The Klan seemed to want to rule the blacks and control them through fear and violent attacks on their community, which was still present in the south and Elias Hill makes his record one night he was terrified. Klansmen targeted black men who were well-liked in the black community. Elias Hill was not only a Baptist preacher, but also an intellectual in the community, a teacher of young black children, and a mediator in the affairs of his neighborhood. Hill was a noble man in his community, but he was also a crippled man, which I believe made him the ideal target. He was immobile, as his arms and legs were crippled and shriveled, he could not walk at all or take care of himself, making him the perfect target for the Klan's assault.