560 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



Committee on Articles of Impeachment, with 

 power to send for persons and papers," was 

 adopted almost unanimously yeas 75, nays 11. 



After the expiration of the thirty days, which 

 the Senate had granted to the accused for filing 

 his answer to the charges, the case was opened 

 on February 2d, by the chairman of the Board 

 of Managers, who addressed the Senate as a 

 court of impeachment, Cbief- Justice Pearson 

 presiding. With frequent sittings, the court 

 continued its proceedings until March 22d ; a 

 large number of witnesses, besides a vast 

 amount of documentary evidence, having been 

 in the mean time produced by both parties. 



On the 22d of March, 1871, the vote was 

 taken on the articles of impeachment separate- 

 ly. All of the Senators, except one, were pres- 

 ent, and classified as 36 Conservatives and 13 

 Republicans. The result of the voting shows 

 that some of the Republicans voted against the 

 Governor on certain charges, while some among 

 the Conservatives voted in his favor on others. 

 Their votes stood as follows : 



On article 1 guilty, 30 ; not guilty, 19. 



On article 2 guilty, 32 ; not guilty^ 17. 



On article 3 guilty, 37 ; not guilty, 12. 



On article 4 guilty, 33 ; not guilty, 16. 



On article 5 guilty, 40 ; not guilty, 9. 



On article 6 guilty, 41 ; not guilty, 8. 



On article 7 guilty, 36 ; not guilty, 13. 



On article 8 guilty, 36 ; not guilty, 13. 



The Chief Justice then announced "that 

 William W. Holden had been convicted of the 

 charges contained in six of the eight articles 

 of impeachment, two-thirds of the Senators 

 voting having concurred. 1 ' On this announce- 

 ment, "the managers, through their chairman, 

 in the name of the House of Representatives, 

 and of all the people of North Carolina, de- 

 manded that the Senate should proceed to 

 judgment against the respondent on this his 

 conviction," when a Senator offered the fol- 

 lowing order : 



Whereas. The House of Representatives of the 

 State of Worth Carolina did, on the 20th day of 

 December, 1870, exhibit to the Senate articles of im- 

 peachment against William W. .Holdeu, Governor 

 of North Carolina, and the said Senate, after a full 

 hearing and impartial trial, has, by the votes of two- 

 thirds of the members present, this day determined 

 that the said William W. Holden is guilty, as charged 

 in the 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th of said articles : 



Now, therefore, it is adjudged by the Senate of North 

 Carolina, sitting as a court of impeachment, at their 

 chamber, in the city of Kaleigh, that the said William 

 W. Holden be removed from the office of Governor, 

 and be disqualified to hold any office of honor, trust, 

 or profit, under the State of North Carolina. 



It is further ordered, that a copy of this judgment 

 be enrolled and certified by the Chief Justice, as 

 presiding officer, and the principal clerk of the Sen- 

 ate, and that such certified copy be deposited in the 

 office of the Secretary of State. 



This order also was voted upon and adopted 

 yeas 36, nays 13. The judgment was then 

 ratified and announced by the Chief Justice, 

 and the Senate, as a court of impeachment, 

 closed its session, adjourning sine die. 



From the testimony taken at this trial, it 



appears that, since the fall of 1868, there ex- 

 isted in North Carolina a secret association, 

 organized under the name of the " Order of 

 the White Brotherhood," or Ku-klux Klan, 

 whose members went about at night, dressed 

 in long white robes, with horns above their 

 heads, and other devices calculated to frighten 

 people, taking citizens from their homes, whip- 

 ping, and sometimes hanging them. They had 

 " camps " in distinct townships of the county, 

 each camp having its special leader, and all 

 being under the command of the chief of the 

 county. The better to avoid detection, per- 

 sons to be chastised by the order in one lo- 

 cality were "Ku-kluxed" by the camp of 

 another locality. Several among the witnesses 

 placed on the stand in behalf of the Governor, 

 and belonging to the better class of citizens 

 lawyers, physicians, sheriffs, magistrates pro- 

 fessed to have been Ku-klnx themselves, and 

 taken a special oath on their being admitted 

 into the order. 



Though negroes and Republicans were not 

 received into it, the White Brotherhood seems 

 to have had little of politics, or aversion to the 

 colored people, in its operations. Those wit- 

 nesses who acknowledged that they had been 

 members of the order, unanimously averred 

 that its object was neither to subvert the ex- 

 isting government, State or Federal, nor tc 

 deprive the negroes of the enjoyment of their 

 civil and social rights, but to put a stop to 

 barn-burning and stealing, and to chastise 

 other ordinary offences and violations of the 

 law, especially if the courts failed to punish 

 them. This was confirmed by the statement 

 of several witnesses who had been personally 

 whipped by the Ku-klux, and who testified 

 that on being beaten, or simply warned to 

 quit the place, they were told it was on account 

 of certain specified offences laid to their charge. 



The Union-League organization, composed 

 of negroes and Republicans, as the testimony 

 at this trial shows, existed in North Carolina 

 before the Ku-klux association, and the latter 

 grew up under the former to counteract its 

 working. A member of the Lower House of 

 Congress from this State, in his speech on the 

 Civil Rights Bill, at the sitting of March 2, 

 1871, concluded it with the words: "One 

 secret political organization always begets 

 another, and my State is no exception to the 

 rule. First came the Leaguers then the Ku- 

 klux." The ground and object of the League 

 are political, excluding Conservatives, and" its 

 members swear to support Republicans, as the 

 witnesses who represented themselves as be- 

 longing to it testified at this trial. A promi- 

 nent one among them stated : " I joined the 

 Union League in 1867. Governor Holden ini- 

 tiated me into the League before he was Gov- 

 ernor. He told me it Avas a political organi- 

 zation." 



A member of the judicial department was 

 also impeached at this session. Information 

 having been given, and complaint made to the 



