there must be more than one of them. A single man could not have carried out

two deaths in such a way as to deceive a coroner’s jury. There must have

been several in it, and they must have been men of resource and determination.

Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. In this way

you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an individual and becomes the

badge of a society.”


“But of what society?”


“Have you never—” said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and

sinking his voice—“have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?”


“I never have.”


Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. “Here it

is,” said he presently:


“‘Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance

to the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret society was

formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Southern states after the Civil

War, and it rapidly formed local branches in different parts of the country,

notably in Tennessee, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power

was used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of the negro

voters and the murdering and driving from the country of those who were opposed

to its views. Its outrages were usually preceded by a warning sent to the

marked man in some fantastic but generally recognised shape—a sprig of

oak-leaves in some parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving

this the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might fly from

the country. If he braved the matter out, death would unfailingly come upon

him, and usually in some strange and unforeseen manner. So perfect was the

organisation of the society, and so systematic its methods, that there is

hardly a case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with impunity,

or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the perpetrators. For some

years the organisation flourished in spite of the efforts of the United States