Madge Augustine Oberholtzer (November 10, 1896 – April 14, 1925) was an American woman whose rape and murder played a critical role in the demise of the second incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan.

Oberholtzer died from a combination of a staphylococcal infection from her injuries and kidney failure from mercury chloride poisoning, which she took while held captive in an attempt to commit suicide.

[1] Following the suicide attempt, Stephenson's men returned Oberholtzer to her home, assuming her injuries would soon prove fatal and believing their influential leader was immune to any prosecution.

Born to German-American parents, Madge Oberholtzer grew up in Indianapolis, where her father worked as a postal clerk and her family belonged to the Irvington Methodist Church.

[3] Oberholtzer studied English, mathematics, zoology and logic at Butler College in Irvington, but she dropped out at the end of her junior year without saying why.

[3] Oberholtzer met Stephenson while attending Governor Edward L. Jackson's inauguration party at the Athletic Club in Indianapolis[2] on January 12, 1925.

[3] In her dying statement, Oberholtzer claimed he asked her for a date several times after the banquet, but she refused;[2] she eventually agreed and they had dinner together.

[2] The two began seeing each other more frequently, and Oberholtzer acted as Stephenson's aide during the 1925 session of the Indiana General Assembly, carrying messages from his office to his friends.

Using her Reading Circle connections, Oberholtzer intended to help Stephenson sell the book to school libraries throughout the state.

[2] When she arrived, Stephenson, Gentry, and another bodyguard Oberholtzer identified as "Clenck" took her into the kitchen and forced her to drink whiskey until she became sick.

He also bit her all over her body; an examination later revealed deep bite wounds on her face, neck, breasts, back, legs, ankles, and tongue.

[2][5] The next morning, Oberholtzer convinced Stephenson to contact his chauffeur, Ernest "Shorty" DeFriese, and tell him to come to the hotel so she could purchase a black silk hat.

Stephenson insisted that he would not take her to a hospital unless she agreed to go to a nearby chapel and marry him; however, he panicked and ordered Shorty to drive them back to Indianapolis.

Stephenson was indicted on April 3, 1925, on charges of rape, kidnapping, assault and battery with intent to murder, and malicious mayhem.

[8] The doctor who had examined Oberholtzer testified that the injuries she received were sufficient to have killed her, as her wounds developed an infection that reached her lungs and kidneys.

[11][12] The brutal attack on Oberholtzer so outraged most members of the Indiana Klan that entire lodges quit en masse, and membership dropped by the tens of thousands.

Denied a pardon in 1926, Stephenson started talking to the Indianapolis Times, giving the names of officials who had accepted bribes and payments from the Klan, prompting an investigation by the newspaper.

[13] The state of Indiana finally indicted several high-ranking officials, including Governor Edward L. Jackson and the head of the Republican Party in Marion County.

The Times investigation revealed widespread political corruption, which helped destroy the Klan in Indiana and nationwide.

I got a million dollars worth of satisfaction out of removing him.Several days later, Church pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.