er, whose
history is related in the following pages, differs from all these. Its
proceedings, the names of its members or its officers, and even its very
existence as a body, have hitherto been secret, and sealed from the
whole world. Besides, it is pledged to accomplish all kinds of robbery,
aye, and even worse deeds. It has, in more than one deplorable instance,
concealed its dark deeds with murder.

This order is not confined in its operations to the dark places of life.
It numbers among its members the professional man, the "respectable
citizen," the prominent and wealthy of various towns throughout the
Union; nay, it has sometimes invaded the house of God, and secured the
services of those who are ostensibly his ministers.

There is not a line of fiction in these pages. The solemn truth is told,
in all its strange and horrible interest. To the public, to the candid
of all classes, to the friends of reform, to the honest citizen, and to
the sincere Christian, the author makes his appeal.

Let not his voice of warning be unheeded. Let all be up and doing, so
that the monster may be exterminated from the face of the earth, and the
youth of the present age be saved from destruction.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE SECRET BAND OF BROTHERS.

Why this exposure is made at the present time--Who oppose reform--My
lectures--The New-Light minister--How some get rich--My opponents 9

CHAPTER II.

A DARK CONSPIRACY.

Goodrich, the gambler--His malicious conduct--Cause of it--The
Browns--Their plan to escape punishment 16

CHAPTER III.

THE CONSPIRACY IN PROGRESS.

The colonel takes medicine to bring on sickness--Ruse will not
take--Character of the administrators of justice in New Orleans--Colonel
Brown deserted by the Brotherhood--Dearborn county, Indiana, delegation
22

CHAPTER IV.

THE CONSPIRACY FURTHER DEVELOPED.

The secret correspondence brought from Canada--The Brotherhood desert
Brown--How I obtained the secret writings--Not suspected--Mrs. Brown and
the landlady---Cunningham suspected of purloining them 27

CHAPTER V.

BRIBERY AND COUNTERFEIT MONEY.

Brown's lawyer attempts to bribe me to testify falsely against
Taylor--Acquaint the deputy-marshal with the fact--Brown's ineffectual
attempts to find bail--Suspected of having removed the hid money--The
colonel's visi