Report of the Joint select committee appointed to inquire into the condition of affairs in the late insurrectionary states, so far as regards the execution of laws, and the safety of the lives and property of the citizens of the United States and Testimony taken.

ALABAMA —SUB-COMMITTEE. 1535
ably killed and the other wounded. Although the matter may become the subject of
legal investigation, ingenious counsel will devise some plan-that of packing a jury
if no better one suggests itself-by which the guilty party will escape punishment.
So difficult is it to have a man convicted of murder, especially if he can command the
means of paying his counsel a large fee, that crime has become, in many sections of
our land, fearfully common. The strong probability of escape greatly increases the
catalogue of crimes, and especially of murders.
" Since the war between the States, the spirit of lawlessness has been much greater,
especially in the South, than was ever known before. Not only have personal difficulties,
resulting frequently in death to one or more persons, become frightfully common, but,
in some localities, secret organizations have been gotten up, whose mission it is to punish those who are looked upon by those self-constituted judges and jurors as bad men;
to screen from justice those who are looked upon as innocent of the charges preferred
against them. Carrying out these purposes, men in legal custody, who may have been
tried by the laws of the land, found guilty, and sentenced to undergo a certain amount
of punishment in expiation of their crimes, are, at the dead hour of night, released by
a band of men, armed and disguised, and turned loose upon society to commit other
crimes as occasion offers. Such cases are by no means rare."
Answer. Well, knowing the gentleman, I can perhaps analyze and appreciate that
better than you.
Question. I appreciated it so much that I attempted to pay him a compliment on the
floor of the House for his law-abiding spirit.
Answer. That refers to the lawless acts and spirit thatwe all condemned. You would
suppose we were in terror, but our people, white and black, who have been friendly to
law and order, do not realize that. But suppose here is a deed committed in town;
young men get into a fight, one is shot, &c. That is just confined to the parties, and
it is condemned by the community. Mr. Harvey has spoken of it in the terms he does,
very truthfully, too.
Question. You think at that particular time there was more alarm and fear?
Answer. Yes, sir; and he writes under that impulse. Mr. Harvey is a very gentlemanly, law-abiding man, a detester of wrong-very conservative.
Question. Has not his paper had a good influence in the community?
Answer. It has had a good influence. All good has a good influence.
Question. Do you not think he took the correct way to denounce these things?
Answer. I think he did. We agreed with him. I talk with him every time I go to
town.
Question. I will invite your attention to another paragraph. The editor says:
" So great is this spirit of lawlessness in many sections of the country that there is
very little protection afforded to the rights of persons or property. An apprehension
of bringing upon themselves the vengeance of these lawless bands prevents good citizens from making an effort to arrest evils which are telling fearfully on the best interests of society."
Do you know whether your best citizens there were for a time apprehensive?
Answer. No, sir; I think he is extravagant. I think he writes, as many of us do,
under the spur of the moment, and he has told the truth; but a qualification would
moderate things very much. Now, I live in the same community as Mr. Harvey, and
I would have expressed that with less force than he has done. I would have confined
it more to individuals.
Question. You think at the time he was a little stung by events?
Answer. Yes, sir; nothing stings him more than a drunken, aggressive man, and he
becomes extravagant, as any one would. But there is no better citizen than he is.
Question. The editor mentions a remedy:
" But it strikes us that the time has arrived, in this section at least, when it becomes
the duty of all who have the good of the country at heart to aid, and to the full extent
of their influence, in suppressing lawless organizations and in securing the enforcement
of the laws."
Had the editor reason to suppose at that time that lawless organizations existed in
Hale or the adjoining counties?
Answer. He would have had as much reference to Loyal Leagues there as to this
other thing-the Ku-Klux.
Question. Did they ever commit lawless acts?
Answer. Lawless acts of assembling at night and concocting plans, and all in secret,
&c. That is our opinion-that it was producing no good; on the contrary, harm.
Question. He speaks of the remedy, and says:
"And one of the first steps to be taken to accomplish this most desirableoresult is to
bring about a sound public opinion. How, it may be asked, is that to be (lone? Each
and every man in a community has more or less of influence. Let every one who realizes the need of a change in public opinion on the subject in hand make it his business-as it certainly is his duty-to speak out in condemnation of evils which are
working so much detriment to the best interests of society."