer was a great stickler for old forms and phrases and was 
 read in clear and deliberc.te tones, so that the whole court-room 
 might heai . It changed, alter the caption, that in the county and 
 state aforesaid, and upon a certain day in the preceding June, 
 Johan Ankerstrom, alias Dutch Ankers, alias Cross-eyed Jack, 
 alias the Flying Dutchman, did wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously, 
 deliberately, premeditatedly, and with his malice aforethought, 
 assault Mrs. Susan Bascombe, of the county and state aforesaid, 
 with a deadly weapon, to wit: an ax. And with said ax the 
 said Johan Ankerstorm, alias Dutch Ankers, alias Cross-eyed 
 Jack, alias the Flying Dutchman, not having the fear of God be 
 fore his eyes, and being moved and instigated by the devil, did 
 strike and inflict divers and sundry grievous and mortal wounds 
 upon the body of the said Mrs. Susan Bascombe, of which griev 
 ous and mortal wounds the said Mrs. Bascombe did languish 
 until the day following, to wit : June , and on that day languish 
 ing she did die of said wounds. Wherefore (the document went 
 on to allege), we, the grand jurors for the State an'd county 
 aforesaid, being duly elected, impaneled and sworn upon our oaths 
 the truth to speak, do present and say that Johan Ankerstrom, 
 alias Dutch Ankers, alias. Cross-eyed Jack, alias the Flying Dutch 
 man, did wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously, deliberately, pre 
 meditatedly, and with his malice aforethought, kill and murder 
 the said Mrs. Susan Bascombe, in the county and State aforesaid, 
 contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made and pro 
 vided, and against the peace and dignity of the State. 
 
 " Are you guilty or not guilty ? " inquired the State's officer 
 when he had finished reading the lengthy accusation. 
 
 Ankerstrom scowled upon him and made no reply. He either 
 did not fully understand the purport of what he had heard, or he 
 made believe not to understand it. 
 
 "If the court please," said a young attorney who had been as 
 signed to defend the prisoner, " we enter a plea of not guilty here." 
 
 " Very good," said the judge. " Let the clerk record this 
 upon the minutes. Is the State ready to proceed with the trial 
 of this cause ? " 
 
 Bob Lee Templeton, forgetful of the proprieties of the place, 
 
The Case is Continued to the Following Term. 105 
 
 was about to arise and assure the court that the prosecution was 
 ready, but the attorney-general forestalled him. He informed 
 the court, in deliberate tones, that the State wished to enter at 
 once upon the trial of the cause. 
 
 "Is the defendant ready ?" inquired the judge, addressing 
 himself to the young attorney who had been assigned to look 
 after the prisoner's interests. 
 
 The young attorney here went over, and seating himself beside 
 his client, sought in a hurried conversation to obtain some facts 
 bearing on the issue about to be raised. While he was thus en 
 gaged lawyer Palaver entered the court-room, bearing in his 
 right hand a suspicious-looking black satchel containing papers 
 weighty in the law, and containing also tucked away snugly at 
 the bottom a neat little flask of strong waters. He always 
 carried this satchel about with him, and, the general impression 
 was, would have been as utterly helpless without it as Samson 
 with his head shaved. He now looked all about him, and with 
 drawing his gloves deposited these, with his satchel and cane, 
 upon the table by which he stood. When he had done this, ob 
 serving that there was a lull in the court-room, he addressed him 
 self to his Honor upon the bench. 
 
 " If the court please," said lawyer Palaver, " I have just learned 
 that a client of mine, one Johan Ankerstrom, has been indicted 
 here upon a very grave charge, and I rise to ask that his trial be 
 set for some day of the next term, so that both sides may then be 
 in readiness to proceed with the investigation." 
 
 The attorney-general here mumbled out something about being 
 needed in the grand jury room, and hastily withdrew from the 
 presence of the court. 
 
 " Why/' said the judge to Palaver, " we have that very case 
 up now, and I was about to order the jury to be sworn." 
 
 " What ! " cried Palaver, in astonishment. " I ah perhaps 
 I did not understand your Honor." 
 
 " The State has announced ready," said the judge, " and the 
 case was about to go to trial when you came in." 
 
 " Go to trial go to trial ? " repeated Palaver. " The attorney- 
 general has announced ready, does your Honor say? Why, sir, 
 was the like ever heard in the court-house before? My man 
 is here on trial for his life. He is a foreigner, and can hardly 
 speak the language. He has not had a minute's time for prepa 
 ration " 
 
io6 The K. K. K. 
 
 " Why," said Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, interrupting him, " this 
 man has been in. jail, if the court please, for three months. He 
 certainly has had abundant time to prepare his case, and the wit 
 nesses we have brought here will tell the whole story, as the 
 gentleman will find further along when we get into the evidence." 
 
 Palaver turned and regarded the speaker, first severely and 
 then inquiringly. " If the court please," he remarked in a dig 
 nified way, "I do not know this young gentleman, but I sup 
 pose, of course, he is one of the counsel in the cause." Mr. Tem- 
 pleton's abashed look showing too plainly that he was not of 
 counsel in the cause, the lawyer continued : " I move you, sir," 
 addressing the judge, " that this young man produce his license 
 before the clerk and be sworn in as one of the practising attor 
 neys at this bar." 
 
 This caused a broad smile to spread itself over the court-room, 
 and looking about him, Templeton was pained to observe Miss 
 Sue Bascombe, who was present as one of the witnesses, biting 
 her lip to suppress an inclination to laugh. This added mani 
 festly to his discomfiture, for all nice young men have their share 
 of vanity, and nobody likes to be laughed at. 
 
 " Where's the attorney-general," inquired the judge, in re 
 sponse to Palaver's request. " He ought to be here looking after 
 this case. Go fetch him in at once, Mr. Sheriff." 
 
 The sheriff promptly retired in quest of the State's officer, and 
 Templeton followed nim out into the hall. When the attorney- 
 general presently emerged from the grand jury room the young 
 man halted him and took up a few moments of his valuable 
 time. 
 
 " I say," remarked Templeton to the busy official, " one 
 moment, one moment, if you please. There's an old man in the 
 other room trying to put off our case. It will never do ; never in 
 the world, I tell you. It's been three months since Ankerstrom 
 killed the old woman, and the folks in that country are getting' 
 dreadfully impatient. Their opinion of the law is none too good 
 now, and if this case is put off, there's no telling what they will 
 do or say. So do you go right in and head this old man off. He's 
 talking wild, saying he hasn't had time to get his case ready, and 
 I'm afraid he'll deceive the judge. 
 
 " I'll fix him," responded the State's officer, tearing himself 
 from the young gentleman and hastily entering the court-room. 
 Once in the presence of the judge, and informed of Palaver's 
 
The Case is Continued to the Following Term. 107 
 
 application to postpone the trial, he began a rather vehement 
 address, which apparently was intended more for the bystanders 
 than the court. He had proceeded but a little way before Pala 
 ver arose and politely interrupted him. 
 
 " if your Honor please," said Palaver to the judge, " I would 
 like, with the permission of the court, to prepare an affidavit." 
 
 " Certainly," replied the judge. " The defendant's counsel has 
 that right"" 
 
 The attorney-general then sat down and fell a-chatting pleas 
 antly with some of the lawyers about him. Palaver withdrew, 
 with a stub pen, ink bottle and several quires of paper. He was 
 great on affidavits ; indeed, I may say, that was his specialty, and 
 no lawyer had ever been known in his section who could cram 
 more statements into a document for his client to swear to. 
 Having consumed less time than usual in the preparation of his 
 paper, he after a bit returned into the court-room with a very con 
 fident air about him. The affidavit, verified by Ankerstrom on 
 oath, alleged the undisputed facts that the indictment against the 
 prisoner had been brought in by the grand jury then in session, 
 that it charged murder in the first degree; and then the further 
 allegation was made that owing to excitement in the public mind 
 the accused could not safely go to trial at that term of the 
 court. 
 
 " That is sufficient," cried the judge from the bench as soon as 
 the paper was read. " No use to waste more words about it. It 
 is well enough settled in Tennessee that a defendant cannot be 
 forced to a hearing at the term in which the indictment against 
 him is found, where the indictment charges murder and he files 
 an affidavit stating that owing to excitement in the public mind 
 he cannot safely go to trial. To hold otherwise would be rever 
 sible error on the part of this court, and the case must go over 
 till next term." 
 
 This ruling excited no sort of surprise on the part of the attor 
 neys present. The attorney-general looked up at the judge and 
 nodded gravely his indorsement of the action of the court. Pala 
 ver sat down by his cane and hand-bag, crossed his legs, shook 
 his foot, and assumed the air of a wise man who knew very well 
 in advance what was going to happen. The fact was he had not 
 bothered himself at all with preparations for the defense, and 
 had nothing whatever in his black satchel bearing on the Anker 
 strom case, 
 
io8 The K. K. K. 
 
 As the lawyers and other gentlemen wended their way toward 
 the hotel at the noon recess, Mr. Bob Lee Templeton overheard 
 a conversation that made his ears tingle. 
 
 Palaver, to the attorney-general, who was walking by his side : 
 " What smart young chap was that, Whackemall, who put in his 
 mouth this morning while I was addressing the court ? " 
 
 Attorney-general : " Templeton his name is. He is taking a 
 good deal of interest in the Ankerstrom case." 
 
 Palaver : " Any kin to the old woman that got killed ? " 
 
 Attorney-general : " None that I know of. None at all, I be 
 lieve." 
 
 Palaver: " What's he got to do with it, then? " 
 
 Attorney-general : " That I can't just make out. I think he's in 
 love with that black-eyed girl you saw in the court-room. She's 
 the old woman's granddaughter." 
 
 Palaver : " Ah, that explains it. I saw him turn red this 
 morning when he looked at her, and wondered what the hell he 
 was blushing about. So it was at his instance you made that 
 nonsensical talk opposing my application for d continuance?" 
 
 Attorney-general : " Yes ; he urged me to do it, and I just spoke 
 to oblige him." 
 
 Palaver : " Ah, I see, I see. Right embarrassing sometimes to 
 have a damned fool for a client." 
 
 Mr. Bob Lee Templeton here slackened his pace, so as to 
 allow those ahead to increase the distance between them. He 
 was on his way to the tavern to get dinner, but he changed his 
 mind and took a notion to stroll round town before proceeding 
 to the hostelry. As he strolled he came in contact with a good 
 many witnesses that had been brought to court to testify in the 
 Ankerstrom case. They scowled at him and indulged in un 
 complimentary remarks as he passed. 
 
 " That the smart Aleck," said one, " who had a private un 
 derstanding with the attorney-general." 
 
 " His head will be gray before that understanding is carried 
 out," retorted another. 
 
 " The next time we catch a red-handed murderer I hope we'll 
 have sense enough to hang him up, without listening to any 
 smooth talk from such palavering chaps as him," proclaimed a 
 third. 
 
 Mr. Templeton strolled on. He soon took a side street where 
 nothing harassing would be likely to occur, and where he could 
 
The Case is Continued to the Following Term. 109 
 
 make a serious effort to get a hold upon himself. When, an 
 hour or so later, he seated himself at the hotel table, he was out 
 wardly calm, but his appetite had deserted him. He found, 
 moreover, upon self-interrogation that a good deal of his venera 
 tion for the law had departed with his appetite. 
 
no The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 YOUNG MR. TEMPLETON CHANGES HIS MIND WHEN OUT OF HUMOR, 
 AND REVERTS TO HIS FORMER OPINION WHEN CHEERFULNESS IS 
 RESTORED. 
 
 THAT afternoon as those who had been summoned in the An- 
 kerstrom case journeyed homeward from the town, some were 
 merry and some were mad. Templeton was of the company, and 
 for a short distance he rode by the side of Miss Sue Bascombe, 
 who having made her second trip to court considered herself 
 pretty well posted now as to the legal methods of transacting 
 business. 
 
 " Law is a great profession, Mr. Templeton," remarked the 
 young lady as the horse that bore her jogged along at a steady 
 gait toward the place of her abode, " and I wonder they don't 
 have more female attorneys in the country. It seems to me to 
 be a profession much better adapted to women than men, any 
 way." 
 
 " How is that ? " inquired Mr. Templeton. 
 
 " Oh, they talk so much," replied the young lady, " and it all 
 amounts in the end to so little." 
 
 Miss Bascombe was inclined to be sarcastic, but Templeton 
 accepted her observations seriously. " That's a fact," he an 
 swered rather sullenly. 
 
 " It's all talk and no cider, as we say in the country," continued 
 the young lady. " The judge has his say, the lawyers have their 
 say, and now and then an outsider puts in and tries to have his 
 say. I think you made a little experiment in that direction this 
 morning, didn't you, Mr. Templeton ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied the gentleman addressed, " but it didn't help 
 me, or the cause of justice, either." 
 
 " Of course not, of course not. You didn't seem to have many 
 friends among them, and as for the cause of justice I don't sup 
 pose that was on anybody s mind at all." 
 
How Young Mr. Templeton Changes His Mind, in 
 
 " I'm inclined to agree with you," replied the young gentleman 
 gloomily. 
 
 " Well," pursued the young lady cheerfully, " next January 
 I reckon they'll go to the court-house again, and talk some more, 
 and send us all back home again with nothing done." 
 
 " Shouldn't wonder," replied Mr. Templeton. 
 
 " It will be fun though. Splashing through the mud and rain 
 a matter of twenty miles in midwinter will be jolly. Nobody 
 could grumble at that." 
 
 " I suppose not," replied Mr. Templeton. 
 
 " The lawyers, though, don't splash through rain and mud to 
 any alarming extent. All they have to do is to stand up in the 
 court-room and talk. That's what makes me say law is such a 
 delightful profession." 
 
 " And that's what makes me say," answered Templeton bitter 
 ly, " that it's a humbug." 
 
 "A what?" 
 
 " A farce. A miserable contrivance for defeating the ends of 
 justice." 
 
 " Why, my goodness," replied the young lady, " I thought, Mr. 
 Templeton, you was on the side of the law. You speak like 
 some of these outrageous Marrowbone people, so you do." 
 
 " I feel as indignant as any of the Marrowbone people could 
 feel. Some steps must be taken in this community by which 
 scoundrels can be brought to justice." 
 
 " Do you think so ? " She spoke in a graver tone than she had 
 used before. 
 
 " Indeed I do think so. The administration of justice seems to 
 be hampered in the courts by antiquated rules that may have 
 suited other people differently situated, but are not adapted at all 
 to the condition in which we find ourselves to-day. Criminals 
 should be punished, and that without unreasonable delay. Honest 
 men and women are entitled to protection. The law as now ad 
 ministered affords great encouragement to scoundrels." 
 
 " Teddy Mclntosh couldn't say worse than that." 
 
 " He wouldn't tell the truth if he said less." 
 
 " You seem to be in real earnest, Mr. Templeton." 
 
 " Indeed I am." 
 
 She hummed a little tune to herself a few moments and then 
 she addressed him abruptly. 
 
 " Why don't you join the Ku Klux? " 
 
The K. K. K. 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 "As if you didn't know." 
 
 He tried to get up a laugh, but failed. " I'm more than half 
 in the humor/' he replied gravely. 
 
 " When you're altogether in the humor let me know." 
 
 " What have you to do with it? " 
 
 " Nothing at all." 
 
 " If you had I'd ask you to hand in my name at the next meet 
 ing as a candidate for admission to the order." 
 
 " You said just now you were only half in earnest." 
 
 " I'm in dead hard earnest now." 
 
 "Honor bright?" 
 
 " Honor bright." 
 
 The two were proceeding along the highway by themselves, 
 though there were others at a short distance in front and rear of 
 them. Among these was the youth called Teddy Mclntosh, who 
 was about fifty yards in front. 
 
 " Ha-ha-ha," laughed Miss Bascombe in a very natural way, 
 though nothing had occurred, that Mr. Templeton knew of, to 
 excite her mirth. 
 
 Teddy glanced back over his shoulder, and she raised her right 
 hand above her head for a moment, with three fingers extended, 
 the others closed. It was a careless gesture, and would have 
 attracted no special attention if one had observed it. Mr. Mc 
 lntosh did not instantly quit his companion but in a little while 
 dropped back and joined the young lady and Templeton, 
 
 " Teddy," said Miss Sue Bascombe in a calm matter-of-fact 
 way, " Mr. Templeton has business to-night over on Dead Man's 
 Knob, and he doesn't know the way. Won't you be kind enough 
 to take him there ? " 
 
 " Why, for sure," answered Teddy. " I'll be glad to show him 
 the road." 
 
 Then there was pleasant chat of an indiscriminate kind, and 
 before a great while the young lady bade them good-by, and 
 leaving the main highway, took a less frequented route that led 
 to her home. Teddy Mclntosh now took charge of Templeton, 
 and escorted him to the house of a friend, where they supped and 
 rested their horses. 
 
 About ten o'clock at night the two men mounted again and 
 rode off together. No questions were asked as to their proposed 
 destination by the discreet members of the household, and no 
 
How Young Mr. Templeton Changes His Mind. 113 
 
 information on the subject was volunteered by the equally discreet 
 Mr. Mclntosh. The two men rode off together, and for some 
 time rode in silence. 
 
 " Miss Sue is all sorts cff a girl/' said Mr. Mclntosh, breaking 
 silence after a while. 
 
 Not fully understanding whether this was a compliment or the 
 reverse, Templeton did not reply. 
 
 " She's all sorts of a girl," Mr. Mclntosh continued. " I've 
 been knowing her ever since we were both little children, and I 
 don't know her yet. Now and then -she's funny and frolicksome, 
 just like other girls. It isn't very often, though, you catch her in 
 that sort of humor, and when you do it's more than half put on. 
 As a general thing she takes after her granny, and her granny 
 had more grit than half a dozen common men." 
 
 " Does she really belong to the Ku Klux Klan ? " Templeton 
 ventured to inquire. 
 
 " How's that ? " answered Teddy, as if he hadn't heard. 
 
 " Is she a member of this order she was speaking of ? " 
 
 " Oh, I dunno. Maybe she is, maybe she ain't. There's just 
 no telling. You never can catch up with her, you see." 
 
 This was all the answer Mr. Templeton received to a question 
 he had propounded to himself several times in the last few hours 
 without being able to frame in his own mind a satisfactory reply. 
 
 Traveling for about an hour the two young men came to a 
 conical hill rising abruptly from the surrounding valley and a 
 short distance off from the wayside. There are many such in that 
 part of the country, but this was more rugged than the rest, and 
 had an evil reputation from the fact that at a time prior to the 
 civil war a stranger had been enticed to the spot and murdered 
 for his money. At the foot of this they dismounted, and pro 
 ceeding Indian file along a narrow path they climbed it slowly, 
 each leading his horse. They had not gone far in this manner 
 before a man in front blocked the way. This individual said 
 nothing, and made no demonstration, but stood stockstill until 
 Mclntosh, who was in the lead, came close to him and extended 
 his hand. The sentinel reached forth his own, and after a friendly 
 grasp, stepped aside and allowed tha two men to proceed. He 
 had no weapens or Templeton saw none as he brushed close by 
 him though standing there as an outpost he could scarcely have 
 expected, unarmed and unaided, to be able to repel intruders. 
 
 Pursuing their way the two young men after going a short 
 
ii4 The K. K. K. 
 
 distance turned aside and hitched their horses in a thick clump 
 of trees, where they saw others standing. Here they began a pre 
 cipitous ascent, up which a horse, however clear-footed, could 
 hardly have clambered. A little further on they were halted by a 
 second sentinel, who again said nothing, but stood in the way till 
 Mclntosh had advanced and clasped hands with him. Next they 
 reached a level strip of earth upon which stunted cedars grew 
 so thick as to make a passage through it almost impossible. 
 Skirting this by a circular path they reached a perpendicular 
 bluff of rock, with a small open space between it and the thicket. 
 Here they came upon a group of men sitting side by side on the 
 ground, their line forming a rough circle of about twenty-feet in 
 diameter. Each of these, Templeton noticed, wore a tall black 
 cap, and his figure was shrouded in a mantle of the same somber 
 hue. Not far from the center of the circle sat one with a tall 
 white cap and wrapped in a white garment. On either side of 
 him was a figure robed in black, as were those of the outer 
 circle. 
 
 Teddy Mclntosh advanced into the middle of the group and 
 faced the chief figure robed in white. Behind him came Tem 
 pleton, and as they reached the center of the circle he faced 
 and stood fronting the white-robed figure. Perfect silence was 
 maintained by all present. Each member of the circle sat on the 
 earth with his head bowed, and nothing on the part of any of 
 them indicated a consciousness that strangers were present. 
 
 " Majestical Grand Cyclops," proclaimed Teddy Mclntosh, 
 addressing the central figure, " this mortal desires admission into 
 our mystic brotherhood." 
 
 No response at all was elicited by this announcement, but all 
 sat on the earth as before with their heads bowed. 
 
 "Majestical Grand Cyclops," repeated Mclntosh, " this mor 
 tal desires admission into our mystic brotherhood." 
 
 Then all at once arose and stood in silence around the circle. 
 Templeton was astonished to find that the central figure, though 
 apparently that of a thin person, was not much less than ten feet 
 high. The long white cap added a good deal to the stature of 
 this individual, but making due allowance for this he was un 
 doubtedly the tallest person the young man had ever seen. His 
 face was muffled, and his features could be but dimly discerned 
 by the starlight that alone lessened the surrounding obscurity. 
 
 " Majestical Grand Cyclops," proclaimed Teddy Mclntosh for 
 
How Young Mr. Templeton Changes His Mind. 115 
 
 the third time, " this mortal desires admission into our mystic 
 brotherhood." 
 
 At this moment some one, whose approach had not been de 
 tected, stole softly up behind Templeton and blindfolded him. 
 When this had been accomplished the tall figure in white for the 
 first time vouchsafed a reply. He asked many questions of a 
 searching nature regarding the character and qualifications of the 
 candidate, all of which were answered in a complimentary manner 
 by Mclntosh, who acted as sponsor. Then the Grand Cyclops in 
 quired of the klan : 
 
 " Does any one present know of a reason why this mortal should 
 not be received as a member of our mystic brotherhood ? " 
 
 A silence of some moments followed this inquiry. Then the 
 command came in solemn tones : 
 
 " Mortal, kneel." 
 
 Without hesitation Templeton obeyed, 
 
 " Raise your right hand to heaven." 
 
 He did so. 
 
 " Repeat after me now the solemn obligation which every 
 member of this mystic order is required to take." 
 
 The speaker here proceeded slowly and distinctly, and Tem 
 pleton repeated after him: 
 
 " I, Robert Lee Templeton, of my own free will and accord, 
 and in the presence of these comrades, and of the Ruler of the 
 universe, do here register my sacred oath that I will never reveal 
 to any one not a member of this brotherhood any of the signs, 
 grips or passwords that may hereafter be imparted to me. That 
 I will never reveal to those not members of this brotherhood the 
 fact that I know of its existence, or that I, or any other individual, 
 is connected with it. I here register my sacred oath that I will 
 never let the true name of the order, which I am soon to receive, 
 pass my lips though none but a brother be nigh. I here register 
 my sacred oath that I will promptly obey all the decrees of the 
 brotherhood, when not inconsistent with the law of the land, and 
 should I at any time prove faithless to the obligation I have here 
 assumed I invite on my head the awful penalty that will then be 
 my due." 
 
 " Mortal, rise," was the command after the oath had been 
 taken. 
 
 Templeton rose to his feet and stood blindfolded before them. 
 Some one now drew near and threw a mantle over his shoulders, 
 
n6 The K. K. K. 
 
 placing at the same time a cap on his head, which he supposed to 
 be similar to those worn by others about him. 
 
 " Advance, brothers, and give to this mortal the secret grip of 
 the order, in token of the fact that you greet him as a member of 
 this brotherhood." 
 
 One by one those about him came forward, and each extending 
 his own right hand, took that of Templeton. As the grip was 
 given the forefinger of each in turn was extended until the tip of 
 it rested on the wrist of Templeton, about the point where the 
 pulse is usually felt. A gentle pressure was given, once, twice, 
 thrice, and the individual extending the greeting passed on. 
 Lastly the tall individual who had been spokesman during the 
 ceremony came forward and took the candidate by the hand. 
 He stretched out his long forefinger and allowed it to rest on 
 Templeton's wrist. 
 
 " Mortal," he said, " you are now about to attach yourself to 
 this mystic order whose members never assemble until after the 
 sun goes down, whose true name may not be uttered even among 
 themselves, but which is known to the vulgar as the Ku Klux 
 Klan." 
 
 As the speaker pronounced each of these syllables he pressed 
 his forefinger by way of emphasis on the wrist of Templeton. 
 
 " Turn thy right ear," he now said, " and I will deliver to thee 
 in private the true name of this mystic order." 
 
 Templeton obeyed, and the speaker stooping low whispered 
 softly in his ear a word of several syllables, which Templeton 
 had never heard before, which was in a strange language and 
 pronounced so indistinctly he was not sure he caught the sounds 
 aright. 
 
 " I greet you now as brother," continued the tall man, address 
 ing him once more aloud, " and remember that wherever you go 
 you may make your clanship known by the sign of the three. If 
 you would draw one of the order to your side first call his atten 
 tion by an innocent sound, then raise the right hand quickly with 
 the thumb and little finger closed, the other three fingers extended 
 and separated. If you would greet a brother or make your 
 self known to one who is a stranger, give him your right hand 
 and press three times distinctly but lightly on the pulse of his 
 right arm. Brother, for we count you stranger no longer, we 
 bid you thrice welcome as a member of this mystic clan. When 
 the brotherhood has once more extended greeting you will be 
 
How Young Mr. Templeton Changes His Mind. 117 
 
 withdrawn beyond the confines of our circle, but you may re- 
 enter unaided if you can give the sentinel the grip of the order 
 and whisper in his ear the countersign for the night, which I will 
 now impart to you." 
 
 The tall master of ceremonies once more stooped and whispered 
 in the ear of Templeton the password which had been adopted 
 for the night. The syllables were easily caught and not difficult 
 to remember, for the countersign as imparted to him in confi 
 dence by the Grand Cyclops was " Sue Bascombe." 
 
 The bandage was now removed from his eyes, and he saw the 
 tall man still standing, with a figure robed in black on each side, 
 as at the beginning of the ceremony. One by one the black-robed 
 figures that composed the circle left their places and greeted him 
 with a grasp of the hand and a significant pressure of the fore 
 finger thrice repeated upon his wrist. He observed in the dim 
 starlight that each of these had three large white letters, K. K. K., 
 upon the breast of his gown, and looking down he saw that he 
 himself was robed in black, and that the same letters were in 
 scribed upon his breast. When his brother members had a second 
 time greeted him he was again blindfolded, his cap and robes 
 were taken from him, and he was led away to a spot some dis 
 tance off. Here his sight was restored, and there was none with 
 him but Teddy Mclntosh, clad in his ordinary garb. 
 
 " You may now follow me," said Teddy, " and we will go back 
 into the circle. You must not press too close upon me, however, 
 and when I have passed the sentinel you must approach him 
 alone, give him the grip and whisper in his ear the password you 
 have just received from the Grand Cyclops." 
 
 Obeying this instruction literally Templeton passed the out 
 post without difficulty, and following his guide soon reached the 
 group of persons he had left assembled in the open space between 
 the cedar thicket and the foot of the bluff. Each was clad in 
 ordinary attire, and they were sitting or lying about at will on 
 the ground, giving heed to some one who though standing was 
 addressing them in a low conversational tone. Templeton 
 seated himself without formality in the outskirt of the group, and 
 soon discovered that the individual speaking was a farmer whom 
 he had met that day at the court-house. His manner was hesitat 
 ing, showing he was not accustomed to facing an audience, and 
 the attention given his utterances was not very flattering. He 
 was several times interrupted, and the meeting bade fair to be- 
 
n8 The K. K. K. 
 
 come a little disorderly when a tall young man who had been 
 sitting on a flat stone arose and in measured tones commanded 
 the assemblage to be quiet and give heed to the speaker. 
 
 " That's Jim Blankenship," whispered Mclntosh to Templeton, 
 when the tall youth had taken his seat. " He's the best one in 
 the deck. He takes everything in dead hard earnest, and you 
 can see by his rigger that he's cut out for a Grand Cyclops." 
 
 Templeton had no difficulty in recognizing the deep voice as 
 that of the slender individual who had addressed him while he 
 stood in the midst of the clan blindfolded. " He's a pretty tall 
 chap still," he replied in an undertone to Teddy Mclntosh, " but 
 he's shrunk a good deal in stature in the last fifteen minutes." 
 
 " Oh, that was in the make-up, you know," rejoined Teddy. 
 " It's with us as it is with the gals. A heap depends on the 
 make-up." 
 
 While this whispered conversation was going on, the farmer, 
 a level-headed fellow, stumbled along in his talk. 
 
 " I think it's too soon for us to interfere in this matter, though 
 I know many of our members, and nearly all outsiders, favor 
 immediate action. The man will certainly be convicted whenever 
 his case does get to the jury, and we'd better wait as long as 
 there is a chance to have him legally punished. It was hasty 
 counsel that led to the hanging of Sandy Kinchen, and if we err 
 at all now we ought to err on the side of prudence and caution." 
 
 The speaker held the floor, or rather the ground on which he 
 stood, for ten or fifteen minutes. Random discussion followed 
 his speech, and it was evident the clan had under consideration a 
 proposition to take the case of the State versus Ankerstrom into 
 their own hands. There seemed to be many minds on the subject, 
 and it was hard to tell how the assemblage stood, when our 
 friend, Teddy Mclntosh^ rose and favored those present with his 
 views. His eloquence flowed in a torrent, and he spoke his 
 mind with a directness that left no room for misunderstanding. 
 
 " Now here, gentlemen hobgoblins," he began, " I'd go as far 
 as the next man on the road to caution and prudence and that 
 sort of thing, but it does seem to me if we're going to take a hand 
 in this game that now is the accepted time. Talk about tha 
 hanging of Sandy Kinchen being a rash proceeding. So it was, 
 gentlemen hobgoblins, but who's responsible for it? Why this 
 here same infernal devil that brained old Granny Bascombe with 
 3 chopping ax. Nobody but him, as I could prove before our 
 
How Young Mr. Templeton Changes His Mind. 119 
 
 Dreadful Ulema right now, if it was in order for me to do so. 
 Ain't he responsible for the hanging of Sandy Kinchen? Didn't 
 I see him hit that old gray horse as hard as ever he could ? And 
 didn't I see the old horse jump when he hit him? Wasn't it that 
 lick, and that jump, that sent the nigger out of the world before 
 you could say Jack Robinson? If it wasn't that lick, and that 
 jump, will somebody have the kindness to tell just what it was 
 that sent the nigger out of the world? Now here, now here, 
 fellow-citizens and hobgoblins, you fellows just listen to me a 
 minute. Let's treat this *oss-eyed Dutchman just like he treated 
 Sandy Kinchen. He can't complain of that, because we'd be feed 
 ing him, so to speak, out of his own spoon. I, for one, am tired of 
 waiting and of all this tomfoolery talk about the courts. I know 
 the hobgoblin that spoke last is a gentleman, and I indorse all he 
 says in a general way, but Cross-eyed Jack ought to have been 
 at the devil long ago, and we'll be much to blame, in my opinion, 
 if we don't send him there just as soon as we can lay hands on 
 him. Talk about courts, haven't we got a court of our own, and 
 what's it for if it can't settle the hash of a lowflung Dutchman 
 without any more tomfoolery about it? I hope the Dreadful 
 Ulema will get down to business right now and order this misera 
 ble Dutchman brought out of jail, where he's eating public 
 vittles and getting fat. And I hope the Dreadful Ulema will 
 make me one of the party that's to cut him off from his rations 
 and fetch him here. If so I will obey this order of the Dreadful 
 Ulema, as I will obey every other order of the Dreadful Ulema, 
 and I'll bring a rope along to hang the scoundrel just as soon 
 as sentence of death has been clapped upon him. So I will, 
 fellow-citizens and hobgoblins, and all of you that know me at 
 all know I mean just what I say." 
 
 With these vehement words did Teddy Mclntosh free his mind 
 of the burden that had been weighing it down, and many of his 
 younger friends, when he was through, congratulated him upon 
 his effort and indorsed his sentiments. 
 
 Randolph Pearson, however, had, more than any other one 
 man, the confidence of the clan, and he disposed of the question 
 at issue in few words. The time had not come, he said, for in 
 terfering with the due course of law in this matter. As yet the 
 clan could not even afford to gravely consider such a proposition. 
 There had been but a single continuance of the case, and they 
 could never justify themselves if, exasperated by this slight delay, 
 
120 The K. K. K. 
 
 they sought now by violent means to take the accused from the 
 proper authorities and dispose of him themselves. He admitted 
 that any delay in the punishment of so heinous an offender was 
 discouraging. He hoped the time would come in Tennessee 
 when in every county some judicial tribunal would exist that 
 could openly try the perpetrator of a monstrous crime very soon 
 after its commission. Then there would be no reason why any 
 good citizen should join in a mob or countenance mob law. 
 Reckless and lawless persons would still resort to such methods, 
 but good citizens, having a better method for the redress of evils, 
 would frown upon them, and mob law would no longer be toler 
 ated. Good citizens now should strive to amend their statutes 
 and as long as it was possible uphold the constituted authorities. 
 Crime must be punished. Self-preservation was the first law of 
 nature, and wherever in any very flagrant case there was an utter 
 failure of justice through the courts, the citizens of that commu 
 nity had the right to protect themselves from future outrage by 
 punishing the offender. It certainly could not be said now that 
 there was an utter failure of justice in the Ankerstrom case. At 
 the next term there would doubtless be an open trial, and the ends 
 of justice would be reached without resort to illegal methods. 
 The members of the clan should see to it that every witness was 
 again in place when the case was called in January. Till then 
 they must possess their souls in patience, and do all in their power 
 to calm the excitement and quiet the indignation that existed in 
 the public mind. 
 
 When Pearson had finished there was a silence of some 
 moments, and then Mr. Bob Lee Templeton arose and delivered 
 a smooth talk. He said he had been very much put out indeed 
 that day in court, and had expressed himself pretty plainly in 
 town and on the road home. He wished to say now, however, 
 that after listening to his friend Pearson, and turning the matter 
 over in his own mind, he was convinced the clan would do well 
 to heed the advice just given them. It was natural to get mad, 
 and indulge in violent talk, but the wise thing to do now was to 
 await the further action of the court. He had been of differ 
 ent mind a few hours before, but then his angry passions were 
 aroused. Now he had cooled down and heartily indorsed the 
 sentiments uttered by Mr. Pearson. 
 
 The Ankerstrom question was thus disposed of without the 
 formality of a vote, and the discussion drifted to other matters. 
 
How Young Mr. Templeton Changes His Mind. 
 
 Many horses and mules had bee.n stolen in the vidnity of late, 
 and it seemed impossible to get on the trail of the thieves. Sus 
 picion at first rested on the negroes, but it soon became evident 
 that a systematic plan was being operated by which the animals 
 were transported entirely out of the country after they were 
 stolen. This precluded the idea of the persistent scheme of dep 
 redations being entirely the work of negroes. If they were en 
 gaged in it there must be shrewder villains behind them, prompt 
 ing them and reaping in the main the fruits of their disonesty. 
 The strange thing was that immediate pursuit, as a rule, did not 
 enable the owners of the stolen animals to discover which way 
 they went. They disappeared entirely, but no man could say 
 how. It was also singular that no suspicious strangers had been 
 seen lurking about in the neighborhood. The discussion brought 
 out the fact that an old peddler had been lately on several farms 
 selling cheap jewelry and such articles mainly to negroes, but 
 there was no reason to suspect he had any ulterior design beyond 
 the -disposal of his shoddy wares. They resolved, however, to 
 have an eye on him, and to keep a sharp lookout for all strangers 
 and a close watch on several negroes in the locality of notoriously 
 bad character. Then the clan adjourned without very much 
 accomplished, but in better humor on the whole than when they 
 assembled. 
 
122 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. N 
 
 MR. BOB LEE TEMPLETON AND MATILDA, THE HOUSEMAID, HAVE A 
 SINGULAR EXPERIENCE WITH A BIBLE AGENT. 
 
 MR. BOB LEE TEMPLETON having devoted a month or two to 
 the faithful discharge of his duties at home concluded he had 
 earned a vacation, and that a little trip to the Marrowbone Hills 
 would be improving to his health, as well as consoling to his 
 feelings. Mounting his faithful steed therefore he set out one 
 fine morning in the late fall, or early winter, with the intention 
 of drawing rein about dark at the residence of Major Habersham, 
 which, he had concluded, would be a convenient stopping place 
 for the night. As to the next stage of his journey, or whether 
 indeed there would be any subsequent stage, was a matter which 
 he had not fully decided in his own mind. 
 
 As he pursued his way the air was bracing and crisp, the fields 
 were all of sober hue from the touch of the frost that had dyed 
 them a uniform brown, the farm hands were singing at their work 
 as they pulled the ears of corn from the tall stalks, and all things 
 combined to put the young gentleman in an excellent humor with 
 himself and the world at large. When the noon hour came he 
 stopped and whiled away an hour or two with a farmer acquaint 
 ance, and resuming then his journey, proceeded briskly on toward 
 his destination. His steed seemed to know there was good fodder 
 ahead and quickened its pace so decidedly that as twilight ap 
 proached many familiar objects along the road informed the rider 
 that he was nearing the premises of Major Habersham. The 
 days were short now, and night closed in early, so that welcome 
 lights from the windows greeted him as he rode up to the gate. 
 He was forcibly reminded of an evening in the preceding June, 
 when nearing the same premises kindly lights from the same 
 windows beamed on him invitingly. There was this important 
 difference, however, that then it was summer, and the heat re 
 quired that all the windows be raised, while now it was frosty 
 
A Singular Experience With a Bible Agent. 123 
 
 autumn, when the windows must be closed and the curtains 
 drawn to make things snug and comfortable; and this other 
 important difference, that then he was a stranger, and now he was 
 an intimate acquaintance, on excellent terms with all the dwellers 
 on the premises, from' the house dog up. 
 
 So when Mr. Templeton rode up to the gate he dismounted 
 without an invitation and hitched his horse at the rack near by. 
 He then pursued his way briskly along the brick pavement that 
 led to the house and knocked at the door. Not receiving any re 
 sponse he knocked again, not quite so softly. Not hearing this 
 second summons he smote the door a third time even more ve 
 hemently, and now it was that answering footsteps were heard 
 along the hall floor. He assumed without much difficulty a 
 cheerful aspect of countenance, and made ready to greet a certain 
 young lady whose custom it was to appear in person and welcome 
 visitors to her father's' mansion. When the bolt was drawn, how 
 ever, and the door turned upon its hinges, there stood before him 
 not the somewhat diminutive figure of Miss Polly Habersham, 
 but a damsel exceeding her considerably in stature, whose face 
 was about the color of a ripe Florida orange, and whose manners, 
 though a trifle distant, were elegant. 
 
 When the damsel above mentioned had thrown wide the hall 
 door and beheld Mr. Templeton standing without, she bowed 
 gracefully and smiled condescendingly. Mr. Bob Lee Temple- 
 ton, however, was a friendly fellow perhaps a little too much in 
 clined to be familiar on short acquaintance and so he called 
 heartily out when he saw the orange-colored maiden before him: 
 
 "Hello, Matilda, where's the folks?" 
 
 "They aren't here," answered Miss Matilda, accompanying 
 her reply with a second obeisance. 
 
 "Nobody?" 
 
 " No one at all," replied the hand-maiden with a decided ac 
 cent on the last syllable. " That is to say, sir, there isn't any 
 person here that belongs here." 
 
 "That's the Dickens," said Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, as he 
 pushed by her and entered the hall. Then he stood and looked 
 about him as if uncertain himself what to do next. 
 
 " They've all gone to Nashville, I think, sir, to consult a physi 
 cian about Mrs. Habersham, I think, sir." 
 
 " Is she worse ? " inquired the visitor, when the polite hand* 
 maiden had volunteered this information. 
 
124 The K. K. K. 
 
 " We cannot say she's worse, sir, and yet we cannot say, upon 
 the other hand, that she's any better, sir." 
 
 Mr. Templeton stroked his chin, which was beardless, and 
 made no reply. 
 
 " We have fears of her, sir," continued Matilda, " and we have 
 hopes of her." 
 
 " That's the Dickens," said Mr. Bob Lee Templeton. 
 
 " It is indeed," replied Matilda. 
 
 " Can you give me a drink of water ? " inquired Mr. Bob Lee 
 Templeton. 
 
 " Indeed I can, sir," replied Matilda. 
 
 Mr. Templeton drank the water and next inquired : 
 
 " Can you give me a strong cup of coffee, Matilda, and some 
 bread and butter, and two or three slices of ham, and any little 
 jimcracks that may come handy? I'm hungry as a wolf." ' 
 
 " Indeed I can, sir," replied Matilda. 
 
 " And say, Matilda, you haven't said when the folks are coming 
 back." 
 
 " About the middle of next week, sir," replied Matilda. 
 
 " That's the devil," said Mr. Bob Lee Templeton. 
 
 " So it is, sir," replied Matilda. 
 
 Mr. Bob Lee Templeton went into the parlor, which was a 
 very snug parlor as a usual thing, but looked quite dull and com 
 fortless now. He made believe to read a book for a few minutes, 
 and fingered the keys of the piano for a few minutes, though he 
 couldn't strike a tune. Then he flung himself down on the sofa and 
 was lying there outstretched when Matilda summoned him to sus 
 tenance. 
 
 Mr. Templeton did full duty to the repast, and when he had 
 nourished himself sufficiently he again addressed the hand-maiden. 
 
 " I suppose I take the usual room upstairs, Matilda ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; yes, sir ; that is to say, sir ; oh, yes indeed, sir; of 
 course, sir," replied Matilda in some confusion. " We will see to 
 it, Mr. Templeton, that you have the very same room." 
 
 " If there's any trouble about it, Matilda " 
 
 " There isn't any trouble about it at all, sir," replied Matilda. 
 " There isn't the least trouble in the world about it, sir, only, sir, 
 there's another person in the room." 
 
 " Another person in the room ? " said Mr. Templeton in some 
 astonishment. 
 
 " Yes indeed, sir ; so there is, sir, A very nice old gentleman in 
 the room," 
 
A Singular Experience With a Bible Agent. 125 
 
 " Why I thought you said there was nobody at home ? " 
 
 " There is no one at home, Mr. Templeton," replied Matilda, 
 evidently laboring under some embarrassment. " That is, sir, no 
 one that belongs here, sir ; none of the family, sir. And you know 
 the rules of the house, Mr. Templeton; and you know how very 
 strictly I always adhere to the rules of the house when the estab 
 lishment is left in my charge ; but, sir, this is such a nice old gen 
 tleman, and such a pious old gentleman, and such a well-behaved 
 old gentleman in every way, that I thought it right to let him stay 
 all night, and I thought it right to put him in our nicest bed 
 room." 
 
 "What's his name?" 
 
 " That I cannot tell you, sir, because it's a foreign name, and it 
 will take a foreigner to pronounce it. But he was a good Chris 
 tian man over among the Turks, I think he called the people, and 
 they used him very badly, and killed about half his family, and 
 he's now selling Bibles to get money to bring the other half over 
 here, sir. He's a very nice old gentleman, sir, and a very pious 
 old gentleman, and has very agreeable manners." 
 
 "Has he gone to bed?" 
 
 " No, sir, he's just gone out to walk a little and muse," said 
 Matilda tenderly, " upon his melancholy situation. He'll be back 
 presently." 
 
 "Well, Matilda," replied Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, being a 
 whole souled sort of a fellow, " you did quite right to take this 
 unfortunate stranger in and to give him the best room in the 
 house. As for me you can stick me anywheres. I shall sit up 
 until the old gentleman comes back, and have a talk with him. 
 I've no doubt I shall be highly entertained ; for I have long wished 
 to know something of the condition of the Christians in Turkey." 
 
 After so long a time the old gentleman came in, having con 
 sumed an hour or so in strolling about over the premises, musing 
 upon hjs melancholy situation and smoking his pipe. He soon 
 proved himself to be quite an entertaining old gentleman, and 
 succeeded in making himself understood more readily than Mr. 
 Templeton expected, seeing he was but recently over from a for 
 eign country. His gestures were as eloquent and significant as 
 those of a deaf and dumb man, and he had picked up a few words 
 of English with which to supplement these when it was necessary 
 to make out the sense. Altogether the little old man managed to 
 convey his meaning clearly enough, and what with motions of the 
 
126 The K. K. K. 
 
 hands, scraps of language, and expressive changes of counte 
 nance, he told a tale that aroused the compassion of the sympa 
 thetic Mr. Templeton, as it had previously done that of Matilda, 
 the housemaid. Such atrocities as the cruel Turks perpetrated 
 upon good Christians in the lands beyond the seas Mr. Temple- 
 ton would hardly have conceived possible, and indeed would not 
 have credited if the story had been told by other than an eyewit 
 ness, and a very earnest and truthful eyewitness at that, such as 
 the old gentleman undoubtedly was. When the old man, some 
 what wearied for he had come afoot retired to his room, Mr. 
 Templeton meditated a while by the fire, and then addressed the 
 housemaid as she was passing. 
 
 ' That's a nice old man, Matilda." 
 
 " It is indeed, sir," replied Matilda. 
 
 " He has seen sights in his time." 
 
 " He has indeed, sir," replied Matilda. 
 
 " How many Bibles did you subscribe for, Matilda ? " 
 
 " Only one, sir," replied Matilda. 
 
 " Put me down for five," said Mr. Templeton. 
 
 ".Indeed I will, sir," replied Matilda effusively. " For if ever 
 there was a nice old gentleman, as you say, sir, I think, sir, it's 
 this old gentleman. And if ever there was an old gentleman, sir, 
 which has had calamaties befall him, I'm quite sure, sir, it's this 
 old gentleman. I'll go upstairs right now and tap at his door 
 and tell him to put you down for five. The money is not to be 
 paid until he comes back with the Bibles, which shows to my 
 mind that he is a very honest, straightforward sort of a person." 
 
 " It does indeed," cried Mr. Templeton. " It speaks well for 
 him." 
 
 " Such misfortunes, sir, as have come upon the old gentle 
 man," continued Matilda. " Why, sir, it's enough to make a per 
 son's blood boil to hear him tell of the troubles he has seen 
 through those heathen Turks." 
 
 "Sho-nuff, Matilda?" ejaculated Mr. Templeton. 
 
 " Yes indeed, Mr. Templeton, su-r-r-e enough," replied Matilda, 
 rolling the " r " over her tongue as genteel folks invariably do. 
 " And to think, sir, of the great sorrow that's weighing him down 
 on account of having members of his own family still over there 
 at the mercy, as one might say, of those heathen Turks. Did you 
 say five, sir ? " 
 
 " Six," responded Mr. Templeton promptly, " And say to the 
 
A Singular Experience With a Bible Agent. 127 
 
 old gentleman, Matilda, that the binding may be of his own 
 choice." 
 
 " Oh, sir, that is kind." 
 
 " And say, Matilda." 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " The old gentleman, you tell me, came afoot, and is no doubt 
 a little short of funds. Hand him this ten-dollar bill, Matilda, 
 with my compliments, and request him to place the amount as a 
 credit upon my subscription." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, indeed," replied Matilda, bowing. " Oh, that 
 is very nice of you, I'm su-r-re. The good Lord will be certain 
 to reward you for your noble behavior, and I'll not forget, sir, to 
 mention the matter to Miss Marie." 
 
 With these comforting words Matilda hastened upstairs to in 
 form the old gentleman of Mr. Templeton's generous subscrip 
 tion, and of his thoughtful cash instalment thereon. 
 
 I defy any one to do a meritorious act upon this earth with 
 out being immediately repaid for it in the solace such righteous 
 conduct will bring to his soul. Mr. Bob Lee Templeton had 
 been fretting, as we know, during most of the evening over his 
 hard luck in not seeing any of the Habersham family after his 
 long day's ride with that special object in view. Now, however, a 
 feeling of content stole over him as his fancy conjured up the 
 vision of a grateful old man setting down his subscription for 
 six Bibles and pocketing the advance payment of ten dollars on 
 same. When he retired to rest his mind pursued the grateful 
 train of reflection thus aroused, and his sympathies went out 
 toward all the unfortunates upon the earth wheresoever they 
 might be. He bethought him Mr. Bob Lee Templeton did of 
 the great difference between his own worldly condition and that 
 of the poor old Bible vender roaming a fugitive from his far-off 
 home. How strange it was, he said to himself, that divine provi 
 dence should turn the cold shoulder, so to speak, on many deserv 
 ing people in this life and bestow comfort and happiness on 
 others far less worthy. And how ungrateful and unbecoming 
 said Mr. Bob Lee Templeton to himself was the behavior of 
 that man who having this world's goods, and seeing his brother 
 in need, shut up his compassion from him. Then naturally Mr. 
 Templeton indulged in the comfortable reflection that his own 
 case was not by any means the one just depicted, but quite the 
 reverse. Then he fancied the surprise and gratification of Miss 
 
128 The K. K. K. 
 
 Polly when his meritorious conduct came to be reported to her. 
 Then his pleasing- fancies and his consciousness faded away to 
 gether and he fell asleep. 
 
 Mr. Bob Lee Templeton was a young man who usually re 
 signed himself to the arms of Morpheus as soon as he sought his 
 couch and remained there contentedly until somebody shook him 
 or the breakfast bell rang. On this occasion he slumbered even 
 more deeply than was his wont, for he was tired from his long 
 day's ride. After a while he was startled by such a rapping at 
 his door as would have roused one who had gone to bed dead 
 drunk and was snoring off his intoxication. 
 
 Opening his eyes wide Mr. Templeton saw it was broad day 
 light, and springing out of his bed he recognized the voice of 
 Matilda, keeping excited accompaniment to the constant rapping 
 she maintained at the door. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Templeton, sir ; wake up, if you please, sir. Some 
 thing has happened, sir, that I was not in the least expecting. 
 Indeed, sir, there has, and the nee-groes on the place are all in a 
 state of dreadful excitement over the matter. It is a very 
 strange thing that has happened, one that I was not in the least 
 expecting, sir; not in the least, sir." 
 
 " What's up with the niggers ? " inquired Mr. Templeton, 
 throwing the door open as he spoke; for having leaped into his 
 trousers, he considered himself now in fit condition to receive 
 company. 
 
 " Oh, sir, it isn't the nee-groes at all. It's a great deal worse 
 than that, sir. They have stolen your horse, Mr. Templeton." 
 
 "My horse?" 
 
 " Yes indeed, sir. And more than that ; they have stolen Miss 
 Marie's horse too the one with the blaze face they call Light- 
 foot." 
 
 " Well, damn the luck," exclaimed Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, 
 for he wist not what to say. 
 
 " Yes indeed," cried Matilda. " I say so too, Mr. Templeton. 
 And that isn't all, sir. You know the nice old gentleman you 
 ordered the five Bibles from ? Well, sir, he's up and gone as sure 
 as the world; and not a soul has the slightest idea when he left 
 the house or which way he went." 
 
 " What, left in the middle of the night, without saying a word 
 to anybody ? " cried Mr. Templeton. 
 
 " That's just exactly what he did, sir. And I can't help think 
 ing, sir, and saying, sir, that his conduct was a little strange." 
 
A Singular Experience With a Bible Agent. 129 
 
 " He's an infernal old humbug," asserted Mr. Templeton, tying 
 his shoes hurriedly as he spoke. 
 
 " Yes, sir, and to think, sir, that I put him in the very best 
 bed ; and put you, sir, in the room that we keep, so to speak, for 
 every-day people." 
 
 " No odds about that," replied Mr. Templeton, and he flung on 
 his waistcoat and top coat and began searching about the room 
 for his hat. 
 
 " It's very kind of you to say so, sir. There it is, sir, hang 
 ing on the chair round over in the corner. And I hope, sir, Miss 
 Marie and the Major will take the same view of the matter as 
 you do, sir. And I hope, sir, that Mrs. Habersham, being quite 
 nervous in her disposition, won't find it out at all." 
 
 " That's all right," responded Mr. Bob Lee Templeton. ' The 
 blaze-face horse, and my horse too, did you say ? " 
 
 " Both of them, sir, as sure as the world," said Matilda. 
 
 " Well, damn the luck," cried Mr. Bob Lee Templeton again, 
 as he hastened down the steps. 
 
 " Yes indeed, sir," replied Matilda, following, " that's what I 
 say." 
 
 When the young gentleman reached the stable lot he found 
 nearly all the negroes on the place gathered there. The padlock 
 that secured the door had been picked with a rusty nail, which 
 was found close beside it on the ground. The two horses men 
 tioned had been selected from several other animals that stood 
 within, and two saddles for male riders had been taken to go with 
 the steeds. The inquiry that Templeton at once set on foot did 
 not elicit much information that was of service to him. The sta 
 ble door had been locked as usual the night before, and the next 
 morning it was found open and the two horses missing. That 
 the old book peddler was connected with the transaction there 
 could be no doubt ; but he must have had a confederate, for surely 
 no thief would be bold enough to endeavor to escape from a com 
 munity riding one stolen horse and leading another. A strange 
 negro had been seen loafing about the neighborhood for the past 
 day or two, and many were ready to jump to the conclusion that 
 he and the old book man were partners in the nefarious business 
 of horse stealing though there was no direct evidence upon 
 which to base such a theory. The notion, however, once hatched 
 throve apace, and soon there was positive conviction in the minds 
 of those present that the suspicious African had a hand in the 
 9 
 
130 The K. K. K. 
 
 robbery that had just been perpetrated. At the gate that led 
 from the stable lot a large human track was found, which it was 
 confidently asserted could not have been made by any one resid 
 ing on the premises. 
 
 " Dis here's a nigger track ! " exclaimed one self-constituted de 
 tective, scrutinizing closely the fresh impression in the earth. 
 " Dey ain't no white man gwy tote such a foot as dis." 
 
 " Lem-me tell you, lem-me tell you," cried the old man Uncle 
 Davy, who had favored the sheriff with his views on the occasion 
 of that officer's last visit to the place, " all dis comes of givin' a 
 furriner de company room of de house, and makin' Marse Bob 
 Lee Templeton here put up wid what he could git. And all dat 
 comes of fotchin' a mularter gal out'n town to run things on dis 
 place her own fashion when de white folks is away." 
 
 Matilda up to this moment had been a conspicuous member of 
 the assembly, but finding herself thus pointedly alluded to she 
 turned indignantly and made her way trippingly toward the 
 house. The old man did not fail to observe her retreat and was 
 encouraged thereby to continue his strictures. 
 
 " Never mind, nev-er mind. Lightfoot was de horse dat sot 
 Miss Polly off so, and now he done gone wid dat low down 
 furriner and you'll have to take de road wid um. You been 
 cuttin' some mighty tall shines 'bout here, gal, but dis here job will 
 do you up." 
 
 " She's all right, Uncle Davy," said Templeton kindly. " That 
 old thief would have fooled anybody. He fooled me, and he 
 would have fooled you if he had got a chance at you." 
 
 " Dat he wouldn't, Marse Bob," replied the old man, somewhat 
 disconcerted at finding Matilda's cause espoused by the young 
 gentleman. " He mout a fooled you, and he mout a fooled dat 
 yander mularter gal, but de man dat's to fool Uncle Davy ain't 
 been born yit." 
 
 " Maybe so, Uncle Davy, but tell 'em to bring out the best 
 horse that's left on the place and I'll see if I can't get on the track 
 of the scoundrels." Saying which the young gentleman returned 
 to the house to swallow a hasty breakfast and make ready for the 
 ride he proposed to take. 
 
 Templeton had not attended a single meeting of the K. K. K. 
 since the night of his initiation, but he was resolved now to hunt 
 up his friend, Teddy Mclntosh, and through him to arouse at 
 once certain other active members of the order. By prompt pur 
 suit he hoped to overtake the thieves before they were entirely 
 
A Singular Experience With a Bible Agent. 131 
 
 out of the country. The horses they had stolen were easily de 
 scribed, and by diligent inquiry the direction they had taken 
 could soon be learned. "Once on their trail with two or three 
 zealous comrades he did not propose to give over the chase until 
 the scoundrels were apprehended and the stolen animals recov 
 ered. As he was about to set out old Uncle Davy, who was 
 a privileged character on the place, gave him some useful 
 advice. 
 
 " Don't you ride round dese parts atter dark, Marse Bob; ef 
 you do de Ku Klux will sholy git you. Don't you set your head 
 to'ds no place dat you can't reach afo' candlelight. Dar's all 
 kinds of devils and ghosteses in dem Marrowbone Hills, and dey 
 walks mostly in de night time. Soon as de sun go down ef you 
 ain't in some house or 'nother, you watch out for de Ku Klux, and 
 ef you meets one un 'em you put de lash to your hoss and make 
 tracks from dar as fass as you kin." 
 
 " How will I know one of them if I see him, Uncle Davy ? " 
 inquired Templeton. 
 
 " You'll know 'um wharever you see 'um. Dey ain't no com 
 mon lot, I tells you. Some un 'um is dressed in black and some 
 in white. Some is on foot, bust mostly dey rides hosses dat look 
 zackly like sho-nuff hosses, but dey ain't. Some is all scropched 
 up, and t'others is long and slim as a fence rail. Dey was in dis 
 country 'bout de time freedom come, and one night dey run me 
 twell my tongue drap out'n my mouth. Ef I hadn't broke for de 
 creek, and crossed dat, dey'd a got me sho." 
 
 " How did that save you ? " 
 
 " Why hi, mun ; don't you know a witch can't cross runnin' 
 water? When dey got to de creek dey stopped and jabbered 
 dar a while, and den all turn back. Dat what make me know for 
 sartain dey wa'n't no humans." 
 
 " Did you ever meet any of them again ? " 
 
 " Did I ? You takes me for a fool, does you, Marse Bob ? Dat 
 one time done me, lem-me tell you. Atter dat I done my travel- 
 in' by daylight, bekase one foot race wid de Ku Klux crowd be 
 hind me was sufficient." 
 
 " What went with the Ku Klux that were in the country then ? " 
 
 " Dat's a question, Marse Bob, dat de smartest man in de world 
 can't answer. Dey all speerited deyselves away, and folks was 
 in hopes dey was gone for good; but now here dey done come 
 ag'in," 
 
I 3 2 The K. K. K. 
 
 " I'll look out for 'em, Uncle Davy," replied Templeton as he 
 rode away. 
 
 " You git in de house by candlelight, you do dat," said the old 
 man. " Dat's de onliest way to keep de Ku Klux from ketchin' you. 
 As for dat nigger what helped de ole white man to take dem 
 hosses, if ever you gits him, Marse Bob, you fetch him back here 
 for me to look at. Niggers has been stealin' chickens a long 
 time, but when dey git to stealin' hosses dey've riz." 
 
 Templeton rode off at a gallop, and before the day was through 
 had gathered at least a dozen members of his secret order to aid 
 him in pursuit of the horse thieves. They went out in different 
 directions, made diligent inquiry, and patroled the principal 
 roads at night, but received little information that could profit 
 them in their search. Telegrams of course were sent off and re 
 wards offered, and they hoped after a while to get some return 
 from these efforts to arrest the outlaws, but the strange thing was 
 that they could not be traced out of the neighborhood in which 
 the crime had been committed. Horses cannot be easily hidden 
 so as to escape observation, and if they travel the highway by day 
 or night they will be seen or heard. Only one clue did Temple- 
 ton and his friends get as to the direction the thieves had taken, 
 and that clue was lost almost as soon as found. A country doc 
 tor riding in a narrow lane on the night of the robbery met two 
 men on horseback. One of these was a negro and the other a 
 white man. It was after midnight, and neither accosted him as 
 they brushed close beside him in the road. He regarded them as 
 suspicious characters, but being alone did not deem it prudent to 
 interrupt them. This seemed to make it reasonably certain that 
 the thieves, as suspected, were a negro and a white man, but 
 where they went after the robbery, and how they managed to get 
 out of the country with the stolen property, was for a long time 
 a mystery. 
 
 Miss Marie alias Polly Habersham did not recover her 
 blaze-faced horse called Lightfoot, and Mr. Robert Lee Temple- 
 ton for some time bemoaned the loss of his roadster that traveled 
 so smoothly under the saddle. Miss Polly, they said, rode to 
 church several times that fall on a pacing mule, though it is an un 
 deniable fact that she might have gone to the place of worship in 
 a buggy if she had been so minded. Major Habersham for some 
 weeks withdrew his mind from the state of the country at large, 
 and began forming plans in his head for the right ordering of 
 
A Singular Experience With a Bible Agent. 133 
 
 things in his own immediate locality. There was some wonder 
 ment and much grumbling in the community, and folks gener 
 ally agreed that matters had come to a Dickens of a pass in the 
 Marrowbone Hills and the regions thereabout. Horses were 
 stolen, houses burned, women murdered, and the community 
 seemed powerless to protect itself from such depredations. Most 
 of the outlaws got away unmolested, and if they caught one now 
 and then he was turned over to the law, which most people re 
 garded as a sort of house of refuge for scoundrels. 
 
 Teddy Mclntosh more than once moved in the secret councils 
 of his order that when the clan caught a scoundrel the clan should 
 deal with that scoundrel, and not permit the dilatory courts to 
 screen him from punishment. This resolution was, however, al 
 ways voted down, and the prudent members of the clan still perse 
 vered in the determination to aid the law in the apprehension of 
 criminals, and to labor thereafter for the punishment of such of 
 fenders through the courts. Which conclusion on their part was 
 undoubtedly wise and commendable. 
 
134 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SOME JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS MEET AT THE TAVERN ; AND THE CASE 
 OF THE STATE VERSUS ANKERSTROM IS AGAIN CALLED IN COURT. 
 
 IT was several weeks later, that is in the month of January of 
 the following year, that Attorney Palaver mounted a good nag, 
 hired from a livery stable, and set his face toward the hill coun 
 try lying along the upper Cumberland. As a general thing it was 
 he who looked after such business as fell to the lot of the firm in 
 the outside counties of the judicial circuit, while the more sedate 
 Slowboy remained at home to mind the office. Palaver himself did 
 not as some starvelings in his profession were compelled to do 
 make the round regularly with the judge and attorney-general to 
 pick up stray crumbs, but when a fat fee was offered in another 
 county he went thither to earn it, and such occasional outings 
 were in every way agreeable to him. He enjoyed the ride if the 
 weather was good and the country roads in tolerable condition. 
 He enjoyed the scenery and the various objects of interest along 
 the route, for he was a close observer, and there was a good deal 
 of sentiment in his composition. He enjoyed the quips and jokes 
 of his brother lawyers, if, as was usually the case, there were 
 others in the company. And lastly he enjoyed the good whisky 
 that was invariably taken along by some prudent member of the 
 party to have in readiness in case of snake bites. 
 
 The fact is, Lawyer Palaver enjoyed life, and, like a true phi 
 losopher, made the most of it day by day. In the practice of his 
 profession he relished all the little exciting incidents that arose 
 from time to time to put him on his mettle and bring out his talent 
 before the world. So much did he delight in everything connected 
 with his chosen profession that it was a settled rule of his never 
 to turn a lawsuit loose as long as he could hold on to it. In crim 
 inal cases, where he nearly always appeared on the side of the de 
 fense, he pursued the well-known Fabian policy, and usually ex- 
 
Some Jolly Good Fellows Meet at the Tavern. 135 
 
 hausted not only opposing counsel, but judge, jury, witnesses, and 
 a long-suffering public, before ever he would permit himself to be 
 drawn into a decisive engagement. It required, of course, great 
 adroitness and skill to be able to conduct his campaigns on this 
 plan, but these were precisely the qualities which Palaver abun 
 dantly possessed, and which it was his chief pleasure to display. 
 He was intimately acquainted with all the maneuvers whereby the 
 progress of justice may be hindered in the courts, and was especi 
 ally skilled in the use of that formidable legal weapon known as 
 the affidavit. Sancho Panza, the knight of La Mancha thought, 
 was born with a bellyful of proverbs, and there were not wanting 
 those among Palaver's legal acquaintances who insisted that he 
 had been born with a bellyful of affidavits. However this might 
 be, he certainly had one ready for all occasions, and it was a cold 
 day indeed when however hopeless might seem to be his chance 
 to effect a further postponement of the issue he did not turn up 
 with an affidavit to fit the case. 
 
 On this particular winter morning then behold our friend Pala 
 ver astraddle of a well-gaited nag pursuing his way toward the 
 village of Ashton, where the case of the State versus Ankerstrom 
 had been set for trial next day. He was in fine feather, and every 
 thing indicated that he was cocked and primed for the important 
 trial that was ahead of him. Two or three brother lawyers were 
 along, and the prisoner, Cross-eyed Jack, was along, and alto 
 gether they made a goodly company of gentlemen traveling to 
 court. With friendly discourse they put the miles speedily enough 
 behind them, and about nightfall reached in good trim the place 
 for which they were bound. Here Sanderson and Johan Anker 
 strom put up at the county jail, while the others, making their 
 way to the tavern, sought more agreeable quarters for the night. 
 
 Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, traveling from a different direction, 
 had reached the town some hours ahead of this party, and, being 
 young and upheaded, had engaged for himself the very best room 
 in the hostelry. During the evening meal, of which they all par 
 took as became hungry travelers, Mr. Templeton conversed freely 
 with the attorneys at table, and found them quite companionable 
 and gracious in their manners. The younger members of the 
 profession were somewhat disposed to air their learning and too 
 much inclined to be disputatious, but all were good-natured and 
 courteous, as became those whose daily task it was to take and 
 give hard knocks. Templeton, who was a gentleman, was pleased 
 
136 The K. K. K. 
 
 with this characteristic, and it elevated the legal fraternity in his 
 opinion. 
 
 After supper, as his apartment was roomy, and he had a good log 
 fire blazing on the hearth, first one and then another of the law 
 yers dropped into Templeton's "room, and soon without previous 
 agreement the entire number was assembled there. In all there 
 were about a dozen come from different quarters to attend court, 
 and, chairs having been brought, a free and easy offhand conver 
 sation began that was exciting to the actual participants and 
 highly entertaining to all others. Somebody reported that it was 
 drizzling rain on the outside, and somebody else remarked that 
 if such was the case there was nothing left for those under shelter 
 to do but take a drink. From that moment the bottle was pushed 
 briskly about, and the little gathering before many more golden 
 moments had sped was in high spirits. Mr. Templeton was a be 
 liever in the old maxim that when in Rome you should do as the 
 Romans do, and so he imbibed rather freely with those about him, 
 and presently was the loudest laugher in the crowd. A man may 
 drink, however, and not be drunk, and Mr. Templeton on this oc 
 casion, while a little thick-tongued toward the close of the even 
 ing, and somewhat glassy about the eyes, never, I am proud to 
 relate, lost for a moment the use of his legs. 
 
 Palaver, while the ranking member in point of age, was the 
 choicest spirit of the festive throng, and shortly before midnight 
 took the floor with the manifest purpose of retaining it till the 
 break-up of the entertainment. He spraddled his legs rather widely 
 apart, lifted his right hand in argumentative fashion, and began 
 a running discourse on matters and things in general. Interrup 
 tions were frequent, and many remarks hurled at him were of a 
 personal nature, but nothing could disconcert him. He not only 
 gave in every instance a Roland for an Oliver, but usually re 
 torted so successfully upon his unmannerly questioners that he 
 presently put all his adversaries to silence. Then he rambled on, 
 with none to molest him or make him afraid, till half his auditors 
 feigned to be asleep, and the other half were really so. The night 
 being now far spent the gathering dispersed to snatch as much 
 sleep as could be obtained before the court-house bell rang next 
 morning. 
 
 The following day to a late breakfast came Mr. Bob Lee Tem 
 pleton and two or three of the younger lawyers, the rest being 
 tardy. When the meal had been finished one of the attorneys took 
 
Some Jolly Good Fellows Meet at the Tavern. 137 
 
 Mr. Templeton aside, saying he wished to have words with him. 
 When they had retired a sufficient distance to avoid being over 
 heard he advised the young man to employ counsel to assist the 
 attorney-general in the Ankerstrom case. 
 
 " It is nothing to me, you understand," said the attorney, " but 
 I just thought I'd mention the matter to you and let you consider 
 it. It seems to me the public interest demands that Whackemall 
 have help in this Ankerstrom case. Palaver, I notice, represents 
 the defendant, and you may not know it, but he's the most dan 
 gerous man in our profession. Didn't you observe how he downed 
 every fellow that tackled him last night? " 
 
 Mr. Templeton's memory was not very clear as to the transac 
 tions of the preceding evening, but he retained a vague impression 
 that Palaver was the hero of the hour, and that he himself had 
 given him unstinted applause. 
 
 " I thought I'd mention the matter to you/' said the attorney. 
 "No harm in that?" 
 
 " None in the world," replied Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, cheer 
 fully. " Whackemall, as you say, seems to be an uncertain sort 
 of a man. I understood from him that there would be no trouble 
 about getting the case up at the last term, and there must be no 
 slip this time." 
 
 " He did his best," replied the attorney, who was a very gentle 
 manly sort of fellow. " Whackemall is a good man. A little 
 crusty now and then, but honest and forcible. Palaver, though, 
 can walk all over him in a criminal case. From all I can learn 
 this man Ankerstrom deserves hanging as richly as ever a scoun 
 drel did on this earth. As to whether he'll get his dues or not de 
 pends though, you understand, altogether on the way his case is 
 handled." 
 
 The result of the confab was that Mr. Templeton concluded to 
 employ assistant counsel for the prosecution in the Ankerstrom 
 case, and to pay the fee himself. He was a whole-souled young 
 gentleman, and his energies now were thoroughly enlisted on the 
 side of what he deemed to be law and justice in the case. He 
 struck a bargain, and a fair one, with the young attorney who had 
 given him the disinterested advice* and found him afterwards to 
 be a valuable ally, as well as a congenial companion. 
 
 The day was foggy, cold and disagreeable. It had rained hard 
 during the night, the roads were muddy and slippery, and the 
 watercourses swollen and difficult to ford. Still all the witnesses 
 
138 The K. K. K. 
 
 in the Ankerstrom case were on hand before nine o'clock, the 
 hour at which court would open. Templeton and Youngblood, 
 the new attorney, got them all together in the lower story of the 
 court-house, and a roll-call developed the fact that not one was 
 missing. Mrs. Hopson, the poor lady whose pantry had been 
 robbed, was present, and had brought her little daughter along 
 for the reason, as she said, that the little girl had kept one eye on 
 the marauder during the whole time he was in the house, while 
 each of the boys had his head under the cover. Templeton could 
 not see how her evidence would be material, but Youngblood ex 
 plained that flight was indicative of guilt, and this woman and 
 child would prove that the defendant came half-famished to their 
 house in the night time, with his head matted with leaves, show 
 ing he was in hiding somewhere near. For the same reason the 
 testimony of Pete, who also answered to his name, would be rele 
 vant, as he saw the defendant creep from his lair in the briar patch. 
 Jineral Beauregard would perhaps be excluded from the witness 
 stand, upon the double ground that he would find difficulty in 
 making himself understood and that there was nothing to show he 
 entertained a belief in a Supreme Being. The good lady who in 
 formed Mrs. Bascombe of the hanging of Sandy was among the 
 witnesses, dripping, but cheerful, and longing for the opportunity 
 to go over the whole narration again for the edification of the 
 court and bystanders. Many others were present, white, black, 
 male, female, young, old, and Mr. Youngblood checked off the 
 names of all on his paper as they answered to his call. 
 
 Miss Sue Bascombe rode up while the roll-call was proceed 
 ing, mounted on a strong horse, the tail of which had been com 
 pactly clubbed to keep that ornament from being bespattered with 
 mud. Templeton went out and helped her down. Then he es 
 corted her into the court-house and introduced her to Youngblood, 
 who seemed to be much pleased to meet her. 
 
 Mr. Randolph Pearson arrived early, and he and Templeton 
 rented a vacant store for the accommodation of the numerous wit 
 nesses during the three or four days for which the trial was ex 
 pected to last. They also rented a barn close at hand, in which all 
 the horses of the company could be stabled. Provender in abun 
 dance was bought and placed here, and Uncle Davy, from the 
 Habersham place, was, upon recommendation of Templeton, put 
 in charge of the improvised livery stable. These arrangements 
 complete, the two gentlemen felt themselves ready to enter into a 
 
Some Jolly Good Fellows Meet at the Tavern. 139 
 
 protracted engagement when the court-house bell rung at nine 
 o'clock. 
 
 Sheriff Sanderson had summoned a great array of jurors for the 
 occasion. The accused at the trial would be entitled to twenty- 
 four challenges without assigning any cause therefor, and the 
 State to ten upon the same excellent grounds : there must be twelve 
 jurors in the box, and so it required forty-six good and lawful 
 men to constitute a panel. This was the least number that would 
 suffice in any case where the indictment was for murder, but here 
 the whole community was familiar with the shocking tragedy at the 
 Bascombe place, and the exciting incidents attending the pursuit 
 and capture of the prisoner, Ankerstrom, and many of those sum 
 moned would be disqualified, as it was difficult to find a citizen 
 who had not formed an opinion as to the guilt of the accused. In 
 Tennessee to be a competent juror one's mind at the outset of the 
 investigation must be like a sheet of blank paper, upon which law 
 yers, witnesses and the court will inscribe matter for subsequent 
 consideration. The best juror in the world, one would think, 
 would be an intelligent, fair-minded man who had formed per 
 haps an offhand opinion from newspaper reading and promiscu 
 ous talk, but who stood ready to discard such opinion and give 
 the accused a fair hearing on the law and the evidence. Such a 
 one with us, however, would be challenged for cause, as he would 
 not be able to approach the investigation with an unbiased mind, 
 while an ignoramus, incapable of reaching a sound conclusion on 
 any subject, would be accepted as a competent juror. This rule 
 not only operates to make the execution of the criminal law weak 
 est in those cases where it should be strongest, but it not infre 
 quently balks entirely the administration of justice. News nowa 
 days travels fast and far, and when a shocking crime is committed 
 rumor and the daily papers carry the details into the most re-- 
 mote neighborhoods. Prudent and thoughtful people form opin 
 ions that might be changed upon the hearing of more trustworthy 
 evidence, and the weak and excitable jump to conclusions and 
 form prejudices from rumor that cannot be afterwards shaken 
 at all. The consequence is that the entire community is thus some 
 times disbarred from sitting as triers of the cause, and in a whole 
 county not twelve men can be found who are competent jurors. 
 This was practically the situation Sheriff Sanderson had to face 
 when he went forth to obtain a panel in the Ankerstrom case. In 
 stead of forty-six men he summoned a hundred, many of whom 
 
140 The K. K. K. 
 
 were so ignorant that, to use his own expression, they hardly knew 
 General Jackson was dead. These men were put down on the list 
 in the hope that they might not have heard at all of the Bascombe 
 murder. Yet as soon as they had gathered at the court-house 
 Sanderson found they nearly all knew something of the case, and 
 were ready to return a verdict of guilty against the prisoner be 
 fore a single witness was called to testify. 
 
 Court opened at the usual hour, and the apartment in which the 
 trial was to proceed was so packed with human beings that there 
 was hardly standing room behind the bar. Within the railing the 
 contracted space was nearly filled with lawyers, favored guests, 
 and female witnesses, who were given seats here till the time came 
 for them to be sworn and sent beyond the hearing of the evidence. 
 After some delay the prisoner was brought in handcuffed and 
 under charge of six or eight officers. This was not from appre 
 hension that he might escape, but for fear the excited and angry 
 crowd would seize him as soon as they laid eyes on him and do 
 him to death in the very hall of justice. Nothing but the well- 
 known firmness of Sanderson prevented an outbreak as the officers 
 edged their way through the throng ; and as it was the expression 
 of animosity that rested on every countenance boded ill for the 
 prisoner, for from this hostile assemblage were to be selected the 
 twelve jurors who would decide his fate. 
 
 " Is the State ready ? " inquired the judge when the clerk had 
 called the Ankerstrom case. 
 
 The attorney-general sat by a table, and at his side was the 
 young gentleman who had been employed as assistant counsel. 
 This latter had a note-book and a well-sharpened pencil to take 
 down the testimony of the various witnesses, there being no regu 
 lar stenographer at hand. 
 
 " The State is ready," answered the attorney-general promptly, 
 in response to the inquiry of the court. 
 
 " Is the defendant ready? " inquired the judge, looking now in 
 the direction of the prisoner. 
 
 Palaver up to this moment had been engaged in friendly conver 
 sation with a brother attorney upon a subject wholly foreign to the 
 matter in hand. When in the midst of this he found himself ac 
 costed by the judge, he rose and asked for a little time in which to 
 confer with his client. Having retired to a back room he remained 
 for some while, and then returned into court with the statement 
 that he found it would be necessary to prepare an affidavit, ancl 
 
Some Jolly Good Fellows Meet at the Tavern. 141 
 
 he hoped the honorable court would indulge him for a reasonable 
 length of time while he devoted himself to this task. He was ab 
 sent now for full three-quarters of an hour ; indeed, remained away 
 so long that first the bystanders, and then the judge, grew im 
 patient. 
 
 The sheriff was sent into the back room to notify the attorney 
 that the court was waiting on him. He found Palaver leaning 
 back in a chair, with his heels cocked up on the window sill, puff 
 ing away comfortably at a cigar. The sheriff imparted to him the 
 information that business in the front room was being delayed in 
 consequence of his absence. 
 
 f< You don't say so ? " exclaimed Palaver, as if astonished at the 
 intelligence. " Why, Sanderson, you should have notified me 
 sooner. I supposed, of course, that some other matter was engag 
 ing the attention of the court." 
 
 The fact is it was a favorite trick of the attorney's, and one by 
 which he often won, to occupy so much time with preliminaries 
 that the impatient judge would call another case, the consideration 
 of which might consume the entire day. The next morning fresh 
 causes would have precedence over those which had been set for 
 the day before, and thus his case would go over to the succeeding 
 term without his ever having applied for a continuance. 
 
 Now he came hustling into the court-room immediately in the 
 rear of the sheriff, and apologized for the length of time he had 
 consumed in preparing his paper, assuring the court that he had 
 no wish whatever to delay proceedings. He then read aloud a 
 document, which had been previously sworn to by his client, stat 
 ing that owing to the unreasonable excitement and prejudice which 
 had been formed in the public mind, and still existed against the 
 accused, he could not safely go to trial at that term and place ; 
 and the affidavit went on to say as it was impossible to obtain 
 an impartial jury in the county where the homicide had been com 
 mitted, and as there was no likelihood that the unreasonable preju 
 dice against the defendant would soon abate, he prayed the honor 
 able court to grant him a change of venue to an adjoining county, 
 where the citizens were free from bias against him. 
 
 This application evidently was not unexpected to the attorney- 
 general and the young lawyer associated with him in the case, 
 but it came as a complete surprise to Templeton and Pearson 
 and the large number of witnesses whose attendance they had la 
 bored faithfully to secure. Palaver opened the argument with a 
 
142 The K. K. K. 
 
 persuasive talk in support of his application, and the attorney-gen 
 eral, when it came his turn to speak, combated the motion vigor 
 ously. A large number of jurors, he said, had been summoned 
 and brought to court, and it was a reflection on them to say that 
 the prisoner could not get a fair trial among so many. Nu 
 merous witnesses, too, were present; all of whom had come over 
 bad roads in midwinter at great inconvenience to themselves. 
 Many of these witnesses were women, and it would be a hardship 
 to require them to return to their several homes and travel at an 
 other time, three or four months hence, to a different county for 
 the purpose of giving in their evidence. It was the third time 
 most of these witnesses had been compelled to come to court. 
 They had appeared and testified before the grand jury; they had 
 attended a second time when the case was continued on affidavit 
 of defendant's attorney at the last term, and now they were here 
 again under summons from the State to give in their evidence 
 against the prisoner. The case was one which had aroused wide 
 spread interest, and should be pushed to a conclusion, if for no 
 other reason, because certain good and peaceable citizens in the lo 
 cality of the crime had upheld the dignity of the law and had in 
 sisted that in <the case of the prisoner justice should be admin 
 istered by the proper authorities and not by mob violence. These 
 good citizens had set a praiseworthy example, and it would be a 
 bitter disappointment to them now if it was demonstrated that 
 the law of the State was practically incapable of 'dealing with 
 grave crimes like the one under consideration. 
 
 More matter of a weighty nature did the attorney-general deliver 
 himself of in his address to the court. Palaver listened gravely 
 to the whole, and upon its conclusion he complimented the State's 
 officer privately upon his able argument, declaring it was the best 
 he had heard in many years. When he came to reply publicly, 
 however,, he said he was surprised a man should want to take up 
 the valuable time of the court with such idle talk as that to which 
 he had just listened. The humblest human being charged with 
 crime had the right to a fair trial before an impartial jury, and it 
 was the duty of the courts of the country to protect him in this 
 right. If the accused here had committed the monstrous crime 
 laid at his door his life must and should pay the penalty ; if he was 
 not guilty all must agree he should go free. He was poor and a 
 stranger within our gates, but life was sweet to him, as it was to us 
 all. He stood here asking nothing more than that the issue upon 
 
Some Jolly Good Fellows Meet at the Tavern. 143 
 
 which his existence hung should be decided by twelve impartial 
 jurors, chosen from a community not inflamed by passion or preju 
 dice against him. No one would insist, no one could pretend, that 
 the threatening crowd now gathered in the court-house was not bit 
 terly hostile to the prisoner. A jury impanelled from this assem 
 blage, or from the citizens of their county, would be a jury im 
 panelled to convict. The accused knew this to be a fact ; the sheriff 
 knew it, the court knew it, and the attorneys on both sides knew 
 it. " Why, sir," cried Palaver, warming up to his work, " the 
 strongest objection urged by the attorney-general to my application 
 for change of venue is that to grant it would be discouraging to 
 certain peaceable and law-abiding citizens, who, he says, have 
 placed my client in custody of the law, and now look to the courts 
 to have speedy justice done. As I understand the matter, sir, these 
 peaceable and law-abiding citizens, whom he is so very desirous 
 not to discourage, ran my client down with dogs, chased him round 
 and round, sir, like a rabbit, through a briar patch and a broom 
 sedge field ; popped away at him with their pistols as if it had 
 been fine sport, and finally were about to murder him in cold blood, 
 when the sheriff of the county luckily came along and rescued the 
 poor fellow from their clutches. Yes, sir; yes, sir; yes, sir; and 
 this is not the whole story by any means. That night, sir, that 
 night, if the honorable court please, these same peaceable and law- 
 abiding citizens followed my unfortunate client to the jail of their 
 county, and sought there to wrest him from the custody of the law, 
 and end his life by their own violent hands. Not satisfied with 
 their first heroic exploit they came, if the honorable court please, 
 with a mob at midnight, three hundred men against one, with the 
 laudable intention of breaking down the doors of their own county 
 prison and murdering a helpless human being whom they supposed 
 to be confined therein. A second time they were foiled, for the 
 sheriff of the county, anticipating their design, had removed the 
 prisoner to another jail for safe keeping. Were they through, 
 sir? Were they through, if the honorable court please? No, in 
 deed, sir. No, indeed, if the honorable court please. The hour 
 for wreaking their vengeance was but postponed, for to-day, sir 
 to-day, if the honorable court please this same murderous mob 
 invad'es the sacred precincts of this temple of justice, regards my 
 poor client with hungry eyes from behind the bar, and modestly 
 asks that your honor shall now force upon him the mockery of a 
 hearing with themselves as the triers of the cause. And who is it, 
 
144 The K. K. K. 
 
 sir, that heads this murderous mob and champions their cause here 
 at the bar of justice? Who is it, sir, they have chosen for their 
 spokesman, and who now stands urging that this helpless captive 
 shall be delivered as a victim to their fury ? Strange to relate, it is 
 the attorney-general for the State " 
 
 At this point Whackemall, whose temper was liable at any time 
 to get the better of him, rose, and with a voice trembling from 
 anger, informed the court that he did not propose to sit quiet and 
 listen to such language as had just been uttered in his presence. 
 " If the prisoner's counsel desires to become personal," said he to 
 the judge, " it would be more becoming in him to reserve his scur 
 rilous flings till such time as they can be properly resented, and 
 not to indulge in them here where he knows he has the sheriff to 
 protect him." 
 
 Palaver bowed low and smiled. " I'll have the gentleman un 
 derstand," he retorted, " that I am here in the discharge of my 
 duty, and that I do not propose to shrink from the discharge of 
 that duty for fear my remarks may prove unpleasant even to so 
 terrible an adversary as the attorney-general for the State." 
 
 " And I'll have you understand " cried Whackemall, rising, 
 
 and making fiercely toward him. 
 
 " Order, gentlemen, order," demanded the court, rapping vigor 
 ously on the judicial desk. 
 
 " Order, gentlemen, order," demanded the sheriff, advancing, 
 and standing between the two angry disputants. 
 
 For a minute or two there was silence, and the crowd held its 
 breath, expecting to witness a very exciting performance within 
 the bar. Then Palaver spread his hands to indicate that his inten 
 tions were peaceful, and in unruffled tones resumed his remarks. 
 There really was no occasion, he said, for this disturbance. He 
 had not said a word calculated to wound the feelings of his friend, 
 the attorney-general. At least he had not uttered a sentence which 
 was intended to reflect upon him in the slightest particular. In 
 making use of the language objected to he was not thinking at all 
 of the State's attorney, but designed his remarks to apply to a gang 
 of unprincipled ruffians, some of whom he now saw behind the 
 bar, whose conduct in hounding down the prisoner had been 
 cowardly, and barbarous, and far more worthy of the savages that 
 once trod the wilds of this country than of the civilized people 
 who were supposed to inhabit it now. 
 
 As Palaver uttered these scathing remarks he turned and bent 
 
Some Jolly Good Fellows Meet at the Tavern. 145 
 
 his gaze fixedly on the crowd in the rear of the court-room. After 
 a few moments he raised his hand slowly and pointed his fore 
 finger toward a certain corner, thus indicating that there were in 
 dividuals in that particular quarter to whom he had alluded in his 
 previous remarks, and whom he now wished to hold up to public 
 scorn. 
 
 " Don't p'int that finger at me, old man," cried a half -tipsy fel 
 low from the proscribed corner. " Ef you do " 
 
 At this an uproar arose in the court-room, which it required sev 
 eral minutes of diligent effort on the part of the sheriff and his 
 deputies to suppress. The entire assemblage was evidently at fever 
 heat, and the slightest disturbance among them was sufficient to 
 provoke the whole mass into angry demonstration. 
 
146 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THERE BEING UNDUE EXCITEMENT IN THE PUBLIC MIND A CHANGE 
 
 OF VENUE IS GRANTED IN THE ANKERSTROM CASE AN OLD 
 
 FARMER RIDES OUT OF TOWN ON A YOUNG LADY'S HORSE, AND 
 THEREBY ADDS TO THE EXCITEMENT IN THE PUBLIC MIND. 
 
 WHETHER Lawyer Palaver had intentionally provoked the dis 
 turbance that followed his heated remarks is a matter of some 
 doubt. But certain it is that nothing could have been better calcu 
 lated to further the purpose he had in view, which was to post 
 pone the hearing of his cause, and have it certified to another 
 county for trial. It had been demonstrated in an unmistakable way 
 that the sentiment of the crowd behind the bar was hostile to the 
 prisoner, and as this crowd was composed in great measure of 
 those who had been summoned to court as jurors, it was evident 
 that an impartial jury could not be selected from it. Judge With- 
 erspoon was a just man, and one who was fearless in the discharge 
 of his duty. As soon as quiet was restored in the court-room, with 
 out waiting to hear further argument on either side, he announced 
 that in his opinion the accused could not in the then excited state 
 of the public mind obtain the fair and impartial trial which the 
 law guaranteed to the humblest citizen charged with a grave of 
 fense. A foul murder had been committed in the county; this 
 much there was no gainsaying. The entire community had been 
 shocked by its perpetration, and the prejudice against the prisoner 
 was strong, for rightly or wrongfully he was regarded as the au 
 thor of the crime. Under the circumstances justice demanded that 
 he should be sent elsewhere for trial. The affidavit filed by the 
 prisoner's counsel contained sufficient matter to entitle him to a 
 change of venue, and the case would be transferred to the neigh 
 boring county, in the jail of which the prisoner had been for some 
 months confined, and where it was hoped there was no feeling 
 either in his behalf or against him. 
 
 Sheriff Sanderson, after the decision had been announced, qui- 
 
A Change of Venue. 147 
 
 etly withdrew with his prisoner from the court-house. The judge 
 was one who they all knew would uphold at all hazards the maj 
 esty of the law ; the sheriff was an officer not to be lightly inter 
 fered with when in the discharge of his duty, and so no effort was 
 made to molest Johan Ankerstrom as he was taken handcuffed 
 from the court-room to the county jail. The excited crowd dis 
 persed, at least left the building, and found more room in the 
 yard outside, as well as a more favorable position from which to 
 vent its wrath and indignation. The more hot-headed among 
 those gathered here openly advocated storming the jail and cap 
 turing the murderer of old Mrs. Bascombe at whatever cost. 
 Some who indulged in this dangerous talk were duly sober, but the 
 loudest had been rendered bold by intimate association with John 
 Barleycorn. Pearson, calm and cool as usual, did what he could 
 to allay the excitement and to suppress all attempt at violence. He 
 and his trusted friends had resolved to appeal unto Caesar, and 
 they were still determined to work and wait until a decree could 
 be obtained from the tribunal whose aid they had sought. Tem- 
 pleton, younger and more hasty, was fast losing again his rem 
 nant of patience, and had about reached the point where forbear 
 ance in his opinion was no longer a virtue. 
 
 " This is an outrage," he cried to the young attorney whose ac 
 quaintance he had formed the night before, as the two wended 
 their way to the tavern at the noon recess of the court. " It's noth 
 ing short of an outrage/' , 
 
 The young attorney shrugged his shoulders and laughed. He 
 did not wish to take open issue with his client, but it was evident 
 he did not regard the proceeding as an outrage. 
 
 " Eight months have passed away since the murder of that good 
 old woman," continued Templeton, hotly, u and yet we have hardly 
 advanced a step toward the conviction and punishment of the 
 scoundrel who slew her." 
 
 " That's a fact," said the young attorney. 
 
 " And now we have to wait four months more, and the witnesses 
 must all be dragged to another county to testify after they have 
 made three trips to their county seat in the hope of being exam 
 ined and dismissed." 
 
 '* That's true/' said the young attorney. 
 
 " It's an infernal outrage, that's what it is," cried Templeton. 
 
 The young attorney cleared his throat. 
 
 " Were you not astonished when the judge rendered his decis 
 ion ? " 
 
148 The K. K. K. 
 
 " No," replied the young attorney, candidly, " I was not. The 
 fact is Judge Witherspoon could hardly have done otherwise. The 
 affidavit contained sufficient ground for continuance and change of 
 venue, and it was his duty to grant the application. He is a fear 
 less and upright judge, and you will respect him highly when you 
 know him as we do." 
 
 Templeton was a little softened at this. He saw his companion 
 was minded to uphold the dignity of his profession, and he re 
 spected him the more highly for it. " Well," he continued, " you 
 lawyers have your own way of looking at things, but to me a pro 
 ceeding of this sort seems wholly unjustifiable. Twelve just and 
 intelligent men could certainly have been found in this county to 
 try that scoundrel, and I cannot see why the effort was not made 
 to get them. The men who were brought to court were for the 
 most part ignorant and prejudiced, and I cannot say I think it 
 would have been right to permit these to sit on the prisoner's case. 
 But why not have summoned a number of the most intelligent men 
 in the county, and leave the question of guilt or innocence to 
 them?" 
 
 " Because all the intelligent men in this small county have 
 formed opinions which would render them incompetent as jurors. 
 The crime was a most shocking one, and the details are known to 
 all your citizens." 
 
 " Good men," answered Templeton, " can discard opinions 
 hastily formed, and being charged with the grave responsibility 
 of trying a human being for his life they can render an honest 
 verdict on the evidence brought before them. Such jurors might 
 not be acceptable to guilty men brought to the bar of justice, but 
 they would render verdicts that the community would respect." 
 
 " Maybe so," answered the lawyer, " but nevertheless under our 
 system they would not be competent jurors, for no one who has 
 formed or expressed an opinion can- serve on a jury in Ten 
 nessee." 
 
 " Then it has been practically settled since the date of this fel 
 low's arrest that he could not be tried in the county where he com 
 mitted the murder. The crime being a monstrous one, you lawyers 
 and the judge have known for months that he could not be made 
 to answer for it here where all the facts had been freely dis 
 cussed?" 
 
 " I think it has been pretty generally understood that a jury 
 could not be gotten in this county to try the prisoner," 
 
A Change of Venue. 149 
 
 " Why, then, did not the judge order the case transferred to an 
 other county as soon as the indictment was found ? " 
 
 " Because the prisoner under our constitution is entitled to a 
 fair trial before a jury of the county where the crime is alleged 
 to have been committed. He can waive this right, but the judge 
 cannot take it away from him without his consent." 
 
 " The judge cannot order a change of venue unless the accused 
 asks for it?" 
 
 " That is so." 
 
 " Suppose he never does ask for it ? " 
 
 " The judge would be tempted after a while to force him to 
 trial before a prejudiced jury. It's a dangerous thing to press the 
 court too far." 
 
 " He; can sorely try the patience of the court and the commu 
 nity, but he must not exhaust it." 
 
 The young attorney laughed again, but made no reply. 
 
 " Well," said Templeton, musingly, " if the judge knew the 
 prisoner could not get a legal jury in this county, and the judge 
 knew he could not of his own motion transfer the case to another 
 county, why did not the judge order a jury to be brought from 
 another county to serve here ? " 
 
 " That would have been in. violation of the prisoner's constitu 
 tional right to a trial before a jury of his own county." 
 
 " That would have effected a considerable saving in the matter 
 of public expense. It would also have been a great favor to the 
 witnesses who have traveled to court threef time's now, and who 
 are growing wearied of being dragged about in this way." 
 
 " Yes, it is so, but under our constitution the plan you suggest 
 could not have been adopted." 
 
 " Hum, hum, hum," pursued Templeton, as they walked along. 
 " Let me get this thing straight in my head. I'm but a farmer, 
 you know, and don't understand the working of our system quite 
 so well as you lawyers. If I commit a horrible murder in any 
 county of this State, and am apprehended for it, first all the wit- 
 neses against me must be made to travel to court to testify before 
 the grand jury." 
 
 " First," said the attorney, " they would perhaps be required to 
 appear and testify before a justice of the peace, who would bind 
 you over to await the action of the grand jury." 
 
 " Oh, that's the beginning point, is it ? " said Templeton. " Very 
 l, now I have it. First, they go before a justice of the peace 
 
ISO The K. K. K. 
 
 and tell their tale ; then they wait possibly as much as four months, 
 and go before the grand jury and tell their tale; then they wait a 
 while longer, and go before the court to tell their tale ; but here I 
 demand that they all be made to go home and return later on, be 
 cause of a just prejudice existing against me in the public mind. 
 Four months later they come again, but now I demand that they 
 all go home once more, and meet me still four months later in an 
 other county, because the just prejudice still exists against me 
 among the people I have deeply wronged. There is no help for it, 
 and judge, witnesses, and all are compelled to do my bidding. 
 After a while those summoned to testify grow weary see-sawing 
 between their homes and the courts, and I stand an excellent 
 chance to escape the penalty of my crime altogether." 
 
 " Under our system " began the attorney. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I understand," interrupted Templeton. " Under our 
 system the thing works out this way. Under our system, it seems, 
 the good citizen is not entitled to any consideration at all, and the 
 scoundrel is entitled to a great deal. And the bigger scoundrel 
 a man is the more consideration he is entitled to. That's the way 
 it looks to me under our system." 
 
 ''' You are exasperated," said the attorney, laughing. " I can't 
 say I blame you much for feeling as you do, and yet the right of 
 trial by jury, and by a fair jury, is an old one. It descended to us 
 from our ancestors, and all the prerogatives extended to the ac 
 cused, which seem to you so absurd, have been found in the past 
 to be necessary safeguards to protect the weak and oppressed 
 against the strong and tyrannical." 
 
 " All mighty fine," quoth Templeton, " but the danger now is 
 not that the strong and tyrannical will oppress the weak, but that 
 common scoundrels will go un whipped of justice, and the commu 
 nity have no protection from their misdeeds. The law as now ad 
 ministered, Mr. Lawyer, is too tender toward villains, and it's no 
 wonder honest folks are fast losing patience with it." 
 
 " To comprehend any system," replied the attorney, " you must 
 go to the root of it. At one time in England there was a disposi 
 tion on the part of the barons to grind the commoners- " 
 
 " Let me tell you a thing, sir," interrupted Mr. Bob Lee Temple- 
 ton, " that perhaps will astonish you. The barons of whom you 
 speak, and likewise the commoners, have been dead and buried 
 these hundreds of years these hundreds of years I tell you, and 
 you have no more right to weigh us down with the pld rules a,nd 
 
A Change x>f Venue. 151 
 
 safeguards made to fit their case than you have to clap on us 
 the heavy helmets and breastplates that must have made 'em 
 stagger as they walked." 
 
 " I have a suggestion to make," replied the attorney, " which 
 perhaps will induce you to modify your views on this subject." 
 
 " What is it? " cried Mr. Bob Lee Templeton. 
 
 " Let's take a drink." 
 
 Mr. R. L. Templeton smiled. " Well," he remarked to his com 
 panion, " you fellows took me up in a balloon last night, and I've 
 been feeling all morning as if I'd like to come down on a para 
 chute." 
 
 There was a place of business not far away that had in front 
 latticed green doors swinging either way to suit the convenience 
 of the customer. Taking the arm of Mr. Bob Lee Templeton the 
 young lawyer and he presently disappeared behind these green 
 doors, and further this deponent saith not. 
 
 About the noon hour Sheriff Sanderson, having partaken of an 
 early dinner, set out with his prisoner for the adjoining county, 
 the jail of which was destined to be the residence of the latter at 
 least until the following term of the circuit court, some four 
 months off. None but these two took the road, as Sanderson was 
 satisfied there would be no serious attempt to wrest Ankerstrom 
 from his custody, and he did not fear his escape during the jour 
 ney. It was not far from midnight when he reached his destina 
 tion and bade good-by to his sullen captive, to whom he had 
 shown every kindness in his power, for that was Sanderson's 
 way. Having again taken a receipt for his man from the jailer, 
 and washed his hands of all further responsibility as to his keep 
 ing, the sheriff sought a bed at a good boarding-house in the 
 town, and almost as soon as he touched it dropped into a sound 
 sleep. 
 
 Back at Ashton the court ground on all the afternoon, the law 
 yers dull and listless and playing, in theatrical parlance, to a slim 
 house. A single deputy was sufficient to keep order in court and 
 execute the mandates of the judge, and he did not find his duties 
 very fatiguing. The quarrel between Palaver and Whackemall, 
 which in the forenoon had looked alarming, was now healed with 
 out much effort. The two gentlemen laughed over the matter in 
 a back room, and shook hands cordially when their interview 
 ended. 
 
 Miss Sue Bascombe had to do a little shopping before sh$ 
 
The K. K. K. 
 
 wended her way homeward, for country folk must avail them 
 selves of every occasion that demands a visit to town, and it was 
 growing late when she signified her willingness to depart. The 
 horses of her party, and many others, had been stabled in a barn 
 a little way off from the tavern, and left there in charge of the old 
 negro, Uncle Davy, employed for the occasion. A considerable 
 number still remained, though a majority of the animals had been 
 taken away, when a servant was sent to the place to saddle and 
 bring out Dandy Jim. Presently he returned with the surprising 
 information that the horse had been already called for and carried 
 off. Supposing there was some mistake on the part of the old 
 mar* left in charge at the barn, Templeton went thither and made 
 diligent personal search, but failed to find the stout and active 
 animal that had borne Miss Sue to town that morning. When a 
 report to this effect reached the tavern the young lady herself 
 visited the barn, and joined her anxious inquiry to that of others 
 in endeavoring to ascertain by what means her property had been 
 disposed of without her consent. Dandy Jim was a horse far 
 above the average both in looks and qualities, and the old negro 
 remembered him distinctly. 
 
 " Yas'm," he said in response to Miss Bascombe's somewhat 
 sharp demand for an explanation, " I 'members dat hoss mighty 
 well. He ain't no common hoss, dat hoss ain't, and hit stands to 
 reason dat 3 pusson wa'n't gwine to forgit him atter dey once 
 seed him. Here comes a ole gen'lemun, do, treckly atter dinner, 
 and say he 'bleeged to have dat hoss fur to go right away and fetch 
 some witnesses what been leff behind at de trial. He gim me a 
 dime fur to make me git a move on myself, and say he comin' back 
 presen'ly, and he was sich a honest lookin' ole gen'lemun dat, 'fo' 
 God, I never s'picioned nothin' wrong about him." 
 
 " Where did he -say he was going? " inquired Miss Sue. 
 
 " He say he gwine out atter a witness, I tell you, and comin' 
 back presen'ly. Dat's what he say, and he gin me a paper whar 
 is dat paper ? " And the old man began fumbling about in his 
 pockets. When he had searched there in vain he looked in his 
 hat and found a crumpled note, which he handed the young lady. 
 " Read dat," he said, triumphantly. " Dat will 'splain de whole 
 business." 
 
 Miss Sue took the paper and read aloud the contents, written 
 in a smooth clerkly hand ; 
 
A Change of Venue. 153 
 
 " Let Mr. David Hammersmith have my horse and Mr. Lee 
 Templeton's saddle, to be returned without delay. 
 
 " SUSAN BASCOMBE. 
 " January , 18 ." 
 
 The girl turned the paper over in her hand and looked round 
 on those present in considerable surprise. " Well, did you ever ? " 
 she exclaimed. " Why, I never signed my name Susan Bascombe 
 in my life. Everybody calls me Sue/' 
 
 One part of this remarkable order had made a particular im 
 pression on the mind of Mr. Lee Templeton. The horse he had 
 ridden was a fairly good one, but his saddle was superfine. He 
 went promptly to the spot where it should have hung and found 
 it missing. Mr. Templeton was generally careful in the selection 
 of words to express his ideas, but he used now an exclamation 
 which would hardly have been becoming under any circumstances, 
 and certainly was not fit to be uttered in the presence of a lady. 
 
 They say misery loves company, and when Miss Susan Bas 
 combe beheld his rather rueful countenance and heard the re 
 mark he was surprised into uttering, she clasped her hands and 
 laughed heartily. 
 
 " He got you too, did he ? " cried the young lady. 
 
 " That saddle and bridle and blanket," remarked Mr. Temple- 
 ton, not directly replying, " would have been cheap at fifty dol 
 lars. And the infernal rascal took 'em all.". 
 
 " The order only called for the saddle," said Miss Sue. 
 
 " Can you read old man ? " inquired Templeton, turning 
 abruptly toward the custodian of his goods. 
 
 " Naw, sir, I can't," answered the individual addressed. " But 
 dar's my granddaughter Meriky, she kin read right straight 
 along. She read dat paper out loud to me, and dat's de way I 
 got de sense of it. I kin hear ef I can't read." 
 
 " Did that paper say anything about my blanket and bridle? " 
 
 " Naw, marster, hit didn't ; but den don't ev'ybody know de bri 
 dle and blanket goes wid de saddle? 'Pears to me any fool mout 
 know dat." 
 
 Miss Sue still held the mischief-making paper in her hand. 
 Templeton approached, and, standing by her, read the contents 
 for himself. Mr. Randolph Pearson was absent on some other 
 business and had not yet been informed of the robbery, for such 
 it clearly was. 
 
154 The K. K. K. 
 
 Miss Sue looked at Mr. Templeton, and Mr. Templeton looked 
 at Miss Bascombe. 
 
 " Dandy Jim," said the young lady, " was one of the best horses 
 in all this country, and I'm going to have him back if money and 
 friends can get him back." 
 
 " And I'll be one of the friends to help bring him back," re 
 plied the young gentleman, gallantly. " As for the saddle and bri 
 dle and blanket, they may go to the d " 
 
 " Dogs," suggested the young lady. 
 
 "That's it," answered Templeton. "That's the word I was 
 trying to think of." 
 
 " What sort of a looking man was he now that brought this or 
 der ? " inquired Miss Bascombe of the old negro. 
 
 " He was a farmer-like kind of a lookin' old man, mistis," was the 
 reply, " and yit he didn't look so very much like a farmer man 
 nother. He had on a slouch hat, rusty, and wore out on de top; 
 and he had on a pair of big brown jeans breeches, wid bedtick 
 galluses ; and he had on a shirt widout no pleats in de bosom ; 
 and he had on a pa'r of shoes what stood mightily in need of 
 blackenin'. All dat, you may say, made him look kinder farmer- 
 like. But den his hands, whilst dey was dirty enough, was leetle 
 small hands ; and I look up under his coat sleeves and seed his 
 arms was white, which showed de sun never did have no purchase 
 on 'em. I sized him up, I did, when he fotched dat paper, and I 
 say to myself dis here gen'lemun is bound to be a farmer, and yit, 
 I say to myself, he is likewise a cur'ous farmer." 
 
 " You don't often see a farmer who can write that sort of a 
 hand," said Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, inspecting the paper criti 
 cally. 
 
 Miss Bascombe examined the instrument more carefully now 
 for herself. " A farmer didn't write that," she said emphatically. 
 " A farmer's fingers would be too stiff to do such neat penman's 
 work. And besides," she added, looking seriously into Mr. Tem- 
 pleton's face, " farmers are not forgers and horse thieves." 
 
 " That is so," replied Mr. Bob Lee Templeton. 
 
 lt That is undoubtedly so," repeated the young lady. 
 
 " What did the old gentleman, as you call him, say when he 
 gave you this ? " inquired Templeton of the negro man. 
 
 " He never hardly open his mouth. He act like he kinder deef. 
 I b'lieve he was deef, de way he done. He gin me a dime, I tell 
 you, and make signs for me to be in a hurry, and p'int to de court- 
 
A Change of Venue. i5S 
 
 house, and den to de country, and say ' vitness, vitness/ two, 
 three times. Den I knowed he was atter witnesses fur de court, 
 and had de law behind him." 
 
 " He's a smooth scoundrel," said Miss Bascombe. " That's what 
 he is, and I lay he's an old hand at this business." 
 
 All this, however, did not bring back Dandy Jim ; nor did it re 
 place the saddle, bridle, and blanket of Mr. Robert Lee Temple- 
 ton. 
 
 " What are we going to do now ? " inquired Miss Sue, in a per 
 plexed tone, and not addressing apparently anybody in particu 
 lar. 
 
 Mr. Templeton for a moment or two did not undertake to solve 
 the difficulty. He had on his studying cap. 
 
 " Never mind," said Uncle Davy, who wished to be consoling. 
 " I specks de deef ole gen'lemun be back presn'ly." 
 
 " You're a fool," said Mr. Robert Lee Templeton. 
 
 " I ain't no fool, marster," replied Uncle Davy, with some spirit, 
 " and your sayin' so don't make it so, nother." 
 
 While they stood turning over the perplexing situation in their 
 minds a messenger came to say that Pearson had just heard of 
 the robbery, and had heard the direction in which the thief went. 
 With three or four others he had started off post haste in pur 
 suit, and now sent word to his friend Templeton to escort Miss 
 Bascombe home, as he himself might not return before to-morrow. 
 This commission Templeton cheerfully undertook to execute, and 
 immediately set about contriving a plan by which it could be car 
 ried out. He looked at the young lady, and the young lady looked 
 at him, and each for the moment wore a rather puzzled ex 
 pression. 
 
 " I have a pretty good horse," said the young gentleman to the 
 young lady. 
 
 " I have a pretty good saddle," replied the young lady to the 
 young gentleman. 
 
 The young gentleman here whistled a little very softly, not for 
 want of thought, but because he was deeply cogitating. Then he 
 raised his eyes and gazed upon the young lady for a moment. 
 
 " There isn't any help for it," remarked the young lady, 
 gravely. 
 
 Then Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, being a man of affairs, led forth 
 his horse which was not as reliable an animal as the one he had 
 lost some weeks previous and placed upon its back the young 
 
156 The K. K. K. 
 
 lady's side saddle and buckled the girth tightly, and took his watch" 
 from his vest pocket and consulted it. 
 
 " It's ten minutes to four," remarked Mr. Templeton to the 
 young lady, " and the place you wish to reach to-night is five miles 
 away. If we don't hurry it will be dark before we get there." 
 
 Then Miss Sue Bascombe went out to the fence a few yards 
 away it was a tumble-down old rail fence and climbed upon 
 it, and from this vantage point transferred herself easily to the 
 side saddle when Mr. Templeton's horse was brought near. The 
 young gentleman next climbed upon the fence, when the horse, 
 perceiving his intention, began to fidget and sidled off a few feet. 
 
 " I'm not sure he'll tote double," remarked Mr. Templeton. 
 
 " We'll make him," replied the young lady, and immediately 
 switched the refractory animal to its proper place by the fence. 
 
 Mr. Templeton gave a leap he had taken a course of gymnas 
 tics at school and lit on the back of the horse and behind the 
 saddle, and likewise behind the young lady, who sat erect in front 
 holding the reins tightly. , 
 
 All this occurred in the broad open daytime, and in the imme 
 diate presence not only of Uncle Davy and his little granddaugh 
 ter, but of other interested spectators. 
 
 Uncle Davy, when they set out, pointed them to a near cut by 
 which they might save some distance and avoid curious eyes in the 
 town, but Miss Sue preferred guiding her horse down the main 
 street, and Mr. Bob Lee Templeton raised no verbal objection. So 
 they journeyed, and soon discovered that the horse would tote 
 double nicely enough. So they journeyed, and before a great 
 while a pleasant conversation sprang up between them to enliven 
 the way. 
 
 " I'm very glad," remarked Mr. Bob Lee Templeton who 
 usually found the bright side of a situation if there was any bright 
 side " that I've got a good saddle blanket under me." 
 
 " It is fortunate," replied the young lady. 
 
 " And that the horse will tote double." 
 
 " Very lucky." 
 
 " And that I have a nice girl in the saddle in front of me." 
 
 " Glad you think so." 
 
 " Fact is," said Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, " I feel pleased some 
 how right now, when by all the rules of logic I ought to feel 
 wretched, having had such a run of bad luck to-day." 
 
 The young lady did not reply. 
 
A Change of Venue. 157 
 
 " Fact is," continued Mr. Templeton who had studied mental 
 and moral philosophy at school " the human mind is a very 
 curious particle. We are frequently sad in the midst of joyous 
 surroundings, and often merry when a rueful countenance would 
 more become us." 
 
 " So I'm told," replied the young lady. 
 
 At this point the horse began to prick his ears and seemed disin 
 clined to go by some object ahead on the roadside. She gave him 
 a sharp cut to let him understand she proposed to make him go 
 by. Not expecting the application of the lash the horse jumped. 
 Not expecting the horse to jump Mr. Templeton was taken un 
 awares, and came near losing his seat on the saddle olanket. To 
 save himself he threw both arms about the lady's waist. The 
 reader will bear in mind that he was bound to catch hold of some 
 thing, and there was nothing else to catch hold of. Just as soon 
 as he could he turned loose, as it was meet, right and proper to 
 do. 
 
 But the incident, and the situation generally, stirred the soul of 
 the young man to its depths. There is a species of intoxication that 
 cometh not from strong drink, but from more ethereal stimulants. 
 Nevertheless it is intoxication, and those subject to its influence 
 should not be held legally responsible for their words or conduct. 
 Mr. Templeton recovered his equilibrium upon the horse, but he 
 did not recover his mental equilibrium, which he had been grad 
 ually losing for the past two or three miles of his way. 
 
 " You were speaking," remarked the young lady sweetly, " of 
 the singular fact that we sometimes feel pleased and cheerful when 
 we have just met with misfortunes well calculated to discourage 
 and dishearten us." 
 
 " I was," replied the young gentleman, " but when we reflect 
 upon the incongruity of such a state we usually find that it arises 
 from the fact that while annoying accidents have indeed befallen 
 us, their consequences are more than offset by some countervailing 
 blessing that has immediately followed." 
 
 " That's very pretty," replied the young lady, " but I don't un 
 derstand you." 
 
 " Miss Sue," remarked the youth gravely from his seat on the 
 saddle blanket, " you cannot fail to understand me. You do not 
 need to be told that while the old judge knocked us out in the 
 court-room, and a villainous thief served us just as badly in the 
 stable, these trivial setbacks are as nothing when compared with 
 
158 The K. K. K. 
 
 the supreme happiness of riding close behind you on this saddle 
 blanket. You are a young lady of penetration, and you will there 
 fore not be in the least surprised when I declare " 
 
 " Why, ain't you ashamed of yourself ? " cried the young lady 
 from her seat in the saddle. " You know you're in love with Polly 
 Habersham." 
 
 " That's a fact, so I am," replied Mr. Bob Lee Templeton 
 heartily. 
 
 And they changed the subject. 
 
Two Cave-Dwellers. 159 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 IN WHICH THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO TWO CAVE-DWELLERS NOT 
 OF THE PREHISTORIC KIND. 
 
 A BLACK fellow sat parching coffee over a slow fire. The odor 
 from the brown grains rose and filled the still, heavy atmosphere 
 of the cavern in which the fire had been built. The glare of the 
 flame lit up the ragged wall around and showed a small apartment 
 nearly circular in form, not more than fifteen or twenty feet in 
 diameter, and with a ceiling that dipped on one side within five 
 feet of the ground and on the opposite side was double that 
 height. A break in the wall on the lower side led into a dark 
 passage without. This opening was hardly large enough for a 
 stout man to crawl through. The interior space was evidently but 
 a niche in the cavern, which at the expenditure of some little labor 
 had been made habitable for human beings. Fragments of rock 
 had been rolled from the center of the open space and placed 
 against the walls. The floor had been smoothed down, at least 
 to such extent as to make it tolerably good treading for the feet. 
 Not far from the fire was a heap of blankets and a confused mass 
 of straw, whkh manifestly had been used for bedding. Now a 
 pleasant-faced white youth sat on this heap, hugging his knees 
 with his arms and blinking like an owl as he lazily regarded the 
 African at the fire. 
 
 " He stays a good while," said the white youth, yawning, and 
 presumably addressing the negro, as there was no one else in view. 
 
 The black man stirred the coffee, then took up the skillet and 
 shook it to keep the grains from burning. Replacing it on the 
 coals he answered : 
 
 " I'll bet he brings a good one when he comes. Dat ole man's 
 a captain." 
 
 " If he does," replied the other, " it will be more than you did 
 the last time. That infernal horse was so broken winded I could 
 hardly get to the end of the first stage with him. They let him 
 
160 The K. K. K. 
 
 take it easy after that, but we haven't got him off our hands 
 yet." 
 
 " I was fooled in dat hoss," said the negro. " He was up- 
 headed, and stepped proud, and carried hisself so grand he tuck 
 my eye de minit I seed him. I sho thought he was wuth a fortune, 
 but stidder dat he wa'n't wuth a damn." 
 
 At this the gentleman on the straw pile laughed. " You ain't 
 much judge of horseflesh no way, are you, Sam ? " he asked. 
 
 " Naw, I ain't. I owns to dat. You see, Mr. Hardrider, I'm 
 new in dis business. My main line has been crap-shootin', and 
 whilst I was in Alabam' I used to branch off from dat once in a 
 while and make a little money by gwine into houses of nights. 
 But I got most too heavy for dat sort of business and had to quit. 
 Dar wa'n't much in it no way. Rich men put dar money in de 
 bank to keep from losin' it, and po' folks didn't have none to lose, 
 so you got most as much out'n one sort as t'other. Sometimes you 
 struck a good watch, but dat was d d seldom, and when you did 
 dar wa'n't no way of gittin' rid of it. It was a heap more liable 
 to git you into trouble dan it was to put money in your pocket. De 
 last one I tuck I flung in de creek, but some boys fished it out, and 
 dey got atter me so clost 'bout de d d thing dat I had to leave 
 dem parts, and I leff in a hurry. I come up here, and was hard 
 put to it for a while, but I accidentally run up on de ole man one- 
 day, and he tuck me, and made a gen'lemun out'n me." 
 
 " The old man's a trump," said the individual in the straw. 
 
 " Dat's what he is," answered the negro. 
 
 " He sets a heap of store by that d d son of his." 
 
 " Dat's his weakness." 
 
 " Like as not he's fooling away his time now listening to that 
 trial in the court-house." 
 
 " Dar ain't gwy to be no trial." 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 " Kase de ole man said so dis mornhV. Dat smart lawyer er 
 his'n ain't made up his mind to go to de jury yit, and he ain't gwine 
 to de jury till he git ready. He tell de ole man he gwy worry de 
 life out'n de witnesses travelin' backwards and forwards to court, 
 and fust thing you know he gwy ketch de t'other side when dey 
 ain't ready ; den he gwy push a trial and clear his man." 
 
 " I wish they'd try him to-day and hang him to-morrow," said 
 the gentleman in the straw. " He's no good, and the old man 
 ain't fit for business whilst they've got him tied up. He's like 
 
Two Cave-Dwellers. 161 
 
 a cow with her calf in the pen ; he keeps hanging round." 
 
 " It's natur'," said the African. 
 
 " Natur' or not, it's playing hell with our business," replied the 
 white man. " I ought to have rid last night, and my partner, you 
 may bet your life, was on hand to meet me at the right place, for 
 he's the kind that never breaks an engagement. He ought to do 
 the riding to-night, and the next man to-morrow night, and so 
 we'd keep things lively. But how in the hell can we ride when 
 we've got nothing to ride on ? Everything is out of gear because 
 the old man forgets his business, and goes poking about after his 
 thick-skulled son. It ain't right, I tell you. The old man worked 
 up this plan and he oughtn't to lie down on us now." 
 
 " It's natur'," repeated the negro. " Brutes and humans, dey 
 ain't none of 'em gwine agin natur'." 
 
 " If I had such a son, or such a brother," said the other, " d n 
 me, Sam, if I didn't go agin natur' one time and take him out 
 and kill him. He's the beastliest mortal I ever heard tell of, that 
 fellow Johan is. Look what he done the last time, and say 
 whether he oughtn't to swing for it. He goes to a poor old 
 woman's house, burns it to the ground, knocks her brains out with 
 an ax, and when another fellow is took up for his devilment, he 
 jines a mob and helps to hang him. That's what he does, this 
 here precious Jackey, and I say it beats the world. Search the 
 Scriptures, and you won't find no mention of such a case. The 
 Cain and Abel business wa'n't a patchin' to it." 
 
 " He made a bad break and no mistake," replied the black fel 
 low, heaving the coffee grains as he spoke into a tin pan by his 
 side. 
 
 " I should say so. Them what has a mind to make such breaks 
 ought to break out of this world and into a hotter one. Their 
 friends hadn't ought to give 'em ' any countenance, and their 
 parents hadn't ought to give 'em any countenance. I ain't no 
 saint, mind you; and don't set myself up for a saint, mind you; 
 but I don't belong in the same world with this here Johan Anker- 
 strom. I know something about him outside of this last trans 
 action, and I tell you he's a cross between a hog and a dog. When 
 it comes to prowling round at nights he's a dog, and he ain't got no 
 more natural affection than a hog. If he was loose and the old 
 man in his fix, he wouldn't turn over his hand to help him out of 
 the scrape ; and like as not he'd go to the hanging when the wind- 
 up came and laugh at his. daddy dancing; on nothing," 
 
162 The K. K. K. 
 
 " I never seed him," answered Sam. 
 
 " No, and you needn't never want to see him. He's just a 
 damned stupid brute, not worth the fee the meanest shyster of a 
 lawyer would charge to take his case. You couldn't fit him for 
 our business, no not in a thousand years if he was in training the 
 whole time." 
 
 " Our business ain't no easy business to follow, when you come 
 to steddy 'bout it, Mr. Hardrider," said the negro with some pride. 
 " It kinder lifts a man up, and makes him think more of himself 
 when he takes to such a bold callin' as ourn." 
 
 " Sam, you're right," replied Mr. Hardrider with emphasis. 
 '' You've hit the nail just exactly on the head. Our calling is a 
 bold calling, as you say, and it's a calling that lifts a man up, as 
 you say. A gentleman must have something to amuse him on his 
 way through the world, and I follow this here calling, Sam, mainly 
 for the excitement that's in it. Why, look a here now. Back in the 
 stable, we'll say, is a good horse that's been took up just long 
 enough to make him feel like prancing and stretching his legs, 
 and to-night he's going to have a chance to do both. You rub him 
 down, give him a good feed of shelled oats that's your part of 
 the business and by ten or eleven o'clock I'm ready to mount and 
 away. Up I gets you holding the stirrup for me and I sets 
 out all by myself on a jolly night's ride. I takes it slow when I'm 
 going by houses where people live, and I takes it fast when I'm on 
 a lonesome part of the road. If I meets anybody I slackens up, 
 drops my right hand so I can pull my pistol handy, and rides by 
 without saying a word. If t'other fellow wants to ask questions I 
 stops, mind you, and answers him civil. I keeps my right hand 
 on my gun whiles we are passing the compliments of the season, 
 and when he's out of sight and out of hearing I rides like hell. 
 What would happen, says you, if he was the sheriff on the lookout 
 for me? Why this would happen, Sammy, and nothing more 
 Folks in the neighborhood would hear shooting, and there'd be a 
 dead man found in the road next morning. Meb-be 'twould be the 
 sheriff, meb-be 'twould be Mr. Hardrider ; all depending you un 
 derstand, Sammy? on which gentleman pulled first. Now ain't 
 that stimulating? Excitement, excitement, my friend, there's lots 
 of it and to spare in our business. But proceed, proceed, you 
 say. Let us suppose a pleasant trip, and no dead man at all left 
 in the road. Very good. About ten or eleven o'clock it was I 
 started out, and shortly after midnight I'm over the line in Ken- 
 
Two Cave-Dwellers. 163 
 
 tucky. No damned sheriff or constable can follow me over that 
 line if he was ever so hot on my trail." 
 
 " W'y not ? " asked Sam innocently. 
 
 " Because it's the law," replied Mr. Hardrider gravely. ' The 
 law is I can cross a State line when I choose, I not being a officer ; 
 and the sheriff can't cross a State line at all, he being a 
 officer. It's a dead line for him, you see, but not a dead line for 
 me." 
 
 " Oh," replied Sam. 
 
 " That's it," continued Mr. Hardrider. " So I crosses the State 
 line and takes a swig at my bottle, which I haven't did before, 
 wishing to keep my head clear. To'ds day I reaches the place 
 where the next man is waiting for me, and he takes the horse and 
 hides him out where he can get another feed and curry and a 
 good day's rest. When night comes another gentleman mounts 
 the horse and rides him to another station where number three 
 is a waiting for him. Here's another feed and another good rest 
 and from that on they can take it easy and ride by day as well as 
 night. So it goes until headquarters is reached and the horse 
 is turned over to them as will get a fair price for him on the open 
 market." 
 
 " Wot den ? " inquired Sam, who apparently had not as yet been 
 thoroughly instructed in the details of the business he was en 
 gaged in. " Does dem fellows away off yander keep all de 
 money dey gits by de sale of de hoss, or does dey 'vide up like 
 gen'lemun ? " 
 
 " Sometimes," answered Mr. Hardrider, " they give us a good 
 slice out of the proceeds by way of commission, as they call it. 
 Sometimes, when they get hold of a first-class man like me, they 
 pay him a salary." 
 
 " You works on a salary, den ? " 
 
 Mr. Hardrider shook his head. " Not by a damned sight," he 
 replied nonchalantly. 
 
 " Wot den ? " Sam ventured to inquire, after waiting some 
 moments for his companion to proceed. 
 
 " I'm no hireling," remarked Mr. Hardrider to the negro. " By 
 God, I'm a gentleman." 
 
 " Dat's a fack, Mr. Hardrider," replied Sam with evident sin 
 cerity in his tone. 
 
 " If I was a damned hireling," continued Mr. Hardrider, 
 " where would the excitement be ? " 
 
1 64 The K. K. K. 
 
 " Nowhars," responded Sam, as he stirred the coffee. 
 
 :< That's it," said the gentleman in the straw. " If I was a hire 
 ling I'd have to go where I was ordered, and do any kind of work 
 they put me at. Meb-be 'twould be away off at t'other end of the 
 line where there's no excitement at all to speak of. As it is I'm 
 my own man, and I'm right here in the thick of the fray, as one 
 might say. If a horse is took anywhere in this here country, he's 
 brought to this here cave and stabled and rested and hid away 
 from sight till the time comes to run him off. Then I mounts him 
 as aforesaid, and bids you and the old man good -by, and has an 
 all-night time of it with that 'ere horse." 
 
 " Even down so," replied Sam. 
 
 '' The fellow that took the horse, mind you, just slipped up to 
 the stable when nobody was awake, bridled him, saddled him, and 
 led him off a piece; then mounted him and had him safely hid 
 away here before the country could wake up and give chase. 
 There wasn't much excitement about that." 
 
 Sam shook his head. 
 
 When I mount that 'ere horse it's for an all-night ride, and it's 
 when the hull country knows that a horse has been took. There's 
 excitement about that, I should say." 
 
 Sam nodded his head. He not only nodded it to indicate ac 
 quiescence in Mr. Hardrider's remark, but, his task being finished, 
 he nodded a second time, and gave unmistakable indications of 
 being about to drop off to sleep. Mr. Hardrider noted this and 
 passed in the course of his observations from dialogue to solil 
 oquy. 
 
 " I'm damned," said Mr. Hardrider, addressing himself, but 
 speaking loud enough to be overheard by his companion, " if I 
 hain't a mind to turn honest." 
 
 "Wot?" cried Sam, sitting bolt upright and staring at the 
 speaker in astonishment. 
 
 " I'm a notion," said Mr. Hardrider, as though he was turning 
 the thing over in his mind, " to git on the side of the law." 
 
 " Don't you never do it," cried Sam. 
 
 "I've been on this side," continued Mr. Hardrider, "until the 
 edge of the thing, you may say, is kinder wearing off and the 
 excitement dying out. Now, if I was on t'other side don't you 
 know I could make things damned lively for a while ? " 
 
 '" Don't you never do it," repeated Sam. 
 
 " Why look a here," pursued Mr. Hardrider, " if t'other side 
 
Two Cave-Dwellers. 165 
 
 was only to git a move on themselves and act prompt, same as we 
 act prompt, don't you know they could hold a pritty good hand 
 with us? We has to be keen and sharp and always on the go. 
 It's a sleepy old crowd, them on t'other side." 
 
 " Don't you never wake 'em up ! " exclaimed Sam. 
 
 " If I was on t'other side/' Mr. Hardrider went on, half solilo 
 quizing and half addressing his companion, " do you s'pose when 
 a horse was took I'd wait for the owner to go hunt up the sheriff, 
 and for the sheriff to ride round the county at his own cost hoping 
 to stumble on the man what took him? No, sir, I'd offer a big 
 reward in advance, and I'd give a permit to all officers to follow 
 and arrest any suspicious character on horseback and hold him 
 till his case was looked into. Then the man that took the horse 
 wouldn't have much the start of them that was after him, and 
 there'd be a reward on both sides to make the race lively. The 
 gentleman in front would be riding for the money there'd be in 
 it to him if he got away safe with the horse, and them behind 
 would be riding for the money there'd be in it to them if they 
 overtook him." 
 
 " Sho-nuff," said Sam. 
 
 " Do you s'pose," continued Mr. Hardrider, following up his 
 train of thought, " if I was on the side of the law, and the man 
 what took the horse was captured and brought back, I'd wait a life 
 time before I made an example of him for to warn others ? 'Shaw ! 
 there ain't no business in that. If you're going to try a man what 
 bucks up against the law, try him quick; if you're going to pun 
 ish him, punish him quick. Drag him right to the front; give 
 him his say ; turn him loose if he's not guilty, hang him up if he's 
 guilty; that's business." 
 
 " Mighty true," said Sam. 
 
 " Do you know what the punishment is in Tennessee for this 
 here trade we're following?" inquired Mr. Hardrider of his 
 auditor. 
 
 The negro shook his head. 
 
 Mr. Hardrider here drew an imaginary halter around his 
 neck and made believe to attach it to some fixed object above 
 him. 
 
 " No ! " cried the negro in considerable trepidation. 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Hardrider, " that's it. Hung by the neck until 
 you're dead, and may the Lord have mercy 'pon your soul. 
 That's the way the State of Tennessee treats horse thieves p# 
 
1 66 The K. K. K. 
 
 paper. In fact, mind you, they mostly go to jail, fee a good law 
 yer to defend 'em, spend a few years in dignified retirement, and 
 then come out and follow their old trade if their legs haven't got 
 so stiff as to unfit 'em for it." 
 
 The negro hugged his knees and gazed in silent admiration on 
 his comrade. 
 
 " There's only one kind of law down here in this country that 
 men in our profession need to be afeerd of,' 7 said Mr. Hard- 
 rider. 
 
 " Wot kind o' law is dat ? " inquired Sam. 
 
 " Mob law," replied the speaker. 
 
 Sam raised his hand by way of deprecation. " Don't name it, 
 Mr. Hardrider," he said. " Dat kind o' law ain't fitten to be 
 named 'mongst gentlemen." 
 
 " It's like one of those Western tornadoes," said Mr. Hardrider. 
 " It springs up of a sudden; wastes its fury on anything in its 
 way, and dies out all at once. Smart folks can generally dodge 
 it, but it's hell on fools." 
 
 Sam continued to shake his head. " I wishes to have nothing 
 to do with it," he expostulated. 
 
 ;Mr. Hardrider pursued his reflections. " If I was to turn 
 honest now," he said to Sam, " do you know what I would 
 do?" 
 
 The negro shook his head. 
 
 " I'd say to 'em, I would, let's take this here mob law what goes 
 too fast, and this here court-house law what travels too slow, and 
 roll 'em together, and make one good law that would jog along 
 just about right. Let's have I'd say to 'em if I was to turn 
 honest a genuine up-to-date law that won't neither throttle the 
 wrong man in a hurry nor dilly-dally with the right man when it 
 gets a holt on him." 
 
 " That kind of a law," said Sam, " would ruin our busi 
 ness." 
 
 Mr. Hardrider arose and was apparently about to present some 
 new ideas on the subject under discussion, when a low whistle 
 stole into the rugged apartment where the two men sat. 
 
 " That must be the old man," he said, addressing the negro. 
 
 Without a word Sam rose, took up the lantern but did not 
 light it and walked rapidly forward in the darkness toward the 
 mouth of the cave. The white man remained still until the sound 
 of the negro's footsteps had died away, then he groped his own 
 
The Cave-Dwellers. 167 
 
 way farther back into the interior of the cave and secreted him 
 self behind some fragments of rock that had fallen from the roof 
 of the cavern. He was quite sure the sound that reached his ear 
 had come from one of his accomplices in guilt, but much dodging 
 of law officers had made him wary as a fox. 
 
168 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE EXUBERANT FANCY OF SAM QUACKENBOSS BRINGS HIM INTO 
 TROUBLE ; AND THE OLD FARMER DELIVERS A FREE LECTURE TO A 
 SELECT AUDIENCE. 
 
 THE negro made his way along the dark passage with the unlit 
 lantern in his hand until he heard the ripple of water close to his 
 feet. It was absolutely dark in the cavern, and he could not have 
 detected any unluminous object within six inches of his nose. He 
 had proceeded without hesitation, however, throwing out his hand 
 now and then to feel the wall on his left, and did not falter until 
 his ear caught the low sound of running water. Then he paused, 
 and squatting down remained perfectly silent for a few moments 
 and listened. Hearing no sound he imitated the harsh chuckle of 
 a screech owl, once, twice, thrice. It was a low utterance, but one 
 calculated to penetrate a good way in the dead stillness of the cave. 
 Almost at once the note was answered by one so similar that the 
 two could scarcely be distinguished apart. Once, twice, thrice 
 came the chuckle of the night bird, distinctly heard above the soft 
 ripple of the stream, though at some distance away. The negro 
 now rose and lit the lantern he held in his hand. By its rays the 
 passage behind him could be discerned, a rough stony track ten 
 or fifteen feet in height and of about equal breadth. This passage 
 here joined another, from which the stream came. It was winter, 
 and the water was cold, but the negro without hesitation took off 
 his shoes, socks, and even his trousers, and leaving these on the dry 
 bank began wading down the creek, for the stream was broad and 
 deep enough to be so termed. Most of the way the water ran 
 above his knees, but at intervals there were deeper places where it 
 nearly reached his waist. Sometimes the arch overhead dipped 
 down so low as to almost touch his head, and there was one long 
 curved narrow passage through which the stream tossed and 
 swirled in its anxiety to free itself. The negro held his lantern 
 
The Exuberant Fancy of Sam Quackenboss. 169 
 
 high here, and found some difficulty in maintaining his footing. 
 Making his way cautiously through this chute the rays of his 
 lantern showed that the passage broadened at the lower end, and 
 the stream hugged the right wall, leaving a strip of dry land to 
 his left. He might have taken his way now along this strip of 
 ground if he had chosen, but he remained in the water and pro 
 ceeded down the bed of the creek. He paused now, and extin 
 guished his lantern, and going a short distance farther a faint 
 streak of daylight greeted him from the mouth of the cavern. It 
 was but a dim ray, that did not aid him any in finding his way 
 along the bed of the creek. He advanced now groping his course 
 and with both arms extended as if he anticipated encountering 
 some obstacle ahead. He turned a curve where the light was a 
 little stronger, and immediately before him there stood a horse 
 with a man atop of him. The horse started back in affright when 
 the negro came suddenly upon him, but the rider patted him on the 
 neck and soothed him in low tones. 
 
 " Ho t'ere. Sho, coot fellow. Don't act te tarn fool," said 
 the rider caressingly. The negro in the meanwhile had seized the 
 bridle and held the animal firmly. A little more soothing, and 
 the man in the saddle turned the bridle rein over to the negro, who 
 led the horse slowly back up stream, stopping now and then to 
 calm and reassure him. When they had gotten beyond the last 
 possible glimmer of daylight the negro halted in the middle of the 
 stream and lit his lantern. They proceeded some distance further, 
 the animal occasionally snorting and pressing close upon the heels 
 of the African, as if relying upon him now for protection. When 
 they reached the long narrow chute through which the water 
 swirled and tossed they came to a second halt. 
 
 " Has you got any liquor ? " queried the African, as the cold 
 waves splashed about his bare legs in midstream. 
 
 The man on the horse took from his side pocket a flask about 
 half full of whisky and handed it to his companion. The negro's 
 hand trembled as he grasped the flat bottle eagerly. " I'm pooty 
 nigh friz," he remarked, and then turning the bottle up he poured 
 most of its remaining contents down his throat. As he stood in 
 the narrow way the lantern lit up objects about him very dis 
 tinctly. The horse that pressed upon him bore a marvelous re 
 semblance to Miss Sue Bascombe's animal, Dandy Jim; the 
 saddle was new and of good leather and the rider looked like an 
 honest old farmer who cared little for appearances. 
 
170 The K. K. K. 
 
 " You'll hatter say your pra'rs now," observed the negro, as he 
 handed the nearly empty flask back to its owner. The old farmer 
 seemed to have a peculiar way of saying" his prayers, for at this 
 injunction he stretched himself at full length, lying flat on the ani 
 mal's back like a lizard on a log. Patting the horse kindly on the 
 head to assure him that no harm should befall him the negro led 
 the animal cautiously up the stream and through the perilous 
 channel. At one or two spots he came to a stand, and gave notice 
 to the old farmer to lie particularly flat before he ventured on. The 
 old farmer fortunately was little of stature, for if he had been cor 
 pulent at some one of these places he must have been scraped from 
 the saddle. " Pray hard, pray hard," the negro kept repeating, 
 when he feared it would be a particularly tight shave for the horse 
 and rider to squeeze themselves through some low narrow place. 
 The old farmer did not utter a single exclamation on this most 
 trying part of his journey. Now and then he groaned dismally, 
 but he made no attempt to speak. The animal beneath him cleared 
 its nostrils occasionally, but very softly, as if it feared a vigorous 
 snort might bring down calamity on the entire expedition. 
 
 " Here we is," cried Sam, when he had finally reached the point 
 where they could leave the water and take to the dry land. 
 
 " Mine Cot," exclaimed the old farmer, as he leaped to the 
 ground and began hopping up and down to give vent to his ec 
 stasy. " Ah, mine frient Sam, but it's a proud man I am tis 
 minit Holy Moses, but tat vas a tarn tight squeeze. I 
 vould not take such a ride agin, s'help me, for all te cattle in ter 
 Marrowpone Hills." 
 
 " You'd oughter had dis place in mind when you tuck de hoss," 
 replied Sam. " I was afeerd once or twice he wa'n'a gwy squedge 
 through. Now he's in here we'll have to feed him light, or we'll 
 never git him out." 
 
 " He's a pig fine horse, dat's a fact," replied the old farmer, 
 whose attention was now directed to the animal. 
 
 " Dat's even down so," answered Sam. " But lem-me tell you, 
 boss, sich hosses wa'n't made to fit dis place. Whilst we keep 
 dese here headquarters we'd oughter confine our attention mostly 
 to ponies." 
 
 " Ah, but tis is a coot horse," said the old farmer, taking the 
 lantern from the negro and holding it up so he could examine the 
 animal more closely. " Two huntert tollar is sheep for him." 
 
 The negro got back into his clothes with as much expedition as 
 
The Exuberant Fancy of Sam Quackenboss. 171 
 
 possible, for he was cold. ,Then taking the bridle rein and lantern 
 he led the horse farther back into the cave, the old farmer follow 
 ing. When they reached the opening that led into their private 
 apartment the old gentleman crawled through this, the negro 
 going onward with the horse. Presently he halted and tethered 
 the animal at a broad level place which bore evidence of having 
 been used as a feeding ground before. Going to some sacks that 
 stood at a little distance off he brought about a half gallon of 
 shelled oats in a small wooden tub, and then removed the saddle, 
 bridle and blanket from the animal, preparatory to giving him a 
 good rubbing down while he fed. 
 
 Sam was a pretty good judge of horseflesh, and as he pressed 
 the cloth lightly up and down the horse's back and inspected his 
 various good points with a critic's eye, he indorsed without reser 
 vation the opinion the old farmer had expressed in regard to 
 him. 
 
 " Dis here is a good horse, and no mistake/' said Sam to him 
 self, squatting down, to wipe off the right foreleg of the animal. 
 " Hit's de very best hoss we've met up wid yit in our business," 
 he continued a moment later, still addressing himself. As he 
 rubbed, and rubbed, there being no other human being nigh 
 to whom he could communicate his ideas, he fell to rumi 
 nating aloud. " Ef I owned jess sich a critter as dis," 
 said Sam to himself, " and could ride him 'bout anywhars 
 in de daytime, and had de money in my pocket wot de owner 
 of sich a critter as dis ought to have, ef I didn't cut a swell 
 I'm de biggest liar dat ever opened his mouth. Lord, wouldn't 
 I cut a swell wid dis hoss ef I could ride him 'bout any- 
 whar's in de daytime, and had de ready money for to support 
 me and him ? I'd go back down yander to Alabam', I would, and 
 I'd ride straight up to de house whar dat gal lives, and I'd holler 
 loud enough for to wake a p'leeceman three squar's off. ' Hello,' 
 I'd say ; ' who keeps house ? ' I'd say. ' Is ev'body dead in dese 
 parts ? ' I'd say. Wid dat you may bet your bottom dollar dey'd 
 all come tumblin' to de do'. Dat gal, Huldy, and all her little 
 brudders and sisters, and her ma, and her ole granmammy, and 
 de brindle dog wid one eye here dey'd all come. Den de ole gran- 
 mammy she'd kinder shade her eyes wid one hand and look at 
 me hard and say, ' Why, hi ! ain't that Sam Quackenboss wot 
 leff dese parts so sudden last Christmus was a year ? ' Den I'd 
 make my bow, and speak up to her jess as perlite as a dancnV 
 
172 The K. K. K. 
 
 marster, and say, ' No, marm, it ain't/ Den Huldy's ma she'd 
 speak up and say, ' Go way fum here. You tell me dat ain't Sam 
 Quackenboss, de runaway nigger wot lit out fum here last Christ- 
 mus was a year?' Den I'd 'spond to her, ' No, marm, it ain't. 
 Dis here ain't no runaway nigger, marm, I haves you understand. 
 Dis here is Mr. Sam Quackenboss wot taken a little pledger trip 
 last Christmus was a year, mum, same as any other gen'lemun, 
 and wot has now come back fur to pay his respects to your darter 
 Huldy, mum, same as any other gen'lemun.' Wid dat I'd light 
 ofFn dis here hoss, and I'd Vance to'ds de house wid my hat in 
 my hand, a bowin' and a smilin' " 
 
 " Yes, and you'd play hell too," said a voice close to him, pro 
 ceeding evidently from some person who had overheard his so 
 liloquy. 
 
 Without a word Mr. Sam Quackenboss dropped his cloth and 
 brush, and rushing back into the cavern where he saw a dim figure 
 standing, he grappled with the individual who had so suddenly 
 interrupted him, and by a dexterous twist of his right leg round 
 that of the unknown intruder, he speedily upset him. Having ac 
 complished this much in a jiffy he placed his knees on the arms 
 of his prostrate adversary, and gripping him firmly by the throat 
 prepared to throttle him. The man underneath resisted violently, 
 and it chanced in the struggle that a ray of light from the lantern 
 fell on his face. Sam to his astonishment recognized the features 
 of the friend from whom he had not long since parted in the guest 
 chamber, and springing to his feet he cried out so loud as to be 
 heard at some distance away : 
 
 ' 'Fo' God, Mr. Hardrider, I didn't know dat was you." 
 
 The gentleman addressed had risen promptly, but he was obliged 
 to consume some moments in the effort to recover his wind before 
 he could reply. When his lungs had begun again to perform their 
 natural function he answered indignantly : 
 
 " Next time you'd better wait until you find out something about 
 a fellow before you try to kill him." 
 
 To which Sam answered excitedly: " In jineral, sar, dat's my 
 rule ; but you took me on surprise." 
 
 At this moment the old farmer, attracted by the disturbance, 
 appeared on the scene with a lantern in his hand. " Py Apraham 
 and Moses," he cried in a hoarse whisper, shaking his lantern at 
 first one and then the other of the disputants, " you vill rune ter 
 pizness, You vill pring ter sheriff, and Cot knows vat all, You 
 
The Exuberant Fancy of Sam Quackenboss. 173 
 
 vill land te whole posse of us in shall, you reckerless pad poys, 
 you miserable tarn fools. Go pack to der place vere you pelongs. 
 Go pofe of you pack right at vonct, or I vill discharge you, so help 
 me. Dere now ; dere now ; go pack, goot fellows. Go straight 
 pack at onct allretty, and stop your tarn foolishness, or you vill 
 rune te pizness." 
 
 They obeyed the command, and when the three men were seated 
 in the guest chamber, as their private .apartment was called, the 
 old gentleman delivered to his two juniors a fatherly lecture by 
 which it is to be hoped they both profited. " Pizness is pizness," 
 he said. " Ven you go in a pizness learn te rules of tat pizness, 
 and stick to te rules of tat pizness, and you vill prosper, and ter 
 plessing of Cot vill pe upon you. If you follow te auctioneer 
 pizness you must cry mit a loud voice so people vill hear you. 
 Dat vay you prosper. If you follow te pizness of taking utter 
 men's horses and hiding dem in a cave, you must mind de rule 
 to speak low or dere'll be hell to pay. No matter vat your piz 
 ness, follow de rules of tat pizness, and coot will come of it in de 
 ent. Vatch all alonk de line, and make effry edge cut, so you vill 
 haff pig money pime-py. If you sell coots make ter coostomer 
 pay cash and put dat cash in your pocket ; puy te coots on a credit 
 and preak pefore pay day cumps. Dat vay you git large money. 
 Follow te rules of your pizness, mine frients, and keep your eyes 
 vide open all de time." 
 
 " Speaking ~of keeping your eyes open," said Mr. Hardrider, 
 desiring to switch the old man off upon a more interesting topic, 
 " I saw a mighty fine horse about six miles this side of Nashville 
 t'other day ; that's what I saw." 
 
 " Dot's pizness," said the old gentleman. 
 
 " Light sorrel," said Mr. Hardrider, " medium size, clean limbs, 
 tail cut square, looked like a racer." 
 
 " Dot's pizness," repeated the old gentleman. 
 
 " Runs in a ten-acre lot with a high fence round it. Put in 
 there I guess to let him play." 
 
 " Dot's pizness," remarked the old gentleman for the third 
 time. 
 
 Mr. Hardrider having imparted this piece of intelligence lit his 
 pipe and lapsed into silence. 
 
 " Now," said the old gentleman, " de kevestion is who vill git 
 him oot of dot ten-acre lot. To my notion dot 'oss has had play 
 sooficient in dot lot." 
 
174 The K. K. K. 
 
 Mr. Hardrider smoked on in silence. Sam likewise held his 
 peace. 
 
 " I leaf dot matter to you two shentlemen," said the old man, 
 " and I vants dot 'oss in de stable here soomtime to-morrow night. 
 A vord to de vise is sooficient. 
 
 The negro had produced a crumpled deck of cards from his 
 pocket and now in dumb show challenged Mr. Hardrider for a 
 game. The white outlaw faced him, and with the pipe still in his 
 mouth motioned his companion to shuffle and deal. 
 
 " Pizness is pizness," continued the old gentleman. " My 
 frient Kevackenparse, and my frient Artriter, you vill go to-mor 
 row and stop dot poptail 'oss from playin' in dot ten-acre lot. 
 Kevackenparse vill " 
 
 " Call me Sam," interrupted the negro. " Ef you don't leave 
 off dat Kevackenparse I'll ax de court to change my name." 
 
 " Ver' coot, ver' coot," said the old gentleman. " I vill call you 
 Sam, Alabam' Sam, and let de Kevackenparse go to hell. My 
 frient Sam vill git dot 'oss oot of dot lot and turn him over to my 
 frient Artriter, who vill fetch him here and poot him in de stable 
 vere he pelonks. Pime-py next veek ven de owner of dot 'oss git 
 tired lookin' for him ve vill send him and de big fellow vot shust 
 come in off to de market. Pizness is pizness." 
 
 " Clubs is trumps," said Mr. Hardrider. 
 
 " And it's my lead," said Sam. 
 
 " Ven dot 'oss is turned over to Artriter," continued the old 
 gentleman, " mine frient Sam vill stay in de country and mix vid 
 de peoples a vile. Ve need vitnesses for de court as veil as 'osses 
 for de market." 
 
 " Never mind about dat," answered Sam as he trumped one of 
 Mr. Hardrider's cards. " Let de witnesses go." 
 
 " Ah, mine Cot," said the old gentleman, " I must not forgit de 
 main pizness vot prought me to dis tarn Marrowpone coontry. 
 Let de vitnesses go? No, no. Let de vitnesses go, and mine shile 
 in shail? Mine Cot, no." 
 
 It may be explained here that the worthy old gentleman, Mr. 
 Olof Ankerstrom, had first visited the Marrowbone region a few 
 months before in the hope of picking up testimony that would be 
 of service in the trial of his son. It was his ardent desire to prove 
 an alibi for his son Johan, and thus demonstrate that he could not 
 have been the perpetrator of the outrage at the Bascombe place. 
 It was his purpose also to show in court at the proper time that 
 
The Exuberant Fancy of Sam Quackenboss. 175 
 
 Sandy Kinchen prior to the outrage had made criminating state 
 ments to his intimates, which would go far toward fastening upon 
 him the responsibility for the terrible crime. It was with the 
 view of hunting up testimony of this kind and, it "must be admit 
 ted, of manufacturing it if it could not be found ready made that 
 the worthy old gentleman had shouldered a peddler's pack and 
 knocked about for some weeks in the locality where the crime 
 had been committed. While thus engaged it occurred to him to 
 make expenses, and perhaps something more, by opening up a 
 brisk horse-trading business with some confederates north of the 
 Ohio River who were upon confidential terms with him. He 
 found the negro Sam loafing about with no visible means of sup 
 port, and through him first undertook to suborn negro witnesses 
 to testify in behalf of his son Johan at the coming trial. Find 
 ing him a willing accomplice he promoted him in recognition of 
 his merit, and made him a member of the horse-stealing fraternity. 
 The negro had on a former occasion, when it suited his purposes 
 to absent himself a while from society, discovered the cave, and 
 waded up the creek until he reached dry ground wnere he could 
 go into camp. He revealed to the old gentleman the existence 
 of this safe hiding place, and upon a more thorough inspection 
 they became convinced that a horse, as well as a man, could explore 
 the depths of tne cavern. They found the niche, or side opening, 
 which Mr. Hardrider, a promising young 1 scoundreel, dubbed " the 
 guest chamber ;" and here when not engaged in active business 
 they ate, slept, played cards, drank whisky, and sought in various 
 other commendable ways to kill time. 
 
 The existence of the cave had of course been long known in the 
 neighborhood, but no one prior to this time had been so adven 
 turous as to wade up the swift cold waters of the creek until dry 
 footing could again be found ; and thus it was not suspected that 
 a snug lurking place for robbers lay in the deep recesses of the hill 
 that rose back of the opening. Now, schoolboys in summer will 
 follow with lighted candles the labyrinths of the stream, and point 
 you, if you be bold enough to accompany them, to the very spot 
 where old Ankerstrom, the negro Sam, and Mr. Hardrider sat in 
 frequent council, and planned raids upon the stables and horse 
 pastures in the vicinity. Some stubborn people insist even yet 
 that no horse of ordinary size could be led along the narrow 
 channel through which the stream flows, but in reply it is only 
 necessary for me to state that Sam Quackenboss did lead many 
 
176 The K. K. K. 
 
 horses to stable by this route, and this, I am sure, with rea 
 sonable people will be sufficient to silence all controversy on the 
 subject. 
 
 " Sam," said the old gentleman after watching the game for 
 some moments in silence, " pass me dot plack pottle. Somehow 
 I half dot lonezome feel to-night." 
 
 The request having been complied with, the old gentleman took 
 an absent-minded potation and returned the bottle. " Dem vit- 
 nesses, dem vitnesses," he said. " Somehow or nutter, Sam, I 
 haff dem vitnesses upon my mind to-night." 
 
 " You needn't ;" replied the negro. " I kin git you all de wit 
 nesses you want, but dat old lawyer won't let 'em go 'pon de 
 stand." 
 
 " Ve vill fool him, Sam ; and make him pleive day swear 
 trute." 
 
 " You can't fool dat old man. I'm afeerd to try it. He'll twist 
 honest testimony into all kind of shapes when he stands befo' de 
 jury, but he won't tech no bogus testimony. Dat goes agin his 
 stomach." 
 
 " Pass me dot plack pottle agin, Sam," said the old gentleman. 
 Having taken a second drink more copious than the first he corked 
 the bottle and sat it down beside him. The liquor seemed to 
 depress his spirits, for he began soon to shake his head and hold 
 forth in a melancholy way. 
 
 " Mine shile, mine poor shile in de shail. De tarn lawyer took 
 my money, and vill not let de vitnesses speak vot vould set mine 
 shile free. He haff my money, and vill not vork for my money; 
 dot is not pizness. Oh, mine Cot, dese lawyers, tese lawyers, tese 
 tarn rascakly lawyers. Tis man Perlaffer, Sam, he is one tarn 
 scer-roundrel." 
 
 " You and him for dat," replied the negro. " I ain't gwy fool 
 wid him." 
 
 " He take my money to free my shile," continued the old man, 
 " but do he free my shile? Mine Cot, no. My money in his 
 pocket, and mine shile in de shail ; dot is not pizness. Pime-py, 
 he say to me, pime-py your shile be free as te pird dat fly, and fly, 
 and light vere he tarn please. Pime-py, pime-py. Mine Cot, 
 I haff vait, and vait, and pime-py haff not come allretty. De 
 vitness for to hang your shile, he say, vill not pe on hand next 
 time. Mine Cot, ven de next time come de tarn vitness he is on 
 hand. Pass me te pottle, Sammy." 
 
The Exuberant Fancy of Sam Quackenboss. 
 
 " Pass him the jug," said Mr. Hardrider. " Let him fill up 
 and be done with it." 
 
 " Dar's de bottle right by you," said Sam. " Help yourself." 
 
 The old gentleman again raised the black bottle to his mouth 
 and swallowed a liberal portion of its contents. When he had re 
 placed it by his side he eyed the card-players for a few moments in 
 silence, then he accosted them with an air of half-tipsy grav 
 ity: 
 
 " Shentlemen, I vish to say something." 
 
 " Say on," replied Mr. Hardrider. " Two and two, and my 
 deal, Sam." 
 
 " Shentlemen," continued the old man, " dere is a person in dis 
 country vot makes himself too busy vid vot don't concern him. 
 His name is ah his name is ah Perryerson. Vot you 
 call?" 
 
 " Pearson," said Sam. " Ran Pearson, dey calls him. He got 
 a pooty good 'oss, but de stable do' is double locked, and dar's a 
 bull dog dat prowls round de place constant. I trumps dat ace, 
 sho." 
 
 " Tarn te 'oss, and te pull tog, and te ace," said the old gentle 
 man. 
 
 " Wot den ? " inquired Sam. 
 
 " Dis man vot you call ? Perryerson, he too tarn busy vid vat 
 don't concern him. He haff de vitnesses at coort de last time, he 
 vill haff dem dere de next time. My lawyer say no, I say yes. 
 Py te plood of te prophets, I say yes. He vill haff te vitnesses on 
 hand, dis man Perryerson. Mark dat, Sammy. Mark dat, Artri- 
 ter. Tis man vill fetch vitnesses to de coort to hang mine shile. 
 He is a tarn scer-roundrel." 
 
 " Meb-be so," replied Sam. 
 
 " I vish he vos dead," said the old gentleman. 
 
 " Amen," cried Mr. Hardrider. 
 
 " Shentlemen," continued the old man, regarding the two 
 gamblers more narrowly than might have been expected from one 
 in his seemingly inebriated condition, " if dis man Perryerson 
 vould mind his own pizness my shile vould pe free terreckerly. 
 Tink of dat." 
 
 The two men played on in silence. 
 
 " If he vos tead," the old gentleman went on, " mine poor shile 
 vould pe free terreckerly. Mjne shile, mine shile, he vould pe 
 free as te 'appy pird." 
 
178 The K. K. K. 
 
 " Won't clo," said Mr. Hardrider. " I'm in the horse-trading 
 business." 
 
 " I've tried my hand at fust one thing and den anudder," said 
 Sam, " but I never has kilt anybody yit." 
 
 " Dot is right," said the old gentleman. " Stick to dat, mine 
 frients, and you vill pe angels pime-py, mebbe." 
 
 As it was now growing late the old gentleman laid himself down 
 upon a blanket spread a little way off from the fire and fell asleep. 
 A clear conscience and good digestion are excellent aids to 
 slumber, and it is to be presumed the old gentleman possessed both 
 of these, for he soon began to snore vigorously. 
 
 Mr. Hardrider and the negro played on with varying luck until 
 past midnight. Sometimes they were intent upon the game, some 
 times they allowed themselves to be beguiled into conversation on 
 miscellaneous topics. They arranged the details of the following 
 day's expedition by which it was hoped to bring the slim race horse 
 to comfortable quarters in the cavern, where he might keep com 
 pany with Dandy Jim. They touched once or twice on the subject 
 which the old gentleman had last introduced, but this in very low 
 tones for fear his snoring might be simulated. When they at last 
 abandoned the game the negro was a few dollars ahead, and Mr. 
 Hardrider a little worse off pecuniarily than when they began to 
 finger the cards. He was naturally light-hearted, though, and it 
 would have taken a very heavy and persistent run of ill luck to 
 depress him. 
 
 " Damn the difference," he said to Sam before retiring. " I 
 just play anyhow for the excitement of the thing." 
 
 " Me too," replied Sam, tying the evening's winnings up care 
 fully in a rag. 
 
 " I never tried life in a cave until I was sent down here to help 
 out the old man," said Mr. Hardrider, " and I find it lonesome as 
 the devil. I've read ' Jack Sheppard ' through three times in the 
 last week. If I stay here much longer I'm going to get me up a 
 library." 
 
 " Dat's past me," replied the negro ; " I can't read." 
 
 " I ain't even allowed to sing," continued Mr. Hardrider, " for 
 fear the sheriff will come in to listen. All I can do for amusement 
 is to play cards, and somehow I have hard luck at that. If I play 
 with you you make a pretty good hole in my pile ; if I play with 
 the old man he takes it all." 
 
 " Luck will change, luck will change," answered Sam, striving 
 to comfort his friend, 
 
The Exuberant Fancy of Sam Quackenboss. 
 
 "Oh, damn the odds," said Mr. Hardrider cheerfully. "It 
 would all go in a lifetime anyway. Old Vanderbilt had to leave 
 the world, and didn't take a dollar with him. Rain, shine, good 
 luck, bad luck 'twill all go in a lifetime, Sam." 
 
 With this cheerful reflection the young horse-trader untied his 
 shoes and laid down to rest. Sam followed his example, stretch 
 ing himself at length oh a different pallet. They too must have 
 been favored with sound digestion and clear consciences, for soon 
 they were wrapt in deep sleep, and nothing disturbed the silence 
 of the cavern but the snoring of the old man and the occasional 
 stamping of Dandy Jim as he pined in his rather lonely stable. 
 
iSo Ine K. R. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE OLD FARMER ATTENDS A BUSINESS MEETING OF THE K. K. K., 
 AND HEARS SOMETHING NOT TO HIS ADVANTAGE. 
 
 THE fox that hid in the cedars on Dead Man's Knob was dis 
 turbed by another gathering of human creatures at that secluded 
 spot. Again the Grand Cyclops donned his ghostly robe; again 
 some applicant for admission into the klan stood before him and 
 the mummery of initiation was gone through with. But the klan 
 had business of more importance than the mere admission of new 
 members into a society which was already sufficiently large to ac 
 complish the purpose for which it had been organized. To-night 
 the grave question to be discussed and decided was whether the 
 time had arrived when the midnight murderer of a good old 
 woman in their midst should be taken by force or stratagem from 
 the authorities and held to account for his monstrous crime. 
 Nearly a year had elapsed since the flames from the burning Bas- 
 combe home lit up the sky and the neighborhood about the place. 
 A full year would have elapsed before the brute who committed 
 a cruel and causeless murder there couid be arraigned to answer 
 for his deed. More than this, after three times visiting their 
 county seat to testify against him the witnesses familiar with the 
 facts must now be dragged to another county town a full day's 
 journey from their homes before they could be heard to tell their 
 plain tale in court. That there should be indignation among the 
 good folk of the Marrowbone Hills was natural. That they 
 should fail to understand why the authorities proceeded at a snail's 
 pace to bring a heartless scoundrel to settlement, and apparently 
 befriended him in his effort to shirk investigation, was natural. 
 The blood of old Granny Bascombe cried aloud from the stained 
 earth for vengeance, and good men and women fretted over the 
 fact that it had cried so long in vain. Good men and women 
 fretted over the fact till wrath and indignation took possession of 
 the community, and many there were who censured the secret or- 
 
The Old Farmer at a Meeting of the K. K. K. 181 
 
 ganization that had been instrumental in snatching a murderer 
 from the hands of those who would have visited swift punishment 
 upon him and placing him in a situation where, they were con 
 vinced, not even tardy justice would ever reach him. That such 
 an organization existed in the community was well understood, 
 though the individuals that composed it, its meeting place, and 
 even its objects and purposes were altogether conjectural. 
 
 Again the circle was formed on Dead Man's Knob, and when a 
 few novitiates had been duly installed members, the tall Grand 
 Cyclops announced that the Ulema, or court of the order, would 
 convene. The three judges gravely took their seats on the flat 
 stone against the bluff and listened to arguments and appeals for 
 action in the case of the murderer, Johan Ankerstrom, alias 
 Cross-eyed Jack. 
 
 Many members addressed the court, some in a rambling way, 
 some much to the point. All the speakers without exception urged 
 that something must be done. Even those who at the last meeting 
 had advised against interference with the public authorities now 
 admitted that the limit of patience had been passed, and that 
 if the murderer could be wrested from the jail where he lay he 
 should be brought at once before the klan for trial. 
 
 The Grand Cyclops, whose appropriate figure and grave deport 
 ment had made him the head of the order, delivered on this occa 
 sion a few impressive remarks. The objects of the order, he re 
 minded the august tribunal before him, were threefold. First, by 
 promptly taking charge of persons suspected of grave crimes to 
 prevent mob law, which from excitement and lack of method often 
 punished the innocent, and which tended to encourage rather than 
 check those prone to disorderly acts. Secondly, to turn these sus 
 pected persons when arrested promptly over to the authorities, and 
 to aid the authorities in bringing them to speedy hearing so that 
 justice in each case might be promptly and openly done. Thirdly, 
 where the authorities failed, after reasonable time had been al 
 lowed to bring any offender to open trial, then the klan should re 
 sume its control over such offender and deal with him as right 
 and justice might demand. These objects, said the Grand Cyclops, 
 addressing the Dreadful Ulema, were all such as law-abiding citi 
 zens could not fail to approve of. Rash and furious mob law, 
 striking blindly after a grave crime had been committed, could not 
 be justified by any right-thinking persons. In a community where 
 there were court-houses and courts, the opportunity to deal with 
 
182 The K. K. K. 
 
 flagrant offenders should always be given the public authorities 
 before outsiders would be justified in interfering. But crime must 
 be punished, society must be protected, old women and young girls 
 must be allowed to retire to rest at night without fear of molesta 
 tion. If the proper authorities could not afford the necessary pro 
 tection, good citizens must band together to aid the authorities; 
 and if aid was not sufficient to attain the desired end then good cit 
 izens must assume the entire responsibility, and by punishing 
 guilty persons protect themselves and their neighbors from further 
 outrages. The time had now come, the Grand Cyclops maintained 
 when the klan having relied on the law long enough should re 
 sume charge of this man, Ankerstrom, and administer justice to 
 him. He had not given the poor old woman whom he roused at 
 midnight time to say her prayers before he murdered her. The 
 klan should not follow such a ruthless example as that, but the 
 good people of the vicinity should be given to understand that if 
 there was not strength enough in the courts to punish such mon 
 strous crimes, there was strength enough in a voluntary society, 
 organized for the purpose of maintaining peace and good order in 
 the community. It was preposterous to say time enough had not 
 been allowed for the courts to make a thorough investigation of 
 the grave case before them. The speaker knew nothing of the 
 technicalities of the law, but taking a common-sense view of the 
 matter he would say that where monstrous crimes were committed 
 prompt trial and punishment must follow, or the whole effect of 
 visiting the consequences of crime on the offender would be lost. 
 The law as now administered was certainly a failure. Maybe it 
 was nobody's fault, but the fact was the law was a failure, and the 
 question remained as to whether there was any power anywhere 
 to punish crime. 
 
 The Grand Cyclops, a plain young farmer, undoubtedly voiced 
 the sentiment of those present when he urged that speedy action be 
 taken in the Ankerstrom case, and that the courts should be no 
 longer relied on to deal with the murderer. Others followed along 
 the same line, and Teddy Mclntosh spoke vehemently as usual. 
 
 " Why, look a here," Teddy argued, " are we ever going to do 
 anything about this business or not? If we are it's time we were 
 about it; if we ain't let's disband and go home. What have we 
 done since we organized this klan to right things about here? 
 What have we done, most Dreadful Ulema, what have we done? 
 We've trapesed around over the country in our shirt tails, so to 
 
The Old Farmer at a Meeting of the K. K. K. 183 
 
 speak, and skeered a few niggers out of their wits, but have we put 
 a stop to the villainy that's going on around us ? When was there 
 ever such a state of affairs in the Marrowbone Hills as there is 
 right now? A good horse stolen on court day right under the 
 nose of the judge, and Billy Metcalf 's fine race horse took out of 
 his lot one night last week. This together with a whole lot of 
 other devilment not worth while to name. What are we going to 
 do about it ? Why, if it please the Dreadful Ulema, the lawyers 
 and the judges in the court-house couldn't dilly-dally worse than 
 we've done. This is putting it pretty strong I know, but I leave it 
 to all the members of this klan if I ain't right? We banked a 
 heap on mystery when we first organized. This Brotherhood was 
 to be so secret, .and keep things so dark, that everybody around 
 would stand in awe, and folks would only know there was such 
 a society as ours when they found the mighty things we'd done. 
 Well, sirs, now how does the matter stand ? Which side has got 
 the mystery with it, if you come to mystery ? A horse took in the 
 broad open daytime, not two hundred yards from the court-house, 
 with court in session and a thousand folks in town. Who took 
 that horse, and where was he carried to? Smuggled out of the 
 country by some sort of hocus pocus, and the smartest man in the 
 Marrowbone Hills couldn't say when or how. They waylaid the 
 roads, and the horses hadn't left by any road. They sent off tele 
 grams, and the horse hadn't been seen at any of the places where 
 a thief would have been likely to take him. So it is with Billy 
 Metcalf 's race nag. We've scoured the country up and down, far 
 and wide, and if that critter is on top of the ground we can't find 
 him. One thing is certain, though. One thing is certain. The 
 scamps that are putting up jobs like this ain't much afraid of the 
 law. They ain't much afraid of any kind of law. Court-house 
 law, and K. K. K. law, they snap their fingers at all of it. It's time 
 somebody was hung, I tell you. It's time somebody's neck was 
 pulled. If we get the right man, amen ; if we get the wrong man, 
 better than nobody at all. Why, look a here. I slept last night in 
 my stable loft. What for? Because I didn't want my saddle 
 horse took, that's why. He's a good horse ; sire, Autocrat ; grand 
 sire, imported Imp ; got a pedigree long as my arm, and I couldn't 
 afford to have him took. That's the reason I slept in my stable 
 loft with a shotgun for company. I'll tell you another thing too. 
 If a horse thief had come about my stable neither them fellows at 
 the court-house nor this here Dreadful Ulema would have been 
 
1 84 The K. K. K. 
 
 bothered with his case. Not bothered at all, gentlemen; not 
 bothered at all, I give you my word. Look at old Granny Bas- 
 combe's case too, will you? Good old woman, kind-hearted old 
 woman, Christian woman. Knocked in the head like a dog, and 
 everybody knows who killed her. How long has it been since she 
 was knocked in the head, and everybody knowin' who killed her? 
 Close on to a year. What's been done about it? Not a thing in 
 the world. First a whole lot of witnesses, young and old, men and 
 women, sick folks and well folks, had to go before the grand jury. 
 So far, so good. Next the same crowd, young and old, men and 
 women, sick and well, had to march back to court to tend the trial. 
 They laid the case over to next term. Too much excitement, they 
 said. Oh yes, too much excitement. Cross-eyed Jack couldn't 
 be tried while excitement was up ; not by no means. So they laid 
 the case over, and one more time everybody, young and old, men 
 and women, sick and well, had to trapes to town to tend court. 
 What then ? Was they allowed to tell their tales and git back to 
 their homes ? Oh no, by no means. Excitement being still up, the 
 case must be laid over again, and not only so but set for trial next 
 time in another far-away county where it'll be hard to get the wit 
 nesses to tend. Nobody in all this here county fit'n' to set on the 
 case of Cross-eyed Jack. He must be tried in a dead calm, and 
 before strangers, if his lawyer ever makes up his mind to have a 
 trial at all, which ain't likely. Well, I don't know how it is with 
 this here Dreadful Ulema, and the balance of you fellows, but I'm 
 tired. Some'pn' ought to be done, and I'll just be dad burned, 
 ladies and gentlemen, if I haven't got to the p'int where I'm ready 
 to say somep'n's got to be done. This here klan was got up to 
 help out the courts, and it looks like some other kind of a klan will 
 have to be got up to help out this here klan, and this here Dreadful 
 Ulema. Nobody in all this here county good enough to try Cross 
 eyed Jack ; oh no, nobody at all. And this here klan, and this 
 here Dreadful Ulema, they ain't ready to take up the case of Cross 
 eyed Jack as yet. Oh no, we must wait, wait, wait. Cross-eyed 
 Jack is a gentleman of such quality that he can only be tried in a 
 dead calm, and before strangers, and when he's ready. We've 
 waited a year, but that don't matter. We must wait another year, 
 and if that ain't sufficient we must wait his convenience. Well, I 
 for one am tired of waiting, and I'm ready to take up the case right 
 here, right now. I want to see the case of Cross-eyed Jack, alias 
 Dutch Ankers, alias all-round infernal scoundrel, go off the docket. 
 
The Old Farmer at a Meeting of the K. K. K. 185 
 
 I want to give him a free pass to another world right away. I'd 
 rather send him off by the rope route, but if that can't be done then 
 by the pistol route, and if we can't fix it any other way I'm willing 
 to hire the jail cook to pizen him. I tell you I mean business about 
 this thing. It's come to the pass in this country that rascals don't 
 fear the law, and honest folks don't depend on the law, and that's 
 a bad state of affairs. It's a bad state of affairs, I tell you, and 
 some'pn' ought to be done about it, and done quick." 
 
 No stenographer was present to take down the scattering re 
 marks of Mclntosh, but the above will give a pretty accurate idea 
 of what he said and how he said it. On the whole he voiced the 
 sentiment of his brother members, though many of them would 
 have expressed themselves in a different way. The Ulema, or 
 high court of the order, however, still operated as a check upon the 
 more impulsive members of the clan. Pearson, after listening 
 calmly to all that had been said, declared gravely that while the 
 procrastinating methods of the law were exasperating, the time had 
 not yet arrived when violent interference with its process would be 
 justifiable. In the opinion of himself and the two other members 
 who constituted the judicial tribunal of the order, to take a man by 
 force from the custody of the civil authorities, and deal with him 
 for his transgression, was a very serious step that would only be 
 justifiable in an extreme case. The speaker did not deny that per 
 haps it would have been better not to have delivered Ankerstrom 
 to the custody of the law. The accidental presence of the sheriff 
 partly occasioned this, and the speaker himself had favored it at the 
 time, but possibly in the case of so flagrant an offender it might 
 have been better if the klan had dealt with him as he deserved. 
 Now, however, the situation was changed, and no violent action 
 should be taken on the part of the order as long as there was hope 
 that justice would be administered through the courts. Especially 
 at this time, Pearson insisted, it would be unwise to interfere be 
 cause there was every assurance that the accused after long delay 
 would be forced to trial at the next term. The State's attorney had 
 avowed that there was no legal quibble by which a hearing could 
 be postponed beyond the next term, and the judge had practically 
 so announced from the bench when the change of venue was 
 granted. Therefore the duty of the brotherhood was to exert 
 every effort and have all the witnesses present when the court as 
 sembled. When the case was heard in open court the facts on 
 both sides would be brought out, and the members of the Ulema, 
 
1 86 The K. K. K. 
 
 being present, could then for themselves determine whether the 
 accused had any sort of defense to the grave charge against him. 
 If he had none then no technicalities of the law would be per 
 mitted to shield him from punishment or to put off much longer 
 the hour when he must pay the penalty of his crime. Under the 
 circumstances the order must wait patiently and give the law one 
 more chance. If there was interference now it would be said 
 that the court was just about to dispose of the case when the 
 mob took the matter out of its hands. 
 
 " What if there's another postponement instead of a trial ? " 
 asked a member of the brotherhood when Pearson had an 
 nounced his decision. 
 
 " We will then meet and determine what is our duty," was the 
 calm response. 
 
 When this matter was disposed of the Ulema adjourned and 
 a discussion followed upon the mysterious disappearance of 
 horses from the community, which had become of frequent occur 
 rence lately. The puzzling thing about these robberies was that 
 no man could tell to what part of the country the animals were 
 taken, or how they were gotten without detection out of the 
 neighborhood where they were known. None but good animals 
 were taken, and the thieves seemed to be operating upon a prear 
 ranged plan that baffled the authorities, and even the members of 
 the order. Upon the subject of these depredations Pearson ex 
 pressed his opinion. 
 
 " It is quite evident," he said, " that this is not the work of 
 negroes ; at least that negroes are not planning and managing this 
 systematic scheme by which our best horses are being secretly 
 run out of the country. It is evident also that this is not the 
 work of common clumsy thieves. So far we have made little 
 progress toward discovering the perpetrators of these frequent 
 crimes, but we have one clue that followed up may lead to impor 
 tant disclosures. At our last meeting several members spoke of 
 the presence of an old jewelry peddler in this locality whose con 
 duct was thought to be suspicious. It was an old white man 
 claiming to be a book agent that stole Templeton's horse from 
 Major Habersham's stable. He seems to have had a negro part 
 ner, but it was the old white man that put up the job. It was an 
 old white man claiming to be a farmer that stole Miss Sue Bas- 
 combe's horse at the last term of the court. These three indi 
 viduals were all foreigners, all getting along in years, all slick 
 
The Old Farmer at a Meeting of the K. K. K. 187 
 
 scoundrels, and I am convinced they were all one and the same 
 person. The thing to do is to catch the old scoundrel, who has 
 many disguises, and who seems to be in hiding round here some 
 where." 
 
 " And the next thing to do is to hang him to a limb," inter 
 rupted Teddy Mclntosh. 
 
 " If we catch him," answered Templeton, " I will agree with 
 you that he should first be brought before the klan and his sub 
 sequent disposition then determined." 
 
 " No court-house law for him," said Mclntosh. 
 
 " We'll deal with him promptly ; I promise you that," was the 
 reply. " But the first thing to do is- to catch him. Now, I'm con 
 vinced this gang of scoundrels has a regular hiding place some 
 where in the Marrowbone Hills, and that this hiding place is 
 sufficient in size to secrete both horses and thieves after a robbery- 
 has been committed. They keep the horses hidden here until 
 we have quit searching for them, and then they slip them off 
 quietly to some distant market and sell them. This old jewelry 
 peddler who plays farmer and Bible agent, and who is sharp 
 enough to fool Lee Templeton and Uncle Davy, is the head of the 
 gang, and by keeping a sharp lookout we can catch him. Let 
 every member then keep his eyes and ears open, and let the Grand 
 Cyclops appoint some of our men to watch the roads every night. 
 A dozen good men can watch almost as many different roads, and 
 we can take it turn about discharging this duty." 
 
 " I say," remarked Mr. Teddy Mclntosh, rising to address the 
 assemblage, " if I lay hands on this here old jewelry peddler, 
 Bible agent and farmer, there'll be no courts for him, and no 
 Dreadful Ulema, neither. I'll save all that trouble, I will." 
 
 " No," replied Pearson, " you must not do anything against the 
 rules of the order. If you catch him bring him to us, and we'll 
 deal with him promptly. Have no fear of that." 
 
 " No more courts ? " asked Teddy dubiously. 
 
 " Bring him before the klan ; an hour or two will be all the 
 time needed to look into his case. If his guilt is clear, and the 
 klan says so, we'll make an example of him. Desperate diseases 
 require desperate remedies." 
 
 " That's the talk," replied Mr. Mclntosh. " Proceed on that 
 line, and we'll stick to you." 
 
 The members of the K. K. K. quietly dispersed, each going his 
 separate way, and the stillness of night again reigned on Dead 
 
1 88 The K. K. K. 
 
 Man's Knob. When all had dispersed, and a half hour had 
 passed without sign or sound from any creature, a human being 
 crawled from the dense thicket of cedars and stepping softly 
 across the open space took his seat on the flat stone where the 
 members of the Ulema had sat. He was of diminutive stature 
 and alerb- in his movements, though even in the misty starlight 
 gray hair could be seen straggling from beneath his close black 
 cap. He sat on the stone a while shaking his head and gesticu 
 lating with his hands as he muttered in an undertone to him 
 self. 
 
 " Von hour, hah ? Von hour vill be sufficient, hah ? Mep-pe 
 so, mep-pe so. Ven dey gits te ole man dey vill make short vork 
 vid him. Hah, yes, yes, yes; no toubt. Ven dey gits him, ven 
 dey gits him." 
 
 He gesticulated a few moments in silence, shaking his head 
 vehemently .the while. 
 
 " Tat m-an Perryerson is te pig tog. Te oders is leetle bups, 
 shust leetle bups. Ven Perryerson go, te whole tarn pizness go. 
 Shust von hour for te ole man ven dey gits him. Veil, veil ; 
 veil, veil. Mep-pe pime-py terreckerly dey vill git him." 
 
 There came a slight disturbance, perhaps from some night 
 prowling animal, and the old man slipped softly away from the 
 stone and was gone. His retreating footsteps gave back no 
 sound as he picked his way in the darkness down the steep side of 
 Dead Man's Knob. 
 
An Exciting Adventure. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE EXCITING ADVENTURE OF SAM QUACKENBOSS AND MR. HARD- 
 RIDER WITH TWO HOBGOBLINS ON THE HIGHWAY. 
 
 SAM QUACKENBOSS curried the race horse down, while Mr. 
 Hardrider sat on the ground near by nursing his knees and re 
 garding the labor of the African with satisfaction. 
 
 " Touch him up a little under his flank," said Mr. Hardrider. 
 
 "Dat's a ticklish place," answered Sam. " Dis here hoss is high- 
 mettled. I lay he kin outrun a skeered deer, and I know he kin 
 kick high, bekase he done flung his legs a time or two at me. I 
 dunno how I'm gwy keep company wid you to-night nohow. De 
 yudder hoss is a saddler; holds his head high and moves stiddy. 
 Dis here nag have got three pooty good gaits, and dat's all. He 
 kin walk springy, he kin lope kinder like a rabbit, and he kin run 
 like hell. Dat's him." 
 
 " I'll make him go all three of his gaits to-night," said Mr. 
 Hardrider, " so put him in good trim." 
 
 " Ain't I doin' it ? " answered Sam. " But don't you lope off 
 and leave me to-night. I axes dat much of you right now. De 
 ole man he kinder got me out'n my line, but still I'm gwy 'bey 
 orders. My line is to curry and feed and git pervisions by fust 
 one play and then anoder. I kin open a stable do', and lead a 
 hoss out too. Dat's in my line. And I kin climb up on de hoss 
 and ride him to dis here place, and tole him up de creek ef he's a 
 notion to hang back. All dat I kin do. Rubbin' and curryin' is 
 in my line. Short rides is in my line. Wadin' de creek is in my 
 line. But dese here all-night trips astraddle of a lively hoss, dat 
 ain't in my line. Dat ain't in my line, mind you, Mr. Hardrider, 
 but de ole man say so, and I'm gwine." 
 
 " The old man's badly rattled," said the white robber. " I 
 never seen him in such a fix as he was last night." 
 
 " Dis mornin' you better say. 'Twa'n't lackin' much of day, I 
 tell you, when he come in. He was dead tired too, like he been 
 
190 The K. K. K. 
 
 runnin' most of de way from somewhars. He never even took 
 off his breeches when he wade de creek, but come in de guest 
 chamber wet as a rat and all in a fume. He shuck me, he did, 
 and say, ' Vake up, vake up, Sammy, tere's hell to pay.' I done 
 heerd him a comin', so I riz, and sot up, and ax him for to 'splain 
 hisself. He flourish wid his hands like he always do, and say, 
 ' Git te tarn 'osses retty, and move vid tern from tis tarn ole in te 
 ground.' I say, ' When ? Right now ? ' He stamp his foot and 
 say, ' To-night, to-night, you tarn fool. Tell Artriter. You and 
 him git retty. Ve must move ; ve can not vait.' I say, ' What's 
 up ? ' He say, ' Pime-py I tell you. You and Artriter git retty 
 to take avay te tarn 'osses.' Wid dat he tumble down on his pal 
 let and cuss a while and fidget a while, and den he fall fast 
 asleep ; and he ain't gwy wake up till I gits breakfast and shakes 
 him." 
 
 " Well," muttered Mr. Hardrider, " I don't know what's up, 
 but I know I'm damned glad to get orders to move. I've lived in 
 here so long I feel like a mole. I blink like an owl when daylight 
 strikes me. I shouldn't w r onder if we had fun to-night, Sam, and 
 I hope we will. Anything for excitement. Maybe I'll pass in 
 my checks, and have done with this here cross-grained world be 
 fore the stars quit shining to-night, but damn the odds. Sooner 
 or later I've got to go, and so it don't matter much when. Give 
 me excitement while I live, that's my motto, Sam." 
 
 " S'pos'n' dey nabs us? " said the negro. 
 
 Mr. Hardrider rose to his feet and slapped himself upon the 
 breast. " Here's a gentleman they'll never nab," he remarked to 
 Sam. 
 
 " Me nuther, den," replied Sam. " But look a here, Mr. Hard- 
 rider, don't you never leave me. You rides de race horse, mind 
 you, and I rides de saddler. Whatsomever comes don't you leave 
 me." 
 
 " Wouldn't that be ungentlemanly ? " inquired the gallant high 
 wayman. 
 
 M Yas, sir, 'twould." 
 
 "If it comes to a tussle wouldn't there be more excitement in 
 staying than running away ? " 
 
 " I suppose dar would." 
 
 " Then count on my staying by you," replied the gallant high 
 wayman. " I'm not the man to do an ungentlemanly act, and I 
 long for excitement." 
 
An Excitihg Adventure. 191 
 
 The most exciting thing immediately ahead was breakfast, and 
 to this the two cave dwellers were soon applying themselves with 
 relish. Sam was a good commissary, and when he had the whole 
 country to fall back on, and as a rule nothing to pay, it is hardly 
 necessary to inform the reader that he kept a well-stocked table. 
 Fried chicken, potatoes, hot corn bread, and coffee are ever wel 
 come to the hungry soul, and Mr. Hardrider and Sam did ample 
 justice to these satisfying edibles. When they had finished, Sam, 
 being a prudent housekeeper, raked up the chicken feathers and 
 consumed them in the fire. " No use to leave no signs," he said 
 to his companion. " When we all gits away from here what 
 chickens we hain't et up I'm gwy turn loose in de woods. I'm 
 gwy scrape dis here guest chamber so cleun that a pusson s'archin' 
 round atter we done gone would think somebody had got up a 
 dance in here. Dar is always folks, you know, gwine way back 
 under de ground, and fiddlin', and gittin' up dances." 
 
 " Next time I dance, please God," said Mr. Hardrider, " I hope 
 to dance on a floor with a fine chandelier overhead, and plenty of 
 fresh air coming in at the windows. Don't talk to me about go 
 ing away back under the ground and lighting a candle to dance 
 by." 
 
 " Still dey is folks what does dat," said Sam, " and I'm gwy 
 fix things in here so if anybody else finds de place they'll think 
 picnickers been round. Dey never will s'picion dat horse-traders 
 been usin' dis for dar headquarters. I can't clean up all de 
 signs and smooth over all de ground so as to make like nobody 
 been in here ; but I kin fix it so as to make like picnickers been in 
 here. I kin clear out all de horse-tradin' signs, and I'm gwy 
 do it." 
 
 The old gentleman slept well. He did not stir until nearly mid 
 day, and would not have roused then if Sam had not given him a 
 vigorous shake and told him breakfast was ready. He rose 
 briskly at this and gulped down his coffee and bolted his food 
 as if he had fasted for many hours. When he was through he 
 entered at once upon the subject uppermost in his mind. 
 
 " Git retty, Sammy, git retty. You and Artriter must git avay. 
 Ah, mine Cot, yes, yes, ve can stay no lonker. Ve must leave te 
 tarn place. Ven you gone I go too. Pe sure, pe sure, I vill not 
 stay by mineself. Shust a little vile, tat's all." 
 
 " What's to pay ? " inquired Mr. Hardrider. 
 
 "Te tevil's to pay, tat's all," answered the old gentleman. 
 
192 The K. K. K. 
 
 " Vat to pay, you say ? Veil, I tells you. Last night I vent to te 
 meetin' uff te Kukerklux." 
 
 " Done which ? " inquired Mr. Hardrider, in some surprise. 
 
 " Vent to te meetin' uff te Kukerklux. I haff shined te pand 
 vot dey call te Kukerlux, and last night I vent to te meetin'. I 
 vos dere allretty befo' te oders, and stayed till te oders left, so I'fe 
 cot te whole tarn thing. Te Kukerklux tomfoolery doin's I kin tell 
 it all to you, s'help me, but I haff not time. I haff time to tell you 
 vone things, and I will tell you tat. Listen to me speak, for meppe 
 you vould like to hear my vorts. Vot I zay ten? I zay tis, and 
 you mind my vords, Artriter ; you mind my vords, Sam Kervack- 
 enparse." 
 
 " Don't call me dat," remonstrated Sam. " You hurts my feel 
 ings." 
 
 " Ver' coot, ver' coot ten ; I vill not hurt your veelings. I vill 
 tell te tale, and hurt no shentleman's veelings. I vill speak plain 
 so any tarn fool can understand. I vill speak plain, hah. Veil 
 den last night, you understand, I vent to te meetin' of te tarn Ku 
 kerlux, vat you call. I vent early so to git a coot place. I hid 
 in te pushes. I lay me flat same as von tarn ground skeverrel on 
 te fence rail, hah. Pime-py terreckerly here tey come ; vone, two, 
 teventy, fivty. Te shentleman, te coot man vot you call Perryer- 
 son, he te pig tog. Te palance is little bups, shust leetle bups. 
 Tey park, and park, but it signify noting. Te shentleman, te 
 coot man Perryerson, he up and tell dem somedings. He zay, te 
 coot man do, dat dere is von ole man in tese parts vat need to be 
 enkevired uff. Tis ole man sell Piples, and steal 'osses ; tat's me. 
 Tis ole man vot he speak uff likewise tress like te farmer, and 
 steal 'osses ; tat's me. Ven dey gits te ole man vot is me tey vill 
 srving him to te limb in vone hour ; tat's vat tey say. No courts 
 for te ole man ; no shury fur him. No lawyer fur to plead his 
 case. Ven they gits him, mind you, he srvings like a tog; 
 srvings like a tarn tog; ven tey gits him. Shust so, shust so. 
 Veil, veil, no matter fur tat. Te coot man Perryerson likewise 
 zay tere is von tarn nigger vot keep company vid te ole man. 
 Ven tey gits tis nigger vot vill tey do to him ? Tey vill skint him 
 alive, so te coot man Perryerson zay." 
 
 "Name o' -de Lord ! " ejaculated Sam. 
 
 " Te name o'- te Lord vill not safe te nigger ven tey gits him, 
 and te coot man Perryerson zay he vill haff tat nigger tead ur 
 He vant tat nigger uxspecial, te coot man Perryerson do, 
 
An Exciting Adventure. 193 
 
 Ah, he is a coot man, he is a ferry coot man, tis Perryerson shen- 
 tlemun. Vere is te plack pottle ? I vill trink to his helt. I vill, 
 s'help me." 
 
 They passed the black bottle to the old gentleman and he raised 
 it to his mouth. " May he lift long and perrosper, tis coot man 
 Perryerson," he said before refreshing himself. 
 
 " May he go to the devil this week," interrupted Mr. Hard- 
 rider. 
 
 *" Amen to dat," proclaimed Sam. 
 
 The old gentleman shook his head. " He is a coot man, tis 
 Perryerson. But listen vat furder he zay. He zay tey haff vatch 
 at te wrong time. Tey vatch too kervick. Te ole man vot tey 
 vill hang to te limb, and te tarn nigger vat tey vill skint alife, and 
 te oder vite man vot is vuss tan all " 
 
 " Did they name me ? " inquired Mr. Hardrider, with some 
 anxiety in his tone. 
 
 " Tey name no names," replied the old gentleman. " But tey 
 say te robbers keep 'osses hid someveres for von veek, two veek, 
 till te beoble stop luking; ten tey run te 'osses avay, clean avay 
 from te coontry. Tat vat tey zay. And tey zay tey vill bekin 
 right avay and vatch all te roads all te time, so tat no man git 
 avay vid a 'oss. Tey zay tey vill vind te ten uf te robbers, vich 
 tey know to pe in te Marrowpone Tils. Tey vill vatch all te roads 
 all te time. Tey vill hang to te tree te ole man vot sell Piples ; tey 
 vill skint te tarn nigger alife ; and vat tey vill do to te udder vite 
 man vill pe vuss tan all. So poys, luke out." 
 
 Mr. Hardrider drew all the loads from his pistol and supplied 
 the cylinders with fresh cartridges. He packed up his belongings 
 in a small bundle, and made ready to leave the country for an 
 indefinite period. When he had completed his arrangements for 
 departure he laid down on the ground close to the lantern and 
 fell to reading " The Life and Adventures of Jack Sheppard," 
 with which thrilling romance he entertained himself for nearly 
 the entire remainder of the day. 
 
 The old gentleman stirred about a good deal. He and Sam hid 
 in the depths of the cavern many tell-tale articles which they did 
 not wish to destroy, and which could not be conveniently carried 
 away. All signs of recent occupation were obliterated as care 
 fully as possible. It was understood that the old gentleman would 
 remain in the vicinity a day or two longer, so as to catch any 
 fresh news that was stirring, and then would meet his friends at 
 13 
 
194 The K. K. K. 
 
 a designated spot in another State, where the business of the sea 
 son would be wound up by a fair settlement. The old gentle 
 man seemed to be somewhat moody over leaving his apartments, 
 and indulged but little more in conversation during the day. Once 
 when he and the negro had sat down on the ground for a resting 
 spell he remarked gravely to the latter after a considerable interval 
 of silence: 
 
 " Sam, tat man Perryerson is a coot man." 
 
 The negro nodded, but made no verbal response. 
 
 " May he liff long and perrosper," continued the old gentle 
 man. 
 
 The negro nodded again. 
 
 It was about ten o'clock by Mr. Hardrider's accurate time 
 keeper when he and Sam Quackenboss made ready to mount and 
 set off for distant parts. The old gentleman accompanied them 
 as far as the bank of the stream, where he gave them his blessing 
 and let them go. The negro here took off all his clothing except 
 his hat, which Mr. Hardrider advised him to keep on for appear 
 ance' sake. Strapping his raiment firmly to the saddle he led 
 the larger horse by the bridle, holding a lantern in his right 
 hand. The white robber came behind mounted on the slim racer, 
 which followed in much trepidation, but without urging, close on 
 the heels of the other animal. They made the many slippery wind 
 ings in safety, and when they reached a point which Sam knew 
 was on the verge of the outer world, he extinguished his lantern. 
 Proceeding a short distance farther he came to the mouth of the 
 cave, and here he stood on a large rock in the middle of the 
 stream and rehabilitated himself. Climbing into the saddle he 
 maintained the lead until they reached the stony road that 
 crossed the stream a few hundred yards below the cave. Here 
 the two men halted for a moment, and Sam, in a whisper, pro 
 posed to his companion to take a drink, saying he was cold. 
 
 " Ten mile away from here there's a spring," replied Mr. 
 Hardrider, " and we'll take a drink there, Sammy, if we ever get 
 there. Till then not a drop goes down my throat." 
 
 " Mine nother, den," responded Sam in a shivering whisper. 
 
 Mr. Hardrider here took the lead, being familiar with the route. 
 Wherever the way was broad enough Sam rode by his side, and 
 when this could not be conveniently done he dropped behind. 
 When they got away from the timber and into the open country 
 they found it was a bright starlight night and pleasant as one 
 
An Exciting Adventure. 
 
 could wish. There were several houses along the road, and by 
 these they passed as quietly as they could, like gentlemen who 
 were in no special hurry. Between these they rode faster, but 
 there was nothing in the gait they traveled to indicate flight. By 
 and by they came to a long lane, with a broad field on either 
 hand. Mr. Hardrider had always considered this a critical part 
 of his road, for there was little hope of escape in case of inter 
 ruption. Just before he entered it he drew rein and whispered 
 to Sam : 
 
 " If anybody tries to halt you here, clap spurs to your horse 
 and ride right over him. It's forward or backward in this place, 
 and if you turn back they'll kill you sure." 
 
 " All right/' responded Sam in a voice that was low, husky, 
 and tremulous. Perhaps he trembled from apprehension ; perhaps 
 he was still chilly from exposure in the creek ; perhaps both causes 
 combined to make his nerves unsteady. 
 
 They proceeded without adventure for a half-mile or so, and 
 Sam was just congratulating himself that the danger line was 
 passed, when a tall figure, dressed all in white, rose up by the 
 roadside, and another figure, dressed in black, rose up on the 
 opposite side of the way. The figure in white was astoundingly 
 tall, and his eyes beamed more luminously than those of an owl 
 in the night. The figure in black, of shorter stature, began wav 
 ing his arms and hopping up and down in the road as if he was 
 making ready to fly." Neither spoke, and their unaccountable be 
 havior was calculated to astonish anybody. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Hardrider, it's de Ku Klux," cried Sam in the ex 
 tremity of his terror. 
 
 The highwayman did not resDond to his companion nor under 
 take to hold converse with those in front of him. Instead of this 
 he leveled his pistol at the head of the tallest individual in front 
 of him and pulled trigger. At the flash and the report he 
 clapped spurs to his steed, and, dashing like lightning between 
 the white spook and the black spook, went down the road as fast 
 as the flying feet of the racer could take him. Sam endeavored 
 to follow suit, but to his unspeakable terror he saw as he advanced 
 that the head of the white spook had been knocked off by Mr. 
 Hardrider's pistol shot, while the body and legs were still cavort 
 ing about in the road. Staying no longer to question he rolled 
 from his horse, leaped the fence on his left, and fled the scene 
 of action. Two or three shots whizzed over his head, but none 
 
196 The K. K. K. 
 
 came near him, or if so he was too badly frightened to take note 
 of them. He ran till he was out of breath, then rested a while, 
 and rose and ran again. When he had recovered his scattered 
 senses he bent his way more deliberately toward the hiding place 
 he had just left, and from which he knew the old man had not yet 
 departed. 
 
 Meanwhile the animal he had deserted in such unceremonious 
 fashion wheeled in the road and would have made back in the 
 direction from which it had come but that the tall spook not 
 minding the trifling accident of having lost its head rushed for 
 ward in haste and seized the bridle rein. It was, as has been said, 
 a starlight night, and objects near at hand could be discerned with 
 tolerable distinctness. When the headless ghost had laid firm 
 grip on the rein and consumed a second or two in inspecting the 
 captured horse, he cried exultantly to his companion in black : 
 
 " Dandy Jim, by Jupiter." 
 
 The voice that made this announcement was the voice of Teddy 
 Mclntosh, though the stature and general make-up of the individ 
 ual hardly seemed to be that of a human being at all. 
 
 " Where's my head ? " inquired the spook that had appropri 
 ated Teddy's voice. " Look up in the fence corner there for it, 
 will you ? That fellow shot it clean off." 
 
 The fact is, Teddy and his companion, a member of the klan, 
 had been assigned to duty on that particular road, with instruc 
 tions to halt and inquire into the business of all travelers who 
 might pass their way. Desiring to mix a little fun with more 
 serious duty they arrayed themselves in ghostly garbs, and re 
 solved, before bringing any approaching person to a halt, to cut 
 a few such capers in the road as would be calculated to pro 
 foundly impress the wayfarer. Teddy supposed this would, of 
 course, lead to inquiry from the advancing party, and mutual 
 explanations would follow. He was armed and had his pistol 
 in his hand, as did his companion in black, when the two horse 
 men came down the lane, but when Mr. Hardrider unexpectedly 
 popped away at him, and then charged down upon him, he was 
 for the moment disconcerted. The loss of his pasteboard head 
 was a small matter, but the bullet came uncomfortably close to 
 his real scalp, indeed plowed a slight furrow in his cranium, and 
 this for the instant put him out. His friend in black fired at the 
 gentleman on the race nag, and also at the negro as he leaped 
 the fence, but neither shot took effect. Teddy, as soon as he came 
 
An Exciting Adventure. 197 
 
 to himself, also opened up, but with little hope of doing anything 
 more than making a racket. It was evident they had let two bold 
 horse thieves and one horse get away ; but as the fruit of the en 
 counter they had saved Dandy Jim, and this to Teddy's mind was 
 a great deal. He left his companion to stand guard the remainder 
 of the night, being convinced that no other exciting adventure 
 would befall, and, mounting the captured animal, set off at once 
 for the residence of its lawful owner, Miss Sue Bascombe. 
 
 He had ten miles to go, but he reached his destination before 
 day, and sent in word to the young lady, as soon as anybody was 
 astir, that he had Dandy Jim safe and sound at the front gate, 
 and she could come down and take possession if she was a mind to. 
 
 Miss Sue came down without devoting overmuch time to her 
 toilet, and having thankfully received back her own, invited Mr. 
 Mclntosh to breakfast. The young gentleman, after washing his 
 face and hands, was of course obliged to relate the moving inci 
 dents of the night, and it goes without saying that he had an at 
 tentive auditor. Miss Sue was very fond of her horse, and she 
 seemed to be very much obliged to the young gentleman who 
 had rescued her horse from the clutch of the robber. She laughed 
 when Teddy told her about getting his head shot off, and she 
 expressed admiration for the stranger when she learned of his 
 sudden onslaught and successful dash for liberty. 
 
 " Why, he's a bold fellow, Teddy, this robber is," she said. " I'd 
 like to know more about him." 
 
 " I don't care to know much more about him," replied Teddy. 
 " I came very near knowing too much last night. Look where his 
 bullet grazed my head." 
 
 She examined Mr. Mclntosh's head as he held it down for in 
 spection. There was a bruise where the missile "had touched the 
 skin. 
 
 " You should have shot first, Teddy," said the young lady when 
 she had completed her investigation. " It was thoughtless of you 
 to play ghost in the road with a robber in front." 
 
 " I know it was," answered Teddy. 
 
 " But I thank you ever so much for bringing Dandy Jim back, 
 and I won't forget you for it, Teddy." 
 
 " Till when ? " inquired the young man rather ungrammati 
 cally. 
 
 Miss Sue Bascombe regarded the young man very kindly. "I'll 
 remember you a long, long time, Teddy," she answered. " I al- 
 
198 The K. K. K. 
 
 ways did like you, you know. When you worked my sums for 
 me at school, didn't I like you then ? " 
 
 " It was you worked mine," answered Teddy. 
 
 " So it was," she replied. " I forgot. Anyhow I like you, and 
 always did like you. You know that." 
 
 He swallowed a time or two and turned rather red in the face. 
 " Wh-a-at about Ran Pearson ? " he asked, blunderingly. 
 
 She raised her head, tapped the floor with her foot, and an 
 swered deliberately : " Ran Pearson is a nice old man. He's get 
 ting bald-headed too fast and is too pokey for me." 
 
 He looked decidedly pleased. " You like me, don't you, Sue? 
 You said so just now." 
 
 She eyed him kindly but calmly. " I've liked you, Teddy," 
 she replied, " ever since you used to let me do the sums for you 
 at school." 
 
 Then the breakfast bell rang. When the meal was ended Mr. 
 Mclntosh left for his home, riding Dandy Jim, with a little negro 
 boy behind him to take the horse back. As he rode he mused. 
 " That girl can twist anybody round her ringer," he said to him 
 self. 
 
 It was an hour before day when Sam found his way on foot 
 and in pitch darkness up the creek that led into the interior of the 
 cave. He groped his way into the apartment where the old man 
 slept by a fire which gave but little light or heat. The negro 
 waked him and related his experience. The two remained in the 
 cavern all the following day. Late in the evening they effectually 
 secreted the few remaining articles that had not been disposed of 
 the day before. 
 
 " Ve vill coom pack pime-by," said the old gentleman. " Meppe 
 so, meppe so. Tis is a coot place for a man vat doose not vant to 
 mix in coompany." 
 
 Shortly before midnight they withdrew, each with his clothes 
 in a bundle on his head. At the entrance to the cave they robed 
 themselves and quietly stole away from the vicinity. Where they 
 hid the next day, and where they lodged the following night, and 
 for many suceeding nights, I cannot tell you. For weeks and 
 weeks the creek flowed on through its narrow channel undisturbed 
 by man or horse, and the snug guest chamber in the cavern was 
 unoccupied. 
 
The Case is Called in Another County. 199 
 
 -CHAPTER XXL 
 
 THE ANKERSTROM CASE IS CALLED IN ANOTHER COUNTY THE 
 JUDGE IGNORES A POWERFUL AFFIDAVIT, AND THE TRIAL BEGINS. 
 
 FOUR months is not always, and what with the plowing, and 
 the planting, and the doing numberless odd jobs on the farm, the 
 disgruntled folk who had come away from the court at Ashton 
 did not find the time very long until they were summoned again 
 to attend the court at Coopertown. It was not without consider 
 able difficulty, however, that Sheriff Sanderson, aided by Pear 
 son, induced the numerous witnesses to forsake their avocations 
 at a busy time of the year and journey to a neighboring county to 
 give evidence before judge and jury. Apprehension of being 
 fined for non-attendance secured the presence of some of them, 
 though there were not few who would have remained away if noth 
 ing else had been relied on to induce their attendance. The judge 
 in that county was a good man, of respectable legal attainments, 
 but getting along in years, and inclined to be both unduly harsh 
 when at all exasperated, and unduly lenient when subsequently 
 soothed. He would fine right and left when witnesses did not 
 answer promptly to their names at the call of the- sheriff, and as a 
 rule remove all the penalties if any sort of excuse was afterward 
 made for their remissness. In common parlance, the bark of the 
 old gentleman was worse than his bite, and while he would preach 
 sermons in court about the duty of prompt obedience to process, 
 and would grumble and fret over infractions of his many rules, 
 he was not regarded generally as a rigid man on the bench. This 
 being so it was not because they stood in awe of the court, but 
 mainly as the result of cajolement and persuasion on the part of 
 Sheriff Sanderson, supplemented by personal entreaty from Pear 
 son, that the major part of those notified were induced to take 
 the long trip from their homes to Coopertown. 
 
 They were finally gathered together, however, a respectable ar 
 ray as they stood up in the court-room to answer to their names 
 
200 The K. K. K. 
 
 as the noted case of the State of Tennessee versus Johan Anker- 
 strom was called for trial the third time. A few material wit 
 nesses were absent, but in his earnest desire to proceed Pearson 
 assured the State's attorney that he would have them on hand the 
 next day, and that official announced to the court that he was 
 ready to proceed with the investigation of the cause. When the 
 prosecuting attorney had so announced the judge inquired blandly 
 of Palaver if his client was likewise ready to proceed. At this 
 the lawyer rose from his seat and looked about gravely over the 
 crowded court-room. He then handed to the officer in attendance 
 a paper containing a long list of names, and requested that the 
 persons designated be brought at once to the bar of the court. 
 This official was an undersized man, with a keen voice well 
 adapted to pierce the noise and confusion that frequently prevails 
 in an ill-disciplined court-room. He now mounted a chair and 
 called aloud to the whole assemblage to be quiet. He then read 
 the names upon his paper, and here and there as he proceeded 
 some one in the audience responded " Here." The sharp-voiced 
 officer next went to a window and made proclamation, which sig 
 nified to the whole town that the attendance of certain persons 
 was desired in court. Thus he secured the presence of about half 
 the individuals on his list, and reported that the others were not 
 in attendance upon the court. 
 
 Upon receipt of this information Palaver looked grave. He 
 perused the paper carefully and frowned, and knit his brows as 
 if in considerable perplexity. After some minutes thus con 
 sumed he remarked to the court that he was very anxious to pro 
 ceed with the trial, as the case had already taken up more of his 
 time than he could afford to devote to it, but he could not announce 
 ready while so many of his witnesses remained in contempt of 
 the process of the court. Perhaps if the officer would take a turn 
 around town he might fish some of these from the stores, or find 
 them loafing on the corners, and fetch them into court. The 
 judge at his suggestion began to shake his foot and his head at the 
 same time, which his intimates said was a dangerous sign with 
 him. Palaver upon this looked graver still, though he was in 
 wardly pleased, as the judge was more apt to commit some rever 
 sible error while in a pet than if he kept his cool judgment about 
 him. 
 
 " I have no doubt, sir," Palaver remarked smoothly, " that my 
 client's witnesses will be in presently. They have a long distance 
 
The Case is Called in Another County. 201 
 
 to come, and it is now, as your honor will see, but a little past ten 
 o'clock." 
 
 The judge here launched into a discourse upon the importance 
 of prompt obedience to the orders of the court. He declared that 
 business could not be transacted, and the people's interests must 
 suffer, if the process of the court was to be trifled with in such 
 fashion. Witnesses might be higgling in stores or loafing on 
 street corners, but they had no right to be higgling in stores or loaf 
 ing on street corners when their presence was demanded in court, 
 and they had been duly summoned to appear in court and 
 give evidence as to facts within their knowledge. Such wilful 
 conduct, the judge declared, could not be tolerated, and he in 
 structed the clerk to enter a fine of ten dollars and costs against 
 each one of the delinquents. 
 
 Palaver, as soon as he could get a chance to edge in a word, re 
 marked emphatically that he heartily indorsed the action of the 
 court and was satisfied the public generally would approve of it. 
 " Here I am/' said he, " anxious to proceed with the trial of this 
 cause, and my client who has been languishing in jail for a year 
 is even more solicitous on the subject than myself, and yet, just 
 as we feel confident that we are about to secure a hearing we find 
 ourselves balked by the inexcusable absence of certain important 
 witnesses, who might have been on hand just as easy as not. Your 
 honor is exactly right," cried Palaver, lifting his voice so as to be 
 heard over the entire court-room, " in teaching these fellows a 
 lesson, and I hope they and others will profit by it. If there were 
 more inflexible judges like your Honor in this State there would be 
 less complaint about laxity in the administration of justice. Undue 
 leniency on the part of the courts makes it impossible to proceed 
 with the people's business, and the failure to enforce prompt trial 
 of causes necessarily leads to mob law, for if the courts will not 
 attend to the people's business the people will rise up en masse 
 and attend to their own business. These interminable delays are 
 ruinous to the best interests of the country, and are well calcu 
 lated to bring not only courts but the legal profession into con 
 tempt. Crime must be punished," proclaimed the lawyer, warm 
 ing up to his work, " and innocent men under grave imputations 
 must be speedily set at liberty, and how can crime be punished, 
 and innocent men set free, if 'those summoned to testify wilfully 
 disobey the orders of the court ? I speak with feeling on this sub 
 ject," continued the lawyer, with a touch of the pathetic in his 
 
202 The K. K. K. 
 
 tone, " and I frankly admit to your honor that my sensibilities in 
 this particular case have been moved. Here is my client, as I have 
 already said, languishing in the common jail with all sorts of low 
 and vile fellows, unfit company for decent men. He is away, far 
 away, if the honorable court please, from the friends of his child 
 hood and his own domestic circle. The gray hairs of his vener 
 able father are now being brought down in sorrow to the grave 
 in consequence of his protracted incarceration. His poor wife is 
 at this moment mourning upon her lonely hearthstone, and his 
 little children are clinging about her knees and sobbing piteously 
 for him who returns not. The contemplation of such a picture 
 would be sufficient to touch a heart of stone, and your honor will 
 therefore excuse me if I am somewhat moved as I dwell upon it 
 here." 
 
 As Palaver was proceeding in this pathetic strain the keen- 
 voiced official returned into court with the intelligence that he had 
 been in all the' stores and upon the street corners, had indeed 
 searched the town high and low, without discovering any of the 
 absent witnesses. He further stated, giving Sheriff Sanderson as 
 his informant, that most of these witnesses were not under sub 
 poena, as the officers had not been able to find them in the adjoin 
 ing county, where they were supposed to reside. The clerk sub 
 stantiated this assertion by producing the subpoenas, which showed 
 that the names of most of the persons sought for had been in- 
 dorsed by the officers " Not found." 
 
 Palaver adjusted his spectacles and examined the subpoenas 
 critically. " No found ! not found ! " he exclaimed in astonish 
 ment. " Why, where is the sheriff of that county ? Where is San 
 derson?" 
 
 " I'm here, sir," responded that official, politely. 
 
 " Why were these witnesses not found, sir ? " inquired Palaver. 
 "Whose fault was that?" 
 
 Sanderson replied, respectfully, that some of the witnesses 
 named were dead, some had long since moved away from his 
 county, and some, he was of opinion, had never had any existence 
 anywhere. 
 
 " Do you know every man in your county ? " inquired Palaver, 
 severely. 
 
 Sanderson admitted that he did not, though he added that his 
 acquaintance was pretty extensive. 
 
 " And from your pretty extensive acquaintance, sir, you un- 
 
The Case is Called in Another County. 203 
 
 -dei-take to say that some of these witnesses never had any existence 
 anywhere ? " 
 
 " I say to the best of my knowledge and belief," rejoined San 
 derson, firmly, " that no such human beings ever lived in my 
 county." 
 
 " Ah," replied Palaver, triumphantly, " you modify your state 
 ment then, do you, Mr. Sheriff? First, you were quite sure the 
 witnesses lived nowhere on the face of the earth; now you give 
 it as your opinion that they do not abide in your county. Which 
 means, I take it, sir, that for some reason satisfactory to yourself, 
 you have not chosen to look for them in your county." 
 
 Then without giving Sheriff Sanderson a chance to reply, the 
 lawyer addressed himself to the court : " It is quite evident, if the 
 honorable court please," said he, " that the statement we have just 
 heard is but a flimsy excuse on the part of this officer for his own 
 remissness. As my witnesses are not here, sir, I shall, of course, 
 have to ask a continuance to the next term, but I wish the case set 
 for the very first day of that term ; and I wish, sir, the process put 
 in the hands of some officer who will use his very best endeavor 
 to bring my witnesses into court on the day set. I will now retire, 
 sir, for a few moments and prepare a suitable affidavit in order 
 that the papers in the case may show that I was obliged to ask for, 
 and your honor was obliged to grant, this continuance." 
 
 With that the lawyer retired in company with his client. After 
 the lapse of a half-hour he returned with an affidavit as long as 
 his arm, which, having been sworn to by the defendant, he pro 
 ceeded to read to the court. The judge listened gravely at first, 
 and then with manifest impatience, and when the reading was 
 through announced promptly and emphatically that the allegations 
 in the document were insufficient and the case must proceed to 
 trial. Whereupon Palaver in the presence of the court and by 
 standers heaved a deep sigh, and said it was a serious thing to put 
 a man on trial for his life when none of his material witnesses were 
 present to testify in his behalf. 
 
 The witnesses were then sworn and placed under the rule : that 
 is, they were instructed to retire from the court-room, and to 
 avoid all mention of the case among themselves, or with others, 
 until they were called back to testify before the jury. The jurors 
 who had been summoned for the occasion, an even hundred, were 
 next called over, and a list of their names given to the prisoner's 
 counsel. One by one they were then brought to the bar of the 
 
204 The K. K. K. 
 
 court and each examined upon his " voire dire." Being first put 
 upon their solemn oaths, they were required to state whether they 
 were householders or freeholders of the county in which the trial 
 was to be had; whether they were in any way related to the 
 prosecutor or the prisoner at the bar ; and whether they had formed 
 or expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of said 
 prisoner. The first two questions were easily answered, but the 
 third oftentimes proved a stumper to the court as well as the 
 juror. The prisoner, as has been said, under the over-cautious 
 law of Tennessee, was given twenty-four peremptory challenges ; 
 that is, his counsel could direct two dozen of those summoned as 
 jurors to stand aside without leave of court, and without assigning 
 any reason for his objection. Palaver, however, was by no means 
 content with this liberal provision in his own behalf, but set to 
 work to probe the mind of each man brought forward to the very 
 bottom, and thus ascertain for himself whether he was or was not 
 a competent juror. If the person under investigation turned out 
 to be a complete ignoramus he usually accepted him as one fit to sit 
 on the case at bar, but if he was of even moderate intelligence 
 the lawyer insisted he was incompetent. He harried and worried 
 one after another of those composing the venire until the judge 
 completely lost his temper, and each succeeding juror as his name 
 was called approached the clerk with trepidation. They were 
 good men in the main, who did not wish to serve anyway, and were 
 perfectly willing when they founcj themselves drawn into sharp 
 discussion with the lawyer to take the smoothest way out of the 
 difficulty. 
 
 " Who has talked with you about this case ? " inquired Palaver, 
 fiercely, of an honest farmer, who said in answer to the clerk's 
 question that he had no fixed opinion as to the guilt or innocence 
 of the prisoner, though like most everybody else he had heard some 
 talk of the Bascombe murder. 
 
 " Who has talked with you about this case ? " inquired Palaver 
 of the juror. 
 
 " Wai, I dunno. Nobody in particular, I reckon. Jess a word 
 here, and a word there, you know." 
 
 "Just a word here, and a word there, you say?" responded 
 the lawyer, inching his chair up nearer to the individual whom he 
 sought to bring into trouble. 
 
 " Yes, 'bout that way, you know. Jess a little loose talk that 
 didn't signify/' 
 
The Case is Called in Another County. 205 
 
 " Didn't signify ? " repeated Palaver, in his most sarcastic tone. 
 " Didn't signify ? Now, sir, will you please state to me specifically 
 just what this loose talk was that in your opinion didn't signify. 
 Will you state it, sir, so that I and the judge may determine 
 whether or not it signifies. Can you state it specifically, sir ? " 
 
 " Wai, squire," replied the unlucky witness, after some hesita 
 tion, " I dunno as I kin." 
 
 " Dunno as you kin? " repeated Palaver, still more sarcastically, 
 and drawing still nearer the prospective juror. Those behind the 
 rail now began to press forward, being confident from the turn af 
 fairs were taking that there was fun ahead. Palaver, of course, 
 noted this demonstration, and was pleased with it. He began now 
 rubbing his hands, and looking first toward his intended victim 
 and then back upon the bystanders as if to assure them they would 
 not be disappointed. 
 
 " Dunno as you kin ? " repeated Palaver. " You are the kind of 
 fellow then who cannot be influenced in the least by loose talk, 
 but with whom tight talk goes a long way. Is that it ? " 
 
 " Mebbe so, squire, mebbe so," replied the discomforted farmer. 
 The crowd here broke into a laugh and a disorderly demonstra 
 tion which it required proclamation from the sheriff to quell. 
 
 " Tight talk is very persuasive, but loose talk doesn't signify," 
 pursued the facetious attorney. " That's the way of it with you, 
 is it ? That's the way of it with you ? Now, sir, let us test the ac 
 curacy of the conclusion you have reached in this matter. Will 
 you please define for me, sir, precisely the difference between 
 loose talk and tight talk as laid down in your dictionary ? " 
 
 The juror shook his head. " I wouldn't try to do that, squire," 
 he replied. " I wouldn't try to do that." 
 
 " Wouldn't try to do that ? Then, sir, I'll ask you another ques 
 tion, and I hope I'll be more fortunate in eliciting a reply. Will 
 you please inform me, sir, whether you actually heard this loose 
 talk that you say was going round in your section ? " 
 
 " Yes, I heerd it." 
 
 " Actually heard it, did you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I heerd it." 
 
 " No mistake about that ? " 
 
 " No, thar ain't no mistake about it. That is," he added for 
 fear of being led into a trap, " I don't reckon thar's any mistake 
 about it." 
 
 At this Palaver laughed. The crowd behind the bar laughed 
 
206 The K. K. K. 
 
 again, and the sheriff a second time admonished them to be 
 quiet. 
 
 " You are not deaf, are you ? " inquired the lawyer of the wit 
 ness. 
 
 " No, I ain't deef." 
 
 " Then you must have heard it," 
 
 "Heerd which?" 
 
 *' Why, the loose talk that you say was going round in your 
 neighborhood." 
 
 " Yes, I heerd it." 
 
 "You are positive?" 
 
 " Yes, I'm positive." 
 
 " Now, sir," queried the lawyer, assuming an argumentative 
 tone, " I'll ask you if any kind of talk loose talk or tight talk 
 can go in at your ear without making some sort of impression on 
 your mind? " 
 
 "Which?" 
 
 " You have good ears, you say ? " 
 
 " Yes, pooty good." 
 
 " And you have a mind, sir? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I reckon so. Yes, I know in reason I must have. Of 
 course I've got a mind." 
 
 " Then, sir, I'll ask you if it's possible for any sort of informa 
 tion to be conveyed through those ears of yours without making an 
 impression upon that mind of yours ? " 
 
 "Which?" 
 
 " Can anything go in at your ears without effecting a lodgment 
 in your mind ? " 
 
 " No, I reckon not." 
 
 " And if anything in the way of information does go in at your 
 ears, and does effect a lodgment in your mind, then you have an 
 opinion, haven't you ? " 
 
 The judge here heaved a deep groan. 
 
 " Under them circumstances I reckon I would. I'd be 'bleeged 
 to have an opinion under them circumstances, wouldn't I, squire ? " 
 
 " You'd be 'bleeged to have an opinion, would you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I would." 
 
 "You couldn't help it?' 
 
 " No, I couldn't help it." 
 
 " Now, sir, you say you heard words passing- about in your 
 
The Case is Called in Another County. 207 
 
 neighborhood on the subject of the Bascombe murder? A word 
 here, and a word there, to use your own expression." 
 
 " Yes, I said that." 
 
 " And these words found lodgment in your mind ? " 
 
 " To be sure." 
 
 " And made an impression which it would require other testi 
 mony to remove ? " 
 
 " Suttinly." 
 
 " Then you have an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the 
 prisoner ? " 
 
 " Wai, now, see here, squire, I " 
 
 " Have you an opinion, or have you not? " 
 
 " Wai now, see here. Accordin' to your way of puttin' the 
 thing " 
 
 " Answer my question; yes or no." 
 
 " Have I got an opinion ? " 
 
 " Ye-ss," with considerable asperity. " Have you an opinion 
 in your own mind at present as to the guilt or innocence of the 
 prisoner ? If not, sir, I'll trouble you to tell me " 
 
 " Yes, I reckon I've got some sort of an opinion floatin' round 
 in my mind. I reckon so." 
 
 " You admit that now, do you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I own to that now ; though at fust, you see " 
 
 " You have an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the pris 
 oner?" 
 
 " Yes, I have," responded the tired juror, willing to bring the 
 discussion to an end upon any terms. 
 
 " And it would require proof to remove that opinion ? " 
 
 " Yes, it would." 
 
 " I challenge him for cause," cried the triumphant attorney, ad 
 dressing the court. 
 
 " Let him stand aside," said the exasperated judge. " But I'm 
 satisfied he has no opinion in his mind worth a shuck." 
 
 So it went all the forenoon, and all the hot afternoon, and what , 
 with the twenty-four peremptory challenges for no cause at all, I 
 and the limitless number for next to no cause at all, the sun went 
 down, and the court adjourned before twelve good and lawful men 
 had taken their seats in the jury box. It was evident that Palaver 
 had resolved to try the cause before twelve idiots if so many 
 could be found in the county, for he managed to get rid of every 
 individual on the venire whose answers indicated that he was of 
 
208 The K. K. K. 
 
 average intelligence, or whom he knew to be of respectable stand 
 ing in the community. When night came, however, he had ex 
 hausted his twenty-four peremptory challenges, and ten jurors 
 had been chosen, so there was reasonable ground for hoping the 
 trial might begin in the forenoon of the following day. The sher 
 iff was instructed to fetch in a fresh panel of jurors, as every one 
 of the original hundred had either been accepted or ordered to 
 stand aside upon one pretext or another. 
 
 The witnesses for the State and the prisoner found accommoda 
 tion for the night as best they could, and resorted to various de 
 vices to while away time until the nine o'clock bell should con 
 vene court the following morning. 
 
Miss Sue Bascombe Takes the Stand. 209 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 MISS SUE BASCOMBE TAKES THE STAND, AND THERE ENSUES A VERY 
 LEARNED ARGUMENT OF A VERY GRAVE POINT. 
 
 THE next morning when court assembled the two additional 
 jurors were secured with less trouble than had been anticipated. 
 The prisoner's peremptory challenges had been exhausted, and the 
 sheriff had brought into court a fresh lot of men, most of whom 
 were intellectually above the standard which Palaver had fixed in 
 his own mind as the proper one in the selection of jurors. He 
 would have gotten rid of each of these no doubt upon the ground 
 that he knew, or had heard, something of the case at bar, but the 
 judge this morning had taken his seat on the bench with the re 
 solve to proceed with the order of business, and so he ruled sev 
 eral times that the individual under scrutiny had no disqualifying 
 opinion, while Palaver insisted mightily that he had. Slowboy, who, 
 of course, was present in court, backed up his chieftain's conten 
 tion with some dry logic, and several decisions from the supreme 
 judicial tribunal of the State, but the trial judge to-day had the 
 bit in his teeth as the lawyers said and made no bones of hold 
 ing promptly and decisively against the two attorneys as soon as 
 the sentences from their lips had ceased to reverberate in the court 
 room. This unjudicial conduct brought grief to the older lawyer, 
 but Slowboy was secretly pleased, for being but a plain matter-of- 
 fact fellow he always preferred to have plain common-sense men 
 before him to whom he could address his talk. 
 
 The twelve jurors being now chosen were called upon by the 
 clerk to rise in their seats and raise their right hands preparatory 
 to being sworn as triers of the cause. 
 
 " Where's the book? Where's the book?" exclaimed Palaver, 
 testily. " We want no new-fangled notions here. Fetch out the 
 book, Mr. Clerk." 
 
 So the clerk rummaged among his pigeon holes, and finally pro 
 duced a dusty and somewhat greasy New Testament, which the 
 
210 The K. K. K. 
 
 first juror solemnly kissed in open court and passed to his neigh 
 bor, and so it went down the line. This grave ceremonial through, 
 the twelve jurors resumed their seats, the indictment was read, 
 and the trial of Johan Ankerstrom, alias Cross-eyed Jack, etc., for 
 the murder of Mrs. Susan Bascombe was begun at last. 
 
 Miss Sue Bascombe was the first witness introduced, and she 
 made an excellent impression on judge and jury; indeed upon all 
 those present in the court-room. She told a plain unvarnished tale 
 without embellishment, without embarrassment though sur 
 rounded by strangers and without attempt at display. She de 
 scribed the location of the house in which she and her grand 
 mother had dwelt, and, for the better information of the jurors, 
 drew with a piece of chalk on the court-room floor an accurate dia 
 gram showing the plan of the building. Here to the left as you 
 faced the highway was the lower room occupied as a sleeping 
 apartment by herself and Mrs. Susan Bascombe. At the other end 
 of the structure was the company room, which, as its designation 
 indicated, was usually reserved for visitors, though during the pre 
 ceding winter it had been occupied for purposes of study by Mr. 
 Wiseman, the schoolmaster. Between these was the open hallway 
 from which a narrow passage, with a locked door at top, led to the 
 half-story apartments above. With what seemed to be unneces 
 sary particularity the attorney-general drew from the witness the 
 minutest details as to the plan of the old building where the crime 
 was committed. He wished to fix vividly in the minds of the 
 jurors the scene of the tragedy, and he saw they were all keenly 
 intent as the girl, kneeling most of the while on the floor with the 
 lump of chalk in her hand, answered calmly the various questions 
 propounded to her. Here was the bed on which she had slept, and 
 there was the one occupied by her grandmother. Close beside her 
 couch was a window which looked into the back yard, and within 
 reach of her grandmother's arm was a door opening into the front 
 yard, there being only one low step from the sill to the ground 
 outside. Here was what was called the middle door, opening into 
 the hallway and leading across this into the spare room by a door 
 exactly opposite. A little way off from the main building here, 
 and here, and here were the kitchen and smokehouse and hen 
 house. Running thus was the rail fence encircling the premises, 
 and immediately back of the residence was a steep ridge on the 
 side of \yhich the foliage was then dense, far it was summer 
 time, 
 
Miss Sue Bascombe Takes the Stand. 211 
 
 To all this rather dry description the judge listened, the jurors 
 listened, and even Palaver gave respectful attention. It was not 
 usual to see a young girl in a crowded court-room drawing plans 
 with a piece of chalk on the floor, and illustrating her sketch with 
 verbal description as simple and direct as if it had come from a 
 teacher of mathematics instructing a class. All the younger law 
 yers at the bar crowded about and looked over the shoulders of 
 those immediately engaged in the case ; and Slowboy who by vir 
 tue of his partnership with Palaver had a front seat sat with 
 open eyes staring at Sue, and forgetful to make notes of her tes 
 timony on the unscratched tablet which he held in his lap. 
 
 When the diagram was completed and the descriptive matter 
 ended, the young lady resumed her seat in the witness chair, and 
 detailed to the jury the startling incidents of the night of the trag 
 edy. The sash of the window by her bed that night was raised, 
 but the blind was closed. It was about midnight when between 
 sleeping and waking she heard a light step in the open hallway 
 between the room occupied by herself and grandmother and the 
 spare room used for the reception of visitors. She had been 
 wakeful during the night, and with her faculties all on the alert she 
 recognized this step at once as the stealthy tread of a human being. 
 It was not the trot of a dog or the footfall of any smaller animal, 
 for she was not unaccustomed to these, and could distinguish them 
 at once. The intruder paused when he reached the door of the 
 family room and seemed to stand still and listen for a few mo 
 ments. Then a violent blow was struck that jarred the house, 
 and her grandmother, awakened by the crash, sprang out of bed in 
 a moment. In an instant, or almost immediately following the 
 first blow, a second was struck, more violent than the first, and 
 the door gave way. The widow Bascombe, being remarkably ac 
 tive for one of her years, by this time had reached the door by her 
 bedside that led into the front yard and made her escape through 
 that. The witness threw open the shutter by her couch and leaped 
 through the small window into the back yard. As she did so she 
 glanced back fearfully and saw the form of a man in the doorway 
 that had been broken open. It was quite dark, and she could not 
 discern his features, could not even tell whether it was a white 
 man or a negro, but she could tell it was the figure of a human 
 being of low stature and somewhat bulky build. There was no 
 weapon in the house except a shotgun that rested in a rack on the 
 opposite wall, and she did not know to a certainty that this was 
 
212 The K. K. K. 
 
 
 
 loaded. When her grandmother disappeared through the front 
 door she leaped, as said, through the little window by her bed into 
 the back yard, and ran as fast as she could up the steep hill that 
 rose immediately in the rear of the house. Her grandmother 
 could have escaped in the darkness through the front yard, and 
 she thought she had done so until she was startled by her cry in the 
 immediate vicinity of the house. The witness by this time was 
 some distance away, but when she heard her grandmother's cry 
 she at once turned back, determined to go to her rescue at whatever 
 cost. She was barefooted, and the stones on the hillside hurt her 
 feet, but she made the best speed she could back toward the house 
 she had left. Suddenly a light blazed out from the building, then 
 she heard her grandmother's cry again, the second time more 
 startling than the first. When she neared the yard fence she 
 heard the barking of a dog and the sound of running feet. Think 
 ing there must be a number of ruffians about the house she paused 
 and hesitated before advancing farther. All was now still, and the 
 flames from the burning house lit up the scene around. Deter 
 mined in her anxiety to go forward at whatever hazard, she 
 climbed the yard fence, and, making a circuit round the flames, 
 found her grandomther at some distance away, speechless, desper 
 ately wounded, and with her clothing and flesh badly burned. She 
 did what she could to assist her, and in a short while was joined 
 by first one and then another of the friendly neighbors. Briefly, 
 and speaking from her own personal knowledge, this was all she 
 could tell as to the horrible tragedy that cost her grandmother's 
 life, and resulted in the destruction of the home in which she her 
 self had dwelt since infancy. 
 
 As Sue Bascombe told her story calmly and without the slightest 
 attempt at embellishment, she elicited the special admiration of the 
 old judge, who remarked aside to the clerk, while she was on the 
 stand, that he had seldom seen in the court-room a witness who 
 so faithfully narrated the incidents within her own personal knowl 
 edge, without apparent design to affect the issue either one way or 
 the other. The attorney-general vainly sought to induce her to 
 strengthen her tale, and Palaver on cross-examination almost as 
 vainly sought to lure her into some admission that would weaken 
 it. She had said she did not recognize the man who entered the 
 room on the night of the murder, but that he was of low stature 
 and heavily built. The State's officer urged her to refresh her 
 memory and state to the jury whether the intruder on that occa- 
 
Miss Sue Bascombe Takes the Stand. 213 
 
 sion was a white man or a negro. He asked her whether in the 
 dim light she could not distinguish features far enough to say 
 that the face of the housebreaker was white and not black. He 
 more than intimated that this was a highly important point in 
 the chain of evidence, and if possible she should fix her memory 
 on the incident, and undertake to say whether as she glanced 
 back at the figure the impression made on her mind was not that 
 it was a white man who was forcing his way into the room. The 
 girl replied positively and calmly that no such impression was 
 made on her mind at the time ; that as she glanced back hur 
 riedly she saw the figure of a human being in the doorway; that 
 it was the figure, not of a tall person, but of one whom she thought 
 was rather below the average height. It impressed her also as 
 being the figure of a stout man. It was a hasty glance she gave, 
 and she could only trace the outlines of a human form against 
 the dim light in the hallway. Possibly, she admitted to Palaver, 
 she might be mistaken as to its being a stout and not a slim 
 figure, but she was not mistaken as to its being the figure of a 
 man of low stature. She had seen the prisoner several times 
 before, and knew the negro, Kinchen, quite well, but she did not 
 recognize either of them as being the person standing in the door 
 way. It would not have been possible, however, for her to have 
 recognized the most intimate friend under the circumstances. 
 
 The most hotly contested point in the progress of the trial was 
 as to whether the statement made by the widow Bascombe shortly 
 before her death should go to the jury as testimony. It was evi 
 dent from the earnestness of the attorneys on both sides that the 
 decision of the judge on this question was of vital importance, 
 and Sue was given a good rest while they argued the matter at 
 length before the court. They glided into the sharp discussion 
 so quietly that the storm broke loose around her before she was 
 aware of the fact that trouble was brewing. After she had de- * 
 tailed without interruption all of the incidents connected with 
 the murder of which she had personal knowledge, the attorney- 
 general in a matter-of-course way propounded to her the follow 
 ing query : 
 
 " I'll ask you, Miss Bascombe, whether your grandmother a 
 short while before her death did not make a statement in your 
 presence, in which she said that she recognized the prisoner as 
 the man who broke into the house and dealt her the blow with 
 an ax from which she afterward died ? " 
 
214 The K. K. K. 
 
 "What's that? What's that?" cried Palaver, whose attention 
 for the moment had been diverted to something else. 
 
 " I'm seeking to introduce," replied the attorney-general, " the 
 dying declaration of the widow Bascombe." 
 
 Palaver : " Well, well, sir ; suppose we first inquire in the 
 usual fashion whether there was a dying declaration." 
 
 The attorney-general (rising and addressing the court) : " We 
 propose to show, if the court please, that the widow Bascombe 
 on the night of her death distinctly recognized the prisoner at 
 the bar, had a conversation with him, told him she recognized 
 him, and would have him punished for housebreaking and arson, 
 and that he killed her to prevent her carrying her threat into 
 execution; that he struck her a murderous blow with an ax, 
 if the honorable court please " 
 
 Palaver (raising his arm and shaking his right hand nerv 
 ously) : " I object, I object, I object." 
 
 Attorney-general: "Object to what? You will surely let me 
 state to the court what I expect to prove by this witness ? " 
 
 Palaver (at white heat) : " No, sir-ee. We'll do nothing 
 of the kind, sir. Nothing of the kind. We insist, sir, that old 
 Granny Bascombe never made any statement at all after she re 
 ceived the fatal blow, and if she made any statement, sir, it was 
 but the incoherent rambling of one out of her head : that she 
 did not talk at all, sir, and was incapable of talking if she had 
 wished to talk, and if she did talk she didn't know what she was 
 saying. And we protest, sir, we do most emphatically protest, 
 against having the minds of this jury prejudiced by the astound 
 ing statements of counsel. And we ask, sir, to the end that the 
 minds of the jurors be not prejudiced by such astounding state 
 ments, that the jury retire under charge of the sheriff while we 
 discuss this matter before the court." 
 
 The twelve jurors having been sent from the court-room, the 
 attorney-general and Palaver now had it up and down before the 
 learned judge as to the admissibility of the evidence sought to 
 be introduced by the State's officer. First Palaver insisted that 
 Ke had a right to qualify the witness and ascertain from her 
 whether her grandmother made any statement on the last day 
 or night of her life, and if so whether such statement was made 
 under circumstances that entitled it to be introduced now as the 
 dying declaration of the old lady. The court agreeing with 
 him as to this he proceeded to interrogate the young lady in the 
 absence of the jury. 
 
Miss Sue Bascombe, Takes the Stand. 215 
 
 Palaver : " I'll ask you, Miss Batson " 
 
 The witness, interrupting : " Miss Bascombe." 
 
 Palaver : " Very well, then, Bascombe, Bascombe. I'll ask 
 you, Miss ah Bascombe, whether or not your grandmother 
 made any statement shortly before her death in connection with 
 the matter at hand whether she undertook to tell how the blow 
 resulting in her death was given, and by whom it was given? I'll 
 ask you if she told at all how the thing occurred? " 
 
 The witness : " She did." 
 
 Palaver: " I'll ask you whether at the time she made this 
 statement she was in your opinion in her right mind whether 
 she knew what she was about ? " 
 
 The witness : " She was entirely at herself, and fully conscious 
 of what she was saying." 
 
 Palaver : " You are quite sure, then, Miss ah Batson Bas 
 combe that your grandmother was compos mentis when she 
 delivered this utterance ? " 
 
 The witness : " I do not understand you, sir." 
 
 Palaver : " You think the old lady knew what she was talking 
 about?" 
 
 The witness : " I am quite sure she did." 
 
 Palaver : " I will now ask you, Miss ah Miss ah Bas 
 combe, whether this utterance of your grandmother was delivered 
 in view of approaching death whether she thought her earthly 
 existence was soon to terminate, and so thinking she made to 
 those present a dying declaration in order that her testimony in 
 the case might not be lost entirely ? " 
 
 The witness : " Why, no, I cannot say that my grandmother's 
 statement was made under the impression that she was soon to 
 die. On the contrary, she was quite hopeful, and, I think, ex 
 pected to recover from the wound she received." 
 
 Palaver : " Did she say anything which would indicate to you 
 that she either expected to recover or considered her wound 
 fatal?" 
 
 The witness : " Yes ; when I asked her a short while before 
 her death if she wasn't better, she replied that she was, and ex 
 pected to continue to improve. And she asserted several times 
 during the afternoon and night that it was her purpose to appear 
 in court and testify against the prisoner here." 
 
 Palaver (inching his chair closer to the witness and putting 
 his hand behind his ear as if he wished to lose not a syllable of 
 
216 The K. K. K. 
 
 her reply): "Ah ah; beg pardon. Say that again, say that 
 again." 
 
 The witness : " I say my grandmother did not seem to consider 
 her wound fatal, but on the contrary expressed herself as con 
 fident that she would recover, and more than that, announced 
 that she expected to appear in court and testify against this man, 
 Johan Ankerstrom." 
 
 Palaver (waving his hand and smiling triumphantly) : " That 
 will do; that will do. You may stand aside, Miss ah Bass- 
 ford." 
 
 The attorney-general : " Wait a little, wait a little. You 
 say, Miss Bascombe, that your grandmother was desperately 
 wounded." 
 
 The witness : " She was indeed, sir." 
 
 The attorney-general : " You all thought her wound fatal ? " 
 
 The witness : " We certainly did, sir." 
 
 The attorney-general : " The doctor thought so? " 
 
 The witness : " He said so when he first saw her. After a 
 while, though, he seemed to think there was some chance for her 
 life, and so indeed did we all. She was so strong, and so confi 
 dent herself, that she inspired us with a little hope." 
 
 The attorney-general : " Still her wound was of such fearful 
 nature that there could have been no other reasonable expectation 
 from the start except that death would follow ? " 
 
 The witness : " That is certainly true." 
 
 The attorney-general : " Your grandmother in her statement 
 declared that she recognized the prisoner here as her assailant, did 
 she not ? " 
 
 The witness : " Shall I state what my grandmother said on 
 this subject?" 
 
 The attorney-general : " Yes, go on, and tell what she said." 
 
 The witness : " She said when she saw the house on fire, and 
 turned back, the prisoner here ran out to meet her, with an ax 
 in his hand. She cried to him I will endeavor to give her exact 
 language ' I know you, you low-lived scoundrel, and I'll have the 
 law on you for this night's work/ When she said that the pris 
 oner used some insulting expression, which my grandmother did 
 not repeat, and struck her a violent blow with his ax." 
 
 The attorney-general : " Your grandmother recovered con 
 sciousness some hours after the blow was struck, and, as I am 
 informed, ma.de a statement to those about her of all the facts 
 
Miss Sue Bascombe Takes the Stand. 217 
 
 connected with the crime. I'll ask you if this statement was a 
 clear and connected one, made of her own volition, or was it drawn 
 from her in reply to frequent questioning?" 
 
 The witness : " It was a clear and connected statement, made 
 of her own volition. I tried to induce her to stop, thinking so 
 much talking might injure her, but she persisted, and would not 
 cease until she had given us all the facts within her knowledge. 
 She was much incensed at the hanging of the negro, Kinchen, by 
 the mob, and told her story, I think, to show what cruel injustice 
 had thus been done an innocent person." 
 
 The attorney-general : " That will do, Miss Bascombe." 
 
 Palaver (addressing the court) : " Well, if this is a dying dec 
 laration then I'm free to say, if the honorable court please, that 
 I've been in error all my life as to what a dying declaration was," 
 
 At that the fun began, for the attorney-general promptly rose 
 and said if this was not a dying declaration, then he was badly 
 mistaken as to what a dying declaration was. Palaver insisted 
 that according to all the authorities a dying declaration could only 
 be introduced subsequently as evidence in court when the declar 
 ant was in extremis at the time of making it, and not only in 
 extremis, but fully conscious of the fact that death was nigh, and 
 in that solemn frame of mind which would be the necessary result 
 of such a conviction. The serious frame of mind that would be 
 necessarily induced by the consciousness of approaching death 
 was the very essence of a dying or death-bed declaration. 
 The solemnity of such an occasion was supposed to equal 
 the sanctity of an oath in open court, and therefore the law 
 permitted genuine dying declarations to be introduced as evi 
 dence where in consequence of intervening death it was im 
 possible to have the declarant sworn and examined in open court. 
 Now, here was an old woman who not only was not influenced 
 by the solemn impression that she was about to die, but who 
 stoutly persisted that she intended to live, and further that she 
 intended to come to court and testify against the prisoner here. 
 Her statement, whatever it was, was certainly not considered by 
 her to be a dying declaration, and therefore could not be taken 
 here as a dying declaration. It would be a contradiction in terms 
 to hold that she could intentionally deliver to those gathered about 
 her a solemn death -bed statement when she herself at the time was 
 not conscious of the fact that she was upon her death-bed. All 
 this and much more Palaver urged with great vehemence before 
 
218 The K. K. K. 
 
 the court, and to him the attorney-general with much force and 
 logic did make reply. 
 
 The old rule, he conceded, had been as insisted upon by the 
 counsel for the prisoner, but many of these inflexible old rules had I 
 been modified, or done away with, by modern decisions. A dying | 
 declaration now was a serious statement made by one who when 1 
 making it was actually at the point of death, and who was soon 
 afterward taken by death beyond the jurisdiction of the court. 
 Such statements, no matter what might have been the frame of 
 mind of the person uttering them, should always be critically 
 weighed, since there was no opportunity to examine the informant 
 in open court. But at last the reason for admitting them as evi 
 dence at all was not the fanciful one given by the prisoner's 
 counsel, but arose from the very necessity of the case. The inter 
 preters of the law, in weighing the offer to introduce such testi 
 mony, found in most cases that they must either reject credible 
 statements of the highest importance in the elucidation of the 
 issue, or they must permit, contrary to usage, the jury to weigh 
 as evidence matter that had not been received from the lips of 
 sworn witnesses before them. In the interest of justice the most 
 liberal judges of the present day chose the latter alternative, but 
 in so doing allowed the declarations received to be thoroughly 
 sifted, so that the jury might know precisely how much impor 
 tance to attach to them. If they were wrung from the dying 
 informant by frequent questioning, if they were uttered in the 
 broken intervals of fever, if they were in themselves contradic 
 tory, if they were inconsistent with other indisputable facts in 
 the case, intelligent jurors would attach but little weight to them. 
 If they were the clear and connected utterances of reliable per 
 sons, if they were spoken with no other apparent motive than 
 a desire to tell the truth, if they were not improbable in them 
 selves, and not inconsistent with other established facts in the 
 case, they would be entitled to, and doubtless would receive, much 
 consideration from the triers of the cause. To say that such 
 statements should not be received at all as evidence would be 
 oftentimes to screen the guilty and defeat the very purpose for 
 which criminal courts were organized. Take the case now be 
 fore us, and see how shocking to the conscience would be the 
 application of the rule for which the prisoner's counsel contends. 
 Here in a retired country neighborhood had been committed the 
 double crimes of house-breaking and house-burning, two of the 
 
Miss Sue Bascombe Takes the Stand. 219 
 
 gravest felonies known to the law. The perpetrator of these out 
 rages was recognized by the brave old woman whose home he 
 had ruthlessly destroyed at midnight. Standing there unbe- 
 friended and alone with the villain, her sole thought was that 
 the law of her State would avenge her, and she had the courage to 
 tell him that she would appeal to that law against him. What 
 next followed? Why, if the court please, to prevent her appeal 
 !to the courts of her State he raised his murderous ax and cleft 
 her skull in twain. He fled, thinking he had killed her where 
 she stood, but fortunately before she left this earth she recovered 
 her strength a little, and delivered to those about her a plain un 
 varnished tale, setting forth the night's incidents in detail and 
 informing them of the real author of the crime. It is this plain 
 statement, which carried conviction with it, that we > seek now to 
 introduce before the jury as evidence. If your honor holds this 
 may not be done, then Johan Ankerstrom has accomplished the 
 very object he had in view when he slew the brave old widow in 
 the glare of her burning home, and he has accomplished it your 
 honor cannot be offended if I say so by the aid of the court. 
 
 Palaver replied, and the attorney-general rejoined, and so they 
 had it, the counsel for the State and the counsel for the prisoner, 
 for the space of considerablv more than an hour. They strove 
 mightily, for each felt that the final result in all probability de 
 pended on the decision of the court as to the admission or rejection 
 of this dying declaration. They talked at the learned judge and 
 over the head of Sue Bascombe, who sat immediately below his 
 Honor, and facing in the same direction as he. It would have 
 been trying to some young women to sit for such a length of time 
 bolt upright in a high arm-chair fronting two pugnacious lawyers 
 whose arguments were addressed, so far as the bystanders could 
 determine, as much to herself as the court. Miss Bascombe, 
 however, resigned herself calmly to the situation and seemed to 
 be much interested in the discussion. She had never before 
 heard of a dying declaration, and did not understand the legal 
 significance attached to the term. Now she was much concerned 
 in finding out whether it was essential that persons making such 
 declaration should know themselves to be in extremis at the time 
 of delivering the utterance, or whether it was sufficient if they 
 actually were in extremis and told a connected story to those in 
 attendance. She weighed the arguments pro and con as the dis 
 cussion proceeded, and by the time the lawyers were short of 
 
220 The K. K. K. 
 
 ideas and out of breath had reached the conclusion in her own 
 mind that by all the rules of justice and common sense her 
 grandmother's statement should be allowed to go to the jury as 
 evidence. So the learned judge, sitting just behind her, ruled 
 when it finally came his turn to speak, and Sue was glad to find 
 so sensible a person holding the scales of justice. 
 
The Judge Sentences the Prisoner. 221 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE JUDGE SENTENCES THE PRISONER TO HANG SPEEDILY ; BUT THE 
 LATTER GRANTS HIMSELF A RESPITE OF A YEAR OR SO. 
 
 ANKERSTROM during all the ups and downs of the long trial 
 maintained his same stolid demeanor and seemed to be not very 
 particular which side won in the frequent tilts between Palaver 
 and the attorney-general. He appeared to rather enjoy the whole 
 as a free show gotten up for his benefit, and grinned quite often 
 at the discomforture of his own counsel when some thrust of the 
 State's officer brought the former to grief. The theory of the 
 defense was that the right man had already been hung for the 
 murder, and Palaver brought forward every circumstance that 
 would assist him in getting this notion into the heads of the jury. 
 He bothered the witnesses no little as to the precise words uttered 
 by old Mrs. Bascombe when she told of the tragedy. " Are you 
 certain she said that? " " Now, didn't she say this? " he would 
 inquire again and again in his most aggressive manner. ^He 
 succeeded in working one or two of those whom he badgered into 
 a display of temper, and that was nuts for Palaver. 
 
 " Now tell me, sir, just how this thing was," he said proyok- 
 ingly to one irascible witness. "Just begin at the beginning, 
 and tell me all about it." 
 
 " I've done told you three times, and I'm not going to tell you 
 any more." 
 
 " I'll ask you, sir, if the old lady didn't say she thought it was 
 Ankerstrom, but it might have been Kinchen?" 
 
 " No, she didn't." 
 
 " Didn't she say positively at first that it was Kinchen ? " 
 
 " No, she didn't." 
 
 " Then how came you to hang Kinchen ? " 
 
 " I didn't have no hand in it." 
 
 " You didn't, hey ? Well then, sir, who did have a hand in it ? " 
 
222 The. K. K. K. 
 
 " I dunno." 
 
 " Wasn't you there that night? " 
 
 " I was standin' round, jest for curiosity like." 
 
 " You didn't take any part in the proceedings ? '' 
 
 " I never teched the nigger from fust to last." 
 
 " Didn't you encourage others to hang him ? " 
 
 " I had nothing to do with it, I tell you." 
 
 " What was you doing there ? " 
 
 " None of your business." 
 
 " What were you doing out from home that night?" 
 
 " No odds what I was doing." 
 
 " You went to bed at the usual hour that night, didn't you? " 
 
 " Yes, I did." 
 
 " You got up afterwards and left home ? " 
 . " Yes, I did." 
 
 " Are you in the habit of getting up out of bed and rambling 
 about over the country at night ? " 
 
 " No, I ain't. I tend to my own business and leave other folks 
 to tend to theirs." 
 
 " You were ' 'tendin' to your business.' then, when you left home 
 that night?" 
 
 " Yes, I was." 
 
 " Your business was to go out and help hang Sandy Kinchen ? " 
 
 " I had nothing to do with it, I tell you." 
 
 " Don't you know you were the foremost man in the crowd that 
 night?" 
 
 "Who, me?" 
 
 " Yes, you." 
 
 The witness here reared back in his chair, st.uck his thumbs 
 under his galluses and stared at the lawyer ferociously for a 
 few moments. " Who said that ? " he inquired of the attorney. 
 
 " Never mind who said it. I'll ask you if it isn't a fact ? " 
 
 " No, it ain't no fact," rejoined the witness, exasperated beyond 
 all measure. " It's a infernal lie, and I can whip the man that 
 started it. If you want me I'll go further than that." 
 
 " Well, go further." 
 
 " I b'leive," said the witness, pointing his finger at the lawyer, 
 " you're the man that started it." 
 
 Here there was a great guffaw behind the bar, in which the 
 attorney-general and most of the lawyers joined heartily. 
 
 " If the court please," said Palaver, rising and addressing the 
 
The Judge Sentences the Prisoner. 223 
 
 judge with dignity, " I would like to have this witness respond to 
 my questions without indulging in billingsgate here in the court 
 room. It is difficult, if the honorable court please, to make prog 
 ress in a trial when witnesses persist in using disrespectful lan 
 guage toward counsel employed in the case/' 
 
 " You begun it," interrupted the witness. 
 
 " Mr. Sheriff," remarked Palaver, addressing that functionary 
 severely, " will you please give us order in the court-room ? " 
 
 The sheriff here tapped the obstreperous witness on the 
 shoulder and cautioned him to hold his tongue or he might find 
 himself a sufferer from his rashness. The judge hastily folded 
 the newspaper which he had been quietly perusing for half an 
 hour and lectured the witness soundly for his unbecoming be 
 havior. When this was through Palaver took him in hand again, 
 and exasperated him again, and again appealed to the court to 
 make him behave. By the time this racket had been worked on 
 him a few times the witness was in good fighting trim, and when 
 he was finally dismissed he took occasion to pass by the chair of 
 Palaver, and informed him in tones not particularly confidential 
 that he would like to see him just outside the door when court 
 adjourned. The lawyer did not respond at all to this pleasing 
 invitation. At the noon recess he left the court-room by a side 
 door, walking arm in arm with a brother attorney, and continued 
 busily discussing with him some proposition of law until the two 
 reached the tavern. 
 
 The trial lasted more than a week, and every inch of ground 
 was fiercely contested by the opposing attorneys. Palaver, after 
 the admission of the dying declaration of the widow Bascombe, 
 fought with desperation. He was a most resourceful man, and 
 his genius always shone resplendent when his case was well-nigh 
 hopeless. His client possessed a countenance that would have 
 jusified a jury in inflicting capital punishment upon him if there 
 had been no facts upon which to base such a verdict. With the 
 damning proof against him here, however, his conviction, to every 
 one except his sanguine attorney, seemed a foregone conclusion. 
 Day by day the case dragged on. Witness after witness testified, 
 and when all were through the attorneys in able arguments be 
 fore the jury reviewed the evidence, gave prominence to such 
 parts as- they wished to bring out, skilfully hid damaging facts, 
 placed violent construction upon many plain words in the English 
 language, abused and flattered the unfortunates who had been 
 
224 The K. K. K. 
 
 called to testify, and on the whole so befuddled the jurors that 
 several of these finally were at a loss to know whom they were 
 trying, whether the prisoner, the witnesses, or the judge. 
 
 The behavior of Absalom Slowboy during the progress of the 
 trial was such as to excite both notice and comment from his 
 brother attorneys. On the morning after Miss Bascombe testified 
 he came into court with his Sunday clothes on and his hair parted 
 in the middle. Oh the following morning he wore a button-hole 
 bouquet and carried on his open countenance a conscious expres 
 sion, which indicated that he thought he was being observed. 
 Once while the young lady was on the stand he undertook to pro 
 pound a few questions to her, but was so embarrassed by her calm 
 replies that he abandoned the effort in confusion. When it came 
 his turn to address the court and jury he forgot himself, and 
 made a strong legal argument, but was again, toward the con 
 clusion, nearly knocked off his pins by the discovery that he had 
 the close attention of Miss Bascombe. Altogether his deportment, 
 while not in the least discreditable, was unaccountable, and perhaps 
 in all the crowded court-room there was but one individual who 
 thoroughly comprehended the why and the wherefore of his 
 singular behavior. That individual, I should perhaps add by way 
 of explanation, was not Absalom Slowboy himself. 
 
 All things in this world must have an end, and it came to pass 
 after several days of weary forensic struggle that the judge late 
 one afternoon delivered his charge to the jury. It was a long 
 document, defining the law as to murder in the first degree, 
 murder in the second degree, voluntary manslaughter, involun 
 tary manslaughter, excusable homicide, assault and battery, prov 
 ocation, extenuation, justification, malice aforethought, reason 
 able doubt, insanity, delirium tremens, and divers other matters 
 having little if any bearing that the jurors could see upon the 
 main question at issue. This the learned judge did, not that 
 he thought all these things were pertinent to the issue, but that 
 frequent reversals by the Supreme Court of the State had brought 
 him to the conclusion that it was better to have too much in his 
 charges than too little. When he had finished he sent the jury 
 to the tavern for the night and adjourned the court. 
 
 The following morning at nine o'clock court met pursuant to 
 adjournment, present and presiding, the honorable judge of the 
 Twenty-second Judicial Circuit of Tennessee. Whereupon came 
 the jury before impaneled in the cause, to wit, John Doe, Richard 
 
The Judge Sentences the Prisoner. 225 
 
 Roe, etc., and the defendant in custody appeared at the bar of the 
 court. 
 
 Palaver and all the attorneys, as well as most of the bystanders 
 behind the bar, rose to their feet as the jurors filed into the court 
 room, and stood watching anxiously the face of each member as he 
 responded to his name at the call of the clerk. 
 
 " Have you agreed, gentlemen ? " inquired the clerk of the 
 foreman of the jury when the roll call was finished. 
 
 " We have," responded the foreman. 
 
 " What is your verdict ? " 
 
 "We find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree as 
 charged in the bill of indictment." 
 
 " So say you all, gentlemen ? " further inquired the clerk ; and 
 each of the other jurors bowed his head in acquiescence. 
 
 There was a slight demonstration of approval from behind the 
 bar, which was instantly checked by the sheriff. 
 
 " Poll the jury, Mr. Clerk," demanded the attorney-general. 
 
 " Oh, never mind," said Palaver. 
 
 " Poll the jury, Mr. Clerk," again demanded the attorney- 
 general. 
 
 The clerk then called upon each of the jurors by name, and 
 each when interrogated declared that he assented to the verdict an 
 nounced by the foreman. 
 
 The law did not demand the precaution of having each juror 
 speak for himself, but if this had not been done in the present 
 instance Palaver would soon have had the affidavits of half of them 
 to the effect that they were not entirely satisfied with the verdict 
 as rendered, but would have preferred some other solution of the 
 knotty problem before them. Such affidavits are not difficult to 
 procure, for in the composition of every jury will be found certain 
 good-natured individuals who while in consultation will agree 
 to any sort of verdict to oblige their fellows, and when subse 
 quently discharged will sign their names to any sort of paper to 
 oblige somebody else. To head off such amiable individuals a 
 careful prosecuting attorney will in every grave case require each 
 juror to speak out for himself in open court, so that if any one of 
 them should consent afterward to alter his verdict he would, as 
 Dogberry says, write himself down an ass. 
 
 As soon as the jury was discharged, and while most of the 
 members were still in the court-room, Palaver got the ear of the 
 court, and asked for a new trial, saying he was utterly astounded 
 
226 The K. K. K. 
 
 at the verdict just rendered. The judge inquired if he wished to 
 argue his motion for a new trial, and the exasperated attorney 
 replied that he did not wish to do so at length. He had no other 
 objection to urge against the verdict, he said, than that it was in 
 the teeth of law and justice. The learned judge at that over 
 ruled the motion for a new trial. Whereupon the lawyer moved 
 the court in arrest of judgment, saying his only ground for such 
 motion was that the verdict was in the teeth of law and justice, 
 and 410 judgment could be pronounced by the court upon it. 
 Whereupon the learned judge overruled the motion in arrest of 
 judgment, saying he thought judgment could be pronounced 
 upon it, and would be at the proper time. Whereupon the attor 
 ney, having no other motions to fall back on, sat down in his chair 
 and glared at the court for a while, and then bent his glance down 
 ward toward the floor like a deeply injured individual who has it 
 not in his power to help himself. 
 
 Later in the day Ankerstrom was brought to the bar of the 
 court, and the judge pronounced sentence of death upon him. 
 Palaver by this time had recovered his equanimity, and stood 
 close by his client with a confident smile on his face. The voice 
 of the judge trembled as he addressed the prisoner, for it is a 
 serious thing to look a fellow creature in the face and pronounce 
 words which when carried into execution will end his earthly 
 existence. To coolly sentence a human being to death is a good 
 deal like committing murder in the first degree yourself, and the 
 humane judge in this case evidently discharged with the utmost 
 reluctance the painful task that the law imposed on him. Anker 
 strom, however, stood unmoved, and grinned in the judge's face 
 as in deeply solemn tones he heard his own doom pronounced. 
 He had been no doubt buoyed up for the ordeal by his attorney's 
 assurance that the Supreme Court would set aside the verdict that 
 had been rendered against him, and he knew at any rate that an 
 appeal was his privilege, and that the hangman's grip would not 
 be felt about his throat just yet. Having a little more time on 
 earth he could afford to be insolent for the present, and so he dis 
 torted his hideous features into a disrespectful grin, and listened 
 as if to the recital of a good joke, when the judge in measured 
 words informed him that at 2 o'clock P. M. on a certain Friday 
 not far off he would be taken from his cell in the county jail to 
 a gallows that would be erected for him, and there hung by the 
 neck until he was dead. 
 
The Judge Sentences the Prisoner. 227 
 
 When sentence had been pronounced Palaver in the blandest 
 tone imaginable prayed an appeal to the next term of the Supreme 
 Court of Tennessee, which prayer the judge not having it in 
 his power to refuse was pleased to grant. It was understood 
 between counsel that the bi!4 of exceptions would be made ready 
 for the judge's signature by the following Saturday, that being 
 the last day of the term, and the prisoner, Ankerstrom, was 
 thereupon remanded to jail. 
 
 As he passed out of the court-room in custody of the sheriff a 
 little incident occurred which removed the ugly smirk from the 
 prisoner's face and showed him to the crowd as the ill-natured 
 brute he was. Pete Kinchen and his little dog were among 
 the idlers in the lower hall, and as Jineral Beauregard caught 
 sight of his old enemy approaching he first cocked his eye at him 
 to make sure he was not mistaken, and then making a sudden dash 
 upon him, gripped him with his sharp teeth by the calf of the leg. 
 Cross-eyed Jack raised a savage yell and plunged after the dog, 
 who had wisely taken to his heels as soon as he tasted his enemy's 
 blood. The sheriff pursued his prisoner and brought him to a 
 halt, whereupon the latter stamped his feet, raved, and fell into 
 such an ungovernable fit of passion as shocked and astonished 
 all those about him. Pete Kinchen retreated precipitately, and 
 at a safe distance kept a fearful eye on the brute, but Jineral 
 Beauregard fled far beyond the court-house premises, and the two 
 friends did not meet again until late that evening, when as the 
 negro lad was leaving town a sharp-nosed fox terrier unexpectedly 
 joined him in the suburbs. 
 
228 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 IN WHICH THERE IS MUCH RASH COUNSEL, AND SOME SAGE COUN 
 SEL, FOLLOWED BY A PRUDENT CONCLUSION. 
 
 THE territory which comprises the State of Tennessee, like that 
 which embraced ancient Gaul, is divided into three parts. These 
 are officially recognized by the constitution and statute laws, and 
 are there termed the Grand Divisions of the State. All that 
 section lying east of the range of Cumberland Mountains is styled 
 East Tennessee ; that lying between this range of mountains and 
 the Tennessee River is called Middle Tennessee ; that lying west 
 of the Tennessee River is called West Tennessee. The Supreme 
 Court of the State is a perambulating body, sitting during the late 
 summer and fall months at Knoxville in East Tennessee ; during 
 the winter months at Nashville in Middle Tennessee ; and during 
 the spring and early summer at Jackson in West Tennessee. 
 When Johan Ankerstrom therefore appealed through his attor 
 ney from the sentence of the circuit judge inflicting the death 
 penalty upon him, he by the exercise of this constitutional right 
 suspended the execution of the sentence until at least the follow 
 ing December. The Supreme Court did not meet at Nashville 
 until the first Monday of that month, and as it would find appeals 
 awaiting it from every county in the middle division of the State 
 the probability was that the Ankerstrom case would not be reached 
 until some weeks later than the first of December, perhaps not until 
 the spring of the following year, as the court at Nashville usually 
 adjourned in April. Cross-eyed Jack could therefore afford to 
 draw a sigh of relief when his lawyer informed him that although 
 the unrighteous circuit judge might order him to be hung by the 
 neck in one brief month from the death sentence, he had it in his 
 power, without asking anybody's leave, to lengthen that month 
 into almost, if not quite, a year. Many good people would die 
 natural deaths in a year, and Tohan Ankerstrom himself, if he had 
 been correctly informed, would have to die sometime. Therefore 
 
Much Rash Counsel, and Some Sage Counsel. 229 
 
 why should he foolishly worry now over a fate which certainly 
 would not befall him till nearly a twelvemonth had rolled away, 
 and which might never befall him at all. Hope springs eternal 
 in the human breast, and the hangman's grip, which seemed to 
 tighten about his throat when he heard the jury's verdict, now 
 grew so lax that he swaggered and grinned as he left the court 
 room, thereby winning for himself with some thoughtless people 
 the reputation of being a very courageous sort of fellow. 
 
 Even if the brutal malefactor had been inclined to give way to 
 despondency the buoyancy of his sanguine attorney would cer 
 tainly have revived fading hope in his bosom. 
 
 " I tell you what," cried Palaver to a group of brother attor 
 neys and others when court had adjourned, " I wouldn't have 
 had it happen otherwise for the best horse in town. It's just 
 exactly as it should be, and couldn't have turned out better if I 
 had fixed it all myself. It will be next January at the very earliest 
 before the Supreme Court can reach this case. Then they are dead 
 sure to reverse they couldn't help it if they would and the 
 papers will get back down here about next May. The clerk up 
 there of course will not send us formal notice of the decision until 
 after the minutes of the term are signed, which will be sometime 
 in April. Having a lot of this sort of thing to do it will be May 
 before he gets to us, so that the case will stand for trial again be 
 fore a jury in this county at the June term next year. By that 
 time the prejudice against my man will have died out, witnesses 
 and everybody else will have lost interest in the case, and I'll get 
 an acquittal as easy as winkin'. No doubt about it. Not a bit, I 
 tell you ; not a damned bit." 
 
 " Suppose, Colonel," asked a doubting Thomas, " the Supreme 
 Court should affirm the verdict just rendered? " 
 
 " I'll suppose nothing of the kind, sir; nothing of the kind, sir. 
 Nobody but an infernal fool would suppose anything of the kind, 
 sir. Will the Supreme Court of this State eat its own words, sir ? 
 Will it overturn a line of decisions as long as the history of Eng 
 land, sir?" 
 
 " Our circuit judge is no fool," protested the individual who 
 was inclined to take issue with the Colonel. 
 
 Colonel Palaver looked cautiously about him before replying. 
 " Gentlemen," he began, lowering his voice to an almost con 
 fidential tone, " I don't wish to be disrespectful, but the old man's 
 time i nearly out. Just at present, you see, he would rather be 
 
230 The K. K. K. 
 
 reversed by the Supreme Court than bring down on himself the 
 wrath of two or three hundred voters. It's all right though, gen 
 tlemen a-11-11 right. If my man was turned loose right now 
 these Marrowbone fellows would kill him if they had to tear the 
 court-house down to get at him. Next year l\e'll go forth a free 
 man, and there'll be none to molest him or make him afraid. 
 None to molest him, sir ; not one, not one, not one. Not a single 
 one, sir; not a damned one, sir. Mark my prediction, sir; mark 
 my prediction. The State of Tennessee will board Johan Anker- 
 strom another year, and then he'll be at liberty to go wherever he 
 chooses." 
 
 Teddy Mclntosh and Templeton happened to be passing hur 
 riedly through the lower hall of the court-house and heard the 
 confident address of the lawyer to the group of bystanders about 
 him. That is, they heard the most of it, but left in disgust before 
 the lawyer ended, and soon had mounted their horses and taken 
 their road homeward. 
 
 Palaver had another auditor, however, who was by no means dis 
 gusted with his remarks, but heard him eagerly, and most atten 
 tively, to the end. This was an old gentleman of brisk manner, who 
 being on the outer edge of the assemblage, and little of stature, 
 could neither see nor be seen by the speaker. While the lawyer 
 was freely giving vent to his feelings, and making confident pre 
 dictions as to what was going to transpire at the expiration of a 
 twelvemonth, the agile old gentleman smiled, and smiled, and 
 bobbed up and down like a supple jack, and spread his hands and 
 worked his countenance into manifold expressions, all indicating 
 hearty approval of the sentiments being uttered. When the attor 
 ney had concluded the little old man was no longer able to work 
 off his enthusiasm by dumb show, but apparently felt impelled to 
 voice his ecstacy. 
 
 " Hear de vords uff de vise man," he proclaimed as Palaver was 
 leaving the court-house. " Hear him vot he say, shentlemun, 
 for he speak de trute. A leetle vile de vicked vill perrosper. A 
 leetle vile dey flourish like de ger-reen pay tree ; den dey gits up- 
 thripped and down dey go. But de plessing off Cot vill pe upon 
 de righteous man, and in de eend he vill holt his head up and 
 valk proud. Mark dat, mine frients, mine coot Kerristian 
 frients. It is de eend vot tells de tale. Pay me attention, mine 
 coot Kerristian frients. Dis day you may pe in deep throoble, but 
 vait for de eend, vait for de eend. Pime-py terreckerly you pe 
 
Much Rash Counsel, and Some Sage Counsel. 231 
 
 free as de 'appy pird. Zo, mine frients, let effry man pe coot. It 
 is de best vay. Let him luff his neighbor and keep all de ten 
 coommanderments, and de plessing uff Cot vill pe upon him, and 
 de Shuper-eme Court uff de State vill stand py him." 
 
 As the little old gentleman delivered this heartfelt though 
 slightly scattering address, a few of those who heard him whis 
 pered to others that he was the father of the individual that had 
 just been convicted, and moreover that ne was a very pious old 
 man, highly esteemed in the country from which he hailed. 
 
 Teddy Mclntosh and Templeton, as they journeyed homeward, 
 fell naturally into discourse upon the long trial, and the appeal 
 from the verdict of the jury, and the lawyer's confident prediction 
 as to what the outcome of this appeal would be. They were both 
 disheartened at the certainty of another year's delay, and by the 
 strong probability, as they thought, that the murderer of the widow 
 Bascombe would eventually escape the gallows. 
 
 " What's the use of waiting any longer ? " cried Teddy Mclntosh 
 impatiently. " Didn't you hear what that infernal old lawyer 
 said? Another full year must roll round, and at the end of that 
 time the chances are ten to one that Cross-eyed Jack will go scot 
 free instead of being made to suffer for his devilish deed. Things 
 are going to the bad in our country because all the rascals, black 
 and white, have concluded they can't be punished. I say let's 
 prove to 'em that a monstrous crime like the murder of the widow 
 Bascombe can be punished, and will be punished, if not by lawful 
 means then by good citizens outside of the law." 
 
 " I'm half inclined to agree with you," replied Mr. Bob Lee 
 Templeton. " Once I was dead against you fellows for assuming 
 to take the law into your own hands, but now I see you have a 
 good deal of reason on your side. That was a dreadful mistake 
 in the Kinchen matter, but if we'd had our klan organized then 
 Kinchen wouldn't have been hung." 
 
 " True enough," responded Teddy. " We did go off half cocked 
 that time, as you say, but nobody can accuse us of being in too big 
 a hurry if we throttle Cross-eyed Jack a year after the old woman 
 he murdered has been put under the ground. His crime has been 
 most abundantly proven in open court. Twelve jurors have set on 
 him, and pronounced him guilty; the old judge has sentenced him 
 to be hung ; and still, it seems, the law can't make up its mind to 
 choke the wind out of him. I'm ready if the law ain't, and I say if 
 we're ever going to do anything the time has come for us. to act." 
 
232 The K. K. K. 
 
 " I'm strongly inclined to be with you," cried Mr. Bob Lee 
 Templeton. 
 
 " When I thought of that baboon-looking devil striking down 
 the good old widow Bascombe in the middle of the night, and 
 running Miss Sue off to the woods barefooted, I was a mind to 
 pistol him right there in the court-house. And I'm a mind now, 
 by Jupiter, to make cold meat of the black-hearted scamp just as 
 soon as ever, by fair means or foul, we can lay hands on him." 
 
 " I'm with you," cried Mr. Bob Lee Templeton. 
 
 4 Then we'll get five of our men to sign a petition asking the 
 Grand Cyclops to call a meeting of the klan. At that meeting, 
 no matter what Ran Pearson may say, we'll detail a dozen trusty 
 fellows to take this murderous Dutchman out of jail and hang 
 him. I'll be one of the dozen." 
 
 " How shall we get him out of jail ? " inquired Templeton. 
 
 " Where there's a will there's a way," responded Teddy. " If 
 folks are in dead earnest they can do most anything." 
 
 The speaker being in dead earnest it was not many days before 
 a request in writing, signed by the requisite number of members, 
 was presented to the august individual styled The Grand Cyclops 
 of the Klan, asking him to call a meeting of the brotherhood to 
 consider business of pressing importance. In about two weeks 
 they assembled on the summit of Dead Man's Knob, and with 
 much earnestness debated the question that Mclntosh presented for 
 their consideration. The remarks made by lawyer Palaver were 
 faithfully reported and commented upon witih much asperity. 
 There was intense indignation in the community now over the 
 law's delay, and a profound conviction, whether well or 
 ill founded, that the verdict recently rendered would not 
 be permitted to stand, but would be reversed upon one 
 of those legal quibbles which were always available to 
 shrewd attorneys who were employed to shield the guilty. 
 Even if it was certain, it was urged, that the judgment 
 against Ankerstrom would be affirmed it would be much better 
 to send him out of the world at once, and thus teach a wholesome 
 lesson to other tramps and vagabonds who were prowling about the 
 country, and who were fast being educated into the idea that they 
 could commit any kind of outrage with impunity. But as it was 
 more than doubtful what the decision of the supreme tribunal of 
 the State would be, it was certainly incumbent on those who had 
 banded together for the suppression of crime to assume the re- 
 
Much Rash Counsel, and Some Sage Counsel. 233 
 
 sponsibility for the punishment of this guilty scoundrel, and not 
 wait a year longer in the hope that the law might at the expiration 
 of that time see fit to execute its own mandate. 
 
 Pearson and his two coadjutors listened gravely while speedy 
 action was being urged, and so vehement was the demand that the 
 klan should not procrastinate longer, that it was difficult for the 
 three judicial officers to stem the torrent of indignation and an 
 nounce unequivocally that they would give their sanction to no 
 action in the Ankerstrom matter until after the decision of the 
 Supreme Court. Trying as the delay had been Pearson was de 
 cidedly of opinion that the murderer of Mrs. Bascombe should 
 not be taken from the custody of the law and hung by an irre 
 sponsible body of men until it was plainly demonstrated that pun 
 ishment would never be administered through the regular legal 
 channels. He deemed it inexpedient, however, to proclaim such a 
 determination just now, and after a somewhat protracted con 
 ference with his colleagues announced it as their joint conclusion 
 that a committee of three discreet persons be appointed, whose 
 duty it should be to ascertain all the surroundings of the 
 prison where the murderer lay confined, and further, after 
 investigation, to devise means by which if such course 
 should be subsequently determined upon the klan might 
 obtain control of the person of the prisoner to the end 
 that he be properly dealt with. Pearson further said it 
 was a very grave step they were about to take, or that 
 they were considering the propriety of taking, and he himself 
 would as speedily as possible make inquiry of certain of his ac 
 quaintances well versed in the law, and get their opinion of what 
 the decision of the Supreme Court in the case probably would be. 
 He was inclined to think that little weight should be attached to 
 the braggadocio talk of the lawyer employed to save the prisoner 
 from the punishment so richly deserved, but before he spoke with 
 assurance on this point he would like to be better informed than 
 he was at present. In the meantime the committee suggested 
 might make thorough investigation, and be prepared to report at 
 a subsequent meeting of the klan, so that if any action was then 
 determined upon it might be prompt and efficient. 
 
 This conclusion, or advice, was by no means satisfactory to the 
 impatient men who now longed to wreak vengeance on Anker 
 strom, but they accepted it, as it pointed to a time not far distant 
 when summary action would be taken, and also set a few of their 
 
234 The K. K. K. 
 
 number to the work of preparing the way for such action 
 whenever it was determined upon. Pearson was convinced 
 that their wrath would be in a measure appeased if he 
 could postpone the time for announcing a positive con 
 clusion, and could set a few of them at work in the 
 interim, and thus his main purpose in making the sug 
 gestion for a committee of investigation was accomplished. 
 The Grand Cyclops appointed a committee of three, with Teddy 
 Mclntosh at the head, and the klan adjourned to meet again a 
 month later at a point different from the one at which most of 
 their former meetings had been held. Some whisperings had gone 
 abroad concerning the assembling by night of men and horses on 
 Dead Man's Knob, and it was thought advisable, at least for a 
 while, to shift the place of rendezvous to some other spot situated 
 farther back in the recesses of the Marrowbone Hills. 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Displays Great Shrewdness. 235 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 LAWYER SLOWBOY DISPLAYS GREAT SHREWDNESS AT THE HORSE 
 MARKET AND THEN CALLS UPON A LADY ACQUAINTANCE. 
 
 ONE soft summer evening when the moon was at its fullest and 
 brightest, Miss Sue Bascombe had left the dwelling which was now 
 her home, and gone for a quiet stroll down the shady and winding 
 road that led away from the premises. Daylight had not as yet 
 died away, but the risen moon shed such a splendor from the east 
 that its rays were fast gaining the ascendency over the fading 
 gleams which the departed sun was still struggling to cast from the 
 opposite horizon. 
 
 Sue was not of sentimental turn, but she could not fail to be 
 impressed, as she wandered alone through shade and softened 
 light, with the surpassing beauty of the surrounding scene. From 
 some not distant wheat-field the rich note of the partridge came, 
 lamenting perhaps that the ripened grain above its nest had been 
 cut and its little ones scattered abroad to seek safety. Blending 
 with this mellow call the plaintive cry of the whippoorwill, that 
 lover of the twilight, rose so near as almost to startle her while 
 passing close to a thicket of tangled undergrowth that skirted her 
 path. She paused here, and stood hesitating whether to continue 
 her walk or icturn to her dwelling, when she heard the sound of 
 a horse's feet in the distance. The house in which she dwelt stood 
 a half mile or more from the main highway, and she knew that the 
 approaching rider, whoever he was, must draw rein at her own 
 door, for the course he was pursuing could lead him nowhere else. 
 She was a quick girl, and so well acquainted in her own locality 
 that she knew the step of nearly all the roadsters thereabout. She 
 bent her ear now to detect if possible what particular animal it was 
 coming toward her, but for a while was puzzled to determine. It 
 was not Ran Pearson's horse, for the usual gait of that animal was 
 a running walk, while this quadruped was certainly pacing, and 
 pacing very deliberately. It was not the saddle nag of Teddy MQ- 
 
236 The K. K. K. 
 
 Intosh, for Teddy nearly always went in a canter when he wasn't 
 riding faster. It was not a little negro on a mule, such as were 
 frequently sent on errands from neighboring farms, for this was 
 no mule's gait, and besides these persistent youngsters always 
 clucked loudly as they came along. 
 
 The dim figure of the approaching steed could now be discerned 
 a little way off, and Sue after scanning it as best she could con 
 cluded the rider must be some old lady of the vicinity who was 
 thus pacing in leisurely fashion toward her on a gentle farm nag. 
 She was at a loss, however, to conjecture what particular old lady 
 it could be, and what urgent call could take her away from home 
 at this unseasonable hour, and as country folk are usually a little 
 shy she stepped a few feet off from the roadside so that she could 
 inspect the equestrian on nearer approach without being herself 
 observed. As the new-comer drew nigh, and was about passing 
 the spot where she stood in the thick shadow of the foliage, the 
 ambling steed suddenly got a glimpse of her and shied so abruptly 
 that the rider, taken unawares, tumbled to the ground. Sue then 
 saw that it was not an old woman but one of the masculine species, 
 and as the discomfited individual arose from the earth and began 
 brushing his trousers legs with his hand, she was astonished to find 
 standing before her the youthful attorney who had taken notes of 
 the evidence in the Ankerstrom case, and had made, as she thought 
 at the time, quite a sensible speech in behalf of the prisoner. Sue 
 Bascombe was a youthful female of ordinary acuteness and she 
 had not failed to discover during the progress of the long trial that 
 the eyes of Mr. Slowboy were frequently upon her, and that they 
 were usually admiring glances which he cast in her direction. She 
 had noticed while she was on the witness stand that he from time 
 to time suggested queries to Palaver to be propounded by the lat 
 ter gentleman to her, and at one stage of the investigation, by con 
 sent of the attorney-general, he, Slowboy, had himself directly 
 interrogated her with the view of drawing out more fully some 
 point that he thought should be impressed upon the jury. After 
 that he usually bowed to her when he came into the court-room 
 after recess, and when he met her on the street, but beyond these 
 mere formal courtesies their acquaintanceship did not extend. 
 That she would afterward encounter him alone by twilight in the 
 heart of the Marrowbone Hills did not enter at the time into her 
 contemplation, nor was it at all among her thoughts on this oc 
 casion until he awkwardly tumbled from his saddle before her eyes. 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Displays Great Shrewdness. 237 
 
 What any other young lady would have done under the cir 
 cumstances I am not prepared to tell you. What Sue Bascombe 
 did was very natural, though perhaps not very polite or very 
 kind under the circumstances. She threw back her head and 
 laughed so heartily that she might have been heard three hun 
 dred yards away at the dwelling house, if matters had been quiet 
 in that quarter. 
 
 Mr. Slowboy at once left off brushing his breeches leg and 
 shied almost as. vigorously as his nag had done a minute before. 
 The young lady, perhaps concluding that she had been guilty 
 of an uncivil act, now stepped into the open roadway, extending 
 her hand graciously toward the embarrassed guest. " Why, Mr. 
 Slowboy," she said. " Who'd have thought it? " 
 
 " I wouldn't," replied Slowboy with commendable candor, 
 but forgetting to raise his own hand in response to her prof 
 fered courtesy. " I assure you I was not expecting it at all." 
 
 At that Miss Bascombe did a second time what perhaps was 
 very natural, but not very kind or very civil. She laughed 
 again so heartily that she was compelled to bend forward quite 
 low as she did so. Then- recovering herself she straightened up 
 and again extended her hand. " You must excuse me," she said 
 to the confused visitor, " but really one does not see a feat of this 
 sort performed very day. I was not laughing at you, Mr. Slow- 
 boy. I was laughing because you understand " 
 
 " I do not understand," replied Slowboy positively. " I as 
 sure you I do not. Have the kindness to explain yourself." 
 
 " Catch your horse and I will," replied the young lady, who 
 by this time was mistress of her emotions. 
 
 Slowboy went after the animal, which was standing patiently a 
 few yards away, and Sue Bascombe had a few moments for re 
 flection. " As we seem to be going the same way, suppose we 
 walk together," she said when he returned with his horse. Then 
 she bent her steps homeward, the gallant youth proceeding by her 
 side. 
 
 " You said you were not laughing at me," said Slowboy by way 
 of opening up a conversation. 
 
 :i Yes, I said that," replied Miss Bascombe. 
 
 " Have the kindness to explain then what you were laughing 
 at." 
 
 " There is a difference, as no doubt you can see," replied the 
 damsel, " between laughing at an individual to his face, which 
 
238 The K. K. K. 
 
 would be very rude, and laughing at a ludicrous occurrence with 
 out reference to the individual that happened to take part 
 in it." 
 
 " Your distinction is not well taken," said the attorney. " If 
 a ludicrous mishap befalls an individual, and you laugh at the 
 mishap, you necessarily laugh at him, for he is of necessity so 
 connected with the mishap that the one cannot be separated from 
 the other." 
 
 " I do not see it that way," replied Miss Bascombe dryly. 
 
 " I can demonstrate the correctness of my position to your sat 
 isfaction," responded Slowboy. " If the individual had not been 
 connected with the mishap there could have been no mishap. 
 You cannot carve legally speaking two separate and distinct 
 things out of the one transaction. The individual by himself, it 
 may be assumed, would not be provocative of mirth. Being on 
 horseback, however, and unexpectedly losing his balance, he is 
 constrained to assume an attitude which, it may be conceded, is 
 the reverse of graceful. Catching the eye of a beholder in this 
 unbecoming posture the beholder breaks into a loud laugh. Now, 
 it is too plain for argument that the merriment is at the expense 
 of the unlucky individual. You cannot be heard to say, nor 
 by any sophistry can the position be maintained, that it was not 
 the man, but the misfortune that befell him, which provoked the 
 mind of the beholder to mirth." 
 
 " Well, then, I laughed at you," replied Sue. " But if you had 
 not assumed the ungraceful attitude I would not have laughed, so 
 after all it was your fault and not mine." 
 
 " Not so, not so/' rejoined the attorney. " Laughter, or any 
 expression of enjoyment, is never excusable when based on the 
 suffering or misfortune of another. An Indian will laugh at, 
 and dance round, the victim who is being burned to death at the 
 stake. He gloats, so to speak, on the pain his fellow creature is 
 compelled to endure. When a civilized man or woman laughs 
 at a painful accident that befalls one of the human species, it is 
 a lingering trace of barbarism in his or her nature that excites 
 to mirth and extracts a pleasurable emotion where only sym 
 pathy should be felt." 
 
 " Well, then," replied Sue, " I did wrong in laughing at you, 
 and I ask your pardon." 
 
 This mild admission on the part of the young lady had the 
 double effect of soothing the mortified vanity of Mr. Slowboy, 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Displays Great Shrewdness. 239 
 
 and putting an extinguisher upon the struggling conversation. 
 The lawyer, while studious and inclined to cogitation, was not 
 colloquially gifted, and moreover when he essayed the role of 
 beau he was venturing upon entirely new ground. I say the role 
 of beau because any person of ordinary discretion who peruses 
 this chronicle will understand that Slowboy on the present occa 
 sion had not stumbled accidentally upon the dwelling place of 
 Miss Bascombe, being a chance wayfarer in that vicinity, but 
 had directed the steps of his pacing nag toward her habitation, 
 if not as the lawyers say with malice prepense, at least after 
 mature deliberation and premeditation. To be sure, later on in 
 the evening he explained to her that being in Nashville on legal 
 business, and having there purchased a valuable and trustworthy 
 animal for family purposes, he had concluded to ride through 
 to his home on horseback, rather than ship his new purchase by 
 rail and travel himself by the same conveyance. This was what 
 he said, and Sue, being a girl of no little gumption, understood 
 precisely how much truth there was in the story and how much 
 fabrication. 
 
 The fact was Solomon Slowboy had planned the whole neat 
 scheme in his office before ever he left his place of abode. 
 Sitting musingly there one afternoon, when he should have been 
 studying his book, he had artfully invented a smooth pretext for 
 visiting the girl who had drawn such a creditable diagram on the 
 dirty court-room floor and had explained all the lines and dots 
 thereof with such mathematical precision. This scheme he had 
 contrived all out of his own head and had successfully executed 
 up to the point of tumbling from his horse, which feat, I need 
 not explain to the reader, was no part of the original pro 
 gram. 
 
 At the moment when the author side-tracked his narrative for 
 the above interesting digression Miss Bascombe and Mr. Slow- 
 boy, as will be recalled, were walking slowly down the grassy 
 country road that led to the residence of the former. The horse 
 had shied, Mr. Slowboy had come to grief, the young lady had 
 laughed aloud, the lawyer had become a little incensed, suitable 
 apology had been made, and his mortified vanity had been 
 soothed. So far so good, but meantime the particular vein of 
 talk they had been following was exhausted, and if it had de 
 volved on Mr. Slowboy to open and follow up another, the con 
 versation itself must have utterly perished. This fact becoming 
 
240 The K. K. K. 
 
 painfully manifest after a few minutes' walk, the party of the 
 second part to wit, Miss Bascombe relieved the growing em 
 barrassment by propounding the following query : 
 
 " Mr. Slowboy, how's your mother ? " 
 
 " She is, I thank you, in the enjoyment of her usual health," 
 replied Slowboy. " How did you know I had a mother ? " 
 
 " Oh, that was easy to tell. You came into the court-room the 
 first day of the trial with your coat and hat neatly brushed, so I 
 knew some good woman was looking after you. You spruced 
 up considerably when you found a young lady among the wit 
 nesses, so I saw you wasn't married. And one day I noticed a 
 pleasant-faced middle-aged lady regarding you with fond admira 
 tion from behind the bar, and I set her down at once for your 
 mother." 
 
 '" You were right," cried Slowboy with enthusiasm. " It was 
 my mother, and the very best mother, I venture to say, Miss Bas 
 combe, that ever a man had upon this earth. Why, you would 
 grow tired listening if I should undertake to tell you just how 
 much my mother does for me every hour in the day, and every 
 day in the week, and every week in the year. She not only 
 brushes me up every morning so as to make me look spruce 
 that is, of course, you know, Miss Bascombe, as spruce as such a 
 person as I can look she not only does that, but when I go home 
 of evenings I find my slippers ready for me, and my studying 
 gown, which she made with her own hands, and if it be at all 
 cool or damp there is, you may depend upon it, a snug fire in 
 the grate. My mother is a very active person, a very active per 
 son indeed for one of her years and she's not so mighty old 
 neither and what with dusting, and cleaning, and looking after 
 the cook we keep a cook now and doing a thousand other 
 things, she never has an idle moment, I can tell you." 
 
 So Mr. Slowboy went on, and it was soon evident that Sue's 
 query which at first blush might have seemed mal a propos 
 was the very thing to set him going, and to keep him going until 
 he warmed up, and wore off his reserve, and was ready for ra 
 tional discourse on other and general topics. By the time they 
 reached the house they had grown to be almost chummy, and so 
 promptly did ideas rise up in the mind of the young lawyer, and 
 so readily did those ideas find utterance in language, that the 
 family sitting out on the front porch wondered what glib-tongued 
 Stranger it was nearing the premises. Sue introduced him as her 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Displays Great Shrewdness. 241 
 
 friend Mr. Slowboy, and he shook hands all round with ease and 
 grace, and was no more embarrassed, I assure you, than you or I 
 would have been, who of course have been used to genteel com 
 pany all our days. 
 
 After supper for come they strangers or come they kin, 
 there is free entertainment for man and beast at nearly 
 every old-fashioned Southern farmhouse Mr. Slowboy was 
 ushered into the company room of the mansion, where he 
 found the walls liberally decked with pictures of General Lee anc 
 Stonewall Jackson and other mighty men of valor who have 
 passed away from earth after earning for themselves, by deeds 
 of prowess, the gratitude of pos-terity. Then followed discourse 
 of a rational and improving nature, dashed now and then with 
 a little chit-chat for seasoning. There was some bantering 
 for close friends, you know, can afford to be a trifle free at each 
 other's expense and toward the close of the evening a little 
 serious talk that verged on the sentimental. Mr. Slowboy, who 
 was deep and hard to circumvent, skilfully probed the young 
 lady's mind to ascertain in the most delicate way possible whether 
 this or that individual, of whom he had heard talk, stood partic 
 ularly high in her estimation. He incidentally lugged Mr. R. L. 
 Templeton into the conversation, and was pleased to learn that 
 this youth was considered rather light-headed and frivolous, and 
 moreover was desperately in love with a certain Polly Haber- 
 sham, who dwelt a half dozen miles away. After making a con 
 versational circuit, so as to take the mind of the young lady en 
 tirely away from this and kindred topics, he came round again, 
 and this time learned, without her ever having suspected what he 
 was up to, that Teddy Mclntosh was kind-hearted and a frolick- 
 some boy, but just only a boy, you know. Thirdly, and lastly, 
 after another considerable detour he managed to introduce 
 smoothly and naturally into the talk the name of Randolph Pear 
 son. He found here that there was really no apparent interest at 
 all. Mr. Pearson stood well among the neighbors, and was no 
 doubt a correct man in his business dealings, but he was dread 
 fully set in his ways, and of late years getting to be quite a re 
 cluse. A man, said Miss Bascombe, might live by himself, and 
 for himself, so long that he would lose not only all relish for the 
 companionship of others, but all fitness for such companionship, 
 and to this sad complexion Randolph Pearson had come at last. 
 
 Thus Mr.' Sfowboy, who, as the reader has perceived, was much 
 
242 The K. K. K. 
 
 more artful than a body would have thought to look at him, man 
 aged to ascertain precisely the trend of the lady's mind in all these 
 important particulars, and at about ten o'clock concluded to bring 
 the pleasant evening to a close. He had heard his mother say 
 that when you called on a yoking lady it was both bad manners 
 and bad policy to remain long enough to weary her, and therefore 
 he wisely determined to withdraw while as the saying goes his 
 credit was up. When he heard the premonitory click of the clock, 
 serving notice upon him that it proposed presently to strike the 
 hour of the night, and looking up saw the long finger qn the dial 
 creeping close to the figure 10, he rose from his seat, and remark 
 ing that he had no idea it was so late, extended his hand with the 
 view of bidding the .young lady gaod-by. 
 
 " Why," said Sue, " you are not going to leave us to-night ? 
 We don't call it a visit in the country unless you have taken at 
 least two meals with us, and had a good sound nap under our 
 roof." 
 
 " As for the meals," responded Slowboy gallantly, " I've had 
 one, and that convinces me thoroughly of your excellent house 
 keeping; and as to the slumber, or nap as you term it, under 
 your roof, I'm not quite sure that I would sleep much if I were 
 to remain till morning." 
 
 " Indeed ? " responded the young lady. 
 
 " Because," pursued Slowboy, " it is a well-understood fact 
 that pleasurable emotions tend to excite the mind, and thereby in 
 duce a state of alertness, instead of that sense of composure which 
 lulls the faculties into slumber." 
 
 " Very true," replied Sue, " but it's twenty-seven miles to 
 Coopertown, and surely you're not going that far to-night ? " 
 
 Then the visitor informed her that he had business at a little 
 cross-roads town -a dozen miles farther on, and as the moon was 
 bright, and the night pleasant, he had resolved to ride that far 
 on his journey, dispatch the matter in hand next morning as soon 
 as the folks were astir, and then proceed homeward before the 
 heat of the sun made the day oppressive. 
 
 " You know the road? " inquired the young lady. 
 
 " I have but to get back into the beaten highway which runs 
 within a half mile of your house, and following that I cannot get 
 lost." 
 
 " It will take you across Paradise Ridge, and over some very 
 rough country." 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Displays Great Shrewdness. 243 
 
 " I can travel it," replied Slowboy. " Don't forget I was 
 country raised." 
 
 Sue seemed to hesitate a while, then she inquired : " Mr. 
 Slowboy, have you a pistol ? " 
 
 " No indeed," replied the attorney. " It's against the law to 
 go armed." 
 
 Sue Bascombe : " Yes, I know it, but a man traveling these 
 hills at night ought to have a pistol. Self-preservation is the first 
 law of nature." 
 
 Solomon Slowboy : " Why, you don't think there's any real 
 danger, do you ? " 
 
 Sue Bascombe : " I can't say whether there is or not. But' 
 curious tales are told about these hills, Mr. Slowboy." 
 
 Solomon Slowboy: "What for instance?" 
 
 Sue Bascombe : " Why they say all manner of things. They 
 tell some tales that would make your hair rise right up on your 
 head. But I don't want to excite you, as you are going to ride." 
 
 Solomon Slowboy, stoutly : " Yes, I'm going to ride, and I ex 
 pect to encounter nothing mo.re disheartening than the loneliness 
 of the route." 
 
 Sue Bascombe, hesitating again : " Well, I hope you are right, 
 Mr. Slowboy. But I ought to tell you there are rough men in 
 these parts. And I ought to tell you, Mr. Slowboy, that strange 
 sights have been seen along the very road you are going to travel. 
 I'm not superstitious, but one can't utterly disregard statements 
 made by reliable witnesses. Once upon a time not very far from 
 here the Bell Witch played some most remarkable pranks; and 
 they tell me that sometimes about midnight on lonely roads up in 
 the Marrowbone Hills witches, ghosts, hobgoblins, what you 
 choose, can be actually seen and heard performing some sort of 
 ceremony that no human being understands." 
 
 Solomon Slowboy : " Why, you are not afraid of ghosts, are 
 you?" 
 
 Sue Bascombe : " I can't say I'm afraid of them, but still many 
 unaccountable things do happen, Mr. Slowboy. Spiritualism has 
 many intelligent believers in this great country and elsewhere. 
 You've read of Lord Brougham's case, haven't you ? " 
 
 Solomon Slowboy : " Yes, yes. Just an overheated imagina 
 tion." 
 
 Sue Bascombe : " Maybe so. Then there was the Bell Witch 
 in this very neighborhood. It disappeared many years ago, but 
 
244 The K. K. K. 
 
 some folks think it has come back and brought other spooks 
 along with it. I tell you what, Mr. Slowboy, if I was going your 
 road to-night, I'd slip a pistol in my pocket, law or no law." 
 
 Solomon Slowboy : " What good would a pistol do in case of 
 spooks ? " 
 
 Sue Bas-combe : " In case of interference it w.ould enable you 
 to tell whether the thing obstructing your way was human or not. 
 You are going a lonely road, and I'll lend you my pistol so that 
 you may be prepared for any emergency." 
 
 Solomon Slowboy : " Do you keep a pistol ? " 
 
 Sue Bascombe : " Why, to be sure. You don't suppose a girl 
 would live up here in the Marrowbone Hills and not keep a pis 
 tol, do you ? " 
 
 With that she left him, and proceeding up the stairway was 
 absent several minutes. When she returned she handed him a 
 small Smith & Wesson, which she assured him was accurate. 
 Slowboy, thinking he might encounter some danger along the 
 road, accepted it and dropped it in his side pocket. 
 
 " Put it in your hip pocket," said Miss Bascombe. " It's 
 handier to get at there." 
 
 Slowboy made the necessary transfer, and his lady friend 
 further instructed him. " If you have to shoot," she said, " re 
 member to raise your pistol high and pull trigger as it lowers 
 as soon as the object in front darkens your view. Be perfectly 
 steady, and keep your forefinger on the tip of the trigger. That 
 will make it go off easy." 
 
 " You understand it, I see," replied the guest. 
 
 " Indeed I do," said Sue Bascombe. " If I'd had a pistol the 
 night of the terrible tragedy at our house you would never have 
 been employed as counsel for Ankerstrom." 
 
 Solomon Slowboy looked at her admiringly. " She's a brave 
 girl," he thought. " She'd have made a noble wife for one of the 
 early pioneers of this country when the Indians were prowling 
 around." Then he looked at her again. " She's very hand 
 some," he thought. " She wouldn't make a bad wife for Solo 
 mon Slowboy, if mother was willing to the match." 
 
 When he got to the door Sue handed him a sealed envelope, 
 with no direction on the back. Instead the figure of a human 
 hand had been drawn upon it in red ink, the thumb and little 
 finger closed, the other three fingers extended. " I reckon you'll 
 think I'm foolish/' she said, " but this paper contains a charm 
 
Lawyer Slowboy Displays Great Shrewdness. 245 
 
 that my aunt's grandmother said was powerful against witches. 
 If you do not have occasion to use it you must mail it back to me 
 as soon as you reach home. If you get in serious trouble on the 
 way say a short prayer over to yourself and hand this paper to 
 the next who approaches, human or hobgoblin." 
 
 Solomon Slowboy looked at her again, and her face was quite 
 serious. 
 
 " This is very singular/' he remarked. 
 
 " I know it is," replied Sue Bascombe. 
 
 He took the paper and placed it in his side pocket. " I will 
 mail it back to you to-morrow morning from home," he said. 
 
 " Don't fail to do it," was her reply. 
 
 Then he shook hands with her very cordially, and she invited 
 him to come back again. He promised her faithfully to do so, 
 and Solomon Slowboy was a person who usually meant what he 
 said. When he went out into the night Sue Bascombe locked the 
 front door behind him and took her way upstairs, humming a 
 quiet tune to herself. 
 
246 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 MR. SLOWBOY TRAVELS A LONELY ROAD BY NIGHT, AND SOON FINDS 
 HIMSELF IN DECIDEDLY QUEER COMPANY. 
 
 SOLOMON SLOWBOY, chewing the cud of pleasing fancy, paced 
 for an hour or more along the moonlit highway that led to the 
 cross-roads village where it was his purpose to obtain lodging for 
 the night. The route he was now pursuing ran up and down hill, 
 but on the whole was not so difficult to travel as he had appre 
 hended from the description of Miss Sue Bascombe, who had 
 warned him that he would be compelled to journey through a 
 rough country. The obstacles in his path were less noticeable 
 too, he concluded, from the fact that the gray mare under his sad 
 dle was sure-footed and evenly gaited, and as she bore him 
 smoothly onward he became more thoroughly convinced that he 
 had driven a good bargain when he purchased her. 
 
 The fact was as I think I took occasion to remark in the last 
 chapter Solomon Slowbow was a much shrewder person than a 
 body would have supposed to look at him. When he went upon 
 the horse market at Nashville with the view of making an invest 
 ment, he was not content, as many a blundering ignoramus would 
 have been, to close a trade for the very first plug he came across. 
 Instead of that he kept looking and making inquiries until he 
 finally laid eyes on a certain gray mare in a certain stable that 
 seemed somehow to suit his fancy. When the dealer saw him 
 viewing the gray mare with a critic's eye he came forward and re 
 marked to Slowboy politely that he observed he was a fine judge 
 of horseflesh. " Forty men," said the dealer, " have passed that 
 mare without special notice to-day, but you discerned that she was 
 a very superior animal as soon as ^ver you entered the stable." 
 
 " Why, so I did," replied SolonY ^i Slowboy, pleased at the com 
 pliment to his penetration. " Tht&e other forty gentlemen you 
 speak of had of course the right to consult their own tastes 
 
Mr. Slowboy Travels a Lonely Road by Night. 247 
 
 when they went upon the horse market, but I was struck with this 
 animal here just as soon as I examined her points." 
 
 " Well, you have taken a fancy to about the best horse in the 
 stable," said the dealer, " and it's a fine thing you happened along 
 on this particular day of all days in the year." 
 
 " How is that ? " inquired Slowboy. 
 
 The dealer then informed him confidentially that the gray mare 
 was the property of a gentleman in the vicinity who was in great 
 stress for money, and was willing therefore to part with her at a 
 ruinous sacrifice. By waiting another twenty-four hours the gen 
 tleman might hope to get almost double what he now asked for 
 the animal, but the money had to come on the very day which, 
 as luck would have it, Slowboy had selected for his visit to Nash 
 ville. Slowboy next inquired if a lady could ride the mare with 
 safety, informing the dealer that he had a mother at home, who, 
 though not an accomplished equestrienne, liked to take little horse 
 back jaunts to the country now and then. As luck would have it 
 again the gentleman who was in great stress for money had a 
 maiden aunt whose habit it was to take a long ride every day on 
 the back of Martha Washington that was the mare's name and 
 who even now was making a frantic endeavor to pawn her valu 
 able diamond ring rather than part company with the cherished 
 animal. 
 
 Slowboy at this felt some scruple about robbing the lady of her 
 treasure, but the dealer reminded him that somebody would be the 
 purchaser that day, and that he had as well be the lucky man as 
 another. To make a long story short, the lawyer then purchased 
 the gray mare without more ado, and though the figure was 
 higher than he expected seeing the mare was being disposed of 
 at a ruinous sacrifice he paid the dealer's demand in spot cash, 
 and a short while later was pacing out of the capital city of the 
 state astraddle of Martha Washington, and seated moreover in a 
 brand new saddle which creaked so loudly as he went that it some 
 what embarrassed him. He proceeded homeward with the gray 
 mare and the creaking saddle, till he reached the abode of a cer 
 tain damsel in the hills, and, after a pleasant intermission there, 
 was again pacing, as we know, leisurely along his homeward road. 
 
 Now, as Solomon Slowboy went on and on, up hill and down 
 hill, he thought of his estimable mother, and could see her in his 
 mind's eye walking round and round Martha Washington, ad 
 miring the symmetry of her limbs, and having the old family 
 
248 The K. K. K. 
 
 side saddle strapped to her back to see how it fitted. As he thus 
 mused he thought of the ugly trick the mare had played him that 
 evening in unseating him right in the presence of a lady, and won 
 dered if she might not cut some such caper when his esteemed 
 mother was atop of her. Then he remembered the criticism 
 which Miss Sue Bascombe had passed on herself for hiding out in 
 the bushes close to the roadside when a rider and horse were pass 
 ing, and thought how generous it was in her to assume 
 the entire responsibility for the mishap instead of saddling 
 a considerable share of the blame, as she unquestionably 
 might have done, upon himself and Martha Washington. 
 Miss Bascombe having been brought thus naturally to the 
 front, his imagination dwelt fondly for a while upon her 
 many graces of mind and person. He congratulated him 
 self on his shrewdness in eliciting from her, without her 
 ever having suspected his purpose, the important information 
 that she was heart whole and fancy free, and ventured to cherish 
 the hope that after his own acquaintance with her had fully 
 ripened perhaps the same could not be truthfully said of her. 
 Then he went over again, for he had an excellent memory, all the 
 little incidents of the pleasant evening that had just closed, the 
 profound remarks submitted by Solomon Slowboy, her apprecia 
 tive responses, and just precisely how she looked when he said 
 this or that. We are told that when fancy makes the feast it 
 costs no more to have it fine, and it was a delightful entertainment 
 indeed to which Solomon Slowboy treated himself as Martha 
 Washington paced evenly along the moonlit highway upon that 
 balmy summer night. 
 
 When he had gone over the enjoyable features of his visit 
 again and again, and the exquisite pleasure of recalling 
 them was somewhat dulled by repetition, he bethought him 
 of the singular conversation that had passed between himself 
 and the maiden just as they were on the eve of leave-taking. What 
 did a sensible girl like Sue Bascombe mean by all this talk about 
 ghosts? How did she happen to find out about the mysterious 
 experience of Lord Brougham, who in his autobiography records 
 the fact that he encountered the ghost of a departed friend in his 
 bath-room, just as he was rising, divested of his raiment, from the 
 tub? And this confounded Bell Witch, too, that she had lugged 
 into the conversation ; strange tales had been told concerning that 
 spook, or whatever it was. Strange tales, strange tales. Slowboy 
 
Mr. Slowboy Travels a Lonely Road by Night. 249 
 
 had heard them from his mother, who had heard them from her 
 mother, who was a good church member, and in the matter of the 
 Bell Witch knew whereof she spoke. How curious it is that such 
 wild tales should obtain credence and pass for truths among sen 
 sible people ! But when one came to think of it there really was 
 no clear dividing line between the knowable and the unknowable, 
 the natural and the so-called supernatural. The ghosts of which 
 we have so many well authenticated instances may all have been 
 conjured up by diseased imaginations, but who can say some of 
 them were not real visitants, permitted for a special purpose to 
 return to the walks of men ? " There are more things in heaven 
 and -earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in thy philosophy." 
 
 By this time Martha Washington had put several miles of road 
 behind her, and the route was through a more broken country 
 than any Slowboy had yet traversed. Streams became more fre 
 quent, and often the road ran up the bed of one of these. Now 
 and then a deep hollow formed part of the way, and almost pitch 
 darkness reigned here, for the moonbeams could not penetrate 
 through the thick canopy of leaves and branches that closed in 
 overhead. Slowboy was by no means a coward, yet he could not 
 help feeling a little nervous when he found himself groping 
 through a silent wood alone, and far away, as well as he could 
 determine, from all human habitation. Once or twice he fancied 
 he heard some one riding behind him, and checked Martha Wash 
 ington to ascertain whether such was really the case. Either there 
 was no one on his track, he discovered in each instance, or the 
 person who was following him stopped whenever he did. Now 
 he reached better ground, where there was a little help from the 
 moonlight, and was pushing his way more briskly along this when 
 he was startled by a deep groan that came from the roadside a few 
 feet in front of him. He at once brought his mare to a dead stop 
 and waited in the highway to listen. A second time the groan 
 came, and it was evidently the groan of a human being, and one, 
 too, in great agony. Slowboy advanced cautiously a short distance 
 and halted again. A third time he heard the groan, and it was un 
 mistakably the plaint of some poor expiring wretch not immedi 
 ately on the roadside, but a little way off in the wood. 
 
 " Whoever you are," cried Slowboy in the darkness, " I'm ready 
 to help you if you stand in need." 
 
 Nothing but silence greeted this friendly offer, and Slowboy a 
 second time lifted his voice in the darkness. 
 
250 The K. K. K. 
 
 " You seem to be in distress. I'm ready to help you if I can." 
 Then he heard the deep groan once more, followed by a very faint 
 voice from the wood : " Come, for God's sake." 
 
 Without more ado Slowboy pushed his mare into the wood and 
 endeavored to reach the spot from which the voice proceeded. 
 Soon both he and his mare became entangled in the long green 
 creeping briars that twine so luxuriantly among the trees and 
 branches in that part of the country. Martha Washington plunged, 
 scratched herself and rider, then retreated rather precipitately back 
 into the road. Nothing daunted in his praiseworthy resolve Slow- 
 boy dismounted and tied her to a limb which he could dimly dis 
 cern, for it was not pitch dark in the highway. This done he 
 started on foot into the wood and penetrated a short distance 
 cautiously. " Where are you ? " he cried to the unknown indi 
 vidual whom he was seeking to reach. 
 
 " Here," responded a weak voice only a few steps off. 
 
 He made his way to the spot from which the sound proceeded, 
 but could find no trace of the wounded man whose desperate con 
 dition he was seeking to relieve. He stood and listened, but not a 
 sound near him could his strained ear catch ; not even the heavy 
 breathing of a creature in distress. He waited in dead silence for 
 a few moments, and then in some trepidation lifted his voice again. 
 " Where are you ? " he inquired softly. 
 
 A dismal groan came in response to this inquiry, but the crea 
 ture that uttered it was now some distance off, and, as he could tell 
 by the sound, on the opposite side of the roadway which he had 
 left. Alone in a dark wood, in a strange country, and subjected 
 to such an experience, it is useless to say that the lawyer felt nerv 
 ous. Still, he said to himself, it must be the prank of some foolish 
 practical joker, and without further effort to discover the individ 
 ual he had gone to seek he made his way with considerable diffi 
 culty back to the road. As he reached the shadowy highway he 
 detected the dim outline of his mare close at hand, and, approach 
 ing nearer, was astonished to find there was a man in the sad 
 dle. 
 
 " Ahem," ejaculated Slowboy, after standing a few seconds ir 
 resolutely in the highway. 
 
 The man who had usurped his place sat upright in the saddle, 
 maintaining perfect silence. There was, as said, a little glimmer 
 of light in the road, and by its aid Slowboy could see the face of 
 him who bestrode Martha Washington. It was as white as a piece 
 
Mr. Slowboy Travels a Lonely Road by Night. 251 
 
 of chalk, and the head was held so erect that the countenance of 
 the stranger was directed apparently toward some object in the 
 distance considerably above the level of the earth. The individual 
 who thus ignored the lawyer's presence was also, as Slowboy 
 could tell on slight inspection, very slim of figure, and the tallest 
 person he ever remembered to have met. 
 
 As the attorney stood in the road and silently gazed at the mys 
 terious tall man sitting in his saddle the case of Lord Brougham 
 came back to his mind, but he could not recall having made a 
 compact with any friend by which the first of the two who shuf 
 fled off this mortal coil should return to earth and make himself 
 known to the other. It occurred to Slowboy also as being a little 
 singular that Martha Washington remained so perfectlv quiet with 
 a spook in the saddle. Then he reflected that the spook, if such it 
 was, had no specific gravity, and therefore Martha Washington 
 probably was not aware of the fact that there was anything at all 
 atop of her. As he turned over these matters in his mind the tall 
 man with the very white face reached out a very long arm and 
 slowly beckoned Slowboy to draw nearer. At the same moment 
 Martha Washington turned, and at a deliberate gait walked off 
 down the road. The tall man in the saddle continued to beckon 
 to Slowboy, thereby indicating plainly enough that it was desired 
 he should follow after. 
 
 Solomon Slowboy was no coward, nor was he a man to lose his 
 head in a sudden emergency. When he saw the mare walking 
 away he was strongly tempted to pull the pistol which Miss Bas- 
 combe had loaned him, and take one crack, hit or miss, at the rider 
 who had so coolly appropriated his property. Then he reflected 
 that this rider, whether human or diabolical, had not made any 
 such demonstration against him as would justify a deadly assault 
 on his part ; and moreover that whatever might be his character 
 he almost certainly had associates near at hand who would take 
 part in any affray that might arise. Reflecting thus he refrained 
 from drawing his pistol, and his next impulse was to take to his 
 heels and leave Martha Washington for the remainder of her 
 life in the hands of the taciturn stranger who seemed to have taken 
 such a violent fancy to her. This impulse also he rejected, not 
 only because he deemed such a course would be unbefitting a brave 
 man and a rational creature, but upon the further consideration 
 that they would be almost certain to catch him if he ran. The long 
 arm of the stranger continued to beckon as Martha Washington 
 
252 The K. K. K. 
 
 proceeded slowly down the road, and Slowboy, resolved to see the 
 end of so curious an adventure obeyed the behest and followed 
 after. Upon the supposition that the stranger was human his con 
 duct was utterly unaccountable ; upon the supposition that he was 
 not of earth's mortal mould, it might be conjectured that he had 
 business of importance with the attorney, the nature of which he 
 was not permitted to communicate except at a certain spot and in a 
 certain way. Upon either supposition all that remained for Slow- 
 boy to do was to follow on with as stout a heart as possible and 
 await developments. 
 
 The unknown rider proceeded at a gentle walk for a short dis 
 tance along the same route that Slowboy had been pursuing ; then 
 Martha Washington diverged to the left, and presently began to 
 climb a rugged hill that rose a little way off from the highway. It 
 was not very steep, and soon the summit was reached, and the gray 
 mare began to descend upon the other side. The lawyer followed 
 without difficulty, for he could not only hear her footsteps, but 
 could distinguish her figure dimly in the darkness. At the top of 
 the hill he halted as if uncertain whether to follow longer, but the 
 gray mare halted too a few steps in advance, and he fancied he 
 could see the long arm of the silent rider beckoning him to ap 
 proach. When he started again the mare started, and he resolved 
 to display no more hesitation, but to win if possible the good will 
 of the mysterious being ahead by obeying its summons with alac 
 rity. They were now again in a dense wood, and the lawyer 
 pressed close upon the heek of the mare for fear of losing sight 
 of her. It was not many minutes before they began descending a 
 deep hollow with a high ridge on either side. Leaving this the 
 mare picked her way slowly up. the rough acclivity on the left, and 
 as she did so Slowboy observed that the space above and imme 
 diately in front of him was illuminated by a faint ruddy light. 
 Reaching the summit of this ridge they descended abruptly into 
 a circular basin, from the bottom of which, as Slowboy could tell, 
 the reddish light proceeded. The stranger mounted on the gray 
 mare went forward at a quicker gait, and the lawyer stumbling 
 and keeping his eye on the animal and her tall, lank rider, suddenly 
 found himself in the midst of a circle of strangely clad beings in 
 human form, who, with dejected heads, sat in silence around him. 
 The red light disappeared as he came to a halt at the tail of Mar 
 tha Washington, but the space at the bottom of the bowl was 
 free from timber growth of any kind, and the open sky above shed 
 
Mr. Slowboy Travels a Lonely Road by Night. 253 
 
 an uncertain glimmer about the place. The moon was behind the 
 high ridge to the right ; its beams, however, increased the bright 
 ness of the sky at the zenith, and the reflected light made more dis 
 tinct objects immediately beneath. 
 
 The singular creatures by whom Slowboy found himself sur 
 rounded were arrayed for the most part in white habiliments, 
 though some were draped from head to foot in deep black. Many 
 were short of stature, while not a few were as tall as the long, slim 
 figure that still sat immovable upon the back of Martha Washing 
 ton. As Slowboy looked dubiously from one to another of his tac 
 iturn associates he was surprised to see his erstwhile conductor 
 take off his head and rest it carelessly on the pommel of the saddle 
 before him. At this most of the other tall figures around him took 
 off their heads and rested them quietly in their laps. A deep, dis 
 mal groan now arose from the headless creature in the saddle, and 
 was taken up and prolonged by his ghostly associates. The gray 
 mare here hoisted her head, flung up her tail and snorted in fear 
 and suspicion. It was the first time she had displayed any emo 
 tion, and Slowboy was glad to note that she was as much im 
 pressed by the proceedings as he was. It made him feel that what 
 ever befell he had sympathetic company. 
 
 Up to this moment not a word had been spoken, except the few 
 brief syllables uttered by the creature in the wood, whom Slow- 
 boy had been unable to find. Now there came from one beyond 
 the group in deep, hollow tones, that made him shiver : 
 
 " Rash mortal, what wouldst thou here among us ? " 
 
 Not being able to ascertain from what source the voice ema 
 nated, and not being assured that he himself was directly ad 
 dressed, Slowboy maintained what he deemed to be a discreet 
 silence. 
 
 " Rash mortal, what wouldst thou here among us ? " came a 
 second time the' voice, which the lawyer could not precisely locate, 
 but which he was quite sure did not proceed from any one of the 
 individuals whom he saw grouped around him. He could not 
 doubt upon reflection that the query was addressed to him, since 
 he was the only one of those present whose habiliments indicated 
 that he wished to be classed among human creatures. 
 
 " I came," the attorney replied in a tone as firm as he could mus 
 ter, " at the beck of him who sits on horseback here before you. I 
 know not why he summoned me to your presence." 
 
 " .Why didst thou summon this mortal to our presence ? " de- 
 
254 The K. K. K. 
 
 manded the voice in a tone of offended dignity, presumably ad 
 dressing now Slowboy's singular escort. 
 
 The being on the back of Martha Washington, who up to this 
 moment had held his head on the saddle pommel before him, now 
 replaced it on his shoulders, twisted it round a time or two as if to 
 screw it tightly to his body, and then responded in measured tones 
 that harrowed Slowboy's soul : 
 
 " He is a 1-a-w-y-e-r." 
 
 At this announcement the whole assemblage groaned most dis 
 mally, and each member of the circle shook his head so violently 
 that Slowboy expected to see several pates drop off and roll upon 
 the ground before him. Finally they all rose as if by common 
 consent, and, joining hands, began to skip and spin round him and 
 the gray mare, uttering a low and monotonous groan or mournful 
 humming noise as they did so. 
 
 Being utterly unused to such proceedings, the lawyer observed 
 them closely and busied his mind with endeavoring to determine 
 the significance of their capering. It was evident that the fact of 
 his being a member of the legal fraternity had made a powerful 
 impression upon them. As they spun round and groaned, the red 
 light again made the atmosphere lurid above them and gave them 
 more the appearance of demons than they had borne before. The 
 gray mare, greatly excited, raised her head, flung up her tail, and 
 spun round and round in her place as if with some wild idea of 
 keeping them company. Slowboy took a firm grip on his mind 
 and made a desperate effort to retain his composure, which he 
 found under the circumstances to be no easy job. 
 
 When the excitement was partly subsided the voice in the rear 
 pronounced in a tone of inquiry the syllables " Law-yer," and the 
 tall being on the back of Martha Washington responded a second 
 time in the most melancholy accent : " L-A-W-Y-E-R." At this 
 the wild creatures in the circle, as if the intelligence was more 
 than they could bear with equanimity, whirled round more rapidly 
 than at first, and their moan grew into a howl 4:hat could have been 
 heard a half-mile away. The tall being in the saddle, who seemed 
 to have some sort of control over them, now lifted his long arms 
 and motioned them all to be still. Without a word each member 
 of the circle dropped back to his place, and, seating himself on the 
 earth, hung his head in dejected silence. 
 
 Then came again the sepulchral voice that proceeded from none 
 of the group about him. " Out of a thousand lawyers there may by 
 
Mr. Slowboy Travels a Lonely Road by Night. 255 
 
 accident be discovered one good man. See if this mortal here be 
 fore us comes under the rule or the rare exception." 
 
 Then four tall figures stepped forth from their places in the cir 
 cumference of the circle and approached Slowboy, who stood ap 
 prehensively in the center. Each of the four held in his hand what 
 seemed to be a keen sword of not less than seven feet in length, and 
 so bright that the blade glistened in the glimmering light of the sky. 
 While the lawyer watched these figures with intense interest the 
 tall man in the saddle leaned forward and suddenly dropped over 
 his head and shoulders a wide black bag, which completely ob 
 scured his view. He was thus left in total darkness, but could 
 hear the stealthy tread of those approaching him with uplifted 
 weapons and the low moan that was now resumed round the 
 circle. 
 
 " Mortal," proclaimed the melancholy voice once more, " the 
 test to which you are about to be subjected will show us whether 
 you are to be classed with the nine hundred and ninety-nine 
 abominable lawyers that should not be permitted to cumber the 
 earth, or whether you are the thousandth man who by some piece 
 of ill luck has stumbled upon a calling that no honest human 
 being would deliberately choose." 
 
 Then was heard a scraping and rasping, as if the weapons were 
 being sharpened preparatory to some fearful test. 
 
 " Mortal," remarked the voice, " our attendant hobgoblin will 
 now take you by the arm and lead you forward. At the third, sev 
 enth and eleventh steps I warn you to lift high your left leg and 
 proceed with extreme caution, for you will then be surmounting 
 the keen sword of vengeance that will surely gash your unworthy 
 flesh if you are not in rectitude of soul far above the average law 
 yer. If you stand this crucial test we will take you to our confines 
 and release you with the admonition to forsake your calling ere we 
 meet again. Should blood be drawn, or should you flinch from the 
 test, or cry out in perturbation of spirit, it will be convincing proof 
 to us that you are an unrepentant and incorrigible member of the 
 despicable fraternity of lawyers, and you shall surely die the 
 death. Attendant hdbgoblin, lead the mortal on." 
 
 As Slowboy stepped forward he could not help feeling agi 
 tated by. the rasping sound of the long swords stroked against each 
 other to sharpen their edges. He kept in his mind, however, the 
 fact that he would only encounter these dangerous weapons at the 
 third, seventh and eleventh steps of his progress, and resolved to 
 
256 The K. K. K. 
 
 lift his left leg so high, and feel his way so cautiously, as not to re 
 ceive hurt if 'twas possible to avoid it. His strange companions 
 had chosen to hang the issue of life or death on this preposterous 
 test, and while their conduct in doing so was absurd, Slowboy was 
 compelled to admit to himself that it was not without precendent. 
 Wager of battle had been frequently resorted to by them of old 
 time to decide important issues, and learned judges if his law 
 books were to be credited had on divers occasions caused old 
 women to be cast into deep water to determine whether or no they 
 were witches. The lawyer therefore, through whose trained mind 
 these precedents passed hurriedly, did not deem it an unheard-of 
 thing that his wild captors, devil or human, should choose to sub 
 ject him to the ordeal through which he was now to pass, and let 
 the question as to whether they should murder him or free him be 
 determined by his ability to lift his left leg to a required height at 
 a critical moment. 
 
 As the attorney set out he took two firm steps, and those around 
 him maintained profound silence. At the third step they raised a 
 dismal groan, which was accompanied by some kind of doleful 
 wind instrument that he had not heard before. He lifted his left 
 leg slowly as high as he could, advanced it cautiously over the fear 
 ful weapon he was convinced must be thereabouts and set it down 
 safely upon the other side. Three more forward steps were then 
 taken in silence. Again the mournful howl was set up, and the 
 wind instrument resumed its plaint, and again with the black bag 
 over his head the lawyer surmounted the sword of vengeance. The 
 strain upon him was fearful, but he knew that his life was at stake, 
 and summoned up all his fortitude as he approached the eleventh 
 step of his progress. The groaning was now redoubled, an occa 
 sional shriek rent the air, and the wind instrument sent forth a 
 wilder wail than ever issued from the throat of a catamount. He 
 became perplexed as to whether he had reached the tenth or elev 
 enth step of his way, but in desperation raised his left leg to a 
 height he had not before reached and extended his toe cautiously 
 forward in the darkness. As he made this supreme effort he was 
 supported by his right foot on tiptoe, and could not have main 
 tained his balance but for the clutch of the attendant hobgoblin 
 Upon his arm. While he paused thus in the midst of the confusing 
 hubbub, of a sudden something like the talon of a bird of prey 
 gripped him by the calf of the leg on which he stood, at the same 
 moment the attendant let go, and, stumbling heavily forward, he 
 
Mr. Slowboy Travels a Lonely Road by Night. 257 
 
 fell to the earth. As he did so the black bag either dropped or was 
 snatched from his head, and, struggling in confusion to his feet, 
 he saw the whole array of hobgoblins gesticulating and leaping 
 about, apparently in ecstacy. Martha Washington had been re 
 moved to the outer edge of the circle, but was still in view with the 
 headless spook sitting motionless in the saddle. The groans and 
 the wail of the wind instrument reverberated through the neigh 
 boring hills, and the red glare flared over surrounding objects till 
 the whole appeared to the lawyer's excited imagination like a 
 scene from the lower region. 
 
 The headless horseman now lifted his long arms and once again 
 all was still. Then from the outer darkness the sepulchral voice 
 was heard : " Mortal, the infallible test proclaims thee to be 
 neither better nor worse than others of thy despicable calling. 
 This night it is decreed thou shalt leave the earth upon which thou 
 are not fit to dwell. As talking is thy trade, however, thou mayest 
 speak a few last words before the hobgoblin executioner severs thy 
 head from thy vile body." 
 
 Finding in this permission some slight opportunity to plead his 
 own cause, Slowboy cleared his throat and made bold to address 
 the singular creatures by whom he was surrounded. 
 
 " Gentlemen, or wild men, or whoever you be," he began, " I 
 have to inform you at the outset of my remarks that I no more 
 consider you hobgoblins than I consider myself a hobgoblin. I 
 have serious doubts in my mind as to whether there be any such 
 creatures as hobgoblins in the established order of things about us, 
 but waiving this point I am convinced you cannot be classed among 
 such beings, for, unless I am much mistaken, I have seen to-night 
 the breeches legs of two or three of you sticking out from under 
 the curious attire you have seen fit to assume for the occasion. I 
 say this not for the purpose of criticizing your make-up which 
 I admit to be creditable but because it becomes necessary here 
 for me to fashion my argument either upon the assumption that 
 you are mortals like myself, or that you are whimsical creatures of 
 the upper air upon whom in all likelihood both argument and en 
 treaty would be wasted. If you spent your time in matting horses' 
 tails, causing cream to sour, and performing other like mad pranks, 
 I could not hope to reach you by any appeal to your reason, but 
 proceeding upon the theory that you are human creatures I ask 
 you what you have to gain by murdering me to-night down here 
 at the bottom of this sink-hole? I say murdering me because, 
 
258 The K. K. K. 
 
 while you may perhaps claim that you have vouchsafed me 
 some sort of a trial I can convince you in a moment, if you will 
 pay attention to what I say, that you are wholly in error on this 
 point. I do not deny that at one period of our history matters of 
 life and death were decided by tests as unreasonable as that to 
 which you have just subjected me, but I remind you not only that 
 all such methods are now obsolete, but moreover that even when 
 resorted to by them of old the charge under investigation was in 
 each instance one that if proven would have been punishable with 
 death by the law of the land. Now here there is no charge at all 
 pending against me, or if there be any at all it is of such frivolous 
 nature that no judge could pronounce sentence upon it if I had 
 been formally declared guilty by a sworn jury in the court house. 
 The only accusation I have heard is that in the first place I am a 
 lawyer, and in the second place that I am no better than the great 
 majority of members of my calling. You need not have re 
 quired me to step over keen-edged swords to establish the truth 
 or falsity of such averments, for I cheerfully concede that I am 
 a lawyer, and I lay no claim to being better in any way than the 
 thousands of great and good men who in every age have adorned 
 my profession. Why should any sane man, my friends, think 
 less of me because I am a lawyer ? ' You will defend any scoun 
 drel for money ' one may allege. Why so I will, but what of 
 that? Will not the doctor physic the same scoundrel for money 
 if he fall sick, and require medical aid? The doctor you may 
 say has nothing to do with the character of the man who engages 
 his services. Neither have I, if you will consider a moment. For 
 the question, mark you, to be decided by court and jury in a 
 criminal trial is not whether the prisoner at the bar be a scoundrel, 
 but whether he has been legally proven guilty of the specific charge 
 laid down in the bill of indictment. My client may be in truth the 
 biggest rascal that ever went unhung, nay he may have actually 
 committed the very crime laid at his door, but if this fact can not 
 be proven to the entire satisfaction of twelve good and lawful men, 
 and that too in accordance with certain time honored rules laid 
 down in the law books, he must be permitted to walk out of court 
 a free man, leaving Omnipotence to mete out to him fitting punish 
 ment in the next world. " 
 
 At this point one of the spectral auditors groaned aloud, and 
 rising flourished his arms wildly about for a few seconds. Giving 
 no. 'heecl to this ungentlemanly interruption Slowboy proceeded 
 
Mr. Slowboy Travels a Lonely Road by Night. 259 
 
 with his argument. "But possibly some one will say 'You keep a 
 cause in court almost interminably, and exhaust the patience of the 
 entire community before you will permit your client to come to 
 trial at all.' So I will, my friends, if necessity demand, but what 
 fair-minded person can censure me for so doing? If I see immedi 
 ate destruction overhanging my client, and by availing myself 
 of certain well established rules laid down in the books I can for a 
 time avert that destruction, shall I not do so ? Will not the doctor 
 if his patient be at death's door use all his skill to prevent immedi 
 ate dissolution in the hope that the case may after a while, by some 
 lucky chance, take a turn for the better ? He surely will, and may 
 not the lawyer when he finds his client in like predicament, by 
 skillfully drawn affidavits for continuance, and other legitimate 
 dilatory tactics, postpone the hearing from term to term in the 
 hope that after a while important witnesses may die off, or grow 
 tired tramping to court, and testimony necessary for conviction 
 being thus gotten rid of his lucky client may at last find himself 
 snatched, as it were, from the very jaws of death?" 
 
 Here the speaker was again interrupted, several of the hobgob 
 lins rising and gesticulating furiously in manifest disapproval 
 of his utterances. A good lawyer is always more intent upon 
 winning his case than on making a creditable speech, and Slow- 
 boy observing the thickening signs of trouble concluded to steer 
 his discourse in a direction somewhat different from that which 
 he had been hitherto pursuing. "Perhaps, my friends," he con 
 tinued, "this is not the occasion upon which to press the point I 
 have just been endeavoring to make clear to your minds. I will 
 therefore, with your permission, waive it for the present, and to 
 convince you that my avocation is respectable will remind you of 
 at least one attorney who by the common judgement of posterity 
 was a credit to the age in which he lived. When the Savior of 
 mankind hung on the cross, and all his disciples forsook him and 
 fled, who was it that boldly confronted the murderous Jews, and 
 demanded his body for decent burial? It was Joseph of Ari- 
 mathea, a lawyer, who performed this righteous act, and shall it 
 be said of you that two thousand years later, in a Christian land 
 you killed a man for no other crime than that of being found in 
 such good company ?" 
 
 At this the whole posse of hobgoblins rose, and began skipping 
 madly round Slowboy, convincing him that their patience was 
 now exhausted. The headless rider upon Martha Washington 
 after a few minutes quieted them by raising his long arm, and 
 
260 The K. K. K. 
 
 Slowboy, having no heart to proceed further, stood in the midst of 
 the strange group awaiting his doom. 
 
 " Wretched lawyer," cried the sepulchral voice from the outer 
 darkness, " thy tongue hath failed this once to screen the guilty, 
 nor art thou now before a tribunal where sentence for thy mis 
 deeds can be indefinitely postponed to await the pleasure of the 
 criminal. This night, this moment, shalt thou feel the fearful 
 sword of vengeance. Hobgoblin executioner, away with such a 
 fellow from the earth." 
 
 A lank creature with an uplifted sword of frightful length now 
 advanced menacingly upon him. A cold, bluish flame lit up the 
 scene, that imparted to the figures of the group and other objects 
 a weird and ghastly complexion. Nearer and nearer drew the lank 
 form of the hobgoblin executioner ; the long blade of his weapon 
 shimmered in the ghastly light, and the miserable attorney uncon 
 sciously bowed his head as though to receive the impending stroke. 
 As he leaned forward toward the earth the missive which the girl 
 had given him a few hours before slipped from his side pocket and 
 fell to the ground. In an instant he recalled the words she had ut 
 tered on placing it in his possession, and taking it hurriedly be 
 tween his fingers he presented it to the headsman, who was now 
 close upon him and about to strike. 
 
 As he took up the paper the gaunt hobgoblin paused. On the 
 back of the envelope there was, as said, no inscription, but instead a 
 human hand had been cleverly drawn in red ink, the thumb and lit 
 tle finger closed, the other three fingers extended. The lawyer had 
 noticed this hand when he placed the letter in his pocket, but had 
 not deemed it of special significance. The creature with the long 
 sword, however, as soon as his eyes fell upon it lowered his wea 
 pon, and with visible agitation took the envelope from the hand 
 of the attorney. He then backed swiftly to the outer edge of the 
 circle and beyond his associates, into the outer darkness. Here 
 he remained for what seemed a considerable length of time. 
 Slowboy stood in painful suspense, while those grouped in a circle 
 about him were manifestly disturbed from some cause. At last 
 came again the voice from the darkness, but this time in a softer 
 tone: 
 
 " Mortal, thou mayest live. It is so decreed by one whose man 
 date we dare not disobey. Drain the horn of fellowship with the 
 mystic clan and go thy way." 
 
 Again the scene was lit up, first by red and then by the ghastly 
 
Mr. Slowboy Travels a Lonely Road by Night. 261 
 
 blue light. A more jovial sound was echoed around the circle. 
 Sharp cries of animals were imitated, the hoot of the horned owl 
 was heard, and other grotesque noises startled the night. Large 
 drinking horns were then introduced, filled with some kind of 
 liquid and drained again and again by the members of the disor 
 derly group. One more fantastically arrayed than any he had yet 
 noticed now approached Slowboy, bearing in his hand a drinking 
 vessel, which looked like the crooked horn of an old ram. This 
 was filled to the brim, and the lawyer, who had no wish to offend 
 his new-found friends, without hesitation raised it to his lips, and 
 dared not take it away till the last drop was down his throat. He 
 began his task with confidence, as he had seen the others imbibe 
 so freely, but he came near being strangled before he finished his 
 potation. He was compelled to swallow slowly, as the horn was 
 crooked and deep, and distinctly tasted as he afterward avowed 
 peach brandy, corn whisky, persimmon beer, hard cider, and pep 
 per sauce, as the mixture slid down into his bowels. When he had 
 finished he handed the ram's horn back to his obsequious attend 
 ant and did not ask for more. 
 
 The confusion about Slowboy now rapidly increased, and many 
 of the hobgoblins displayed a disposition to become hilarious. The 
 creature on the back of Martha Washington waved his arms in 
 a frantic way, but none of his subjects paid any attention to 
 him. The mare herself, as if pleased with the turn affairs were 
 taking, raised her head and sent forth a cheerful nicker that en 
 couraged the soul of the lawyer. The whole scene by this time was 
 beginning to swim round him, and he was fast lapsing into that 
 condition when to use a boyish phrase he didn't care whether 
 school kept or not. At this moment the voice, somewhat unsteady, 
 was heard once more addressing itself to him : 
 
 " Mortal, canst thou not use thy tongue in bidding thankful 
 adieu to thy hobgoblin friends ? " 
 
 Slowboy, while recognizing his unfitness for the task assigned 
 him, now braced himself for a supreme effort. 
 
 " Suttinly, gen'lemun," he began. " Appy, I 'shure you ; 'appy 
 to stan' 'fo' you on this aus aus auspishus 'cashun. Am indeed, 
 I 'shure you. Give you my word, gen'lemun, gen'lemun shury, 
 never been so drefful 'appy befo' in all my born days. Thas-er- 
 fack. As to that wot I said 'bout Shoseff Arrymarthuer, 'twuz all 
 damn foolishness, an' I take it back." 
 
 At this candid retraction the enthusiasm of the hobgoblins broke 
 
262 The K. K. K. 
 
 bounds, and they crowded about him to grasp his hands and to 
 offer him liquor. His legs, however, had been growing alarmingly 
 weak for some minutes and they now failed him altogether. With 
 a sickly smile, and a deprecating wave of the hand, he rejected the 
 invitations to swallow more ghoulish drink, and, sinking to the 
 earth, stretched himself out with as much composure as if he had 
 been at home in bed. How long he laid there, and who carried 
 him off, he could never tell. When he woke the sun was shining 
 brightly overhead, and he was lying only a little piece off from the 
 main highway with Martha Washington tied to his leg. 
 
 Crawling feebly into his saddle, Mr. Slowboy pursued his jour 
 ney homeward. As he went he reflected. Halting at the first 
 stream on his route he washed his face, drank copiously, and, re 
 mounting, rode on and reflected again. What connection was 
 there between Miss Sue Bascombe and the hobgoblins? If none, 
 how did it happen that the letter of the former had such an aston 
 ishing effect upon the latter? But then she loaned him a pistol 
 which he might have used with deadly effect if he had chosen. In 
 some apprehension he here felt for the pistol and found it safe in 
 his hip pocket. He examined it carefully and found that all the 
 leaden balls had been drawn, leaving only charges of powder in 
 the cylinders. This was a very singular piece of business. The 
 hobgoblins certainly had not withdrawn the balls before he fell 
 into a stupor, and why should they have chosen to do so after 
 wards ? Was it possible that the young lady had purposely given 
 him a harmless pistol when she had reason to suppose he would 
 fall into such dangerous company on his route? Mr. Slowboy 
 rode on and reflected, but the more his mind dwelt on the subject 
 the more puzzled he became. He was conscious of a very decided 
 headache which probably had something to do with his inability 
 to solve the problem in hand. When he reached home he went 
 to bed and fell asleep again. It was not until nearly noon of the 
 next day that he walked languidly to the office of Palaver & Slow- 
 boy, and undertook to give an account of himself. 
 
 The account which Slowboy gave of his adventure with the hob 
 goblins in the Marrowbone Hills, and his explanation of what he 
 there saw and experienced, was not satisfactory to himself, and, 
 therefore, it could not be supposed that it would be entirely sat 
 isfactory to others. Some said he got on a tear in Nashville, and 
 had a plain case of the jim-jams on his way home. Other some 
 that, as was the case with the Apostle Paul, much study had in- 
 
Mr. Slowboy Travels a Lonely Road by Night. 263 
 
 clined him to madness. His mother and most of the old ladies in 
 the community were firmly of the opinion that he had encountered 
 a legion of devils in the God-forsaken hill country, and I desire 
 to go on record here as affirming that in my judgment the conclu 
 sion they reached was based upon evidence of a highly persuasive 
 nature. It is quite true that up in the neighborhood of the as 
 tounding transactions just narrated, the report gained credence 
 that the whole thing was a job put up on Lawyer Slowboy by one 
 Teddy Mclntosh, It was there whispered around that Teddy 
 somehow got wind of Slowboy's visit to Miss Sue Bascombe, and 
 resolved to waylay the lawyer on his road home and give him 
 some idea of life in the knobs. It was further whispered that the 
 young lady above mentioned was informed of Teddy's plan, and, 
 wishing both to aid him and keep him within the bounds of mod 
 eration, she loaned Slowboy a pistol with which he could hurt no 
 body, and at the same time intrusted him with a sealed paper that, 
 presented in the nick of time, would prevent his being handled 
 too roughly by her friends. Such a report, I say, gained credence 
 in the neighborhood of the occurrence, but it was too preposterous 
 to merit serious consideration, and I am sure the intelligent reader 
 will give little heed to it. The facts were exactly as I have stated 
 them, and about all that can with assurance be said of them is that, 
 taken all together, they present a dark problem, which neither you 
 nor I nor Mr. Solomon Slowboy will -ever be wise enough to 
 solve. 
 
264 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 MR. BOB LEE TEMPLETON DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF AT THE 
 WOODPILE. 
 
 LEST the reader should rashly conclude that nobody but Solomon 
 Slowboy could ride the road in the parts of which this narrative 
 treats, I take pleasure in stating that one Bob Lee Templeton, in 
 the county aforesaid, and at or about the time heretofore men 
 tioned, was frequently observed galloping up and down the high 
 ways and whistling to himself as if compelled to thus give vent 
 to his cheerfulness. If his horse's head was turned toward the 
 heart of the Marrowbone Hills he usually rode rapidly and drew 
 rein about nightfall at the front gate of Major Habersham. When 
 proceeding in the opposite direction he traveled more slowly, and 
 whistled a softer tune, but a look of supreme satisfaction still 
 abode with him. He never recovered the valuable animal that 
 was stolen from the Habersham premises, nor did he get back 
 his liberal subscription for the six Bibles that were to have 
 been delivered a few weeks later and were not. These untoward 
 accidents, however, by no means engendered in his mind a preju 
 dice against the Habersham house or the innocent members of 
 the Habersham family. He continued his visits as before, and all 
 through the pleasant summer and the still more delightful fall 
 weather haunted the Habersham residence as persistently as if 
 he had been a Yankee bill collector and the Major had been bad 
 pay. By this time, you may depend upon it, Mr. Templeton was 
 so well versed in affairs of state and the principles of true 
 democracy, that he could have given points to Grover Cleveland. 
 He had also spent so many hours in the improving society of 
 Miss Polly Habersham that he knew tolerably well how to behave 
 himself in the company of ladies. 
 
 There is a very old tradition which teaches us that unwedded 
 human creatures, like the birds of the air, usually do their billing 
 cooing in the month of May ; and the greatest of modern Eng- 
 
Mr. Templeton Distinguishes Himself. 265 
 
 lish poets has sung to us in mellifluous verse that " In the spring 
 a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." In oppo 
 sition to this high authority, however, I venture to record it as my 
 conviction that the heart of the average young man is tenderest 
 and most susceptible to blandishment in the falling of the year. 
 The springtime, of which we hear so much, is slushy and disa 
 greeable, and the farmer lad, when not breaking ground for corn, 
 is wheezing and sneezing in the effort to rid himself of the dread 
 ful cold that the winter has fastened on his constitution. When 
 the fall comes round, however, his crops have been laid by, the 
 earth is dry enough to make it firm underfoot, the heat of summer 
 is abated, and the foliage in my part of the world has taken on a 
 hue that is gorgeous and beautiful to see. He who hath a soul 
 must feel that soul expand beneath such influences, and if more 
 were needed to turn his mind toward the other sex there is a frosti- 
 ness in the morning and evening air that makes him rather choose 
 to seek a mate than shiver in loneliness through the coming winter. 
 It was perhaps for the reason, or reasons, so clearly stated above, 
 that Mr. Bob Lee Templeton turned up more frecjuentlv at the 
 Habersham mansion as the autumn advanced than he had done 
 during the preceding sultry months. The hazy Indian summer 
 which was now at hand cast a spell over him, and his thoughts 
 became so attuned to that dreamy season of the year that a deli 
 cious peace slid into his soul, and he felt blissful all the while with 
 out precisely understanding why. It came about one evening in 
 the late fall that Mr. Templeton as usual was making himself at 
 home under the hospitable Habersham roof, and his horse fa 
 tigued from an all-day journey was contentedly resting its limbs 
 in the Habersham stable. It was about nine o'clock. The Major, 
 being compelled to read several speeches in the Congressional 
 Record, had retired from the sitting-room, and Mrs. Habersham, 
 who, though of delicate constitution, always did her endeavor to 
 entertain genteel company, had taken up some light work on which 
 she fancied she had been engaged, and followed her husband's ex 
 ample. Thus left alone the young people, of course, did their best 
 to get along without outside assistance. The conversation flowed 
 smoothly and naturally enough for a while, and everything be 
 tokened that the evening on the whole would be a success, when all 
 of a sudden, before anybody could have suspected that a calamity 
 was impending, the chips gave put. The fire had burned very 
 brightly and cheerfully for a while, then the blaze got lower and 
 
266 The K. K. K. 
 
 lower, then it flickered the blaze did as if it hated to give up, 
 but was bound to give up ; then it went out and came back again, 
 and went out and came back a second time, and tried to climb 
 a little wreath of smoke, and failed in the attempt, and disap 
 peared entirely, and that was the very last of it. 
 
 " Laws a mussy," cried Miss Marie better known as Polly 
 " laws a mussy, look at that." And she went up to the big fire 
 place and took the tongs in her hand and poked about in the em 
 bers, and heaped little particles of wood together, and tried to 
 make the blaze come back, but it wouldn't come back, or couldn't 
 come back, I don't know which. Anyhow it didn't. 
 
 " Now, that is too bad," cried Miss Marie, looking down into 
 the fireplace with a vexed expression of countenance. " I told 
 that boy as plain as I could speak always to leave some kindling 
 here by the mantel, to be used in case of necessity, and now he's 
 gone off and hasn't left a scrimption. Everybody knows that a big 
 fire will burn right off if you once start it, but a slow fire is liable 
 to give up and quit at any time." 
 
 " What must be done ? " inquired Templeton, who, from the 
 young lady's manner, was impelled to the conclusion that some 
 thing of a discouraging nature had transpired. 
 
 " There is but one thing to be done," replied Miss Marie, heav 
 ing a gentle sigh. 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 " We must go to the woodpile for chips ; there's no help for it." 
 
 " Oh," ejaculated Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, who, you may de 
 pend upon it, could see as far into a millstone as the next man. 
 
 The young lady here crossed her hands in front she was stand 
 ing near the fireplace and looked at Mr. Templeton demurely. 
 
 " There's no help for it," she repeated, " unless " 
 
 "Unless what?" 
 
 " Unless we adjourn this meeting, which, in my opinion, is the 
 wisest thing we could do." 
 
 " Never," cried Mr. Templeton, firmly. 
 
 " Why, let's reflect upon the subject a moment," argued the 
 young lady. " It's now past nine o'clock, and " 
 
 " A motion to adjourn is not debatable," interrupted Mr. Tem 
 pleton. " Besides, there's an important matter to be settled before 
 we close the meeting." 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 " There's the subject we discussed last Thursday night, which 
 
Mr. Templeton Distinguishes Himself. 267 
 
 by all parliamentary rules should come up this evening under the 
 head of unfinished business. You remember, don't you ? '' 
 
 The young lady shook her head gravely. " Can't say I do," she 
 replied. 
 
 " Last Thursday night, as we sat over yonder on that sofa by the 
 wall." 
 
 She shook her head again. Her memory must have been singu 
 larly obscure or he was romancing. 
 
 " When I made a certain emphatic declaration and you replied, 
 ' Nonsen.se/ I then repeated it, and you looked down and didn't 
 reply at all." 
 
 Her face took on a puzzled look. " Can't say I remember any 
 thing about it," she answered. 
 
 " When I looked so earnestly into those heavenly eyes, drew a 
 little closer before you were aware of it, and- " 
 
 She threw up both hands at once. " I'm going to the woodpile 
 for chips," she cried. 
 
 Bob Lee Templeton sayeth, " I go with you." 
 
 Under a narrow stairway that ran up on the back porch there 
 was a closet for odds and ends. Out of this she fished a basket 
 of the split-bottomed variety, very strong, and especially adapted 
 to the carrying of chips. Running her arm through the handle of 
 this she placed her father's old slouch hat on her head and set 
 forth upon the expedition to the woodpile. " It does seem," she 
 remarked despondently to Mr. Templeton as they went along, 
 " that I have more bad luck than any other girl in the world. 
 Here we were doing well, weren't we? Just had settled down to 
 have the nicest kind of a time, when all of a sudden the chips gave 
 out. Now we actually have to leave the house and go out in the 
 dark to rake up chips. Isn't it provoking?" 
 
 " It's bad," replied the young gentleman, " and no mistake. But 
 we must summon up all our fortitude and endeavor not to let the 
 unfortunate incident cast a gloom over our spirits." With that he 
 whistled the snatch of a tune to show he wasn't gloomy. 
 
 " Don't whistle," she said, reprovingly. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because you might call the dog from round the house. And, 
 moreover, you might disturb my father and mother, which would 
 be wrong in you." 
 
 " On to the woodpile," cried Mr. Templeton, in a subdued tone. 
 " I'll be good," 
 
268 The K. K. K. 
 
 It was a starry night. A pale old moon, or a piece of a moon, 
 was wrestling feebly with a gray mist that had arisen from the 
 earth. It had just climbed into view from behind a wide corn 
 field on the east, and through the light and intervening fog looked 
 dim and discouraged. This gray fog, however, hung low, and 
 there was every prospect that the old moon would soon surmount 
 it and proceed more cheerfully upon her route. The stars over 
 head were twinkling brightly even now, and the night atmosphere 
 was decidedly chilly. 
 
 "There'll be a good frost to-night," remarked Miss Marie, as she 
 tripped, basket in hand, toward the woodpile. She submitted this 
 observation in an undertone, though it did not seem to be of a con 
 fidential nature. 
 
 " Shouldn't wonder," replied the gallant escort, sinking his voice 
 also, perhaps for fear of calling the dog from round the house. 
 
 " Our tobacco is all in the barn though/' continued the damsel ; 
 " so what's the odds ? " 
 
 Mr. Robert Lee Templeton walked briskly by her side. He 
 seemed to be pleased at the intelligence that her tobacco was all in 
 the barn. 
 
 " These big frosts will make the rabbits fat and frisky," pursued 
 the young lady, who seemed more in the humor for scattering re 
 marks than sustained conversation. 
 
 " Just what they will do," replied the agreeable escort. 
 
 " And the 'possums," she added. 
 
 " And the 'possums," he echoed. 
 
 " And the persimmons. These white frosts will just make the 
 persimmons too luscious for anything. Do you love 'simmons, 
 Mr. Templeton ? " 
 
 "I dote on 'em, "answered Templeton, who was growing reckless. 
 
 " I like 'em the best kind," said Miss Marie, swinging her basket 
 vigorously. " But then again I don't like 'em, Mr. Templeton." 
 
 " Why not? " inquired Mr. Bob Lee Templeton. 
 
 " Because they pucker my mouth." 
 
 " I'll fetch you a basketful next time I come," quoth he. " Big 
 ripe fellows." 
 
 " You're a clever young man, Mr. Templeton," she made an 
 swer. " I've thought it for some time. Now I know it." 
 
 " Big, nice, luscious fellows," he continued, as if in love with his 
 subject. " And I want you to eat 'simmons, and eat 'simmons, till 
 your mouth will stay puckered for a week," 
 
Mr. Templeton Distinguishes Himself. 269 
 
 Miss Marie Habersham : " Great goodness." 
 
 Mr. Templeton : " Then, you know, if you felt like kissing 
 either one of your parents your mouth will be in shape for the 
 business. '' 
 
 Miss Habersham : " To be sure." 
 
 Mr. Templeton : " And when the transaction of kissing a parent 
 has been concluded, as your lips will still be set that way, I may ask 
 you to oblige a friend/' 
 
 Miss Habersham (quoting from a familiar song) : " You'll be 
 silly if you do." 
 
 Mr. Templeton (who was a star debater at college) : " I trust 
 you will hear me before you reach a definite conclusion on this 
 important subject. Why should I be deemed silly, my sprightly 
 friend, if finding those rosy lips already puckered for the business 
 I should make bold to ask you for a kiss ? Or indeed if the oppor 
 tunity is otherwise favorable, why should I wait for an artificially 
 manufactured pucker before submitting so fair and reasonable a 
 proposition ? Can it be pretended for a moment that a young lady 
 of such wit and ingenuity as the one I now have the honor of ad 
 dressing can't get up a pucker without the aid of persimmons? 
 Such a supposition is preposterous. It would be a direct reflection 
 upon the damsel in question for me to harbor such a thought for a 
 moment. Therefore, my amiable young friend, as we stand out 
 here together beneath the twinkling stars, two souls I trust it 
 may be said with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as 
 one " 
 
 Miss Habersham (interrupting): "Your time's out. Here's 
 the woodpile." 
 
 If any of my readers have ever picked up chips at a woodpile 
 they do not need to be informed that it is a task requiring con 
 siderable expertness and dexterity on the part of the chip-picker. 
 Moreover, it is a task that cannot be readily performed while the 
 picker stands erect upon the earth, but it is essential to the success 
 ful operation of the business that he or she should stoop to conquer. 
 It is quite true that here and there a supple individual might be 
 found who could stand with legs unbending, and by inclining the 
 body forward, and making a particularly long arm of it, succeed 
 in picking up a few chips from the ground. But I hazard the 
 assertion that even such a one would soon weary of the posture if 
 there was a basket of chips to be picked, and, however punctilious 
 upon ordinary occasions, would be strongly tempted to assume 
 
270 The K. K. K. 
 
 while the occupation lasted an easier, if less dignified, position. 
 Therefore no one need be surprised when I state that Miss Marie 
 Habersham and Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, having reached the spot 
 where business was to be transacted, did not, like cousin 
 Sallie Dillard, undertake to be too genteel, but knuckled down 
 to their work like sensible folks, and went about the business 
 as if they meant to pick up chips. Squeamish people may get 
 down their books of etiquette and read homilies to me about pro 
 priety and the like o' that, but I say there is a time and place for 
 the observation of rules of propriety, as there is for everything else 
 in this world. When a young lady is in the parlor entertaining 
 company I grant you she should sit bolt upright in her chair, as 
 near the edge as possible, and never unbend in the least during the 
 entire evening; but when she goeth forth to the woodpile for 
 chips, I say let her cast etiquette to the dogs and do her endeavor 
 to excel as a chip-picker. So thought Miss Habersham and Mr. 
 Templeton when on the present occasion they jointly and sever 
 ally got down close to the ground with the ragged old moon look 
 ing at them through a thin gray fog. 
 
 Stooping down at the woodpile, with the basket between them 
 for the more convenient dispatch of business, the young lady and 
 the young gentleman began a diligent search for chips, and a gen 
 erous rivalry as was natural under the circumstances soon 
 sprung up between them. The young lady was the nimblest and 
 quickest, but the young gentleman had the longest arm, and thus 
 it happened quite frequently that when she was about to lay hand 
 on a tempting chip in her territory, he reached forth without leave 
 and appropriated it to his own use. Human nature is human 
 nature, and will be for a considerable while to come, and so after 
 the young gentleman had performed this disreputable trick a few 
 times the young lady began to lose her temper, or to find it, which 
 ever is the correct expression. Pretty soon she reached out in a 
 dignified way for a nice little white chip, and perceiving her intent 
 he extended his long arm and grasped the prize between his 
 fingers. Determined not to be outdone, she likewise clutched it 
 a second later, although it was already in his possession. A chip, 
 as all well-informed persons know, is the small fragment that falls 
 from the log when the woodman plies his ax. It is usually an 
 inch or two long, an inch or two broad, and has no thickness to 
 speak of. So when the young gentleman and the young lady fell 
 to struggling over the same chip it came to pass that their fingers 
 
Mr. Templeton Distinguishes Himself. 271 
 
 were very close together indeed. Miss Marie Habersham was a 
 very determined young lady, and Mr. Bob Lee Templeton was a 
 very determined young gentleman, and the chip was a very small 
 chip, and it really was doubtful for some moments how the eager 
 contest would result. 
 
 " Turn loose," said Miss Marie in a tone that was really spiteful. 
 " It's mine." 
 
 " It's mine," quoth Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, " and I'll have it 
 or die." That's what he said. 
 
 The controversy was conducted in an undertone, possibly for 
 fear of calling the dog from round the house. 
 
 " You will, will you ? " replied the young lady, and with that 
 she gave a sudden jerk and snatched the chip from his hands. 
 
 Then while she was disposed to rejoice over her triumph he gave 
 a sudden grab and snatched it back. 
 
 He was so pleased at his success that he threw back his head, 
 shut his eyes and began to laugh. It is a mistake one often makes 
 when you suppose an enemy to be defeated who is not defeated. 
 She made grab number three at the chip, and laid hold upon it, but 
 he was clutching it so tightly this time that she couldn't get it away. 
 So it came about again that there were two human hands on that 
 one little chip. This was exasperating. Betwixt the young lady 
 and the young gentleman, as between Saul and Barnabas of old, 
 there ensued a " sharp contention." The young lady didn't care 
 at all for the chip, but was resolved not to be imposed upon. It 
 was the principle of the thing that nerved her in the combat. She 
 was contending for her rights. The young gentleman cared not 
 for the right or the wrong of the thing, but desired the pre 
 eminence. So they contended most earnestly, but very quietly, 
 mind you, because it was desirable that the dog should not be 
 called from round the house. Finally a thing came to pass that 
 might have been anticipated from the start, but which neither one 
 of them in their excitement did anticipate. It came to pass that 
 the little chip got lost in the scuffle, and the young gentleman and 
 the young lady were clutching each other's hands tightly. Pre 
 cisely at what moment the young gentleman discovered this change 
 in the situation I am not prepared to state. I will state, however, 
 emphatically that it was a matter of two or three seconds before 
 the young lady became aware of the fact that the chip had disap 
 peared from the struggle and her antagonist was squeezing her 
 hand in a very ungentlemanly way. Then she rose up promptly j 
 
272 The K. K. K. 
 
 she rose very promptly. Mr. Bob Lee Templeton also rose to his 
 feet, but he didn't let go her hand. She stood and pulled one way, 
 and he stood and pulled another way, but the hold didn't 
 break. 
 
 The stars were twinkling by thousands in the blue vault above, 
 but stars be it said to their credit while they must see a good 
 deal as they journey, never tell tales out of school. 
 
 " Let go," exclaimed Miss Marie Habersham indignantly. 
 " Let go this instant, I tell you." 
 
 He must have been a little hard of hearing, for he did not regard 
 her command in the least. 
 
 " Let go," she repeated in a tone not quite so imperative. " Let 
 go, and you may have the chip." 
 
 The immortal George Washington when the enemy surrendered 
 at Yorktown urged his victorious army to be generous to a 
 yielding foe. Mr. Templeton, I am pained to relate, showed 
 himself on the present occasion to be incapable of appreciating 
 such a lofty sentiment. The bone, or rather the chip, of contention, 
 had, as we see, been surrendered, and if he had been in the least 
 magnanimous the subject would have been dropped, the young 
 lady's hand would have been dropped with it, and the incident at 
 the woodpile to use a diplomatic phrase would have been 
 closed. Instead, however, of bringing the matter to a conclusion 
 in this gentlemanly way Mr. Templeton held tightly to the little 
 hand in his clutch and squared himself, as the saying is, for a talk 
 of some length. He was evidently under the impression that 
 argufying was his forte, and having, like the spell-binding ancient 
 mariner, an auditor who was compelled to listen, he availed him 
 self without scruple of his opportunity. 
 
 " Let go, p-1-e-a-s-e," said Miss Marie Habersham in the most 
 pleading tone in the world, and pulling away from him with a 
 face that even in the dim starlight looked flushed. 
 
 " My much-esteemed friend," began the young gentleman in his 
 polished debating-society manner, " there is a tide in the affairs of 
 men that taken at the flood leads on to fortune. A few minutes 
 since I would have been satisfied with the possession of this little 
 insignificant chip, but now the tide of my destiny is rising, and I 
 and the little chip together are borne onward to a consummation 
 not originally contemplated by me, and, I am convinced, not origi 
 nally contemplated by the chip." 
 
 She stopped and smiled and listened. His remarks were rather 
 
Mr. Templeton Distinguishes Himself. 273 
 
 too deep for her comprehension, but she could easily discern with 
 her mind's eye that he was bordering upon the eloquent. 
 
 " It often happens in the history of nations," pursued the orator, 
 " that the original matter of controversy between two contestants 
 is lost sight of, and the end brings the victorious party to a posi 
 tion far in advance of any he dreamed of occupying in the begin 
 ning." 
 
 She smiled broadly now, and wondered what all this mystifying 
 talk was leading up to. 
 
 " Tt is the common experience of mankind," pursued the 
 incipient statesman, " that under the circumstances just mentioned 
 the victorious party, will show no mercy at all toward the unsuc 
 cessful contestant, but will at once display a disposition to become 
 hoggish and take everything in sight." 
 
 " Now I understand you," remarked Miss Habersham. 
 
 " I hope so," replied Mr. Templeton. " The line of conduct 
 which I have designated as being- quite common in the experience 
 of mankind is not one, however, that commends itself to my con 
 science, and not one that I intend to pursue on this occasion." 
 
 He here paused and stroked his chin with his disengaged hand 
 and looked up at the stars. 
 
 " What next ? " inquired Miss Marie, alias Polly, Habersham. 
 
 " I have bethought me of a plan," continued the logician, " that 
 will give to me all the legitimate fruits of victory in this case, and 
 will not impose on you the humiliation of defeat." 
 
 " Let's have it," replied the young lady, who had become so 
 much interested in the line of his argument that she forgot he was 
 still holding her hand. 
 
 " So I will," replied the young gentleman, looking very hard 
 at her to impress her with the force of his observations. " My 
 plan is simply this. You take the chip into your own possession. 
 Then it's your chip, and victory perches upon your banner, does 
 it not?" 
 
 " Y-e-ss." 
 
 " Then I take both you and the chip. So it will be my girl 
 and my chip ; and victory perches on my banner, does it not ? " 
 
 "That's nonsense." 
 
 " It's not nonsense. It's good law and good logic. Under the 
 statutes of Tennessee the personal property of the wife belongs 
 to the husband. That chip is personal property, and when you've 
 got the chip, and I've got you, the chip is mine." 
 
274 The K. K. K. 
 
 " That law may suit the men that made it," said she, " but it's 
 a sin and a shame to treat poor women folks in such fashion, and 
 I don't care who hears me say it. You put the chip in your pocket, 
 if you wish, and I'll carry the basket back into the house. I don't 
 want the little chip anyway. It wasn't worth having a scuffle 
 over." 
 
 " It was not worth having a scuffle over, my dear," said he 
 ("my dear" was the expression he used, and she was a little 
 startled at it) " it was not worth having a scuffle over, and we'll 
 be very careful in the future not to quarrel over such trivial 
 matters. For my part, I promise you upon the word and honor 
 of a gentleman that I will never hereafter squabble with you over 
 any small matter, or great matter, but will always, as Brother Paul 
 says, yield you the pre-eminence. That will be right and proper 
 because while sweethearts may be whimsical, and now and then 
 fly off at a tangent, when it comes to that closer and dearer rela 
 tion " 
 
 " What are you talking about? " says she. 
 
 " Why, my dear," answers Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, " I'm 
 talking about the way I'm going to behave myself when I'm the 
 head of a family and you're Mrs. Templeton. What else could 
 I be talking about ? " 
 
 " Why," says she, " you haven't asked anybody yet." 
 
 " Then," replied Mr. Templeton, " I'll ask you now. Will 
 you, my dear, take this man to be your lawful and wedded hus 
 band ? Will you promise out here at the woodpile to love, honor 
 and obey him " 
 
 " I will not," says she. " I'm not that kind of a girl." 
 
 " Ah, sure enough ; I forgot. Will you then, my imperious 
 damsel, accept the homage of your liege subject, and permit him 
 to minister to your wants all the rest of your days ? Will you con 
 descend, Miss Habersham, to become my wife?" 
 
 " I will not." 
 
 " Yes, you will, too. I've made up my mind to that. Come 
 now, Polly, no foolishness." 
 
 " Who said you might call me Polly? " 
 
 " That's all right, that's all right," replied Mr. Bob Lee Temple- 
 ton persuasively as he drew her nearer toward him. " Don't you 
 be apprehensive, my dear don't be in the least apprehensive. 
 I'm your friend. By Jimmy, I love you the worst kind. I can't 
 help it, you see. Say, Polly, give me a kiss to put a good taste in 
 
Mr. Templeton Distinguishes Himself. 275 
 
 my mouth. Give me a kiss, and then let's go back in the house 
 and talk this thing over like plain sensible folks." 
 
 " I won't ; that's flat/' 
 
 " You will ; that's flat." 
 
 " I won't, I tell you." 
 
 " You will, I tell you. Come now, Polly, don't be apprehensive ; 
 d-o-n-'-t be apprehensive." 
 
 He spoke so reassuringly that she could hardly continue to be 
 apprehensive, assuming that she was so at the outset. He coaxed 
 her as one would a skittish filly that may break loose at any 
 minute and play the wilds. He drew her gently toward him as 
 he soothed her. " Come now, Polly ; c-o-m-e now, Polly." 
 First she resisted and pulled back as hard as she could. Then 
 she hung her head and laughed. Then by sudden effort she 
 snatched her hand away and started to run. Then he seized her ; 
 there was a brief struggle, both sides being careful not to call the 
 dog from round the house; then he kissed her; then for some 
 moments there was peace at the woodpile. 
 
 They took the basket, each having a hand on the handle, and 
 walked like well-behaved young people back into the house. They 
 made a brisk fire, and pretty soon a ruddy blaze was leaping up 
 the chimney. Everything was cozy and comfortable as heart 
 could wish, and as they sat side by side on the sofa they talked 
 in a delicious and sweetly sober way of this, that and t'other ; one 
 thing and another. The old, old story was told over and over 
 again with some variations, but it was the old, old story after all. 
 There was deep planning for the future, and pledging of mutual 
 vows, and exchange of confidence. He held her little hand 
 betwixt his clumsy fingers, and there was no drawing back as there 
 had been at the woodpile. He patted it fondly and in an absent- 
 minded way, without causing her to become apprehensive. They 
 wheeled the sofa now nearer and nearer to the hearth for the 
 fire was dying low again and snuggled up closer and closer to 
 each other, and conducted themselves about as young people under 
 like circumstances usually do. The room was getting really chilly 
 now, but it didn't occur to either of them to put on more chips, for 
 a fire was burning brightly in both their hearts, and Cupid fanned 
 the flame. 
 
276 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 THE CASE OF THE STATE VERSUS ANKERSTROM IS HEARD IN THE RE 
 VISING COURT, AND THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS IS UPHELD. 
 
 OUR esteemed friend, Johan Ankerstrom, whom we left on his 
 way to the Coopertown jail after the outrageous verdict of the 
 hard-hearted jury and the cruel sentence of the unjust judge, 
 reached that institute, we are pained to narrate, in a frame of mind 
 the reverse of amiable. The fangs of Jineral Beauregard still 
 rankled in his flesh, and he did not recover anything like equa 
 nimity of temper until late in the afternoon of the same day, when 
 a visit from his estimable parent tended somewhat to soothe his 
 lacerated feelings. Johan, while seemingly destitute of natural 
 affection, was always more or less amused at the antics and 
 monkey shines of his demonstrative father, and on this occasion 
 the visit of the old man served to remind him of the pleasing 
 assurances of his attorney as to the final outcome of his case. 
 
 The old gentleman, Olof Ankerstrom, had not seen fit to mix 
 much with the witnesses and lawyers in the court-house during the 
 trial of his son, for fear some curious person might connect him 
 with a certain old Bible vendor and jewelry peddler, and deaf 
 farmer, who had of late operated quite extensively in the Marrow 
 bone Hills. As soon as the trial was over, however, he came forth 
 from his retirement, and was, as we know, much encouraged by 
 hearing his son's attorney proclaim publicly that he had a rever 
 sal without fail in the court of last resort at Nashville. He caught 
 the point relied on for annulling the verdict much more readily 
 than his dull son had done, and, as stated, later in the day sought 
 out the latter in prison to cheer him up. Being admitted into the 
 cell where Johan languished he would have embraced him in his 
 enthusiasm if the latter had not impatiently repelled his advances. 
 
 " Mine zon, mine zon," exclaimed the old man eagerly, though 
 in a low tone for fear of eavesdropping, " I haff talk mit de 
 lawyer vot understand his pizness, und he zay effry thing is shoost 
 
The Case of the State Versus Ankerstrom. 277 
 
 right, and he vould not haff it ottervise for de best horse in town. 
 Lizden to me, mine zon, lizden to me. De shudge and shury haff 
 made von hell of a miztake, and de Shupereme Court at Nashville 
 dey neffer make miztakes. You understand dot, min zon. Ven 
 you hit de old lady mit de ax you made a potch uff de^ shob, und 
 she giff you avay to otters vot come in pehint you. She giff de 
 whole thing away, und tole de tale uxackerly as it vos, mine zon. 
 But ven she told de tale she vos in her right mind, you onderstand, 
 and making ready herself to luke after pizness in dis vorld, and 
 not some otter vorld. Lizden to me, mine zon, lizden to me. Ef 
 so be de old lady vos fixin' to die terreckerly, and haff her mind on 
 some otter vorld, de vise law vould hear de tale she tell, pecause 
 mit de devil close by de coot Kerristian vill not tell a lie. Ef de 
 coot Kerristian haff his mind on dis vorld, mine zon, he vill lie, 
 and svindle, and not mind de devil vot vill get him pime-py. But 
 ef he haff his mind on some otter vorld and know de credit pizness 
 is played out, den de coot Kerristian vill tell de trute for vear uff 
 de devil vich vill get him terreckerly. Dis vot de lawyer Per- 
 laffer zay, and de lawyer Perlaffer is a vise man. Now, ven you 
 hit de old lady mit de ax, and made a potch uff de shob, she told 
 her tale to dem vot come pehint you, but she told it mit her mind 
 on dis vorld, vere lying and svindling is a effry-day pizness. Zo, 
 mine zon, de law will not pelieff de old lady. De vise law zay to 
 her, ' If so pe you haff your mind on dis vorld, coom into court, 
 my coot vooman, vere de lawyers can tvist you inside out, and 
 den ve vill pelieff your tale, vot is left of it.' Dat vot de law zay, 
 mine zon, und dat is coot sense, und dat is pizness. De fool 
 shudge and fool shury zay ottervise, but Perlaffer tell dem all 
 in de court-house dat de Shupereme Court of de State neffer make 
 a miztake, and Perlaffer is a vise man." 
 
 If the worthy old gentleman thus looked forward to the coming 
 decision of the Supreme Court of Tennessee with cheerfulness and 
 abiding faith, and if even the surly son was encouraged to build 
 hopes upon the rinding of that tribunal, the reader may rest as 
 sured that the good people of the community where the widow Bas- 
 combe had been foully murdered at midnight, were fast losing 
 the little remnant of patience that the tedious course of the trial 
 had left them. They were not a vindictive folk by any means, 
 but the crime had been of a nature well calculated to arouse the 
 citizens of any locality, and make them determined to see that 
 something like adequate punishment was awarded the offender. 
 
278 The. K. K. K. 
 
 They felt that not only simple justice demanded this, but that their 
 own future security demanded it, and now with the murderer un 
 punished after so many months of weary waiting they concluded 
 they had a right to be indignant against every person at all con 
 nected with thwarting the summary vengeance they had been 
 minded to wreak upon him as soon as they learned of the crime. 
 As upon one pretext or another there had been delay upon delay, 
 they were quite ready to believe that by hook or crook the wily 
 Palaver, whose shrewdness in defending criminals was proverbial 
 the country over, would manage to secure for his client another 
 long delay, and finally immunity from punishment. Randolph 
 Pearson, who had been doubtless the most respected man in his 
 community, came in now for his full share of the censure that was 
 heaped on every one who had objected to the hanging of the mur 
 derer by a mob as soon as he was caught. Indeed, Pearson was 
 blamed far more than any one else, and found himself now for the 
 first time in his life the object of ill will among his neighbors. So 
 far did this faultfinding disposition go that it seriously affected 
 the members of the klan which Pearson had organized for the pur 
 pose of aiding and upholding the law in his community. At their 
 night meetings in the woods the most excited discussions took 
 place, and resolutions were introduced and urged doing away 
 with the court of their own creation and substituting the will of 
 the majority for the decrees of this tribunal. These resolutions 
 did not carry, but Pearson was stung by the evidence of lack of 
 confidence among those who had trusted him most implicitly, and 
 was also seriously affected by it. Like most determined men, he 
 sometimes permitted his firmness to degenerate into obstinacy, and 
 this was especially the case where he met with opposition in the 
 execution of a cherished plan. His predominate idea at the outset 
 had been to suppress mob law in his community, and to demon 
 strate to the world that the courts of the country were able and 
 willing to punish crime if the hasty advocates of mob violence 
 would but trust in the law. He had gathered a band of good citi 
 zens about him, and had succeeded in arresting the murderer 
 against whom indignation had been justly aroused, and turning 
 him over to the proper legal authorities. He had done this with 
 the utmost confidence that a few weeks, or a few months at 
 farthest, would bring the scoundrel to punishment, but he now 
 saw, or had come to believe, that the criminal statutes were framed 
 far more with the view of protecting accused persons from pos- 
 
The Case of the State Versus Ankerstrom. 27 
 
 : 
 
 sible wrong than of protecting society by the speedy punis 
 ment of offenders. Pearson was sufficiently well informed to 
 know that this was a wise policy at that remote period of English 
 history when the danger to be guarded against in legislation was 
 the disposition of the powerful few to oppress the helpless 
 common people. But this danger had long since passed away. 
 Society, especially in the Southern States of America, had been 
 formed on entirely new lines, and the one thing needed now in 
 criminal legislation was to impose such speedy and effectual 
 punishment on the enemies of peace and sound morals as would 
 teach them to fear and the community to respect the law of the 
 land. He saw that for some reason the law was wholly inefficient 
 in grave cases like the one in which he had been so much inter 
 ested, and was for the first time in his life impelled to the con 
 clusion that of the two evils a statute law which was too solicit 
 ous for the welfare of the accused, and mob law that was too 
 ready to avenge a wrong the latter was sometimes preferable. 
 
 While Pearson's experience in the Ankerstrom case, however, 
 had impelled him reluctantly to this conclusion, he was quite san 
 guine that the decision of the State Supreme Court would be on 
 the side of manifest justice, and not in favor of still further shield 
 ing the criminal from responsibility for his wrongdoing. The vex 
 atious part of the proceedings heretofore had been the apparently 
 unavoidable delays that had marked each step in the progress of 
 the cause. When the criminal had been finally compelled to face 
 a jury, conviction had followed, though here again a long wait was 
 interposed before it could be finally ascertained whether the verdict 
 of the jury would stand. There could be no doubt about the 
 affirmation by the Supreme Court of the sentence below, unless the 
 statement made by the old widow to those about her death bed was 
 held to be inadmissible as evidence. The circuit judge after a 
 long argument had admitted this so-called dying declaration as 
 part of the testimony in the case, and Pearson while he had some 
 misgivings on the subject could not help feeling reasonably 
 assured that the revising court would take the same view of the 
 case. To say that the plain death-bed statement of an eyewitness 
 to a crime, who had been murdered to prevent her appearing in 
 court, should not be weighed as evidence, was a proposition too 
 monstrous to be entertained for a moment. To say that the law 
 would not listen to a tale that had carried conviction to an entire 
 community, told by a good old woman whose respect for plain 
 
280 The K. K. K. 
 
 truth was proverbial, would be to say that the administration of 
 justice was a farce, and that no man henceforward need profess 
 respect for it. 
 
 Thus strongly did Randolph Pearson state the proposition in 
 his own mind, and as he did so his assurance became doubly sure 
 that the days of the murderer, Ankerstrom, were numbered, and 
 before the expiration of many additional months the community he 
 had outraged would see him expiate his monstrous crime upon the 
 gallows. The Supreme Court met at Nashville on the first Mon 
 day in December, and Pearson waited patiently till the case of the 
 State versus Ankerstrom should be reached. This he soon learned 
 would not be until sometime in the month of January, or possibly 
 February, as the county from which the bill of exceptions came 
 up stood about the middle of the docket, and must wait its turn in 
 the regular order of procedure. It was in fact early in February 
 when Palaver, with his little black grip in hand, boarded the cars 
 and went whirling away toward Nashville to have his say before 
 the august tribunal that had been sitting there listening to able 
 speeches till it had grown weary of much prating. 
 
 The attorney on reaching his destination first went to call on his 
 client, who was now safely domiciled in the Nashville jail, and give 
 him fresh assurance of triumpnant victory upon the morrow. He 
 then betook him to the best hostelry in the town, and after cracking 
 many jokes with old cronies, and tipping glasses over the saloon 
 counter a few times with the same, he tumbled into bed, and was 
 soon by refreshing slumber befitting himself for the trying exer 
 cises of the following day. Next morning he puffed up the steep 
 hill upon which sits the imposing building occupied as a State 
 capitol, and was soon in the presence of the five pleasant-faced 
 and pleasant-spoken gentlemen with whom in this particular 
 matter were the issues of life and death. Nothing abashed, the 
 lawyer took his seat on one of the long faded sofas that skirt the 
 apartment and made ready by concentrated mental effort to as 
 tonish the court when his time should come. A little way off on 
 another dingy sofa sat Randolph Pearson, calm and dignified out 
 wardly as usual* but slightly perturbed, as the occasional crossing 
 and uncrossing of his feet and other nervous movements of the 
 body indicated. 
 
 That the deeply interested farmer had some reason to be anxious 
 as to the result was demonstrated to his own satisfaction before the 
 argument of .the case proceeded very far. The so-called bill of e^c- 
 
The Case of the State Versus Ankerstrom. 281 
 
 ceptions upon which the court was to rest its finding was a great 
 mass of manuscript that, rolled up, would have made a bundle 
 as large as an average gate-post. It was rolled up at the outset 
 and tied with a stout twine string. When unbound the pieces un 
 curled and scattered themselves about on the table, and rolled, 
 many of them, off the table, and traveled about on the floor, till 
 the industrious attorney who was supposed to have them in charge 
 found great difficulty in keeping up with them. These fugitive 
 fragments of literature were supposed to contain the testimony of 
 the numerous witnesses who had given evidence on one side and 
 the other in the trial of Johan Ankerstrom before the circuit judge 
 and jury. The language of the witnesses had not been taken down 
 by a stenographer as the trial progressed, but after its conclusion 
 Palaver had written down at great length such statements and ad 
 missions as he thought to be favorable to his side of the contro 
 versy, and the district attorney who had much other matter on 
 his mind had written down succinctly the testimony of the State's 
 witnesses, and after conference and some eliminations and altera 
 tions here and there, the whole had been presented to and signed 
 by the circuit judge as a correct bill of exceptions. Now, the Su 
 preme Court looked at the great mass of papers in a helpless way, 
 for they could not have mastered the entire contents in a week's 
 solid reading, and they had probably less than an hour's time to de 
 vote to it. They were able, learned, and conscientious jurists, 
 these five gentlemen who now sat on the supreme bench of the 
 State, but they were human and of limited capacity for work, and 
 all and severally might have cried out any day of the year, " The 
 burden that's laid upon us is greater than we can bear." In re 
 quiring them in a very brief space of time to thoroughly post them 
 selves as to all the facts brought out in the long trial, and thus 
 practically to retry the case on its merits, the law had imposed on 
 them a task impossible of performance, and they could really do 
 little more than rely on the opposing attorneys to state these facts 
 as disclosed by the record. 
 
 As Pearson sat on the dingy old sofa and heard fragments of the 
 voluminous record read, he could not help reflecting upon the in 
 sufficiency of this method of informing the judges as to the facts 
 in the case. The manner of the various witnesses, their changes 
 of countenance, the hundred other evidences of truth or falsity that 
 profoundly impress a jury, are all lost when their words are taken 
 down on paper, to be read afterwards by strangers. This would be 
 
282 The K. K. K. 
 
 true if the words were taken down literally as they fell from the 
 lips of the witnesses, but when they are committed to paper some 
 days after the conclusion of the trial by interested attorneys, the 
 difficulty of having the record speak the real truth becomes greatly 
 magnified. As he sat now and listened while Palaver in persua 
 sive tones narrated to the court the facts, dipping here and there 
 into the record to substantiate his- statements, he, Pearson, was 
 greatly surprised to find that the case as it was impressed on the 
 minds of the five judges before him bore no very close resemblance 
 to the case which had been presented by sworn witnesses on the 
 stand in the court below. Palaver had a tremendous advantage 
 over the attorney-general for the State in the fact that he knew 
 exactly what the bulky record contained, while the latter official 
 had never heard of the case till the papers reached the Supreme 
 Court, and had only given it since such investigation as a 
 tired mind could give one of many similar cases before 
 him. Palaver, therefore, with impunity dipped here and 
 there in the record, as a shrewd manipulator would sample 
 a hogshead of tobacco, and extracted such fragments of 
 evidence as it suited his purpose to read, connecting this 
 and that as he proceeded, and making on the whole a smooth 
 and highly probable tale. The old widow had made one 
 statement which, if true, clearly proved the guilt of the negro 
 Kinchen, for her neighbors then present caught him and hung 
 him for the crime. Afterward she made another statement which 
 implicated the prisoner at the bar, and if the issue here was one of 
 fact alone it could not be said with assurance that the defendant 
 was guilty, for it could never be known which of her opposing 
 statements was true, if indeed either was true. The prisoner's 
 conduct immediately after the homicide was certainly not such as 
 to indicate a consciousness of guilt on his part. He was found 
 with others there on the ground, taking an active part in the violent 
 proceedings that led to the death of the negro, Kinchen, against 
 whom he could have had no sort of grudge, except that he believed 
 him to be the perpetrator of the foul crime just committed. 
 Twenty-four hours later we find the prisoner in the pub 
 lic highway, calmly talking to the sheriff. He had eaten 
 dinner on the same day at a farmhouse in the neighbor 
 hood, and afterwards had laid down and taken a long nap 
 under a tree in the yard. All this certainly indicated a 
 quiet conscience on his part. That he subsequently became 
 
The Case of the State Versus Ankerstrom. 283 
 
 alarmed and hid himself was quite true, but what ignorant 
 foreigner was it that wouldn't seek a place of concealment when 
 he learned that an angry mob was scouring the country for him, 
 determined to kill him as soon as he was captured ? The prisoner 
 was a foreigner. He was poor and very ignorant. He had not 
 a friend in the neighborhood of the tragedy to whom he could 
 appeal for protection. What else could he do under these circum 
 stances but secrete himself from observation till the wild storm had 
 blown over and reason had resumed its sway in the* community ? 
 
 As the lawyer went glibly on with his statement of facts Pearson 
 could see he was making an impression on the five trained judges 
 before him. Not that they were ready by any means to conclude 
 that the prisoner was innocent of the crime laid at his door, but 
 that they felt there was doubt enough on the subject to make a 
 thorough investigation of the record necessary if the case was to 
 be determined upon the facts. This was precisely the frame of 
 mind in which Palaver wished to have them as he took up now the 
 question of law upon which was his real reliance in his earnest 
 application for a new trial. 
 
 Randolph Pearson, sitting back on his dingy sofa, saw at once 
 that here was the battle ground in the present contention as it had 
 been in the court below. The attorney-general for the State, who 
 up to this moment had been examining the papers in another cause, 
 now pricked up his ears and became an interested listener as Pala 
 ver launched with confidence into his argument. Pearson, a plain 
 and conscientious man, had persuaded himself that the fierce effort 
 of the prisoner's counsel before the circuit judge on this point was 
 but idle chaff, and would not be repeated in the presence of the five 
 able jurists who sat on the supreme bench. He not only saw now 
 that he had been too hasty in jumping to this conclusion, but found 
 to his surprise that the considerations which had induced him to 
 think that the dying statement of the old widow must necessarily 
 be admitted as evidence were not even alluded to by counsel on 
 either side. That she was recognized in her own community as a 
 very clear-headed and truthful old woman before the murderous 
 attack was made upon her, that her character generally was such 
 as had won for her the respect of all her neighbors, that she was 
 entirely at herself when she narrated the dreadful incidents of the 
 night which was her last on earth, that she told a story so clear 
 and connected that it carried conviction with it to those who stood 
 about her bedside, all this, which Pearson thought would be con 
 
284 The K. K. K. 
 
 elusive of the question he now found had little or nothing to do 
 with it, or, to speak more correctly, these facts were hardly mani 
 fested at all by the record, and evidently had not been brought 
 home to the knowledge either of the court or the attorney-general 
 for the State. The latter official was a good, sound lawyer with, 
 as said, many other matters upon his mind, and many other cases 
 besides the present one that would soon demand his attention. 
 The primary question before the court was as to whether the 
 ante mortem statement of Mrs. Bascombe was admissible at all 
 as evidence when it appeared plainly from the record that it was 
 not considered by her at the moment of its utterance to be a death 
 bed statement. If her relation was admissible as evidence then 
 might arise the further enquiry as to her mental condition at the 
 time, the inducement that prompted her tale, her character for 
 truth, etc. All this would be proper matter for investigation if 
 the court should hold that a dying declaration might be introduced 
 as evidence in a criminal case when the person from whom the 
 utterance came was not contemplating speedy death. 
 
 Supreme judges, like other folks, are human beings, with 
 human impulses and human sympathies. Their decisions, like 
 ours, are often swayed, and properly swayed, by facts appeal 
 ing in a particular case strongly to their sense of right and jus 
 tice. There are certain well-settled rules that can not be over 
 ridden at will, but even these may often be modified, or not 
 applied in full force, where substantial justice demands that 
 such course be taken. Where there's a will there's a way, and 
 if the judges in the present instance could have realized what a 
 truthffll, courageous old woman the widow Bascombe had been 
 in life, if they could have been aroused as to the deep damnation 
 of her taking off, if they could have seen further that by excluding 
 her narration a brutal scoundrel would go unwhipped of justice, 
 their consciences would have rebelled against a holding that 
 led to such conclusion. As it was, they did not comprehend all 
 this at all, but had only a dry question of law to deal with. As 
 the matter was presented to their minds they could not say with 
 assurance whether the prisoner was the object of misplaced mob 
 fury, or the perpetrator of a horrible crime. Thus Palaver 
 waged his fight from the vantage ground of having at least the 
 probable right of the issue on his side when he contended for 
 the application of ' an old rule of evidence which had never 
 been seriously questioned in the State before. The Attorney- 
 
The Case of the State Versus Ankerstrom. 285 
 
 General, on the other hand, while he argued for the modification 
 of this rule, did so without much heart, and evidently with little 
 expectation of inducing the court to sustain him in his contention. 
 He touched alone upon the legal aspect of the question, cited au 
 thorities from other States in support of his position, and left the 
 disputed question to the decision of the court without dwelling on 
 its importance in the particular case under investigation. 
 
 The following Saturday was opinion day, and Pearson was back 
 in his place, as was also the prisoner and his counsel. The 
 court held, and Pearson was not surprised, that the record dis 
 closed but little evidence upon which to base a conviction, except 
 the statement of the old woman, Mrs. Bascombe, made to those 
 about her a few hours before her death. That she had been 
 cruelly assailed by some one was not a matter of doubt. A 
 negro had been hung by a mob for the attack upon her, and after 
 ward she recovered consciousness and made a statement crimi 
 nating the defendant. This statement was made only a few hours 
 before her death, but it certainly was not made by her in view 
 of approaching death. It was not a dying declaration within 
 the meaning and contemplation of the law. No statement could 
 be considered such unless it was not only a death-bed statement, 
 but made with the knowledge and belief on the part of the 
 speaker that death was imminent. The decisions on this subject 
 were too clear and of too long standing to admit of question now. 
 His honor the circuit judge erred in admitting to the jury as 
 evidence a statement directly criminating the prisoner, which was 
 made by the murdered woman not unde the impression that she 
 was about to die, but as the record disclosed under the con 
 fident hope of recovery. For this material error the case was 
 reversed and remanded and a new trial awarded the prisoner. 
 
 The prisoner's counsel with a radiant expression of counte 
 nance took his way out of the court-room, and Pearson slowly 
 followed. As the attorney passed through the door that led into 
 the hall a little old gentleman stood, cap in hand, just without. 
 The little old gentleman bowed very low to Palaver, and remarked 
 fervently as the latter passed on, " Cot pless you, mine frient." 
 The attorney acknowledged the salute graciously, and as he pro 
 ceeded along the hall Pearson heard him tell a companion by his 
 side that the little old gentleman was the father of his client, 
 Ankerstrom, the conviction against whom had just been reversed 
 by the Supreme Court. Palaver further informed his companion 
 
286 The K. K. K. 
 
 that the little old gentleman who had invoked heaven's blessing 
 upon him was one of the very best men in the section from which 
 he hailed, and was also a very devout old man, as was plainly in 
 dicated by the pious benediction that had just fallen from his lip. 
 
Which Tells of a Carousal at the Jail. 287 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 WHICH TELLS OF A CAROUSAL AT THE JAIL AND A SOBERER GATH 
 ERING IN THE WOOD. 
 
 THAT evening the pious old gentleman whose reverential 
 manner had won the flattering indorsement of his attorney, took 
 occasion to celebrate the decided legal victory achieved by a visit 
 of congratulation to his affectionate son in prison. He went 
 armed with a letter from his lawyer, saying he hoped the courte 
 sies of the place might be extended to Mr. Ankerstrom of Chi 
 cago, who was a gentleman in every way deserving any attention 
 that could be shown him. This was fortified by a note on the 
 back of the paper from the sheriff, instructing the jailer to let the 
 visitor have a conference with the prisoner, Ankerstrom, and to 
 give the two a private room if one could be spared for the purpose 
 in the establishment. The devout old gentleman purchased a 
 liberal supply of liquor, which he concealed in the folds of his 
 overcoat, and when the shadows of night had been chased away 
 by the electric lights of the city presented himself at the jail door 
 and handed in his credentials. The decision of the Supreme Court 
 in Ankerstrom's behalf was considered by all the officials as the 
 practical ending of the case against him, and therefore the keeper 
 of the prison had less hesitation in relaxing to some extent the 
 rigidity of the rule that required his constant confinement in very 
 contracted quarters. Moreover, the pious demeanor of the old 
 gentleman, and the fact that he stood particularly well in the 
 community from which he hailed, induced the jailer to be as in 
 dulgent as he possibly could, and he ushered Mr. Olof Anker 
 strom, after he had read his letters of credit, into an apartment 
 about ten feet square, with a small cheap table and two or three 
 rather rickety chairs for furniture. The single window of this 
 room was heavily grated, as was the door that led into it, though 
 there was a wooden door also that closed from within, so that the 
 occupant if he was of vivid fancy and refrained from looking 
 
288 The K. K. K. 
 
 out at the window might imagine himself to be in a snug apart 
 ment of an economical hotel. Mr. Olof Ankerstrom seemed to 
 take this cheerful view of his surroundings, for when he had 
 followed the jailer within he rubbed his hands toward the little 
 grate where the fire ought to have been and exclaimed heartily: 
 " Ah, dis ish nise, dis ish nise." 
 
 " It's the best we can do," replied the jailer, and he told the 
 truth. There were other and better furnished apartmnts about 
 the house, but they were for visitors who would not be tempted to 
 abuse the hospitality of the host and forsake the premises without 
 taking formal leave. 
 
 Presently Johan was brought in, and on even his scowling fea 
 tures there was something like a grin, for he considered himself 
 almost a free man once more. The old gentleman was effusive and 
 shook hands with his son, and da-need around his son, and gave 
 other tokens of extravagant esteem, though he met with no more 
 response than if he had been doing homage to a wooden image. 
 Johan seemed to be a little amused at the monkey antics of his 
 demonstrative parent, and to entertain at the same time an indis- 
 guked contempt for him, but he displayed not the slightest evi 
 dence of affection or appreciation of the sacrifices the latter had 
 made in the effort to save his worthless neck. 
 
 When the turnkey had locked the door behind him and left the 
 two alone, the elder Ankerstrom drew from the deep side pocket 
 of his overcoat a flask containing a pint of liquid, and so fashioned 
 that the top part of the cover being removed formed an excellent 
 drinking cup. Depositing this carefully upon the table he drew 
 from the opposite side pocket a smaller phial labelled " Cocktail 
 Bitters." Placing this by the side of the flask he next extracted 
 a half dozen lemons and some lumps of sugar. Having thus 
 unburdened himself he withdrew a step or two from the table, 
 and lifting both hands surveyed the whole with affectionate admi 
 ration. The apartment was rather contracted for a festal hall, 
 but it was evident the old gentleman had come to make a night 
 of it. " Ve haff no ise," he said presently to his son when he had 
 poured out a drink, " but the shentleman haff locked us up in his 
 ise-house, vich vill do shust as veel." 
 
 With this facetious remark the old gentleman handed his son 
 as liberal a drink as the cup would hold, which the latter gulped 
 down without a word. Then the devout old man himself swal 
 lowed a draught of the liquor, and was about to cork the bottle 
 
Which Tells of a Carousal at the Jail. 289 
 
 when Johan reached forth his hand and grunted for more fire 
 water. The request so graciously preferred was cheerfully 
 granted, and the old man then set down the flask. For an hour 
 or more they talked, or rather for that length of time the old man's 
 loosened tongue ran, and again and again when they found the 
 evening growing dull they resorted to the flask and the cocktail 
 bitters to cheer their flagging spirits. When the flask became 
 'exceedingly light and a look of apprehension overspread Johan's 
 countenance, the old man drew from another pocket another 
 flask, and holding it triumphantly aloft reassured his offspring. 
 What subjects the two discussed, or rather upon what topics the 
 old man held forth in the course of the evening, 'twere long to 
 tell, and the reader would find it dull entertainment if 'twere set 
 down. The old man spoke in a low tone for walls have ears 
 and often spliced out his meaning with gesticulation and ex 
 pressive shrugs of the shoulder. He informed his son, for the 
 latter's comfort, that he would stick to him till he was once more 
 a free man, though it might be some time yet before that consum 
 mation would be reached. 
 
 " Dey vill park at you, my zon, and vill haff your neck in te 
 tarn noose anyhow, if so be dey kin. Dey are bad peobles, bad 
 peobles, dese tam hill volks, and vill not respect de law like coot 
 zitizuns. Dere vill pe otter trials, otter trials, mine zon, and more 
 tam vitnesses, and more talking uff lawyers, and hell to pay shine- 
 rally, but te Ankerstrom vambly vill pull troo dis throoble as dey 
 haff pulled troo many anotter throoble ; haff no vear uff dat. If 
 dere vas von man out te vay I vood sleep veil dis night. I vould 
 sleep hearty and sound dis night, s'help me, if dot tam Perryerson 
 vas in te otter vorld, vere he belong. He push dis pizness too fur. 
 He meddle vid vat do not concern him. Mine lawyer, Perlaffer, 
 he zay dere voot pe no otter trial if Perryerson vould be quiet. 
 Ah, mine zon, but he vill not pe quiet, mark dat. He vill not pe 
 quiet, mine zon, oonless soompody giff him someding to quiet 
 him." 
 
 The son here blurted out a fierce oath, and growled an inquiry 
 that brought the old man in an instant to his feet. He threw up 
 his hands in alarm, and uttered a warning sh-sh-sh. Then he sat 
 down again by Johan's side and spoke in a whisper : " Zay 
 netting, zay netting, mine zon. Ve vill attend to de case uff dis 
 man Perryerson. I haff a frient, a coot frient, uff de name uff 
 Kervackenparse, but dey calls him Alabam' Zam for short, He 
 '9 
 
290 The K. K. K. 
 
 is a coot doctor for dem vat meddles vit otter peoble's pizness. 
 He is a coot man, dis Alabam' Zam, and mine true frient. I will 
 lay de plan for to quiet dis Perryerson, and Alabam' Zam vill do 
 de vork ; so be if throoble comes his neck vill go in de halter and 
 not mine. Pizness is pizness. Keep a still tongue in your head, 
 mine zon, keep a still tongue in your head, like as you haff done 
 up to dis minit. I kiff you de praise for dat. Do not visper, do 
 not talk in your sleep, do not say a single vord against dis coot 
 man Perryerson, and de next time your case goes to de shury you 
 may hike all ofer de court-room, but you vill not see him ! " 
 
 The old man here rose, and walking backward as far as the 
 contracted space in the room would allow, kept nodding to Johan, 
 who was sitting stupidly in a chair with his elbows resting on the 
 table. More liquor was poured out, and they both drank again. 
 The old gentleman before he drained his glass held it high and 
 gave this toast : " Here's to de man vat meddles mit otter peoble's 
 pizness. May he live long and pe 'appy in some otter vorld." 
 
 He was a little unsteady upon his pegs as he gave utterance 
 to this sentiment, but did not lose his caution, as was demonstrated 
 a moment later when the turnkey unexpectedly opened the door 
 and entered the room. The old gentleman, who was standing at 
 the time with his feet rather wide apart, bowed politely to the 
 new-comer, and with his unemptied cup still in his hand addressed 
 him as if he had been an assemblage. 
 
 " Shentlemen," he proclaimed, speaking in a louder tone than 
 he had used before, " I drink to de law. De frient uff de guilty 
 and de terror uff de innocent." 
 
 " You are getting a little mixed, old man," replied the good- 
 natured official. 
 
 " Ah, s'help me," answered the old man after he had swallowed 
 his liquor. " I zee, I zee. Peg bardon, peg bardon. I said de 
 frient uff de guilty and de terror uff de innocent, wen I should 
 haff said de terror uff de innocent and de frient uff de guilty. 
 Anyvay I shake your hand now, mine frient, and tank you for 
 your osserbertality. If so be you should effer come my vay I 
 vill return de same, s'help me." 
 
 With these kindly assurances the old gentleman took leave of 
 the company and went his way to his lodging in the town, and 
 thence next morning to other parts. His son was dragged, more 
 asleep than awake, back to his cell, and left to snore off the effects 
 of his carouse. There he remained for many days and many 
 
Which Tells of a Carousal at the Jail. 291 
 
 weeks, for it was not known how the unruly hill folk would take 
 the reversal of the verdict against him, and if they displayed an 
 ugly temper he would probably be safer locked up at the capital 
 of the State than if incarcerated elsewhere. 
 
 Randolph Pearson, as the reader may easily imagine, was^ in 
 no humor for jollifying on the evening of the important decision 
 in the Ankerstrom case. He saw at once that it meant almost 
 inevitably the final discharge of the prisoner without punishment 
 for his fearful crime. Most probably the court itself had not 
 realized that this was the necessary consequence of the decision 
 rendered. In the vast mass of testimony included in the so- 
 called bill of exceptions theje might be ground for conviction 
 after the statement of the murdered woman was excluded; at 
 least it was impossible for the court at the time the decision was 
 rendered to say to the contrary. The attorney-general for the 
 State had hardly dipped into the evidence in his brief argument, 
 and Palaver's skilful summing up of the facts disclosed by the 
 voluminous record was of course taken by the experienced judges 
 cum grano salis. When the case was reversed and remanded the 
 judges had only disposed of the single legal question presented, 
 Pearson, however, knew their decision was equivalent to a verdict 
 of not guilty, and as he took his way homeward late on the same 
 evening he bitterly reproached himself for having interposed be 
 tween the life of this brutal murderer and the vengeance of the 
 mob. The train reached the station nearest his place of abode 
 about nine o'clock at night. He mounted the horse he had left 
 in waiting there, and rode forward in the darkness all alone to his 
 residence, several miles away. As he went he revolved the whole 
 matter seriously in his mind, and before he retired to rest his plan 
 of action was determined upon. Pearson was a man who had the 
 courage of his convictions, and, like the Apostle Paul, when once 
 convinced that he had been in error he lost no time in changing 
 his course and setting forth with zeal in a new direction. 
 
 Teddy Mclntosh was summoned next morning, and after a 
 brief interview with Pearson rode over to consult the dignified 
 and deep-voiced young man who held the distinguished position 
 of Grand Cyclops of the Klan, Without his approval, indeed in 
 the absence of his direct order, there could be no summoning of 
 the members of the secret order to meet in council, and young 
 Mclntosh now was the bearer of a message from Pearson re 
 questing that a meeting be held at some date in the near future. 
 
292 The K. K. K. 
 
 Later on several riders were quietly going from house to house 
 in different localities among the Marrowbone Hills, and before 
 the following night had far advanced the entire brotherhood was 
 notified. 
 
 The season was too inclement to admit of a gathering in the 
 open woods, and the klan therefore was summoned to assemble 
 at an old deserted log house, in the chimney place of which a fire 
 could be built, and whose dilapidated roof and walls would af 
 ford some protection from the weather. Snow began falling 
 early in the evening set for the gathering, and fortunately con 
 tinued far into the night so that the track of those summoned to 
 the rendezvous would be lost before next morning. Nearly all 
 were present ; many had come on horseback, some on foot, and at 
 the appointed hour they stood huddled close together in the 
 single room of the old log building, bespeaking each other in low 
 tones and stamping their feet to keep the blood in circulation. 
 
 When the opening ceremonies had been concluded, each mem 
 ber present being robed now in somber black gown and cap, the 
 Grand Cyclops informed the attendant hobgoblins that the Su 
 preme Court of Tennessee had reversed the Ankerstrom case, and 
 remanded the same for a new hearing to the court below. He 
 had summoned the klan for the purpose of imparting this impor 
 tant intelligence, and to ascertain their further will in the mat 
 ter. A member then moved that the case of the murderer, Johan 
 Ankerstrom, be taken up by the klan for immediate consideration. 
 This being unanimously adopted, there was a moment's silence, 
 and then a motion was put, and unanimously carried, that the 
 case be at once referred to the Dreadful Ulema for its decision. 
 It was evident all were aware of the fact that some decisive ac 
 tion was to be taken to-night, for there was no hot discussion, no 
 debate of any kind. The proposition to refer to the court of 
 the order was promptly adopted, and all awaited in silence the 
 final rendering of that tribunal. 
 
 The delay was not long. There was a brief conference of the 
 three members of the court in an old stable a little way off from 
 the house, and this over they solemnly filed back into the room 
 where about three dozen serious men awaited their coming. 
 Pearson was the spokesman, and announced the conclusion of 
 the court in clear, steady tones : " We find that Mrs. Susan 
 Bascombe was murdered in this county nearly two years ago by 
 a man known among us as Cross-eyed Jack, but whose real name 
 
Which Tells of a Carousal at the Jail. 293 
 
 is Johan Ankerstrom. We find that this murder was done at 
 midnight, and that it was brutal, cowardly, and unprovoked. 
 We find that the regular legal tribunals of the country, in con 
 sequence of certain rules by which they are bound, are incapable 
 of dealing with the criminal as reason, justice, and the preserva 
 tion of order in this community demands. We therefore con 
 clude that the time has come for this brotherhood to act, and in 
 announcing our decision we call God to witness that our conduct 
 is not the result of passion, but springs from the deliberate con 
 viction that our homes and our good women must be protected 
 at all hazards. For the murder of a good old woman at mid 
 night in a peaceful community we adjudge Johan Ankerstrom to 
 be worthy of death, and our sentence is that by such means as 
 may be hereafter determined upon he be taken from the custody 
 of the regular legal authorities who have held him so long and 
 at the spot where his brutal crime was committed be hung by 
 the neck until he is dead." 
 
 In solemn silence this decision of the high court of the order 
 was read, and not the slightest demonstration followed its con 
 clusion. In accordance with the regulations of the society the 
 finding of the court was then submitted to the members for their 
 ratification. A small box containing white and black balls was 
 carried through the crowded assemblage, and each of those 
 present took therefrom two balls of different colors. The at 
 tendant then stood with his empty box near the judges, and the 
 hobgoblines in silence, and robed in black, approached one by one 
 and dropped a single ball into the receptacle. The sliding door 
 was moved back as each drew near and closed again when the 
 ballot had been deposited. When all present had voted the at 
 tendant drew the balls singly from the box and held it up in 
 the feeble light for inspection. A single white ball drawn forth 
 would for the present at least have annulled the decision of the 
 court. The count was awaited with the utmost anxiety, and 
 when it was concluded a deep sigh of relief went through the 
 black-robed assemblage. By unanimous vote Johan Ankerstrom 
 had been adjudged worthy of death. 
 
 It was one thing for the klan to resolve that the prisoner in 
 the Nashville jail should be sent out of the world for his mis 
 deeds, and another to take the necessary steps to carry this re 
 solve into execution. The whole matter was left to the discre 
 tion of a commitee, of which Pearson, while not named as one of 
 
294 The K. K. K. 
 
 the number, was the real head. It was determined that no vio 
 lent attempt to break into the jail should be made, but that by 
 some stratagem custody should be obtained of the criminal's per 
 son. This might require some further delay, but with the under 
 standing that all reasonable diligence should be used in the 
 furtherance of this purpose the resolute regulators were content 
 to wait. The die now was cast. At some date in the near future 
 the scattered members of the klan would again be called together, 
 this time to witness the execution of the wretch who by taking 
 advantage of the " law's delays," and the technical rules that 
 hamper justice, had so long escaped the fate he richly deserved. 
 Before the assembly dissolved, Pearson spoke a few words to 
 his neighbors and friends gathered about him in the cheerless 
 room. They were words not of apology, but of justification for 
 himself and others in postponing so long the action that had just 
 been taken. Mob law, or the infliction of punishment for crime 
 by unauthorized citizens, he repeated was conduct not to be justi 
 fied in a community until it had been abundantly demonstrated 
 that justice could not, or would not, be inflicted through the 
 medium of the courts. Where the laws were capable of dealing 
 with crime, where the courts could be relied on for the speedy 
 administration of justice, mob law was never justifiable. It was 
 almost suicidal, for when good citizens resorted to illegal vio 
 lence they encouraged the disorderly persons among them to pur 
 sue the same course. Moreover, when the good people of any 
 community took the law in their own hands they advertised to the 
 world that their laws were inefficient, or that they had no confi 
 dence in the officials whose duty it was to administer them. No 
 matter how monstrous a crime was good citizens would always 
 leave its punishment to the proper authorities if they believed an 
 investigation would be speedily held and the guilty offender 
 promptly made to pay the penalty. For these reasons he, and 
 those who agreed with him, had hesitated long before advising 
 that the murderer, Ankerstrom, should be dealt with by others 
 than the legal authorities. Nearly two years had now passed, 
 and apparently the punishment of the murderer was farther off 
 than any one in the neighborhood had supposed it could be at 
 the outset. The chances were all in favor of acquittal at the 
 next trial of the prisoner before a jury, and even in the improb 
 able event of his conviction an appeal would again be taken by 
 his attorney, and this would postpone the final decision of his 
 
Which Tells of a Carousal at the Jail. 295 
 
 case nearly, if not quite, a year longer. No blame at all was to 
 be attached to the officials, said Pearson, who spoke calmly and 
 temperately throughout his brief address. They were good men, 
 the judges were conscientious, and undoubtedly learned in their 
 profession. The trouble seemed to be that the law itself was not 
 abreast with the times. In this business age to say that a guilty 
 man cannot be punished until two or three years have elapsed 
 after the commission of his crime is to say that justice is not to 
 be administered without radical change in our laws. He, the 
 speaker, believed at the outset that the murderer of the widow 
 Bascombe would be speedily tried in open court and punished 
 for his crime. So believing he resisted to the utmost any attempt 
 to interfere with the due course of law. Now he saw his mistake, 
 and as such crimes could not be permitted to go unpunished with 
 a clear conscience, he recommended that the wronged people of 
 the community take the law in their own hands and deal with the 
 evildoer as he deserved. " Mob law," said Pearson in conclu 
 sion, " is to be avoided, my friends, as long as possible because 
 of the terrible mistakes it sometimes makes. Because of the fact 
 that passion, and not sober reason, dictates its decrees. Because 
 it begets contempt for the law in the minds of the evil disposed, 
 who can only be controlled by respect for the law. Because it 
 proclaims to the world that the community which resorts to it, or 
 upholds it, is not wise enough to provide a regular method for 
 prompt punishment of its criminals, but must accomplish this 
 end, if at all, by spasmodic effort, made in a burst of passion. Mob 
 law, wherever it may be found, and whatever the provocation that 
 calls it forth, is a thing always to be deprecated by sober citizens. 
 It is never to be justified except upon the ground that there would 
 be otherwise a failure of justice, and whenever this excuse is 
 offered it necessarily reflects upon the community in whose behalf 
 it is presented. It is therefore with the utmost reluctance that 
 I have at last consented to the execution of the plan upon which 
 we have all agreed here to-night. I congratulate both you and 
 myself upon the fact that our course has not been determined 
 upon in haste, but after the display of so much caution and de 
 liberation that there is reason to fear the lesson of the murderer's 
 punishment will be lost upon the community. Many no doubt 
 will be ready to censure us for our long delay, but wise people 
 will see in it only our great reluctance to interfere with the law 
 and the constituted authorities. I trust the time will soon 
 
296 The K. K. K. 
 
 come in Tennessee when a man may be arraigned for crime, given 
 a prompt hearing in the courts in a plain, common-sense way, and 
 speedily liberated or punished for his crime, as reason and jus 
 tice may dictate. When that time comes every good man will be 
 glad to uphold the law, and the secret order of the K. K. K. may 
 be disbanded forever." 
 
 The dull fire in the old house was entirely extinguished. There 
 was the hum of low voices for a few minutes, and then the mem 
 bers of the klan disappeared and went their several ways in the 
 thickly falling snow. 
 
Alabama Sam and De Little Ole White Man. 297 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE UNGENTLEMANLY BEHAVIOR OF ALABAMA SAM AND DE LITTLE 
 OLE WHITE MAN AT THE ABODE OF PATSY KINCHEN. 
 
 TEMPLETON had not been present at the meeting of the klan 
 described in the last chapter. His home was in another county, 
 and consequently it was not often he could be with his friends 
 and brethren of the order at their gathering by night. He was a 
 member in good standing, however, and very popular with them 
 all, for he was generous, truthful, and, though a trifle impulsive, 
 could always be relied on to exercise both courage and discretion 
 when these qualities were needed. A fortnight or so after the 
 klan had determined to take action in the Ankerstrom case he paid 
 a visit to the Marrowbone Hills, remained all night and most of 
 the following day at the Habersham habitation, and then, being 
 somewhat of a lady's man, as the reader knows, rode over to pay 
 his respects to Miss Sue Bascombe. Templeton had a high re 
 spect for Miss Bascombe, considering her a fine girl with no non 
 sense about her, and besides she was associated with him in the 
 K. K. K. hobgoblin league upon some dreadfully mysterious foot 
 ing which the author of this chronicle fully understands, but 
 which he is not at liberty to divulge. 
 
 When the young man reached the abode of the lady whom he 
 proposed to honor with his call he was not particularly pleased to 
 find a horse, with a man's saddle, hitched at the rack. He thought 
 perhaps it was Slowboy come again for he had heard of the 
 former visit of the lawyer, and his startling adventure in the hills 
 but upon entering the house found his sober friend Randolph 
 Pearson comfortably settled in an arm-chair by the fire. Pear 
 son bade him a cheerful welcome though he looked a little dis 
 concerted at his unexpected appearance and the young lady 
 gieeted him with a cordial handshake, which led him to conclude 
 she was really glad to see him. 
 
 " We were discussing an interesting matter when you came 
 
298 The K. K. K. 
 
 in, Mr. Templeton," remarked the girl after the three were seated, 
 " and would like to have the benefit of your judgment upon it. 
 Last year, as you will remember, my horse was stolen by a rather 
 singular old man who passed himself off for a farmer. Not long 
 before that your nag and Polly Habersham's saddle horse were 
 both taken on the same night by a rather singular old man, who, 
 I think, passed himself off for a Bible agent." 
 
 " No more o' that if you love me," cried Templeton, calling 
 Falstaff to his aid. 
 
 " But it was so," continued the young lady. " Now nobody at 
 that time could imagine who this little old man was, or where 
 he came from, or, what was of more importance, where he went 
 to immediately after concluding each of these business transac 
 tions. It was as mysterious the sudden appearance and disap 
 pearance of this old gentleman as the adventure that befell my 
 friend, Mr. Slowboy, up yonder in the hills some time since, of 
 which I suppose you have heard." 
 
 " I have heard all about it," quoth Templeton, breaking into a 
 hearty laugh, " and I'll tell you what's the fact " 
 
 " Coming back to the point," resumed Miss Bascombe, " this 
 same old man, or some other old man answering to his general 
 description, has been dodging about in this neighborhood again 
 of late, and we're very sure he can be after no good. He has 
 turned up at three or four farmhouses as a peddler, though he 
 seems to have retired from the Bible business. Once or twice he 
 and a tall black negro have been seen skulking together up in the 
 hills, and only last night the two went to the house of Patsy 
 Kinchen the wife of Sandy, whom they hung and got supper 
 there. Patsy came over just now to tell me about it. She is in 
 the kitchen now." 
 
 " Fetch her in at once,'' cried Templeton. " I want to get on 
 the track of that old Bible peddler if the thing can be accom 
 plished. If I had him out to one side now I'd make him think the 
 Turks were a merciful people." 
 
 Patsy, being summoned, presently appeared at the front door 
 of the residence. She scraped her feet a good while on the mat 
 here before venturing in. Finally she trod as lightly as possible 
 through the hall, and slowly turning the knob of the door that 
 led into the company room she introduced her person sideways 
 into that apartment. 
 
 " 'Devenin', ladies and gen'lemun," said Patsy politely, when 
 
Alabama Sam and De Little Ole White Man. 299 
 
 she had closed the door behind her. " 'Devenin' Miss Sue. 
 'Devenin', Marse Ran. 'Devenin', Mr. Unbeknowns." (Patsy, 
 had no acquaintance with Mr. R. L. Templeton.) 
 
 " Come in, Patsy," said Sue, " and tell us about the visit of the 
 little old white man and the negro to your house last night." 
 
 " Must I tell it ag'in, jess like I told it to you? " 
 
 " Yes, begin at the beginning, and tell it all." 
 
 " Wai, den, if so be I must," began Patsy hesitatingly, " and dar 
 ain't no help for it neither one way nor t'other, I s'pose I'd jest as 
 well begin, and go right straight along wid it. Last night, den, 
 ladies and gen'lemun, and Miss Sue, and Marse Ran, and Mr. 
 Unbeknowns, whiles I was a sittin' in my room wid my cob pipe 
 in my mouth supper having done been ett and my boy Pete, 
 like he in jineral do atter supper, was sittin' up in de cornder 
 'sleep; and de dog which dey calls Jineral Beauregard, sich bein' 
 his name, was likewise up in his cornder 'sleep; de fust thing I 
 know'd he riz, de dog did, and turn his ha'r de wrong way and 
 growled. I say to myself, I say, ' Why hi, what dat dog growlin' 
 at ? ' De words hadn't hardly got out'n my mouth bef o' de door 
 open 'twa'n't latched and in comes de little old white man 
 what I told you 'bout, Miss Sue and Alabama Sam clost at his 
 heels. ' Coot efenin', laty,' say de little ole white man, a bowin' 
 mighty low." (Patsy bowed herself here to the company, to 
 show how the little old white man had bowed.) " ' Coot efenin', 
 laty,' he say; and de very minit he called me lady I know'd he 
 wa'n't no gentleman. In dey bofe comes do, and Alabama Sam, 
 which is given up to be de meanest nigger in all de country, he 
 took a cheer widout bein' axed. Den de little ole white man he 
 bow ag'in, and spread his hands, and smile, and sidled over into 
 de cornder, and took anodder cheer. And atter he done took his 
 cheer he riz up all of a sudden and say to me, ' Laty, coot you giff 
 us a pite to eat ? ' I got right up for to wait on him bekase I seed 
 he was some kind of a furriner, and I was minded of dat furriner 
 what got Sandy into his scrape. Whiles I was a fixin' supper 
 de little ole white man and Alabama Sam dey drawed dar cheers 
 close togedder, and talk kinder low to one anodder. Ev'y now 
 and den I could hear a word, and Pete heerd nigh onto ev'y 
 word dat was spoke. Pete had done woke up, mind you, but 
 didn't let on dat he was woke up. De sum and substance of it 
 all was dat dey was fixin' to do sumpen what was gwine to raise 
 hell in de country no sooner'n 'twas did." (Whether the pro- 
 
300 The K. K. K. 
 
 fanity originated with Patsy, or was intended as a free quotation 
 from the conversation of her visitors, did not appear.) " What 
 dat sumpen was dey was fixin' to do dey didn't zackly say, but 
 from de roocus dey was spectin' it to kick up it was bound to be 
 wusser'n any common devilment. I wenf on fixin' de table, and 
 never sa ; d nothin' 'cause I know'd Alabama Sam was a mean 
 nigger, and de little ole white man what kep' company wid him 
 wa'n't no better'n him. Atter while dey bofe sot down to de table 
 and ett up all de vittles dar was in reach. When dey got up de 
 little ole white man bow low ag'in and spread his hands and say, 
 * Cot pless you, mine frient,' which was mighty small pay for 
 the vittles dey had 'stroyed. Den Pete he woke up sho nuff, and 
 say we axed a quarter for supper. And Alabama Sam he says to 
 Pete, ' We* charges a dollar a piece for our company, and de fust 
 time you git de change you kin hand me de balance wot's comin* 
 to us/ Den dey bofe sot by de fire and smoked a while, and when 
 dey riz to go de little ole white man he say to me : 
 
 " * Vere your husspund, laty ? ' 
 
 I say he was dead. 
 
 " ' Dot ish pad, dot ish pad/ de little ole white man say. 
 ' What make your husspund die ? Vot de doctor say vos de 
 matter? 1 
 
 " I never say nothin', and Alabama Sam he spoke up, and say, 
 ' De damn white folks in dese parts hung him kase he was a 
 nigger.* 
 
 " At dat de little ole white man flung up bofe his hands and 
 shook his head and say, ' Mine Cot, vot a coontry, vOt a peobles/ 
 Dem's de very words he spoke. And atter dat de little ole white 
 man and Alabama Sam took deyselves off, and I hain't seed nary 
 one of 'em sence." 
 
 When Patsy had concluded Mr. Bob Lee Templeton rose and 
 remarked, " That's the very infernal scoundrel that took my 
 horse. Patsy has hit him off to a T." 
 
 " I think," chimed in Miss Sue, " he's the very scoundrel that 
 took my horse. Patsy's account corresponds well with the de 
 scription given by Uncle Davy of the little old white man who 
 rode Dandy Jim off through the middle of the town in broad open 
 daylight." 
 
 " I think," said Pearson, who had been sitting by the fire mus 
 ing, " I am safe in going one step farther and saying I know 
 pretty well who the little old white man is. If I am not much 
 mistaken I saw, him on the steps of the State Capitol the day the 
 
Alabama Sam and De Little Ole White Man. 301 
 
 Supreme Court rendered its decision in the Ankerstrom case. He 
 there used the very words Patsy has put in his mouth ' Cot pless 
 you, mine frient ' and she has mimicked his tone and described 
 his obsequious manner to perfection. The man I heard using 
 the expression was addressing Palaver, Ankerstrom's lawyer, and 
 Palaver told the friend with whom he was walking that the old 
 gentleman was the father of his client, and a most exemplary cit 
 izen in the State from which he came." 
 
 " The devil," says Mr. Bob Lee Templeton. 
 
 " Ladies present," remarked Miss Sue. 
 
 " De reason I come to tell you," resumed Patsy, " was bekase I 
 seed dat nigger and white man was up to some devilment. And 
 bekase dey 'stroyed my vittles widout bein' invited. And bekase 
 dey bemeaned our white folks by chargin' up to dem what was 
 did by dat low lived furriner, Cross-eyed Jack. And bekase de 
 little ole white man called out, ' Mine Cot, vot a coontry, vot a 
 peobles' right dar in my house, and I wa'n't used to sich lan- 
 gwidges. Dat's de reason I come." 
 
 " You did exactly right, Patsy," quoth Mr. Bob Lee Temple- 
 ton, " and here's a dollar to pay for the vittles the two scoundrels 
 destroyed. Now the next question is, which way did they go ? " 
 
 " Dat I can't say," answered Patsy. " Whar dey come from 
 I dunno. Whar dey went to I dunno." 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you what," said Mr. Templeton. " Pete found 
 the scoundrel they call Cross-eyed Jack " 
 
 " Pete and Jineral Beauregard done dat," interrupted Patsy. 
 " De dog found him fust." 
 
 " Very well," said Templeton. " Now let Pete and Jineral 
 Beauregard find Jack's daddy and there's two dollars apiece for 
 them here in my pocket. That is," explained Mr. Templeton, 
 " there's two dollars for Pete, and two dollars more, you under 
 stand, to be expended by Pete for the dog's benefit." 
 
 " Dat's right," said Patsy ; " for de dog do need a brass col 
 lar, same as other gentlemanlike dogs has on." 
 
 " Do you think Pete and Jineral Beauregard can find 'em ? " 
 
 " Dey ain't to tackle 'em atter dey come up wid 'em ? " 
 
 " No, just to find 'em and let me know where they are. I'll 
 do the tackling when I come up with the little old white man." 
 
 " You see, Patsy," explained Miss Bascombe, " the little old 
 [white man has in his possession several Bibles for Mr. Temple- 
 ton i jvhich he has failed to deliver." 
 
The K. K. K. 
 
 " That's all right that's all right," replied Mr. Templeton 
 good naturedly. " You tell Pete to take his dog and go hunting 
 for Alabama Sam and the little old white man, and as soon 
 as he finds 'em, Patsy, to come back here, and let Miss Sue Bas- 
 combe know where they are stopping. He can find 'em without 
 taking any chances. If he came close upon them they wouldn't 
 hurt him." 
 
 " Dey ain't gwy ketch him," said Patsy, " unless dey kin run 
 mighty peert. Pete and de dog I b'lieves kin find out whar dey 
 lodges ef you and Miss Sue and Marse Ran wants to know dat 
 much about 'em." 
 
 " I would like very much to know, Patsy," replied Pearson, 
 " and I think your son can get this information for us more 
 readily than any one else, and that too without his running any 
 risk of getting hurt." 
 
 " And de news is wuth four dollars to dis here Mr. Unbe- 
 knowns ? " inquired Patsy. 
 
 " It's worth five," replied the generous Templeton. " I'll make 
 it five, Patsy. Two for Pete, two for the dog, and one for you." 
 
 " Nuff said," replied Patsy promptly. " Ef Pete and de dog 
 kin make dat money by tromping round de country I'll see dat 
 dey do it. Dey been tromping all dey lives for nuthin' ; now dey 
 kin tromp a while for money." 
 
 Patsy having withdrawn from the room there was an earnest 
 discussion over the intelligence she had brought. That the little 
 old white man was a horse thief and a bold scoundrel generally 
 was pretty certain. He had done much mischief in the neighbor 
 hood and was back presumably to do more. The jail was the 
 place for him, and if he could be located his apprehension would 
 soon follow. How he and his gang had secreted themselves and 
 smuggled horses out of the country during the preceding year 
 was still an unfathomed mystery, but one that would probably 
 be solved if the ringleader could be caught and safely locked 
 up. The fact that the old man was the father of the prisoner, 
 Ankerstrom, would make the whole community especially glad 
 to get hold of him, and the three persons who were now discuss 
 ing the matter could not resist the conclusion that his presence 
 in the immediate neighborhood of his son's crime had some con 
 nection with the future conduct of the case. Templeton would 
 return to his home on the following day, and Pearson was about 
 to take a trip to St. Louis on business which would probably de* 
 
Alabama Sam and De Little Ole White Man. 303 
 
 tain him a week or more. It was therefore resolved between the 
 three who sat in council that as soon as anything was learned of 
 the whereabouts of the old man and his negro companion Sue 
 Bascombe should promptly notify some member of the K. K. K. 
 brotherhood and the arrest of the two villains should follow at 
 once. Templeton was for having them before a called meeting 
 of the klan and stringing them both up to a limb as soon as the 
 formality of a moonshine trial could be gone through with. 
 Pearson, however, set his foot down emphatically on this proposi 
 tion, and as he outranked Templeton in the order the latter was 
 bound to acquiesce in his decision. Sue Bascombe sat by quietly 
 while the rather heated discussion was going on, and took no 
 further part in it than to remark that if the gentlemen desired to 
 hang the old scamp who had stolen Dandy Jim there was a rope 
 very handy in the barn. 
 
304 The K. K. K. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 AN INTREPID LAD AND HIS DOG, HAVING TRAMPED ALL THEIR LIVES 
 FOR NOTHING, CONCLUDE TO TRAMP A WHILE FOR PAY. 
 
 WHEN Patsy Kitchen reached her humble but snug abode in 
 the hills she lost no time in notifying Pete and the dog of the 
 high trust that had been reposed in them by the members of the 
 conference in Miss Sue Bascombe's parlor, and also of the liberal 
 remuneration that awaited them in case of the successful per 
 formance of the allotted task. Patsy was honest, and explained 
 to Pete and also to the dog, who sat by and gave strict heed to 
 her words that five dollars was the sum promised for the faith 
 ful discharge of duty in the present case, of which she was to re 
 ceive a single dollar as promoter of the enterprise, while Pete and 
 the dog were to divide the remaining four equally between them. 
 It was explicitly stated for their edification that it was not their 
 duty to engage the enemy, if they came into close quarers unex 
 pectedly, but they must rather consider themselves as a scouting 
 party which was expected to obtain needed information at small 
 risk, and which should always stand ready to beat a hasty retreat 
 whenever an inclination for combat was discovered upon the op 
 posite side. While combat, however, was to be avoided, and 
 danger to be shunned, Pete and Jineral Beauregard must bear in 
 mind that their task was not accomplished when they merely 
 came in view of Alabama Sam and de little ole white man, for 
 Patsy herself had achieved this much upon the preceding evening. 
 These worthies were to be tracked to their den, and word brought 
 back, if possible, showing precisely where they hid when not en 
 gaged in depredating upon the community, and whether or no any 
 other evil-minded persons consorted with them. 
 
 These matters being properly understood, Pete, with pardonable 
 pride at being intrusted with so important a mission, set himself 
 diligently to work to discover the whereabouts of Alabama Sam 
 and de little ole white man. If he could once get on their trail 
 
An Intrepid Lad and His Dog. 305 
 
 he anticipated no trouble in tracking them down to the place of 
 their abode, which he made no doubt was at some of the many 
 lurking places in the hills. He and Jineral Beauregard had 
 scented out rabbits, coons, foxes, and other varmints, starting 
 often on a very cold trail, and to trace so clumsy an animal as a 
 human being to his retreat would be an easy job compared with 
 following up a wary four-footed beast of the wood. The first 
 trouble, however, was to once more get wind of the two marauders 
 who had come uninvited to his mother's house at night. Here he 
 had more difficulty than he had anticipated, for though he ram 
 bled the country over for some days he neither saw nor heard of 
 their having been at any other house, nor did he come upon 
 either of them, as he supposed he would, tramping upon some one 
 of the few roads in the country. The boy asked no questions, for 
 to have done so might have disclosed the fact that he was inter 
 ested in the movements of the two vagabonds, but he kept his 
 ears open, and his eyes open, and sought faithfully for a clue that 
 followed up would introduce him once more to their acquaintance. 
 Unless they had taken themselves entirely out of the country they 
 must obtain food somehow, and this could only be done by openly 
 applying for it, as at his mother's house, or by depredating at 
 night, which would certainly occasion a stir when the theft was 
 discovered. They might have laid up, like the thrifty squirrel, 
 a winter's supply in some hole, but Pete hardly thought this was 
 probable, as they had not been heard of in the community until a 
 few days previous, and they would have no motive that he could 
 see in establishing permanent headquarters in the neighborhood. 
 No horses had been stolen lately, no other wrongful appropriation 
 of personal property had been made recently, except the larceny 
 of a few shoats from a farmer's fattening pen ; and this had been 
 traced directly to the door of black Dave, who had owned up 
 like a man and -excused himself on the ground that he was short 
 of meat. 
 
 Pete was about to conclude that his game had sought another 
 range, when one clear night it was a warm spell in March, and 
 the moon was shining bright as day as he and Jineral Beaure 
 gard were wending their way homeward they both about the 
 same moment became aware of the fact that some individual on 
 foot was approaching from the opposite direction. Quietly drop 
 ping out into the bushes they waited for the pedestrian to pass, 
 and as he went by at a long, steady stride the urchin was over- 
 20 
 
306 The K. K. K. 
 
 joyed to recognize in the traveler the identical colored gentleman 
 who a short while before at his mother's residence had placed 
 such an extravagant estimate on the value of his own society. 
 The unsuspecting footman passed on, and Pete, with Jineral Beau- 
 regard at his heels as soon as it was prudent to do so, 
 dropped into the road behind him, determined to follow 
 whithersoever he went. He was evidently bound for some 
 particular spot, which was clearly fixed in his own mind, 
 for he walked straight on, and did not saunter like a 
 man who is not very particular whether he gets anywhere 
 or not. The lad and the dog had no. trouble in keeping 
 on his track, for he deviated not from the road, and did not seem 
 to fear observation, as was evidenced by the fact that he passed 
 close to two or three farmhouses which sat immediately upon 
 the roadside. He walked, too, so firmly that Pete when he 
 stopped and listened could catch the sound of his footsteps, though 
 the latter was careful not to get so nigh that the man he was 
 shadowing could see him if he chanced to look back. After a 
 tramp of three or four miles Alabama Sam left the main high 
 way and took another road that led off to the right. This was 
 a much less frequented route, but Pete was familiar with it, for 
 he had made tracks along nearly every highway and byway in 
 ten miles of his mother's house. He could now hear the steps of 
 the man in front more distinctly, for the route was getting stony, 
 and he and Jineral Beauregard kept on cautiously in pursuit. 
 Presently the sound of the footsteps died out at about the point 
 where Pete knew a little stream crossed the road. Advancing 
 with more speed down to this stream Pete laid down, and, placing 
 his ear close to the ground, listened for some moments. He 
 heard no more steps on the stony road, but was surprised to hear 
 a gentle splashing in the water above, as of some one wading up 
 the creek. Picking his way along the bank he stopped again after 
 going a short way, and became convinced that some object was 
 wading upstream. It might be a cow, but if so what had gone 
 with Alabama Sam? And if 'twas Alabama Sam, what motive 
 could induce him to wade up the creek, when the dry land was bet 
 ter and speedier walking ? Pete was not, like Hamlet, a youth with 
 whom the native hue of resolution was often sicklied o'er by the 
 pale cast of thought, but was wont to act promptly in his business 
 concerns without much cogitation either before or after the event. 
 He now made a short detour, with the dog close at his heels, and, 
 
An Intrepid Lad and His Dog. 307 
 
 traveling more rapidly than it was possible for the man in the 
 water to do, reached a large rock close to the mouth of the cave 
 from which the stream issued. Behind this friendly shelter he and 
 Jineral Beauregard hid themselves and awaited developments. It 
 was not long before Alabama Sam hove in sight, wading as de 
 liberately as if he had been a kingfisher in search of a meal. The 
 moon shone down brightly enough on the space immediately about 
 the opening of the cavern, and Pete had no difficulty in recogniz 
 ing the long black African as he took his way upstream over the 
 slippery stones. When he reached the mouth of the cave he did 
 not step out onto the dry sandy space within, as Pete had sup 
 posed he would, but kept on wading straight upstream. The 
 lad crept down close to the creek, and, lying flat on the ground; 
 watched the man he had shadowed for more than five miles. 
 When he had disappeared in the utter darkness of the cavern Pete 
 crossed over the stream and made his way forward along the dry 
 bottom, on the left edge of which the little creek ran. There was 
 no danger now of being seen, for he and the negro in front were 
 both in total darkness. He had been the route many times 
 and knew precisely where the cavern forked into two channels j 
 the one, broad and easily trodden, leading far back into the in 
 terior of the hill, the other, low and narrow, and its bed entirely 
 covered by the rushing stream. He had supposed, of course, 
 that the man in front would here leave the water and fol 
 low the broad passage trodden by all who cared to explore the 
 cave. No one that he knew of had ever ventured far up the nar 
 row opening through which the swift current of water wound its 
 way, and the general impression was that at short distance above 
 the volume of water filled the entire channel and rendered it im 
 passable for any creature. As the lad, trusting to the favoring 
 darkness, pressed forward more rapidly he came near being dis 
 covered, for at the parting of the ways Alabama Sam halted and 
 struck a match. The light illumined the cavern for some dis 
 tance back, but Pete slunk into the deep shadow and watched him. 
 He had drawn a small lantern from his bosom, which he pro 
 ceeded to light, dropping the match into the water. The lad 
 observed that he had taken off his shoes and trousers, having these 
 tied about his neck. Pausing here only a moment to light his 
 lamp, the negro man, to Pete's astonishment, instead of proceed 
 ing along the main passage of the cave, continued wading on up 
 the stream, and soon disappeared behind a curve in the channel. 
 
308 The K. K. K. 
 
 Pete Kinchen had in him enough of the stuff that heroes are 
 made of to induce him in this particular emergency to sacrifice all 
 thought of personal safety to the cause he had rashly espoused. 
 As soon as the lantern of Alabama Sam ceased to cast its ray along 
 his path he promptly stripped himself of every rag of clothing he 
 had on and made ready to follow, regardless of consequences. 
 He calculated that as the man in front expected the water would be 
 deep enough to reach his waist it would probably come up to his 
 (Pete's) neck, and made arrangements accordingly. Before set 
 ting out on this exceedingly hazardous venture Pete Kinchen took 
 the precaution to grasp Jineral Beauregard by the throat and ad 
 minister to him a choking that carried much further would have 
 extinguished life. By this seemingly unnecessary act of cruelty 
 he admonished his friend and companion that in the further con 
 duct of the expedition the strictest secrecy must be observed and 
 perfect silence maintained, whatever might befall. Pete had fre 
 quently before choked his dog into silence when the latter was in 
 the act of becoming noisy upon inappropriate occasions, and thus 
 an understanding was readily arrived at between them that when 
 ever it was inexpedient for the dog to use his voice this fact was 
 to be signified to him by putting him for a while in a condition 
 where he couldn't use it. If the choking was moderate, and of 
 short duration, Jineral Beauregard understood that for a brief 
 while he was to refrain from loud demonstration. If it was se 
 vere and prolonged he was to emit no sound of any kind until 
 Pete himself had broken silence, and thus served notice on him 
 that the restriction was removed. In the present instance the 
 choking was the most determined that had ever been admin 
 istered and made, as the event demonstrated, a profound impres 
 sion on the recipient. 
 
 Pete Kinchen having choked Jineral Beauregard, as he thought, 
 sufficiently, concluded by patting him gently on the head to assure 
 him that the punishment had not been administered as a chastise 
 ment for fault committed, but by way of caution to him in the 
 regulation of his future conduct. He then took his dog in his 
 arms, and, without the slightest hesitation, waded up the swift 
 creek after Alabama Sam. He was quicker of motion than the 
 older negro, and more used to water, so that before he had waded 
 many minutes he came in sight of the light again, or rather of the 
 ray it threw upon the solid stone wall ahead of him. Sometimes 
 he lost this ray, then again he found it, but he proceeded straight 
 
An Intrepid Lad and His Dog. 309 
 
 upstream all the while without halting, for there was no danger 
 of missing the way. Once or twice he got a little nearer than he 
 wished, but the man he was pursuing never thought to look back. 
 The wading of the lad up the stream behind him did not attract 
 his attention, for the splashing of the water against the sides of the 
 cavern drowned all else. On the two went, or rather the three, 
 the man unconscious that he was being watched, Pete determined 
 to follow him to the end of his journey, Jineral Beauregard shiver 
 ing from cold and the novelty of his position, but mindful of the 
 injunction to remain dumb, come what would. 
 
 After many windings and turnings the light in front came to a 
 stand, and Pete, peering cautiously forward, saw Alabama Sam 
 sitting upon what he knew must be dry ground, drawing on his 
 trousers. The lantern was deposited by his side, and, noting the 
 surroundings closely, the lad discovered that here was another 
 dry passage, while the channel through which the stream flowed 
 led off in a different direction. The negro man now put on his 
 shoes and took the time to tie them. Then he stood up, and, draw 
 ing a bottle from his pocket, held it to his lips long enough to 
 swallow a considerable part of its contents. Having thus re 
 freshed himself he deliberately corked the bottle and replaced it 
 in his side pocket. All this while Pete Kinchen viewed him with 
 a critic's eye, and Jineral Beauregard was an interested observer 
 of his movements. They both regarded him narrowly while he 
 remained by the water's edge, and Pete moved promptly forward 
 as soon as Alabama Sam picked up his lantern and started away. 
 The light was sparkling some distance ahead when the lad reached 
 the water's edge and released Jineral Beauregard, who could not 
 refrain from cutting a gladsome but noiseless caper when he 
 found himself once more on "dry land. Guided by the friendly 
 light Pete followed with but little difficulty, and was as close upon 
 it as he dared to go when it suddenly disappeared from the pas 
 sage. But though the lantern itself was lost to view the passage 
 still remained dimly lighted, showing it was not far away. Ob 
 serving now great caution the lad crept forward and had advanced 
 but a little way when he heard the sound of human voices. He 
 paused and listened, and then crept on again on his hands and 
 knees. He could tell plainly now that the voices came from a 
 side room, or niche, near the main passage. A dim light also 
 struggled from this inner recess and partially dispelled the dark 
 ness of the passage w'*hout. Creeping nearer and nearer, and 
 
310 The K. K. K. 
 
 very slowly, the lad reached a point at last from which he could 
 spy into the rough apartment from which the voices came. Here 
 sat two individuals Alabama Sam and de little ole white man 
 by a slow wood fire, which had almost died down to coals. 
 
 When Pete Kinchen saw them sitting comfortably by the fire 
 he suddenly became aware of the fact that he himself was shivering 
 violently, and, rising in his place, he quietly moved his arms rap 
 idly over his head and twisted his body into all sorts of unnatural 
 positions, thus forcing his blood into brisk circulation and working 
 himself into something like a glow. He was hardy as a pine knot 
 and the interior of the cavern was less trying upon him than the 
 open air without would, at that season of the year, have been. 
 After having administered to himself a sharp lesson in gymnastics 
 the lad crouched near the entrance way into the recess and sought 
 to catch the drift of the conversation between the two men. They 
 spoke in low tones, and yet were not particularly guarded in their 
 utterances, since neither dreamed that an interloper was near at 
 hand. 
 
 " Wai," said the negro, " I ain't in much fix for takin' de road 
 ag'in, but if dis here thing's to be did at all it's got to be did to 
 morrow night. Dat man's a comin' home on de train to-morrow 
 evenin'. He'll ride by his lone self from de deppo, along de ridge 
 road, to de place whar he lives. Dat much I done found out, and 
 dat much kin be depended on. If we don't git him on dat ride we'd 
 better clean out from dis country and let him alone for good and 
 all. For my part, I don't hanker arter dis job no how, and I'd a 
 heap ruther throw it up right here, and now, than to go furder 
 with it." 
 
 " Lizden at dot," replied the little ole white man. " I didn't 
 know you vos pigeon-livered, Zammy." 
 
 " I don't like dis job," replied the negro. " Dat's what I said, 
 and I sticks to it." 
 
 " Veil veil," said the little old white man, shaking his head, " vill 
 vonders neffer cease? Mine frient Kervackenparse show de vite 
 fedder? No, no. Tis is some otter person I zee pefore me, and 
 not mine frient Zam. Mine frient Zam Kervackenparse iss a prave 
 man and no coward." 
 
 " Who said I was a coward ? " inquired the negro in a blustering 
 way. 
 
 " No von, no von, Zam," replied the oW rnan. " Vooefifer sess 
 tat iss a liar, and de tnite iss not in him.' 
 
An Intrepid Lad and His Dog. 311 
 
 " You stick to dat," said Sam, " and you won't miss it fur. 
 Bar's plenty of jobs a man don't hanker arter, and yit if he's 
 passed his word he'll go through wid 'em or die. Leastwise 
 he will if he's de right kind of a man." 
 
 " Ah, tat iss Zam Kervackenparse talkin'," replied the old man 
 earnestly. " Tat iss mine frient Zam." He drew a long black bot 
 tle from the heap of straw near him and held it high in his hand. 
 " I trink to mine frient Zam," he exclaimed. " VooefTer puts der 
 troost in him vill not pe dizzerpointed." 
 
 The old man here took a swig at the bottle and passed it to the 
 negro, who, though he had just imbibed, took another long 
 swallow. 
 
 " Git my gun ready," said the negro, seemingly emboldened 
 by his liquor. " If this thing's got to be did I must be off to 
 night." 
 
 " Vot ! " exclaimed the old gentleman. " Not to-night, Zam? " 
 
 " I done told you," replied Alabama Sam, " dat dis here man 
 Pearson is a comin' home ter-morrow night widout any fail. He's 
 done writ a letter back tellin' 'em to send his hoss to de deppo, and 
 ter-morrow mornin' a boy is gwy take his hoss to de deppo and 
 leave him dar. De boy will come straight back in de day time, and 
 ter-morrow night Ran Pearson will ride home by hisself in de 
 night time. Dat is, he will ride part of de way home. Whedder 
 he'll make de whole trip is anodder question." 
 
 The old man here clapped himself on the thigh and laughed 
 softly. " Tat iss Zam Kervackenparse talkin'," he exclaimed. 
 " Tat iss mine frient Zam." 
 
 " Now," said the negro, " if dis thing's to be did dar ain't but one 
 way to do it, and dat's de right way. Ran Pearson, I done told 
 you, will ride de ridge road, and de lonesomest part of dat road is 
 de long hollow about five mile from de deppo. Dar is a great big 
 sycamore tree standin' close to de road, and a man behind dat 
 tree kin git a good range on anodder man ridin' down de road 
 to'ds him. Right dar is de place to fix him, if it's de plan to fix 
 him at all." 
 
 " Don't say if, Zammy," replied the old gentleman. " Leaf off 
 dat ' if," mine frient." 
 
 " Well, den, dar's de place to fix him," said the negro. " And 
 if I'm de man what's got to do de fixin', I'd oughter be at de place 
 by daylight ter-morrow mornin'. I'd oughter travel to de place 
 in de night time, and not in de day time, and I'd oughter hide dar 
 
312 The K. K. K. 
 
 in de bushes all day, so as to be rested by de time dis here Ran 
 Pearson comes along. When he rides up to dat sycamore tree I 
 want to be fresh and at my best. And when I've sent a ball 
 through his head and made sho he's dead as a mackerel, I want to 
 skip out from dar and run like hell. Dat's me." 
 
 " Dat iss mine frient Zam Kervackenparse talkm'," replied the 
 old man. " Vooeffer calls mine frient a coward iss a liar, and de 
 trute iss not in him." 
 
 " Dey won't s'picion me," continued the negro, " if nobody sees 
 me gwine to'ds de place and nobody sees me comin' away." 
 
 " Dot iss ver' true," replied the old gentleman. 
 
 " Dey'll say, too," continued the negro, " dat I didn't have no 
 motive for killin' Ran Pearson, and, sence I come to steddy 'bout 
 it, damn me if I have got any motive for killin' him." 
 
 " Zam," said the old gentleman seductively, " dot iss de ver' rea 
 son vy you should kill him. If I'm took up for murter te tamn 
 lawyers vill say, ' He haff a motiff ; ' and dey vill hang me. If you 
 pe took up dey vill zay, ' He haff no motiff ;' and zo you vill go 
 free as te 'appy pird. Dot pein zo, mine frient, you must do de 
 killin', and I must make retty to prufe a hallerpy. Let effry man 
 tend to his own part uff de piziness." 
 
 " All right, boss," replied the negro. " I ain't never flickered 
 yit when I was called on to do my part of a ugly job, and I ain't 
 apt to flicker dis time. I must be fifteen miles away from here 
 by daylight, and dat means I got to walk all night. I've walked 
 already good ten miles to-day, and my legs will be tired when I 
 gets to dat sycamore tree on de ridge road. I kin give 'em a long 
 rest though ter-morrow. Dar's some comfort in dat." 
 
 " Mine frient Kervackenparse," said the old gentleman, rising 
 and bowing respectfully, " I haff to zay dot I admires you ver' 
 much. I do, s'help me. Your sgin iss plack, Zam, but your 'art 
 iss in de right blace." 
 
 After extending this neat compliment the old gentleman walked 
 round the fire and shook hands cordially with his friend. The 
 two now made hurried preparations for the departure of the negro, 
 who rejected all invitations to stay longer in the cavern, saying he 
 would rest from time to time on the wayside as he journeyed 
 that night. After the assassination of Pearson he and the old gen 
 tleman would meet at a designated spot beyond the borders of the 
 State, to which point the negro was to hurry, tramping likewise all 
 of the following night. 
 
An Intrepid Lad and His Dog. 313 
 
 "Zam," said the old gentleman by way of parting injunction 
 when the negro was ready to start, " pevare uff te pottle. Trink 
 iss coot to cheer te zoul, but dere iss times, mine frient, ven de 
 head needs to be gool more tan de zoul needs to be cheered. 
 Keep gool, Zammy ; keep gool, mine frient ! " 
 
 Seeing they were about to depart Pete and his dog stole back 
 along the passway toward the stream. They kept ahead of the 
 light as the two men emerged into the passage, and at one of the 
 many broken places in the cavern wall the boy crouched low for 
 the negro and the old man to pass. They went by engaged in 
 talk, the lantern throwing its riys straight ahead. When they 
 reached the water's edge the negro again disrobed himself to the 
 extent of taking off his shoes and trousers, tying these around his 
 neck as before. He then took the lantern in his hand and bade 
 the old man good-by. 
 
 " Zam," said the old gentleman as he wrung the negro's hand 
 affectionately " Kervackenparse, mine frient, vateffer iss vurt 
 doing at all iss vurt doing veil. Make no miztake, mine frient, 
 make no miztake. Vix him zo de shudge vill uxcuse him for not 
 pein at te court next time. Vix him zo he vill not meddle mit 
 otter people's pizness neffer agin, Zammy, in dis vorld." 
 
 " You 'pend on me, boss/' replied the negro. With this part 
 ing assurance he stepped into the swift stream and began his slip 
 pery walk down the current. The old man watched him till the 
 glimmer of the lantern no more lit the thick darkness of the cav 
 ern. After the light had entirely disappeared he sat down by the 
 water's edge and communed with himself a while before returning 
 to his more cheerful quarters by the fire. 
 
 "Ah me, tis vorld iss full of throoble and onpleasantness. I vish 
 dat peoble in dis vorld vould mind dere own pizness and not 
 meddle. I do, s'help me. Dere vent avay shust now mine colored 
 prudder and mine own thrue frient. Vot for mine colored prudder 
 and mine own thrue frient go out and tramp de lonesome road dis 
 night ? It iss pecause de tamn man, Perryerson, vill not mind his 
 own pizness. He vill meddle, meddle, meddle; and dat vy mine 
 frient Kervackenparse must tramp de lonesome road dis night and 
 do de shob he haff promise. Meppe dis night vork vill git mine 
 frient Kervackenparse into throoble. Meppe so, meppe so. If zo 
 I vill stand py mine frient Kervackenparse like a prudder and a 
 shentleman. I vill, s'help me. I vill stand py mine frient Ker 
 vackenparse till hell freeze ofer. I vill, I vill. If dey gits him in 
 
3H The. K. K. K. 
 
 de shail I vill hire me a lawyer for him if it cost pig money. I vill 
 hire me a coot lawyer vot vill speak de law plain to de shudge and 
 de tamn shury, and tell dem trutes vot dey should mind. If so pe 
 de tamn man, Perryerson, as he coom along raise his arm to svitch 
 his 'orse, dot vill pe sel-luff devense for Zam. If he shake his 
 head, tviddle his fingers, make any common motion, dot vill pe 
 sel-luff devense, for nobody can tell, mind you, vot he haff a no 
 tion to do next. Dot iss de p'int. It iss not so much vat a man do, 
 mind you, dot make sel-luff devense, but vat he may haff a notion 
 to do next. And if zo pe te tamn man, Perryerson, do not'ing at 
 all ; if he coom along vast asleep, and Zam shoot him dead, dot 
 vill pe inzanity, for dere vill pe, mind you, no motiff dat peoble 
 can zee, and de absence of motiff go alvays to show inzanity. Dis 
 vot de coot lawyer vill say to de shudge and te tamn shury, and if 
 dey do not lizden to him de coot lawyer vill not mind, for dere vill 
 still pe leff de plessed hallipi and de onreasonable doubt. So valk 
 on, valk on, mine frient Kervackenparse ; valk on, mine colored 
 prudder, and do de shob vot you promise, and haff no fear. I 
 vill act like de shentleman if throoble coom, and hire me a coot 
 lawyer for you, and stand py you, mine frient Kervackenparse 
 till hell freeze ofer. I vill, I vill." 
 
 The old man's voice here died away, and for some moments 
 longer he sat in silence by the water's edge. Then he resumed 
 his soliloquy in a less confident tone : 
 
 " But vot for I zay vot I say ? If mine frient Kervackenparse 
 do de shob vot he promise, and dey gits him, he vill neffer zee de 
 shail. He vill haff no need for de coot lawyer vot I hire ; for de 
 tamn mob vill hang him so kevick as hell vould scorch a fedder. 
 Mine Cot, mine Cot, but dis iss a heathen coonthry. Valk on, 
 valk on, mine frient Kervackenparse ; valk on, mine colored prud 
 der ; but if dey gits you you vill pe in von hell of a vix. Ah me, 
 I vish dot effry man in dis vorld vould mind his own pizness. I 
 do, s'help me. But dey vill not, and dat vy my frient Kervacken 
 parse must valk de lonely road dis night, and do de shob vot he 
 haff promise, and take de conze-ke-vences. Coot-py, mine colored 
 prudder ; if de tamn mob hang you up like a dog I vill not forgit 
 you. Coot-py, coot-py, mine own thrue frient ; your sgin iss 
 plack, but your 'art iss in de right blace." 
 
Terrific Combat in the Cavern. 315 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 TERRIFIC COMBAT IN THE CAVERN BETWIXT PETE KINCHEN, JIN- 
 ERAL BEAUREGARD, AND DE LITTLE OLE WHITE MAN. 
 
 FROM his post against the cavern wall Pete Kinchen had watched 
 with interest the proceedings by the water side, and heard every 
 word uttered either by the two before parting or by de little ole 
 white man in the melancholy soliloquy set forth in the last chapter. 
 When the light had entirely disappeared he rose, tired of his 
 crouching position, and stood close against the wall, with his dog 
 at his heels. There was no danger now of observation, and as 
 soon as de little ole white man had returned to his dram bottle and 
 his fire Pete would follow Alabama Sam down the creek, and, after 
 resuming his raiment, would proceed without delay to give Miss 
 Sue Bascombe the benefit of the highly important information that 
 had come into his possession. He shot his arms out in the dark 
 ness again and gave himself another lesson in gymnastics as he 
 stood waiting the time when the coast would be clear, and he 
 might set forth, with his dog in his arms, on his wet, winding, and 
 slippery journey to the outer world. 
 
 Some time in the pitch dark de little ole man sat by the water's 
 edge, soliloquizing occasionally, revolving deep problems in his 
 mind, warmed up, no doubt, occasionally by the liquor that had 
 gone down his throat. Finally, in pensive mood, he rose and set 
 forth on his return to his quarters, being minded when he got 
 there to take one more stout drink for a nightcap and then to 
 tumble into bed. He knew the route perfectly, but as he went 
 thrust his hand out at every few steps to touch the wall on his 
 right, and thereby avoid butting his head against some rough pro 
 jections that he remembered to be on the left side. It came to 
 pass after he had thus steered his course a short distance, that as 
 his right hand went forth on one of these errands he laid it in a 
 friendly way on the body of Pete Kinchen. who was standing close 
 against the wall with not the slightest idea that such a misadven 
 ture was about to befall him. 
 
316 The K. K. K. 
 
 When Robinson Crusoe came unexpectedly upon a human foot 
 print in the sand on his desert island he was appalled, and rashly 
 concluded that the devil had put it there. Crusoe made his amaz 
 ing discovery, be it remembered, in the broad open day time, and 
 had leisure to stand round and moralize on the singular spectacle 
 that had arrested his attention. What was his experience com 
 pared with that of our worthy old friend, who groping his way 
 toward his lonely couch suddenly encountered in the thick dark 
 ness and dead stillness of a cavern some cold, slick, quivering 
 object concerning which he could feel assured at the time of noth 
 ing more than that it was alive. Did any of you, my friends, in the 
 ups and downs of life ever meet with just such an adventure as 
 that ? I dare say not, and if not you can no more imagine the old 
 gentleman's sensations at the moment than I can describe them, 
 which I shall not be rash enough to undertake to do. 
 
 As for cogitation on the subject of his discovery there was time 
 for none, for as the old gentleman laid his open hand unwittingly 
 on the cold, slick something his fingers unconsciously clutched in 
 the effort to grasp it, and on the instant Pete shot out his right fist 
 with such vigor as to cause de little ole white man, though a half- 
 mile under ground, to see stars. 
 
 All alone, and in pitch darkness, the old gentleman, if strictly 
 sober, would most probably have turned and fled from his un 
 known adversary. But he was, as the reader knows, a little the 
 worse, or rather, a little the better, for liquor, and his courage, 
 therefore, considerably outran his discretion. I do not mean he 
 was drunk, for the old gentleman was not drunk, but simply that 
 he had been elevated into that frame of mind which makes a man 
 do and dare lofty things. Whatever our prohibition friends may 
 say to the contrary, I maintain, with St. Paul, that good liquor, 
 taken in moderation, is excellent for the stomach, and likewise 
 worketh well upon other parts of the system, making a man 
 oftentimes bold at a moment when it is incumbent upon him to dis 
 play valor. This was exactly the case on the present occasion with 
 the old gentleman, and, finding himself assaulted without provoca 
 tion, he struck out blindly in the dark on his own account and tried 
 to give the party of the second part whoever or whatever it 
 might be a Roland for an Oliver. Thereupon the two clinched, 
 and tussled, and shuffled, and strove mightily, up and down, and 
 sideways, and every way, in the terrific blackness of the cavern. 
 Now it would have seemed to the casual observer if a casual ob- 
 
Terrific Combat in the Cavern. 317 
 
 server had been possible that Pete was getting the better of the 
 exciting contest, and now it would have seemed that de little ole 
 white man was slightly in the lead ; but they fought and fought 
 with varying success and unabated vigor, and, of course, without 
 the slightest encouragement from outside source to brace up either 
 one or the other. 
 
 In penning the last paragraph I wrote without reflection. Jin- 
 eral Beauregard when hostilities began was crouching betwixt 
 Pete's legs, shivering violently, and turning over in his mind such 
 matters as presumably would occupy the mind of a dog in his pe 
 culiar situation. As soon as he became aware that a fight was in 
 progress and it took him not more than an instant to grasp this 
 fact he mixed up in it with the full intent to aid his friend as 
 much as he could and do the enemy all the damage possible. In 
 furtherance of this laudable purpose he sidled round and round 
 the combatants, avoiding Pete's lower extremities, and making 
 snatches at de little ole white man's legs as often as he could with 
 safety seize upon one of these. At first he made naturally a few 
 mistakes, and more than once got a taste of Pete's meat when it 
 had been his design to forage upon the enemy. After a brief ex 
 perience, however, he was enabled, either by the help of instinct or 
 reason, to avoid such awkward mistakes altogether. His nose no 
 doubt was cunning enough to detect the flavor of Pete's legs, and 
 to restrain his mouth as soon as he concluded to subject the latter 
 to the guidance of the former. Moreover, his friend's legs were 
 bare, while those of the enemy were clothed in the usual habila- 
 ments of the masculine human. The combat, therefore, had hardly 
 passed its incipient stage before Jineral Beauregard knew as well 
 when and where to use his jaws as if some one had been standing 
 by with a candle to enable him to act with discretion in the matter. 
 Fortunately for de little ole white man he wore next to his person 
 a thick buckskin undersuit, which he had adopted as a protection 
 against the raw atmosphere of the cavern, and which now served 
 him as a safeguard against the vengeance of Jineral Beauregard's 
 teeth. That heroic animal waged incessant war upon the lower ex 
 tremities of his antagonist, who was so busily engaged otherwise 
 that he could take no other notice of the dog's repeated assaults 
 than now and then to give a vigorous kick at him in the dark. 
 Finally discovering that his bite was not doing as much damage 
 as he contemplated the four-footed combatant rushed in upon the 
 biped he wished to embarrass, and, fixing his teeth firmly in the 
 
3i8 The K. K. K. 
 
 woolen and buckskin leggings of the latter, held on thereto like 
 grim death. Jineral Beauregard was a dog of great firmness and 
 singleness of purpose, and when he fixed his mind on a thing di 
 rected all his ideas and energies in that direction to the complete 
 oblivion of everything else. So having firm hold now on the lower 
 habiliments of de little ole white man, he shut his eyes tight 
 though he could not have seen a wink if they had been wide open 
 clinched his jaws with a lasting grip, and made ready to stay by 
 his antagonist to the end of the combat, and not to turn loose then 
 until he was choked off. He tugged and tugged, swung round and 
 round with the struggling bipeds, and seemingly had no more idea 
 of losing his hold than if his mouth had been a patent time lock 
 that would only come open at a certain fixed hour in the future, 
 no matter what effort might be made to unkey it sooner. 
 
 At this stage of the engagement I would call the reader's atten 
 tion to an important fact which gave no small advantage to Pete 
 and Jineral Beauregard, and militated greatly against de little ole 
 white man in the combat. 
 
 Pete Kinchen knew precisely who it was that was engaging his 
 attention at the moment; beyond all question Jineral Beauregard 
 understood it was human legs he was operating upon ; but de little 
 ole white man had not the slightest inkling as to the nature and 
 fashion of the creatures that had so unexpectedly beset him deep 
 down in the bowels of the earth. There were two or three circum 
 stances which, as the reader must agree, were calculated to add 
 to his perplexity and raise in his mind a reasonable doubt as to 
 whether his foemen, either or both, were of the human species, or, 
 indeed, were creatures of this earth at all. 
 
 Imprimis, not the slightest sound had been emitted by any of the 
 participants in this curious combat. De little ole white man himself 
 refrained from giving voice to his distress because he knew he had 
 no friend in the cavern, and to cry aloud might bring down on him 
 legions of other creatures similar to those he was now contending 
 with. Pete Kinchen persistently held his tongue because he appre 
 ciated the advantage he was reaping by keeping de little ole white 
 man completely in the dark as to who and what his antagonist 
 was, and because he feared if he spoke his opponent would recog 
 nize the voice of a child and be emboldened thereby. Jineral 
 Beauregard maintained profound silence for the sufficient reason 
 that he had been given to understand by the choking process 
 heretofore mentioned that he must be literally a dumb brute un- 
 
Terrific Combat in the Cavern. 319 
 
 til his commanding officer had given notice that his vocal organs 
 might once more be brought into play. So they all went round 
 and round, doing such mischief as they could, but raising no 
 other noise in the cavern than that of a light scraping upon the 
 loose sand of the floor. Presently the fact that this most as 
 tounding battle was being waged altogether in silence became 
 deeply impressed upon the mind of de little ole white man, and it 
 awed him. 
 
 Another circumstance which added to the perplexity of the 
 hard-pressed tenant of the cavern who felt he had rights there, 
 if anybody had rights was the singular method of waging war 
 adopted by the two creatures who were leagued against him. The 
 creature at his heels he might have taken for some kind of a var 
 mint, but what varmint was it that, emitting no cry, would attach 
 itself to a man's raiment, and seem content to live and die in that 
 position? De little ole white man was not a backwoodsman, but 
 he had never seen such a varmint, and did not remember ever to 
 have heard or read of such a one. But again, what awful, slick, 
 cold, slippery thing was this that now he held in his arms, and now 
 he didn't, and that fought as never human creature fought on this 
 planet since time began ? 
 
 I would have the reader bear in mind in this connection that 
 Pete Kinchen, while conducting this engagement, was as we 
 Latin scholars would say in puris naturalibus, which signifies, 
 being interpreted, in his birthday suit; or, to put it even more 
 pointedly, stark naked. His method of fighting was not uncom 
 mon among the negro boys with whom he usually consorted, but 
 it was brand new to the old gentleman with whom he was now 
 struggling for the mastery. De little ole white man was tough, 
 and, while undersized, was strong and active for one of his years. 
 He had been in his time somewhat of a scrapper, and thoroughly 
 understood the Queensbury rules and all the other rules that gov 
 ern gentlemen who have been trained in the noble and manly art 
 of fisticuffing. He could box with the best, would not sully his 
 reputation by striking his antagonist below the belt, and in wrest 
 ling could give the man in his arms such a squeeze that it would 
 crack his bones. All these achievements were easy to de little ole 
 white man, and consequently when drawn into a personal en 
 counter he usually began in confidence and concluded in triumph. 
 But what of this unmannerly creature that never had heard tell of 
 the Queensbury rules, or if familiar with them considered himself 
 
320 The K. K. K. 
 
 for some reason at liberty to disregard them all ? What kind of a 
 thing was that that bit, scratched, butted, pounded, tripped, and all 
 the while skipped about with such marvelous agility that violent 
 hands could not be laid on him at all ? What kind of a thing was 
 it that did all this while emitting no sound, and that was likewise 
 soft, cold, slippery, and smooth upon the surface? It was not 
 shaggy. It was not a wild beast. It was not a sea lion escaped 
 from a menagerie. It could not be a snake skipping about in this 
 mad fashion. " Py Apraham und te prophets* vot is it ? " ex 
 claimed the mystified old gentleman to himself, but, mind you, 
 altogether to himself, for he spake no word above his breath. 
 
 I remarked a few sentences back that good liquor taken in gen 
 tlemanly doses had a tendency to elevate the soul and infuse manly 
 courage into the human breast. I have been likewise informed by 
 those who claim 'to speak from experience that it will make the 
 best man in the world a little unsteady upon his pins. However 
 proudly he may carry himself, and howsoever confident he may be 
 of his ability to achieve wonders, there is always danger that he 
 will find at the critical moment his lower limbs not readily respon 
 sive to his will, so that it behooves him at all times to bear in mind 
 the scriptural injunction, " Let him that standeth beware lest he 
 fall." Now our worthy friend known to the Kinchen family as 
 " de little ole white man " had been considerably emboldened by 
 the strong waters that had gone into his stomach, and had thus 
 been induced to do battle manfully against unknown creatures in 
 the dark, but he did not possess perhaps quite that agility which 
 he might have displayed if his head and heart had both remained 
 entirely cool. He fought with more vigor, but without that discre 
 tion he would otherwise have exercised when contending against 
 shifty foemen. It therefore came to pass that when at a certain 
 stage of the combat Pete Kinchen with his heel knocked one of his 
 feet forward, and Jineral Beauregard at the same moment by hard 
 tugging pulled the other backward, the old gentleman was thrown 
 from his balance and fell, considerably to his own surprise, flat 
 of his back upon the ground. No sooner had he sustained this 
 serious reverse than Pete Kinchen boarded him and began feeling 
 for his neck with the evident intention of throttling him, and at 
 the same instant Jineral Beauregard released the hold he had so 
 long maintained upon his trousers leg and sprang upon him as if 
 he had been a coon just dropped to earth from the limb of a tree. 
 If these, two zealous coadjutors counted, however on making a 
 
Terrific Combat in the Cavern. 321 
 
 finish of their prostrate enemy there and then, they reckoned 
 without their host. De little ole white man was wiry and muscu 
 lar, and had no notion of ending his existence ingloriously in the 
 black depths of a cavern, and at the instance of two such foes as 
 he found himself pitted against. Hardly had he measured his 
 length upon the ground and felt Pete's clutch about his windpipe, 
 before, with vigorous effort of both arms and legs, he hurled into 
 ( outer darkness the creatures that had been atop of him, and, 
 springing nimbly to his feet, ran swiftly toward his private apart 
 ment not very far off in the cavern. 
 
 No sooner had de little ole white man deserted the field and 
 turned his back ingloriously upon the enemy, than was demon 
 strated in those who had made a combined assault upon him the 
 difference between instinct and reason. Peter Kinchen, being 
 mentally able to weigh facts and draw conclusions, did not believe 
 that de little ole white man was fleeing in terror, but rather that his 
 purpose in retiring so speedily was to arm himself and renew the 
 combat with deadly weapons. He therefore, as soon as the old gen 
 tleman set out, took to his own heels in the opposite direction and 
 endeavored to widen the distance between them as rapidly as pos 
 sible. Jineral Beauregard, however, being incapable of balancing 
 probabilities in his narrower mind, followed blind instinct and 
 gave chase as soon as he found the object of his fury was endeav 
 oring to escape. 
 
 Pete Kinchen did not rush forward with reckless speed, but, 
 keeping his left hand always in touch with that side of the cavern, 
 he made all the haste possible, and did not even slacken his gait 
 when his feet and bare legs became submerged in the swift current 
 of the stream. He went on plunging down the current in the 
 darkness and had turned the first decided curve when he heard 
 the sharp report of a pistol ringing through all the narrow corri 
 dors of the cavern. Almost at the same moment Pete Kinchen 
 heard another sound that brought him to a halt at once and caused 
 his heart to give a great leap in his bosom. It was the agonized 
 cry of a dog, and that dog he knew was Jineral Beauregard. 
 
 Promptly the lad turned back and waded upstream again until 
 he reached the sandy bottom of the dry passage. Here he waited 
 a long time, but not the slightest sound of any kind fell on his ear. 
 Once or twice he whistled very softly to notify the little dog he was 
 in waiting, but his faithful companion did not respond, Then the 
 truth forced itself home on the mind of the child, and he bowed 
 
322 The K. K. K. 
 
 his head and wept bitterly, but in silence. His dog was dead. The 
 trusty little fellow, he knew, would not have uttered a sound had 
 not the cruel bullet forced a cry of anguish from him ; and even 
 then had life been spared he would have crawled down the dark 
 passage to the water's edge, to join there the companion whose 
 kindly signal had summoned him. His dog was dead. The com 
 rade of many a tramp through field and wood, his closest friend 
 and playmate, he would see no more. 
 
 Turning his steps again downstream the boy, with choking sobs 
 and scarcely conscious of whither he was going, took his way 
 through the winding channel and reached the spot where he had 
 left his clothing. Hastily he resumed his two or three garments 
 and passed onward to the mouth of the cave and thence down the 
 declivity to the road that ran beyond. As he went his grief over 
 mastered him, and, unable to restrain himself, he quickened his 
 pace and ran, sobbing and crying aloud, a long way Then he 
 halted and sat down by the root of a large tree, where he and the 
 dog had rested more than once before. Against this he leaned his 
 head, having no heart to rise and go further. His burst of grief 
 was over, but broken sobs again and again escaped him as he re 
 clined his head against the rough bark of the tree and bent his 
 heavy eyes aimlessly into the shadows of the night. 
 
 In one of the most pathetic passages of holy writ we are told 
 that when the Saviour of mankind sought a few of his compan 
 ions at the darkest period of their cheerless lives He found them 
 sleeping for sorrow. It is a blessed provision of our frail nature 
 that whenever in the hour of some great trouble keen misery holds 
 and racks us beyond the power of human endurance, our over 
 wrought faculties at last find relief in slumber. Out in the lonely 
 wood, stretched now upon the bare, cold earth, and wrestling with 
 his grief, the negro boy fell asleep. In his troubled dreams a sense 
 of misery haunted him for a long while, and from time to time a 
 broken sob escaped him as he lay. Then deep slumber banished 
 even this lingering phantom of the mind, and with all his senses 
 locked fast from the outer world, sunk in complete unconscious 
 ness, he slept a blissful sleep. 
 
How a Young Lady TOOK a Horseback Ride. 323 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 WHICH TELLS HOW A YOUNG LADY TOOK A HORSEBACK RIDE AND 
 MADE A MURDEROUS ASSAULT ON A POOR OLD BEGGAR. 
 
 THE sun was shining high in the heavens when the lad awoke 
 next morning. As he opened his eyes and looked about him the 
 first sharp recollection was of the great loss he had sustained ; the 
 second was of the plan he had heard unfolded in the cavern to mur 
 der Randolph Pearson on that very night. The man against whom 
 the conspiracy had been formed was in St. Louis, and was to be 
 assassinated that night on his ride homeward from the depot at the 
 foot of the ridge. Miss Sue Bascombe must be notified, and that 
 without a moment's delay, for there was barely time now to send 
 a messenger to the depot in time to warn Pearson of his danger. 
 
 The boy sprang to his feet, and, without stopping anywhere 
 upon the road to get a morsel to stay his hunger, made all possible 
 speed toward the farmhouse where he expected to find the young 
 lady who was to be intrusted with his startling communication. 
 When he reached the place it was past noon, and the child, worn 
 with grief and excitement, and faint from hunger and long travel, 
 was almost exhausted. Sue Bascombe would not permit him to 
 talk until he had taken some nourishment, and then she examined 
 and cross-examined him on his remarkable experience the night 
 before in the cavern. He told a plain unvarnished tale that carried 
 conviction with it, and the girl lost not a moment in considering 
 what should be done in the emergency that confronted her. She 
 ordered her horse, Dandy Jim, to be saddled at once and brought 
 round to the gate. While this order was being obeyed she donned 
 her riding-skirt and hat and wrote a short note to Teddy Mclntosh, 
 asking him to join her without delay at Baker's Station, near the 
 foot of the ridge. These preliminaries hurriedly dispensed with 
 she took her seat in the saddle and turned her horse's head toward 
 Baker's depot. The afternoon was now considerably advanced, 
 and the place she wished to reach was fifteen miles away. 
 
324 The K. K. K. 
 
 The girl rode rapidly, knowing that night would certainly 
 overtake her before she reached her destination and wishing to 
 cover as much of the distance by daylight as possible. There was 
 time enough to catch the train, for it was not due at the depot 
 until after seven o'clock, nearly four hours from the time at 
 which she left home. One circumstance, however, delayed her and 
 caused her considerable apprehension before she completed her 
 journey. She knew the main route well, for she had traveled it 
 often, but now she was compelled to leave this road and travel a 
 more circuitous one, to avoid passing the spot where she knew the 
 negro was lying in wait to murder Pearson. At first her determi 
 nation was to ride boldly by this place, trusting that the assassin, 
 having no motive for disturbing her, would suffer her to pass un 
 molested. She carried in her bosom the trusty little Smith & Wes 
 son pistol which Lawyer Slowboy had returned to her after his ex 
 citing experience with the hobgoblins, and thus felt able to defend 
 herself even in case she was halted on the way by any one with evil 
 intent. As she galloped, however, in the fast declining day along 
 the first half of her route she reflected that the negro would almost 
 certajnly recognize her as she passed his place of hiding and would 
 divine her motive in traveling alone to the depot at that particular 
 time. He might undertake to stop her bodily, or, still more prob 
 able, he might shoot her from his place of concealment, and thus 
 frustrate her purpose to notify Pearson. She, therefore, turned 
 aside, before she reached this spot and took a less- frequented route, 
 which she had never traveled before. Night was now approaching, 
 the evening was cloudy, anjd she was compelled to stop at several 
 farmhouses by the roadside to inquire the way. Her purpose had 
 been simply to make a circuit around the spot where the negro lay 
 concealed and get back into the main highway again after going 
 a short distance, but this, in consequence of intervening woods and 
 fences, she could not do. She pursued her way through narrow 
 lanes, stopping often to make inquiries, and losing, as she knew, 
 valuable time in doing so. She thought seriously at this stage of 
 her journey of taking some of the white people along the road into 
 her confidence and having the negro arrested before he could carry 
 out his purpose, but this plan she soon dismissed as not feasible. 
 She was among strangers, and while she wasted time in the effort 
 to have the assassin apprehended Pearson might leave the 
 depot and reach the spot chosen for his murder. The 
 best plan was to intercept and warn him, and then to 
 
How a Young Lady Took a Horseback Ride 325 
 
 take steps for the arrest not only of the negro who 
 was lying in wait, but of the villainous old white man who 
 was the guiltier of the two conspirators. So concluding she 
 urged her horse onward, made her inquiries as few as possible 
 and always to the point, and anxiously bent her efforts toward 
 reaching Baker Station before the arrival of the down train. For 
 tunately as she blundered along in an unknown section of country 
 she encountered an old negro in the road, and for the remuneration 
 of twenty-five cents induced him to pilot her back into the main 
 highway which she had left. This he did by the expeditious 
 method of taking down fences, crossing new plowed fields, and 
 conducting her through thick woods where she had to lie almost 
 flat to keep from being swept from the saddle. It was best in the 
 end, however, for when she had thus forged ahead slowly for the 
 better part of an hour she was once more in the road she had left, 
 and could hasten on to the end of her journey. 
 
 " I ain't gwy ax you what business you got out at dis time o* 
 night by yourself," said the old man as he took the quarter, " but 
 I'm gwy say de rule in dese parts is for de gentleman to do de 
 ridin' and de lady to set up in de parlor and wait for him. Ef 
 you're runnin' away to git married which I knows you is you 
 must have a mighty pokey young man for a beau, or he'd a gone 
 atter you and tuck you to de squire's house. Dat's de way for 
 a young gentleman to act, mistiss, and you mustn't git mad at my 
 tellin' you so." 
 
 Sue Bascombe was a queer girl. She neither laughed at nor 
 resented the old negro's well-meant advice. " Uncle," she re 
 plied quietly, as she fixed her skirts for a rapid gallop, " I say to 
 you in confidence that I think you're exactly right about this 
 matter. The man I'm hunting is a little pokey, but I'm going after 
 him all the same. In. these times a girl must do the best she can, 
 you know." Whereupon she gave Dandy Jim a keen cut with the 
 whip and left her guide without another word. 
 
 " Dat's a cur'ous gal as ever I seed," remarked the old negro to 
 himself as the damsel ran away from him at almost break-neck 
 speed. 
 
 As she hurried onward she wondered if Teddy Mclntosh was not 
 ahead of her. If he got her message promptly he would lose no 
 time in setting forward upon her track, and perhaps by this time 
 had already reached the depot. If so he would wonder why she 
 was not there. Thinking of Teddy reminded her that he had doubt- 
 
326 The K, K. K. 
 
 less passed the place where the negro lay concealed, or would have 
 to pass it if he was still in the rear. Would any effort be made to 
 assassinate him ? She thought not, for Pearson seemed to be the 
 special object of hatred on the part of the old white man who had 
 prompted the negro to murder. If the negro should kill somebody 
 else and not Pearson, he would defeat the purpose his principal 
 had in view. At any rate, she had not the ght to warn Mclntosh 
 against passing the spot; could not well have done so in a note 
 without going into explanations that could not be intrusted to 
 paper. Teddy, she persuaded herself, would get through all right. 
 She would either find him at the station house or he would get 
 there soon after she reached the place. She had no watch, but she 
 knew it was now about train time. She was near enough to the 
 station, however, to have heard the whistle if the locomotive had 
 stopped there, and the sound had not yet reached her ear. She had 
 not heard the engine whistle for the top of the ridge, and she knew 
 some minutes must elapse after it started on the down grade before 
 it reached Baker Station below. She hurried on, therefore, confi 
 dent that she was not too late, but feeling the importance of wast 
 ing not a moment's time, and presently as she reached the summit 
 of a hill was cheered by the twinkle of a light at the station. 
 
 She set forth down the declivity at a brisk canter. The timber 
 had been cleared away near the summit, and she could see fairly 
 well down the road ahead of her. When Dandy Jim had galloped 
 a short way he suddenly shied, and the girl saw a man standing 
 on the side of the road. He was undersized and held a long cane 
 or walking stick in his hand. This figure now advanced slowly 
 into the center of the highway, and, grasping his long stick in his 
 left hand, held the right out in a supplicating manner. 
 
 " 'Elp te poor plind man," said the beggar in a whining tone. 
 " 'Elp te plind man, for te luff uff Cot." 
 
 " I have nothing for you," replied the girl. " Stand aside and 
 let me pass." 
 
 The beggar kept his place in the center of the highway and still 
 held out his hand. " 'Elp te plind man," he cried piteously. " 'Elp 
 te plind man, laty." 
 
 " How do you know it's a lady before you ? " asked Sue Bas- 
 combe, for she greatly distrusted the whining beggar. 
 
 " Ah, mine Cot, te sweet voice; te sweet voice." 
 
 Sue Bascombe tightened the bridle rein in her hand and drew 
 her horse back a few steps. She eyed the supplicating figure 
 
How a Young Lady Took a Horseback Ride. 327 
 
 as best she could in the misty light. His head was bent low ; he 
 seemed to grope his way as he proceeded, but he advanced now 
 slowly toward her with his right hand extended. 
 
 " 'Elp, for te luff uff Cot. 'Elp, for te luff uff Cot," cried the 
 blind man piteously, as he tottered toward her. 
 
 She gave the rein a sudden jerk, and the horse backed a few 
 steps up the hill. The blind man still advanced, groping his way. 
 1 'Elp, for te luff uff Cot. 'Elp, for te luff uff Cot," he cried 
 more beseechingly. 
 
 " Stand back," said the girl firmly. " Stand back, I tell you." 
 
 " 'Elp te plind man, laty. 'Elp te plind man, laty." 
 
 " Stand back, I tell you." 
 
 She reined her horse back a second time, and he followed her 
 more rapidly. His right hand was still extended. Was it to 
 solicit alms or was it to seize her bridle rein ? 
 
 " 'Elp te plind man." 
 
 " Stand back." 
 
 ; ' 'Elp te plind " 
 
 The girl drew a pisol from her bosom, pointed it toward him 
 and without a moment's hesitation pulled the trigger. There was a 
 flash, a loud report, and the beggar dropped his stick and fell to 
 the earth. He was not killed, however, for he immediately tried to 
 rise again, and made, as Sue Bascombe thought, a suspicious move 
 ment with his right hand toward his hip pocket. 
 
 " Let that pistol alone," said the girl calmly. "If you try to 
 draw it here I'll finish you." 
 
 " Ah, mine Cot, mine Cot," cried the beggar extending himself 
 upon the ground. " Vot a country, vot a beoples." 
 
 Fortunately at this stage of the game Sue Bascombe heard the 
 sound of a horse's feet on the road behind her. She held her 
 weapon on the prostrate man and waited for the rider to 
 approach. She hoped it would prove to be Teddy Mclntosh has 
 tening to join her at the station, and when the horseman drew 
 near she found it was Teddy. 
 
 " What's up ? " inquired that impetuous youth, who had heard 
 the pistol shot, and now found the young lady halted upon the 
 highway. 
 
 " I'm afraid I've done something desperate, Teddy," replied 
 Miss Bascombe. 
 
 " What's that?" 
 
 " I believe I've killed a man." 
 
328 The K. K. K. 
 
 "Who is he?" 
 
 " I don't know. He pretends to be a beggar and maybe he 
 
 ""What did he do?" 
 
 " He kept coming toward me. I ordered him to halt, and he 
 didn't." 
 
 The blind man lay in the road and groaned dismally. 
 
 " He ain't dead," said Teddy Mclntosh. " You say you don't 
 know him ? " 
 
 " I do not," replied the girl. " Never met him before." 
 
 " He didn't know you either," said Teddy, " or he would have 
 stopped when you told him." After which significant remark he 
 dismounted, gave his bridle rein to the young lady and went to 
 examine the prostrate man. 
 
 The beggar lay in the road, drawing his breath painfully, and 
 occasionally heaving a deep groan. 
 
 " Who are you ? " inquired Mclntosh, stooping down and peer 
 ing into his face. 
 
 " A plind man," said the other in piteous tones. " Plind and 
 lame ; plind and lame, mine frient. Te laty haff shot a plind man. 
 Mine Cot, a poor plind man." 
 
 " Look for his pistol, Teddy," interjected Miss Bascombe. " I 
 believe he has one." 
 
 Teddy Mclntosh examined, and sure enough found a pistol in 
 the hip pocket of the beggar. " What are you doing with this? " 
 he inquired rather sternly of the wounded man. 
 
 " Ah, mine Cot, effry dog parks at te lame peggar ; te plind 
 lame peggar." 
 
 " Take it away from him, Teddy,'" commanded the young 
 lady, and Teddy put the weapon in his own pocket. 
 
 The wounded man breathed now with much more difficulty, 
 and apparently was sinking fast. " Hold me up, mine frient/' 
 he said to Mclntosh beseechingly. " For Cot's sake, raise me up 
 a leetle vile." 
 
 Mclntosh complied with the request, lifting the wounded man's 
 head and shoulders from the ground. 
 
 " I veel a leetle petter," said the blind man faintly. " Vot ish 
 dis ? Voo ish dis apout me ? Is tis mine prudder Shacob ? " 
 
 " I am a stranger," replied Teddy Mclntotsh, " but I will take 
 care of you the best I can.* I am sorry the accident occurred." 
 
 " 'Tis pity, 'tis pity," said the blind man. " But, mine frient, 
 
How a Young Lady Took a Horseback Ride. 329 
 
 vot for I zay 'tis pity. For te rich and broud to pass avay 'tis 
 pity; but for te poor plind man to leafe tis vicked vorld 'tis no 
 pity. I vill now leafe you, mine frients, and I leafe mine plessing 
 behint me. Te plind, lame peggar vill peg no more in tis vicked 
 vorld. Coot py, effrypody." 
 
 " I believe the old man's going sure enough," said Mclntosh. 
 " I can hardly hold him up." 
 
 " Lay him down as easily as you can," replied Sue Bascombe, 
 who was evidently deeply moved by the reflection that she had 
 taken the old man's life. 
 
 " Hold me a leetle vile," said the old beggar gently " a leetle 
 vile, mine frients; shust a leetle vile. It ish no matter. Te 
 coot laty made a mishtake ; tat vas all. Zay to te vorld dat I do 
 forgiff de coot laty for de mishtake vot she haff made. Ah, 
 mine Cot, shust now I vos unkery and pegged for pread. Zoon 
 I vill pe unkery no more. To shoot a plind, lame peggar; 'tis 
 small matter, mine frient, and I pray you vill tink notting uff it." 
 
 " Hold him up, Teddy, as long as you can," said Miss Bas 
 combe. " I'm sorry I shot him." 
 
 " Hold me a leetle vile," said the old man faintly. " Ten lay 
 me town for coot and all. Mine frients, I haff a vord for you. 
 Ven you meet te poor plind man upon de road, unkery and cold, 
 do not shute him, mine frients, but giff him pread. Dat ish 
 pizness. Tell mine prudder Shacob I vos shot for nutting, and 
 I leafe mine plessing upon all de vorld pehint me. Ven I am gone 
 avay put von leetle gravestone at my 'ead, and write on dis dat 
 de coot laty zhot te poor plind peggar for nutting, and de poor 
 plind peggar did forgiff her for his murter. Ah, mine thrue 
 frients, hold me up no furter. Shust lay me town and let me 
 leafe dis vicked vorld. Coot py, mine prudder Shacob. Coot 
 py, effrypody." 
 
 " Lay him down, Teddy," said Miss Bascombe gently, " and 
 run for the doctor." 
 
 " I believe the old fellow is gone," exclaimed Teddy Mclntosh. 
 The blind beggar had stretched himself at full length upon the 
 earth, and after a deep groan remained perfectly quiet. 
 
 " Run for the doctor, Teddy," repeated the young lady. 
 
 " Must I leave you here ? " 
 
 " Why certainly. You found me here." 
 
 Teddy Mclntosh took the bridle rein of his horse from the 
 girl's hand and mounted the animal in haste. 
 
330 The K. K. K. 
 
 " This is a bad business," he said to Sue as he was about to set 
 off. 
 
 " I am afraid so, but it can't be helped now," replied the girl. 
 " You go to the depot yonder, Teddy, and leave word for Ran 
 Pearson to come on here as soon as he gets off the train. Then 
 you fetch a doctor, Teddy, right away. I'll stay here till you get 
 back." 
 
 " A doctor can't help the old man, but I'm off," replied Teddy 
 Mclntosh, and he immediately made good his assertion by 
 setting forward at a rapid gait down the hill toward the depot. 
 
 The blind beggar lay in the road perfectly still. The dim out 
 lines of his figure were visible to the girl, who sat on horseback a 
 few yards away. She was perfectly still, of course, for there was 
 no one to talk to, and Sue Bascombe was not in a talkative mood. 
 To stand guard over a corpse is a serious business ; and if the sen 
 tinel is solely responsible for the presence of the corpse it is a very 
 serious business. The stars looked down frostily from above, and 
 their pale shimmer gave to every object around a ghostly appear 
 ance. The clatter of the horse galloping away could be heard 
 almost to the depot, and the noise, as long as she could distinguish 
 it, made the girl feel a little less lonely. Now she heard the 
 whistle of the engine and the rumble of the train at Ridgetop, 
 and knew in a few minutes more it would come to a halt at Baker's 
 three miles below. Dandy Jim fidgeted about a little in the road, 
 but the girl sat immovable in the saddle. She slipped the pistol 
 back into her bosom and tied a handkerchief about her throat, for 
 it was getting chilly. The blind beggar lay motionless in the road, 
 and she concluded, with Teddy Mclntosh, that the doctor would 
 avail nothing when he came. A prowling dog came trotting down 
 the road and began to sniff at the corpse, but at the sharp com 
 mand of the girl he ran away. With almost a steady roar the 
 train rolled down around the dangerous curves of the ridge, and 
 she heard first the whistle and then the bell proclaiming the stop 
 at Baker Station. 
 
 Sue Bascombe heard these sounds, and calculated that in fifteen 
 minutes, or less time, Teddy Mclntosh, and probably Pearson, 
 would arrive and relieve her from duty. She sat motionless on 
 the back of her horse and anxiously awaited their approach. 
 She was growing now a little nervous, for the dead man was un 
 pleasant company. She did not look at him as he lay in the road. 
 She looked persistently over him and to objects far beyond, but 
 she knew he was there just the same. 
 
How a Young Lady Took a Horseback Ride. 331 
 
 Suddenly an incident occurred so surprising in its nature that 
 it gave the young lady quite a shock, though as a rule she wasn't 
 an easy girl to shock. As she looked above the tree tops and 
 strained her ears to catch the sound of approaching horsemen, 
 the dead man suddenly jumped up from the middle of the road 
 and ran away. He ran swiftly, and in zig-zag fashion, so that 
 in the misty light it was difficult to get a crack at him ; but Miss 
 Bascombe did pull her pistol promptly, and drew trigger with 
 little expectation let us hope of striking the fugitive. She 
 fired once, she fired twice; she took pretty good aim at the 
 shadowy figure darting down hill like a rabbit and fired a third 
 time. Then she lifted her voice for Sue Bascombe was a queer 
 girl and gave a shrill yell all by herself up there on the hill. The 
 blind beggar from a position he now deemed secure replied loudly 
 in broken English, and in terms the reverse of complimentary. At 
 this Miss Sue Bascombe fell into a fit of boisterous laughter, all 
 by herself up there on the hill. 
 
 Pretty soon under whip and spur back rode Teddy Mclntosh, 
 with Mr. Ran Pearson close behind him. 
 
 " Name o' common sense," cried Teddy in great astonishment. 
 " What what what's up ? " for he had heard, mind you, 
 the pistol shots, the yell, and then the laughter. 
 
 " Oh, nothing," replied Miss Bascombe. " The dead man has 
 run away, Teddy, that's all." 
 
 " Well, I will be " began Teddy. 
 
 " Ahem," interjected Miss Bascombe. 
 
 " Confound the luck," cried Teddy, having not yet overcome 
 his astonishment. " The old scoundrel took to his heels, you 
 say?" 
 
 " That's what he did," replied the young lady. " And, Teddy, 
 considering the fact that he was blind, lame, and a dead man, 
 he ran remarkably well." 
 
 Mclntosh at this remained silent, having fallen into a sort of 
 brown study. 
 
 " And, Teddy," pursued the young lady, " I'm very glad you 
 took his pistol away from him. Otherwise " 
 
 " Otherwise what ? " inquired the young gentleman. 
 
 " Otherwise," said Miss Bascombe, " I think you would have 
 found a dead girl up here on the hill and the old scoundrel 
 missing, as he is now." 
 
 Then the three sat on their horses in the highway and held a 
 
332 The. K. K. K. 
 
 council of war. The conclusion was unanimously reached that 
 the blind beggar was the shifty individual known to those present 
 as the father of Cross-eyed Jack; and known to Patsy Kinchen's 
 household as " de little ole white man." Sue Bascombe declared 
 she had suspected as much when she shot him, but his subsequent 
 behavior had led her for the moment astray. His motive for 
 being out on the highway was perhaps to notify his confederate, 
 by some agreed signal, that Pearson was on the road to the spot 
 selected for his assassination. When Sue Bascombe came riding 
 rapidly in the night toward Baker Station he divined her pur 
 pose and determined to frustrate her effort to warn Pearson. 
 
 " He was frightened away from Crawfish Cave," said Sue Bas 
 combe, " by a dreadful fight he had there last night in the dark 
 with Pete Kinchen. At least I reckon the place was too lonesome 
 for him after his experience." Then she narrated hurriedly what 
 Pete had told her, thus explaining the fact of her dwn presence 
 now on the road to Baker Station. 
 
 " And I think I can tell you," said Teddy Mcintosh, " why the 
 old man was so anxious to put Pearson out of the way right now. 
 They are going to have a special term of the court down at 
 Coopertown, to try Cross-eyed Jack over again. Nothing would 
 do Palaver but that another hearing should be had right away, 
 and the judge has so ordered. The prisoner has already been 
 taken from Nashville and lodged in the Coopertown jail ; and the 
 subpoenas are out for the witnesses in the case. Now, it's as plain 
 as the nose on a man's face that they were bent on murdering 
 Ran Pearson at once to keep him from working up the case for 
 the prosecution, as he did before." 
 
 Then the three laid their heads together and fell upon a plan by 
 which they hoped to secure the person of the negro, Alabama Sam, 
 before he could be warned that there was danger for him ahead. 
 This plan, however, failed, for when an hour later a posse reached 
 the spot where he had lain hid, they found abundant evidence of 
 his having been there, but him they discovered not. Miss Sue 
 Bascombe lodged that night at a farmhouse near by ; and the next 
 morning she, Mr. Randolph Pearson, and Mr. Teddy Mcintosh 
 rode like good friends, as they were, back to their own neighbor 
 hood. 
 
A Second Trial of the Ankerstrom Case. 333 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 A SECOND TRIAL OF THE ANKERSTROM CASE IN THE INFERIOR COURT 
 
 RESULTS IN A HUNG JURY LAWYER PALAVER TAKES A DRINK 
 
 WITH AN AGREEABLE YOUNG GENTLEMAN. 
 
 ON the very next day an expedition was formed, with Teddy 
 Mclntosh at the head, for the more thorough exploration of 
 Crawfish Cave. Everybody knew where the cave was. Everybody 
 knew there was excehent picnic ground at the wide mouth, and a 
 subterraneous passage extending a good way back, along which 
 young people of frolicksome turn frequently trod with lighted 
 candles. Everybody knew this much, but everybody did not know 
 that good fighting ground and lodging for travelers and 
 stabling for horses could all be obtained by ascending the swift 
 current of the stream that filled the dark channel through which 
 it ran to a point above where another smooth, dry passage opened 
 up, affording abundant room for all these purposes. When 
 Pete's tale got abroad and it was all over the neighborhood by 
 sunrise next morning a company of adventurous youths was 
 speedily formed to put his marvelous story to the test. Teddy 
 Mclntosh elected himself captain of this scouting party, and he 
 soon had at his heels a score or more of bold followers who were 
 resolved to) see for themselves how matters stood along the head 
 waters of Crawfish Creek. When this party reached the mouth 
 of the cave they found a mixed and motley crowd assembled 
 there, all eagerly discussing the Kinchen narrative, and all ready 
 to venture forward, but for this or that impediment which at the 
 moment was insuperable. 
 
 The Mclntosh expedition, being composed in the main of hardy 
 youths, made its way through this promiscuous assemblage and 
 disrobed at the point where the creek came rushing down through 
 its own narrow channel. Each man tied his raiment up in a tight 
 bundle, which was fastened securely about his neck, and held in 
 his hand a pistol or repeating rifle, which wis to be carried above 
 
334 The K. K. K. 
 
 his head when the advance began. Pete Kinchen had been among 
 those who stood at the mouth of the cave when the scouting party 
 came up. He followed this party back into the interior, and while 
 the members were disrobing made a suggestion which most of 
 them thought valuable. 
 
 " If you gen'lemun," said Pete, " wade up dis creek wid lan 
 terns, and makin' a racket, one man kin shoot down fum de upper 
 eend and kill ev'y last one of ye." 
 
 This proposition being assented to by all present, the lad ven 
 tured another suggestion, which was promptly accepted as a sen 
 sible one by Captain Mclntosh and his brave men. 
 
 " I kin wade up dar all by myself in de dark, makin' no more 
 noise dan de water will make splashin' gin de rocks. Ef I don't 
 come back pooty soon you may know I'm waitin' for you on de 
 dry ground whar me and de ole man fit. Ef I does come back I 
 kin tell you what 'twas dat made me come back." 
 
 This manly proposition not only elevated Pete in the estimation 
 of his fellow adventurers, but convinced the most skeptical that 
 the lad had not fabricated when he gave an account of his previous 
 journey along the same route. Alone and in the dark, therefore, 
 Pete Kinchen set out upon his second ascent of the stream, taking 
 this time his raiment with him, to be donned when he should once 
 more set foot upon dry ground. After waiting a half hour 
 without hearing from him Captain Mclntosh concluded he had 
 either been killed outright or had secured a footing in the enemy's 
 country without being assailed, and as the latter supposition was 
 the most probable he set forward with his band up the creek. 
 
 They proceeded, without serious adventure, single file and in 
 dead silence, till the lantern of the foremost of the party disclosed 
 the lad standing alone on dry ground just ahead of them. He 
 had clothed himself and had advanced cautiously as far as the 
 guest chamber without discovering any sign of life in the cavern. 
 The exploring party, when this intelligence was imparted, went 
 forward with less apprehension of being resisted, but still with 
 caution, till they became convinced that the recent occupants had 
 vacated their underground abode. They entered the guest 
 chamber and found the ashes of the fire around which Alabama 
 Sam and de little ole white man had discussed the murder of 
 Pearson while Pete was eavesdropping in the dark passage 
 without. By close inspection they even discovered human foot 
 prints in the cold embers, left there doubtless by the old gentle* 
 
A Second Trial of the Ankerstrom Case. 335 
 
 man in his effort to extinguish the last spark before he vacated the 
 premises, though, as one of the party remarked, there wasn't much 
 danger of setting his house on fire. The floor of this guest 
 chamber has since been damaged by a large fragment of rock 
 that fell from the ceiling above and broke into two or three pieces, 
 but at the time Teddy Mclntosh and his band visited the place it 
 was smooth enough for sure-footed revelers to have danced a 
 cotillion upon. 
 
 Continuing their search the explorers found, stuck here and 
 there in crannies, a good many empty bottles, a dirty deck of cards, 
 and a well-thumbed copy of " The Life and Adventures of Jack 
 Sheppard," which Mr. Hardrider had generously left for the 
 edification of any future occupant of the cavern, who, like himself, 
 might be of literary turn. They discovered also, a good way back 
 in the cavern, a locked tin box, containing a ham, a jar of pickles, 
 a few tins of canned goods, several loaves of bread, and a quart 
 bottle of whisky, full and tightly corked These supplies had 
 undoubtedly been secreted for the accommodation of the robbers, 
 or such of their friends as might find it expedient at any future 
 time to seek shelter in the cavern. About two hundred feet beyond 
 the guest chamber was the place where the horses had been 
 stabled, though all signs of its having been put to such use had 
 been removed as carefully as possible. One of the party measured 
 the width of the cavern at this point by stepping across it at the 
 widest place. He found the distance to be a little more than thir 
 teen paces, or, by estimation, about thirty-one feet. The roof at 
 this part of the passage was considerably higher than a man's 
 head. 
 
 It is to be hoped the sympathetic reader has not forgotten the 
 little fox terrier that so valiantly chased the robber to his den on 
 the occasion of Pete's first visit and came to grief thereby. If 
 the reader has overlooked the fact that the brave little creature 
 was still somewhere in the depths of the cavern, he may be sure 
 Pete Kinchen's memory was not so treacherous. The main pur 
 pose of the lad in attaching himself to Captain Mclntosh's band of 
 explorers was to make diligent search for his dog and bring him 
 forth, dead or alive. So completely did the thought of his com 
 rade, Jineral Beauregard, fill the mind of the negro lad, that the 
 entire force advancing into the bowels of the earth took on the 
 character of a relief expedition, and for his own part he did 
 nothing from the time the others joined him in the dry passage but 
 
336 The K. K. K. 
 
 hunt for his dog with lantern and friendly whistle. For a long 
 while his quest was unrewarded, but finally those who were occu 
 pied at some distance away heard his glad shout announcing to the 
 subterranean world that the lost had been found. Presently the 
 glimmer of his lantern was seen, as he made his way rapidly 
 toward them, bearing his faithful four-footed companion in his 
 arms. Not only had he recovered his dog, but he had found him 
 alive, and his great white eyes and glistening teeth proclaimed 
 his unspeakable joy thereat. Jineral Beauregard, whose sands of 
 life had nearly run out, licked the boy gratefully on the cheek and 
 feebly wagged his stump of a tail, thereby indicating to all intelli 
 gent observers that the spirit indeed was willing, but the flesh was 
 weak. There was a deep gash across the back of his neck, where 
 the cruel bullet had plowed its way, and he was so faint from 
 hunger and pain that he could not stand at all upon his legs. 
 They bore him safely to the outer world, and I may say now, to 
 relieve the reader's anxiety, that he in due time recovered his 
 health, and from the moment he began again to stir abroad was the 
 observed of all observers wherever he went. 
 
 The time was now at hand when the witnesses in the famous 
 Ankerstrom case must again be gathered together and persuaded 
 or cajoled into going once more to court to testify. It was with 
 absolutely no hope of obtaining a conviction that Pearson devoted 
 himself to this task, but he wished the community to be spared of 
 what he thought to be the disgrace of a public acquittal. It had 
 been part of the plan of the secret order which had condemned 
 the prisoner to intercept the train that bore him from Nashville, 
 and to take him from the custody of the few guards that they 
 supposed would accompany him. This plan, however, had been 
 J frustrated by the unexpected withdrawal of the murderer, and 
 his transportation to the jail of the county where his former trial 
 had occurred. Here his case must again be heard by a jury, and 
 for the convenience of his attorneys he was sent down a few days 
 in advance of the time set for his second public trial. 
 
 Pearson, as said, entertained no hope of convicting the murderer 
 of Mrs. Bascombe after the most material evidence against him had 
 been eliminated from the case by the decision of the Supreme 
 Court of the State. The attorney-general, but for the earnest 
 protest of those most interested on the side of the prosecution, 
 would have entered a nolle prosequi and had the prisoner dis 
 charged. As it was he entered into the investigation with the 
 
A Second Trial of the Ankerstrom Case. 337 
 
 idea that an outrageous crime had been committed which ought 
 to be punished, and which he would make a desperate endeavor 
 to have punished whether the evidence justified a conviction or 
 not. A cur dog will fight desperately if his friends pat him on 
 the back in advance of the engagement, and the State's officer, who 
 was no cur dog by any means, was aroused to greater zeal in the 
 fight he was now to wage by the fact that a good many excellent 
 people were interested in his success and apparently expected 
 great things of him. 'Twere long to tell of the legal tilts, the sharp 
 thrusts, the keen retorts, the learned arguments, the appeals to 
 passion and sympathy, the bursts of eloquence, the ingenious 
 twisting of testimony, and the other concomitants of an important 
 criminal trial that took up the time of the court for an 
 other full week. Suffice it to say that at the end of the struggle 
 the attorney general was so far successful that the jury 
 failed to agree, and so was discharged without rendering any 
 verdict at all. Ten good and lawful men on their oaths, and with 
 such testimony as they had before them, were of opinion that a 
 verdict of not guilty should be rendered and the prisoner re 
 leased from the custody of the law. Two obstinate fellows held 
 out for conviction and the hanging of the prisoner, upon the 
 ground that he had certainly killed old Granny Bascombe, and the 
 fact that his guilt was not clearly proven in court ought not to 
 save his bacon. Our old friend Palaver was furious at the result, 
 the attorney-general was pleased, the prisoner was remanded to 
 jail, and the cause continued to the next term of the court. 
 
 " My man will be free by the time frost comes next fall," re 
 marked Palaver boastfully to a crolwd at the foot of the steps 
 when court had adjourned. " There is no evidence to convict 
 him, and there cannot be a second failure of justice. I shall ask 
 to have him admitted to bail as soon as the judge has leisure to 
 consider the matter." 
 
 The fact is, Palaver, smarting under defeat, was about to apply 
 for bail as soon as the jury was discharged, but he reflected that 
 he might avail himself of the opportunity the mistrial afforded him 
 to wrest a little more money out of his client. The case had been 
 contested more severely than he expected when he fixed his fee, 
 and all these delays and applications for bail ought to be compen 
 sated for by fresh drafts on the pocket of the venerable Olof 
 Ankerstrom, who Palaver had discovered though occasionally 
 reduced low, had some mysterious way of replenishing his ex- 
 
 14 
 
338 The K. K. K. 
 
 chequer. The lawyer therefore waited to confer with the old 
 gentleman, whom he had not seen of late, before making to the 
 honorable court a request for bail, which he had every reason to 
 believe would be granted when applied for. 
 
 On the evening following the day of the trial, when all the wit 
 nesses had gone their separate ways, and other matters had been 
 taken up, Palaver prior to wending his way homeward had stepped 
 into a saloon near his office to take an invigorating nip, and thus 
 prepare his mind for the restful influence of home. He was 
 standing at the bar, had given his order, and was stirring his 
 glass thoughtfully when he was accosted in a friendly way by a 
 young gentleman who had entered the saloon manifestly upon the 
 same business. 
 
 " Good-evening, Colonel," said the young gentleman, extend 
 ing his hand cordially as he spoke. 
 
 The lawyer raised his head and eyed the new-comer inquisi 
 tively to see if he could remember ever having met him before. 
 
 " My name is Galloway," said the young gentleman ; " nephew 
 of your old friend Galloway of Nashville. You don't know me, 
 Colonel, but I know you. I am studying law, and hope some 
 day to be able to make such an argument as I heard you make 
 not long ago before the Supreme Court in the Ankerstrom case. 
 That was a grand argument, Colonel, a grand argument. Every 
 body said so who heard it." 
 
 " It won the case," replied the lawyer complacently. " A good 
 speech, my young friend, is a speech that wins the lawsuit." 
 
 " So it is, so it is," said the young gentleman, bowing low to 
 his senior. " There can be no better definition of a good speech 
 than to say it is one that wins the lawsuit." 
 
 " The Colonel makes a good many speeches of that kind," in 
 terposed the friendly barkeeper. " The fact is, he don't make any 
 other sort." 
 
 The Colonel, manifestly pleased at finding himself held in such 
 high esteem, here pulled an assortment of silver coins from his 
 pocket preparatory to settling his little bill. 
 
 " Allow me," said the gracious young gentleman, and he passed 
 to the barkeeper a coin of sufficient denomination to pay for two 
 drinks. The Colonel bowed with dignity and also with affability. 
 It was a standing rule of his always to let the other fellow pay for 
 the drinks if he would. 
 
 " A good speech, as you say, Colonel," continued the pleasant 
 
A Second Trial of the Ankerstrom Case. 339 
 
 young gentleman, wiping his mouth, " is a speech that wins the 
 case. Spread-eagle oratory, and that sort of thing, counts for 
 little, I imagine, with an intelligent court." 
 
 " Not worth a d n," replied the Colonel. 
 
 " It may now/' pursued the agreeable young gentleman, " once 
 in a while make some impression on a jury " 
 
 " That's where it comes in," interrupted the Colonel, breaking 
 in on the young gentleman's remark. " You are seeking to qualify 
 yourself for the practice of my profession, and I tell you right 
 now that buncombe talk goes a long way with a jury." 
 
 " Gentlemen," chimed in the barkeeper, whose prophetic soul 
 recognized in this confab a second order for drinks, " walk into 
 the back room. You'll find seats there." 
 
 " Don't care if I do," replied the young gentleman, taking his 
 way into a snug apartment in the rear. 
 
 " Only for a few minutes," remarked the Colonel, following the 
 young gentleman's lead. 
 
 Here the two gentlemen sat discoursing for the space of ten 
 minutes, or some such matter, when the pleasant youth pro 
 pounded the following query : 
 
 " What remark was that, Colonel, which the governor of North 
 Carolina made to the governor of South Carolina ? " 
 
 " If his utterance has been correctly reported," replied the Colo 
 nel gravely, " he said it was a long time between drinks." 
 
 " Ha-ha-ha," laughed the two gentlemen in unison, and in re 
 sponse to a rap upon the table the barkeeper appeared with two 
 more glasses of liquor. 
 
 They sat chatting for another little while, and as they rose to 
 go the young gentleman remarked in a confidential manner : 
 
 " By the way, I heard a thing the other day, Colonel, that per 
 haps you ought to know. A friend of mine, a drummer, and a 
 pretty shrewd fellow, had just returned from the Marrowbone 
 Hills, and he said the folks up there were mad as tucker over the 
 decision of the Supreme Court in the Ankerstrom case. There was 
 a good deal of excited talk, he said, about sending a mob down 
 here to take Ankerstrom out of jail and hang him. There may 
 be nothing at all in the threat and I don't suppose there is but I 
 thought I'd let you know how the folks up there were plotting 
 mischief." 
 
 " Thank you, Galloway," replied the Colonel. " We have heard 
 all about that, but have not been in the least disturbed by the 
 
340 The K. K. K. 
 
 rumor, because a dozen mobs couldn't break open the jail here 
 and take a prisoner out. To save trouble, however, we're going to 
 send Ankerstrom back to Nashville without delay. We don't 
 want any rash attempts made here that may compel the officers to 
 shed blood." 
 
 " I see, I see," replied the pleasant young gentleman. " Well, 
 that course certainly is commendable and merciful. I hope if the 
 mob does come the jailer will be able to say to them truthfully that 
 the man they seek is no longer in his custody." 
 
 " He can certainly say that," replied the Colonel, " unless the 
 mob comes to-night. To-morrow evening we mean to send An 
 kerstrom back to Nashville. This, of course, is confidential." 
 
 " Of course," said the young gentleman. " Of c-o-u-r-s-e. I 
 see, Colonel, you keep your eyes open all the time." 
 
 " Nobody has ever caught me napping yet," replied the Colonel. 
 " In our profession, Galloway, a man must keep his eyes open all 
 the time." And the new acquaintances here shook hands cor 
 dially and parted with mutual esteem. 
 
 As the agreeable young gentleman walked down the street it 
 might have been observed that he bore a marvelous resemblance 
 to our farmer friend Teddy Mclntosh ; but we know it could not 
 have been Teddy because the young man had just told Colonel 
 Palaver that his name was Galloway, and that he was studying for 
 the law. When he had reached and turned a corner and, pro 
 ceeding on his way, had reached and turned another corner, he 
 came upon two other young men who seemingly had been waiting 
 for him. The three stood a while in close conference, and after 
 they separated one of the number went off by himself, and 
 mounting a horse set out at a pretty good gait in the direction 
 of the Marrowbone Hills. It was nearly night, but he rode as 
 if he meant to travel a considerable distance before his jaded steed 
 was permitted to enter a stable for rest and food. Mr. Galloway 
 and his remaining friend, having no pressing business on hand, 
 went to a tavern and supped and lodged, and next morning were 
 out upon the streets again. 
 
A Noted Individual Shuffles Off this Mortal Coil. 341 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 A NOTED INDIVIDUAL SHUFFLES OFF THIS MORTAL COIL, AND LEAVES 
 THE WORLD NONE THE POORER. 
 
 LATE in the afternoon following his pleasant confab with lawyer 
 Palaver, Mr. Galloway, having seen all the sights of the town, 
 concluded to take his departure. He and his friend strolled in a 
 leisurely way to the depot with the view of taking the northbound 
 train, and a few minutes after their arrival an officer came from 
 ihe jail, having in custody the prisoner, Ankerstrom, who was to 
 be escorted back to Nashville for safe keeping. A second officer 
 was along, perhaps merely as company for the first, perhaps 
 to assist in case the prisoner should make an effort to give leg 
 bail. 
 
 Before the arrival of the northbound train Mr. Galloway went 
 out and telegraphed to a friend living on the Nashville road that 
 two good mules could be bought at Coopertown upon reasonable 
 terms. Perhaps if Colonel Palaver had been present he might 
 have inquired if the young law student was also engaged in the 
 mule trade, but Colonel Palaver was not present, and conse 
 quently Mr. Galloway was not called upon to answer any ques 
 tions. 
 
 At Guthrie, Kentucky, there was a wait of something more than 
 an hour. At this point, as all well-informed persons know, the St. 
 Louis & Southeastern road crosses the Louisville & Memphis 
 Railroad, and passengers for Nashville from the latter road must 
 change cars. Mr. Galloway and his friend walked up and down 
 the long platform chatting pleasantly, and did not seem to mind 
 the delay at all. The officers in charge of Ankerstrom grew 
 somewhat impatient. The St. Louis train was nearly an hour 
 late, and they did not relish the idea of being compelled to post 
 pone their stay at Guthrie. They spoke their minds as freely in 
 the presence of the prisoner as if the latter had been stone deaf or 
 totally unfamiliar with the English language. 
 
342 The K. K. K. 
 
 " I don't like this here place at all," said the head officer to his 
 assistant, " and I never did like it." 
 
 " Me riother," replied the gentleman addressed. " It's a tick 
 lish place for them in our business, and that's a fact." 
 
 " It's pretty rough," continued the first, " that an officer can't 
 take a criminal from one place in Tennessee to another place in 
 Tennessee without having to go out of the State on his road. 
 And it's all the rougher that while you are out of the State with 
 your man you've got to stop and wait a couple of hours. All 
 sorts of things can happen in two hours." 
 
 " Our man might jump up and run " replied the assistant, " and 
 we dassn't shoot him, because over here in Kentucky we hain't 
 got him in legal custody." 
 
 " I'll put one ball in him if he tries that caper," said the head 
 officer nonchalantly, " though I may get took up the next minute 
 for shootin' inside the town limits. But what I'm afraid of is a 
 habeas corpus. Some Kentucky constable could read a little piece 
 of paper to us right now, and we'd have to give up this scoundrel 
 whether or no. I wonder the lawyers on this side of the line don't 
 'work that racket often on Tennessee officers." 
 
 " Did you ever know 'em do it ? " inquired number two. 
 
 " I 'member one time " began his superior, intending to 
 favor his companion with a chapter from the book of his individual 
 experience. 
 
 " Yonder she comes," interrupted the party of the second part, 
 as he observed a thin curl of smoke a mile or so away up the road. 
 
 " Now I feel easy," remarked the principal officer. " In ten 
 minutes more we'll be back in Tennessee again, and when I'm in 
 Tennessee I ask no odds of anybody." 
 
 Night had set in some time before, and the train made a pretty 
 sight as the cars rolled up to the platform. Johan Ankerstrom 
 was in excellent spirits for so sullen a fellow as he habitually was. 
 He had not cared to make a break from the officers and risk the 
 chances of being shot. He had no need of habeas corpus pro 
 ceedings in Kentucky, for the outlook in Tennessee was encour 
 aging, and he cherished a reasonable hope of being freed by legal 
 process in that State soon. 
 
 When they got aboard the train for Nashville the two officers 
 and their prisoner took the smoking-car, and Mr. Galloway and 
 his friend likewise took the smoking-car. At the various stations 
 along the route people got on and off as usual ; only it was noticed 
 
A Noted Individual Shuffles Off this Mortal Coil. 343 
 
 that on this occasion a good many more people got on than off. 
 By the time the engine whistled for the station called " Ridgetop " 
 the smoking-car was nearly full of men, an unusual circumstance. 
 
 At Ridgetop a party of young fellows got aboard, who were 
 manifestly resolved to make a night of it, and had already ad 
 vanced a considerable way in this laudable endeavor. They made 
 as if they would enter the ladies' coach, but the conductor politely 
 invited them into the smoking-car. 
 
 The train now began gliding rapidly down the hill. It was con 
 siderably behind time, and turned the many short curves in the 
 track with what seemed to be almost reckless rapidity. When 
 something more than half way down an accident occurred which 
 for the moment promised serious consequences. The train was 
 nearing the dangerous-looking bridge built in a semicircle 
 when a man suddenly stepped on the track in front and waved a 
 lantern furiously. Others appeared by his side flourishing their 
 hats, and crying aloud " Stop ! stop ! stop ! " The engineer, 
 being thus confronted in an alarming manner, reversed his engine, 
 bringing the train at once to a halt and flinging many of the pas 
 sengers from their seats. The drunken squad, supposing that a 
 promiscuous melee had begun, fell a fighting among themselves. 
 One flourished a stick and broke a lamp overhead. A second light 
 had been extinguished by the general shock, and only a single 
 lamp remained, which but feebly lit up the car. A great con 
 fusion of voices now arose ; some calling out to jump from the 
 train and others crying they were on the bridge, and to leap would 
 be death. 
 
 The officer in charge of the prisoner as soon as the shock came 
 was seized from behind by two or more persons and his arms held 
 fast. He called to his deputy by name, telling him to hold the 
 prisoner but the deputy had also been seized in like fashion with 
 himself. Ankerstrom had not been fettered as the precaution 
 had been deemed unnecessary for so short a journey and now 
 stood hesitating while the hubbub about him increased. " Run," 
 whispered one to him as he stood uncertain. " Run, you fool." 
 He leaped over the back of the seat and started for the nearest 
 door. 
 
 " Catch the prisoner ! " cried the officer, who could see him 
 moving in the misty light. " Catch the prisoner ! There he goes." 
 
 " Catch the prisoner ! catch the prisoner ! " cried a dozen voices 
 at once ; but they helped him on his way. 
 
344 The K. K. K. 
 
 He twisted in and out among them. He dodged them, suppos 
 ing he was unknown in the confusion. At first he had seemed 
 almost loth to go, but he redoubled his effort to escape when he 
 heard the officer's cry. Struggling down the aisle through the 
 surging mass of men he reached the door. On his left was a 
 small plot of level ground, where stood a number of persons. 
 On his right was a steep declivity, then a patch of scraggy bushes, 
 then a deep, rough hollow. He knew the place well, and when he 
 reached the platform leaped boldly into the darkness on his right. 
 He rolled over and over when he struck the earth, scarcely making 
 an effort to stay himself. Now he rose, and dashing into the 
 patch of scrubby undergrowth ran for his life. He cared not that 
 the briars and sharp branches tore his clothing. He understood 
 that to flee down hill would lead him into the deep, dark hollow 
 where safety lay, and lowering his head and closing his eyes he 
 sped with all his might. When he had made furious headway 
 thus for a little space he ran into the arms of a man. Not 
 of one man only, but of two, three, a dozen, who had him bound 
 and gagged before he fully realized he was in their hands. 
 
 Back at the train the engineer had become satisfied that there 
 was no serious trouble ahead. A handful of excited men had be 
 come alarmed over a rumor that one of the rails on the bridge had 
 slipped its place, and so had rashly signalled the train. The worst 
 of the matter was that the prisoner had escaped. He had darted off 
 during the confusion, and was now at large somewhere out in the 
 bushes. Undoubtedly there was a preconcerted plan to take him 
 from the officer and kill him, but the mob had bungled and let 
 him go, and to catch him again would be no easy matter. Some 
 were ready to declare that the handful of excited men who stopped 
 the train were really part of the mob, but making an assertion is 
 one thing and bringing proof to substantiate it is another. 
 
 Meantime a considerable band of horsemen wended their way in 
 silence from the scene of the confusion back toward the interior 
 of the Marrowbone Hills. Before the stars had begun to pale an 
 other assemblage was gathered about the ashes of the old Bas- 
 combe home. It was a solemn assemblage, as might have been 
 noted, if there had been a curious looker on at the moment, and a 
 quiet assemblage, for no word was spoken that could have been 
 heard twenty yards away. Back in the thicket might have been 
 heard the stamping feet of tethered horses, but none of these were 
 visible in the little clearing that marked the spot where the old 
 
A Noted Individual Shuffles Off this Mortal Coil. 345 
 
 house had stood. Robed in long black gowns, with black hoods 
 concealing their features, human creatures now stood in this space, 
 as silent, and almost as motionless, as the desolate chimneys that 
 still guarded the precincts of the once cheerful home. These fig 
 ures about two score in number were formed in a circle around 
 a large oak tree that grew in the front yard, a few steps away 
 from the door through which the old widow had fled on the night 
 of the murder. It was near the root of this tree as was shown 
 by her own statement, and by blood stains upon the earth that the 
 cruel blow from the ax was delivered. 
 
 Now was led forward a horse, upon the back of which sat one 
 pinioned, and with his feet bound together underneath the body 
 of the animal. In the dim light those who had ever seen him be 
 fore could not fail to recognize the repulsive features of the mur 
 derer, Johan Ankerstrom, known as Cross-eyed Jack. He made 
 no noise as he came into the center of the group, for he had been 
 gagged as well as firmly bound. On each side as he came walked 
 a figure robed in black and holding him by the arm to make sure 
 that he kept his place on the back of the horse. When they came to 
 the large oak tree they halted underneath a limb, from which a 
 rope dangled. The loose end of this was quickly tied in a slip 
 knot about the captive's neck. He made no resistance as this was 
 done, but seemed to be sullenly submitting to his fate. 
 
 " Prisoner," now came in solemn tones from one of the figures 
 who stood a little apart from the others, " your last hour has 
 come. Is there anything you wish to say before you are made to 
 atone for the death of the good old woman whom you murdered 
 on this spot ? " 
 
 Then the handkerchief was unloosed from the mouth of the cap 
 tive in order that he might have opportunity to reply. 
 
 Cross-eyed Jack glared about him as a tiger might have glared 
 that found itself trapped and begirt with foes. Those who know 
 they are doomed to die nearly always meet the inevitable with 
 outward fortitude. With most base characters this seeming reso 
 lution results only from an utter inability on their part to realize ,! 
 the stupendous fact that they are about to forsake a stage of ex 
 istence which has before occupied all their thoughts and pass at 
 once to an unknown and uncontemplated beyond. Johan An 
 kerstrom had never done an act in all his life that could properly 
 establish for him the reputation of being a courageous man. He 
 had been rather a skulking beast of prey, whose instinct prompted 
 
346 The K. K. K. 
 
 him always to flight till caught in a situation where flight was im 
 possible. Now as he sat powerless and hopeless under the gallows 
 tree he was resolved to die as a savage would have died who saw 
 no chance of escape or of wreaking vengeance on his foes. If 
 he could not save himself he could at least heap imprecations 
 upon his enemies. When his lips were first unsealed he spluttered 
 out meaningless sounds for a moment, for he was literally chok 
 ing with rage and blind malice toward those who held him in the 
 hollow of their hands. When he found utterance he raised his 
 voice to its highest pitch and screamed out oaths and insulting 
 abuse of the coarsest nature upon his captors. It was horrible 
 to hear the dead silence of the night broken by such wild and 
 blasphemous words, especially when those who listened knew 
 they fell from the lips of a dying man. 
 
 To check the torrent of rough language the chieftain of the 
 group raised his right hand and at once the handkerchief was re 
 placed in the murderer's mouth and his harsh voice stilled, though 
 for some moments longer hoarse guttural sounds proceeded from 
 his throat. Then again the principal person of the group spake, 
 addressing the silent creatures around him : 
 
 " By sentence of the Ulema, and by the decree of our mystical 
 order, this man has been adjudged worthy of death. Are ye all 
 still convinced it was his hand that smote down at midnight the 
 good old woman who died on this spot ? " 
 
 Every cowled figure in the circle bowed low in token of ac 
 quiescence. 
 
 " Is it still your deliberate judgment that for this grave crime 
 his life should pay the forfeit ? " 
 
 Again every black-robed figure bowed his head in token of as 
 sent. 
 
 Then spake the leader for the last time, in tones deep, slow and 
 , solemnly impressive: 
 
 " Let him die the death." 
 
 Those on each hand now held the murderer firmly. The bonds 
 that bound his feet together were unloosed and the horse was led 
 from under him. He struggled for a long while in the presence 
 of the somber figures that composed the circle, but none of these 
 approached him, and no one spake a word. No angry demon 
 stration accompanied the last moments of the criminal on earth. 
 No pitying voice was lifted against his taking off. None gloated 
 over his death agony, as he had done two years before when Sandy 
 
A Noted Individual Shuffles Off this Mortal Coil. 347 
 
 Kinchen near the self-same spot died innocent of the crime for 
 which he suffered. Long time the body dangled from the tree, 
 and when life was extinct the leader of the band announced to his 
 followers that the sentence of the mystic order had been executed 
 and they might disperse to their several homes. 
 
 So died Johan Ankerstrom, murderer, outlaw, anarchist, atheist, 
 human brute. We are told in the Book of books that of him to 
 whom little is given on this earth little is expected. If so it may 
 be that when this base creature came to be judged in the wiser 
 world beyond, against his many sins of commission and omission 
 were placed as an offset his scant opportunities in life, his slug 
 gish intellect, his evil associations from childhood, his brutish in 
 stincts, which though he had striven against them he perhaps 
 lacked spiritual strength to resist. It may be that when he reached 
 that wiser world beyond all these things were considered in judg 
 ing the brutal malefactor, the pros and cons fairly weighed in 
 summing up his earthly career, and a final verdict rendered in his 
 case which tempered stern justice with divine mercy. In human 
 governments, however, those whose duty it is to administer justice 
 cannot afford to inquire too nicely into the remote influences that 
 combine to form the character of the criminal. Society here must 
 protect the peaceable and well disposed among its members from 
 the cruel and rapacious, the doves from the foxes. To this end 
 penal statutes are framed, and whenever these statutes are not 
 promptly and rigorously executed the purpose of the law is de 
 feated and society is wronged. Undue solicitude for the evildoer 
 removes a wholesome restraint from his class and leaves the better 
 element in a community at the mercy of the worst, so that tender 
 ness for the few is cruelty to the many. 
 
 When dawn was nigh those who formed the silent circle sepa 
 rated and went their several ways, leaving the lifeless body of the 
 murderer hanging from the tree. Before the order to disperse 
 was given the individual who seemed to be in command advanced 
 and pinned to the malefactor's chest a broad placard containing 
 these words plainly written : 
 
348 The K. K. K. 
 
 " This man was not hung by an angry mob, nor exe 
 cuted by the sheriff of the county in pursuance of a legal 
 decree. 
 
 " HE DIED AT THE HANDS OF THE K. K. K. 
 
 When monstrous crimes are no longer committed, or 
 justice is speedily administered through the courts, this 
 organization will cease to exist. 
 
 "TILL THEN LET EVILDOERS BEWARE." 
 
 Underneath were certain mystical characters or hieroglyphics 
 that may have signified a great deal, and may have signified 
 nothing at all. 
 
 All day the lifeless body hung, as the lifeless body of Sandy 
 Kinchen had hung in the woods near by about two years before. 
 Curious people came and viewed it and went their way, as they 
 had done when Sandy Kinchen shuffled off this mortal coil be 
 neath the gallows tree. The coroner came not nigh and no jury of 
 inquest assembled to deliberate and report as to the identity of the 
 dead man swinging from the tree or the cause of his taking off. 
 That night the body was lowered by unknown hands and carried 
 off to a lonely place in the woods where a grave had been dug to 
 receive it. There it was hidden from sight, the earth above it 
 leveled, and leaves and dry branches scattered over the spot, so that 
 the last resting place of the murderer could not be discovered at 
 this day though one should diligently seek for it. 
 
The Prompter Rings His Little Bell. 349 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 THE PROMPTER RINGS HIS LITTLE BELL, AND THE CURTAIN FALLS. 
 
 WHATEVER may have been thought and said elsewhere about 
 the hanging of the murderer, Ankerstrom, by the good people of 
 the Marrowbone Hills it was universally lauded as a meritorious 
 act. The only criticism heard upon it in that section was that the 
 villain should have been hung long before he was hung, and that 
 the individuals who finally administered justice in his case waited 
 over long in the discharge of a plain duty. Still from the morning 
 when the body of the malefactor was found swinging from a tree 
 near the lonely chimneys of the old Bascombe place down to this 
 good hour the mysterious Brotherhood of the K. K. K. has been 
 regarded as a praiseworthy organization, whose mission it was to 
 set things to rights in a community where from any cause the 
 times were out of joint. There were, as said, not lacking those who 
 censured the order for proceeding too deliberately, but the most 
 thoughtful part of the community were of opinion that the con 
 stitution of the order was wisely framed so as to avoid on the one 
 hand awkward mistakes and on the other vexatious delay, with 
 probable failure of justice in the end. It was right, said these, to 
 await the decision of the courts after having delivered Anker 
 strom to the jurisdiction of the courts, but having demonstrated 
 the utter inability of judge and jury to administer speedy 
 justice in grave cases it was not to be expected the 
 klan in future would waste time in similar experiments. 
 Hereafter when murder was done, or other flagrant out 
 rage committed, the offender would be run down, his 
 case critically inquired into by the high court of the order, 
 and justice meted out to him in a prompt and business-like 
 way. There would be in the Marowbone Hills no more hasty 
 action by an incensed mob, such as had brought poor Kinchen to an 
 unmerited end. And there would be, on the other hand, no more 
 dilly-dallying in the courts, such as had come nigh freeing the 
 
350 The K. K. K. 
 
 murderer, Cross-eyed Jack, after two years' weary waiting. The 
 grave problem of crime and its punishment had been settled by the 
 formation of the efficient secret society known as the K. K. K. 
 Thereafter rascals of every sort would be apt to give the commu 
 nity a wide berth for fear the hobgoblins of the order would over 
 take them and bring them to justice by means of a court speedily 
 organized in the woods, while the innocent would suffer no ap 
 prehension of being done to death by an excited mob before 
 inquiry could be made into the charges against them. 
 
 So the talk went; but while a great majority of folk in the hill 
 country thought they had settled a very grave problem, there 
 were not wanting a few restless persons in their midst who hank 
 ered after still further reform. These insisted, and are still in 
 sisting, that all which could be expected of the K. K. K. and a 
 good deal more might be accomplished through regular legal 
 channels if the legislature would but amend the statute laws under 
 which we live. These are days they say, of steam traffic, tele 
 graphs and telephones, and all business methods have been revo 
 lutionized to suit the times, but the car of justice creaks along in 
 the same old ruts it followed when George the Third was king. 
 
 At the South especially insist the carpers above mentioned 
 the criminal statutes require to be remodeled so as to conform to 
 the needs of the present generation. Here, as a consequence of the 
 civil war, several millions of negroes have been lifted from servi 
 tude to freedom, and while a great majority of these have de 
 ported themselves well, many have become criminals and have 
 displayed a tendency especially toward the commission of vile of 
 fenses against which every instinct of civilized man revolts. Hav 
 ing no longer any masters to control them, and being unable to 
 control themselves, these outlaws are now dangerous foes 
 of society and need to be dealt with in the most sum 
 mary manner to check their evil propensities. But the laws 
 in most of the Southern States have not been changed 
 to meet this changed condition of affairs. The courts, 
 proceeding according to old methods, cannot be relied on to 
 administer speedy justice, and speedy justice being essential, 
 citizens rise up in cases of extreme provocation and seek to admin 
 ister it themselves. In so doing they occasionally make grievous 
 mistakes, and they always set an example of lawless violence which 
 the evil disposed in their midst are swift to follow. The law 
 makers should realize the serious problem they have to deal with 
 
The Prompter Rings His Little Bell. 351 
 
 and undertake to solve it in a practical way. In every county there 
 should be some official authorized to make prompt investigation 
 when an outrage was committed and to arrest suspected parties. 
 These might have a hearing without delay before a ooiinty judicial 
 officer and an intelligent jury, free from excitement or bias. Suf 
 ficient time should be given to make the trial fair and complete, 
 but a few days or a few weeks at farthest would suffice for this 
 purpose. Alleged errors of law, arising in the progress of 
 the trial, might be taken at once to the Supreme Court of the State, 
 and that tribunal in such case should be required to suspend all 
 civil business and dispose of these without delay. If a new trial 
 was ordered it should be held at once before another jury of intel 
 ligent citizens whose only qualification should be that they were 
 free from bias either for or against the prisoner, and could give 
 him a fair trial. In two or three months at farthest the most hotly 
 contested case could thus be disposed of and punishment openly 
 imposed on the offender if he was adjudged guilty. Whenever 
 in any community speedy and fair investigation could thus be had 
 through the medium of the courts good citizens would rely on the 
 law as the surest means of suppressing crime, and none but turbu 
 lent and disorderly spirits would encourage any attempt on the 
 part of a mob to usurp the province of the courts. 
 
 Thus, or in some such fashion, do a few malcontents in the Mar 
 rowbone Hills continue to prate, but most of their neighbors pooh- 
 pooh the idea of effecting a radical reform in criminal procedure 
 by means of change in the statute law. As well expect, say they, 
 to alter the course of the moon round the earth as to divert the es 
 tablished judicial chariot from the beaten circuit it has followed for 
 ages. They urge further that the old method of criminal pro 
 cedure has become now a fixed part of our civil system, and there 
 is great doubt as to whether the body politic could survive the 
 shock if one of its principal members was thus plucked up vio 
 lently by the roots. 
 
 If the author could be heard to venture a suggestion in so 
 weighty a controversy he would propose that something in the 
 nature of a compromise be attempted by which needed reforms 
 might be instituted and the present well-settled order of things 
 preserved at the same time from serious shock. In the ancient 
 and highly civilized empire of Japan they had until recently two 
 separate and distinct governments for the people, each in opera 
 tion, and as you may say in full blast at one and the same time. 
 
352 The K. K. K. 
 
 By one of the governments if the author understands the matter 
 affairs were conducted altogether according to time-honored 
 precedent, and the administration of justice was hedged about with 
 so many well-established rules and formulas that it was not possi 
 ble in any case to attain practical results although the worthy 
 officials were always hammering away at one thing or another. 
 They were the wisest men in all the country, selected for their deep 
 knowledge of old laws and customs and their supposed ability to 
 see further into a millstone than the common run of men. Yet, 
 as has been said, they so mystified their brains poring over musty 
 old books and endeavoring to construe the utterances of the an 
 cients, that they were unable to accomplish anything at all in the 
 way of business, and in the course of many centuries it came to the 
 point that nobody expected anything at all of them. In this condi 
 tion of affairs the Japanese, who are an exceedingly ingenious and 
 resourceful people, instead of overthrowing their deeply revered 
 and helpless government, set up another alongside of it, 
 from which some little might be expected in the way of 
 attaining results. They saw to it that the men chosen to 
 administer this second government were practical fellows, 
 not much learned in the wisdom of the ancients, but hav 
 ing pretty clear ideas as to the pressing needs of their 
 own times. The officials selected under this plan speedily 
 to use a Japanese phrase got a move on themselves. They en 
 deavored to dispatch business according to modern methods, and, 
 remembering Lot's wife if they had ever heard tell of her 
 avoided the fatal habit of looking backward. The two plans as 
 the author has always understood worked well and smoothly to 
 gether and for a long period of time to the entire satisfaction of 
 the Japanese people. There was no friction and no conflict of 
 jurisdiction between the two governments, as each was entirely 
 separate and distinct from the other, and neither paid the slightest 
 attention to the other. Even when the same matter came up be 
 fore them for consideration no trouble arose, for the later tribunal 
 would usually have the case settled and off hand before it was 
 called for hearing by the first; and it not infrequently happened 
 in criminal prosecutions that learned counselors in the justice 
 halls of the old government would be pleading and interpleading 
 and entering all sorts of dilatory motions in the case of some noted 
 malefactor who had been beheaded by the new government a dozen 
 or more years before. A plan which worked so well in Japan 
 
The Prompter Rings His Little Bell. 353 
 
 would probably not be a total failure in Tennessee, and the author 
 suggests that if nothing better can be thought of the dual, or Jap 
 anese, system of government might be tried here. And if the sug 
 gestion meets with any favor he would propose to those inclined 
 to regard it kindly that they investigate closely the constitution 
 and methods of the secret society known as the K. K. K. to see if 
 some ideas cannot be gotten therefrom which would assist in the 
 formation of a new and up-to-date criminal code, by virtue of 
 which justice would be administered so expeditiously that no ex 
 cuse would remain anywhere for the exercise of mob law. 
 
 Asking pardon for this somewhat wearisome digression the 
 author begs leave now to make brief mention of some of the char 
 acters that have been brought before the reader in the preceding 
 pages, and who, perhaps, now deserve further notice at his hands. 
 As to the worthy old gentleman and his friend, Alabama Sam, who 
 were left in the vicinity of Baker's Station, the author knows but 
 little more of their subsequent movements and their present where 
 abouts than does the reader himself. The morning after the stop 
 ping of the train on Paradise Ridge the Nashville papers gave a 
 full account of the melee incidental thereto and the shrewd escape 
 of the prisoner, Cross-eyed Jack, from both mob and sheriff. On 
 the same day in the forenoon Mr. Olof Ankerstrom, who had been 
 previously introduced by Lawyer Palaver, appeared at the coun 
 ter of the bank where the fee had been deposited and presented a 
 check for the balance on hand, signed by both himself and the at 
 torney. As the money was deposited to their joint account, and 
 Palaver had paid the old gentleman a high compliment when he 
 introduced him to the cashier, the check was honored without 
 question, and the old gentleman withdrew with thanks. Next day 
 the whole truth as to the hanging having come out, and the old 
 gntleman not having shown up at the office of his attorney, Pala 
 ver walked to the bank and sought to draw the entire fund on his 
 individual check. He considered himself as he explained to the 
 cashier legally entitled to this, as the case was ended, and his co- 
 depositor to the best of his knowledge, intormation and belief 
 had absconded. When informed that the old gentleman had drawn 
 the entire amount some three hundred and seventy-five 
 dollars on the preceding day, his remarks were highly in 
 teresting, but as they were not delivered under oath, or 
 in view of immediate dissolution, I do not feel at lib 
 erty to repeat them. He claimed loudly that the bank had 
 
 23 
 
354 The K. K. K. 
 
 paid a forged check and would have to suffer in consequence; 
 while the cashier with more moderation insisted that Pal 
 aver had introduced the old gentleman to the bank, had led the 
 bank into the error of reposing confidence in him, and therefore 
 Palaver must take the disastrous consequences resulting from his 
 own rash act. The controversy finally drifted into a lawsuit be 
 twixt the lawyer and the bank, which a very grave principle being 
 involved is hanging fire yet, and will probably occupy the atten 
 tion of the courts for many years to come. Meantime the old gen 
 tleman and his friend, Alabama Sam, have gone their ways to 
 parts unknown, and whether now in the world or out of it the 
 author of this faithful chronicle cannot say. 
 
 Up in that benighted part of the world of which this narrative 
 has been treating they have a custom of breaking loose into gen 
 eral hilarity about the Christmas time of the year. Tis a prac 
 tice handed down from their ancestors and most religiously ob 
 served by the present generation. On Thanksgiving Day turkeys 
 will be devoured and the request of the president to treat the oc 
 casion as a holiday circumspectly obeyed. But they hold, these 
 old-timey back-country folks do, that a divine ordinance is entitled 
 to more consideration than a human ordinance, and that as the 
 blessings of Christianity are incalculable and universally acknowl 
 edged when it comes to celebrating the birth of its Founder their 
 joy should know no bounds. Consequently all business at this time 
 of the year is suspended and the whole country without regard 
 to age, sex, color or previous condition of servitude is given over 
 to frolicking. There is plain fiddling which in my judgment 
 beats all the classic music that ever was heard dancing such as 
 presumably would have delighted the heart of King David and 
 absorption in moderate quantities of spirituous, vinous and malt 
 liquors for which custom the imbibers have, or think they have, 
 the high authority of St. Paul. Thus with a good week's mirth 
 do the dwellers in these benighted parts as a general rule see the 
 old year out and the new year in. With Christmas gifts and 
 kindly greetings, and renewed assurances of hearty good will 
 among friends, and burial of old grudges bewixt those who have 
 been at outs, they manage to lay in a stock of cheerfulness and 
 brotherly love at this gracious season that lasts them far into the 
 following year. 
 
 On the particular Christmas following the exit of Cross-eyed 
 Jack from the planet there were two weddings which made the 
 
The Prompter Rings His Little Bell. 355 
 
 happy season even more enjoyable to the community at large than 
 usual. One of these, as the astute reader has doubtless surmised, 
 was the uniting in the holy bonds of wedlock of Mr. Bob Lee 
 Templeton and Miss Marie alias Polly Habersham. The 
 other, which befell only a night or two later, was the joining to 
 gether lawfully of our sober friends, Mr. Randolph Pearson and 
 Miss Sue Bascombe. At each of these weddings there was a large 
 attendance, though the former was decidedly the gayest and most 
 stylish affair. The Major was resolved to have all of his friends 
 present upon the occasion, and Mrs. Habersham and the maid, Ma 
 tilda, were resolved to have everything conducted in the most gen 
 teel fashion, and so it happened that the large house was full of 
 people from bottom to top, and it was at the same time a decidedly 
 swell affair. To say that Mr. Bob Lee Templeton did himself 
 proud by his behaviour during the ceremony and that Miss Polly 
 looked sweet enough to eat, is after all to say very little, because 
 everybody in the least acquainted with them expected as much in 
 advance. Toward the close of the entertainment the Major's ut 
 terances on the state of the country became louder, more dicta 
 torial and less argumentative, from which it was inferred by such 
 of his hearers as were in condition to judge that his liquor was 
 getting the best of him. In reading such conclusion, however, I 
 need not inform the reader that they were entirely mistaken ; for 
 whether the Major was unduly elated at having such a fine son-in- 
 law as Mr. Bob Lee Templeton, or whatever else might have in 
 duced his noticeable conduct, I am ready to assert on my own re 
 sponsibility that it was not the stimulating fluid he had imbibed. 
 Saint Peter upon one occasion had the same damaging charge 
 brought against him and repelled the accusation as all Bible 
 readers will remember by reminding his hearers that it was only 
 nine o'clock in the morning, and such an allegation was therefore 
 preposterous. This defense at the time seems to have been ad 
 judged satisfactory and sufficient, but I cannot help thinking that 
 both in the case of the Apostle and Major Habersham, the high 
 characters they bore in their respective communities would have 
 been a more effectual reply to a scandalous impeachment than 
 any special plea that could have been offered. 
 
 The Pearson-Bascombe nuptials, while largely attended, were 
 conducted in a more quiet way, and rumor even went to the length 
 of asserting that there were two or three mourners present upon 
 the occasion. One of these, I have no hesitation in saying, was 
 
356 The K. K. K. 
 
 Teddy Mclntosh. Another, I am equally confident, was not our 
 friend Slowboy, because, though invited, he did not grace the fes 
 tivities with his presence. Teddy did not look like a mourner, but 
 being of a philosophical turn contented himself with the reflection 
 that there were as good fish in the sea as ever were caught. He 
 was heard to whisper to two or three of his friends during the 
 evening, when he observed Pearson gazing fondly upon his 
 bride, that that girl could twist anybody round her finger. I may 
 observe in this connection that Miss Sue did so twist Pearson 
 round her finger that he came in time to respect her opinion highly 
 upon all subjects, and after fair trial proved himself to be, what all 
 the neighborhood still regard him, a dutiful, affectionate, and 
 provident husband. Mrs. Pearson seems to be quite fond of him, 
 and advises all her girl friends, when they contemplate matrimony, 
 not to confide their happiness into the keeping of any gay young 
 fellow, but to hook on for life to a pokey old bachelor. 
 
 I said just now that Solomon Slowboy was not present at the 
 Pearson-Bascombe nuptials. I will go further and state to the 
 reader that he was not heartbroken over the marriage of Miss 
 Sue, but plucked up a spirit, and even bore with seeming equa 
 nimity the merciless guying of his legal friends on the subject. Not 
 a great while afterward it became pretty generally understood that 
 his mother had formed a design to espouse him to a damsel in his 
 own county, who, the story went, after being duly consulted, had 
 consented to the arrangement. The female in question was sharp- 
 visaged and sharp-tongued, and several years the senior of her in 
 tended husband, but possessed in her own right a farm of a few 
 hundred acres which Slowboy's mother thought could be made a 
 desirable property if duly looked after. Matters were proceeding 
 rapidly to a crisis, and Slowboy had been taken several times by 
 his mother to call on the elect lady, when one of those untoward 
 accidents occurred that will bob up occasionally in this world to 
 diconcert the best laid schemes of mice and men. A young chit of 
 a girl in the town, with meek, brown eyes and peachy cheeks, went 
 a fishing for Slowboy and hooked him before ever his estimable 
 parent knew she had designs upon him. Late one evening a mar 
 riage license was procured from the county clerk, and before an 
 other hour had passed, an obliging minister of the gospel had 
 united the two so firmly that even an irate mother could not un- 
 knit the bond. The lawyer and his bride are now living together 
 quite happily, the old lady has been pacified and young Mrs. 
 
The Prompter Rings His Little Bell. 357 
 
 Slowboy may be seen on nearly every fine evening pacing around 
 the town on Martha Washington, looking as demure and free 
 from guile as if she had never kidnapped a lawyer. 
 
 For a good while after the desperate combat in the cavern Pete 
 Kinchen and his dog were noted characters among the lads 
 and four-footed beasts of the Marrowbone Hills. Young 
 Kinchen again and again escorted parties of curious sightseers into 
 the bowels of the earth and fought his battles over again on the 
 very spot where he and de little ole white man had wrestled in 
 pitch darkness for the mastery. Here against the wall stood 
 Kinchen, deeming himself safe from discovery, when of a sudden 
 the bare palm of the old gentleman was laid confidingly upon him. 
 On this spot did he smite the old man valorously with his fists, 
 around and around in this broad space did the two waltz in silence, 
 and on this slippery piece of ground did Kinchen uptrip his ad 
 versary, Jineral Beauregard rendering valuable assistance at the 
 moment by tugging with all his soul at the other leg. Pete 
 Kinchen was not given to many words, but he was made to tell this 
 tale so many times that he could begin at the very beginning and 
 rehearse the thing straight on through to the end without ever a 
 stop. 
 
 As usual in such cases the public was not satisfied with the plain 
 unvarnished tale delivered by Kinchen, but must needs supplement 
 this with wild tales of the doings of robbers and outlaws in the 
 cavern at other times and in days preceding the era of the horse- 
 thieves who had lately evacuated the place. 'Twas said that the 
 famous highwayman, John A. Murrell, at one time had his head 
 quarters in the deep recesses of Crawfish Cave, and had buried 
 some of his stolen treasure there. Others would have it that old 
 Demonbrune, the adventurous Frenchman who ascended the Cum 
 berland River long in advance of the earliest white settlers, had 
 made his dwelling here for a season and had left valuables behind 
 which he wished to secrete from hostile savages. These tales 
 being afloat, Crawfish Cave was ransacked as it had never been be 
 fore. Some parties took rations along and remained underground 
 over night, digging, nosing about, overturning stones, trying to 
 crawl into cracks so narrow that more than one of the adventurers 
 had to be pulled out by his companions. All this, and much more, 
 they did, but while rumors occasionally went abroad of rich 
 " finds," nothing of great moment really was unearthed by the 
 seekers. Undoubted evidences there were that other human beings 
 
358 The K. K. K. 
 
 had waded up Crawfish Creek long before Alabama Sam, Mr, 
 Hardrider, and the old gentleman found the route, but they left no 
 treasure behind, for the very excellent reason, no doubt, that they 
 had none to leave. Some bones of a human skeleton were found, 
 and near these were picked up an old rusty knife that had lain 
 disused so long the blades could not be induced to open, and a few 
 horn buttons that still defied the ravages of time. The cave 
 dweller, therefore, who had shuffled off this mortal coil in a place 
 so remote from the haunts of men was undoubtedly one of the 
 white race, but why he had chosen to live and die in such a dark 
 some abode not even conjecture could determine. 
 
 As the author of this faithful chronicle was journeying not many 
 years ago to Nashville along what is called the Paradise Hill Dirt 
 Pike, in a little broom sedge patch that skirted the highway he 
 came unexpectedly upon Pete Kinchen and Jineral Beauregard. 
 The lad had a consequential look about him, as of one who has ex 
 perienced surprising adventures, and the dog wore a shiny brass 
 collar that did not completely hide an ugly scar on his neck. As 
 he viewed them curiously in passing the author could not help re 
 marking to himself that he had known many great men swagger 
 and give themselves airs whose claim to distinction was not so 
 well founded as that of Pete Kinchen, and that many a soldier had 
 received for gallant conduct in battle a medal not more faithfully 
 earned than that which adorned the neck of Jineral Beauregard. 
 He bowed respectfully the author did in passing, and went 
 upon his way ; and from that good hour he has seen no more, and 
 can tell nothing further, of the negro lad and his dog. 
 
 As swallows fly round and round a chimney top at close of day, 
 loth to leave the rare atmosphere in which they have disported, 
 and sink altogether from the ken of the world, so do the creatures 
 of the author's imagination at the close of his story continue to 
 circle about him, loth to leave the airy realm of fancy in which they 
 have disported and part company with him and the actual world 
 forever. But having no further excuse for stay he and they must 
 go, and so he makes now his bow, bidding God bless all the kindly 
 readers of his simple narrative and all the wise folk who will not 
 condescend to read it, which two classes taken together he does 
 himself the honor to believe must embrace a very considerable 
 number of people. To the scornful and the generous he says a 
 hearty good-by, and ventures in parting to express the hope that 
 they will all journey peacefully hereafter along the highway of 
 
The Prompter Rings His Little Bell. 359 
 
 life, experiencing no more vicissitudes than fall to the common 
 lot of travelers, and reach in good time the confines of that coun 
 try whose laws if common report be true are so wisely planned 
 and efficiently administered that its happy citizens feel no need of 
 such an auxiliary organization as 
 
 " THE K. K. K." 
 
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