From the Richmond Examiner, 2/5/1866, p. 1, c. 4

THE “FERRETS!”
Their Organization and Purposes!
Proceedings of the First Meeting!

For months it has been reported that a society existed in Richmond, formed for the purpose of advancing the credit of its members in the eyes of the wise men at Washington by a systematick vilification and slander of the people of Virginia! Vague rumours were afloat, perplexing and unsatisfactory hints were oracularly written; but nothing was definitely known concerning the precise plan and purpose of the society, and the credulous and good-natured rested, therefore, happy in the belief that the “Ferret Club” had its only being in the speculations of some over-heated brain. It is now time to set all doubt at rest! Those men who seek to raise their fortunes upon the basis of our ruin; those who seek to blot out the dark spots in their own character by dimming the brightness of the reputation of those who have been consistent in adversity as in gladness, must be published to the world; and when their names are known and their schemes exposed, the greater part of their power for mischief will be gone forever. The following is a copy of the minutes of the first meeting of what is known as the “Ferret Club,” held soon after the evacuation of Richmond, and while the last throbs of a gigantick war were vibrating sadly in the hearts of the Southern people: -

“At a preliminary meeting of the friends of the Union, the Constitution, and the laws, held in the city of Richmond, April 15, 1865, Mr. B. Wardwell in the chair: ON motion of Mr. Humphreys it was resolved that a committee be appointed to ferret out all evil doers, and report them to the powers that be, and give all needful information as to their antecedents, in case they should ever be pushed forward for place or power.

“On motion, the following gentlemen were appointed to carry out the foregoing resolution, viz:
H. L. Kent,
B. W. Knowles,
Dr. M. Burton,
Samuel Ruth,
George N. Gwathmey,
Wm. Ira Smith,
E. J. White; and that they have power to increase their number as seems necessary.

“On motion it was resolved that the committee be requested to report the names of all who have ever been faithful to the Union, so as to offer every facility of doing justice to all parties. Adjourned.

“The committee, at the request of the chairman, to meet to-morrow, April 16.

“On motion, Mr. F. J. Smith was appointed permanent Secretary of the association.
                                               (Signed) “W. E. BURTON,
                                               Secretary pro tem.”

It will be seen that the meeting consisted “of the friends of the Union, the Constitution, and the laws;” that a committee was to be appointed to “ferret out all evil-doers and report them to the powers that be, [meaning Southerners, “rebels,” with whom they had been living hand and glove for years,] in case they should ever be pushed forward for place or power.” They evidently anticipated no running after “power,” no pleading or praying for “place,” on the part of the South! They felt that Southern men must be “pushed forward,” and then the association might commence its noble work upon those who could not hold back without being deaf to the wishes of those whom they were called on to represent. The “Ferrets” wanted to give all needful information concerning the antecedents of those who were “pushed forward;” they were all friends of the “Union and Constitution,” and we shall, of course, find that their own career had been free of all taint of suspicion; and that, as they had been for years martyrs for the “Union,” they now wished to gain their crown of glory by doing a little martyrizing on their own personal accounts. Who, then, are these spotless saints, these disinterested champions?

First on the list, and chairman of the meeting, is Mr. B. Wardwell, the man of ice, who, during the war, ran off from this city to the land of promise beyond the Potomac, leaving his wife and family behind, perhaps to protect his little property. His flight was appreciated, he “pushed” himself “Forward” in a Northerly direction, became a major in the Yankee service, and when he returned, after the evacuation, he made use of his petty authority in causing the arrest of an estimable citizen upon a paltry and ridiculous charge. He was not content either with being chairman of the meeting; this would not satisfy his young ambition, and he so far forgot his usual glacial reserve as to declare that “he was in favour of stringing all the original secessionists together and working them, with ball and chains on their legs, in the streets of Richmond.” – Well done thou great Apostle of meekness and charity!

Mr. Humphreys, who offered the resolution for the appointment of the Ferreting Committee, was arrested during the war by the Confederate authorities on a charge of disloyalty. He proved satisfactorily that he was a good Southerner, and had always been so, and, with many protestations of eternal fidelity, which would have convinced a saint, he was acquitted. Soon after, he also travelled across the river, was regenerated by the mystick waters, and proved himself to have always been a true Union man. When he returned, after the evacuation, he was made a Ferret in fact, and exerted himself in hunting up respectable citizens on charges of persistent “disloyalty.”

Mr. B. W. Knowles, a member of the committee, remained here during the war, turned it to good account in cotton speculation, amassed a considerable sum of money while protected by the Southern Government, but conveniently changed his convictions when the Yankee troops entered the city, and so contrived to save his “little pile.”

Dr. Burton always declared himself a disciple of the great Whig apostle, John Minor Botts, and may have been uniform in his belief; but if he was such a friend of the Union, why did he stay in the South, in the bosom of the great “rebel” family, and where he could do no good to the great “Union” cause? Answer this, Mr. Burton!

Mr. Samuel Ruth, Superintendent of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, was arrested during the war for aiding refugees to run the blockade, and was strongly suspected of conveying information to the enemy of the intended movements of our armies. He was discharged, but the accusation alone wiped out all his sins, and, together with the merit of being a “Ferret,” may have caused his speedy pardon and restoration to “Union” grace.

Mr. H. L. Kent may have been a friend of the Union, but he was also sufficiently a friend of the Confederacy to decline, while the war was going on, to pay his debts in the North, because such payment was made illegal by the laws of the Confederate Government. Later still, he voted against a repeal of the Alexandria oath, which practically disfranchised three-fourths of Virginia. He may now perchance look as “blue” as he feels.

Mr. Wm. Ira Smith assumed charge of the Whig so soon as the Yankee soldiers entered Richmond, and came out with a flaming proclamation that, as the Whig building was the last over which the Astral flag floated in 1861, so also it should be the first over which it waved when the powers of the Union returned. We all remember what the Whig said in the first days after the evacuation; so long as we live we shall not forget it. Wm. Ira Smith saved his paper, but he lost all that he should have valued most.

Mr. E. J. White made about $150,000 by the war and did his soldierly part in guarding one of the bridges on the Danville Railroad and talking big about the “Yankees,” but he too must “risk the dead line” and save the mark! Found that he had been laboring under a delusion in loving corn bread and Confederate grey better than greenbacks and the Union.

Mr. W. E. Burton is a brother of Dr. Burton, and is a clerk at Tardy & Williams.

Francis J. Smith, “Permanent Secretary” of the Association, we have reserved to the last. If Mr. Smith is Permanent Secretary, he will belie his past career, and falsify every previous act of his life, in which he has been “all things by turns and nothing long.” This slippery creature has been a political Jack in the box, now appearing gracefully as a Confederate official, and then, Presto! – the bearer of congratulatory messages to “Governour” Pierpont, the eulogist of “that status and that flag,” rewarded appropriately by the easy post of “Treasurer of the Commonwealth” as a recompense for his suffering in the Union cause after the war.

This is the end of the roll of shame! Well may such men as these term themselves friends of the “powers that be;” they were friends of the Confederacy, and, when that was dissolved, they were friends of the Union; and were the King of Feejee to rule in Virginia, they would find that all their lives they had been true Feejeeians in principle, and that their “rebel” or “Union” sentiments were only their innocent, unsophisticated ways of showing it. From the time of the first organization, the “Ferrets” have held their regular meetings! Creatures of darkness and decent, they “did ill by stealth, and now shall blush to find its fame” such as honest men would spurn!

Such men as these cannot advance the cause of re-union; such men as these cannot assist our people in being loyal to the Government which they have sworn to support; such men as these will not gain the confidence of the President, but they can and will win for themselves the scorn and contempt of every man of integrity and honour, either North or South. We propose shortly to publish, if possible, some further proceedings of the “Ferrets,” and may be able then to show what they succeeded in doing for the “Union, Constitution and laws.”

In conclusion, we would add that, according to Johnson and Walker’s Dictionary, the word ferret means “a kind of rat, with “red eyes, and a

[remainder of paragraph is torn and missing. MDG]

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