June 5, 2025 • 34 mins
The years from 1910 to 1920 were brutal, and are known by a couple names, La Matanza (the massacre) or La Hora de Sangre (the hour of blood). This violence was committed by state police, vigilantes and military, including the Texas rangers, whose violence was worse during 1915 to 1919. Estimates of the number of dead Mexicans from these years range from 300 to 5000, but it’s not exact because so many murders went unreported.
The lynching of Antonio Rodriguez is considered the first during this deadly 10 year period.
If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email Historiasunknownpodcast@gmail.com or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/
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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex
This episode was edited by Bex Carlos & Alex Rogpe
Sources
The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas by Monica Munoz Martinez
Unspeakable Violence: Remapping U.S. and Mexican National Imaginaries (Latin America Otherwise)
Forgotten Dead: Mob Violence against Mexicans in the United States, 1848-1928
The Lynching of Mexicans in the Texas Borderlands by Nicholas Villanueva
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/historias-unknown--6253658/support.
The lynching of Antonio Rodriguez is considered the first during this deadly 10 year period.
If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email Historiasunknownpodcast@gmail.com or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/
Want ad free episodes? And weekly bonus episodes? Support Historias Unknown on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/HistoriasUnknownPodcast
Follow on social media:
Instagram: https : //www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@historiasunknown
Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex
This episode was edited by Bex Carlos & Alex Rogpe
Sources
The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas by Monica Munoz Martinez
Unspeakable Violence: Remapping U.S. and Mexican National Imaginaries (Latin America Otherwise)
Forgotten Dead: Mob Violence against Mexicans in the United States, 1848-1928
The Lynching of Mexicans in the Texas Borderlands by Nicholas Villanueva
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/historias-unknown--6253658/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is a
Study as Unknown, a podcast where we talk about Latin
American history. Sometimes it's horrible and deals with heavy topics
like racism, corruption, and genocide. But more than that, it's
also by resistance, power and community. And today we're just
continuing with a very depressing topic. In the last two episodes,
(00:28):
I talked about the history of lynching, mostly focusing on California,
with like some sprinkles of New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas.
And I did mention, like the number of official lynchines
of Mexicans in the US from eighteen forty eight to
nineteen twenty eight is five hundred and forty eight. And
that's for all of the US. When using the official
definition of lynching from the Tuskegee Institute, there must be
(00:52):
legal evidence that a person was killed. That person must
have met death illegally. A group of three or more
persons must have participated in the killing, must have acted
under the pretext of service to justice, race, or tradition.
And that's the number that you know if all was
under that definition. But like I said, when you expand
that definition to what are still considered legal lynenes. Today,
(01:15):
that number grows in insane amount, especially in one state,
TXs Yes, Texas, and that's thanks to one group, Texas Rangers.
That's right. Sorry, it sound like for this gump you do,
and I love it. Don't ever change my coworkers may
fund me for my text and accent. Yeah, I mean, okay, yeah,
(01:37):
it's not good. Okay, I can't do one either, That's
why I didn't try. The years from nineteen ten to
nineteen twenty were especially brutal, and this time period is
known by a couple names. Do you know them? I
don't think so. La Matanza. Oh my god, I was
gonna say that popped in my head and I was,
but I was guessing, and I was like, but I
(01:58):
don't think I've ever heard that before. I was just
gonna guess you would have been right, damn. Yeah, this
is a lesson. Don't doubt me to me, Yeah, from
me to me, don't doubt me. Never doubt Carmen or
you know in English, the Massacre or Laura de Sangre
the Hour of Blood. Oh okay, I think you mentioned
that last episode. This violence was committed by state police, vigilantes,
(02:20):
and military, and that includes the Texas Rangers. The time
period that the Texas Rangers enacted the most violence in
those years was nineteen fifteen to nineteen nineteen. Estimates from
nineteen ten to nineteen twenty of Mexicans that were killed
during that time period ranges from three hundred to five thousand. Wow.
But this number is not exact because so many murders
(02:41):
went unreported. But let's start with the enactors of the
majority of this violence that Mexican were facing, and of
course also indigenous people, the Texas Rangers. While so many
vid them as heroes, especially in Texas, others as monsters
and evil. What's evil incarnated? Evil incarnate, Yes, that evil incarnate,
(03:08):
especially the the sentence of those murdered by the Texas Rangers.
But you wouldn't know it. You wouldn't know they did
these things when you hear about them, and how amazing
and heroic they are, and how revered they are. Bevered, Yes,
thank you. In eighteen twenty three, Stephen F. Austin, one
of the early Anglo settlers in the land that would
become Texas, organize a small group of men to protect
(03:30):
other settlers and their property. They call themselves Rangers. After
Texas claimed the independence from Mexico in eighteen thirty six.
These rangers worked to keep Anglo settlers safe in the
new Republic of Texas. But the safety was at the
expense of others, of course, who they deemed enemies of
the republic, the Kamanche, the Tonkawas, the Apaches, the Kiowa,
(03:54):
I mean, all indigenous people and Mexicans. Right, And it's like, okay,
yes there was violence, but there wouldn't be violence if
you weren't there where you shouldn't have been in the
first place, you know, right, Yeah, this is the epitome
of te la buscastes pendejo. Right, yeah, like you were
looking for it, but real not like what no, but
really really Terran people say it too. Yeah, and their yeah,
(04:18):
their enemies. They literally declared their enemies. Quote Indian warriors
and bacqueros, that's what they said their enemies were. And
Texas Rangers also worked to preserve the enslavement of black people.
This was instrumental to their work. They tracked down and
punished enslaved black people who were trying to cross the
Rio Grande into Mexico for their freedom, and the Texas
Rangers broke existing laws that forbade them from crossing into Mexico.
(04:41):
Of course they did. They weren't allowed to, but they
were doing it all the time. And when they did this,
they not only did it to capture the person that
was trying to escape, but also to terrorize Mexican towns
helping them. Of course, like you know, last episode, I
mentioned one of the claims that were done to that board.
(05:01):
I don't remember the name of the board anymore, or
a group or committee whatever it was called. Yeah, but
one of the claims was the majority of those claims
that were approved. It was all from one incident by
the Texas Rangers in Guahila. This was one of those
instances where they went into capture someone trying to escape
enslavement and then they burned the whole town down. My goodness.
(05:21):
And one Texas Ranger described Mexicans as black as n
words and ten times as treacherous. Wow. And this is
a group very celebrated by some. Yeah, they as an
organization today barely barely recognize their racial terror they enacted
on anyone who was their enemy. Shocking. Some historians state
(05:43):
that the Texas Rangers was one of the first prominent
Western vigilantes to be endowed with legal authority, the other
being actual comps who, as we all know, probably by now,
their jobs started as capturers of enslaved people that were
trying to away. Yes, and that's their legacy, you know,
like if that's their beginnings, yikes, how can we even
(06:07):
like trust them? Right, like, that's what that's my thing,
you know, No, for real. And one law that made
it so easy for them to go around killing and
the name of justice was the lay the fuga or
the law of flight or law of escape. Both have
been used. Is it like fugitive fuga fuga? Yeah, So
the Texas Rangers would release prisoners and order them to run.
(06:28):
Then they would shoot prisoners while they ran, because once
they were running, then they were they had all the
right to kill them. Oh my god, that was le fuga.
And in their reports they would just say prisoner was
killed to prevent escape or for resistant arrest. Just like now,
how they plant weapons and shit like that. Right Like again,
presidential times, nothing changes, Everything is the same. One man
(06:51):
who was fighting back and led a rebellion against the
New Republic and the Texas Rangers. His name was Juan
Nepo Museno Cortina who will be his own episode because
I had no idea about this. They were called the
Cortina Wars. But yeah, he's gonna be his own episode.
But he described the Texas Rangers as vampire guys's of
men who rob property and hunted and murdered Mexican men
(07:14):
like wild beasts. Did you send me a screenshot of
this this vampire quote? Yes, I did. I just send
you a screenshot of this. Yeah, okay, okay. Immediately immediately
I thought of vampires, and I was like, oh my gosh.
She said that gayas did her research. She really did. Also,
the whole time that we were reading that book, I
it took me too long to realize Rinchez was people
trying to say rangers in Spanish. Are you serious? It
(07:36):
took me a very long time. Yeah, but I know
that now. Yeah. But seeing Cortina here described them as vampires,
and then like reading the book just gives it a
whole new yeah, real meaning like litreal, which was wild too.
This wasn't some metaphor that even just made up. Like
back then, they were referring to them, yes, yeah, as vampires,
vampiric but the revolt of eighteen fifty nine didn't accomplish
(07:59):
what could I wanted within ten years land that was
one Mexican and of course indigenous Like that goes without saying.
It decreased and decrease. As the years went by, violence
and technology was on the side of the Anglo settlers.
Their favorite technology and tool for colonization was barbed wire.
Barbed wire. Barbed wire, Yes, and I wasn't surprised to
(08:23):
learn barbed wire. It's a tool of the enemy. From
its inception was a tool of colonization. I remember trying
to jump fences and getting stuck numbers skidding. No, that
never happened. No, we did jump fences, but there's not
really broadwire. I feel like it came more out of
use by the time we were jumping fences because of
how dangerous it is. Yes, yeah, baradwire was patented in
(08:47):
eighteen seventy four by a man named JF. Glinden, and
with it, Anglo rnchers were able to fence in areas
to claim as their own. They put down bombed wire
to block access to rivers and streams, public rivers and
beacause all land was basically public back then, exactly. They
placed bart wired down on places that were for communal
farming or communal like grazing, like you know, cattle would graze.
(09:10):
That pisses me off so much. Yeah, and that's what
they used it for. I'm not surprised. As the decade
went by, ranch lands were all private and the Mexicans
that once farmed it as ranch owners where now the
manual farm labor were shaking our heads. This of what
you're talking about just reminded me like when I read
the book about King Leopold, because not only Belgium, but
(09:34):
also the British and other European powers did the same
shit all over Africa, and King Loopold specifically in the Congo,
he really fucked shit up there, yeap. And like land
was communal, shit did not work the way they made
it more and forced it to be, and they killed
hundreds and hundreds and thousands for their greed. I'm just like,
(09:55):
oh my god, yeah, okay, insidious truly yus. There was
even a same that grew from this go on, el
a lambre rino, el lambre wow. With the barbed wire
came hunger wow. And of course it sounds better in
Spanish because it rhymes, it says, it rhymes. Yeah, this
is your sign to learn Spanish. Okay, Yeah, everything sounds cooler,
(10:15):
it really does. And of course barbed wire was used
for this because even you know now you could still
say it was a tool of like the oppressor, because
like what's used against the un House. Yeah yeah, And
so I was not shocked to see this, but I
didn't know it. And just reading that saying was like,
I just say, you know, every time I wrote another sentence,
(10:36):
I was more angry. Yeah. Yeah, no, It's like infuriy
and like eye opening it at the same time exactly.
And the King Ranch was one of the first to
be fenced with barbed wire. This ranch was made up
of two million acres of land and was seen as
the greatest symbol of Anglo domination in the borderlands. Two
a million acres. Wow. That again was communal land stolen
(11:00):
with barbed wire. A town formed around this King Ranch,
and the town was called Kingsville, and the King Kleburg
families owned this town. Basically they operated everything in the town,
the Keebrig Bank, the kings In, the Kingsville Ice Rink,
the Kingsville Ice End Milling Company. I thought it was
an ice rink. And what a fitting name, kings because
(11:22):
this bears a resemblance to the feudal system. Oh yeah, yeah,
the Kingsville Power Company. Oh my god, Oh my god.
I could go on and on and on. Everything was
King's or Keburg. Wow. This is also where the Texas
Rangers ended up building their headquarters, and the Texas Rangers
were often referred to as king Ranches private security. Of
(11:43):
course they were, yeah many times. I don't know actually
if we have said it a lot or not, but
I think it's something that we talk about a lot
and read stuff about all the time or listen to
stuff about it all the time. But like the police
is here to protect businesses, the rich property? Yeah, property, Yeah,
they're not here to keep you safe. Now, And look
at that goes all the way back, Oh yeah, from
(12:05):
the beginning. And of course yes, because what were in
slave people considered property? What was their first job to
catch those and slaves people? It's all connected, those are
the lines. All of this paired with Texas laws that
were growing and growing targeting Mexican property owners, all of
this increased racial tensions. In eighteen ninety one, there was
(12:25):
another revolt, this one led by Kariano erasmo Garza. And
this group was made up of hundreds of Mexicans on
both sides of this new made up border people of
all classes. Rich merchants, farmer landowners, lower middle class workers,
poor farmers, and landless ranchers made up this group that
(12:46):
was now revolting. Nothing united them more than revenge. Yes,
they rode into battle with this motto on their hat bands,
free border people, lebres front Theriso. I like that me too,
and yeah. Among them was mostly Mexican and Mexican Americans,
but also a few Italians that had married into Mexican families. Okay,
(13:09):
well they are the white Latinos yeah, before Spaniards actually yeah,
and now the Irish, well no, I think they're saying Irish. No, no,
that's redheaded people. On TikTok they're saying red headed people
are black. Yeah, I remember see that. Yeah, and what's
the actress? Ao? Is? I? How say your name? She's Irish? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
you don't know. Just go to TikTok and look this up. Right,
(13:30):
none of this makes sense unless you're on TikTok and
the Army and Texas Ranger tactics to put down this
rebellion were especially brutal. The US Army captain in charge
of this effort, Captain John Gregory Burke, wrote the following
about the situation. The cheapest thing to do is to
shoot them down wherever they are found skulking about with
(13:51):
arms in their hands, and to burn down some of
the ranchos which gave them shelter. So killing the rebels
was not enough. They also needed to devastate the surrounding community.
This is repeated even now. Yeah, this is this is
what we're seeing in Gaza, yes, and what we saw
during you know, all the wars that were backed by
(14:12):
the US of the atrocities, And this is the state
of relations between Anglos and Mexicans that has existed from
the beginning. And like sure, you can say, oh, there
was violence on both sides, but nothing compares to the
violence enacted by the Anglo settlers and the Texas Rangers,
like not even all the crazy Mexican bandits, like because
(14:35):
so many people try to justify it that way, and
I don't have a fuck more bandits. Actually actually what
they needed was more bandits. But this existing relationships already there, right,
this like violent, violent thing. Then you add in the
increasing migration of Mexicans into Texas who were fleeing by
the thousands because of the Mexican Revolution. This is what
(14:57):
informed La Matanza this night. This a ten year period.
You know, Mexicans were arriving in great numbers to these
areas and Anglos in the communities, which again they're not
native toy they arrived before too, right, But so they
arrived to these communities and they were scared because of
all the Mexicans that were now arriving, all the brown people.
(15:20):
They scared meo and they were like, oh, they're all abandoned.
And these settlers requested military presents to protect them, and
they called for newly arriving refugees to be segregated, and
the police, the Texas Rangers, they were more than happy
to do this. They made concentration camps for the refugees.
In nineteen fourteen, four five hundred Mexicans were imprisoned at
(15:44):
a camp in for Bliss, just outside of Albaso. For
blisss what an evil place for Bliss. Fuck that place
personally speaking, fuck that place, no for real, speaking as
you that was me just channeling my interview yes, perfect,
that was spot on. Those held at the camp included
Mexican men, women, children, and former Mexican federal soldiers. By
(16:08):
nineteen sixteen, one hundred thousand National Guard units were deployed
between Yuma, Arizona, and Brownsville, Texas, where a lot of
these refugees were arriving because they needed to be policed,
they needed to be militarized. And this is the beginning
of the militarization of the border. It wasn't all this
heavily militarized place, oh my god. But this is where
(16:28):
it kind of grew and where it became like very
okay to use state surveillance on all these brown Mexicans
and arriving. Constitution camps not new to the US right,
every new couple of episodes I learned about a new
concentration camp. Truly terrific. Yes, But let me go back
(16:49):
to Kingsville. On August eighth, nineteen fifteen, around sixty bandits
raided the flag station at King's Ranch in Kingsville, and
the response to this raid was extreme violent. The Texas
Rangers led this retaliation. They killed any Mexican man they saw,
and by the time they were done there was at
least one hundred two dead Mexican men. Wow. Some estimate
(17:11):
that from that date until June seventeenth, nineteen sixteen, over
two hundred Mexicans were killed by the Texas Rangers. Wow,
in a year. That's quite a bit, all without proper investigations.
They just did what they wanted. And this was also
like this brutal retaliation where they went on doing this
for a year. It was also caused by this thing
(17:34):
called Plan de san Diego. Have you heard of it? No? Ban?
The San Diego was drafted in January nineteen fifteen by
revolutionaries whose goal was to create an independent republic for
Mexicans and Thiicanos. So they were going to be free.
Oh okay, I have heard of that? You have? Okay? Yeah,
they were going to be free of Mexico and of
the US. It was going to be its own republic.
(17:56):
And this plan promised to return land to indigenous people
land back. Wow. Book included calling for an upraising beginning
in February nineteen fifteen, and that uprising was calling for
the mass killing of every Anglo male over sixteen years old.
Over sixteen Yeah, oh okay, but this never actually happened.
(18:16):
It was just a thought. It was a plan. That's
it a plan, okay. And also it probably couldn't happen
because of the attacks by the Texas Rangers, like to
stop this thing. That was just a plan at the time.
You know, I'm not defending it, okay, I'm just saying
it was just a plan. But because of this plan,
they went around killing an insane amount of Mexicans who
(18:37):
they didn't even care to see if they were part
of this revolution that made this plan. And the thing
about that too, is that when you drive people to violence,
this is the kind of stuff that they plan, you
know what I mean. Yeah, it's like when we talk
about back in the days of enslavement and rebellions against enslavers,
and they kill like everybody on the plantation. Let's say,
(19:00):
is that wrong, per se? No? Not really. You're talking
about people that were subjucated, tortured, ripped apart from their
families in the most brutal ways, you know, abused. Is
it wrong that they stood up violently and killed in revenge. No?
I don't think so, Not to me, not to me,
but some people. And if you disagree, I'm sorry that
(19:21):
you're dumb. Not'm just kidding. I'm sorry to say that
you're wrong, actually, but it is kind of like wishful,
privileged thinking to believe that everything can be done in
a peaceful manner. But the truth is that it took
violence for a lot of thinks to happen. Right. It's
like we say all the time, Yeah, our forty hour
work week, which I think is too much. Actually that
(19:43):
was one with violence. And it is the right of
an oppressed group to fight, yeah, in whatever way they
can against the oppressor. Yeah, and do sometimes should actually
sometimes include violence, because you can't just like ask for it, right,
they're not going to give it to you, right, Like
we're talking about people who don't see you and don't
value you. Oppressors, so don't see you as an equal person,
(20:06):
don't see you as a person. Are they gonna listen
to your politely asking no? No, And many times people
try to do it the peaceful way. That's the first step, obviously,
that is the first step. Nobody wants to go to
war exactly, unless they're bloodthirsty colonizers, unless they're anglos. Yeah, yeah,
so that plan Also, the planet San Diego justified to
(20:30):
the Texas rangers, all the extra killing of Mexican people
they were doing, but again they weren't never checking anything
would have justified it. But yeah, yeah, they were gonna
do it anyway. But that was another reason that nineteen
fifteen specifically was extra violent. And all of this is
taking place again between that time period La Matanza or
the Hour of Blood, from nineteen ten to nineteen twenty.
(20:50):
But I want to go back for a second to
what is not to be the first lynching, the marking
of the beginning of La matanzak. And so that was
nineteen ten, and Antonio Rodriguez is considered to be the
first victim of La Matanta and almost nothing is known
about him except that he was nineteen or twenty and
he moved from Mexico to Rock Springs, Texas, searching for work.
(21:11):
So on November second, nineteen ten, forty year old Efie
Greer Henderson was found dead on her porch. She had
been shot once in the back and once in the head.
Her youngest child was found crying and trying to nurse
from his dead mother. Oh that's terrible, very and Lemuel Henderson,
Effie's husband, along with his nine year old son Tom
(21:32):
Henderson found her, and they found a baby trying to
nurse on her. Wow. And Lemuel Henderson rode two miles
on horseback to the nearest ranch with the phone to
call the police. And during this two mile ride a
mob of family members, neighbors, and local officers set out
looking for answers, but really looking for a Mexican to
kill for violence. Yeah. Yes, because the only witness to
(21:56):
the murder was their daughter, who said a dark Mexican
man killed her mom. And I don't know how old
a daughter was, but younger than nine, older than one
in between those ages. Okay, Wow. And the next day
Antonio Rodriguez was arrested and placed in the Edwards County
Jail in the rock Springstown Square. By the afternoon, an
angry mob of several hundreds and one thousand observers, so
(22:20):
one hundred mob participants and then one thousand observers had formed.
Oh my god, this mob grabbed Antonio from his prison cell,
marched him to the edge of town, where they tied
him to a tree and set him on fire. This
is just terrible because what if it wasn't him? Exactly,
there was zero investigation. This is why we have a
surely proper justice systems flawed, but we have a criminal
(22:41):
justice system for a reason. You know, at least give
people a chance for a trial, right, like mob violence,
it's stupid. People and a mob are stupid. Yeah, I
mean again, there's no proper process to figure out what
actually happened. And so the news of the lynching spread
like wildfire. Mexican officials condemned the lynching, obviously, and then
the Anglos of Rock Springs feared retaliation by a Mexican
(23:05):
mob and they were like, oh, bandits are heading for
the town, which never happened. Hysteria, Yeah, just like now.
Mexican newspaper at the Bat wrote about the situation. The
iron hoof of the Texas Yankee, in his barbarous and
savage sentiments of race hatred, is now trampling upon the Negro.
But the rottenness of his core has spread out so
(23:27):
as to wound and kill a Mexican by the iniquitous
method of lynching. There were mass protests in Mexico City
and Guadalajara because Antonio Rodriguez was said to have left
a wife and kids in Guadalajara. Oh wow, And they
knew this because he was writing letters as he was
going across and getting to Texas. If there's one thing
(23:48):
that Mexico City will do is protests, followed by Guadalajaya. Yes, yes,
both those places. And students in Mexico City passed out
pamphlets that read, quote, barberous Mexico, they call our country.
They who applied the torch to the close of Rodriguez
Barber's Mexico. They who defied and outraged the law, snatching
(24:09):
it from a man whose life ought to have been
sacred because it was under society's protection. Barbara's Mexico. They
those organized assassins of defenseless strangers and oppressed negroes end quote.
And these protests in Mexico were met with state violence.
There's one thing the state will do is shut down
(24:31):
protests even though they're right, you know. And this includes yeah,
the Mexican state, you know, include all states. Yeah, but
especially during this time period, because this is during the Portfydiato, yes, yeah,
and dictator Porfirio Villas. It was very pro USA and
that's one of the things people were volting against that
he was just heading over parts of Mexico to US businesses. Yep,
(24:55):
so not very unsurprising that this is how he met
the protests. And you know, with the use of the military,
and during these protests at least three protesters died in
Mexico City. During protests in Guadalajara, the home of US
Console member Luther Ellsworth was attacked, so they broke his windows.
He wasn't attacked, just his house. They broke his windows,
(25:16):
and another American citizen, Carlos Cathoters cathothers Catheter, Well, it's
c atot rs. I don't know, I don't know anyway,
an Americans selling real estate in Mexico got here five anyway,
This American man killed Jesus Losa and injured fourteen year
(25:37):
old Prudencio Chavis during the protests. And so despite two
Mexicans having been shot, one killed by an American citizen
in Mexico during these protests, the US newspapers reported that
Americans were in danger due to these anti American protests.
Yet this man who the last name that sounds like catheter, yes,
is the one who killed two Mexicans in Mexico, in
(26:01):
Guadalajada somewhere he shouldn't even be selling. Really really say yes. Ridiculous, absolutely,
and so more than two thousand Texan cowboys, including Texas Rangers,
arrived to protect Rock Springs even though these quote Mexican
attackers never arrived. I'm sorry. This is also reminded me
of the Zutsu riots where people not people, but what
(26:23):
sailors or marines, and I remember what the fuck they were.
That's gonna be another episode. Sailors. Navy sailors came from
all over, not only where it happened, because they heard
that Mexicans and zoot suits were fighting the Navy, the
sailors when there wasn't even drew. Yeah, the Mexicans were
being attacked. Yeah, and then they were arrested for it. Again,
(26:44):
separate episode, but this is hundreds of years later, same
old story. Oh my god. Precedented times, man, everything is precedented.
Everything that has happened, how that has happened right now
has happened before. Yeah, and Mexican officials requested reparations to
the US State Department, but the US was claiming that
Antonio Rodriguez was actually born in either Eagle Past Texas
(27:07):
or New Mexico and wasn't actually Mexican. So now he's
not Mexican. Now he's Texan, yes, but a bull show. Yeah,
And so they reparations weren't due because he wasn't Mexican. Wow.
And upon insistence from Mexico and Mexicans in the US,
the Edwards County District Court directed a jury to investigate
(27:27):
the lynching of Antonio Rodriguez. But the juris did not
indict any mob participants. Oh yes, all white jury. Oh yeah.
And it should be mentioned that Lemuel Henderson, the husband
of Effie Henderson who was found dead, who caused all
this like lynching, right right? He was a retired Texas ranger,
of course he was. Yeah. I understand being angry that
(27:49):
you find your wife in this state. Of course, nobody
wants that, but to cause a whole mob of hundreds
to kill a man that probably he may have not
had anything to do with that situation. Probably was not
the one, could have been sure, but there was no
evidence because there's no investigation. Hm. So you know, for
(28:11):
all we know he wasn't the one that killed his wife.
You let your anger cause the brutal burning death of
a man could have been innocent, right. Also, Lemuel Henderson
remarried less than two years after his wife, Effie, had
been murdered. Lemuel, you probably even love your wife. People
(28:32):
back then they didn't marry for love. No. No. Also,
his wife before Effie, she was fourteen. No, go on,
she was young. But she wasn't fourteen. I'm just bullshitting
young No, no, no, but she was young, that should
be said, okay. Also, though his wife before her had
died mysteriously, this is his second wife. Yes, wow, yeah,
(28:54):
Effie Henderson was his second wife, right, right, right, And
again the only witness was his own daughter. And from
the beginning there were contradictions. First she said it was
a random Mexican, then others said that it was a
former employee of theirs who was mad, which honestly makes
more sense because more likely than not, more than half
the time women are killed or people ain't know right
(29:15):
not strangers. Speaking on that, many believe Lemel Hunterson himself
killed his wife, probably, and to get out of his shit,
he blamed some Mexican, some poor innocent Mexican. He made
up a story about a Mexican. But yeah, some believe
it was him because he was known to be a
by the man. Honestly, I'm gonna believe that version too,
I was gonna say, bitch you. The only reason if
(29:36):
it wasn't him who killed his wife, the only reason
he was mad is because he wanted to be the
one to kill her, right right. And today, if you
go to Rock Springs, Texas, different people believe different things.
Oh my god, I thought you said there's gonna be
a statue of it of Lemuel Henderson. So I was like, no, no, way,
fucking way no. But if you go to Rock Springs, Texas,
you will find different versions of the story. White town
(29:58):
members who are descending of the people who were there
when it happened. They believe that the lynching was just.
Of course they do well Mexicans, Yes, while Mexicans still
believe that it was unjust and that Antonio Rodriguez was innocent. Yeah,
this like polarizes the town. His tomb says burned at
the stake. But there are no other historical markers in
(30:19):
Rock Springs, but there is one in Ladedo, Texas. Like
miles and miles and miles away about the lynching, and
corridos and campfire stories have kept Antonio's story alive. There's
one version of the story that people so people would
arrive to Rock Spring, Texas for work, and like you know,
workers around the campfire would spread the story. And so
(30:39):
they spread the story that Antonio was killed for showing
interest in a white woman and as he was burning
at the stake, he cursed the town. And the hurricane
did hit the town years later. Oh wow, and the
man who was the man who was said to have
set the first match to burn Antonio at the stake
died a horrible death during the hurricane. Like I couldn't
find details, but apparently it was gruesome. Like I don't
(31:02):
know exactly, Maybe he was like pay Old somewhere, I
don't know. Mexicans who were there during the lynching believe
that this was Antonio's curse, and honestly I kind of
believe it too. And yeah, that was the first lynching
that marked the decade of La Matanza. Next episode, I'm
going to be diving into one of the worst occurrences
(31:23):
of violence. Oh there's more. Sorry, I'm so sorry. Fine,
not hating it, but I was expecting only a three parter. No,
I can't stop. This is better for me actually, because
I have one set of notes on now I can
start another set. Yes, So next episode, I'll be diving
into one of the worst occurrences of violence during this
ten year period, the massacre. M my god. Yeah yeah,
(31:52):
And hopefully that will be the last part because I
am so done, I am so dramatized. Well here you
are at least verbally getting it out of your system.
That's true. That's true. And also I just want to
shout out the book that was my main source for
this part alone was the Injustice Never Leaves You because
that focuses on Texas. But there's one book that I
(32:13):
actually also need to read so I can use it also,
But that was the main one, and I highly recommend
anyone everyone to read it if you're more interested in this.
Just you know, if be prepared to be mad. I'm
going to borrow it formulator. Yeah, and I'll be done
with this so you can totally borrow it. Anything else
to add before we end the episode, I think the
only thing I have to add. I mean, I've shared
my thoughts throughout, so I won't go on another rant
(32:34):
about colonialism and racism and whatever all of that, but
I will say that if you are enjoying learning about this,
for me, I think this history piece is one reason
I like to read historical fiction, and so yeah, if
you enjoy we already mentioned it. But if you're enjoying
learning about this, hearing about this, then maybe and you're
(32:55):
into vampires also, then maybe you would like vampires. Would
note it because it's very much about this, not as
much like lynchings, but Texas the Texas Rangers encroaching on
Mexican territory, yes, warring against Mexicans for their lands, Mexicans
fighting back while there's vampires around, yes, And also a
(33:18):
little love story. Who doesn't love that? Yeah, I highly
recommend that book. We already yapped about it on a
spookatels that does take place during all this, so well
a little bit before. But yeah, other than that, if
you want to support us on Patreon, we do have
two tiers over there. One is just like extra support
and you get a one time sticker. The other one
(33:38):
is the ad free Well, they both include ad free
episodes and then our bonus episodes where we yap about
current events sometimes TikTok drama, mostly just current events that
have a screaming. We scream into the void, which is
each other, and yeah, we yap. Honestly, it's a good time.
It is. It is if you want to be mad.
If you want to be mad, it is a good time. Also,
it helps us donate two things that we care about. Well,
(34:00):
currently we've only donated to and water Drop Program, but
they're in an organization doing important work helping migrants. Still
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I've been donating to. Twenty percent of your Patreon fees
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other than that, we hope that this was one less
Estonia Unknown for you. Bye bye. Estoria's Unknown is produced
(34:26):
by Carmen and Christina, researched by Carmen and Christina, edited
by Christina. You can find sources for every episode at
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the podcast has a lot of work, so if you
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You Studied as an own podcast
Everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is a
Study as Unknown, a podcast where we talk about Latin
American history. Sometimes it's horrible and deals with heavy topics
like racism, corruption, and genocide. But more than that, it's
also by resistance, power and community. And today we're just
continuing with a very depressing topic. In the last two episodes,
(00:28):
I talked about the history of lynching, mostly focusing on California,
with like some sprinkles of New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas.
And I did mention, like the number of official lynchines
of Mexicans in the US from eighteen forty eight to
nineteen twenty eight is five hundred and forty eight. And
that's for all of the US. When using the official
definition of lynching from the Tuskegee Institute, there must be
(00:52):
legal evidence that a person was killed. That person must
have met death illegally. A group of three or more
persons must have participated in the killing, must have acted
under the pretext of service to justice, race, or tradition.
And that's the number that you know if all was
under that definition. But like I said, when you expand
that definition to what are still considered legal lynenes. Today,
(01:15):
that number grows in insane amount, especially in one state,
TXs Yes, Texas, and that's thanks to one group, Texas Rangers.
That's right. Sorry, it sound like for this gump you do,
and I love it. Don't ever change my coworkers may
fund me for my text and accent. Yeah, I mean, okay, yeah,
(01:37):
it's not good. Okay, I can't do one either, That's
why I didn't try. The years from nineteen ten to
nineteen twenty were especially brutal, and this time period is
known by a couple names. Do you know them? I
don't think so. La Matanza. Oh my god, I was
gonna say that popped in my head and I was,
but I was guessing, and I was like, but I
(01:58):
don't think I've ever heard that before. I was just
gonna guess you would have been right, damn. Yeah, this
is a lesson. Don't doubt me to me, Yeah, from
me to me, don't doubt me. Never doubt Carmen or
you know in English, the Massacre or Laura de Sangre
the Hour of Blood. Oh okay, I think you mentioned
that last episode. This violence was committed by state police, vigilantes,
(02:20):
and military, and that includes the Texas Rangers. The time
period that the Texas Rangers enacted the most violence in
those years was nineteen fifteen to nineteen nineteen. Estimates from
nineteen ten to nineteen twenty of Mexicans that were killed
during that time period ranges from three hundred to five thousand. Wow.
But this number is not exact because so many murders
(02:41):
went unreported. But let's start with the enactors of the
majority of this violence that Mexican were facing, and of
course also indigenous people, the Texas Rangers. While so many
vid them as heroes, especially in Texas, others as monsters
and evil. What's evil incarnated? Evil incarnate, Yes, that evil incarnate,
(03:08):
especially the the sentence of those murdered by the Texas Rangers.
But you wouldn't know it. You wouldn't know they did
these things when you hear about them, and how amazing
and heroic they are, and how revered they are. Bevered, Yes,
thank you. In eighteen twenty three, Stephen F. Austin, one
of the early Anglo settlers in the land that would
become Texas, organize a small group of men to protect
(03:30):
other settlers and their property. They call themselves Rangers. After
Texas claimed the independence from Mexico in eighteen thirty six.
These rangers worked to keep Anglo settlers safe in the
new Republic of Texas. But the safety was at the
expense of others, of course, who they deemed enemies of
the republic, the Kamanche, the Tonkawas, the Apaches, the Kiowa,
(03:54):
I mean, all indigenous people and Mexicans. Right, And it's like, okay,
yes there was violence, but there wouldn't be violence if
you weren't there where you shouldn't have been in the
first place, you know, right, Yeah, this is the epitome
of te la buscastes pendejo. Right, yeah, like you were
looking for it, but real not like what no, but
really really Terran people say it too. Yeah, and their yeah,
(04:18):
their enemies. They literally declared their enemies. Quote Indian warriors
and bacqueros, that's what they said their enemies were. And
Texas Rangers also worked to preserve the enslavement of black people.
This was instrumental to their work. They tracked down and
punished enslaved black people who were trying to cross the
Rio Grande into Mexico for their freedom, and the Texas
Rangers broke existing laws that forbade them from crossing into Mexico.
(04:41):
Of course they did. They weren't allowed to, but they
were doing it all the time. And when they did this,
they not only did it to capture the person that
was trying to escape, but also to terrorize Mexican towns
helping them. Of course, like you know, last episode, I
mentioned one of the claims that were done to that board.
(05:01):
I don't remember the name of the board anymore, or
a group or committee whatever it was called. Yeah, but
one of the claims was the majority of those claims
that were approved. It was all from one incident by
the Texas Rangers in Guahila. This was one of those
instances where they went into capture someone trying to escape
enslavement and then they burned the whole town down. My goodness.
(05:21):
And one Texas Ranger described Mexicans as black as n
words and ten times as treacherous. Wow. And this is
a group very celebrated by some. Yeah, they as an
organization today barely barely recognize their racial terror they enacted
on anyone who was their enemy. Shocking. Some historians state
(05:43):
that the Texas Rangers was one of the first prominent
Western vigilantes to be endowed with legal authority, the other
being actual comps who, as we all know, probably by now,
their jobs started as capturers of enslaved people that were
trying to away. Yes, and that's their legacy, you know,
like if that's their beginnings, yikes, how can we even
(06:07):
like trust them? Right, like, that's what that's my thing,
you know, No, for real. And one law that made
it so easy for them to go around killing and
the name of justice was the lay the fuga or
the law of flight or law of escape. Both have
been used. Is it like fugitive fuga fuga? Yeah, So
the Texas Rangers would release prisoners and order them to run.
(06:28):
Then they would shoot prisoners while they ran, because once
they were running, then they were they had all the
right to kill them. Oh my god, that was le fuga.
And in their reports they would just say prisoner was
killed to prevent escape or for resistant arrest. Just like now,
how they plant weapons and shit like that. Right Like again,
presidential times, nothing changes, Everything is the same. One man
(06:51):
who was fighting back and led a rebellion against the
New Republic and the Texas Rangers. His name was Juan
Nepo Museno Cortina who will be his own episode because
I had no idea about this. They were called the
Cortina Wars. But yeah, he's gonna be his own episode.
But he described the Texas Rangers as vampire guys's of
men who rob property and hunted and murdered Mexican men
(07:14):
like wild beasts. Did you send me a screenshot of
this this vampire quote? Yes, I did. I just send
you a screenshot of this. Yeah, okay, okay. Immediately immediately
I thought of vampires, and I was like, oh my gosh.
She said that gayas did her research. She really did. Also,
the whole time that we were reading that book, I
it took me too long to realize Rinchez was people
trying to say rangers in Spanish. Are you serious? It
(07:36):
took me a very long time. Yeah, but I know
that now. Yeah. But seeing Cortina here described them as vampires,
and then like reading the book just gives it a
whole new yeah, real meaning like litreal, which was wild too.
This wasn't some metaphor that even just made up. Like
back then, they were referring to them, yes, yeah, as vampires,
vampiric but the revolt of eighteen fifty nine didn't accomplish
(07:59):
what could I wanted within ten years land that was
one Mexican and of course indigenous Like that goes without saying.
It decreased and decrease. As the years went by, violence
and technology was on the side of the Anglo settlers.
Their favorite technology and tool for colonization was barbed wire.
Barbed wire. Barbed wire, Yes, and I wasn't surprised to
(08:23):
learn barbed wire. It's a tool of the enemy. From
its inception was a tool of colonization. I remember trying
to jump fences and getting stuck numbers skidding. No, that
never happened. No, we did jump fences, but there's not
really broadwire. I feel like it came more out of
use by the time we were jumping fences because of
how dangerous it is. Yes, yeah, baradwire was patented in
(08:47):
eighteen seventy four by a man named JF. Glinden, and
with it, Anglo rnchers were able to fence in areas
to claim as their own. They put down bombed wire
to block access to rivers and streams, public rivers and
beacause all land was basically public back then, exactly. They
placed bart wired down on places that were for communal
farming or communal like grazing, like you know, cattle would graze.
(09:10):
That pisses me off so much. Yeah, and that's what
they used it for. I'm not surprised. As the decade
went by, ranch lands were all private and the Mexicans
that once farmed it as ranch owners where now the
manual farm labor were shaking our heads. This of what
you're talking about just reminded me like when I read
the book about King Leopold, because not only Belgium, but
(09:34):
also the British and other European powers did the same
shit all over Africa, and King Loopold specifically in the Congo,
he really fucked shit up there, yeap. And like land
was communal, shit did not work the way they made
it more and forced it to be, and they killed
hundreds and hundreds and thousands for their greed. I'm just like,
(09:55):
oh my god, yeah, okay, insidious truly yus. There was
even a same that grew from this go on, el
a lambre rino, el lambre wow. With the barbed wire
came hunger wow. And of course it sounds better in
Spanish because it rhymes, it says, it rhymes. Yeah, this
is your sign to learn Spanish. Okay, Yeah, everything sounds cooler,
(10:15):
it really does. And of course barbed wire was used
for this because even you know now you could still
say it was a tool of like the oppressor, because
like what's used against the un House. Yeah yeah, And
so I was not shocked to see this, but I
didn't know it. And just reading that saying was like,
I just say, you know, every time I wrote another sentence,
(10:36):
I was more angry. Yeah. Yeah, no, It's like infuriy
and like eye opening it at the same time exactly.
And the King Ranch was one of the first to
be fenced with barbed wire. This ranch was made up
of two million acres of land and was seen as
the greatest symbol of Anglo domination in the borderlands. Two
a million acres. Wow. That again was communal land stolen
(11:00):
with barbed wire. A town formed around this King Ranch,
and the town was called Kingsville, and the King Kleburg
families owned this town. Basically they operated everything in the town,
the Keebrig Bank, the kings In, the Kingsville Ice Rink,
the Kingsville Ice End Milling Company. I thought it was
an ice rink. And what a fitting name, kings because
(11:22):
this bears a resemblance to the feudal system. Oh yeah, yeah,
the Kingsville Power Company. Oh my god, Oh my god.
I could go on and on and on. Everything was
King's or Keburg. Wow. This is also where the Texas
Rangers ended up building their headquarters, and the Texas Rangers
were often referred to as king Ranches private security. Of
(11:43):
course they were, yeah many times. I don't know actually
if we have said it a lot or not, but
I think it's something that we talk about a lot
and read stuff about all the time or listen to
stuff about it all the time. But like the police
is here to protect businesses, the rich property? Yeah, property, Yeah,
they're not here to keep you safe. Now, And look
at that goes all the way back, Oh yeah, from
(12:05):
the beginning. And of course yes, because what were in
slave people considered property? What was their first job to
catch those and slaves people? It's all connected, those are
the lines. All of this paired with Texas laws that
were growing and growing targeting Mexican property owners, all of
this increased racial tensions. In eighteen ninety one, there was
(12:25):
another revolt, this one led by Kariano erasmo Garza. And
this group was made up of hundreds of Mexicans on
both sides of this new made up border people of
all classes. Rich merchants, farmer landowners, lower middle class workers,
poor farmers, and landless ranchers made up this group that
(12:46):
was now revolting. Nothing united them more than revenge. Yes,
they rode into battle with this motto on their hat bands,
free border people, lebres front Theriso. I like that me too,
and yeah. Among them was mostly Mexican and Mexican Americans,
but also a few Italians that had married into Mexican families. Okay,
(13:09):
well they are the white Latinos yeah, before Spaniards actually yeah,
and now the Irish, well no, I think they're saying Irish. No, no,
that's redheaded people. On TikTok they're saying red headed people
are black. Yeah, I remember see that. Yeah, and what's
the actress? Ao? Is? I? How say your name? She's Irish? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
you don't know. Just go to TikTok and look this up. Right,
(13:30):
none of this makes sense unless you're on TikTok and
the Army and Texas Ranger tactics to put down this
rebellion were especially brutal. The US Army captain in charge
of this effort, Captain John Gregory Burke, wrote the following
about the situation. The cheapest thing to do is to
shoot them down wherever they are found skulking about with
(13:51):
arms in their hands, and to burn down some of
the ranchos which gave them shelter. So killing the rebels
was not enough. They also needed to devastate the surrounding community.
This is repeated even now. Yeah, this is this is
what we're seeing in Gaza, yes, and what we saw
during you know, all the wars that were backed by
(14:12):
the US of the atrocities, And this is the state
of relations between Anglos and Mexicans that has existed from
the beginning. And like sure, you can say, oh, there
was violence on both sides, but nothing compares to the
violence enacted by the Anglo settlers and the Texas Rangers,
like not even all the crazy Mexican bandits, like because
(14:35):
so many people try to justify it that way, and
I don't have a fuck more bandits. Actually actually what
they needed was more bandits. But this existing relationships already there, right,
this like violent, violent thing. Then you add in the
increasing migration of Mexicans into Texas who were fleeing by
the thousands because of the Mexican Revolution. This is what
(14:57):
informed La Matanza this night. This a ten year period.
You know, Mexicans were arriving in great numbers to these
areas and Anglos in the communities, which again they're not
native toy they arrived before too, right, But so they
arrived to these communities and they were scared because of
all the Mexicans that were now arriving, all the brown people.
(15:20):
They scared meo and they were like, oh, they're all abandoned.
And these settlers requested military presents to protect them, and
they called for newly arriving refugees to be segregated, and
the police, the Texas Rangers, they were more than happy
to do this. They made concentration camps for the refugees.
In nineteen fourteen, four five hundred Mexicans were imprisoned at
(15:44):
a camp in for Bliss, just outside of Albaso. For
blisss what an evil place for Bliss. Fuck that place
personally speaking, fuck that place, no for real, speaking as
you that was me just channeling my interview yes, perfect,
that was spot on. Those held at the camp included
Mexican men, women, children, and former Mexican federal soldiers. By
(16:08):
nineteen sixteen, one hundred thousand National Guard units were deployed
between Yuma, Arizona, and Brownsville, Texas, where a lot of
these refugees were arriving because they needed to be policed,
they needed to be militarized. And this is the beginning
of the militarization of the border. It wasn't all this
heavily militarized place, oh my god. But this is where
(16:28):
it kind of grew and where it became like very
okay to use state surveillance on all these brown Mexicans
and arriving. Constitution camps not new to the US right,
every new couple of episodes I learned about a new
concentration camp. Truly terrific. Yes, But let me go back
(16:49):
to Kingsville. On August eighth, nineteen fifteen, around sixty bandits
raided the flag station at King's Ranch in Kingsville, and
the response to this raid was extreme violent. The Texas
Rangers led this retaliation. They killed any Mexican man they saw,
and by the time they were done there was at
least one hundred two dead Mexican men. Wow. Some estimate
(17:11):
that from that date until June seventeenth, nineteen sixteen, over
two hundred Mexicans were killed by the Texas Rangers. Wow,
in a year. That's quite a bit, all without proper investigations.
They just did what they wanted. And this was also
like this brutal retaliation where they went on doing this
for a year. It was also caused by this thing
(17:34):
called Plan de san Diego. Have you heard of it? No? Ban?
The San Diego was drafted in January nineteen fifteen by
revolutionaries whose goal was to create an independent republic for
Mexicans and Thiicanos. So they were going to be free.
Oh okay, I have heard of that? You have? Okay? Yeah,
they were going to be free of Mexico and of
the US. It was going to be its own republic.
(17:56):
And this plan promised to return land to indigenous people
land back. Wow. Book included calling for an upraising beginning
in February nineteen fifteen, and that uprising was calling for
the mass killing of every Anglo male over sixteen years old.
Over sixteen Yeah, oh okay, but this never actually happened.
(18:16):
It was just a thought. It was a plan. That's
it a plan, okay. And also it probably couldn't happen
because of the attacks by the Texas Rangers, like to
stop this thing. That was just a plan at the time.
You know, I'm not defending it, okay, I'm just saying
it was just a plan. But because of this plan,
they went around killing an insane amount of Mexicans who
(18:37):
they didn't even care to see if they were part
of this revolution that made this plan. And the thing
about that too, is that when you drive people to violence,
this is the kind of stuff that they plan, you
know what I mean. Yeah, it's like when we talk
about back in the days of enslavement and rebellions against enslavers,
and they kill like everybody on the plantation. Let's say,
(19:00):
is that wrong, per se? No? Not really. You're talking
about people that were subjucated, tortured, ripped apart from their
families in the most brutal ways, you know, abused. Is
it wrong that they stood up violently and killed in revenge. No?
I don't think so, Not to me, not to me,
but some people. And if you disagree, I'm sorry that
(19:21):
you're dumb. Not'm just kidding. I'm sorry to say that
you're wrong, actually, but it is kind of like wishful,
privileged thinking to believe that everything can be done in
a peaceful manner. But the truth is that it took
violence for a lot of thinks to happen. Right. It's
like we say all the time, Yeah, our forty hour
work week, which I think is too much. Actually that
(19:43):
was one with violence. And it is the right of
an oppressed group to fight, yeah, in whatever way they
can against the oppressor. Yeah, and do sometimes should actually
sometimes include violence, because you can't just like ask for it, right,
they're not going to give it to you, right, Like
we're talking about people who don't see you and don't
value you. Oppressors, so don't see you as an equal person,
(20:06):
don't see you as a person. Are they gonna listen
to your politely asking no? No, And many times people
try to do it the peaceful way. That's the first step, obviously,
that is the first step. Nobody wants to go to
war exactly, unless they're bloodthirsty colonizers, unless they're anglos. Yeah, yeah,
so that plan Also, the planet San Diego justified to
(20:30):
the Texas rangers, all the extra killing of Mexican people
they were doing, but again they weren't never checking anything
would have justified it. But yeah, yeah, they were gonna
do it anyway. But that was another reason that nineteen
fifteen specifically was extra violent. And all of this is
taking place again between that time period La Matanza or
the Hour of Blood, from nineteen ten to nineteen twenty.
(20:50):
But I want to go back for a second to
what is not to be the first lynching, the marking
of the beginning of La matanzak. And so that was
nineteen ten, and Antonio Rodriguez is considered to be the
first victim of La Matanta and almost nothing is known
about him except that he was nineteen or twenty and
he moved from Mexico to Rock Springs, Texas, searching for work.
(21:11):
So on November second, nineteen ten, forty year old Efie
Greer Henderson was found dead on her porch. She had
been shot once in the back and once in the head.
Her youngest child was found crying and trying to nurse
from his dead mother. Oh that's terrible, very and Lemuel Henderson,
Effie's husband, along with his nine year old son Tom
(21:32):
Henderson found her, and they found a baby trying to
nurse on her. Wow. And Lemuel Henderson rode two miles
on horseback to the nearest ranch with the phone to
call the police. And during this two mile ride a
mob of family members, neighbors, and local officers set out
looking for answers, but really looking for a Mexican to
kill for violence. Yeah. Yes, because the only witness to
(21:56):
the murder was their daughter, who said a dark Mexican
man killed her mom. And I don't know how old
a daughter was, but younger than nine, older than one
in between those ages. Okay, Wow. And the next day
Antonio Rodriguez was arrested and placed in the Edwards County
Jail in the rock Springstown Square. By the afternoon, an
angry mob of several hundreds and one thousand observers, so
(22:20):
one hundred mob participants and then one thousand observers had formed.
Oh my god, this mob grabbed Antonio from his prison cell,
marched him to the edge of town, where they tied
him to a tree and set him on fire. This
is just terrible because what if it wasn't him? Exactly,
there was zero investigation. This is why we have a
surely proper justice systems flawed, but we have a criminal
(22:41):
justice system for a reason. You know, at least give
people a chance for a trial, right, like mob violence,
it's stupid. People and a mob are stupid. Yeah, I
mean again, there's no proper process to figure out what
actually happened. And so the news of the lynching spread
like wildfire. Mexican officials condemned the lynching, obviously, and then
the Anglos of Rock Springs feared retaliation by a Mexican
(23:05):
mob and they were like, oh, bandits are heading for
the town, which never happened. Hysteria, Yeah, just like now.
Mexican newspaper at the Bat wrote about the situation. The
iron hoof of the Texas Yankee, in his barbarous and
savage sentiments of race hatred, is now trampling upon the Negro.
But the rottenness of his core has spread out so
(23:27):
as to wound and kill a Mexican by the iniquitous
method of lynching. There were mass protests in Mexico City
and Guadalajara because Antonio Rodriguez was said to have left
a wife and kids in Guadalajara. Oh wow, And they
knew this because he was writing letters as he was
going across and getting to Texas. If there's one thing
(23:48):
that Mexico City will do is protests, followed by Guadalajaya. Yes, yes,
both those places. And students in Mexico City passed out
pamphlets that read, quote, barberous Mexico, they call our country.
They who applied the torch to the close of Rodriguez
Barber's Mexico. They who defied and outraged the law, snatching
(24:09):
it from a man whose life ought to have been
sacred because it was under society's protection. Barbara's Mexico. They
those organized assassins of defenseless strangers and oppressed negroes end quote.
And these protests in Mexico were met with state violence.
There's one thing the state will do is shut down
(24:31):
protests even though they're right, you know. And this includes yeah,
the Mexican state, you know, include all states. Yeah, but
especially during this time period, because this is during the Portfydiato, yes, yeah,
and dictator Porfirio Villas. It was very pro USA and
that's one of the things people were volting against that
he was just heading over parts of Mexico to US businesses. Yep,
(24:55):
so not very unsurprising that this is how he met
the protests. And you know, with the use of the military,
and during these protests at least three protesters died in
Mexico City. During protests in Guadalajara, the home of US
Console member Luther Ellsworth was attacked, so they broke his windows.
He wasn't attacked, just his house. They broke his windows,
(25:16):
and another American citizen, Carlos Cathoters cathothers Catheter, Well, it's
c atot rs. I don't know, I don't know anyway,
an Americans selling real estate in Mexico got here five anyway,
This American man killed Jesus Losa and injured fourteen year
(25:37):
old Prudencio Chavis during the protests. And so despite two
Mexicans having been shot, one killed by an American citizen
in Mexico during these protests, the US newspapers reported that
Americans were in danger due to these anti American protests.
Yet this man who the last name that sounds like catheter, yes,
is the one who killed two Mexicans in Mexico, in
(26:01):
Guadalajada somewhere he shouldn't even be selling. Really really say yes. Ridiculous, absolutely,
and so more than two thousand Texan cowboys, including Texas Rangers,
arrived to protect Rock Springs even though these quote Mexican
attackers never arrived. I'm sorry. This is also reminded me
of the Zutsu riots where people not people, but what
(26:23):
sailors or marines, and I remember what the fuck they were.
That's gonna be another episode. Sailors. Navy sailors came from
all over, not only where it happened, because they heard
that Mexicans and zoot suits were fighting the Navy, the
sailors when there wasn't even drew. Yeah, the Mexicans were
being attacked. Yeah, and then they were arrested for it. Again,
(26:44):
separate episode, but this is hundreds of years later, same
old story. Oh my god. Precedented times, man, everything is precedented.
Everything that has happened, how that has happened right now
has happened before. Yeah, and Mexican officials requested reparations to
the US State Department, but the US was claiming that
Antonio Rodriguez was actually born in either Eagle Past Texas
(27:07):
or New Mexico and wasn't actually Mexican. So now he's
not Mexican. Now he's Texan, yes, but a bull show. Yeah,
And so they reparations weren't due because he wasn't Mexican. Wow.
And upon insistence from Mexico and Mexicans in the US,
the Edwards County District Court directed a jury to investigate
(27:27):
the lynching of Antonio Rodriguez. But the juris did not
indict any mob participants. Oh yes, all white jury. Oh yeah.
And it should be mentioned that Lemuel Henderson, the husband
of Effie Henderson who was found dead, who caused all
this like lynching, right right? He was a retired Texas ranger,
of course he was. Yeah. I understand being angry that
(27:49):
you find your wife in this state. Of course, nobody
wants that, but to cause a whole mob of hundreds
to kill a man that probably he may have not
had anything to do with that situation. Probably was not
the one, could have been sure, but there was no
evidence because there's no investigation. Hm. So you know, for
(28:11):
all we know he wasn't the one that killed his wife.
You let your anger cause the brutal burning death of
a man could have been innocent, right. Also, Lemuel Henderson
remarried less than two years after his wife, Effie, had
been murdered. Lemuel, you probably even love your wife. People
(28:32):
back then they didn't marry for love. No. No. Also,
his wife before Effie, she was fourteen. No, go on,
she was young. But she wasn't fourteen. I'm just bullshitting
young No, no, no, but she was young, that should
be said, okay. Also, though his wife before her had
died mysteriously, this is his second wife. Yes, wow, yeah,
(28:54):
Effie Henderson was his second wife, right, right, right, And
again the only witness was his own daughter. And from
the beginning there were contradictions. First she said it was
a random Mexican, then others said that it was a
former employee of theirs who was mad, which honestly makes
more sense because more likely than not, more than half
the time women are killed or people ain't know right
(29:15):
not strangers. Speaking on that, many believe Lemel Hunterson himself
killed his wife, probably, and to get out of his shit,
he blamed some Mexican, some poor innocent Mexican. He made
up a story about a Mexican. But yeah, some believe
it was him because he was known to be a
by the man. Honestly, I'm gonna believe that version too,
I was gonna say, bitch you. The only reason if
(29:36):
it wasn't him who killed his wife, the only reason
he was mad is because he wanted to be the
one to kill her, right right. And today, if you
go to Rock Springs, Texas, different people believe different things.
Oh my god, I thought you said there's gonna be
a statue of it of Lemuel Henderson. So I was like, no, no, way,
fucking way no. But if you go to Rock Springs, Texas,
you will find different versions of the story. White town
(29:58):
members who are descending of the people who were there
when it happened. They believe that the lynching was just.
Of course they do well Mexicans, Yes, while Mexicans still
believe that it was unjust and that Antonio Rodriguez was innocent. Yeah,
this like polarizes the town. His tomb says burned at
the stake. But there are no other historical markers in
(30:19):
Rock Springs, but there is one in Ladedo, Texas. Like
miles and miles and miles away about the lynching, and
corridos and campfire stories have kept Antonio's story alive. There's
one version of the story that people so people would
arrive to Rock Spring, Texas for work, and like you know,
workers around the campfire would spread the story. And so
(30:39):
they spread the story that Antonio was killed for showing
interest in a white woman and as he was burning
at the stake, he cursed the town. And the hurricane
did hit the town years later. Oh wow, and the
man who was the man who was said to have
set the first match to burn Antonio at the stake
died a horrible death during the hurricane. Like I couldn't
find details, but apparently it was gruesome. Like I don't
(31:02):
know exactly, Maybe he was like pay Old somewhere, I
don't know. Mexicans who were there during the lynching believe
that this was Antonio's curse, and honestly I kind of
believe it too. And yeah, that was the first lynching
that marked the decade of La Matanza. Next episode, I'm
going to be diving into one of the worst occurrences
(31:23):
of violence. Oh there's more. Sorry, I'm so sorry. Fine,
not hating it, but I was expecting only a three parter. No,
I can't stop. This is better for me actually, because
I have one set of notes on now I can
start another set. Yes, So next episode, I'll be diving
into one of the worst occurrences of violence during this
ten year period, the massacre. M my god. Yeah yeah,
(31:52):
And hopefully that will be the last part because I
am so done, I am so dramatized. Well here you
are at least verbally getting it out of your system.
That's true. That's true. And also I just want to
shout out the book that was my main source for
this part alone was the Injustice Never Leaves You because
that focuses on Texas. But there's one book that I
(32:13):
actually also need to read so I can use it also,
But that was the main one, and I highly recommend
anyone everyone to read it if you're more interested in this.
Just you know, if be prepared to be mad. I'm
going to borrow it formulator. Yeah, and I'll be done
with this so you can totally borrow it. Anything else
to add before we end the episode, I think the
only thing I have to add. I mean, I've shared
my thoughts throughout, so I won't go on another rant
(32:34):
about colonialism and racism and whatever all of that, but
I will say that if you are enjoying learning about this,
for me, I think this history piece is one reason
I like to read historical fiction, and so yeah, if
you enjoy we already mentioned it. But if you're enjoying
learning about this, hearing about this, then maybe and you're
(32:55):
into vampires also, then maybe you would like vampires. Would
note it because it's very much about this, not as
much like lynchings, but Texas the Texas Rangers encroaching on
Mexican territory, yes, warring against Mexicans for their lands, Mexicans
fighting back while there's vampires around, yes, And also a
(33:18):
little love story. Who doesn't love that? Yeah, I highly
recommend that book. We already yapped about it on a
spookatels that does take place during all this, so well
a little bit before. But yeah, other than that, if
you want to support us on Patreon, we do have
two tiers over there. One is just like extra support
and you get a one time sticker. The other one
(33:38):
is the ad free Well, they both include ad free
episodes and then our bonus episodes where we yap about
current events sometimes TikTok drama, mostly just current events that
have a screaming. We scream into the void, which is
each other, and yeah, we yap. Honestly, it's a good time.
It is. It is if you want to be mad.
If you want to be mad, it is a good time. Also,
it helps us donate two things that we care about. Well,
(34:00):
currently we've only donated to and water Drop Program, but
they're in an organization doing important work helping migrants. Still
have to find another one, but for now, that's what
I've been donating to. Twenty percent of your Patreon fees
goes to that and helps us make this podcast. And yeah,
other than that, we hope that this was one less
Estonia Unknown for you. Bye bye. Estoria's Unknown is produced
(34:26):
by Carmen and Christina, researched by Carmen and Christina, edited
by Christina. You can find sources for every episode at
Estoria's Unknown dot com and in our show notes. Creating
the podcast has a lot of work, so if you
want to help us out financially, you can do so
by supporting us on Patreon at patreon dot com. Slash
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