<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Part 1 of <\/span>History . . .<\/span><\/i>, we learned about the rise of D.C. Stephenson to the position of Grand Dragon of the Northern KKK in the early 1920s.\u00a0 Following the story in Timothy Egan\u2019s book <\/span>A Fever in the Heartland <\/span><\/i>(Viking Press – 2023), we discovered that the events he described did not take place in the deep South as one might suspect for Klan activity, but in the state of Indiana.\u00a0 With hundreds of thousands of devoted followers donning the white sheets of the Invisible Empire across the midwestern states, Stephenson had visions of taking control of the country from \u2018sea to sea, North to South\u2019.\u00a0 As the presidential elections of 1924 neared, it seemed he might just get what he wanted so badly.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The tale of D.C. Stephenson is a true story of grift.\u00a0 He spun his own history with a web of ever changing lies and nobody bothered to check for \u2018facts\u2019.\u00a0 \u2018Steve\u2019 marveled in his ability to manipulate masses of people with out and out lies – the bigger the lie, the better.\u00a0 In truth, he was a son of the soil who grew up in a soddy house in Oklahoma.\u00a0 As soon as he could distance himself from those humble beginnings, he began to weave the web of lies about himself.\u00a0 With each telling, Stephenson\u2019s life story grew more fantastical.\u00a0 D.C. married twice, abandoned both families (something he never mentioned), and then re-invented himself again up north.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0His arrival in Evansville, Indiana coincided with the New Ku Klux Klan\u2019s plan to expand across the Ohio River into the northern tier of the country.\u00a0 Whether Steve believed in the new KKK\u2019s vision of white supremacy and the inferiority of all other races and religions outside of their own is immaterial.\u00a0 Stephenson saw the new Klan movement as a way to gain power and wealth with the only tools he had on hand:\u00a0 his ability to lie and pretend he was doing everyone a favor by bullying those who the KKK wished to quash.\u00a0 The monumental growth of the movement in the North included another plan – that of setting up a shadow government to extend the Klan\u2019s long reach into the statehouse in Indiana and eventually to the White House.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Along the way, Stephenson got too powerful and the bond he had with his mentor, national Grand Wizard Hiram Evans, was broken.\u00a0 Evans began to distance the national KKK from their northern cousins, but he took notes on D.C.\u2019s successes.\u00a0 Steve was on a roll and was prone to saying things like, \u201cI am the law in Indiana.\u201d\u00a0 There is no doubt he thought he was above the law of the land.\u00a0 \u201cI can get anyone to sign an affidavit for $30 and have someone killed for $50,\u201d was another one of his favorite musings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were some pockets of resistance among the churches and press, but they could make little headway when so many in power hid behind the mask of the brotherhood.\u00a0 Muncie newspaper editor George Dale was one of the most outspoken of the anti-Klan, anti-Stephenson factions.\u00a0 Dale was jailed repeatedly and nearly driven out of business by Klan leaning authorities, certainly at the direction of D.C. Stephenson.\u00a0 In spite of the resistance, D.C. and the Northern Klan were poised to become a political power ready to seize control of the government. \u00a0 Things began to slowly unravel when D.C. met Madge Oberholtzer.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Madge Oberholtzer was described as a woman of her age – \u2018smart, independent, and daring.\u2019\u00a0 Madge was a well thought of student at Butler College, but she left school after her third year, three months after the United States declared war on Germany.\u00a0 She was active in many circles that supported the war effort.\u00a0 In the days before a paved highway west of Iowa existed, she and a good friend drove cross country in her Ford Model T to California just for the adventure.\u00a0 The 1923 trip drained her savings.\u00a0 Upon returning to her home in Irvington, Indiana, she took a job with the State Department of Public Instruction\u2019s Young People\u2019s Reading Circle.\u00a0 She was happy to be living at home and helping her folks with their mortgage.\u00a0 The Oberholtzers were already supplementing their income by taking in boarders.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When the state assembly moved to eliminate her department, Marge remembered a profile she had read about D.C. Stephenson in the <\/span>Indianapolis Star.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 The piece glorified the lies he had told about himself when he arrived in the state (rich parents, college graduate, went to law school, etc).\u00a0 Having walked by his mansion many times, seen the cars of well-to-do people attending his parties, and hearing about his political connections, she wondered if he might be able to intervene to help save her department and job.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Madge was certainly aware of Steve\u2019s Klan leanings but she was not at all in line with any of the agenda items they represented.\u00a0 She could not just knock on the door and ask for a favor from the man who controlled the state.\u00a0 She got her chance to meet him on January 12, 1925 at the inaugural ball for the new Klan endorsed governor D.C. had ushered into office.\u00a0 Madge helped a friend (who had worked with the new governor when they were both with the Secretary of State\u2019s office) organize the ball.\u00a0 She reserved herself a seat at the head table across from Stephenson intending to use the opportunity to gain his support.\u00a0 D.C. abandoned his date for the evening and asked Madge for a dance.\u00a0 She marked the occasion as \u2018mission accomplished\u2019 when he told her, \u201cI like you.\u00a0 I like you very much.\u201d\u00a0 A few days later, he called and asked her to stop buy his office.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Stephenson\u2019s interest in Madge was a two-sided coin.\u00a0 Yes, she was a beautiful young woman and Steve was never shy about turning on the charm when someone caught his eye.\u00a0 Unknown to\u00a0 the public, there was a long line of women he had abused but they were too terrified to bring it to the authorities (most of which were Klan connected anyway).\u00a0 Secondly, he saw another money making opportunity that perhaps Madge could help him with.\u00a0 Steve was so deep in the pockets of the government in Indiana, his assistant Court Asher said, \u201cThe legislature had an unofficial fifty-first member (a Klansman) who sat next to the speaker of the house.\u00a0 He would bring the bills being considered to Stephenson and Steve would say which ones would be passed and which ones would be killed.\u00a0 There was no argument.\u00a0 Just an order.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the bills Stephenson wanted passed would require all schools in the state to teach a mandatory nutrition class.\u00a0 He planned to have Madge ghostwrite a book with him on proper diet. If every school child in the state had to buy it, it would give him yet more money in his coffers.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In exchange for helping the Grand Dragon secure another income stream, perhaps he would talk to a few people in the state government about her department.\u00a0 Steve made no promises or guarantees because a cad like D.C. always knew how to bait the hook.\u00a0 It was leverage like this\u00a0 he used to get together with Madge for business meetings, but usually it was a pretext for a social engagement.\u00a0 Madge did not like the man or his politics, but she felt she had control of the situation.\u00a0 She underestimated how mad D.C. really was and it would end up costing her dearly.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On Sunday March 15, 1925, Steve began drinking heavily in the early afternoon.\u00a0 His two bodyguards, Earl Klinck, Earl Gentry (known collectively as \u2018The Earls\u2019), and his driver Shorty DeFriese were with him.\u00a0 In the early evening, he ordered one of his lackies to call Marge at home.\u00a0 Her mother reported she wasn\u2019t there and promised to have her call D.C. as soon as she got back.\u00a0 The impatient Old Man had his men repeat the call several times until Madge finally arrived home and called him back.\u00a0 D.C. was insistent they meet that night to talk over the book business.\u00a0 Tired and facing a Monday at work, Madge tried to decline until Steve told her he was sending over his car to pick her up and then hung up.\u00a0 One of the Earls arrived and ushered Madge to the waiting car.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t even give her time to get her hat before he whisked her out of the house (and Madge never went out without her hat).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What happened next is still blood chilling to read today and this is a pared down version.\u00a0 The already inebriated Stephenson had two of his goons force several strong drinks down Madge\u2019s throat when she declined his first offer.\u00a0 She protested and told Steve she wanted to leave, but he refused to let her go or even call home.\u00a0 Steve informed her they were going to Chicago by train and no amount of reasoning would get him to change his mind.\u00a0 Madge reminded him that kidnapping was a crime, to which he responded, \u201cI\u2019m the law in Indiana.\u201d\u00a0 On the train, Steve assaulted her violently, biting her repeatedly in a burst of savagery that is hard to fathom.\u00a0 One of the Earls occupied the bunk above them but said nothing.\u00a0 They never made it to Chicago, detraining in Hammond, Indiana instead.\u00a0 D.C. knew enough to not risk a federal offense by crossing the state line.\u00a0 The trio herded Madge into a hotel at gunpoint and refused her pleas to let her get medical treatment for her wounds.\u00a0 Stephenson registered them as man and wife under an assumed name.\u00a0 She passed out and awoke the next morning in pools of her own blood and\u00a0 excruciating pain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At some point, Steve fell into a drunken sleep and Madge took his gun with every intent of shooting him.\u00a0 She could not bring herself to kill him (or herself) to escape.\u00a0 One of the goons took her to a pharmacy to get medical supplies where she also purchased some pills she knew to be poison, Madge plotted to end her misery one way or another.\u00a0 The pills caused her even more pain and when D.C. discovered she had taken them, he was enraged, but yet took no steps to seek medical help.\u00a0 He had a car driven 160 miles from Indianapolis and then they drove back, again ignoring Madge\u2019s wishes to get medical treatment.\u00a0 After holding her hostage above the garage at his mansion, D.C. had one of the Earls drop her off at her home.\u00a0 The goon carried her upstairs and left her in bed.\u00a0 One of the boarders asked what happened and he claimed Madge had been in a terrible car crash.\u00a0 The \u2018Earl\u2019 gave the border a false name when she asked who he was.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Steve busied himself dreaming up some sort of cover story that would absolve him of any blame.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Oberholtzer\u2019s were, naturally, horrified at the condition they found their daughter in.\u00a0 They summoned medical help but by then, the poison and infected wounds were already inching Madge closer to the grave.\u00a0 When they finally got some details, they summoned their family lawyer.\u00a0 The doctor did his best but told the family there would be only one end to this sad story.\u00a0 As she weakened, the lawyer and Ermina Moore, Madge\u2019s good friend, took notes as she told the horrifying story of her 38 hours in captivity.\u00a0 The 3,000 word dying declaration was read back to Madge who then signed it.\u00a0 Madge told the doctor, \u201cThat\u2019s alright.\u00a0 I am ready to die.\u00a0 I understand you.\u00a0 I believe you and I\u2019m ready to die.\u201d\u00a0 Madge suffered for 29 days before succumbing to the combined effects of the poison and her battered body while Steve hid behind the walls of his mansion feeling no remorse for his actions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was difficult to get authorities (infused with members of the brotherhood) to arrest and charge the Grand Dragon.\u00a0 A veteran detective of Irish heritage (another one of the Klan\u2019s target groups) volunteered to make the arrest.\u00a0 Stephenson posted bond and the legal wranglings began.\u00a0 D.C. hired a team of seven lawyers for the upcoming court case while telling the press, \u201cNothing to it.\u00a0 I\u2019ll never be indicted.\u00a0 It\u2019s a frame-up, a smear supreme.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What Stephenson had not counted on was the public outcry that ensued as details of Madge\u2019s death became known.\u00a0 The national Klan in Atlanta cut all ties with him.\u00a0 His old mentor, Imperial Wizard Evans, had been following the political angle Steve was running in Indiana and planned on a similar coup in Washington, D.C.\u00a0 They disavowed his actions because every detail of Steve\u2019s private life was in total violation of the image of an \u2018anti-drink, pro-women civic group\u2019 the Klan wanted to project.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The defendant’s lawyers requested a change of venue which was granted.\u00a0 The trial of the century would take place not in Indianapolis, but in a town of 5,000 residents on the White River;\u00a0 Noblesville, Indiana.\u00a0 They also made moves to have the dying declaration quashed while trying to sully the reputation of the deceased.\u00a0 The prosecutor in the case made an opening statement touching on all of the horrific things that had happened to Madge.\u00a0 He had to be careful as the judge had not yet ruled if her dying declaration would be admissible.\u00a0 The defendant\u2019s lawyers chose to say nothing in response.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Steve\u2019s lawyers were banking on a couple of things.\u00a0 First, that the judge would not allow the prosecution to use Madge\u2019s last words against Steve.\u00a0 Secondly, there was a good chance the men sitting in the jury box had taken the oath that would protect D.C. Stephenson:\u00a0 \u2018<\/span>I swear that I will most zealously and valiantly shield and protect by any and all justifiable means and methods White Supremacy.\u00a0 I will seal with my blood by Thou my witness, Almighty God.\u2019<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The to the dismay of the defense team, the judge ruled:\u00a0 \u201cThere is no doubt but that the dying declaration should go in.\u201d\u00a0 They were further disappointed the judge would not let them read the few paragraphs about their first meeting – it would have been their opportunity to show Madge\u00a0 was enthralled with Steve and that they had a romantic relationship.\u00a0 In court that Saturday morning, the prosecutor read Madge\u2019s words to the jury.\u00a0 He knew \u2018he could not fail his star witness\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Indiana, it would take only one juror to balk at a conviction to end the case.\u00a0 Stephenson\u2019s henchman had collected enough money for a bribe and selected two jurors to target.\u00a0 If they could get even one to hold out, Steve was a free man.\u00a0 This plan failed when they could not gain access to the jury once they were sequestered.\u00a0 In the end, there were four holdouts but still, the deliberations only lasted five hours.\u00a0 The holdouts were not in favor of finding D.C. not guilty – they were holding out for the death penalty.\u00a0 Stephenson was later sentenced to life in prison.\u00a0 When he could not convince the governor (whom he had pushed into office) to intervene, Steve became a willing witness for the grand jury established to root out Klan corruption in the state\u2019s government.\u00a0 D.C. would remain behind bars, but he had to show the world how smart he had been.\u00a0 This was only partly true;\u00a0 he mostly wanted revenge on the governor and his former minions who would not free him.\u00a0 In his mind, his troubles were all the result of, \u201cthe fiendish workings of the conspiracy\u201d that had put him behind bars.\u00a0 Steve still showed no remorse in his evil deeds and even implied Madge may have deserved what she got.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There had been a few voices who tried to raise the alarm about the Klan, but it took the death of Madge Oberholtzer to stem the tide of hatred being spread by the Invisible Empire.\u00a0 Indiana was the first domino to fall in a chain of events that would eventually bring down the national Klan as well.\u00a0 Fortunately for us all, American\u2019s opened their eyes and democracy prevailed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It would take two more FTV articles to fully explore how D.C. Stephenson\u2019s downfall undid the Klan movement so we will leave that story for perhaps another time.\u00a0 I will let Timothy Egan\u2019s words summarize this outrageous episode from a century ago:\u00a0 \u201cDemocracy was a fragile thing, stable and steady until it was broken and trampled.\u00a0 A man who didn\u2019t care about shattering every convention, and then found new ways to vandalize the contract that allowed free people to govern themselves, could do unthinkable damage.\u00a0 So now all the world knew what Stephenson had master-minded.\u00a0 There were two governments in Indiana:\u00a0 elected officials going though the motions of a representative democracy, and a dictatorship run by the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is a coda to this story that underscores Egan\u2019s words above.\u00a0 Before Stephenson was released from prison in 1950, Will Remy, the prosecutor in the Madge Oberholtzer case, visited him.\u00a0 Remy asked if D.C. had been serious about running for the White House before he derailed his own plans.\u00a0 Steve said, \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t have called it President.\u00a0 The form of government might have changed.\u00a0 You might have had a dictator.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Top Piece Video – CSN&Y with one of the best FREEDDOM SONGS ever written – sandwiched in with DAYLIGHT AGAIN and a bunch of tuning – RIP David – too bad you all fell out with each other – in the days when you got along you were a great band!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Part 1 of History . . ., we learned about the rise of D.C. Stephenson to the position of Grand Dragon of the Northern KKK in the early 1920s.\u00a0 Following the story in Timothy Egan\u2019s book A Fever in the Heartland (Viking Press – 2023), we discovered that the events he described did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3102"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3106,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102\/revisions\/3106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}