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.

1842 CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
Answer. I do not remember of ever hearing of it at all.
Question. Are there any other cases of homicide that occureto you now upon reflection
as having occurred in this county?
Answer. No, sir. There was a young man burned up in that store I told you of being
burned. I-ow far back now are you asking?
Question. I am reaching back to the close of the war.
Answer. There was a county solicitor, Mr. Boyd, was killed a year ago last April, I
think.
Question. The committee are in possession of the evidence in that case, so that you
need not dwell upon the particulars. A body of men entered his room in the day-time,
did they not?
Ansier. It was in the night-a body of disguised men; that was the testimony given
before the grand jury. I suppose we examined three hundred witnesses in regard to
that case.
Question. No one has ever been discovered yet as being concerned in it?
Answler. No, sir. They were traced from a certain bridge on the Sipsey River down
toward the city and back to the bridge, but no one was ever discovered.
Question. What is your knowledge or information as to the existence of a body or
organization of men in that county organized for the purpose of committing violence?
Answer. Nothing, except what I see in the newspapers and hear. I do not believe,
myself, that there is any organization at all.
Question. Do you believe there ever has been one there?
Answer. No, sir; I do not think there ever has been.
Question. You never have seen any body of men disguised yourself?
Answer. No, sir. These men that killed Boyd evidently were disguised. That is an
established fact.
Question. Some of these murders you refer to were committed by men in disguise,
were they not?
Answier. I think that in the taking off of Guilford Coleman the party who took him
off were said to have been diisgised, although I am not positive about that. At any
rate, the report was that he was taken off by the Ku-Klux, as they are called. They are
generally associated with disguises.
Question. When did you first hear of men going about the country in disguise in
Greene County?
Answer. The first I ever heard of was the day after Mr. Boyd was killed.
Question. That was in 1869 or 1870?
Answver. That was in 1870, I think, sir. That was the first time I ever heard of disguised men being in the county.
Question. How often since have you heard of the appearance of men in disguise in
that county?
Answer. I heard of quite a large body of disguised men, who were variously estimated
at from twenty-five to sixty-five, appearing at a place called Pleasant Ridge, about
some time, I think, late in the spring or early in the summer of 1870.
Question. What was the occasion of their appearing there?
The WITNESS. You mean what was going on in that place at the time?
The CHAIRMAN. Yes.
Answer. There was a trial in the magistrate's court at the time.
Question. Did they appear in the court in the day-time?
Answer. In the day-time..Question. Twenty-five to sixty-five?
Answer. -Yes, sir.
Question. What did they do?
Answier. Nothing but ride through the place, and turn around and ride back through
it.
Question. Was a trial in progress at the time?
tAnlser. I do not know whether it was or not.
Question. What kind of a trial was it that was on hand?
Ansswer. I do not know; I never heard.
Question. Did you ever hear what the purpose of their appearance was?
Answer. No, sir; I never did.,Question. Did you ever hear that they did anything?
A4nswer. No, sir.
Question-. Did you hear where they came from?
Answer. No, sir; except they were seen in the outskirts of this little village, and then
rode through and rode back again, and disappeared.
Question. Were they said to be armed?
Answler. If I am. not mistaken, I asked that question of half a dozen parties, and never
found out whether they were or not.
Question. Were their horses disguised?
Antsler. Yes, sir; I think they were.