Voting Station

D.C. Stephenson

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Racist

The Resume

    (August 21, 1891-June 28, 1966)
    Born in Houston, Texas
    Birth name was David Curtiss Stephenson
    Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana and 22 other Northern states (1922-25)
    Convicted of second-degree murder for the abduction and rape of Madge Oberholtzer, leading her to commit suicide
    Sentenced to life in prison (1925), paroled (1950), re-imprisoned for parole violation (1951), paroled again on condition of leaving Indiana and never returning (1956)

Why he might be annoying:

    He started as a Socialist, ran for Congress as a Democrat (1920), then changed affiliations again to Republican.
    He bit Oberholtzer so many times, she was described as having been 'chewed by a cannibal.'
    When Oberholtzer said, 'The law will get their hands on you,' he replied 'I am the law in Indiana.'
    When Oberholtzer swallowed mercuric chloride to commit suicide, instead of taking her to a hospital, he drove her from Chicago back to her home in Indianapolis.
    At his trial, doctors testified that Oberholtzer could have been saved with prompt medical attention.
    He was arrested on charges of attempted sexual assault against a 16-year-old girl (1961).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He served in the infantry during World War I.
    He was a heck of a recruiter, with KKK membership in Indiana growing to 250,000, nearly a third of the white men in the state.
    The trial of a 'defender of Protestant womanhood' (as the KKK proclaimed itself) for rape and murder led to the downfall of the Klan following its second wave.
    When Indiana Governor Edward Jackson refused to commute his sentence, he made public a list of state officials who had been members of the KKK.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 23 Votes: 73.91% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 13 Votes: 61.54% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 26 Votes: 42.31% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 13 Votes: 38.46% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 40 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 27 Votes: 51.85% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 56 Votes: 53.57% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 58 Votes: 56.90% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 158 Votes: 52.53% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 70 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 372 Votes: 63.71% Annoying