“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 constitutions, 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 assumption 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 illustrative of the Ku Klux state of mind to study this remarkable document, 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 assumes 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 assuming the blame for their acts. Speaking in ordinary street parlance, the action of the “Emperor” was merely “passing 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.