Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1870-09-14
THE T-G's INNOVATION" OF CRIMINAL
LAW

THE Wi-G's INNOVATION" OF CRIMINAL
Law.
Our neighbor, the Wing and Rcgistcr,
seems very anxious to establish itself Sc
curely in the affections of the Democracy.
In its new field of labor, it desires to fully
meet the expectations of its friends. It's
zeal is, howe y, occasionally greater than
its wisdom, as its articles show. In
its Wednesdays issue it has an article
headed Hard on the Ku IIlux.n in
which it takes Chief Justice Pearson. of
the Supreme Court of North Carolina, to
task, for what it declares to be "quite an
innovation of criminal law" Upon exam
ination, we find Justice Pearsons error, in
the Whig'S Judgment, to be his holding
every member Of the Ku KluX Khan re-
sponsible for the acts of their co-conspira-
tors done in furtherance of their unlawful
designs--a principle of law as we'll estab-
lished and as old as criminal law itself.
With a moments reflection, its justice and
reason must become apparent, even to our
neighbor.
If ten or more men enter into a conspira-
cy to do an mltd1CfW act, every one of the
conspirators is responsible for the act of
any other ones provided it be done in ft1'-
herdnce of the original unlawful design.
This law applies with peculiar justice and
force to such wicked combinations as the
Ku KluX. Their organization is danger
Gus, outrageous, and gotten up for murder,
pillage and arson. Its character is known
to every member Their oath discloses its
purposes, and binds them, as conspiratOrs,
to carry out wicked and unlawful designs.
Their chapters in Shelby and Sullivan are
parts of the same organization, cognizant
of their wicked designs and part and par
Gel of the trained organization of murder
ers and thieves. These facts once estab-
lished before a Court of Justice, - they
have been in North Carolina, and Justice
and reason alike justify the conclusion that
every one Of the Khan is responsible for
the act OF every other one done in further
ance of the original object and design Of
the organization. Upon this principle, "a
member of the Khan in Sullivan county
can well and justly be held to account for
the unlawful act of a co-conspirator in
Shelby county done in furtherance of the
design of their wicked combination, and it
would be no new innovation of the
criminal law, as our neighbor imagines.
His error in comparing the Masons or
Odd Fellows with the Ku Klux is that the
former fraternities are la1ptud honorable
and praiseworthy while the. latter is un-
lawful, wicked and fiendish. In the for
mer, case there is no conspiracy to do an
untd1CfW act, and the comparison of the
two is as unfortunate for our contemporary
as it is unjust and insulting to those noble
fraternitiea.
North Carolina has been cursed by
fiendish organization, banded together to
murder, rob and burn, and they have dane
it as appears from actual testimony before
Judge Pearson's court, and it il very prop
er and just that they should be punished
and this rigorous salutary, far-reaching
and well recognized principle of law dating
back to Blackstone's era, will effectually
reach and intimidate the conspirators, ey-
cry one Of whom, i'm the eye of the law, is
murder, although he may have done
nothing further than lend his name, influ-
ence and oath to the wicked combination.
We hope our neighbor will give circuIa-
ton to this principle of law, for it NAV
thereby come TO the knowledge of some
who have identified themselves with this
organization, upon the supposition that it
require some ''innOVatiOn" of criminal
law TO reach and punish them. Ourneigh-
boris innocent remark, throwing doubt
upon the existence of such an organization,
is rather refreshing, in view oil the fact
generally understood, that for some time
plst theJ have resided in section Of the
state where Genera! Forrest publicly pro-
claimed that its members were numbered
by the thousands. II we could have had
courts In West Tennessee TO have adrninis-
lercd the law as Jud @ Pearson "a doing I'm
Holn Carolina oar contemporary might
have been more 'emiiiar with the pruci-
pc criminal law which now sosuipr.sas
him.