The Modern Ku Klux Klan Part 18

As a result of indignation of the best citizens of Pensacola, Simmons suspended the charter of the Pensacola Klan, and offered to aid in discovering the perpetrators of the lawlessness, issuing a long statement which appeared on the front page of the Pensacola morning paper July 14, 1921, wherein he stated, with his usual sanctimonious whine that his organization stood for "the supremacy of pure Americanism without fear and without reproach," and gave expression, in his usual bad English, to his usual plat.i.tudes.

The _Pensacola News_ in an editorial the same day challenged the "Emperor"

to aid the authorities in detecting the criminals by giving the names of the members of the local Klan so they could be called before the Grand Jury and be examined under oath, and the names of the guilty parties thereby ascertained. The _News_ further said:

"'Pure Americanism' stands for equal opportunity, unabridged freedom within the law, orderly government, and the enforcement of the laws by the processes ordained by the Const.i.tution. The anonymous communication, the ganging together of many to attack one, the affecting of a disguise, and the secret organization of men who took the law into their own hands in Pensacola on last Friday night, are the methods of the black hand, the mafia, and the nihilists. These organizations had their origin in Europe and cannot flourish upon American soil.

"There is no room beneath the Stars and Stripes for anarchy and bolshevism, for any organization that cannot afford to give the prosecuting attorneys of the Federal and State government the names of its members. The secrets of the organization will not be pried into, but the criminals will be handed over to the State for prosecution in the manner provided for by law.

"We repeat, the situation in Pensacola affords the K. K. K. and its Imperial Wizard an opportunity to show that their organization does not stand for lawlessness, that its members are law abiding, and that the organization will not countenance crime or its concealment by its members."

Simmons, of course, has never complied with this challenge, as far as has been reported in the newspapers, and it is doubtful if he ever will. He has issued a long-winded, verbose statement since that time rehashing the same plat.i.tudes that have characterized all his writings and speeches, but has not turned over to the authorities the names of his local members. The charter of the Pensacola Klan has merely been suspended, although the offense committed was far more flagrant and specific than the case of the Mobile Klan, and it is quite likely that should the matter "blow over" the Pensacola organization will be reinstated.

The third case in which the "Emperor" found it necessary to take public action against one of his Klans which had gone too far in publicly advertising the "n.o.ble cause" occurred in Beaumont, Tex., and attracted newspaper attention on a nation-wide scale in the month of July, 1921. It was the first time that a Klan openly and publicly admitted its partic.i.p.ation in an overt act of lawlessness. The case was so brazen that the "Emperor" revoked the Klan's charter.

It appears from an examination of the facts in the case that masked men entered the office of one Dr. J. S. Paul, in the city of Beaumont, on the night of May 7, 1921, forced the physician to accompany them to a waiting automobile, conveyed him to the country, whipped him, tarred and feathered him and ordered him to leave town. A short time after that, similar treatment was meted out to one R. F. Scott, described in the dispatches as a veteran of the Marine Corps. Much excitement prevailed in Beaumont, until on July 21, 1921, a communication was received by the local newspapers under seal of "Klan No. 7, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan," of Beaumont, accompanied by a long statement of alleged facts in the cases of the two men who had been beaten.

Frankly admitting that its members had attacked Paul and Scott, the statement went into details as to the characters and conduct of the two men. It was charged that Paul had, for a long time, been making a business of criminal operations on women, of the sale of drugs and whiskey, and had waxed fat and powerful in this alleged illicit business. It was charged that for the past five years repeated attempts had been made to have him indicted and convicted, but that on account of wealth and political influence, he had succeeded in evading the law. The climax of his alleged practices was reached in the case of a young woman, her name was not given in the statement, who was brought to Paul for an alleged operation. It appears from the charges made by the Klan that Scott was involved in the matter. According to the statements of the Klan, an operation was performed, from the results of which the woman was caused to suffer severe consequences, it being claimed that death nearly resulted from her condition. It appears further from the allegations that the woman called to see Doctor Paul and demanded financial a.s.sistance, asking for $1000 to reimburse her for her expenses incurred during her illness. This, according to the statement, Paul refused to pay, offering instead $500, which was refused, after which the woman was said to have been ordered out of the office. The rest of the story, told in the exact words of the Klan reads:

"Following this visit to Doctor Paul the girl visited the county attorney and related her story to him, but she pleaded that her father and mother be spared the shame of parading her misfortune to the world. She was a.s.sured by the county attorney that he was powerless to act unless she herself would file the complaint and testify against Doctor Paul. This she felt she could not do and left the court of law in despair. Then followed several days of unceasing agony the sufferings of the pangs of hunger and the remorselessness of a conscience that had been violated. The depths of despair were reached, suicide was the next logical step. The anguish-laden cry of that poor girl was heard by men who respect the great moral law more than the technicalities of the legal code. The heavy hand of the Ku Klux was laid upon Doctor Paul.

"For while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds, Their large professions and their little deeds, Mingles in selfish strife, Lo! freedom weeps, Wrong rules the land and waiting justice sleeps."

(Ku Klux Ritual)

"The eyes of the unknown had seen and observed the wrong to be redressed. Doctor Paul stood convicted before G.o.d and man as the murderer of unborn babies, the despoiler of little children, the social leper who sells the life of a human being for a money consideration. His victim was a poor girl. Doctor Paul was wealthy.

Between the two stood the majesty of the law, draped in the technicalities of changes of venue, mistrials, appeals, postponements, eminent counsel skilled in the esoteric art of protecting crime and interpreting laws involved in a ma.s.s of legal verbiage, the winding and unwinding of red tape, instead of the sinewy arm of justice, wielding the unerring sword. The law of the Man is justice.

"Doctor Paul was approached in his office by three men on the night of May 7, and instructed to go with them. He was placed in a waiting automobile and escorted a few miles out of town. The judgment of the Klan was read to him and charges were related to him, none of which he would deny. In a cowardly, whimpering plea, he plead that others were as guilty as he. The lash was laid on his back and the tar and feathers applied to his body. He was then informed that it was the will of the Klan that he should leave the city within forty-eight hours. Upon the return of the party to Beaumont, Doctor Paul was discharged from an automobile at the intersection of two of the main streets of the city that he might be a warning to all of his ilk that decent men and women no longer wanted him in the community. Doctor Paul complied with the instructions of the Klan that he leave the city and returned for a few days to his former home at Lufkin. During this time he was under the constant surveillance of the Klan."

When Doctor Paul returned to Beaumont, according to the statement, he was invited to appear before the Grand Jury for the purpose of testifying about his attackers, but upon appearing before that body, he was confronted with the girl in the case, who, it appears, for some reason not mentioned in the statement, had decided to make a public complaint against Doctor Paul in the manner prescribed by law. Why it was any more improper for the woman to have testified before the Grand Jury in the first place than in the second the Klan does not mention, but, according to its explanation, Doctor Paul was indicted on several counts, along with Scott, the other man involved, and was released on bail. Here follows some very excellent Ku Klux humor:

"Doctor Paul immediately made bond and was released from custody, Scott was later arrested and in a few days made bond and released.

Doctor Paul for many days, in company with his hired henchman, openly paraded the streets of the city armed to the teeth in open defiance of the law."

Here is Ku Kluxism in all of its glory. "In open defiance of the law,"

utterly repudiating the Bill of Rights of both Federal and State const.i.tutions, which guarantee a man the right of trial by jury, this organization had abducted a citizen, tried him secretly, convicted him, and punished him and then whines because its former victim armed himself as a protection against further mob violence. Regardless of any and all of the allegations against Doctor Paul, the a.s.sumption of any set of men to secretly handle the law enforcement of a community is nothing more or less than anarchy.

It is very interesting and ill.u.s.trative of the Ku Klux state of mind to study this remarkable doc.u.ment, for which reason I am giving copious extracts. It appears that efforts of all kinds according to the Ku Klux, were made by Paul and Scott to kill the case, and the Klan claims that Scott was persistent in his efforts to induce the woman in the affair to leave town. The statement continues:

"Scott was warned that his conduct towards the girl must cease and that he would be required to stand trial at the appointed time. This warning served no purpose to him and his annoyances to the girl continued. Then Scott, who had been constantly watched by the Klan, whose number is legion, and whose eye is all seeing and whose methods of gathering information are not known to the alien world, was apprehended and punished in the same manner Doctor Paul had been dealt with. He was taken to the woods and guarded until nightfall.

His captors during this time treated him with kindness and consideration. They provided him with food and fruit to eat and ice water to drink. During the day he was questioned and admitted all the charges the Klan had accused him of. The judgment of the Klan was that he was to be given ten lashes across the bare back and that he was to be tarred and feathered and brought to Beaumont to deliver two messages, one to Doctor Paul that he must comply with the decision of the Klan that he should leave town, but that he must return for trial at the proper time. The other message was to another person that the Klan would not allow the technicalities to cheat justice any further in this case."

The statement concludes by an attack on Scott's army record, and the allegation that he had served a prison sentence, adding:

"Yet he poses to the gullible public and sensational newspapers as a patriot and a hero. All these things the eyes of the unknown have seen and their ears have heard. We cannot be deceived and justice will no longer be mocked."

Immediately following the publication of this frank statement, "Emperor"

Simmons revoked the charter of the Beaumont Klan, and announced his intention of sending investigators to Texas for the purpose of looking into the various cases that had been reported where men in disguise had taken the law into their own hands. Up to the time that this was written, however, no such investigations have been made or attempted, so far as the public has been informed through the press.

The American people should view with alarm the propagation of any organization, the result of which has been the establishment of _one_ unit which a.s.sumes to itself the secret regulation of law enforcement. Yet, when one studies the ritual and the oath of the Ku Klux Klan but little blame can be attached to the men in Beaumont for obeying what seemed to them the teachings of the "Invisible Empire." They had sworn to "use any and all justifiable means and methods" and, taking the literal construction of the oath, they saw what appeared to them a bad condition existing in their community, which they proceeded to rectify. The prime responsibility for the Beaumont case rests upon William J. Simmons for having solicited men to take an obligation that is in itself a violation of the letter and spirit of the laws of this country. His action in revoking the charter was forced by the publicity given to the case, and by the frankness and openness of his followers in a.s.suming the blame for their acts. Speaking in ordinary street parlance, the action of the "Emperor" was merely "pa.s.sing the buck" to his own people who had been "caught with the goods." When men are given a dangerous explosive to play with, the blame for the explosion that follows should be placed upon the person or corporation that gave it to them.

CHAPTER XV

SUGGESTED LEGAL REMEDIES

The task of ridding the United States of the "Invisible Empire" will not be an easy matter. The people are p.r.o.ne to wait until the horse has completely disappeared before they begin to look after the security of the barn door. Until public sentiment is thoroughly aroused over the dangerous possibilities of an "Invisible Empire," such as is now being developed, it is unlikely that even the first steps will be taken toward suppressing it.

The idea is so foreign to all the established order in this country that people will be slow in realizing what it is all about. Appreciating this fact and knowing that I possessed but limited facilities for bringing the matter to public attention, I felt prompted to turn over to the _New York World_ all the information I possessed, and have that great newspaper inaugurate a nation-wide investigation followed by a publicity campaign that would make the "Invisible Empire" visible.

Exposure of a system, however, marks but the first step in eliminating that system. Publicity must be followed up by official action aimed at the accomplishment of concrete results, for unless this is done, the public mind is soon diverted from the subject, and the exposure becomes merely a newspaper episode. In the present instance, exposure of the "Invisible Empire," without legal action, will have the effect of advertising it without harming it in the slightest degree--and swelling its ranks with thousands of new recruits.

In my opinion, the authorities of this country should use every available piece of legal machinery to stop the propaganda, and new laws should be immediately enacted rendering it impossible to promote such a scheme in this country in the future. It must be remembered that the men who have launched this proposition have built up a large organization, many of the members of which are fanatics. The promoters have already seen the possibilities of the scheme as a business proposition; they have the names of the present members, which can be used again; they have a fully equipped plant for future operations; and in the event the Ku Klux scheme fails, they will probably try another one along similar lines. The system itself must be destroyed and prohibited from further action, either in its present costume or in any other. Several lines of action suggest themselves, but they may be broadly cla.s.sified under the two heads: Federal and State. There should be concurrent action on the part of these two governments.

I believe that Congress should enact legislation directed specifically at organizations of the character of the "Invisible Empire." It should be provided that all organizations, secret or open, engaged in promoting racial or religious discord, should be prevented from sending their literature through the mails. The statute should be broad enough to include any kind of organized attempt to stir up cla.s.s hatred, and officials of all such organizations should be held to strict accountability for the accuracy of statements sent through the mails.

Misrepresentation of facts as to national, state or local conditions should be the basis of Federal action in breaking up such organizations.

In the exercise of a national police power, Congress should be able to give the Federal Government the right to act against the heads of organizations, as well as a few individuals. In the cases that have come to light where there has been acknowledged violation of law by local Klans, Simmons has side-stepped responsibility by revoking and suspending charters. If Congress will pa.s.s legislation declaring that national officers of secret organizations are responsible for acts of their subordinates, and are subject to indictment, an important step will be taken in the right direction.

Since the chief a.s.set of the "Invisible Empire" is its secrecy, Congress should pa.s.s an act providing that all secret orders or societies using the United States mails or engaged in the business of interstate commerce--as the "Invisible Empire" undoubtedly is--should be required to furnish the Government with a list of names of their members. The list should be required to be in duplicate, one copy to be placed on file, for public inspection, in the office of the local postmaster, while the other copy should be placed on file in Washington. The Government should also have the right to inspect all books of account, showing funds that have been derived from members either by interstate commerce or by the use of the United States mails. This removal of secrecy would, to a considerable extent, lessen the danger of Ku Kluxism as a political force, and requiring publicity as far as membership rosters is concerned would materially aid in making the system harmless. I am quite sure that a publicity statute would not work any great hardship on the existing standard fraternal orders for most of them have a yearly printed roster for distribution.

Under the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Const.i.tution, the Attorney-General of the United States can maintain actions against the "Invisible Empire" on account of its activities in Texas, and have no doubt that an official investigation of alleged outrages would show some interesting facts. In order to make the matter effective, however, the investigation must be gone into very carefully and all of the facts uncovered. In August, 1921, the United States District Attorney in Chicago announced that he intended to investigate the Ku Klux Klan. In a few days, according to newspaper reports, he stated that he had been shown the charter of incorporation and other literature of the organization, and that he could not discover anything upon which he could base legal action. The charter of the organization does not tell all the facts, as has been demonstrated in the preceding pages.

Concurrently with the action of the Federal Government, the States can do some valuable work in stamping out Ku Kluxism, and preventing both the present "Invisible Empire" and its future imitators from operating. The "Invisible Empire" is known legally as the "Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc." and was incorporated under the laws of the State of Georgia. So far as has been published in the newspapers, the only State in the Union where it has been granted a license to do business outside of its home state, has been in Indiana, where its charter was filed in August, 1921. In every State where it has not filed its charter and complied with the corporation laws it has no legal standing whatever. Actions could be brought by the Attorneys-General of the various States restraining the Klan from further operation and also indictments might lie against the promoters for operating without compliance with the law.

As soon as it can be conveniently done, the legislatures of the States should enact various laws for the purpose of killing Ku Kluxism, laws directed against membership corporations stirring up religious and racial prejudice, against secret membership, against unwarranted interference with the law-enforcing branches of the Government, and against going about the community in disguise. More stringent laws should also be enacted providing for the registration of foreign membership corporations seeking to do business from another State, especially where money is taken from the public. If the pa.s.sage of "Blue-Sky" laws has had the effect of protecting the public from being victimized by all kinds of stock-selling schemes, surely legislation could easily be enacted to carefully scrutinize all alleged fraternal orders.

As to permitting foreign membership corporations to do business in a State, it should be enacted that before being permitted to engage in the business of soliciting members from whom initiation fees or "donations"

are to be secured, the corporation should be required to file with the Secretary of State a sworn statement of all its national officers, its plans for doing business, a copy of its charter of incorporation, its const.i.tution and laws, and, where agents are employed to canvas for members it should be specified what compensation they are to be paid.

These agents should be licensed by the State as the "Blue Laws" require the licensing of stock salesmen. The organization should, furthermore, be required to file a bond with the Secretary of State insuring the good behavior of the organization while engaged in business in the State, and it should be specified that the bond be forfeited should any local branch be guilty of committing a lawless act, in which case, also, the right of the corporation to do business in the State should automatically be terminated. No foreign corporation which permits its members to go about, in other States, disguised should be permitted to enter. After having complied with the foregoing provisions, the act should further provide that at stated intervals the secretary of each local branch be required to make two copies of the roster of membership of his branch, filing one copy with the county clerk of his county, and mailing one copy to the Secretary of State. These two copies should be open for public inspection at all times. In the event that the local branch fails or refuses to file its roster, the right of the national organization to do business in the State should automatically terminate.

As a matter of safeguard to the community, every State in the United States should have a statute enacted along the lines of the Tennessee Ku Klux act (Sections 6668, Shannons Code _et seq._) which reads:

"6668. If any person or persons, masked or in disguise, shall prowl, or travel, or ride, or walk through the country or towns of this State, to the disturbance of the peace, or to the alarming of the citizens of any portion of this State, on conviction thereof (they) shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and imprisoned in the county jail of the county wherein convicted, at the discretion of the jury trying the case.

"6669. If any person or persons, disguised or in mask, by day or by night, shall enter upon the premises of another, or demand entrance or admission into the house or inclosure of any citizen of this State, it shall be considered _prima facie_ that his or her intention is to commit a felony, and such demand shall be deemed an a.s.sault with an intent to commit a felony, and the person or persons so offending, shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than ten years nor more than twenty years.

"6670. If any person or persons, so prowling, traveling, riding, or walking through the towns or country of this State, masked or in disguise, shall or may a.s.sault another with a deadly weapon, he or they shall be deemed guilty of an a.s.sault with intent to commit murder in the first degree, and, on conviction thereof, shall suffer death by hanging; provided that the jury trying the case may subst.i.tute imprisonment in the penitentiary for a period of not less than ten years nor more than twenty-one years."

In connection with this Tennessee statute, it is interesting to note that the leading case, reported in the State, based on the act fully sustained the statute. In the case of Walpole against the State, 9 Baxter 369, delivered in 1878 by a Supreme Court composed entirely of Democrats, with several Confederate soldiers the court held:

"It is apparent that the object of this statute was to repress a great evil which arose in this country after the war, and which grew to be an offense of frequent occurrence, that of evil-minded and mischievous persons disguising themselves to terrify or to wrong those who happened to be the objects of their wrath or resentment.

This was a kind of mob law, enforced sometimes by a mult.i.tude of vagabonds, who grew to be a great terror to the people and placed human life and property at the mercy of bad men, whose crimes could scarcely ever be punished because of the disguises under which they were perpetrated."

In closing its opinion the court said:

"The penalties of a violation of this law are severe, but they have proved themselves wholesome in the partial suppression already of one of the greatest of the disturbing elements of social order in this State. Affirm the judgment."