He said he did not know. He came back from Johnson's and said that he asked if there were three strange men going by in their shirt-sleeves; and he said he did not see them. I said, "Three strange men! I say, Todd, you go back and tell Mr. Holliday to be sure and hold up his head all this night." He said he would do so. I took my mare and went down to the swamp, for I knew they had been up to something there from the signs I saw. I carried my mare around behind the corn to see if anybody was pursuing me. Just as the moon went down the muss commenced at Mr. Holliday's house, about a mile from me, something like an army; the cows bellowed in the time of it. Directly I heard them at the door, and then I heard his wife screaming and hollering. My heart began to ache, for I knew they had been on somebody. I heard the next morning that they had been on Mr. Holliday, and that he had played the wild with them.

By Mr. BAYARD:

Question. Who told you that?

Answer. My daughter, who had been up to my brother-in-law's.

By the CHAIRMAN :

Question. Did you know those two men you saw as they went up to your brother-inlaw's?

Answer. No, sir; I did not know who they were. That same night they rode in black, though they were going in white before that night, and they have been in black ever since that.

Question. Have you ever been threatened by them since that?

Answer. Yes, sir; old Mrs. Finch told Reuben Hancock, and he told it in the presence of another colored man. He asked me if they had anything against me, and I said I did not know. He said, "Mrs. Finch said, the other day, that the first thing Prince knows they will run him up." Some one said to her, "Why? he always attends to his own business." She said, "Yes, but he attends to some other things, too." Then Parks Whitehead told Reuben and Zeno Perkins that there was another big gentleman they were going to run on some of these times. Some of them said, "Who ?” He said, 'Mr. Prince, up here." That was since they went to Mr. Holliday's. Question. What had they against you?

Answer. Nothing, only I lived with my people, and I rented my own land, and farmed on my own hook. They tried to hire me for 50 cents a day, when what I got on my farm was worth $2 a day. One of them, Jack Finch, cut my boy one Sunday with a knife. I went to him, and talked with him about it; I thought it was just his mean nature. I said to him, "What did you do it for ?" He said, "We was playing." I said, "You do not suffer anybody to play with you with a knife, for sometimes they get hurt." It then began to rise, until there was a great feeling against me. I have no trouble in getting credit; my word is taken. My old boss, that raised me from the cradle, told me, when I was carried before the board once, "Every man believes what you have said, and that is what I want." But he was a singular man from the rest of them.

Question. What do you mean by that?

Answer. Others would call us "free niggers," but he would not. Now I am fearful to go back home.

Question. Was there anything in the election, or in voting, that made this thing come up?

Answer. They went around and did all they could. I heard that they said they intended to whip every one who voted the radical ticket.

Question. Did you vote the radical ticket ?

Answer. Yes, sir. They tried to get me to vote the other way, but I fooled them and threw a radical ticket. I have never voted any other sort of ticket.

Question. They tried to get you to vote the democratic ticket?

Answer. Yes, sir; I took it in my hand, but when I voted I voted the radical ticket.

Question. Who tried to get you to do that; some of the men who were riding about there?

Answer. Yes, sir; Mr. John Hancock was up to be elected, and those men who were riding about there were the men who were hanging around and doing all they could for his election. Jack Haney was a neighbor of his, and went around with whisky for them to drink their drams. I would turn it up like I was going to drink, but then it did not go down.

Question. How long since these people have been going about through that country? Answer. It has been about three years this goober-digging time, as well as I can remember. I was at Jefferson one day selling some goobers, and some fellows were standing around there. Two men said to another one, “Ku-Klux boys." They had been telling about the dead rising out of the ground. I said to old Mr. Whitehead, "They tell me that people have got to rising out of the ground." He said, “Prince

that is not so; it is just like the old patrollers. It was first in South Carolina and then it came here." After these men got around in the settlement they had a tale on me that I had seen these men; but I said I had not. I said, "It is curious, to me that they will say they are our friends, Mr. Whitehead, and then they go and do like they are doing." After telling me the year before that they were patrollers, when that got around they said they are something that comes out of the ground.

Question. When is it goober-digging time?

Answer. It is about now. I have some to dig now, and some corn to gather, but I am afraid to go home.

Question. Were you examined as to your testimony?

Answer. Yes, sir; some of the solicitors talked to me, but I never went before the grand jury.

Question. You were examined by the United States officers, but you did not go before the grand jury.

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. You told them what you have told us here?

Answer. Yes, sir; but I have told of some things here I could not think of then; I have more time now.

Question. Were you summoned to testify about the attack on Mr. Holliday's house? Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. You have told us you were a mile that night from Mr. Holliday's house, and that you heard a woman scream a mile off?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Excepting what you have told here that you have seen yourself, is the rest of your statement based upon rumors around you in the neighborhood?

Answer. Upon what people say

Question. Yes.

Answer. I have told some from what I have heard them say.

Question. Is that what your information is based upon-rumors from other people? Answer. No, sir; upon what I know.

Question. You have told us what you saw, and then you talked about Mrs. Finch; and you said that Mrs. Finch told Reuben Hancock something?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. And Reuben Hancock told you?

Answer. Yes, sir; he told me as a friend that she had threatened me, and I said she had better mind, for a threat might go further than she thought for.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, October 27, 1871.

WESLEY IVEY (colored) sworn and examined.

By the CHAIRMAN :

Question. What is your age, where were you born, and where do you now live? Answer. I was forty-three years old last month. I was born in Jackson County, and I live there now, on Mulberry River.

Question. Have you any people in Jackson County that they call Ku-Klux?

Answer. There are some there; I never saw any of them; they never troubled me.

Question. How long since you have heard of them about there?

Answer. I heard of them frequently before they troubled Mr. Holliday.

Question. What were they doing?

Answer. Some black people were interrupted and whipped sometimes; some they only talked to.

Question. They did not molest you?

Answer. No, sir; and I have never seen them passing.

Question. Where do you live?

Answer. Right on the Mulberry, two miles the other side of the town of Mulberry. They have been in the neighborhood, but I never have seen them passing, and they have never been to my house.

By Mr. BAYARD:

Question. Were you before the grand jury here in Mr. Holliday's case?

Answer. No, sir; they never carried me up there.
Question. You were summoned here in that case?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. You were examined by the district attorney in that case?
Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. You did not know anything about it?

Answer. No, sir.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, October 27, 1871.

REUBEN SHEETS (colored) sworn and examined.

By the CHAIRMAN :

Question. Tell your age, where you were born, and where you now live.

Answer. I am fifty-three years old; I was born in Clarke County, and I live now in Walton County.

Question How long have you lived in Walton County?

Answer. Well, I was living there before the surrender. I lived up there a year and a half before the surrender, and made two crops.

Question. Were you a slave or a free man?

Answer. I was a slave and belonged to Benhadad Sheets.

Question. Are there any people in your county that are called Ku-Klux?

Answer. Yes, sir; that is the name they call them.

Question. Tell us what you know about them?

Answer. There were five of them came into my house this last March. When they came there they called me. My wife and children got scared, and waked me up, and said that the Ku-Klux were there. They kicked the door two or three times, and I jumped up, and asked who it was. They kept hollering, "Open the door." I did not open it for some time, until they called my name. They talked sort of out-countryman fashion, and I could not understand them. After a while they asked, "Is this Uncle Reuben? I said, "Yes." They said, "Open the door and we will not hurt you." I opened the door then, and they came in. I gave them seats, and they all sat down, and said that they wanted to advise me a little. They talked one thing and another, but I could not recollect everything they did say. They told me that they had heard I was a good man, that they had heard my name a hundred miles. Question. Where did they say they were from?

Answer. They told me they were from Oglethorpe County.
Question. Did they say what business they had up there?

Answer. They said there were colored people up there that cursed right smart, and some talked sassy to white people, and they did not intend to have them run over the country. That is what they said to me. I said to them that I always behaved myself, and that the man who raised me, and the man who owned me last, could tell them so. They said they had heard of me.

Question. What made them come to your house?

Answer. That I never knew. That was what made me so uneasy, and I have never rested good since. But I thought this, that the Lord would provide for me, and I tried to work all the time. I got so that I had my own stock, and I had right smart of property. The man who rented his plantation to me gave me posseesion of it as long as I staid there.

Question. What did they say about coming to your house?

Answer. They said they had nothing against me, but they thought they would come in and see if I would like to have anybody visit me. I said I did sometimes. They asked me if I liked to have such company as they were. I said nothing. Of course I was scared nearly about to death. They asked me if I was scared, and I said I was. The reason I was scared was, that they came in with their pistols, and I was afraid they would shoot me.

Question. Did you know any of them?

Answer. I suspicioned some of them, and before my God and Master I will say I did think I knew them; but I was scared bad.

Question. Were they people that lived in your neighborhood ?

Answer. I thought so. One man I never saw much; his head was covered up with something that looked like a meal sack, with red around his mouth and eyes. I thought I could catch his voice sometimes.

Question. Did they ask any questions about other colored people ?

Answer. Yes, sir; about a man living right near me.

Question. They came to your house in March?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Have you seen them, or heard of them since?

Answer. I have not seen them in uniform since, but they have been around there since, for a great many of my color have seen them. Some have said they would be down to my house some time or another.

Question. Has anybody been interfered with by them?

Answer. Yes, sir; the same night they came to my house they whipped Augustus Mills and his wife mighty bad.

Question. Did they whip any others?

Answer. Yes, sir; there were some whipped that night. My brother-in-law was run out of his house that night, but he got away, and Abel Smith and Rufe Smith were whipped that night.

Question. Did you see them after they were whipped?

Answer. I did not see any of them after they were whipped. Augustus Mills left in a day or two, and I staid at home, and did not know they had come there until afterwards. The doctor's son came there and told me to stay there and attend to my crop, and if they interfered with me or come there again he would spend the last dollar he had to protect me; that he would as soon have me there as any white man, or anybody else.

Question. Did any of them say how you ought to vote?

Answer. No, sir; not at that time. Along back-I cannot say what time-one and another talked to me about voting.

Question. How did they tell you to vote?

Answer. Some said that I ought to vote the way they said, so as to keep up the country. I said that I knew nothing about it, that I could not read, but that I had voted, and took my oath to support the Constitution, and that I expected to vote that way. They said how did I know that. I said, I did not know it at all; but that was my notion.

Question. What did the white people around there say about the Ku Klux?

Answer. Well, some few white people talked mightily against them, and said they were ruining them, and running their labor off.

Question. What did others say?

Answer. Some said that all had to work at one price; that they all had to work at negro's prices, and they would not do it. They said I had been working cheap, and they would have to work cheap; that all had to work at one price.

Question. Who said that?

Answer. Men in the neighborhood; I could not say who it was exactly. All around me there want me to live with them, but I have not made any bargain. The man I live with always treated me right, just as my master did. I never had a lick from him after I was a man.

By Mr. BAYARD :

Question. Were you before the grand jury here as a witness?

Answer. I was brought here by Mr. Brand, who subpoenaed me to come here.

Question. How long have you been here?

Answer. This will make two weeks. I went home Saturday night, for I wanted to see my wife, who was down sick; but then I came back.

Question. You have been here for two weeks, summoned by the United States marshal? Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Are Letty Mills, Augustus Mills, and all those people from your neighborhood?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Who were the people you suspected there; who was the one you thought you knew?

Answer. He was a man who kept a store.

Question. Was it a man by the name of Felker?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did Mr. Felker keep a still there?

Answer. I cannot tell whether he did or not; I do not know anything about his still business at all. But I know he kept a store, and that was all that interested me.

Question. Did you know Letty Mills, and Augustus Mills, and all of that party who come up here about the same business?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. You say you heard these men say something about all working at one price?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. What is the common price in that country for the labor performed by colored men and boys?

Answer. They work at different prices. Sometimes a good hand will get a tolerable good price.

Question. What do you pay for men to work for you?
Answer. I pay a half a dollar a day and feed them.

Question. When you do not feed them how much do you pay?
Answer. I do not work in that way.

Question. You pay them that during the cropping season ?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Is that the common price for the labor of colored men in that country? Answer. Hardly any ever get any more, and some do not get that. Some get only 40 or 45 cents a day, and some only 35 cents; a heap of them hire for 35 cents a day. When I am pushed I give the top price, sometimes a half dollar and feed them, and sometimes more. But that is the regular price; that is as good a price as they get. I hardly ever hire except when pushed; I work my own children.

Question. What is the average wages of men who come up here with you to testify? Answer. They generally have been farming for themselves.

Question. What does Augustus Mills get?

Answer. He was farming for himself.

Question. What wages would such a man as he ordinarily command?

Answer. Mr. Lowe gave them half, and furnished the stock.

Question. He was farming on shares?

Answer. Yes, sir; there is another man here who was hired.

Question. What does he get?

Answer. About $80 a year.

Question. What is his name?
Answer. Lewis Anderson.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, October 27, 1871.

DANIEL LANE (colored) sworn and examined.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Question. State your age, where you were born, and where you now live.

Answer. I will be thirty-seven years old next September; I was born in Morgan County; I came up here about three months ago.

Question. What did you come up here for ?

Answer. The Ku-Klux whipped me and I was obliged to go away.

Question. At what time did they whip you?

Answer. The 11th night in July.

Question. How many were there?

Answer. Well, a whole crowd; I could not tell how many; they had me fastened. They said there were fifteen in that bunch; I had to take their word for it.

Question. Did you know any of them?

Answer. They were fixed up in such a way I could hardly see. One of them said to me, "Are you going to the station and get a warrant for me?" I said, "It is hard to get a warrant for a man in your fix."

Question. What did they do?

Answer. They took me down and beat me powerfully; and said they were coming again in six weeks.

Question. How did they get hold of you?

Answer. They came into the house and got me.

Question. Did you open the door?

Answer. Yes, sir. They told me they wanted a drink of water, and I opened the door for them, and they just burst right in.

Question. Where did they whip you, in the house or out of doors?

Answer. Right in the house; they never carried me anywhere.

Question. With what did they whip you?

Answer. With hickory sticks that they carried in their hands.

Question. How many blows did they give you?

Answer. When they turned me loose I could not go about. My wife had to wash me

with salt and water, and grease me good; I did not get about for a week.

Question. Did they whip you with your clothes on, or on your bare back?
Answer. I had nothing on but my shirt and pants.

Question. What had they against you?

Answer. I will tell you what they said. A white gentleman had tried to get a colored lady to hoe cotton for him; she did not do it, and I hired her. He said that he had hired her, but it was something I did not know anything about. I suppose that is what they whipped me for.

Question. Did they say that is what they whipped you for?

Answer. Yes, sir; they said that was one thing; and the other thing was, that they