In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan 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, and 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, and although their primary targets were people of color, the Klan also threatened Anglos who disagreed with its core values. On Easter Sunday 1923, ten Klansmen flogged and tarred Robert Burleson, a white traveling salesman, after he 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. He tried his strongest case first against Murray Jackson, and after seven days of arguments, jurors deliberated for twenty minutes before returning a guilty verdict and offering the maximum punishment for the crime. This initial conviction led to four additional convictions and four prison sentences for the other Georgetown Klansmen on trial at the Williamson County Courthouse. The 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. The publicity Moody gained following the trial led to his successful runs for State Attorney General in 1924 and Texas governor in 1926 and 1928, and he was the youngest person ever elected to both statewide offices.