The Clansman. Jr. Thomas Dixon
Leap
LEADING CHARACTERS OF THE STORY
Scene: Washington and the Foothills of the Carolinas.
Time: 1865 to 1870.
| Ben Cameron | Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan |
| Margaret | His Sister |
| Mrs. Cameron | His Mother |
| Dr. Richard Cameron | His Father |
| Hon. Austin Stoneman | Radical Leader of Congress |
| Phil | His Son |
| Elsie | His Daughter |
| Marion Lenoir | Ben's First Love |
| Mrs. Lenoir | Her Mother |
| Jake | A Faithful Man |
| Silas Lynch | A Negro Missionary |
| Uncle Aleck | The Member from Ulster |
| Cindy | His Wife |
| Colonel Howle | A Carpet-bagger |
| Augustus Cæsar | Of the Black Guard |
| Charles Sumner | Of Massachusetts |
| Gen. Benjamin F. Butler | Of Fort Fisher |
| Andrew Johnson | The President |
| U. S. Grant | The Commanding General |
| Abraham Lincoln | The Friend of the South |
THE CLANSMAN
Book I—The Assassination
CHAPTER I
The Bruised Reed
The fair girl who was playing a banjo and singing to the wounded soldiers suddenly stopped, and, turning to the surgeon, whispered:
“What’s that?”
“It sounds like a mob——”
With a common impulse they moved to the open window of the hospital and listened.
On the soft spring air came the roar of excited thousands sweeping down the avenue from the Capitol toward the White House. Above all rang the cries of struggling newsboys screaming an “Extra.” One of them darted around the corner, his shrill voice quivering with excitement:
“Extra! Extra! Peace! Victory!”
Windows were suddenly raised, women thrust their heads out, and others rushed into the street and crowded around the boy, struggling to get his papers. He threw them right and left and snatched the money—no one asked for change. Without ceasing rose his cry:
“Extra! Peace! Victory! Lee has surrendered!”
At last the end had come.
The great North, with its millions of sturdy people and their exhaustless resources, had greeted the first shot on Sumter with contempt and incredulity. A few regiments went forward for a month’s outing to settle the trouble. The Thirteenth Brooklyn marched gayly Southward on a thirty days’ jaunt, with pieces of rope conspicuously tied to their