Murder in the Courthouse: Reconstruction and Redemption in the North Carolina Piedmont (True Crime), Jim Wise (2010)

No suspect was indicted or tried for the death of North Carolina state senator John Walter Stephens in a North Carolina courthouse; but the Ku Klux Klan rid itself of a troublesome adversary and precipitated a showdown between the state’s old guard and Governor William Woods Holden. Follow this little-known tale from the killing, through the “Kirk-Holden War,” through the courts and to the finale, when Governor Holden was impeached and removed from office. Newspaper reporter and historical columnist Jim Wise takes us beyond the final days of the Civil War in North Carolina, amidst the destruction and poverty and debt, to chronicle the men whose clashing agendas and personalities shaped a violent era and laid foundations for the Jim Crow century to come.”

(Paperback Book)