Page:The traitor; a story of the fall of the invisible empire (IA traitorstoryoffa00dixo).pdf/159



HE murder of Judge Butler created a profound sensation both in the state and the nation. The Northern press held the Ku Klux Klan guilty of this atrocious crime without question, and it was the last straw needed to start an avalanche of hostile legislation in Congress against the entire South.

The famous Conspiracy Act was rushed through both houses of the National Legislature and signed by the President. It made membership in the secret order known as the Ku Klux Klan, or Invisible Empire, a felony, and provided for the trial of its members on the charge of treason, conspiracy and murder. The President was authorised to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and proclaim martial law in any county of the Southern States, and use the army and navy to enforce his authority.

The Attorney General promptly placed the county of Independence under military government,