It was while my home was at Malden that what was known as the "Ku
Klux Klan" was in the height of its activity. The "Ku Klux" were
bands of men who had joined themselves together for the purpose
of regulating the conduct of the coloured people, especially with
the object of preventing the members of the race from exercising
any influence in politics. They corresponded somewhat to the
"patrollers" of whom I used to hear a great deal during the days
of slavery, when I was a small boy. The "patrollers" were bands
of white men--usually young men--who were organized largely for
the purpose of regulating the conduct of the slaves at night in
such matters as preventing the slaves from going from one
plantation to another without passes, and for preventing them
from holding any kind of meetings without permission and without
the presence at these meetings of at least one white man.
Like the "patrollers" the "Ku Klux" operated almost wholly at
night. They were, however, more cruel than the "patrollers."
Their objects, in the main, were to crush out the political
aspirations of the Negroes, but they did not confine themselves
to this, because schoolhouses as well as churches were burned by
them, and many innocent persons were made to suffer. During this
period not a few coloured people lost their lives.
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