Governor Dan Moody

Narratives from the Georgetown's Yesteryears Book
A special thanks to The Georgetown Heritage Society and Martha Mitten Allen for letting the Museum post these wonderful first person stories.
see Foreword and Preface
 

Dan Moody was the lawyer, later Governor. My mother and her friends did not want to miss a single session, so they would go and pack lunches, so that when you got into the courtroom and got a good seat, you wouldn't have to get up and go out to eat or anything. If you did, there were people standing outside trying to get your seat. You'd send somebody out to bring you back a drink, and you would eat your lunch and stay right on that bench.

I was there at the courthouse nearly every day with my mother. There were officers in the hallway to be sure the people got in and out. And there was a great deal of feeling, and a tenseness and you knew that you were to go in and sit down and not cause any trouble. Everybody felt that way about it. And Dan Moody was just a brilliant young man, he was really outstanding. He was worth going to hear in any trial.

Feelings were very tense and high, people often didn't know to whom they were talking, if they were members of the local Ku Klux Klan or not. Quite a few students were. And I remember, just about this time, my sister, who was older than I, was having dates and her date came down and asked us if we wanted to drive out where that sign of Southwestern is on 29. We went out there and they were having a big Klan meeting. That is one of the eeriest, spookiest things. They had the cross out there, the burning cross, and marching around with torches. People told us that we would be amazed if we knew who some of them were, and that there were a good many students at that time.

I thought it was going to be something funny to watch, but it wasn't. It was weird and you felt creepy about the whole thing, and it was just not right. It was really eerie.
 

    see web page How Dan Moody Destroyed the Klan in Texas