He was a thriving business man, the proprietor of two plantations and a mill, and kept a large number of hands engaged at work. After the close of the rebellion and as a measure of concession to the turbulent spirits by whom he was surrounded, he employed white men to do his labor. Mr. Halliday soon found, to his inconvenient cost, that these men demanded exorbitant wages; that they were indisposed to perform a fair day's work, sometimes not working at all, and then but for a half day, but always charging him for full time--and he finally became disgusted with, and discharged them altogether. This was sufficient to bring him into contempt with the Klan, who charged him with being a "negro lover," as well as a Union sympathizer, and an open-mouthed Radical. Threats of his assassination and the destruction of his mill and other buildings were freely uttered. He was formally "warned" by the K. K. K.'s, that he must change his course, politically, or he would certainly suffer death. Halliday's reply to this threat and warning was simply to proceed to Jefferson, and procure some of the best modern weapons, for defense, that he could find. With these he returned to his dwelling, awaited results, pursuing his usual course, advocating such political principles as he please, and employing colored men as before. During the spring of 1871, at a meeting of the Ku Klux Camp of Jefferson County, it was solemnly resolved that Halliday should be killed, and his property destroyed. The night for the "visitation" was duly decided on; and through an anonymous note this information was conveyed to Halliday, the writer begging him as he valued his life, to leave the place, and thus save himself. To less resolute men this would have appeared a serious matter, but upon Halliday the threatened danger had an entirely different effect. It nerved rather than weakened his brave spirit, and he resolved to "stick." He was a man full six feet in stature, and well proportioned; he had been long accustomed to out-of-door life, and was considered one of the most powerful men, physically, in the county; he knew his strength, and relying upon that and an unswerving faith in God, he determined to defend himself and his family to the last. On the night of the anticipated visit, he placed his wife and his two children in the upper room of the house, and barricaded the passage way leading thereto, as best he could. Mrs. Halliday well knew the desperate character and murderous designs of the Klan. She clung to her husband, to whom she was devotedly attached, and expressed her fears as he passed down the stairway, that she would never see him again, alive! To this Mr. Halliday responded: "You forget that the GREAT MASTER is with me! Trust HIM as _I_ do," and kissing her and the little ones, he descended to the ground floor, where he intended to remain and await the advent of the party.