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Lynch mob in Sherman touches off riot
On this day in 1930, an angry mob stormed the Grayson County courthouse in Sherman and lynched an African-American farm hand accused of raping a white woman. The ensuing riot was one of the earliest and worst examples of racial violence during the Great Depression, and initiated a flurry of similar incidents in Texas. Despite the efforts of a small detachment of Texas Rangers, including the legendary Frank Hamer, the mob burned the courthouse and most of the town's black business section, prompting Governor Dan Moody to impose martial law. Eventually, fourteen men were indicted on various charges, though lynching was not among them. By October 1931, only two of the fourteen had been convicted, one for rioting and the other for arson.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- SHERMAN RIOT OF 1930
- SHERMAN, TX
- GRAYSON COUNTY
- GREAT DEPRESSION
- TEXAS RANGERS
- HAMER, FRANCIS AUGUSTUS
- MOODY, DANIEL JAMES, JR.
- RIOTS
- LYNCHING
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Fugitive Confederate government officials captured in Georgia (1865)
- Orange Show opens to the public (1979)
- El Paso workers walk out on Farah (1972)
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