George R. Dale papers

George R. Dale, mayor of Muncie from 1930-1935, was also the editor and publisher of the Post-Democrat, a local newspaper. Mr. Dale gained the national attention in the late 1920s for his battles with the Ku Klux Klan.

George Dale was born in Monticello, February 5, 1867, the son of an attorney. Dale was educated in the Monticello public schools, but quit in his senior year because of chronic headaches. His father died when Dale when was sixteen and his mother two years later. Following the deaths of his parents, Dale temporarily worked in a Monticello dry goods store. He then went to work for his uncle, who owned a paper mill and the first electric light plant in Hartford City, Indiana. Dale served one year as the town clerk and then established the Hartford City Times.

During this period he also met and married his wife, the former Lena Mohler. A quarrel with his business partner led Dale to sell his interest in the Times and go to Montpelier, where he established the Montpelier Call. Dale launched a fight against the liquor trade in that town and succeeded in driving out the saloon owners. Returning to Hartford City, Dale began publishing the Journal, again taking up a crusade against saloons and liquor. After his crusade largely succeeded subscriptions and general interest decreased, so Dale sold his subscription list to the Times-Gazette and moved to Muncie. With Drs. Fred and Rollin Bunch, first his friends and later his political enemies, Dale founded thePost-Democrat in 1920.

He soon gained national prominence with the paper, as he fought the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and its influence on local politics. During this long and bitter fight, Dale was physically manhandled several times. In one instance he grabbed the gun of a Ku Klux Klan assailant and shot the man in the abdomen. It was never known whether or not the man died as a result of the wound. Dale's enemies attempted to silence him through criminal libel and contempt of court charges. Dale was convicted on these charges by Judge Clarence Dearth, whom Dale had accused of being a Klan member. At one point Dearth sent Dale to the state prison farm for two days before Dale was pardoned by Governor Ed Jackson. As support for Dale's efforts poured in from across the country, the circulation of the Post-Democrat reached 18,000. Dale ran for mayor in 1929 and campaigned with the same fervor in which he ran his newspaper. He was swept into office and promptly dismissed all forty-two police officers and ten firemen of the city.

During his time as mayor, Dale was often at odds with the city council. One of his hardest fights came in 1932, when he and twelve others were indicted for violating Prohibition laws. He was convicted in District Federal Court, and his conviction was upheld by the Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case, but Dale was pardoned by President Roosevelt on Christmas Eve, 1933. Defeated in his reelection bid in 1934, Dale retired to run his newspaper until his death in 1936.