259 
 
 Ht 
 
 
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DEPARTMENT, 
 
 J J ^ 
 
 ANSWER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 AUTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT. 
 
 SENATE OF THE STATE OF ITOETH CAKOLmA, 
 SITTING AS A COUET OF IMPEACHMENT FOR 
 THE TRIAL OF WILLIAM W. HOLDEN, GOVERNOR 
 OF THE STATE OF NORTH CiSoLINA. 
 
 THE ANSWER of the said William W. Bolden, G(xvernor 
 of the State of North Carolina, to the Articles of Imjpeach- 
 rnent exhibited against him hy the House of Rejpresentatives 
 of the State of North Ca/rolina. 
 
 For answer to the first article lie says : That this respondent, 
 on the 4:th day of Jnly, 1868, was inaugurated Governor of the 
 State of North Carolina, and entered upon the discharge of his 
 duties with the purpose to administer the government of said 
 State in strict accordance with the obligation of his oath of 
 ofiice, without favor or afiection, agi'eeable to the Constitution 
 and laws of the State, a purpose which he has not intentionally 
 violated in any of his official acts. On the first day of July, 
 A, D. 1868, Jonathan Worth, the immediate predecessor of 
 this respondent in the gubernatorial office, addressed to him a 
 protest, of which the following is a copy : 
 
TZ5^ 
 
 2 Ml 
 
 STATE OF NOETII CAROLINA, 
 
 Executive Department, 
 Raleigh, July 1, 1868. 
 
 Governor W. W. Holden, BaUigh, If. C. : 
 
 Sir : Yesterday morning I was verbally notified by Chief 
 -Justice Pearson that in obedience to a telegram from General 
 Canby, he would to-day, at 10 A. M., administer to you the 
 oath required preliminary to your entering upon the discharge 
 of the duties of ci^-il Governor of the State, and that thereupon 
 you would demand possession of my office. I intimated to the 
 Judge my opinion that such proceeding was premature, even 
 under the reconstruction legislation of Congress, and that I 
 should probably dechne to surrender the office to you. 
 
 At sundowTi yesterday evening I received from Colonel 
 WiUiams, commandant of this military post, an extract from 
 the General Orders, No. 120, of General Canby, as follows : 
 
 GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 120. 
 
 [extract.] 
 
 " Headquarters, Second Military Distict, 
 
 Charleston, S. C, June 30, 1868. 
 
 " To facilitate the organization of the new State goveraments, 
 the following appointments are made : To be Governor of 
 North Carohna, W. W. Holden, Governor elect, vice Jonathan 
 Worth, removed ; to be Lieutenant Governor ot North Caroli- 
 na, Tod R. Caldwell, Lieutenant Governor elect, to fill an ori- 
 ginal vacancy, to take effect, July 1, 1868, on the meeting of 
 tlie General Assembly of North Carolina." 
 
 I do not recognize the validity of the late election, under which 
 you and those co-operating with you, claim to be mvested with 
 the civil government of the State. You have no evidence of 
 
yoiir election save tlie certificate of a major-general of the 
 United States army. I regard all yon as, in eifect, appointees 
 of the military power of the United States and not as " deriv- 
 ing yonr powers from the consent of those you claim to gov- 
 ern." Knowing, however, that you are backed by military 
 force here, which I could not resist if I would, I do not deem it 
 necessary to offer a futile opposition, but vacate the office with- 
 out the ceremony of actual eviction, offering no further opposi- 
 tion than this, my protest. I would submit to actual expulsion, 
 in order to bring betore the Supreme Court of the United 
 States the question as to the constitutionality of the legisla- 
 lation under which you claim to be the rightful Governor of 
 the State, if the past action of that tribunal fm-nished any hope 
 of a speedy trial. I surrender the office to you under what I 
 deemed military duress, without stopping, as the occasion 
 would well justify, to comment upon the singular coincidence 
 that the present State Government is surrendered, as without 
 legality, to him whose own official sanction, but three years 
 ago, declared it vaHd. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 JOHNATHAN WOETH, 
 Governm' of North Cm'olina. 
 
 But this respondent , was disposed to ascribe this protest 
 against the constitutionality of the legislation under which he 
 had been elected, to causes operating solely upon him by whom 
 it had been offered, and cherished the hope, that it was not con- 
 curred in by any considerable body of his fellow-citizens, but 
 that they had resolved to submit, in good faith, to the recon- 
 6ti*uction acts of Congress, and to aid him in giving effect to the 
 same. The protest aforesaid was taken up by various newspa- 
 pers througout the State, the sentiments therein expressed were 
 lauded and endorsed, and unmistakable evidence given that the 
 government of the State was regarded by many as illegal in its 
 character, and was submitted to only because of inability to 
 overthrow it. Not long after the induction of this respondent 
 
to office, lie became officially cogiiizant of a settled design, 
 existing in various parts of the State, through the aid of secret 
 combinations of a political character, of which he believes the 
 aforesaid protest was the niiclens, practically to render null and 
 void said reconstruction acts, and to set at naught those provis- 
 ions of the Federal and State constitutions which secure polit- 
 ical and civil equality to the whole body of the people, without 
 respect to race, color or previous condition. Determined to avert, 
 if possible, tlie evil consequences which, it was foreseen, must 
 ensue from the attempt of such combinations to effect the 
 objects for which they had been organized, especially the pm*- 
 pose to assail by force the right of suffrage guaranteed by said 
 acts to his colored fellow-citizens, this respondent deemed it 
 his duty to issue his proclamation of October 12th, 1868, setting 
 forth the nature of the go^'ernment, giving warning of the 
 consequences that must follow any attempt to subvert the same, 
 and enjoining all magistrates, sheriffs, and other peace officers 
 to be vigilant, impartial, faithful and firm in the discharge of 
 their duties, explaining and enforcing the law, ferreting out 
 offenders, protecting the weak against the strong who may 
 attempt to deprive them of their rights, to the end that the 
 wicked may be restrained, the peace of society preserved, the 
 good name of the State maintained, and the government per- 
 petuated on the basis of freedom and justice to all. 
 
 But the said combinations continued to gather strength. 
 The members thereof met in secret, selected the victims to be 
 punished, and perpetrated outrages in the dead of night, 
 through disguised parties, on quiet and unoffending citizens, 
 chiefly colored persons, and always of the Republican party. 
 The Legislature, under the hope of placing some check upon 
 their unlawful acts, and of affording some security to the 
 objects of their vengeance, passed the act of April 12th, 1869, 
 entitled " AnfAct making the act of going masked, disguised 
 or painted affelony," which this respondent set forth in his 
 proclamation of April 16th, 1869, of which the following 
 is a copy : 
 
A PROCLAMATION BY HIS EXCELLENCY, THE 
 GOYEENOR OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Executive Department, 
 Raleigh, April 16, 1869. 
 
 It is my duty to publish the following act, passed by the 
 General Assembly of North Carolina at its recent session : 
 
 AN ACT MAKING THE ACT OF GOING MASKED, DISGUISED OB 
 PAINTED A FELONY. 
 
 Section 1. The General Assembly of North Ca/rolina do 
 enact, Any person who shall disguise himself by painting his 
 face, or by wearing any mask or any other device for the con- 
 cealment ot the face or person, with intent to terrify or frighten 
 any citizen of the community, or part thereof, shall be deemed 
 guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished by fine or imprison- 
 ment in the county jail, at the discretion of the court. 
 
 Sec. 2. Any person or persons, either singly or in association 
 with each other, who, being disguised or masked, or othewase 
 concealed in the manner described in the preceding section, 
 shall commit any trespass or act by force or violence, which is 
 now a misdemeanor by any statute of this State, or at common 
 law, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and shall be imprisoned 
 at hard labor in the Penitentiary for a term of not less than 
 one year, or more than ten years. 
 
 Sec. 3. This act shall go into effect on its ratification, and 
 the Governor shall cause the same to be published immediately. 
 
 Ratified the 12th day of April, A. D. 1869. 
 
 No person in this State can be " in any manner deprived of 
 his life, liberty or property, but by the law of the land." Every 
 man's house is his castle, into which no man can enter to mo- 
 lest or disturb him unless by authority of law. The humblest 
 
6 
 
 and the poorest are entitled to tins protection equally with the 
 wealthiest and most exalted. The courts will extend this pro- 
 tection, and the Executive is prepared to sustain the courts, 
 and to do everything within the sphere of his powers and du- 
 ties to preserA^e peace and good order in society. Bands of 
 men who go masked and armed at night, causing alarm and 
 terror in neighborhoods, and committing acts of violence on 
 the inoffensive and defenceless, will be followed and brought to 
 justice; and depredators and robbers, who live on the honest 
 earnings of others, will be made to feel the penalty due to 
 their crimes. 
 
 It is hoped the evils complained of, and which are confined 
 to a few locahties, will speedily cease. The great body of the 
 people of the State are submitting quietly and peaceably to 
 established authority, and laboring assiduously to retrieve their 
 fortunes and improve their condition, I appeal to this great 
 body of the people to unite with me in discountenancing and 
 repressing the evils referred to. Public opinion properly em- 
 bodied and expressed will be more effectual in repressing these 
 evils, and in promoting the general good that will result from 
 the complete establishment of peace and order in every neigh- 
 orhood in the State, than the execution of the law itself against 
 offenders in a few individual cases. I respectfully and 
 earnestly invoke this public opinion. By the regard which we 
 all have for the peace of society and the good name of the 
 State, I call upon every citizen to unite with me in discounte- 
 nancing disorders and violence of all kinds, and in fostering 
 and promoting confidence, peace and good will among the 
 whole people of the State. 
 
 ^w.c^=^| Done at our City of Ealeigh, this the 16th day of 
 §c<9sc^(i?s§ April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, 
 and in the year of the Independence of the United States the 
 ninety-third. 
 
 W. W. HOLDER", G(yvernory 
 By the Governor : 
 
 W. R. KicnAKDSON, Acting Private Secretary. 
 
For a more detailed statement of tlie pni-poses and objects 
 of the said secret political combinations, and of the means 
 which they adopted to effect said purposes and objects, and of 
 the outrages which they perpetrated, this respondent refers to 
 his message of ]N"ovember 22d, 1870, to the Honorable the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of North Carolina, and quotes therefrom as 
 follows : 
 
 " These combinations were at first purely political in their char- 
 acter, and many good citizens were induced to join them. But 
 gradually, under the leadership of ambitious and discontented 
 politicians, and under the pretext that society needed to be reg- 
 ulated by some authority outside or above the law, their char- 
 acter was changed, and these secret Klans began to commit 
 murder, to rob, whip, scourge and mutilate unolfending citizens. 
 These organizations, or these combinations were called the Ku 
 Klux Klan, and were revealed to the public, as the result of the 
 measures which I adopted, as ' The Constitutional JJnio^i 
 Guards^ ' Tlie White Brotherhood,^ and ' The InvisiUe 
 Enfhinre^ Unlike other secret political associations, they au- 
 thorized the use of force, with deadly weapons, to influence the 
 elections. The members were miited by oaths which ignored 
 or repudiated the ordinary oaths or obligations resting upon all 
 other citizens to respect the laws and uphold the government ; 
 these oaths inculcated hatred by the white race against the 
 colored race ; the members of the Klan, as above stated, were 
 hostile to the principles on which the government of the State 
 had been reconstructed, and, in many respects, hostile to the 
 government of the United States. They met in secret, in dis- 
 guised, in arms, in a dress of a certain kind intended to conceal 
 their persons and their horses, and to terrify those whom they 
 menaced or assaulted. They held their camps, and under their 
 leaders they decreed judgment against their peaceable fellow- 
 citizens, from mere intimidation to scourgings, mutilations, the 
 burning of churches, school-houses, mills, and in many cases to 
 murder. This organization, under different names, but cemen- 
 ted by a common purpose, is beheved to have embraced not less 
 
than forty thousand voters in North CaroHna. It was governed 
 by rules more or less military in then- character, and struck its 
 victmis with such 'secrecy, swiftness and certainty as to leave 
 them httle hope either for escape or mercy. The members 
 were sworn to obey the orders of their camps even to assassina- 
 tion and murder. They were taught to regard oaths administered 
 before magistrates and in Courts of Justice, as in no decree 
 bmding when they were called upon to give testimony against 
 their conlederates. They were sworn to keep the secrets of tlie 
 order— to obey the commands of the Chief— to go to the rescue 
 o± a member at all hazards, and to swear for him as a witness, 
 and acquit him as a juror. Consequentlv, Grand Juries in 
 many counties fi-cquently refused to liiid bills against the mem- 
 bers of the Klan for the gravest and most flagrant violations of 
 law; and when bills were found, and the parties were arraigned 
 tor trial, witnesses, members of the order, would in nearly el-ery 
 case come forward, and, taking an oath before the Court on the 
 Iloly Evangelists to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
 but the truth, would swear lalsely, and would thus defeat the 
 ends ot justice. There are, at least, four Judges and four So- 
 licitors m the State who will bear witness to the fact, from their 
 own experience, that it was very diflicult, if not impossible, to 
 convict members of this Klan of crimes and misdemeanors. I 
 have information of not less than twenty-five murders commit- 
 ted by members of this Klan, in various counties of the State, 
 and of hundreds of cases of scourging and whii^ping. Very few' 
 ifany, com-ictions have followed in tlic.e cases. The civil' 
 law was powerless. One State Senator was murdered 
 m the open day in a County Court-house, and another 
 State Senator was driven from the State, solely on ac- 
 count of their poHtical opinions. In neither case was a biU 
 found by a Grand Jury. A respectable and unofiending 
 colored man was taken from his bed at night, and hanged 
 by the neck until he was dead, within a short distance of a 
 County Court-house. Another colored man was drowTied, be- 
 cause he spoke publicly of persons who aided in the cominis- 
 
sion of this crime. No bills were found in these cases. A 
 crippled white man, a native of Vermont, was cruelly whipped 
 because he was teaching a colored school. Xo bill was found 
 in this case. The Sheriff of a County was waylaid, shot and 
 killed on a public highway, and the Colonel oi a County was 
 shot and killed in the open day, while engaged in his usual 
 businese. A County jail was broken open, and five men taken 
 out and their throats cut. Another jail was broken open, and 
 men taken out and shot, one of whom died of his woimd. 
 Another jail was broken open, and a United State's prisoner 
 released. Xo punishments followed in these cases. The mem- 
 bers of this Klan, under the orders of their Chiefs, had ridden 
 through many neighborhoods at night, and had punished free 
 citizens on account of their political opinions, and had so terri- 
 fied many of them by threats of future visitations of vengeance 
 that they fled from their houses, took refuge in the woods, and 
 did not dare to appear in public to exercise their right of suf- 
 frage. Some of these victims were shot, some of them were 
 whipped, some of them were hanged, some of them were 
 drowned, some of them were tortured, some had their mouths 
 lacerated with gags, one of them had his ear cropped, and 
 others, of both sexes, were subjected to indignities which were 
 disgraceful not merely to civilization but to humanity itself. 
 The members of this Klan, under the orders of their Chiefs, 
 had ridden, defiantly and unmolested, through the towns of 
 Hillsborough, Chapel Ilill, Pittsborough and Graham, commit- 
 ting crimes, defpng the lawful authorities, and causing real 
 alarm to aU good people. In fine, gentlemen, there was no 
 remedy for these evils through the civil law, and but for the 
 use of the military arm, to which I was compelled to resort, 
 the whole fabric of society in the State would have been un- 
 dermined and destroyed, and a reign of lawlessness and anarchy 
 would have been established. The present State government 
 would thus have failed in the great purpose for which it was 
 created, to-wit : the protection of Hfe and property under equal 
 laws; and, necessarily the national government would have 
 
10 
 
 interfered, and, in all probability, would have placed us again 
 and for an indefinite period under military nile." 
 
 Wliicli lie desires to be taken as a part of this his answer and 
 all of which h^is prepared to sustain by proof. 
 
 This respon(ient, actuated by a sincere desire to restore the 
 good order of society in the State, and determined to use all 
 peaceful ways and means to bring back those misguided men to 
 a sense of their duty to their fellow-citizens, and to cause them 
 to abandon the said organizations, issued, on the 20th day of 
 October, 18G9, his proclamation of which the following is a 
 copy: 
 
 "A PEOCLAMATION BY HIS EXCELLE]S"CY, THE 
 GOYEENOR OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 ExEcrxn^E Department, 
 Raleigh, October 20th, 1869. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the existence of peace and good order in 
 other portions of the State, I regard it as my duty to announce 
 that iu four Counties, to-wit : Lenoir, Jones, Orange and 
 Chatham, there is, and has been for some months past, a feel- 
 ing of insubordination and insurrection, insomuch that many 
 good citizens are put in terror for their lives and property ; 
 and it is difficult, if not impossible, to secure a full and fair en- 
 forcement of the law. Information has reached, and continues 
 to reach the Executive, that in the above Counties a state of 
 feeling exists which is totally incompatible with the fi'ee exer- 
 cise, by the friends of the Government, of that independent ex- 
 pression of opinion, and that fi-eedom of action which is the 
 birthright of every Amerioan. In Lenoir and Jones various 
 thefts and murders have been committed ; jails have been forci- 
 bly opened and the prisoners taken thence have been murder- 
 ed ; an officer of the law has been waylaid and slain on the 
 public highway, and another officer of the law has been slain in 
 open day while engaged in his ordinary avocations. Private 
 
11 
 
 dwellings have been entered and the occuj)ants terrified, and 
 some of them whipped or murdered ; others have been shot or 
 cruelly beaten ; and the result is that thus far the civil law, 
 though finnly asserted and maintained, has not been adequate 
 to bring the insubordinate and the wicked to condign punish- 
 ment. In Chatham the jail has been forcibly opened and a 
 prisoner, confined under sentence of a Court of the United 
 States, has been hberated and is now at large. In Orange the 
 jail has been forcibly opened and two prisoners (colored men) 
 taken out and shot, one of whom has died of his wounds. 
 Three other colored men have been hanged until they were 
 dead, one has been cruelly mutilated, and others have been 
 whipped. White citizens have been injured, insulted and ter- 
 rified. The University of the State, sacred to the cause of 
 learning, has been ref)eatedly invaded by bands of armed men 
 in disguise on horseback, and acts of violence have been there 
 perpetrated on unoffending citizens and officers of the law. 
 Many of the colored people in these Counties, and no inconsid- 
 erable portion of the white people, though obedient to the law 
 and good citizens, are li^dng under constant apprehensions that 
 they may fall victims at any moment to the malice of their 
 enemies. 
 
 " It is made my duty under the Constitution " to call out the 
 militia to execute the law, suppress riots or insurrection and to 
 repel invasion." I deeply regret that it seems necessaiy to- 
 resort to the military power to enforce the law and to protect 
 the citizen. But the law must be maintained. I have waited 
 in vain, hoping that a returning sense of reason and justice 
 would arrest these violations of the law. But these evils, in- 
 stead of diminishing have increased, and no course is left to 
 me but to issue this proclamation of admonition and warning 
 to all the people of the Counties mentioned, whether engaged 
 in these flagrant violations of law, or whether indifferent or 
 insensible to what is occurring in their midst. I now call 
 upon every citizen in the Counties aforesaid to aid the civil 
 power in a fearless enforcement of the laws. No set of men 
 
12 
 
 can take the law into their own hands. Eveiy citizen, how- 
 ever humble, or whatever his color, has a right to be at'peace 
 m his own house, and cannot be taken thence except by due 
 process, and cannot be punished save by the law. If there be 
 those who counsel resistance to established authority, such 
 persons are traitors and should be punished accordingly; if 
 there be those who, disguised or masked, enter the dwelHnge 
 of others by force and commit acts of violence, such persons 
 are guilty of felony, and should be punished by hard labor in 
 the penitentiary; if there be those who, without precept or 
 order, hang, or shoot, or otherwise deprive any one of life 
 such persons are murderers, and should be punished accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 "I now give notice in the most solemn manner that these 
 violations of law and these outrages in the aforesaid Counties 
 must cease; otherwise, I will proclaim those Counties in a 
 state of insurrection, and wiU exert the whole power of the 
 State to enforce the law, to protect those who are assailed, or 
 mjured, and to bring criminals to justice. In a matter like 
 this there should be no party feeling. It is my fixed purpose 
 to protect every citizen without regard to his antecedents, his 
 color or his political opinions; but to do this the law must be 
 sacred, must be spread over all alike, and must be inflexibly 
 maintained. 
 
 |c^c^c^| " ^«ne at our City of Ealeigh, this the 20th day of 
 %^^^% October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight 
 hundred and sixty-nine, and in the ninety-fourth year of our 
 Independence. 
 
 W. W. HOLDEN, Oomernw. 
 By the Governor : 
 
 "W. R. Richardson, Private Secreta/ry." 
 
 The said organizations extended into the counties of Ala- 
 mance and Caswell, with, if possible, redoubled atrocity in the 
 means to which their members resorted to carry out their 
 iUegal objects, when the Legislature, moved by the fearful dis- 
 
13 
 
 orders whicli had so alarmingly increased in these and other 
 counties, passed the act of January 29th, 1870, entitled " An 
 act to secure the better protection of life and property," which 
 authorizes and empowers' the Governor " whenever in his 
 judgment the civil authorities in any county are unable to pro- 
 tect its citizens in the enjoyment of life and property, to declare 
 such county to be in a state of insurrection, and to call into 
 active service the militia of the State, to such an extent as may 
 become necessary to suppress such insurrection ; and in such 
 case the Governor is further authorized to call upon the Presi- 
 dent for such assistance, if any, as in his judgment may be 
 necessary to enforce the law." 
 
 "Within a few days after the ratification of the said act, a 
 body of armed men to the number of fifty or more, members of 
 the aforesaid organizations, disguised by masks and other 
 means, intending to awe members of the Republican party 
 throughout the State, by putting to death certain Republican 
 citizens of Alamance county, did, on the night of the 26th of 
 Februaiy, 1870, enter the town of Graham, the shire town of 
 the said county of Alamance, with the purpose and intent of 
 putting to death every adult Republican male resident of the 
 said town of Graham, and did, with such purpose and intent, 
 visit the houses of all such residents, and did drag from his bed 
 and put to death by hanging, in the public square of said town, 
 one "Wyatt Outlaw, an old colored man, whose only offence 
 was that he belonged to the said Republican party. But for 
 the fact that the other adult male Republican residents of said 
 town succeeded in making their escape, it is believed that they 
 would have shared the same fate. 
 
 This respondent, notwithstanding the aforesaid atrocities so 
 subversive of the good order of society, was reluctant to have 
 recourse to the extraordinary means provided by the Constitu- 
 tion of the State and the aforesaid act of January 27th, 1870, 
 in order to repress the same, but still hoped that he could 
 effect the said object by means of the civil power alone. In 
 addition to the proclamations already herein set forth, he ad- 
 
li 
 
 dressed letters to various civil and military officers and citizens 
 of the State, nrging the necessity of repressing the said out- 
 rages, and of enforcing the law. In the early part of 1870 he 
 enlisted in Chatham connty, the services of Captaia ]S^. A. 
 Ramsay, and in Orange county, of Captain Pride Jones, both 
 belonging to the political party opposed to him, to aid in com- 
 posing the troubles in those counties. 
 
 The number of the order in Alamance county, as stated by 
 s. credible witness under oath, was between TOO or 800 ; in 
 Guilford county 1200 ; the number in Caswell county was not 
 stated, but the order extended over the State and numbered 
 40,000 members. Many citizens of Alamance and Caswell 
 counties had been scourged, whipped, mutilated and murdered, 
 with impunity, the civil law had become a by-word and a re- 
 proach, and it having become evident, in the judgment of this 
 respondent that the civil authorities of the county of Alamance 
 were unable to protect the citizens thereof in the enjoyment of 
 life and property, this respondent deemed it his imperative 
 duty, to exercise the powers vested in him by the Constitution 
 and laws of the State, and on the 7th day of March, 1870, 
 issued his proclamation as Governor of JS'orth Carolina, de- 
 claring the county of Alamance in a state of insurrection, of 
 which the following is a copy : 
 
 " A PROCLAMATION BY HIS EXCELLENCY, THE 
 GOYERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Executive Department, 
 Raleigh, March 7th, 1870. 
 
 " By virtue of authority vested in me by the Constitution of 
 the State, and by virtue of an act passed at the present session 
 of the General Assembly, entitled " An act to secure the better 
 protection of life and property," ratified the 29th day of Janu- 
 ary, 1870, and for the reason that the civil authorities of the 
 County of Alamance are not able to protect the citizens of said 
 
15 
 
 ComitT in the enjovment ol life and property, I hereby pro- 
 claim and declare that the County of Alamance is in a state of 
 insun'ection. 
 
 •• On the 26th day of Xovember, 1S69, a citizen of the United 
 States, who was engaged in teaching a school in said County, 
 was taken from his house by a band of men armed and dis- 
 guised, and was by them cnielly beaten and scourged. 
 
 '* On the night of the 26th of Februaiy, 1870, a ckizenof said 
 County was taken from his house by a band of men armed and 
 disguised, and was by them hanged by the neck until he was 
 dead, on the public square in the town ot Graham, near the 
 Court House. 
 
 "• And more recently the Postmaster at Company Shops, in 
 said County, an officer of the government of the United States, 
 was compelled to flee the County, and while absent a band of 
 men armed and disguised visited his house, with the purpose, 
 doubtless, of taking his life ; and this within a short distance 
 of Federal troops stationed in said County, not to overawe or 
 intimidate good citizens, but to preserve the peace and to pro- 
 tect the innocent and law-abiding. 
 
 " In addition to these cases information has been received at 
 this department that peaceable and law-abiding citizens of the 
 County aforesaid have been molested in their houses, have 
 been whipped, shot, scourged, and threatened with further 
 visitations of violence and outrage unless they would conform 
 to some arbitrary standard of conduct set up by these disguised 
 assassins and murderers. 
 
 " I have issued proclamation after proclamation to the people 
 of the State, warning offenders and wicked or misguided 
 \'iolators of the law to cease their evil deeds, and, by leading 
 better lives, propitiate those whose duty it is to enforce the 
 law. I have invoked public opinion to aid me in repressing 
 these outrages, and in preservmg peace and order. I have 
 waited to see if the people of Alamance would assemble in 
 public meeting and express their condemnation of such con- 
 duct by a portion of the citizens of the County, but I have 
 
16 
 
 waited in vain. No meeting of the kind has been held. No 
 expression of disapproval even of such conduct by the great 
 body of the citizens has yet reached this Department ; but, on 
 the contrary, it is believed that the lives of citizens who have 
 reported these crimes to the Executive have been thereby en- 
 dangered, and it is further believed that many of the citizens 
 of the County are so terrified that they dare not complain, or 
 attempt the arrest of criminals in their midst. The civil 
 officers of the County are silent and powerless. 
 
 " The laws must be maintained. These laws are over all. 
 Every citizen of whatever party or color, must be absolutely 
 free to express his political opinions, and must be safe in his 
 own house. These outrages and these violations of law must 
 and SHALL cease. Criminals must and shall be brought to 
 justice. The whole power of both governments. State and 
 Federal, is pledged to this, and this power will be exerted. 
 Criminals who may escape to Counties adjoining Alamance 
 will be pursued, and if not delivered up by the civil authorities 
 of said coimties, or if sheltered or protected in said Counties 
 with the knowledge of the civil authorities, the said counties 
 will also be declared to be in a state of insurrection. 
 
 " I earnestly appeal to all good citizens to aid the civil authori- 
 ties in maintaining peace and good order, and to support me in 
 my purpose to protect life and property without regard to 
 party or color. 
 
 " Done at the city of Raleigh, this 7th day of March, 1870, 
 and in the 94:th year of our Independence. 
 
 W. W. HOLDEN, Governm'. 
 By the Governor : 
 
 "W. R. Richardson, Prwate Secretary P 
 
 And which he prays may be taken as a part of this his answer. 
 Undeterred by the proceedings taken for the protection of 
 society in the county of Alamance, the aforesaid organizations 
 continued to perpetrate outrages in the coimty of Caswell, 
 reference to some of which is made in a proclamation of this 
 respondent of July 6, 1870, of which the following is a copy : 
 
17 
 
 A PKOCLAMATION BY HIS EXCELLENCY, TIEE 
 GOVERNOR OF KORTH CAROLINA 
 
 Executive Department, 
 Raleigli, June 6tli, 1870. 
 
 " "Whereas, In January or Eebruaiy, 1869, tlie house of 
 Daniel Blue, colored, in the county of Moore, was entered at 
 night by a band of disguised men, known as the Ku Klux 
 Kian, and the wife of the said Blue, who was pregnant, and 
 five of the children, were'murdered, and the house with the 
 bodies of the murdered persons aforesaid was burned ; and 
 
 " Wliereas, on the 26th of February, 1870, Wyatt Outlaw, 
 colored, a citizen of Alamance, was taken from his house in the 
 town of Graham by disguised persons known as the Ku Klux, 
 and hanged by the neck imtil he was dead, on a tree near the 
 Courthouse; and 
 
 "Whereas, on the 21st day of May, 1870, John W. Stephens, 
 white, State Senator from the county of Caswell, was murdered 
 in open day-light in the Courthouse in the village of Yancey- 
 ville, by persons unknown, supposed to belong to the Ku Klux 
 Klan aforesaid ; and 
 
 " "Whereas, on the 13th of May, 1870, Robin Jacobs, colored, 
 living near Leasburg, Caswell county, was murdered at night 
 by a band of Ku Klux Klan aforesaid ; and 
 
 ""Whereas, from the 2d of April, 1870, to the 15th of May, 
 1870, not less than twenty-one persons, white and colored, in 
 the aforesaid county of CasweU, were cruelly whipped and 
 scourged by a band or bands of the aforesaid Ku Klux Klan ; 
 and 
 
 " "Whereas, during the week ending the 14th of May, 1870, a 
 colored man, in the county of Lincoln, was taken from his bed 
 at night and tied to a tree by a band of disguised persons known 
 as the Ku Klux Klan, and cruelly whipped ; and 
 
 " "Whereas, about the same time, in said county, a band of 
 2 
 
18 
 
 men disguised, known as the Ku Klux Ivlan, in said county, 
 shot a colored man on the public highway, and then told him 
 they had shot him through mistake for another colored man, 
 but laid him on a pile of fence rails and told him to cry for 
 help; and 
 
 "Whereas, a colored man named Puryear, of the county of 
 Alamance, supposed to be half-witted, ha^dng followed two of 
 the disguised mm-derers of Wyatt Outlaw to their homes, and 
 having spoken of the fact publicly, suddenly disappeared, and 
 was found drowned in a mill pond with a twenty-pound rock 
 to liis feet ; and 
 
 "Whereas, T. M. S holFner, one of the Senators in the General 
 Assembly of this State from the Counties of Alamance and 
 Guilford, has been compelled to sacrifice his property, and, to 
 save his life, to make his escape from said comity on account of 
 his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan aforesaid, and his devotion 
 to the government of the United States ; and 
 
 "Whereas, on the 26th of May, 1870, a most atrocious mur- 
 der was committed by three disguised men on l^eill McLeod 
 and Daniel McLeod, white, of the county of Cumberland, and 
 three others of the family were wounded by these assassins ; and 
 
 "Whereas, in divers other locahties peaceable citizens have 
 been insulted in their homes, put in fear ol their lives, whipped, 
 scourged, maltreated, mutilated and murdered by persons dis- 
 guised and known as the Ku Klux Klan ; and 
 
 "Whereas, retaliation has commenced by the burning of barns, 
 stables and mills ; and 
 
 " Whereas, all these e\dls are to be traced to the Ku Klux 
 Klan aforesaid, though no apology can be ofiered for the retal- 
 iation referred to, for it is equally to be deplored and reproba- 
 ted as a wicked violation of the law ; and upon due informa- 
 tion laid before me, (which information has not been furnished,) 
 that barns, or stables, or mills, or dwelKng houses, have been 
 burned by incendiaries, mentioning localities and the persons 
 to whom the said barns, or stables, or mills, or dwelling houses 
 
19 
 
 belonged, rewards will also be offered for the arrest and convic- 
 tion of the incendiaries aforesaid : 
 
 "Now, THEREFOKE, I, "WiLLTAM W. HoLDEN, Govemor of the 
 
 State of North Carolina, do issue this my proclamation, offer- 
 ing a reward of FIVE HUNDKED DOLLAES for the an-est 
 of each of the murderers of the wife and children of Daniel 
 Blue, of each of the murderers of Wyatt Outlaw, of each of the 
 murderers of John W. Stephens, of each of the murderers of 
 Robin Jacobs, of each of the persons who murdered Puryear, 
 and of each of the persons who murdered Neill McLeod and 
 Daniel McLeod, and robbed the family of the said Neil} 
 McLeod, together with such evidence as will lead to the convic- 
 tion of the persons thus arrested ; those who planned, advised 
 or counselled the commission of this act ; those wdio participa- 
 ted in the act or acts ; or those who conspired to conceal the 
 bodies of the murdered, or aided in the concealment and escape 
 of the felons : 
 
 And I enjoin upon all officers, civil and military, to aid in 
 bringing these and all other offenders to justice ; and especially 
 to discountenance, discourage and repress, all organizations of 
 men who ride or walk at night in disguise, with arms in their 
 bands. It is a misdemeanor thus to go disguised, and it is 
 felony it these disguised persons molest or injure peaceable 
 citizens in their life and property. 
 
 g«?ac<?2o9rg Done at our city of Raleigh, this sixth day of June, 
 ^(UKca^c^Js in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
 and seventy, and in the ninety-fourth year of our Independence. 
 
 W. W. HOLDEN, Governor. 
 By the Governor : 
 
 W. R. Richardson, Private Secretary. 
 
 And which he prays to be taken as a part of this his answer. 
 But the hope of pecuniary reward, and the fear of punishment 
 proved alike unavailing. Actuated by the same imperative 
 sense of duty by which he was impelled in the case of the 
 county of Alamance, and it having become evident to his judg* 
 
20 
 
 meut, that tlie authorities of the county of Caswell were unable 
 to protect the citizens thereof in the enjoyment of life and 
 property, this respondent, in the exercise of the powers vested 
 in hhn by law, on the 8th day of July, 1870, issued his proclama- 
 tion as Governor of E'orth Carolina, declaring the county ot 
 Caswell in a state of insurrection, of which the following is a 
 copy: 
 
 A PKOCLAMATION BY HIS EXCELLENCY, THE 
 GOVERNOE OF NOETH CAEOLD^A. 
 
 Executive Department, 
 Ealeigh, July 8th, 1870. 
 
 In accordance with authority vested m me by the Constitu- 
 tion of the State of North CaroHna, and by virtue of an act 
 passed at the last session of the General Assembly, entitled 
 « An act to secure the better protection of hfe and property, 
 ratified the 29th day of January, 1870, / Jm'eby dedare tU 
 county of Cornell to he in a state of mmrrection. 
 oc^«»c<»g Done at our city of Ealeigh, this the 8th day of 
 \cii'J^% July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- 
 dred and seventy, and in the ninety-fifth year of our Independence. 
 
 "W. W. HOLDEN, Governor. 
 
 By the Governor : 
 
 W. E. EicHABDSON, PrvvaU Secretary. 
 
 This respondent therefore denies and declares to be both 
 false and scandalous, the allegation in said fli'st article, that 
 
 « Wilham W .Holden, Governor of said State, unmindful of 
 the high duties of his office, the obligation of his solemn oath ot 
 office, and the Constitution and laws of said State, and mtend- 
 ing to stir up civil war and subvert personal and public hberty 
 and the Constitution and laws of said State, and of the Umted 
 States, and contriving and intending to humiUate and degrade 
 ^ the said State and the people thereof, and especially he people 
 of the county of Alamance, and to provoke the people to wrath 
 
21 
 
 and violence, did, under eolor of said office, on the seventh day 
 of March, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred 
 and seventy, in said State, of his own false, corrupt and wicked 
 mind and purpose, proclaim and dectare that the county of 
 Alamance, in said State, was in insurrection." 
 
 " On the contrary this respondent caused the said proclama- 
 tion, as well in the case of the county of Alamance as in the 
 county of Caswell, to be issued in his official capacity as 
 Governor of the State of North Carolina, truly for the causes 
 therein and herein set forth, and not until, in his judgment, 
 the civil authorities in each of the said counties had become 
 unable to protect the citizens thereof in the enjoyment of life 
 and property, and he had been long and constantly importuned 
 by letters from citizens in various parts of the State, and in 
 person, by many of the victims of the outrages which are here- 
 in detailed, and urged and counseled by many of the most re- 
 spectable citizens of the State, to adopt the said means as some 
 protection to society in said counties. 
 
 Further answering, this respondent denies the allegation in 
 fiaid first article that this respondent " did, after the days and 
 times last aforesaid (meaning after the 7th day of March, 1870,) 
 send bodies of ai-med, desperate and lawless men, organized 
 and set on foot without authority of law, into said county, and 
 occupy the same by mihtary force, and suspend civil authority, 
 and the Constitution and laws of the State ; and did, after the 
 days and tunes last aforesaid, and before the time of impeachment 
 in this behalf, through and by means of such armed, desperate 
 and lawless men, arrest many peaceable and law-abiding citi- 
 zens of said county of Alamance, then and there about their 
 lawful business ; and did detain, hold, imprison, hang, beat and 
 otherwise maltreat and injure many of them, to wit : Lucien 
 H. Murray, George S. Rogers, William Bingham, Alexander 
 Wilson, Walter Thornton, William Redding, Thomas M. Holt, 
 George Andrews, John Andrews, Frederick Blanchard, Adol- 
 phus G. Moore, John Eoberson, James N. Holt, William Tate, 
 Alexander Patton, Jesse Grant, Lemuel Whitsett, Josiah 
 
22 
 
 Thompson, Sidney Steel, George Jolinson, "William Patton, 
 Joseph Wright, Benjamin McAdams, Eiiffin Andrews, 
 Thomas Ray, Joseph Prichard, Loften Tear, Joseph Thomp- 
 son, Henry Cooke, William Andrews, M. E". Shaw, John 
 Long, James H. Anderson, Joseph Gibson, Heniy Prichard, 
 Joseph Nelson,, James E.. Mm'phy, Jr., William Kirk- 
 patrick, Thomas Gray, Jefferson Younger, Frank Mebane, 
 Clement Cm-tis, John W. McAdams, William Moore, 
 WilHam Clendenen, D. W, Weeden, Daniel Moses, P. 
 Thompson, David Moore, Monroe Fowler, Henr}'- C. 
 Hurdle, William Whitsett, Albert Murray, J. G. Moore, Josej)h 
 Kirkpatrick, W. Y. Montgomery, John Trolhnger, Jerry Whit- 
 sett, Calvin Gibson,, John G. Albright, Robert Hannah, William 
 Johnson, Henderson Scott, William Stockard, James Dickson, 
 K. A. Albright, Thomas Lutterloh, John Grant, James Foust, 
 John Curtis, A. Thompson, Robert Stockard, J. A. Moore, 
 James T. Ilunter, John S. Scott, John Smith, George An- 
 drews, Milton Packard, Henry Robertson, John R. Stockard, 
 John Curtis and Joseph Stockard, when in fact and truth there 
 was no such or any insurrection in said county of Alamance," 
 and declares the fact to be : That by the provisions of an act of 
 the General Assembly of the State of !North CaroUna, enti- 
 tled " An act to organize a militia of North Carolina," ratified 
 the 17th day of August, 1868, the Governor is authorized to 
 accept and organize regiments of volunteer infantry not exceed- 
 ing six ; also to accept and organize battalions of cavalry not 
 to exceed three, and one volunteer battery of artillery. And 
 the Governor is required to appoint and commission all the 
 officers thereof, and, according to the provisions of said act, 
 this respondent, as Governor of North Carolina, caused to be 
 organized a body of volunteer militia of good and lawful men, 
 and of good behavior and deportment, and appointed and com- 
 missioned citizens of North Carolina, and no others, officers 
 thereof, and having declared the said counties of Alamance and 
 Caswell to be in a state of insurrection, as, by the Constitution 
 and laws of North Carolina, he, as Governor thereof, under the 
 
23 
 
 circumstances herein set forth, was empowered and had a right 
 to do, he directed the said body of mihtia, so by him organized, 
 to proceed into the counties of Alamance and Caswell, so de- 
 clared by liun to be in a state of insurrection as aforesaid, for 
 the purpose, and no other, of protecting the inhabitants thereof 
 in the enjoyment of life and property, and issued to the officers 
 in command of the same an order, of which the following is a 
 copy: 
 
 STATE OF NOETH CAKOLmA, 
 
 Adjutant Genekal's Office, 
 
 Ealeigh, July 13th, 1870. 
 Special Obdee No. 11. 
 
 Col. G. "W. Kirk, commanding 2nd Eegiment ITorth Carolina 
 State Troops, will at once procure the necessary transportation 
 for his camp equipage, ond proceed to Yanceyville, and assume 
 command of Alamance and Caswell Coimties. 
 
 He will take the necessary steps to preserve order, and to 
 give the fullest protection to Hfe and property. 
 
 He will take charge of the public buildings, and arrest and 
 hold for examination persons accused of felonies, especially 
 those charged with, or of being accessory to the murder of J. 
 "W". Stephens and "Wyatt Outlaw. 
 
 By command of Gov. Holden, Commander-in-Chief, 
 
 A. W. FISHEE, AdjH Genn. 
 
 This respondent admits that under the aforesaid general 
 order, the persons named in said first article, were arrested and 
 detained and held for examination by the officers commanding 
 the said organized body of militia in the county of Alamance, 
 and that this respondent, as Governor of ISTorth Carolina, did 
 approve of their said arrest and detention, but this respondent 
 was informed and believes and so charges that the said persons 
 and each of them were suspected persons, and arrested on 
 probable cause, for crimes alleged to have been committed b}' 
 them and each of them. This respondent denies that said 
 
24: 
 
 named persons, or any of them, were hanged, beaten, or other- 
 wise maltreated, or mjured, as alleged in said first article, but 
 if the said persons, or any of them, were in anywise maltreated 
 or injm'ed, the same was done contrary to the orders and with- 
 out the advice, procurement, knowledge or consent of tliis re- 
 spondent ; on the contrary the orders of thisrespondent were to 
 treat all such persons as it might be found necessary to an*est 
 humanely and kindly. 
 
 This respondent denies, and declares to be false, the allega- 
 tions in said 1st article charging that he, the said " William W. 
 Holden, Governor as aforesaid, well know that such and said 
 proclamation was groundless and false, and that there was no 
 insurrection in said county, and that all civil authorities, both 
 State and County, in said county, were peacefully and regularly 
 in the full, free and mirestrained exercise in all respects of the 
 functions of their offices, and the courts were all open, and the 
 due administration of the law was unimpeded by any resistance 
 whatsoever, whereby the said William W. Holden, Governor 
 as aforesaid, did then and there, and in the way and maimer, 
 and by the means aforesaid, commit and was guilty of a high 
 crime in office, against the Constitution and laws of said State, 
 and the peace, interests and dignity thereof." 
 
 On the contrary this respondent declares the facts to be as in 
 the premises he has answered and set forth, and further this 
 respondent sa^'s that a majority of the white adult male citi- 
 zens of the said county of Alamance, and also of the coiuity of 
 Caswell, including the Sheriff of said county of Alamance, were 
 members of the Ku Klux organizations aforesaid. Grand ju- 
 ries refused to find true bills against members of the said or- 
 ganizations, or if perchance any were found against such mem- 
 bers, petit juries refused to convict the same, magistrates failed 
 to act, and the Judge and Solicitor of the District attended the 
 Courts merely as a matter of form, a reign of terror existed, and 
 the administration of justice was wholly impeded. In no one 
 instance had the perpetrators of the crimes and felonies herein 
 detailed and set forth been brought to justice, men, obnoxious 
 
25 
 
 to tlie illegal organizations aforesaid, dare not sleep beneath 
 tlieir roofs at niglit, but, abandoning their wives and children, 
 wandered in the woods till day, murder stalked abroad in the 
 land, and those whose hands were red with the blood of their 
 \dctims remained unnoticed and unpunished. 
 
 Fm'ther answering, this respondent denies that he was 
 actuated by any false, corrupt and wicked mind and purpose, 
 in proclaiming and declaring the said counties of Alamance 
 and Caswell in a state of insurrection ; on the contrary he was 
 therein actuated by the purest motives, by a sincere desire to 
 restore the efficiency of the civil authority, to protect life and 
 property, and to promote the welfare of the people of the 
 whole State. 
 
 Further answering, this respondent says that the Constitu- 
 tion of North CaroHna and the laws then in force, vested in 
 the Governor thereof, a discretionery power to declare a county 
 to be in a state of insurrection, whenever in his judment the 
 civil authorities thereof were unable to protect its citizens in 
 the enjoyment of hfe and property, that full faith and credit 
 are to be given to the action of this respondent as Governor of 
 North Carolina in declaring, as aforesaid, the counties of Ala- 
 mance and Caswell in a state of insurrection, and he submits 
 and insists that his said action cannot be questioned by any 
 other department of the government. 
 
 Fm-ther answering, this respondent denies the allegation in 
 said first article that he was guilty of a high crime in office 
 against the Constitution and laws of said State and the peace, 
 interests and dignity thereof. 
 
 ANSWER TO ARTICLE II. 
 
 And for answer to the said second article, this repondent 
 says, that he abides by his answer to the said first article, inso- 
 far as the same is responsive to the allegations contained in the 
 
26 
 
 said second article, and without here again repeating the same 
 answer, prays the same to be taken as an answer to this second 
 article, as fully as if here again set out at length ; and as to the 
 new allegation contained in the said second article, that this 
 res]3ondent did detain, hold, imprison, and otherwise maltreat 
 and injure John Kerr, Samuel P. Hill, William B. Bowe, 
 Nathaniel M. Koane, Frank A. Wiley, Jesse C. Griffith, J. T. 
 Mitchell, Thomas J. Womack, A. G. Yancey, John McKee, A. 
 A. Mitchell, Yancey Jones, J. M. ISTeal, Barzillai Graves, Rob- 
 ert Roane, James R. Fowler, M. C. Hooper, James C. William- 
 son and Peter H. Williamson, this respondent admits that the 
 said named parties were arrested and detained and held for 
 examination in the said county of Caswell by officers command- 
 ing the organized body of militia therein, and that this respon- 
 dent, as Governor of ]N"orth Carolina, did approve of their arrest 
 and detention, but this respondent was informed and believes 
 and so charges that the aforesaid persons, and each of 'them were 
 an'ested on probable cause, and were either suspected persons, 
 or persons accused of being accessories or principals in offences 
 against the laws. But this respondent denies that the said 
 named persons, or any of them, were maltreated and injured, 
 or if the said persons, or any of them, were maltreated or 
 injured, as alleged in said second article, the same was done 
 contrary to the orders, and without the advice, procurement, 
 knowledge or consent of this respondent. 
 
 Further answering, this respondent denies all and all manner 
 of allegations in said second article set forth which he has not 
 already answered. 
 
 Further answering, this respondent denies, as alleged in said 
 second article, that he was guilty of a high crime in office 
 against the Constitution and laws of said State, and the peace, 
 interests and dignity thereof, as in said second article set forth. 
 
 ARTICLE in. 
 And for answer to the said third article, this respondent says 
 
27 
 
 that he abides by his answer to the first and second articles, in 
 so far as the same is responsive to the allegations contained in 
 said third article, and without here again repeating the same 
 answer, prays the same to be taken as an answer to this third 
 article as fnlly as if here set out at length, and as to the new 
 allegation contained in said third article, this respondent 
 says : That the said Josiah Turner, Junior, was, on the filth day 
 of August, 1870, and for some time previous thereto had been, 
 and now is, editor of a newspaper published in the city of 
 Raleigh, in said State, and known as the Sentinel^ which at 
 that time had a large circulation, and for some time previous 
 thereto had circulated largely in the said counties of Alamance 
 and Caswell. By his writings in said newspaper, as well as by 
 his public speeches, made in various parts of the State, and by a 
 continued course of agitation which he had pursued, the said 
 Josiah Turner, Jimior, in the judgment of this respondent, had 
 contributed largely to produce the deplorable state of afifairs which 
 existed in the said counties of Alamance and Caswell, as de- 
 tailed in the answer of this respondent to article first, and which 
 had compelled this respondent to declare said counties in a 
 state of insurrection, as set forth in his said answer to the said 
 first article. This respondent was led to believe, and did 
 believe, the said Josiah Turner, Junior, to be a member of the 
 aforesaid illegal organizations, and well knew that the said 
 Josiah Turner, Junior, by his writings and speeches, unmindful 
 of his duty as a citizen, and of the peace of the State, was using 
 his endeavors at and in the said counties ol Alamance and 
 Caswell to bring about a collision between the militia stationed 
 in the counties of Alamance and Caswell and the citizens 
 thereof, and to persuade, incite and induce the citizens of the 
 aforesaid counties to eject the said militia by force therefrom, 
 and was likewise endeavoring to persuade, incite, and induce 
 the citizens of other parts of the State to enter the said coun- 
 ties of Alamance and Caswell, and to drive therefrom by force 
 of arms the said militia stationed therein, although the said 
 Josiah Turner, Junior, well knew that the said counties of 
 
28 
 
 Alamance and Caswell had been jDroclaimed by this respondent 
 as Governor of North Carolina, to be in a state of insurrection, 
 and that the said militia had been stationed therein to protect 
 the citizens thereof in the enjoyment of life and property, 
 and all this by due warrant of law. Moreover the said 
 Josiah Turner, Junior, under a morbid craving for 
 notoriety, a desire to advance his political prospects, 
 and a hope to increase his patronage as a citizen and 
 editor amongst his political friends, did resort to various ways 
 and means to procure his own arrest, and to that end frequent- 
 ly challenged and dared this respondent to make the same, ex- 
 pressing his purpose to protect himself by force of arms and de 
 daring that he should be arrested only over the dead bodies of 
 such as might attempt the same, and counsehng the citizens of 
 Alamance and Caswell counties to pursue the like course when- 
 ever any efforts should be made to arrest them, or any of them, 
 by the officers commanding the militia stationed in said counties. 
 This respondent, thus having reason to believe that the said 
 Josiah Turner, Junior, would endeavor to provoke his own 
 arrest, gave express verbal orders to the officers commanding 
 the said body of militia in Alamance and Caswell counties not 
 to arrest the said Josiah Turner, Junior, at any point or place 
 beyond the limits of said last named counties. But this re- 
 spondent having good reason to believe that the said Turner 
 was a member ot the illegal organizations aforesaid and a 
 seditious person, inimical to the good order of society and the 
 peace of the State, an apologist and an instigator of all the out- 
 rages which had been committed in the aforesaid counties, as in 
 the premises detailed and set forth, and was then in fact en- 
 gaged at and in the said counties in the effort to bring about a 
 state of civil ws\x in the said counties, under an imperative sense 
 of duty, actuated solely by a desire to repress disorder, and to 
 preserve the peace of the State, by virtue of the powers vested 
 in him by the Constitution and laws, as Governor of North 
 Carolina, did order the officers commanding said mihtia in the 
 counties of Alamance and Caswell to arrest the said Josiah 
 
29 
 
 Turner, Junior, ii found within the limits of said last named 
 coimties, and not elsewhere. This respondent denies that he 
 ordered the arrest of the said Josiah Turner, Junior, in the said 
 county of Orange, and if the said Turner was arrested therein, 
 as alleged and set forth in said third article, the said arrest was 
 made contrary to the orders, and without the advice, procure- 
 ment, knowledge or consent of this respondent. But this re- 
 spondent admits, that it was reported to him by the officers 
 commanding the said body of militia in the said counties of 
 Alamance and Caswell, that the said Josiah Turner, Junior, 
 was under arrest in the said county of Alamance, and that 
 thereupon this respondent, as Governor of North Carohna, by 
 virtue of the power vested in him by law, did order the de- 
 tention of the said Josiah Turner, Junior, in the said counties 
 of Alamance and Caswell, and not elsewhere, and this upon 
 public considerations growing out of his executive duties for the 
 reasons and causes herein set forth. 
 
 Further answering, this respondent denies the allegation in 
 said third article set forth that he. Governor as aforesaid, did 
 then and there commit a high misdemeanor in office, against 
 the Constitution and laws of said State and the peace, interest, 
 and dignity thereof, 
 
 ANSWER TO ARTICLE IV. 
 
 And for answer to said fourth article, this respondent says, 
 that he abides by his answer to the said first and second articles 
 in so far as the same are responsive to the allegations contained 
 in said fourth article, and without here again repeating the 
 same answer prays the same be taken as an answer to this 
 fourth article, and as to any allegations in said fourth article 
 not already answered in this respondent's answer to the said 
 first and second articles this respondent denies the same. 
 
 Further answering, this respondent denies that he was guilty 
 of a high misdemeanor in office against the Constitution and 
 
30 
 
 of said State, and the peace, interests and dignity tliereof as 
 alleged in said fourtli article. 
 
 ANSWER TO ARTICLE Y. 
 
 And for answer to article fifth, this respondent says, that he 
 abides by his answer to the first article in so far as the same is 
 responsive to the allegations contained in said fifth article, and 
 without here again repeating the same answer, prays the same 
 to be taken as an answer to this fifth article, as fully as if here 
 again set out at length ; and as to the new allegations contain- 
 ^ in said fifth article, this respondent answering says : 
 
 That he did not otherwise arm and equip as soldiers, a large 
 number of men, nor any number of men, nor organize as an 
 army a large number of men, nor any number of men, under 
 the command of George W. Kirk, B. G. Burgen, H. C. Yates, 
 or under the command of any other person or persons, and 
 send the same into the county of Alamance, save as this respon- 
 dent has set forth in his answer to the said first article, which 
 he prays may be considered as here again repeated. 
 
 This respondent admits that he organized a body of militia 
 according to the Constitution and laws of North Carolina, as 
 set forth in his answer to the said first article, and did order 
 the same into the county of Alamance, as in his answer to said 
 first article set forth and declared, and not otherwise. 
 
 And this respondent further admits, that George "W. Kirk, 
 Oolonel commanding the said body of militia in Alamance 
 county, did, for good and sufficient cause, arrest and detain the 
 said Adolphus G. Moore, named in said fifth article, and that 
 the said arrest and detention was approved of by this respon- 
 dent as Governor of North Carolina. Furthermore, this 
 respondent admits that the said Adolphus G. Moore applied to 
 the Honorable Richmond M. Pearson, Chief Justice of 
 North Carolina, for the writ of habeas corpws, to the 
 end set forth in said fifth article, and that the said Chief 
 Justice caused the said writ to be issued and directed to 
 the said George W. Kirk, commanding him to produce the 
 
31 
 
 body of said Moore, at tlie time and place alleged in said fifth 
 article, and this respondent further admits that the said wi'it 
 was served on the said Kirk, and that the said Kirk made no 
 return thereto and refused to obey the same, and that this 
 failure on the part of said Kirk to make return to said writ 
 and to produce the body of the said Moore in obedience thereto, 
 was done by the order of this respondent as Governor of North 
 Carolina. But this respondent denies that therein he acted 
 contrary to law, and declares that he was impelled by the highest 
 sense of public duty and by the conviction that the pubhc 
 safety required the detention of the said A. G. Moore, and the 
 other parties under arrest in the said counties of Alamance and 
 Caswell, and this respondent submits, as a part of his answer, 
 his letter of July 19th, 1870, addressed to the Honorable 
 Richmond M. Pearson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of 
 North Carolina, of which the following is a copy : 
 
 "Executive Office, 
 Raleigh, July 1, 1870. 
 
 To the Hon. RiciiMONDrM. Pearson, 
 
 Chief Justice of North Ca/rolvna : 
 
 " Sir : — Your communication of yesterday concerning the 
 iirrests made by Col. Geo. W. Kirk, together with the enclosed, 
 is received. 
 
 " I respectfully reply : — That Col. Geo. W. Kirk made the 
 arrests, and now detains the prisoners named by my order. He 
 was instructed firmly but respectfully to dechne to deliver the 
 prisoners. No one goes before me in respect for the civil law, 
 or for those whose duty it is to enforce it, but the condition of 
 Alamance county, and some other parts of the State, has been 
 and is such that, though reluctant to use the strong powers 
 vested in me by law, I have been forced to declare them in a 
 state of insurrection. 
 
 " For months past there has been maturing in these localities 
 under the guidance of bad and disloyal men a dangerous secret 
 
32 
 
 insim'ection. I have invoked public opinion to aid me in 
 suppressing this treason ! I have issued proclamation after 
 proclamation to the people of the State to break up these 
 unlawful combinations ! I have brought to bear evei*y civil 
 power to"restore peace and order, but all in vain ! The Con- 
 stitution and laws of the United States and of this Staie are 
 set at naught ; the civil courts are no longer a protection to life, 
 liberty and property : assassination and outrage go unpimished, 
 and the civil magistrates are intimidated and are afraid to peV 
 form their|±unctions. 
 
 " To the|majority of the people of these sections the approach 
 of night is like the entrance into the valley of the shadow of 
 death ; the men dare not sleep beneath their roofs at night, 
 but abandoning their wives and little ones, wander in the 
 woods until day. 
 
 " The civil government was crumbling around me. I deter- 
 mined to nip this new treason in the bud. 
 
 " By virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution 
 and laws, and by that inherent right of self-preservation which 
 belongs to all governments, I have proclaimed the county of 
 Alamance in a state of insurrection. Col. Geo. W. Kirk is 
 commanding the military forces in that county, made the 
 arrests referred to in the writ of habeas corpus, and now detains 
 the prisoners by my order. 
 
 " At this time I am satisfied that the public interests require 
 that these military prisoners shall not be delivered up to the 
 civil power. 
 
 " I devoutly hope that the time may be short when the restora- 
 tion of peace and order may release Alamance county from the 
 presence of military force and the enforcement of military law. 
 Whien that time shall arrive I shall promptly restore the civil 
 power. 
 
 W. W. HOLDEN, Goveriior.'' 
 
 This respondent, as Governor of North Carolina, and by 
 virtue of the powers vested in him by the Constitution and laws of 
 
33 
 
 the said State, actuated by the most patriotic motives, and in 
 the exercise of his best judgment, had declared the counties of 
 Alamance and Caswell to be in a state of insurrection, in the 
 manner and for the causes set forth in his answer to the first 
 article. The said insurrection had not been suppressed, and it 
 was the duty of this respondent, as Governor of ISTorth Caroli- 
 na, under the sanctity of his ofiicial oath, to take all lawful 
 ways and means to suppress the same. This respondent verily 
 believed that the state of affairs existing in the counties of 
 Alamance and Caswell, and in various other counties through- 
 out the State, if not remedied, would precipitate another colli- 
 sion between the people of this State and the Government of 
 United States, and this respondent could see no other means 
 of remedying the said state of affliirs in the said counties of 
 Alamance and Caswell, and in various other counties through- 
 out the State, than those he had adopted, as set forth in his 
 answer to said first article, and in the arrest and detention of 
 those men of whom the said Moore, was one whose evil influ- 
 ence, counsel and example had precipited the said counties into 
 insurrection. This respondent believed that the safety of the 
 State would be impeiilled by yielding obedience at that time 
 to the exigency of the said writ, in this and in the other cases 
 where parties had been arrested and detained in the said coun- 
 ties of Alamanee and Caswell ; and for this reason he felt it to 
 be his imperative duty, as Governor of ISTorth Carolina, to with- 
 hold obedience in the said case. And herein this respondent 
 beHeved, and does still believe, and now submits and insists 
 that he was sustamcd by the opinion of the Honorable the 
 Chief Justice aforesaid, rendered in the application of the said 
 A. G. Moore for the said wiit of Jwheas corpus. By every 
 principle of fair constniction, the said Chief Justice holds, in 
 his said opinion, that " the safety of the State is the supreme 
 law," and that this respondent as Governor of North Carolina, 
 was the sole Judge whether the exigency had arisen, which, 
 upon said principle, would justify this respondent in withhold- 
 ing obedience to the said writ. It was upon this principle 
 3 
 
34 
 
 that tUs respondent acted, and he submits and desh-es to be 
 taken as a part of this bis answer, bis letter of July 26th, 
 1870, addressed to the Honorable the Chief Justice aforesaid, 
 of which the following is a copy: 
 
 "ExECTJTiTE Department, 
 Raleigh, July 26th, 18T0. 
 
 'To tlie Hon. E. M. Peabson, -. ,t /i 
 
 Chief Justice of the Supreme. Cowt of JS. t. : 
 
 "Sffi- Ihavebad the honor to receive, by the hands of the 
 Marshall of the Supreme Court, a copy of your opinion m the 
 ma ter of A. G. Moore ; and the Marshall has informed me of 
 the writ in bis hands for the body of said Moore now m the 
 custodT of my subordinate officer, Col. George W. Kirk. 
 
 " I ha'e diclared the counties of Alamance and CasweU m a 
 state of insurrection, and have taken miUtary P0«--°^ «f 
 tbem This your Honor admits I had the power to do under 
 te ConstitutL and laws.' And not only this 'but to do «« 
 things necessary to suppress the insurrectioi^' meludmg the 
 pow!r to arrest all ««p..fe<« persons' in the above mentioned 
 
 "Tyo^ Honor has thought proper also to declare that the 
 citizens of the counties of Alamance and Caswell are ^nmT. 
 rr sL result of the constitutional and lawful actiono t he 
 Cn We, and that therefore, you will not issue the writ for 
 the produkion of the body of Moore to any of the men of the 
 said counties ; that 'the pos,e comUatus '""f "^^ ^~t 
 county where the writ is to be executed,' and that any other 
 
 means would be illegal. „„,,„tipR 
 
 " I have official and reliable information that m the counties 
 
 above named, during the last twelve — ' -*]^? f^^::: 
 hundred persons, 'in the peace of God ^"^ the State ha^e 
 been taken from their homes -"^ scourged, mamtyrfnot^en 
 tirely, on account of their political opinions; that eight mur 
 
35 
 
 ders have been committed, including that of a State Senator, 
 on the same account ; that another State Senator has been 
 compelled from fear for his life to make his escape to a distant 
 State. I have reason to believe that the 'governments of the 
 said counties have been mainly if not entirely in the hands of 
 men who belong to the Ku Klux Klan, whose members have 
 perpetrated the atrocities referred to ; and that the county 
 governments have not merely omitted to feiTet out and bring to 
 justice those of this Klan who have thus violated the law, but 
 that they have actually shielded them from arrest and punish- 
 ment. The State judicial power in the said counties, though 
 in the hands of energetic, learned and upright men, has not 
 been able to bring criminals to justice : indeed, it is my 
 opinion, based on facts that have come to my knowledge, that 
 the life of the Judge whose duty it is to ride the circuit to 
 which the said counties belong, has not been safe, on account 
 of the hatred entertained towards him by the Klan referred to, 
 because of his wish and purpose to bring said criminals to 
 justice. For be it known to your Honor that there is a wide- 
 spread and formidable secret organization in this State, partly 
 political and partly social in its objects; that this organization 
 is known, first, as ' The Constitutional Union Guo/rds^ — 
 secondly, as ' The White Brotherhood^ — thirdly, as ' The 
 Invisible ErrvpiTe f — that the members of this organization 
 are united by oaths which ignore or repudiate the ordinary 
 oaths or obligations that rest upon all other citizes to respect 
 the laws and to uphold the government; that these oaths 
 inculcate hatred by the white against the colored people of 
 the State ; that the members of this Klan are irreconcilably 
 hostile to the great principal of political and civil equality 
 on which the government of this State has been reconstructed ; 
 that these Klans meet in secret, in disguise, with arms, in uni- 
 form of a certain kind intended to conceal their persons and 
 their horses, and to terrify those whom they assault or among^ 
 whom they move ; that they hold their camps in secret places 
 and decree judgment against their peaceable fellow-citizens'' 
 
36 
 
 from mere intimidation to scourgings, mutilations and murder, 
 and that certain persons of the Klan are deputed to execute 
 these judgments; that when the members of this Klan are 
 arrested for violations of law, it is most difficult to obtain bills 
 of indictment against them, and still more difficult to convict 
 them, first, because some of the members or their sympathizers 
 are almost always on the grand and petit juries, and secondly, 
 because witnesses who are members or sympathizers unblush- 
 ino-ly commit perjury to screen their confederates and associates 
 in*crime ; that this Kl^n, thus constituted and having in view 
 the objects referred to, is very powerful in at least twenty-five 
 counties of the State, and has had absolute control for the last 
 twelve months of the counties of Alamance and Caswell. 
 
 " Under these circmnstances I would have been recreant to 
 duty and faithless to my oath, il I had not exercised the power 
 in the several counties which your Honor has been pleased to 
 say I have exercised Constitutionally and lawfully ; especially 
 as, since October, 1868, 1 have repeatedly, by proclamations 
 and by letters, invoked public opinion to repress these evils, 
 and warned criminals and offenders against the laws of the 
 fate that must in the end overtake them, if, under the auspices 
 of the Klan referred to, they should persist in theu" course. 
 
 " I beg to assure your Honor that no one subscribes more 
 thoroughly than I do to the great principles of Jiaheiis corpus 
 and trial by jury. Except in extreme cases, in which beyond 
 all question 'the safety of the State is the supreme law,' these 
 privileges of habeas corpus and trial by jury should be main- 
 tained. 
 
 « I have already declared that, in my judgment, your Honor 
 and all the other civil and judicial authorities are unable at 
 this time to deal with the insurgents. The civil and the mili- 
 tary are ahke Constitutional powers— the civil to protect life 
 and property when it can, and the military only when the 
 former has failed. As the Chief Executive I seek to restore, 
 not to subvert, the judicial power. Your Honor has done 
 your duty, and in perfect harmony with you I seek to do mine. 
 
37 
 
 " It is not I nor the military power that has supplanted the 
 civil authority ; that has been done by the insuiTection in the 
 counties referred to. I do not see how I can restore the civil 
 authority until I "suppress the insurrection," which your 
 Honor declares I have the power to do ; and I do not see how 
 I can surrender the insurgents to the civil authority until that 
 authority is restored. It would be mockeiy in me to declare 
 that the civil authority was unable to protect the citizens 
 against the insurgents, and then turn the insurgents over to 
 the civil authority. My oath to support the Constitution makes 
 it imperative on me to " suppress the insurrection " and restore 
 the civil authority in the counties referred to, and this I must 
 do. In doing this I renew to your Honor expressions of my 
 profound respect for the civil authority, and my earnest wish 
 that this authority may soon be restored to every county and 
 neighborhood in the State. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with great respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 W. W. HOLDER, Gcmernorr 
 
 Further answering, this respondent declares that it was hia 
 purpose to detain the said Adolphus G. Moore, and the other 
 persons so arrested in the said counties of Alamance and Cas- 
 well, only until such time as he might with safety to the State 
 surrender them to the civil authorities, and as soon as in his 
 judgment the said time had arrived, he so surrendered them, 
 and this respondent submits, as a part of this his answer, his 
 letter of August 15th, 1870, addressed to the Honorable the 
 Chief Justice aforesaid, of which the following is a copy : 
 
38 
 
 " STATE OF NOKTH CAKOLmA, 
 Executive Department, 
 Kaleigli, Aug. 15th, 1870. 
 
 *' To the Hon. K. M. Peaeson, 
 
 Chief Justice Supreme Court of N. C : 
 
 " Dear Sir : In my answer to the notices served upon[me by 
 the Marshall of the Supreme Conrt, in the matter of Adolphus 
 G. Moore and others, ex parte, I stated to your Honor that at 
 that time the public interests forbade me to permit Col. George 
 W. Kirk to bring before your Honor the said parties ; at the 
 same time I assured your Honor that as soon as the safety of 
 the State should justify it, I would cheerfully restore the civil 
 power, and cause the said parties to be brought before you, to- 
 gether with the cause of their caption and detention. 
 
 " That time has arrived, and I have ordered Col. George W. 
 Kirk to obey the writs oi habeas coipus issued by your Honor. 
 As the number of prisoners and witnesses is considerable, I 
 would suggest to your Honor that it would be more convenient 
 to make return to the writs at the capitol in Raleigh. Col. 
 Kirk is prepared to make such return as soon as your Honor 
 shall arrive in Raleigh. 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 W. W. HOLDEN, 
 
 Governor^ 
 
 And so this respondent denies that by reason of any new 
 matter alleged in the said hfth article, he did commit high 
 crimes and misdemeanors in office against the constitution and 
 laws of said State, and the peace, dignity and interests thereof. 
 
39 
 
 A^'SWEE TO APvTICLE TI. 
 
 And for answer to said sixtli article tliis respondent eays 
 tliat lie abides by his answer to said first, second, fonrtli and 
 fifth articles in so far as the same are responsive to tlie allega- 
 tions contained in said sisth article, and witbont here again 
 repeating the same answer, prays the same to be taken as an 
 answer to this sixth article as folly as if here again set out at 
 length : and as to the new allegation contained in said sixth 
 article this respondent answering, says : That this respondent 
 admits the arrest and detention of the persons named in said 
 sixth article in manner and form as he hath heretofore admit- 
 ted the same, and not otherwise. This respondent further 
 admits that the said named persons, and each of them, 
 sned ont writs of habeas corpus before the Honorable Richmond 
 M. Pearson. Chief Jnstice of the Supreme Conrt of ^orth 
 Carolina, returnable at the time and place stated and set forth 
 in the said sixth article : that the said writs were dnly served 
 upon Geoi^ W. Kirk, as in said sixth article stated ; that the 
 said George W. Kirk refused to produce the said named per- 
 sons in obedience to the said writs, but continued to detain the 
 said persons, and this tmder the orders and with the approval 
 of this respondent, as Governor of y orth Carolina, as in said 
 sixth article stated and set forth. Further answering, this 
 respondent says that he abides by his answer to the fifth article, 
 and without here again repeating the same answer, prays that 
 the same may be taken as an answer to this sixth article, and 
 that each and every part thereof may be taken as applied to 
 the persons in said sixth article named, and to each of them as 
 fully, and in like manner, as the same is applied to Adolphus 
 G. ALoore in said fifth article named and specified. 
 
 And so this respondent denies, that by reason of any new 
 allegations in this sixth article contained, he did commit high 
 crimes and misdemeanors in office, against the Constitution of 
 said State, and the peace, dignity and interests thereof. 
 
40 
 
 ANSWER TO ARTICLE YII. 
 
 And for answer to said seventli article, tliis respondent says 
 he abides by bis answer to said first, second, third and fourth 
 articles in so far as the same are responsive to the allegations 
 contained in said seventh article, and without here again repeat- 
 ing the same, prays the same be taken as an answer to this 
 seventh article as fully as if here again set out at length ; and 
 as to the new allegation contained in said seventh article, that 
 this respondent did " recruit and call together from this State 
 and the State of Tennessee a large number of men, to wit : 
 Five hundred men and more, many of them of the most reck- 
 less, desperate, ruffianly and lawless characters, and did then 
 and there organize, arm and equip them as an army of soldiers, 
 and place the same under the chief command of a notorious 
 desperado from the State of Tennessee, by the name of George 
 W. Kirk, having falsely proclaimed the counties of Alamance 
 and Caswell in said State in a state of insurrection, and did 
 send large nimibers of such armed desperate men into said 
 counties, under the immediate command of the said George "W. 
 Kirk and two other desperadors from the State of Tennessee, 
 to wit : One B. G. Burgen and one H. C. Yates, and did there 
 and then without any warrant or authority, seize, hold, imprison 
 and depriA'e of their liberty for a long time, to wit : For the 
 time of twenty days and more, many of the peaceable and law- 
 abiding citizens of said counties, to wit : John Kerr, Samuel 
 
 P. Hill, Scott, John R. Ireland and many others, and 
 
 seize, hold, imprison and deprive of their liberty, and hung by 
 tlie neck William Patton, Lucien H. Murray and others, and 
 did thrust into a loathsome dungeon Josiah Turner, Junior, 
 and F. A. Wiley," this respondent denies the same'and declares 
 the facts to be as hereinbefore stated and set iorth in his answer 
 to the first, second, third and fourth articles, and especially that 
 the body of mihtia sent by him into the counties of Alamance 
 and Caswell, as hereinbefore set forth, were organized according 
 
41 
 
 to the provisions ot the act of the General Assembly of the 
 State of Worth Carolina, entitled " An act to organize a 
 militia of North Carolina," ratified the 17th day of 
 August, A. D. 1868. This respondent denies that the men 
 composing said volunteer militia were many of them of the 
 most reckless, desperate, rufiianly and lawless characters from 
 the State of Tennessee ; on the contrary this respondent de- 
 clares that the said men were citizens of North Carolina at and 
 immediately before the organization of said militia, and were 
 of good deportment and behavior, and were received and 
 organized strictly according to the provisions of said act, and 
 not otherwise ; and if any of them at the time of said organiza- 
 tion were citizens of the State of Tennessee the same was 
 unknown to this respondent. Further answering, this respond- 
 ent says that the said George W. Kirk, B. G. Burgen and H. 
 C. Yates, officers in command of said volunteer mihtia, were at 
 the time of the organization of the said militia, and immedi- 
 ately before, citizens of North Carolina, and were duly com- 
 missioned and sworn. But this respondent submits, and 
 insists, that, in and by the provisions of the aforesaid act, he 
 was at liberty to receive and enroll, in the said volunteer 
 mihtia, any citizen of the United States. And as to the seizing, 
 holding, imprisoning and depriving of their liberty, and mal- 
 treating the persons named in said seventh article, this 
 respondent denies the same, and has nothing further to answer 
 than he has already answered. 
 
 And as to the allegation in said seventh article contained, 
 that this respondent, " to maintain, support and aid the lawless 
 armed men so organized, armed and equipped, did, under color 
 of his said office from time to time during the said months of 
 June, July and August, without any lawful authority, make 
 his warrant upon David A. Jenkins, Treasurer of the State, 
 for large sums of money, to wit : For the sum of seventy 
 thousand dollars and more, and cause and procure the said 
 David A. Jenkins, the Treasm-er of the State, to recognize 
 such unlawfrd warrant, and pay out of the Treasury such said 
 
42 
 
 large sums of money to the agent or paymaster of the said 
 William W. Holden, Governor as aforesaid, for the milawfnl 
 uses and purposes aforesaid," this respondent denies the same in 
 manner and form as therein set forth. 
 
 Further answering, this respondent denies that he did, then 
 and there, as alleged in said seventh article, commit a high 
 misdemeanor in office, in violation of the Constitution and laws 
 of this State, and of the peace, interests and dignity thereof. 
 
 ANSWEK TO AETICLE YIII. 
 
 And for answer to the said eight article, this respondent 
 abides by his answer to said first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth 
 and seventh articles, in so far as the same are responsive to the 
 allegations contained iu the said eight article, and without here 
 again repeating the same answers, prays the same to be taken 
 as an answer to this eighth article as fully as if here again set 
 out at length. And as to the new allegation contained in the 
 said eighth article, " that the said William W. Holden, Governor 
 of the said State, unmindful of the high duties of his said office 
 and the obligations of his solemn oath of office, and contriving and 
 intending, and with a view and for the purpose of supporting and 
 maintaining an armed military force in said State, which he 
 had then and there recruited, organized and foi-med for illegal 
 purposes, without the sanction of the Constitution and laws of 
 tlje said State, but in contravention of the same, did from time 
 to time, in the months of June, July and August, in the year of 
 our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and seventy, under color 
 of his said office, in said State, without the sanction of the Con- 
 stitution and laws of said State, and in violation of the same 
 make his warrants as such Governor upon the Treasury of the 
 said State, for large sums of money, to-wit : For the smn of 
 eighty thousand ($80,000) dollars and more, to be used for the 
 unlawful purpose aforesaid ; that the said William W. Holden, 
 Governor as aforesaid, imder color of his said office, then and 
 
43 
 
 there persuaded, commanded, incited and procured David A. 
 Jenkins, Treasurer of said State, to recognize such and said un- 
 lawful warrants on the Treasury of said State, and to deliver 
 such and said sums of money to such agents of the said William 
 W. Holden, Governor as aforesaid, as he the said WiUiam "W. 
 Holden, Governor as aforesaid, might from time to time desig- 
 nate and appoint ; that in pursuance of such warrants and orders 
 of the said William W. Holden, Governor as aforesaid, the said 
 David A. Jenkins, Treasurer as aforesaid, delivered to one A. 
 D. Jenkins, called the paymaster, appointed by the said William 
 W. Holden, Governor as aforesaid, for such puiiDose, large sums 
 of money from said Treasury, to wit : The sum of forty thousand 
 dollars or more," this respondent denies the same, in manner and 
 form as therein set forth ; and as to the further allegation in said 
 eighth article, that " in the month of August, in the year of our 
 Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, one Richard M. 
 Allison, a citizen of the county of Iredell, in said State, brought 
 his suit in the Superior Court of the last named county, in his 
 own behalf, and in the behalf of all the tax payers of said State, 
 praying that a Writ of Injunction might then and there be 
 granted, and issued according to law, restraining the said David 
 A. Jenkins, Treasurer as aforesaid, from delivermg any sum or 
 sums of money to the said William W. Holden, Governor as 
 aforesaid, or any other persons, in obedience to such orders and 
 for such pm-poses, and also restraining the said A. D. Jenkms, 
 as such paymaster, or in any other respect or capacity from dis- 
 bursing or disposing of said sum of money so in his said hands, 
 or any part thereof, for the purposes thereof; that the Honor- 
 able Anderson Mitchell, Judge of said Superior Court, then 
 and there granted the Writ of Injunction so prayed for, enjoin- 
 ing and forbidding the said David A. Jenkins, Treasurer as 
 aforesaid, from delivering any money from said Treasury, m 
 obedience to any such waiTant or order, so made by the said 
 William W. Holden, Governor as aforesaid, and enjoining and 
 forbidding the said A. D. Jenkins, as such paymaster or agent. 
 
44 
 
 from using or disbursing the said money or any part of it, so in 
 his hands, to or for the use of said armed body of men for any 
 of the purposes aforesaid; that the said Da\nd a Jenkins, 
 Treasurer, and the said A. D. Jenkins, were each duly served 
 with said Writ of Injunction," this responden says that he has 
 not sufficient information to answer whether the same be true 
 or false, in manner and form as therein set forth, and insists 
 upon the proof thereof. 
 
 And as to the additional allegation in said eighth article that 
 " the said William W. Holden, Governor as aforesaid, wickedly 
 intending to suspend and subvert the laws of said State, and to 
 defy and disregard the lawful authority ot said Court, did af- 
 terwards, to wit : After the month last aforesaid, persuade, in- 
 cite, order, procure and command the said A. D. Jenkins to 
 defy and disregard the said Writ of Injunction, and to dehver 
 the said money so in his custody to another agent of the said 
 Wilham W. Ilolden, Governor as aforesaid, to be used for the 
 unlawful pui-poses aforesaid ; that the said A. D. Jenkins, in 
 obedience to such last mentioned order, command and procure- 
 ment of the said William W. Holden, Governor as aforesaid, 
 and in disregard of such writ of injunction and the lawful au- 
 thority of said Judge, did deliver the said money so in his 
 hands to another agent of the said William W. Holden, Gov- 
 ernor as aforesaid, to wit : To one Eichard T. Berry, to be 
 used for the unlawful pm-pose aforesaid, and the said William 
 W. Holden, Governor as aforesaid, did then and there, in the 
 way and manner, and by the means and for the pui-pose afore- 
 said, procure, order and command the said A. D. Jenkins so to 
 disregard and disobey the said writ of injunction, and the lawful 
 authority of said Judge, and did then and there, and in the 
 way and manner and by the means and for the unlawful 
 pui-pose aforesaid, defy, disregard, ignore, contravene, sus- 
 pend and defeat the lawful pui-pose and effect of the Writ of 
 Inj miction so granted and issued by|the said Judge; and there- 
 upon and thereafter the said William W. Holden, Governor as 
 aforesaid, the said sum of public money thus transferred as 
 
45 
 
 aforesaid to the hands of the said Kichard T. Berrr, did order 
 and cause to be paid ont and disbursed by him, the said Eich- 
 ard T. Berrr, to, for and about the illegal purposes aforesaid, to 
 wit : The payment of the expenses in keeping on foot, sustain- 
 ing and maintaining the said illegal military force as aforesaid,"' 
 this respondent denies the same. 
 
 And this respondent denies that he was guilty of a high mis- 
 demeanor in his said oflBce of Governor, in violation of his oath 
 of office, and in subversion of the laws in said State, and the 
 peace, interests and dignity thereof, as alleged in said eigth 
 article. 
 
 And this respondent, in submitting to this honorable court 
 this his answer to the Articles of Impeachment exhibited against 
 him, respectfully reserves leave to amend and add to the same 
 from time to time, as may become necessary or proper, and 
 when and as such necessity and propriety shall appear. 
 
 W. W. HOLDEX. 
 K. C. Badgeb, 
 
 J. M. !McC0EKLE, 
 ISATEASIEL B0TDE>', 
 
 Edw. Co^^GLAXD, 
 '^. ^'. H. Smith, 
 
 Of Counsel.