Troops Fire on Texas Mob — Sherman Riot, New York Times, May 1930

New York Times, May 1930. — The front page reports that state troops fired on a white mob in Sherman, Texas, wounding two, after the mob burned a Black man alive inside the Grayson County courthouse. The subheadlines complete the picture: Sherman Goes on Rampage. Courthouse Burned Down.

The man killed was George Hughes, a farm worker accused of assaulting a white woman. While Hughes was being held inside the courthouse awaiting trial, a mob of thousands gathered outside and set the building on fire. When troops arrived, the mob turned on them. The courthouse burned. Hughes died inside it.

The mob was not finished. They dragged his body from the ruins, chained it to a tree in the Black business district, and burned it again. Then they burned the district itself.

The Governor of Texas called in the National Guard and declared martial law in Sherman. Several men were eventually arrested. Most charges were dropped or resulted in minimal sentences.

This New York Times front page is the national record of that day — the moment it became news large enough to print above the fold, two cents, in New York City.

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