Jim Crow Violence: White Terrorism in America
In a book by E.R. Bills titled Black Holocaust: The Paris Horror and a Legacy of Texas Terror, the author quotes the Daily Northwestern newspaper, dated March 14, 1901, as follows: “Another Negro burned at the stake in Texas. Common hanging or riddling of bullets has become obsolete…Nothing now seems to satiate the mob’s thirst for vengeance short of the barbarities once practiced by the worst….” Here the article was referring to blacks being burned alive on an average of one a year for thirty years, at least the ones that were recorded, from 1891 to 1922. According to E.R. Bills, these burnings were done while thousands watched and cheered at a black man being burned alive in many towns across East Texas.
As thousands of people watched, including men, women, and children, blacks were often tortured before being burned alive by having a chain or rope tied around their neck and being lowered and raised in what could only be described as absolute horror and terror. This was not taking place in Israel, but in East Texas under the banner of the Confederate flag. Rebel flags, and “Come and Take it flags” which were used at the Capitol Riot in January of 2021. The “Come and Take It” flag is connected to the slave owner rebellion of pro-slavery men at Gonzales, Texas and used today by racist militias and domestic white terrorist groups. Often Blacks were burned on the gallows with hot irons from the bottom of their feet to the top of their heads.
In the case of an African American man named Henry Smith in Paris, Texas, Smith was a victim of abuse by the county sheriff, named Henry Vance, who, as a matter of practice, beat black prisoners. Henry Smith sought vengeance against the sheriff and was punished without a trial by a mob of crazed white racists. He supposedly admitted to raping a white. It was a common practice in those days to accuse Blacks and Mexicans of raping whites. When one was charged with rape of a white woman it would almost always result in collective punishment against any Black person they could find. Sounds like Gaza today!
On February 1, 1893, the sheriff and his sons used red-hot pokers to burn Henry Smith, starting at the bottom of his feet. While being tortured, the crowd gave cowboy-type hoots or ignorant rebel yells of approval. The red-hot irons were applied to his eyes, which were burned out. It was reported that “Smith never saw the final red-hot poker before it was shoved down his mouth and throat…as his tongue and upper esophageal lining were seared away.” Family members reheated the pokers and burned him over and over again. There was no sympathy from the bloodthirsty crowd of white racists in the thousands. What is more important to remember here?
While Smith was still alive, coal oil was poured over his body, and he was set on fire. As smoke rose, the crowd cheered and laughed. After approximately an hour, he finally died, but that would not be the end of this terrorism. The mob fought, pushing and shoving each other, over pieces of his body that they would keep as souvenirs. The Texas Governor at the time, J. S. Hogg, tried to prosecute those involved but nothing was done to bring these killers to justice. Newspapers across Texas, including the San Antonio Express News of that time, called Henry Smith a “beast” and a “demon,” and celebrated the actions of the murderous mob.
