The old Ku Klux Klan has a very deep place in the hearts of the Southern people, and it holds the added glamour of being an organization about which little was known by the public up to a few years ago. Knowing this feeling, the promoters of the modern organization have worked overtime upon the sympathies of the South in fostering an entirely different proposition. No matter what may be the ultimate objects of this organization, its claims to “genuineness” are fraudulent. Some of the leading men of the South and most of the newspapers have detected the fraud, but a great many unthinking men have joined the new movement under the impression that they were becoming members of the old organization. These men, when they have learned the truth, and have taken the trouble to study for themselves what I have discovered, will, I believe, withdraw from the organization and denounce it for what it is—an historical fraud.
CHAPTER XIII
Lawlessness and Crime
Before presenting, for the thoughtful consideration of the reader, the facts to be set forth in this chapter, I submit for comparison certain portions of the Constitution of the United States, and the concluding portion of the “oath of allegiance” of the “Invisible Empire,” Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
The former consists of what is known as the “Bill of Rights,” and read:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
4th Amendment.
“No person shall be held to answer for a capital or other infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.”