Ku Klux Klan Trials

The plaque gives the Klan's numbers; the Handbook of Texas supplies its politics. Dallas dentist Hiram Wesley Evans became imperial wizard in 1922 and turned members toward the ballot. The Handbook says the Klan helped elect Earle Mayfield to the U.S. Senate that year, took control of city governments in Dallas, Fort Worth and Wichita Falls in 1923, and probably held a majority in the Texas House. It targeted Black Texans, Jews and Catholics. Its candidate lost the 1924 governor's race to Miriam Ferguson, and membership fell to about 2,500 by 1928.

What the plaque says

Ku Klux Klan Trials In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a nationwide organization that openly preached white supremacy and hatred for Blacks, Jews, Catholics, and Immigrants. In Texas, Klan membership peaked in 1923 with upwards of 150,000 members. Klansmen influenced and held positions in local and state government and in law enforcement. Their power allowed members to engage in acts of vigilante violence without fear of prosecution. Although their primary targets were people of color, the Klan also threatened Anglos who disagreed with the KKK's core values. On Easter Sunday 1923, ten Klansmen flogged and tarred Robert Burleson, a white traveling salesman, after Burleson ignored their warning to leave Georgetown. District Attorney Dan Moody, a Taylor native, led prosecution against the Klansmen in a series of trials between September 1923 and February 1924. Moody tried his strongest case first against Klansman Murray Jackson. After seven days of arguments, the jurors deliberated for twenty minutes before returning a guilty verdict and offering the maximum punishment for the crime. Moody's initial conviction led to four additional convictions and four prison sentences for the other Georgetown Klansmen on trial at the Williamson County Courthouse. These trials were considered the first prosecutorial success in the United States against members of the 1920s Klan and quickly weakened the Klan's political influence in Texas. Further, the publicity garnered by Moody following the trial led to his successful runs for State Attorney General in 1924 and Texas Governor in 1926 and 1928. He was the youngest person ever elected to both statewide offices. (2009)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Williamson County Courthouse — steps away
  The fifth Williamson County courthouse, a Beaux Arts building by C. H. Page, rises over a Georgetown square of more than 50 Victorian-era buildings.
• Inner Space Cavern — 2.1 mi
  A Georgetown cave found in 1963 when highway engineers drilled test holes, holding Pleistocene fossils and 72-degree rooms that visitors reach by an artificial tunnel.
• The Round Rock — 8.6 mi
  A table-shaped stone in Brushy Creek gave Round Rock its name in 1854; the Chisholm Trail crossed the creek near it, and Old Town stayed behind when the railroad pulled the town east.
• Mount Bonnell — 23 mi
  Austin's old lookout over the Colorado, named by an 1838 traveler, picnicked on by George and Libbie Custer, and reached by a 1939 flight of about 100 limestone steps.

More markers nearby

• In Memory of George Washington Glasscock, Sr. — steps away
• Williamson County — steps away
• Williamson County Sun — steps away
• C.A.D. Clamp — steps away