erate soldier
surrendered with arms in hand and in return a certain contract was
made in his parole according to which, as long as he was law-abiding,
he was not to be disturbed. This contract had been violated. The
government of the United States had made a promise to men with arms in
their hands and had violated this promise by passing the
Reconstruction measures, which amounted to punishment of individuals
for alleged crime without trial by law. See Ku Klux Report, Alabama
Testimony, pp. 224, 377, 383.

[12] It is the copy he refers to that is reproduced in Appendix II.

[13] _American Historical Magazine_, Vol. 5, p. 4.

KU KLUX KLAN

ITS ORIGIN, GROWTH AND DISBANDMENT

BY

J.C. LESTER AND D.L. WILSON

KU KLUX KLAN

CHAPTER I.

THE ORIGIN.

There is no stranger chapter in American history than the one which
bears for a title "Ku Klux Klan." The organization which bore this
name went out of life as it came into it, shrouded in deepest mystery.
Its members would not disclose its secrets; others could not. Even the
investigation committee, appointed by Congress, were baffled. The
voluminous reports containing the results of that committee's tedious
and diligent inquiry do not tell when and where and how the Ku Klux
Klan originated. The veil of secrecy still hangs over its grave. We
propose to lift it.

The time has now arrived when the history of the origin, growth and
final decay of "The Invisible Empire" may be given to the public.
Circumstances not necessary to detail have put it in the power of the
writer to compile such a history. For obvious reasons the names of
individuals are withheld. But the reader may feel assured that this
narrative is drawn from sources which are accurate and authentic.

The writer does not profess to be able to disclose the secret signs,
grips and pass-words of the order.[14] These have never been disclosed
and probably never will be. But we claim to narrate facts relating to
the order, which have a historic and philosophic value. It is due to
the truth of history; to the student of human nature; to the
statesmen, and to the men who were engaged in this movement, that the
facts connected with this remarkable episode in our nation's history
be frankly and fairly told.

A wave of excitement, spreading by contagions till the minds of a
whole people are in a ferment, is an event of frequent occurrent. The
Ku Klux movement was peculiar by reason of the ca