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Sixth Judicial District Court Judge Ben H. Denton (né Benjamin Harrison Denton; 1854–1940) ordered a special grand jury to investigate the burning of the Arthur brothers. On July 26, 1920, the jury returned to the judge five bills of indictment, all for first degree murder. On October 30, 1920, Judge Denton ordered the cases of the five defendants to be transferred to Fifty-Ninth District Court at Sherman.

Note: It was reported in 1921 that five judges denounced the Ku Klux Klan:

  • Ben H. Denton, Paris
  • Judge James Robert Hamilton (1860–1933), District Criminal Court for Travis and Williamson Counties, Austin
  • C.A. McDowell, Beaumont
  • Judge Silas Hare (1862–1931), Fifteenth District Court, Sherman – son of U.S. Representative for Texas, Silas Hare (1827–1908)
  • W.P. Leslie, Sweetwater
  • J.R. Warren, Tyler

Look for[edit]

  • Arthur family photo: The Negro in Chicago – A Study of Race Relations and a Riot, Chicago Commission on Race Relations, University of Chicago Press (1922), p. 92; OCLC 837716516, 1129752158, 1125769446, OCLC 1043990181, 7435468702, 7254809522; OCLC 1089762154

Location[edit]

  • The Arthur's place (Hodges' property) was about 4 miles (6.44 km) north north-east of the center of Paris, on Stillhouse Road (County Roads 41100 & 42200) in the Reddin Russell Survey (R R I 362), northeast of the center of town

Corpses dragged[edit]

  • Dragged out North Main, to the Fairgrounds.
  • Charred corpses dragged up West Sherman Street and down 7th Street SW, between Sherman and Washington Street, past the Will Hodges' residence.

Denton County stuff[edit]

W.W. Lucas[edit]

  • William W. Lucas (1865–1926), graduated from the Gammon Theological Seminary (Clark University??) in 1893.

Memorial[edit]

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, opened features a memorial with 805 hanging steel rectangles, representing each of the counties in the United States where a documented lynching took place. Smith County, Texas, is included.

At the memorial, set on six acres of land, the truth is tactile and visceral. My first encounter is with slavery: A sculpture of a mother, chain around her neck, infant in her arms, registering a horror she can't escape.


On a hill overlooking the sculpture I see the memorial square, where more than 800 steel monuments hang. Each monument represents a county where lynchings took place, listing names of people most of us have never heard of.

People like Irving and Herman Arthur, burned to death on July 6, 1920, before a mob of 3,000 at a fairground in Paris, Texas. Elizabeth Lawrence, a teacher lynched in 1933 in Birmingham because she told a group of white kids not to throw stones at people.[1]

Temporary references[edit]

  • "Pain Still Haunts After Healing of Time," by Skipper Steely, Paris News, September 1, 1997, p. 4A (accessible via Newspapers.com; subscription required)
  • Arthur Lynchings in Paris Were 87 Years Ago," Paris News, July 6, 2007 (accessible via destee.com, "Black Community Discussion Forum")</ref>


Trump[edit]

In a television interview September 12, 2020, hosted by Jeanine Pirro, President Trump expressed encouragement for law enforcement officers to carryout extrajudicial retribution killing of suspected criminals. Trump made his comments in reference to a law enforcement officer who – on September 3, 2020, in Lacey, Washington – fatally shot Michael Forest Reinoehl (1972–2020), a self-described anti-fascist activist who was suspected of fatally shooting on August 29, 2020, a Patriot Prayer supporter, Aaron J. Danielson, in Portland, Oregon. "This guy was a violent criminal, and the U.S. Marshals killed him," Trump told Pirro. "And I will tell you something – that's the way it has to be. There has to be retribution."

According to a witness, Nate Dinguss – as reported by the Washington Post – Reinoehl seemed to be unarmed. The witnesses aver that police shot Reinoehl without warning or trying to arrest him first. Dinguss’s account contradicts the scenario described by federal authorities, who said Reinoehl drew a firearm as members of a fugitive task force tried to arrest him. Two other witnesses also told the Olympian they had seen Reinoehl fire a weapon at police.[2]

Danielson, by way of his stepmother, is distantly related to Trump nominated U.S. Attorney William D. Hyslop, who, on June 21, 2020, published an op-ed titled, "How to Address Police Reform in Spokane," touting a police reform program that was killed by the Trump administration back in 2017.[3]

{Cquote|quote=This guy was a violent criminal, and the U.S. Marshals killed him ... And I will tell you something – that's the way it has to be. There has to be retribution.|25px|25px|author=President Donald Trump|source=Fox News, September 12, 2020[4]}}

Teague: note about sisters[edit]

The Arthur family, including both parents, two sons aged 28 and 19, and three daughters aged 20, 17, and 14, worked as sharecroppers on the local Hodges farm near Paris in 1920. All of them were required to work every Saturday, which one witness noted was “against the usual custom here." Compliant for "a while," they eventually refused to work Saturdays[5]

In response, Hodges asserted his claim on all the Arthurs' property when he forcibly entered their home, "took the family dinner off the cook stove [and] threw it in the yard," while his adult son held the family at gunpoint. The elder Hodges went on to throw all their furniture, groceries, and clothes into the yard. This included the shirts off the backs of the entire Arthur family, both males and females. Of course, there was no police response. When the Arthurs attempted to permanently flee the farm 3 days later, the Hodges appeared again, this time firing upon the family as they packed a borrowed truck. One of the Arthur sons escaped into the house, retrieved a gun, and returned fire, killing the Hodges father and son.

Both Arthur sons were then arrested and all three daughters were taken to the local jail, as mentioned earlier, where they were sexually assaulted, then told to "hit the road." In the meantime, the lynching of their brothers was openly advertised in advance: "Niggers caught. Black brutes who killed Hodges will be burned in the fair grounds. Be on hand"[6]. Remaining silent, Paris authorities followed similar patterns in play across the South, where “police officers deliberately provided much of the political opportunity needed for the lynchers to act"[7]

As scheduled, both young men were publicly burned on a flagpole that, the Kansas City Times noted, “had been the scene yesterday ... of Fourth of July celebrations and oratory ("Fair Grounds Flagpole Scene of Double Lynching," 1962, p. 139). Afterward, both bodies were dragged through the streets of Paris' Black section for hours. One witness remembered it as a "regular parade of seventeen cars and a truck, all filled with armed men, crying aloud 'Here they are, two barbecued niggers. All you niggers come see them and take warning'"[6]. That warning was not just against killing two white men, even in self-defense, but also extended to any assertion of financial self-rule.

The invasion of the Arthur home, forcible stripping of their sons and daughters, and attempted murder of the entire family all went unanswered by police and other law enforcement officials. The law only intervened when the Hodges were killed, and then disappeared again as the lynching was advertised and carried out, and for the extensive period of time that the murderers abused and displayed the two corpses. Moreover, it is not as easy to excuse law enforcement with notions that they "disappeared" during the prolonged sexual assault of the Arthur daughters inside the local jail. That could not have occurred without the knowledge, and likely the participation, of law enforcement officials.

While Herman and Ervie Arthur were being lynched, three sisters – ages 14, 17, and 20 – were kept in jail on what one witness described as "the pretense of protection." After the lynching, while their brothers' burned bodies were being dragged through the town, the sisters were severely beaten ... taken to the basement, stripped of all their clothing and there assaulted by 20 white men, after which they were given a bucket of molasses, a small sack of flour and some bacon and told to hit the road.[6]

It is difficult to imagine a scenario in which some of those 20 White men were not jailers, police officers, or sheriff deputies. Indeed, it is impossible to imagine a scenario in which those officials would not at least be aware of the prolonged assault taking place or who was participating in it. Yet, not only was the assault allowed to continue, no arrests were made afterward.

This stands in stark contrast to the reaction that followed attacks on White women or children. The pedestal on which White women and children were placed was only elevated when those women and children were somehow connected to the police.[8]

The distrust in the legal system claimed by white exponents of lynching is a mirror what actually happened when black victims need justice. In the case of those indicted, one would have thought that there would be at least one guilty verdict, given that crimes – lynching, rape, etc. occurred under the noses of law officers (jailers, etc.), judiciary, and thousands of onlookers. It seems that lynching was more probable when evidence was thin; i.e., no witnesses.[10][11]

Herman and Irving Arthur[edit]

Herman and Irving Arthur were biological sons of Violet Archer, who, along with ## other siblings, had the surname of Charles in the 1900 U.S. Census. Violet and Scott Arthur married around 1900.

Churches[edit]

  • Rev. Gary Savage, pastor of Mount Pisgah Baptist Church, predominately African American, and one of the organizers of the event
  • Rev. Robert Pierce Shuler, Sr. (1880–1965), at the time was past of the First United Methodist Church, 99% White. Current Rev. Rob Spencer also helped organize the Arthur event. Shuler, in 1920, is said to have gone to the courthouse and attempted to prevent the mob from breaking the Arthur brothers out of jail. Judge Denton also reportedly pleaded to stop the mob.
Annotations
  • J. Morgan Crook (né John Morgan Crook; 1865–1958) was mayor of Paris for eight two-year terms, between 1918 and 1942. His second term re-election was on April 6, 1920.

Ragland, beginning December 5, 1889, had been a Colonel in the Texas Volunteer Guard, Field & Staff, 6th Regiment, Infantry.

  • In the days following this lynching, citizens armed themselves to the extent that they even raided local hardware stores, taking guns, rifles, shotguns, pistols, knives, much of which was not returned resulting on estimated losses to the hardware store of about $10,000 (equivalent to $152,093 in 2023).

Citizens armed up afterward[edit]

Fearing reprisals from African American citizens of Paris, Mayor John Morgan Crook (1865–1958) went into the African American neighborhood with two or three other men in an automobile. He organized squads who patrolled Pine Bluff Street. The next day, he when to the neighborhood alone to talk and inform them that they would be protected if they went about their business and refrained from gathering and discussing the affair. The Mayor deputized 250 men as special officers. They were sworn-in for service July 7; 6 pm. The Mayor issued a proclamation to the people, calling on them to refrain from public gathering on the streets and the carrying of arms, assuring them that no further disturbance would be permitted. The Mayor appointed Col. C.M. Ragland[12] (né Charles Massie Ragland; 1858–1935), who coincidentally was a fire insurance agent, to command the posse.

Rev. Shuler[edit]

University of Florida Professor Brandon Jett, PhD, in his 2012 master's thesis, analyzed the aftermath and asserted that ensuing condemnation from White citizens of Paris was seemingly driven out of concern over the lynching's negative impact on commerce. Three days after the double-lynching, the Paris Chamber of Commerce published a petition in the Paris Times, imploring Judge Denton to assemble a grand jury to investigate "the recent outrage against the laws of our State, and the peace and dignity of our county."

Rev. Robert Pierce Shuler, Sr. (1880–1965), a Methodist minister, published a statement July 10, 1920, in the Paris Morning News, condemning the lynching, "We have solved nothing by defying the laws of our land. We have brought shame, reproach, and condemnation upon our heads from those in every land who respect law and uphold justice." But, his words – according to the analysis of Professor Jett – were more about concerns for peace and order (not justice).

Rev. Shuler went on, "the dragging of the dead bodies through yards and streets in front of the homes of innocent Negros" ... "seeking by every possible act of insult to incite an uprising among blacks is worthy of condemnation ... " He continued, "The fact that our city escaped the horrible experience of bloodshed that often attends such performances is due largely to the patience, respect for law, willingness to silently endure and disposition to not resent the humiliation offered, which characterized our Paris Negros." Toward the closing of the article, he wrote, "A Word to Negros – If the negro race will show its appreciation by living as these good men [prominent white men of Paris] desire them to live, much of the errors of the past will be removed from the path of their race."

As a dissent to Sheriff Clarkson, Shuler did not mention any possibility of innocence and, in fact, rejected claims that those burned alive might have been innocent, but was worried how the world perceived Paris. "That our community will suffer beyond repair is proven by the fact that Wednesday afternoon there was published in the North and East that we had burned the wrong negros." "There is no doubt in any mind but that the right Negros were punished. Moreover, all just men acknowledge that their punishment was none too severe."

Shuler essentially blamed the mob violence on African Americans. "The attitude of many negroes toward farm labor and other work, their seething disposition not to assist the farms in earnest fashion and at fair remuneration, had much to do with the spirit of this mob."

Officer killed[edit]

On July 19, 1920, Miles Bowie, 175 North 20th Street, an African American, fatally shot James LaFayette Massey (1866–1920), debt-collector for a Dallas furniture company, L.B. Price & Company, who had been sitting on the porch Will Black, the debtor who lived next-door to Bowie. Black's home was a Shiloh and 20th N.W. Streets.

When Paris Police Officers R.S. Rogers and Duain Shelby Mann Cross (1976–1920) arrived and saw a dead body, they told Bowie that they had to arrest him and instructed him to surrender his shotgun. Bowie shot Cross in the abdomen. Rogers shot five rounds into Bowie's chest, and he died on the spot. Cross died the next day.

Lamar lynchings[edit]

Lamar County Lynchings
Date
City
Person
Description
1877
near Paris
 Unidentified African American male Unidentified African American male hanged and shot three times for allegedly stealing a fail of cotton. No arrests were made.[13]
February 8, 1886
Paris
 Robert T. Garrett (1853–1886) R.T. Garrett allegedly murdered Henry Clay Davis (1858–1885), a Lamar County Deputy Sheriff, December 27, 1885, on Shockley's Prairie, about 12 miles (ca. 19 km) northeast of Paris. Davis was attempting to arrest Garrett for disturbing a Christmas tree entertainment event. Garrett escaped. In the scuffle of his eventual arrest, Garrett had been shot fifteen times, but survived. While awaiting trial, on February 8, 1886, between 1 and 2 am, a mob of 75-10 men broke into the Lamar County jail, overpowered the jailer Baldwin, took him in a hack down North Main Street, about three quarters of a mile (1.21 km), and hanged him from a red oak tree.[14]
September 6, 1892
Paris
 John Walker
William Armor
John Ransom 		The murder of Jarrett Burns, an African American, by John Ashley, a White farmer, on July 29, 1892, near Pattonville was followed by the lynching of three African Americans who were hanged from an elm tree about 8 miles (12.87 km) east of Paris.[15] A mob of about 35, at around 11 pm September 6, 1892, went to Gilbert Daniels on the Lane McCuistion farm (né Bedford Lane McCuistion; 1840–1917) took John Ransom (1872–1892), then at midnight the mob appeared at William Armor's house on the Hanna farm, where Jack Walker, a young, single African American also lived.[16] Ashley, reportedly, had, at around midnight December 4, 1892, attempted to kill a niece of Jarrett Burns' wife – the niece also being a sister of John Ransom. She escaped.

Ashley had sold Burn a horse, which was to be paid for by clearing a piece of land, and Burns had performed part of the work, but the horse got loose and, several times, damaged Ashley's crop. After complaining, Ashley penned the horse in his lot and refused to release it to Burns until he settled the damages. Ashley fatally shot Burns while he was trying to retrieve his horse.

Leading up to the triple lynching, Saturday night, August 27, 1892, two African Americans living on the Sulphur River were taken from their homes and whipped. Saturday night September 3, 1892, an attempt was made to whip Eaton. He resisted and was shot at.

September 19, 1892
Paris
 Unidentified African American male
January 31, 1893
Paris
 Henry Smith – burned alive
Main article: Henry Smith (lynching victim)
August 26, 1895
Paris
 Jefferson Cole Whitecaps in Lamar and Delta Counties drove African Americans out of the counties, except Jefferson Cole, an elderly landowner, refused to leave. He was called from his house and shot dead.
February 11, 1901
Paris
 George Carter
December 25, 1901
Paris
 H. McClinton
January 17, 1913
Paris
 Henry Monson
July 6, 1920
Paris
 Irving Arthur
Henry Arthur
Main article: Lynching of Irving and Herman Arthur

"Another Case of Lynching". Denison Daily News. Vol. 5, no. 215. Denison, Texas. October 17, 1877. p. 2, col. 1. Retrieved August 18, 2020 – via Portal to Texas History.

Death Certificates[edit]

Arthur brothers[edit]

  • Jack Carter (né Jack J. Carter; 1863–1940), Paris policeman, signed the "Personal Particulars" section of Irvings's death certificate. Benton Fisher (né Owen Benton Fisher; 1898–1960), Assistant Lamar County Attorney, signed the "Medical Particulars."
  • Woodie Kuykendall (né Joe Woodie Kuykendall; 1880–1965), Paris policeman, signed the "Personal Particulars" section of Herman's death certificate. Benton Fisher, Assistant Lamar County Attorney, signed the "Medical Particulars."

Arming up afterwards[edit]

Hodges father and son[edit]

  • cite web
Texas State Board of Health, Department of Vital Statistics, Standard Certificate of Death (Form D), Registered No. 149, No. 655, re: Wm. Hodges, date of death: July 2, 1920, Paris, Lamar County, Texas
"Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3XZ-K21 : 13 March 2018), Wm Hodges, 02 Jul 1920; citing certificate number 23360, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm .


  • One policeman identified as being part of the mob was dismissed from the Paris Police Department.


  • "No More Trouble Expected at Paris"
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX) 8 July 1920, page One GenealogyBank https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A0F99DDB671832188%40GB3NEWS-105F42F5912596F7%402422514-105F42F5A55DF9D8%400 : accessed 30 July 2020
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No More Trouble Expected at Paris
Dallas Morning News
Thursday, Jul 08, 1920
Dallas, TX
Page: One

Footnote test[edit]

References test[edit]

References for notes test[edit]


New ones[edit]

In use (from above)
More

More[edit]

  • * Griffin, L. J., Clark, P., & Sandberg, J. C. (1997). Narrative and Event: Lynching and Historical Sociology. In Brundage (Ed.), Under sentence of death (pp. 24-47). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
In use (from above)
"Timuel D. Black, Jr., Papers" (re: Timuel Black), Chicago Public Library, Box 188, Folder 4, Black History – "Arthur Family, 1998" (link)

Test text[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Extra main big ref[edit]
  1. ^ Best.
  2. ^ Washington Post, September 10, 2020.
  3. ^ Hyslop, William D., Spokesman-Review, The, June 21, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Fox-News w/Pirro 2020 Sep 12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Letter from Texas, Negro World 1920; re-printed by Ginzburg 1962 p. 140.
  6. ^ a b c Letter from Texas, Negro World 1920; re-printed by Ginzburg 1962 p. 140.
  7. ^ Griffin, Clark, and Sandberg 1997 p. 34.
  8. ^ Teague pp. 756–781.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Buna was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Blakeley 1956. Cited in Advance to Buna.[9]
  11. ^ Miller 2025.
  12. ^ "Law Supplants Anarchy ... " Paris Morning News, July 8, 1920, p. 1.
  13. ^ Denison Daily News, October 17, 1877.
  14. ^ Austin Weekly Statesman, The, February 11, 1886.
  15. ^ Daily Hesperian, The, September 7, 1892.
  16. ^ Austin Weekly Statesman, The, September 8, 1892.
  17. ^ Kansas City Times, (July 7, 1920).
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