little direct evidence of this. Holden had wanted Turner arrested, but only if he had crossed into Alamance or Caswell. Upon hearing of Bergen's excesses, Holden condemned him and Kirk ordered his arrest on August 26. Bergen was detained and jailed in Raleigh under the guard of Company H of the 1st North Carolina State Troops. Legal disputes Almost immediately after the suspected Klansmen were arrested, they began appealing to Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court Richmond Mumford Pearson to write writs of habeas corpus for them. Pearson was a Republican and sympathetic Holden's efforts, but recognized that North Carolina's constitution forbade the suspension of the writ and thus saw the failure for these to be issued as unlawful. On July 18 he wrote a writ of habeas corpus and delivered it to Kirk so that the accused could be brought before a court and indicted. Holden ordered Kirk to ignore the writ and then wrote to Pearson, stating that Klan activities in Alamance and Caswell counties constituted insurrection and thus forced him to declare martial law and suspend the writ. He further argued that this was necessary to protect citizens, writing, "the civil Courts are no longer a protection to life, liberty and property; assassination and outrage go unpunished, and the civil magistrates are intimidated and are afraid to perform their functions [...] Thus civil government was crumbling around me." The attorneys of prisoner A. G. Moore suggested that Pearson issue a writ of attachment to a county sheriff to arrest Kirk, but the chief justice refused, fearing such an action would precipitate a civil war-like scenario in Alamance and Caswell. Pearson ultimately acceded to Holden's argument, stating that he had expended all judicial powers available to him. Conservative publications strongly condemned the refusal to respect the writ. With Pearson declaring his inability to act, the detainees sought the assistance of United States District Court Judge George Washington Brooks. On August 6, Brooks issued a writ of habeas corpus for the detainees, citing the federal Habeas Corpus Act of 1867. Holden was shocked that the federal government would intervene in this fashion and wrote to Grant to request that he overrule the writ, maintaining that the federal judiciary lacked jurisdiction in the state murder cases the arrests principally concerned. Grant gave the letter to United States Attorney General Amos T. Akerman. Secretary Belknap forwarded Akerman's advice to