Did You Know a Klu Klux Klan Grand Dragon Made His Home in Evansville? [The Underbelly of Evansville]

When we think of "haters," we think of online trolls that write nasty comments on social media but since the late 1800s, the Klu Klux Klan has been the epitome of hate in the United States.

Anti-Semitic, Haters of Blacks, Mexicans and any other race but white Anglo Saxons, the KKK was created in the American south around 1860.  It went through phases of nearly dying out to bouncing back several times.

According to kkk.com, "The original Klan was a territorial organization with one purpose – that purpose was to repel federal troops," after Lincoln's assassination in response to the poor treatment of the south by radical Republicans.

Then history.com goes on to explain that, "[The KKK] became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks. Its members waged an underground campaign of intimidation and violence directed at white and black Republican leaders."

Oddly enough, a man named D. C. Stephenson, who had been an Evansville resident for several years was designated to the Grand Dragon of the branch of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana and head of recruiting for seven other states.

In 1920 at the age of 29, he moved to Evansville where he worked for a coal company. He joined the Democratic Party and in 1922, Stephenson ran unsuccessfully for a Democratic Congressional nomination.

In the early-1920's Stephenson had recruited over 250,000 members in Indiana alone. In 1923 Stephenson broke from the KKK to form a rival party from the other districts of the seven other states he operated in.

In 1925, Stephenson went of trial for the rape and murder of Madge Oberholtzer, a young state employee.  This publicity was even more destructive that what the KKK could ever muster up on their own.  He was convicted later that year of second degree murder, largely due to evidence found in the many extreme bite marks on Oberholtzer.

Though this was before DNA evidence was even thought of, police detectives could make a plaster mold if Stephenson's teeth and match them to the bite marks on the body!  Bam!  The former KKK Grand Dragon of Indiana served time from 1927 until 1960. He was paroled in 1950 but violated parole and was later captured and sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison.

In 1961 at the age of 70, Stephenson was arrested in Tennessee on charges of attempting to sexually assault a sixteen-year-old girl and was later released after paying a $300 fine as the charges were dropped on grounds of insufficient evidence.

Stephenson died in Jonesborough, Tennessee, a few years later in 1966 and was buried at the USVA Mountain Home National Cemetery in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Today the Klan has 120 chapters throughout the 50 States.  Here's a good set of info about the KKK Leaders over the years.  Below are a couple of very informative videos that will give a close glimpse of the hatred behind this organization.