"During the period of Reconstruction the men who formed the Ku Klux Klan of that time were obliged by the necessities of the situation, Negro domination and carpet-baggers' rule to take the administering of law and order into their own hands. York county was under military rule, the writ of habeas corpus was taken away and no justice could be obtained in the corrupt courts. So, threatened with arrest. Doctor Bratton, with many other citizens, had to leave the state. He initially went to London in the province of Ontario, Canada. There in 1872 he was kidnapped by a detective who was after the reward for the doctor's capture, offered by the United States government, and he was brought back to Yorkville for trial. After several weeks of imprisonment in jail crowded with the best citizens of the county he was released on bond. The English government demanded of the government of the United States that he should be released and returned to Canada on the ground that he had been unlawfully removed. After a sharp diplomatic correspondence between the two countries, this was done. Doctor Bratton re- turned with his family to London, Canada, where he lived and practiced his profession for eight years. In 1878, after a white man's government had been re-established in South Carolina, Doctor Bratton and family came back to their home in York, where he had a large practice until his death, September 2, 1897. The South Carolina Medical Association honored itself by choosing Dr. Bratton president and he served as chairman."
The 52-page diplomatic papers are available on the Library and Archives of Canada website. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/orders/001022-119.01-e.php?&sisn_id_nbr=23952&page_sequence_nbr=1&interval=20
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