hideous garb turned aside from the line,
dismounted and stretched out his bridle rein toward the Negro, as if
he desired him to hold his horse. Not daring to refuse, the frightened
African extended his hand to grasp the rein. As he did so, the Ku Klux
took his own head from his shoulders and offered to place that also in
the outstretched hand. The Negro stood not upon the order of his going,
but departed with a yell of terror. To this day he will tell you: 'He
done it, suah, boss. I seed him do it.'"

It was seldom necessary at this early stage to use violence, for
the black population was in an ecstasy of fear. A silent host of
white-sheeted horsemen parading the country roads at night was
sufficient to reduce the blacks to good behavior for weeks or months.
One silent Ghoul posted near a meeting place of the League would be the
cause of the immediate dissolution of that club. Cow bones in a sack
were rattled within earshot of the terrified Negroes. A horrible
being, fifteen feet tall, walking through the night toward a place of
congregation, was very likely to find that every one had vacated the
place before he arrived. A few figures wrapped in sheets and sitting
on tombstones in a graveyard near which Negroes were accustomed to pass
would serve to keep the immediate community quiet for weeks and give the
locality a reputation for "hants" which lasted long.

To prevent detection on parade, members of the Klan often stayed out
of the parade in their own town and were to be seen freely and
conspicuously mingling with the spectators. A man who believed that he
knew every horse in the vicinity and was sure that he would be able to
identify the riders by their horses was greatly surprised upon lifting
the disguise of the horse nearest him to find the animal upon which
he himself had ridden into town a short while before. The parades were
always silent and so arranged as to give the impression of very large
numbers. In the regular drills which were held in town and country, the
men showed that they had not forgotten their training in the Confederate
army. There were no commands save in a very low tone or in a mysterious
language, and usually only signs or whistle signals were used.

Such pacific methods were successful to a considerable degree until
the carpetbaggers and scalawags were placed in office under the
Reconstruction Acts. Then more violent methods were necessary. The
Mans patrolled disturbed communities, visit