Fire and Lynchings of 1860

On July 8, 1860, the temperature in Dallas reached 115 degrees. A combustible fire beginning outside of W.W. Peak and Brothers drugstore destroyed most of downtown. At the time, national tensions ran high over the right to enslave human beings. Many were driven by suspicion of Northern abolitionists and a rush to judgment. A local committee of vigilance conducted a swift investigation, without trials for the accused, a committee of 100 white men ordered all Dallas slaves to be whipped. On July 24, 1860, three slaves, Sam Smith, Patrick Jennings and “Old Cato,” were hanged on newly-built gallows. In 1991, the site was named Martyrs Park, a memorial to the men and to the inhumane legacy of slavery in Dallas. (2018)