Madge Oberholtzer

Madge Oberholtzer

Madge Augustine Oberholtzer (November 10, 1896 – April 14, 1925) was an American schoolteacher who worked for the state of Indiana on adult literacy. She was kidnapped by D. C. Stephenson, Grand Dragon of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan, and held in a private train car, where he repeatedly raped her. She died of a combination of a staph infection and kidney failure from self-inflicted poisoning, which she took to try to escape him.

In a deathbed statement, Oberholtzer vividly described Stephenson's assaults on her. Her testimony led to his conviction at trial. The scandal contributed to the rapid decline of KKK membership in Indiana, with tens of thousands of members leaving. The decline was hastened by Stephenson's talking to the press in 1926-1927 about government officials who had accepted payments and bribes from the Klan; the organization lost its reputation as law-abiding and upholding morality.