Sec. 22. Be it further enacted, That the standard of damages for injuries to individuals shall be as follows: For disturbing any of the officers of the State or other person, by entering the house or houses, or place of residence of any such individual in the night, in a hostile manner, or against his will, the sum of ten thousand dollars; and it shall be lawful for the person so assailed to kill the assailant. For killing any individual in the night twenty thousand dollars; provided, such person killed was peaceable at that time. That all other injuries shall be assessed by the court and jury in proportion; and the court trying said causes may grant as many new trials as may, in his opinion, be necessary to attain the end of justice.
Sec. 23. Be it further enacted, That all persons present, and not giving immediate information on the offenders, shall be regarded as guilty of a misdemeanor against the law, and shall be punished accordingly.
Sec. 24. Be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any persons to publish any proffered or pretended order of said secret, unlawful clans; and any person convicted under any of the provisions of this act, shall not claim, hold, or possess any property, real or personal, exempt from execution, fine, penalty or costs, under this act; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent or exempt any person heretofore guilty of any of the offenses herein contained from prosecution under the law as it now stands. This act to take effect from after its passage.[52]
The same legislature passed a bill authorizing the Governor to organize, equip and call into active service, at his discretion, a volunteer force, to be known as the Tennessee State Guards; to be composed of one or more regiments from each congressional district of the State; provided always that said Tennessee State Guards shall be composed of loyal men.
And it was further provided by the "Militia Law," that upon the representation of "ten Union men, or three Justices of the Peace in any county in the State," that the presence of these troops were needed, that the Governor might declare martial law in such counties, and send thither troops in such numbers as, in his judgment, were necessary for the preservation of peace and order. And it was provided that the expense of these troops to the State should be collected from the counties where they were quartered.
The reader has now some insight into the character of the legislation direct against the Ku Klux. He will not only note the general severity and harshness of it, but the following features in particular:
(1). The anti-Ku Klux statute was ex post facto, as expressly declared by Section 24 of it. (2). It presented no way in which a man could relieve himself from liability to it, except by turning informer, and as an inducement to do this a large bribe was offered. (3). It encouraged strife, by making every inhabitant of the State an officer extraordinary with power "to arrest without process" when he had ground to suspect. (4). It must be remembered that in those days in Tennessee "to be loyal" had a very limited meaning. It meant simply to be a subservient tool and supporter of Governor Brownlow. If a man was not that, no matter what his past record, or what his political opinion, he was not "loyal." (5). While the law professed to be aimed at the suppression of all lawlessness, it was not so construed and enforced by the party in power. The "Union" or "Loyal" League was never molested, though this organization met frequently, and its members appeared by day and by night, armed, threatening and molesting the life and property of as peaceable and quiet citizens as any in the State. No attempt was ever made to arrest men except in Ku Klux disguises. But as before remarked there is no instance on record of a Ku Klux being arrested, tried and convicted. Invariably the party arrested while depredating as Ku Klux turned out to be, when stripped of their disguises, "loyal" men.
In some sections of the State a perfect reign of terror followed this anti-Ku Klux statute. The members of the Klan were now in the attitude of men fighting for life and liberty. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of them were not lawbreakers, and did not desire to be. There had been no law against association with the Klan; they had conceived and done no wrong during their connection with it. They had had no participation in or knowledge of the excesses in which some of the Klan had indulged or were charged with having indulged in. But now their previous connection with the Klan was made a penal offense; and they had no hope except on terms which to men of honor and right principle were more odious than death.
These men were made infamous, made liable to fine and imprisonment, exposed to arrest without process by any malicious negro or mean white man; and even their wives and children were outlawed and exposed to the same indignities; and it is no strange thing if they were driven to the very verge of desperation. It is not denied that they did many things for which the world has been exceedingly slow to accept apology or excuse. But history is challenged to furnish an instance of a people bearing gross wrong and brutal outrage perpetrated in the name of law and loyalty with patience, forbearance or forgiveness, comparable to that exhibited by the people of the Southern States, and especially of Tennessee, during what is called the "Reconstruction period," and since.
There may be in their conduct some things to regret, and some to condemn; but he who gets a full understanding of their surroundings, social, civil and political, if he is not incapable of noble sentiment, will also find many things to awaken his sympathy and call forth his admiration.