Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) THE NATION'S PERIL. TWELVE YEARS' EXPERIENCE IN THE SOUTH. THEN AND NOW. THE KU KLUX KLAN A COMPLETE EXPOSITION OF THE ORDER: ITS PURPOSE, PLANS, OPERATIONS, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE THE NATION'S SALVATION. WHEREFORE SAY UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, I AM THE LORD, AND I WILL BRING YOU OUT FROM UNDER THE BURDENS OF THE EGYPTIANS, AND I WILL RID YOU OUT OF THEIR BONDAGE, AND I WILL REDEEM YOU WITH A STRETCHED-OUT ARM, AND WITH GREAT JUDGMENTS.--_Exodus_, VI, 6. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE FRIENDS OF THE COMPILER. 1872. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, by E. A. IRELAND, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. INTRODUCTORY. The facts contained in the succeeding pages, have been compiled from authenticated sources, and with especial reference to their truthfulness. That portion derived from the diary of a gentleman, twelve years a resident of the South, was not originally intended for public circulation; but this, with a variety of other matter obtained from official records, formed the basis of a lecture delivered at Tremont Temple, in the city of Boston, on the evening of March 27th, 1872, and excited a great degree of interest among the people to learn more of the subject-matter treated upon. Communications relating thereto came in from all parts of the country, and it was decided by the friends of the compiler to present all the facts in convenient form for general circulation, as the best means of complying with this demand. They are here given with such additions to the original matter, as will enable the general reader more fully to comprehend the origin, rise and progress of the various orders of the Ku Klux Klans, their social and political significance, and their general bearing upon the welfare of the nation at large. The thrilling stories of outrage and crime herein narrated, are authenticated beyond the power of refutation.