FIRST -- Successful Prosecution of KKK Members in Texas, Georgetown TX
N 30° 38.217 W 097° 40.627
14R E 626771 N 3390113
When prosecutor Dan Moody secured convictions for Klan members who had tarred a victim in 1923, it marked the first successful prosecution of Klan members for KKK-associated crimes in Texas
Waymark Code: WMQQPJ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/19/2016
Views: 4
A state historic marker stands on the east side of the Williamson County Courthouse, wgere in 1923 Williamson Co. District Attorney Dan Moody tried several cases involving Klan members who had tarred a white man who didn't get out of town fast enough to suit them.
The convictions on these cases, coming at the height of Klan influence and power in Texas, marked the first successful prosecutions of KKk members in Texas for crimes committed in their capacity as representatives of the KKK.
These successful prosecutions propelled a country lawyer from Taylor, Texas into statewide office, as Attorney General and later Governor.
The state historic marker reads as follows:
"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)"
FIRST - Classification Variable: Item or Event
Date of FIRST: 09/15/1923
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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