Report of the Joint select committee appointed to inquire into the condition of affairs in the late insurrectionary states, so far as regards the execution of laws, and the safety of the lives and property of the citizens of the United States and Testimony taken.

ALABAMA-SUB-COMMITTEE. 1801
Answter. I don't know. I have heard of people that were accused of belonging to it
that said they were republicans afterward. I don't know whether they were republicans, or whether they belonged to it.
Question. You have not known many white republicans in Sumter County?
Answer. Very few.
Question. Do you think a baker's dozen in all?
Answer. Yes, sir; I guess there is more than that.
Question. Count them up, and tell us how many white men in Sumter County vote
the republican ticket at this time.
Answer. I cannot tell. They vote here by ballot, and I could not tell how they vote.
I do not know.
Question. But you knew their sentiments?
Answer. I know of some.
Question. You never voted the radical ticket yourself?
Answer. The last election I voted I did not vote nothing but a radical.
Question. That was 1870?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. You voted for Governor Smith?
Answer. No, sir; I did not vote for him.
Question. Did you vote for Governor Lindsay?
iAnswer. No, sir; I just voted a single ticket for R. A. Meridith.
Question. That is the only candidate for whom you voted?
Answler. Yes, sir.
Question. Did you call that a straight-out republican ticket?
Alnswer. No, sir; he is a republican, and a particular friend of mine, and a mighty
good man, and it makes no difference to what party he belongs; I would vote for him
in any party.
Question. You did not vote for him because he was a republican?
Avnswer. No, sir; I did not go for party; I voted for him because of other reasons.
Question. What did you understand this Ku-Klux Klan was gotten up for?
Answer. I understood it was gotten up for the protection of the whites.
Question. Were the whites not able to protect themselves?
Answter. 0, no; not if the negroes had been organized properly.
Question. You understood it was gotten up to protect the whites from the negroes?
Answer. Exactly.
Question. What were the whites afraid the negroes would do; kill them all off?
Answer. Some were afraid of that.
Question. You did not believe that?
Answler. No, sir; the negro is too cowardly.
Question. You knew he was harmless and inoffensive?
Answer. No, sir; I knew they were beastly, and if they got their passions excited
you couldn't control them; and there were white people with them; if you got them
started, the devil only knows how it would end.
Question. Did you ever own a negro yourself?
Answer. No, sir.
Question. You were, in principle, opposed to slavery?
Answcer. No, sir; not exactly; if I had had the money I would have had them. I
would have liked to have had some slaves. I don't care whether they were white or
black, if I could have had them and worked them at my bidding.
Question. So you thought slavery a good thing?
Answer. Yes, sir; I do so yet.
Question. You think it would be a good deal better for the negroes if they were back
in slavery now?
Answier. Yes, sir; I am confident it would be better for a large majority of them.
Question. You do not believe in this thing called negro suffrage at all?
Answer. No, sir.
Question. You have no idea they understand how to vote, or that it is any benefit
for them to vote'?
Ansswer. 1 am satisfied they don't understand anything about it.
Question. Do you think they vote sensibly when they do vote?
Answer. I do not. I anm speaking of them as a class; there may be some very intelligent negroes who understand.
Question. Do you believe in negro schools?
Alnswer. I do.
Question. Do you think they are doing a good thing
Answer. I do.
Question. Are they educating the negro children pretty fast?
Answer. Well, some of them are doing very well, if they had the money. They do
teach some four or five months in the year. I think the best thing for the country is
to educate the negroes and make them citizens.