When the trial
began, the mob outside began throwing rocks at the courthouse, breaking windows.
When
the jury was selected and the first witness was called, the mob forced open the
courtroom doors. The Texas Rangers fired three warning shots and the jury and
Hughes were rushed from the courtroom.
The mob made another rush on the
courthouse
and the Rangers pushed them back with tear gas volleys.
District Judge
R.M. Carter conferred with lawyers and said he was considering moving the trial
to another town. Hamer said he doubted the trial could be held without bloodshed.
Around 2:30 p.m., two mob members threw an open can of gasoline through
a broken window into the courthouse’s
tax office. A fire quickly spread in the courthouse,
forcing officials and those involved in the trial to climb down on ladders.
When the deputies guarding Hughes offered to escort him from the building, Hamer
said the courthouse
vault was the safest place for him.
On the ground, the mob held fireman
back and cut their water hoses. The courthouse was soon engulfed in flames. By
late afternoon, only the walls of the courthouse
and the vault remained.
The mob attacked the vault, knowing Hughes was
inside, and used dynamite and acetylene torches to open the door. Whether Hughes
died from the dynamite or acetylene fumes is not known, but the mob finally pulled
his body from the vault.
The body was then dragged behind an automobile
and finally hanged from a tree.
A local grand jury indicted fourteen men
in connection with the riot, but only two were convicted, one for rioting and
another for arson. Hughes was buried at the county’s poor farm. Bob
Bowman's East Texas
March 14, 2010 Column
A weekly column syndicated in 109 East Texas newspapers
Copyright
Bob Bowman
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