the end in view, which was diversion and amusement. The
evening was spent in discussing the best means of attaining the object
for which they were seeking. Two committees were appointed, one to
select a name,[21] the other[22] to prepare a set of rules for the
government of the society, and a ritual for the initiation of new
members. The club adjourned to meet the following week to hear and act
upon the reports of these committees. Before the arrival of the
appointed time for the next meeting, one of the wealthiest and most
prominent citizens of Pulaski went on a business trip to Columbus,
Miss., taking his family with him. Before leaving he invited one of
the leading spirits of the new society to take charge of and sleep at
his house during his absence. This young man invited his comrades to
join him there. And so the place of meeting was changed from the law
office to this residence. The owner of it outlived the Ku Klux Klan
and died ignorant of the fact that his house was the place where its
organization was fully effected.

This residence afterwards came into the possession of Judge H.M.
Spofford, of Spofford-Kellogg fame.[23] It was his home at the time
of his death, and is still owned by his widow.

The committee appointed to select a name reported that they had found
the task difficult, and had not made a selection. They explained that
they had been trying to discover or invent a name which would be, to
some extent, suggestive of the character and objects of the society.
They mentioned several which they had been considering. In this number
was the name "Kukloi" from the Greek word _Kuklos_ (Kuklos), meaning a
band or circle. At mention of this some one cried out: "Call it Ku
Klux." "Klan" at once suggested itself, and was added to complete the
alliteration. So instead of adopting a name, as was the first
intention, which had a definite meaning, they chose one which to the
proposer of it, and to every one else, was absolutely meaningless.

This trivial and apparently accidental incident had a most important
bearing on the future of the organization so singularly named.
Looking back over the history of the Klan, and at the causes under
which it developed, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the
order would never have grown to the proportions which it afterwards
assumed, or wielded the power it did, had it not borne this name or
some other equally as meaningless and mysterious--mysterious because
mean