Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries.) THE MODERN KU KLUX KLAN BY HENRY P. FRY BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1922 BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY (INCORPORATED) Printed in the United States of America THE MURRAY PRINTING COMPANY CAMBRIDGE, MASS. PREFACE It seems strange that, in narrating events and analyzing an organization existing in the United States of America in the year 1921, the most appropriate introduction to the subject consists of a few pages from the history of Germany during the Middle Ages. There existed in mediæval Germany a secret organization, which, in its highest stage of development is said to have numbered over 200,000 members--the _Vehmgericht_, or secret tribunal. Its origin is clouded in obscurity, some authorities claiming that the system was first founded by Charlemagne, while others say that it was handed down from the most remote pre-historic Germans, but is understood generally to have first appeared in the year 1180 in Westphalia, after which it scattered all over Germany. Its head was the Emperor, assisted by the nobles of his court, and with them men of all ranks, associated together for the formation of "free courts," to try persons accused of crimes against persons and property. The members of the organization were known as "_Wissende_," or initiated ones. They were bound by solemn oaths not to reveal the circumstances of a trial or the sentence imposed on the offender if found guilty; and in order to become one of the brotherhood the applicant was required to be of good character, and have two sureties who were already "free judges." A ceremony of initiation, usually held in some out-of-the-way place, inducted the outsider into the organization, and thereafter, he was required under his solemn oath never to reveal the fact that he was a member of the brotherhood. The initiated ones recognized each other by signs.