Cold case · 1910
Also known as Hora de Sangre · Hour of Blood
The short answer
Between 1910 and 1920, Anglo-Texan vigilantes and law enforcement, including the Texas Rangers, killed an estimated hundreds to thousands of ethnic Mexicans in Texas amid tensions from the Mexican Revolution and the Plan of San Diego, with most killings unreported and unprosecuted.
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Suggest coverage for La Matanza (1910–1920)La Matanza ("The Massacre") and the Hora de Sangre ("Hour of Blood") refer to a period of anti-Mexican violence in Texas between 1910 and 1920, occurring against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution and cross-border raiding known as the Bandit Wars. According to secondary historical sources, this violence was carried out by Anglo-Texan vigilantes and law enforcement, particularly the Texas Rangers, and was justified at the time by racism. Estimates of the number of Mexican Americans killed during this decade range from 300 to 5,000, with at least 100 documented lynchings, many occurring in Texas. Many killings were concealed or went unreported, and people suspected by Rangers of supporting Mexican insurgents were sometimes placed on blacklists and disappeared.
The period followed the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which drove migration into Texas and tripled the Mexican population in the United States during the decade. Border raiding by Carrancista forces predated 1914; from January 1915, rebels calling themselves Seditionistas drafted the Plan of San Diego, which called for a race war to remove Anglo-Americans from the border states and for Mexico to annex them. Although no full-scale invasion occurred, roughly 30 raids into Texas are reported to have killed 21 Americans, and about 400 Anglo-Texans died overall in border unrest during the decade.
Early documented cases include the lynching of Antonio Rodríguez, a 20-year-old migrant worker burned alive by a mob in Rocksprings in November 1910 after being accused of murder; the lynching of 14-year-old Antonio Gomez in Thorndale in June 1911 after he killed a man while fleeing a mob; and the case of León Martínez Jr., legally hanged in 1914 after a contested trial, an execution nonetheless counted among documented lynchings of Mexican Americans in the era.
Ranger violence is described as peaking between 1915 and 1919. Cited examples include the September 1915 killing of Jesus Bazan and Antonio Longoria, two Mexican-American residents shot by a Texas Ranger after they reported a robbery to him, with no official investigation following; and the Porvenir massacre of January 28, 1918, in which Texas Rangers and civilian ranchers, aided by U.S. Army cavalry, separated 15 men and boys from the village of Porvenir and shot them to death. A 1919 legislative inquiry led by State Representative Jose Canales brought 19 charges against the Rangers based on testimony of abuses, but the charges were ultimately dropped.
In the aftermath, the depopulation of Mexican and Mexican-American laborers from Texas led employers to import an estimated 50,000 Mexican laborers by 1920, even as anti-Mexican sentiment persisted. Descendants of victims of La Matanza had, as of July 2019 according to CNN, warned that anti-immigrant sentiment could contribute to violence such as the 2019 El Paso shooting.
Mexican Revolution begins, driving migration of Mexican refugees into Texas.
Antonio Rodríguez, a 20-year-old migrant worker, is taken from jail and burned alive by a mob in Rocksprings, Texas.
Antonio Gomez, a 14-year-old Mexican boy, kills a man while fleeing a mob in Thorndale, Texas, and is later lynched.
León Martínez Jr. is accused of murder in Toyah, Texas.
León Martínez Jr. is executed by legal hanging.
Mexican rebels known as Seditionistas draft the Plan of San Diego, calling for a race war against Anglo-Americans in border states.
Jesus Bazan and Antonio Longoria are shot and killed by Texas Ranger Henry Ransom after reporting a robbery to him.
Texas Rangers, civilian ranchers, and U.S. Army cavalry surround Porvenir, Texas; Rangers separate and kill 15 men and boys, an event known as the Porvenir massacre.
State Representative Jose Canales begins an investigation into Texas Ranger violence against Mexican Americans, later bringing 19 charges that were ultimately dropped.
An estimated 50,000 Mexican laborers are imported into the United States following the depopulation of Mexican labor in Texas caused by the violence.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
14-year-old boy lynched by a mob in Thorndale, Texas, in June 1911.[3]
South Texas resident shot and killed alongside Jesus Bazan by a Texas Ranger in September 1915 after reporting a robbery.[3]
20-year-old migrant worker lynched (burned alive) by a mob in Rocksprings, Texas, in November 1910 after being accused of murder.[3]
South Texas resident shot and killed by a Texas Ranger in September 1915 after reporting a robbery.[3]
Convicted of murder and executed by legal hanging in 1914; his execution is counted among documented lynchings of Mexican Americans in the era.[3]
Texas State Representative who sponsored a 1919 legislative investigation into Texas Ranger violence against Mexican Americans, bringing 19 charges that were later dropped.[3]
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Jul 13, 2026Correction
Catalog QA: Corrected the umbrella period to 1910–1920.
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Image recordPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenNear San Antonio de Bexar (present-day San Antonio, Texas) · 1840s
On September 17, 1842, a company of 54 Texian militiamen led by Nicholas Mosby Dawson was attacked by Mexican cavalry and artillery near San Antonio de Bexar; 36 Texans were killed, fifteen captured, and two escaped, during the larger Battle of Salado Creek.
Image recordCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenSan Antonio, Texas · 1950s
Three-year-old Chere Jo Horton was abducted, raped, and murdered on the night of July 3–4, 1954, in San Antonio, Texas, while her parents were inside a nearby tavern. Jimmy Shaver, a U.S. Air Force airman, was arrested, convicted at two trials, and executed in 1958.
Credit: Unknown author Unknown authorPublic domainSourceUNSOLVEDListenJack Harris Vaudeville Saloon and Theater, San Antonio, Texas · 1880s
On March 11, 1884, former lawmen Ben Thompson and King Fisher were shot dead in an ambush at the Jack Harris Vaudeville Saloon and Theater in San Antonio, Texas, an attack tied to lingering resentment over Thompson's 1882 killing of theater owner Jack Harris.
Credit: TthrailCC BY-SA 4.0SourceUNSOLVEDListenNear Macon Road bridge over the Wolf River, Memphis, Tennessee · 1917
In May 1917, Ell Persons, a Black woodcutter accused of the rape and decapitation of 15-year-old Antoinette Rappel near Memphis, Tennessee, was seized from custody by a mob and burned alive before a crowd of about 5,000. No one was ever charged in either death, and the lynching contributed to the founding of the Memphis NAACP.
Credit: UyvsdiPublic domainSourceUNSOLVEDListenBridge over the North Canadian River near Okemah, Okfuskee County, Oklahoma · 1911
Laura Nelson and her teenage son L. D. Nelson, an African-American mother and son, were seized from the Okfuskee County jail in Okemah, Oklahoma, on the night of May 24, 1911, by a mob of white men and hanged from a bridge over the North Canadian River the following morning. No one was ever identified or charged in connection with the killings.
Credit: Unknown authorPublic domainSourceUNSOLVEDListenNewberry, Alachua County, Florida · 1916
In August 1916, a mob of about 200 people in Newberry, Florida, took six Black residents from jail and hanged them from a single tree after a Black man, Boisey Long, killed a white constable attempting to arrest him; no one was ever arrested for the killings.
