Orleans County Monitor

LETTER FROM KENTUCKY.

In my last letter to the Monitor, I promised to tell you something of the "Regulators," an armed band of men who are the terror and curse of this section, and who are of that class of ruffians, known in the South by the name of Ku-Klux. The "Regulators" formed an organization in Elliot county in 1879 for, as they declared, the avowed purpose of enforcing the laws of the State. It is true that law was disregarded, and society in a bad condition, but the means taken to effect a change for the better was a very dangerous and bad one. The order in this vicinity, numbers fifteen hundred upwards, nobody knows how many; and as the members are bound to secrecy by sacred oaths, who belong to the band, or what their secret doings and purposes are, nobody outside knows. Whatever the original purpose of the order was, it has fallen into such bad hands and such a state now, as to be used for the punishment of all parties who happen to gain the ill-will of the organization, either in business, religion, or politics. The number of outrages, whippings and murders committed by this band is great, and society is in a state of alarm on account of it. Last June the State decided to take the matter in hand, and proposed to send the militia here, unless the band surrendered and ceased its unlawful work. Three hundred men came out and surrendered, but the larger part refused to do so, and threatened the lives of the captain and others of the surrendered party. The captain goes heavily armed, and is liable to pay the penalty of his attempt to break up the wicked organization, with his life.

As another instance of what the "Regulators" are doing, I mention the case of a man who offended the lawless band. They attacked his house, beat down the doors, broke every pane of glass in his house by firing revolver shots through them, and then took the man out and shamefully whipped him. They then took the wife, who had tried to defend her husband, and who knew many of the gang, and fired revolvers so that the balls would just miss hitting her head, compelling her, in order to save her life, to take a solemn oath never to reveal who the brutal creatures were that had beaten her husband, destroyed her home and periled her life.

Seated in the cars, the other day, I listened to the recital, by an old man, of a bloody murder, which occurred within a few rods of his own door. The old man had been summoned as a witness in the case, but the "Regulators" had warned him that his life would be in peril if he testified to what he knew in the case, said he, "I am an old man and I know not how it will go with me, but as I am called as a witness, I shall testify to the truth."

I could record similar instances by the score, if it were necessary, to show the terrible state of society in this part of the great United States--the land of boasted liberty.

It is probably well known at the North, that elections in this section are but a farce and a fraud, and that it is a dangerous thing to be a republican here. Just now the political cauldron is boiling like a volcano. There is much strife among the democrats, but a greater animosity toward the opposite party. If it happens in any locality that the republicans outnumber their rivals, they are pretty sure to be beaten by bravado and the revolver. As an instance of how it is done, I will relate the case of Mr. --. (As the Monitor comes to me regularly, and is liable, in the post-office or otherwise, to fall into the hands of the Regulators, I dare not allow the name of the party, or my own to appear.) He was chosen Marshal by the republicans. The defeated party at once informed him that he would not be permitted to give bonds, and assume the duties of his office. He was a man that did not lack courage, and proceeded at once to take the oath of office. Since then several attempts have been made to take his life. One night twenty-five armed men attacked his house, when he fired on his assailants so sharply and bravely that they fled. The next day they sent word to him that they would spare his life, if he would surrender his office. He informed his enemies that he should attend to the duties of his office, and if compelled to surrender his life, he should sell it as dearly as possible.

Beside the injustice, bulldozing and punishment inflicted upon the party in minority here, politics are terribly corrupt from bribery. Elections are carried by whiskey and money. The moral worth of a candidate is not taken into consideration. Candidates, even for minor offices, put up large sums of money and buy their elections. The poor and more ignorant voters sell themselves to the highest bidder. When the election is not very close, they are bought with some trifling article from the store or grocery, with tobacco or whiskey; when the contest is sharp, they are paid in money, sometimes heavy sums. Whiskey is the most potent element, after all, in Kentucky elections. We have known heavy wagon loads of barrels carried to the polling places, the heads knocked out, dippers furnished and everybody invited to drink to their fill. The scene at such elections can well be imagined. Tobacco and whiskey are the bane of the South.

Z.