Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 April 1871 — The “Ku-Klnx” Bill. [ARTICLE]

The “Ku-Klnx” Bill.

The following is the fall text of the bill reported in the United States House of Representatives from the Committee on the President’s Message, on the 28th of March: Section 1, Be it enacted by the Senate and Houee of Renreeeidativev of the United Btatee of America, in ttorigreu aeeemMeel, That any person who, unitor the color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State, shall subject, or cause to bo subjected, any person within the Jurisdiction of the United States to de privation of any rights, privileges, or Immunities secured by the Constitution of the United States, shall, any snch law, statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of the State to the contrary notwithstanding, be liable to the party Injured In an action at law and In equity, or other proper proceeding, for redress; such proceedings to be prosecuted lii the several District or Circuit Courts of the United States, with, and subject to, the same rights of appeal, review upon error, and other remedies provided In like cases In such courts under the provisions of the act of the 9th of April, IMUI, entitled “ An act to protect all persons In the United States In their civil rights, and to furnish moans for their vindication,” and the other remedial laws of the United States which are in their nature applicable to such cases. Sac. 3. That If two or more persons shall within the limits of any State band and conspire or combine together te do any act In violation of the rights, privileges, or Immunities of any person to which ne is entitled under the Constitution of the United States, which, if committed Inany place under the sole and exclusive Jurisdiction of the United States, would, under any law of the United States then in force, constitute the crime either of murder, manslaughter, mayhem, robbery, asaanlt and battery, penury, subornation of peijury, criminal obstruction of legal process, or resistance of officers in the discharge of their official duty, arson or larceny; and, If one or more parties to snch conspiracy or combination shall do any act to effect the object of these, or be engaged in such conspiracy or combination, whether principals or accessories, they shall be deemed guilty of felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not exceeding SIO,OIO, or imprisoned not exceeding ten years, or both, at the discretion of the court: Proc bled, That if any party or parties to such conspiracy or combination shall, In furtherance of such common design, commit the crime of murder, snch party or parties as are guilty, shall, upon conviction thereof, suffer death: Provided, aleo. That any offense punishable under this act, begun in one judicial district of the United States and completed in another, may be dealt with, inquired of, tried, determined, and punished in either district. Sxc. 8. That In all cases where insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combinations or conspiracies, In any State, shall so far obstruct or hinder the execution of the laws thereof as to deprive any portion or class of people in snch State of any rights, privileges, or immunities named in and secured by this act, and the constituted authorities of such State shall either be unable to, or shall, from any cause, fail !h or retuse protection to the people in such rights, and shall fail or neglect, through the proper authorities, to apply to the President of the United States for aid, such facts shall be deemed a ddnlal, by such State, Of the equal protection of the laws to which they are entitled under the Fourteenth article of amendment tq the Constitution of the United States, and in all such cases it shall be lawful for the President, and It shall be bls duty, to take such measures, by the employment of the militia, or the land and naval forces of the United States, or either, or such other means, as be may deem necessary for the suppression of such Insurrection, domestic violence, or combinations; and any person who shall be arrested under the provisions of this and the preceding sections, shall bo delivered to the marshal of the proper district, to be dealt with according to law. Sxc. 4. That, whenever tn any State or part of a State, the unlawful combinations named in the preceding section of this act shall be organized and armed, and shall be so numerous and powerful as to be able by violence to overthrow or set at defiance the constitutional authority of such State, or when the constituted authorities are in complicity with, or shall connive at, the unlawful purposes of such powerful and armed combinations, and whenever, by reaaon of either or all causes aforesaid, the conviction of such offenders and the preservation of the public safety shall become in such district impracticable, tn every such case such combinations shall be deemed rebellion against the government of the United States, and during the continuance of such rebellion, and within the district which shall be under sway thereof, such limits to be prescribed by proclamation, it shall be lawful for the President of the Uunited States, when in bis judgment the public safety shall require it, to suspend the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus and to declare and enforce, subject to the rules and articles of war, and other laws of the United States now in fqrce applicable In the case of rebellion, martial law, to the end that such rebellion maybe overthrown: Provided, That the President shall first have made proclamation, as provided by law, commanding such Insurgents to disperse: Proriiled, aleo, Tffiat the provisions of this section shalljiotbe in force after the first day of June, A. D., 1878. Sic. S. That nothing hereiu contained shall be construed to supersede or repeal any former act or law, except so far as the same may be repugnant thereto. Any offenses heretofore committed against the tenor of any former act shall be prosecuted, and any proceeding already commenced for the prosecution thereof shall be continued and completed, the same as if this act had not been passed, except so far as the provisions of this act may go to sustain and validate such proceedings.