"Houston Riot" 1917

[Chris Boonzaier]

I saw this 1917 newspaper on EBAY... anyone know what the story was?

[JBFloyd]

A short synopsis of the "Houston Riot" is at http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/...es/HH/jch4.html

[Chris Boonzaier]

Sounds like home in the bad old days :-(

Thanks for the link, I had never heard anything about this before.

[PKeating]

The thirteen condemned men were members of the 24th Infantry Regiment, which was one of the US Army's two all-black infantry regiments. They were hanged one minute after sunrise, at 07:17 hrs on 11.12.1917, at Camp Travis, near the Texan town of San Antonio. According to some accounts, the gallows was a simple affair and the men were stood on folding chairs. They reportedly sang the negro spiritual I'm coming home before the hangmen kicked the chairs away. Other accounts describe a more modern hanging, with a short drop, breaking their necks. These and other executions related to the so-called Houston Riot were carried out with a degree of secrecy before the event that caused a lot of ill-feeling.

President Woodrow Wilson subsequently commuted a number of death sentences and the US Army General, Ruckman, who handled the executions was found to have acted legally, according to the Articles of War, and cleared of any wrong-doing. There was a feeling that Ruckman took undue pleasure in hanging blacks but that could just be subjective reporting. Many of the 24th IR (US) men who took part in the "march on Houston" and the skirmishing with local civilians and law enforcement officers were veterans of Pershing's Mexican expedition and various border actions against Mexican irregulars. Some were veterans of the Spanish-American War and the Philippines campaign.

PK

Edited June 14, 2008 by PKeating