* * * *

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Invisible
Circle; that I will defend our families, our wives, our children, and
brethren; that I will assist a brother in distress to the best of my
ability; that I will never reveal the secrets of this order or
anything in regard to it that may come to my knowledge, and if I do
may I meet a traitor's doom, which is death, death, death: so help me
God, and so punish me my brethren.[66]

FOOTNOTES:

[57] Montgomery Mail, March 23, 1868.

[58] This and the two preceding orders were written by Ryland Randolph
and printed in his paper _The Independent Monitor_, of Tuscaloosa,
Alabama.

[59] From the _Weekly Union Times_ of Unionville, S.C., February 17,
1871; South Carolina Testimony, pp. 1003, 1092. The negro militia of
South Carolina had killed a man who refused to sell whisky to them.
Several were arrested and imprisoned. A radical judge named Thomas, in
Columbia, 60 or 70 miles away and out of the district where the crime
was committed, directed that the prisoners be removed to Columbia for
trial. The whites believed that this was done as the first step toward
releasing the criminals. A mob came in, took the men from jail, shot
them and gave to the sheriff the above notice with instructions to
have it published in the newspapers.

[60] Weekly Union Times, Unionville, S.C., February 24, 1871; Ku Klux
Report, South Carolina Testimony, p. 1004. The Ku Klux Klan had many
imitators, and lawless conduct was often carried on under the
protection of the name and prestige of the Klan. The above warning was
meant for those who had been using the name of the order to cloak evil
deeds.

[61] _Yorkville Enquirer_, Yorkville, S.C., March 9, 1871; South
Carolina Testimony, p. 1347. Another warning to those engaged in
lawlessness and using the name of the Klan.

[62] _Union Weekly Times_, March 17, 1871; South Carolina Testimony,
p. 1096. This order illustrates one method of getting rid of obnoxious
officials.

[63] The oath of Ku Klux Klan was not printed. The three versions here
given were given from memory. The similarity is marked, however.

[64] Ku Klux Report. North Carolina Testimony. Court Proceedings, p.
422.

[65] Ku Klux Report, North Carolina Testimony, pp. 399, 400.

[66] South Carolina Testimony, p. 361.

INDEX

A.

Abernathy, Dr. C.C., a member of the Klan, 21

Admission of members, 147, 170

Admonition