Orange, TX Jun 5, 1910, it appears that two Black
men were shot to death overnight while they were walking home from a festival
in the Negro Section last night. Douglas Lemon and Rankin Moore were reported
have had a confrontation with three white men after midnight.
Tensions have been high in Orange County since the
killing of Deputy Constable Sam Combs by a Black man named Jack White on April
18. Law officers promised the community that if they remained calm there would
be swift justice for White, but that had not happened as there were multiple
delays in White’s trial.
It seems the resentments of White residents of
Orange overflowed last night as shots rang out into the Negro district
apparently killing Rankin and then Lemon. Rankin took the bulk of the anger as
his body was riddled with bullets. A few hours later Lemon’s body was found.
The investigation has not turned up any clues
about who might have shot and killed the two men and fired other warning shots
into the Negro section. Although they are continuing to interview people, the sheriff’s
office feels there isn’t much hope they will find the shooters.
As always during the Jim Crow era the county coroner
listed the deaths as killing by the hands of persons unknown.
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