- Cliff Moore: Read!
- Frank Taylor: [reading the Black Legion oath] In the name of God and the Devil, one to reward and the other to punish, and by the powers of light and darkness, good and evil, here under the black arch of Heaven's avenging symbol, I pledge and consecrate my heart, my brain, my body, and my limbs and swear by all the powers of Heaven and Hell to devote my life to the obedience of my superiors and that no danger or peril shall deter me from executin' dere orders. That I will exert every possible means in my power for the extermination of the anarchist, the Roman hierar...
- [He has difficulty in pronouncing it]
- Frank Taylor: ... hierarchy and their abettors. I swear that I will die fighting those whose serpent trail has winnowed the fair fields of our allies and sympathizers. I will show no mercy but strike with an avengin' arm as long as breath remains. I further pledge my heart, my brain, my body, my limbs never to betray a comrade and that I will submit to all the tortures mankind can inflict and suffer the most horrible death rather than reveal a single word of this, my oath, before violatin' a single clause or implied pledge of this my obligation. I...
- [He pauses]
- Frank Taylor: Do I have to say dis?
- Cliff Moore: Say it!
- Frank Taylor: I will pray to an avengin' God and an umerciful Devil to tear my heart out and roast it over the flames of sulfur, and lastly may my soul be given into the torment that my body be submerged into molten metal... and stifled into the flames of Hell, and that this punishment may be meted out to me through all eternity. In the name of God, our creator, Amen.
- All: Amen.
- Judge: Your idea of patriotism and Americanism is hideous to all decent citizens. It violates every protection guaranteed them by the Bill of Rights contained in our Constitution. The Bill of Rights, assuring to us all freedom of religious opinion, and security of person and property against the attack of illegal and extralegal forces, is the cornerstone of true Americanism, and must be jealously guarded if we are to remain a free people. We cannot permit racial or religious hatreds to be stirred up, so that innocent citizens become the victims of accusations brought in secrecy. We cannot permit unknown tribunals to pass judgments, nor punishments to be inflicted by a band of hooded terrorists. Unless all of these illegal and extralegal forces are ruthlessly wiped out, this nation may as well abandon its Constitution, forget its Bill of Rights, tear down its courts of justice, and revert to the barbarism of government by primitive violence. This would mean relinquishing everything that civilized man has won by the most prodigious effort over a course of the past five centuries. The American people made their choice long ago; their blood and their sacrifices secured for us the basic human rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Their wisdom built the whole structure of our democratic form of government, expressly to keep sacred and inviolate these same and human rights. It is our duty to guard them zealously if we are to remain a nation of free men. As Abraham Lincoln said, our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is the spirit that prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors.
- Frank Taylor: How yuh doin', Ed?
- Ed Jackson: Oh, terrible! I feel like a drill was driving right through the top of my head.
- Frank Taylor: It might be a good idea to let out some of dat beer you slopped up last night.
- Ed Jackson: Aw, quit riding me, will yuh?
- Frank Taylor: Oh, I ain't even started on you yet. C'mon, let's eat.
- Ed Jackson: No, Frank, I couldn't.
- Frank Taylor: Oh, come on. Do you good. You gotta eat.
- [He snaps his finger]
- Frank Taylor: I got just the thing to straighten you out.
- Ed Jackson: Yeah? What is it?
- Frank Taylor: Some nice ice cold oatmeal smothered wid lard.
- [Frank taps Ed on the stomach and Ed winces]
- Cliff Moore: Well, what's the matter? You afraid?
- Ed Jackson: So, you're afraid! Maybe they better change the name of your outfit from the Black Legion to the Yellow Legion.