It does not matter who is the writer of the following pages. If it did, no inducement likely to be offered, would tempt him to publish his name. He has no desire to be tracked out by the Brothers of the Southern Cross, and he knows too much of their deathless hatred and hound-like pertinacity, their numbers, and the ramifications of their organization, already encroaching on southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, to carelessly take the slightest risk of anything of the kind. It is due to the publi

After the war, which had not benefited my purse extravagantly, I wandered off into the interior of Georgia, and finally engaged in business in one of the interior counties. I knew the southern people pretty well before the war, had been much among them, and was familiar with their habits, prejudices, etc. For my own convenience and safety, when I went into business I passed as a Kentuckian, and thereby avoided many personal and business annoyances. At first this was not particularly disagreeable

Some weeks after my initiation, I was detailed with an older Brother, to attend to the formation of a new company in a neighboring county. As usual, the source of the order was unknown, except that it came from the captain of our band. The order and detail were announced by our captain, no comment made, and myself and comrade in the duty started next night, in obedience to the order, for the location of the new company, in the adjoining county. He knew the mode of procedure in these cases, and I

The Order or Society commonly known as the Ku-Klux-Klan, has no such name among its members. That is an approximation in letters and sound to the challenging signal of the Order. For instance, when a Brother approaches the spot where a band is assembled, the sentinels, always concealed, challenge him by bringing their rifles to a full cock. That operation, as every one knows, produces two sounds or clicks, one when the hammer reaches the half cock, and the other when it comes to the full cock. T

When a Brother desires to ascertain whether a stranger belongs regularly to the order, he must not pursue the inquiry in the presence of others. Engaging the stranger in conversation, the brother finally says: "I reckon you're a true Southerner?" If the stranger answers directly, "Yes," the Brother continues: "May be, then, you've been tested?" The word "tested" refers to the initiation of the order. If the stranger be also a Brother, he replies: "I know what is the work of Silence and Darkness.

In the code of the Brothers of the Southern Cross, every loyal Southerner is a traitor, and every loyal Northerner is a born enemy. The command is to "smite every vulnerable point," and enough is published every week to show that "vulnerable points" are found every day, when the Brothers put an enemy out of the way. Details are made from the companies when the death of any person has been decided on. The precise time for the act is never given with the order—the Brothers wait the favorable momen

There is a central organization of the Order—a sort of Executive Council—composed of the commanders of districts, a district being usually a State. This executive body is called the Grand Council, and has no fixed place of meeting. It met once in Nashville, and the last time, in March, at Augusta, Ga. Two or three months ago there were but thirteen members of this Council, there being then no greater number of districts. New districts, however, are being constantly added. The sole business of th