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THE DAY
EASTLAND, TEXAS
HANGED SANTA CLAUS
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And to think that it happened on Mulberry Street!"
by John
Troesser
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"The
utility pole used to lynch the Bank Robbery's Mastermind (we use the
term loosely) in back of the Majestic Theater on the corner of Mulberry
Street."
Photo by John Troesser |
Eastland
citizens are faced with a common dilemma. What parts of history do
we preserve, and which do we sweep under the carpet?
While in Germany they place a plaque: "In ----, Goethe vomited from
this window" and the Louisiana State Capital displays the bullet holes
from Huey Long's Assassination, what do we do with the site of the
Eastland lynching in 1932?
We don't cut down hanging trees (they simply facilitated the deed)
and the same argument could be used for the electrical pole in Eastland.
It was only handy. But put up a marker and a picket fence? Texas Escapes
says yes. Because we need to know what happened, ugly as it was.
Is it a deterrent to Eastland Youth? Who knows? It is a fact that
since that day, not one Texas bank robbery has occurred wherein the
perpetrator dressed as Santa.
The marker bought the stonecutter's family groceries, and the picket
fence is simply a nice touch, reflecting the tidiness of Eastland.
It could also be looked upon as a monument to ineptitude, since the
incident, which ended with this lynching, was a textbook case of how
not to rob a bank*. Even where mistakes
couldn't be made, they were. Marshall (not a lawman) Ratliff was a
notorious neer-do-well around Cisco. His notoriety was the reason
for the disguise. As "master-mind" of the robbery, he forgot such
cardinal rules as: get plenty of sleep the night before; make sure
the police station is more than one block away; and fill up your tank
before the robbery starts. In fact the only credit that could be given
to this December
23 robbery is that Marshall didn't dress like the Easter Bunny. |
©
John Troesser
*The
1929 Bank Robbery in Cisco made famous in A. C. Greene's book,
The Santa Claus Bank Robbery. When the movie was made it was filmed
on the exact location.
See
Eastland, Texas
Texas Historic
Trees - Hanging trees, etc. |
The
Santa Claus Bank Robbery
"A chronicle at once grim and hilarious...a choice bit for collectors
of Americana." |
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