August 21, 1891 |
D. C. Stephenson is
born in Houston, Texas. |
1915 |
The film Birth of a
Nation, glamorizing the first KKK, opens. The second Ku Klux
Klan is formed in Georgia. |
1921 | The Indiana KKK is chartered
by the state. D. C. Stephenson joins a Klan chapter in
Evansville, Indiana. |
July
4, 1923 |
D. C. Stephenson is
inaugurated in Kokomo as Grand Dragon of the Invisible Empire for the
Realm of
Indiana. The rally, the largest in the state's history, is
attended by 10,000 to 30,000 klansmen. |
September
1923 |
Conflict between
Stephenson and Klan Imperial Wizard leads to Stephenson's resignation
from state and national Klan offices. |
December
1923 |
By the end of 1923,
the Indiana KKK is the largest and strongest Klan organization in the
country. |
May
1924 |
D. C. Stephenson is
reinstated as Grand Dragon. |
November
1924 |
Support from Indiana
KKK members sweeps Republicans into state offices. |
January
12, 1925 |
D. C. Stephenson is
introduced to Madge Oberholtzer at a banquet in Indianapolis. |
March
15, 1925 |
Returning home in
the late evening, Madge Oberholtzer is informed by her mother that she
received a telephone call. When Oberholtzer calls the number,
Stephenson answers and tells her he needs to see her and will send
someone for her. She is then led by Earl Gentry to
Stephenson's home. She is forced to drink liquor and forcibly
loaded on a Chicago-bound train at the Indianapolis train
station. In the lower berth of a drawing room on the train,
Stephenson rapes Oberholtzer, biting and chewing all over her body in
the process. |
March
16, 1925 |
Oberholtzer is
wakened early in the morning when the train reaches Hammond,
Indiana. She is taken off the train by Stephenson and Gentry and
led to a hotel. Olberholtzer, traumatized, asks Stephenson to
shoot her, but he refuses. Later in the morning, Oberholtzer asks
to be driven to a drug store so that she might purchase some
rouge. While in the store, she buys a box of bichloride of
mercury, which is poisonous in quantity. At about 10 am, she
takes 6 mercury tablets and soon becomes very ill. When
Stephenson and his two accomplices find out what Oberholtzer has done,
they load her in a car and drive her back to Stephenson's home in
Indianapolis, where she spends the night in a loft above the garage. |
March
17, 1925 |
Earl Klink carries
Oberholtzer to her home about noon. Klink says his name is
"Johnson" and tells a roomer at the house that Madge was injured in a
car accident. Madge tells the roomer, Mrs. Shultz, that she is
dying and that she should call a doctor. When Dr. Kingsbury
arrives, Madge tells her the story of her rape by Stephenson, being
held captive, and injesting bichloride of mercury. An examination
reveals numerous bruises, lacerations, torn tissues, and acute kidney
inflammation. |
March
28, 1925 |
Dr. Kingsbury tells
Olberholtzer she had no chance of recovery and Madge says she "is ready
to die." |
April
2, 1925 |
Stephenson is
arrested on assault and kidnapping charges. |
April
14, 1925 |
Madge Oberholtzer
dies, either from infections caused by the bites of D. C. Stephenson or
from the effects of taking bichloride of mercury. |
April 20, 1925 |
Stephenson is
arrested a second time and charged with the murder of Madge Oberholtzer. |
June
25, 1925 |
Stephenson is denied
bail by Judge Fred Hines. |
August
8, 1925 |
125,000 klansmen
march in Washington, D.C. It is the largest KKK rally ever held. |
October
29, 1925 |
The trial of D.C.
Stephenson for the murder of Madge Oberholtzer opens in Noblesville,
Indiana before Judge Will Sparks. |
October
30, 1925 |
Judge Sparks rules
that Oberholtzer's dying declaration will be admitted into evidence. |
November
5, 1925 |
The defense begins
to present its case. |
November
14, 1925 |
The jury convicts
Stephenson of second-degree murder on its first ballot.
Defendants Gentry and Klink are acquitted. |
November
16, 1925 |
Stephenson is
sentenced to life in prison. |
November
21, 1925 |
Stephenson is
delivered to the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana. |
July
24, 1927 |
In revenge for not having been pardoned, Stephenson releases his "little black boxes" containing the names and incriminating records of public officials in Indiana who had been on the Klan payroll. As a result of this information, Indiana Governor Ed Jackson and other officials are indicted. The crackdown leads to a decline in Klan influence. |
1928 |
The Indianapolis Times wins a
Pulitizer Prize for its campaign against the KKK. |
1932 |
The Indiana Supreme
Court affirms Stephenson's conviction. |
March
17,
1950 |
Governor Henry
Schricker grants D. C. Stephenson parole and he is
released from prison. |
November
15, 1950 |
Stephenson, who had
violated the terms of his parole, is arrested in Minneapolis. He
is sentenced to another 10-year prison term. |
December
20, 1956 |
Stephenson is
discharged from prison by Governor George Craig. |
November
16, 1961 |
Stephenson is
arrested in Independence, Missouri on a charge of attempting to molest
a 16-year-old girl. |
June
28, 1966 |
D. C. Stephenson
dies in Jonesborough, Tennessee. |