In 1925, the Indiana KKK was the largest
state branch in the Klan's "Invisible Empire." The conviction in
November of that year of D. C. Stephenson, the powerful Grand Dragon of
the Indiana Klan, for the murder of Madge Oberholtzer led to a dramatic
decline in the organization's membership and political influence.
What began as a vicious rape on a night train from Indianapolis to
Chicago ended with arrests of Indiana's governor and other high state
officials....