SOURCE E Movements of the Mystic Klan A reliable correspondent writes: about a week ago the Ku Klux came into town to regulate matters. They were here from eleven p.m. to three o'clock a.m. five hundred in all. They shot one very bad black man. They also hanged three or four black men nearly dead, and whipped others severely in order to make them tell them about their nightly meetings. The strongest thing about them was that they did not hesitate to unmask themselves when asked to do so. Everyone who saw them says their horses were more beautiful than any in the country round about. They spoke little but always to a purpose. They did not disturb anyone else, nor did they take anything except a few Enfield rifles which were found in possession of some very bad black men. They called on the tax officer. What was said is not known, but it has made a great improvement in his behaviour. The visitors' arrival has been to the benefit of the community. From a Tennessee newspaper, December 1868. SOURCE F In 1868 there occurred six bloody and terrible massacres. Over two thousand persons were killed or wounded within a few weeks of the presidential election. Half of Louisiana was overrun by violence, raids, murder and riot to keep the people in constant terror until the Republicans surrendered all claims and the election was won by the Democratic Party. One of the bloodiest riots on record occurred in the parish of Saint Landy, Louisiana. The Ku Klux Klan killed and wounded over two hundred Republicans, hunting and chasing them for two days and nights, through fields and swamps. Thirteen captives were taken from the jail and shot. A pile of twenty-five dead bodies was found half-buried in the woods. Having conquered the Republicans, killed and driven off their white leaders, the Ku Klux Klan captured the masses, led them to the polls and made them vote Democrat. From a report by a committee of the US House of Representatives, 1875.