Lynching of Elias Zarate

Elias Villarael Zarate was a 22-year-old, Mexican immigrant who was lynched in Weslaco, Hidalgo County, Texas by a white mob, his body then being discovered on November 11, 1922. The lynching of Zarate (also known as the Weslaco Affair) was the 15th lynching in Texas. According to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary it was the 56th of 61 lynchings during 1922 in the United States.

Lynching in Weslaco, Texas

Part of Vigilante Justice
News coverage of the Lynching of Elias Zarate
Date	November 11, 1922
Location	Weslaco, Hidalgo County, Texas
Participants	15 men
Deaths	Elias Villarael Zarate

Background

Texas was a very hostile place towards Mexicans after World War I. According to Lawrence A. Cardoso right after World War I ended, one Mexican national was lynched a week in the state of Texas.

On Thursday, November 9, 1922, Elias V. Zarate was part of a crew erecting a creamery at Weslaco. A fight broke out after a co-worker, J.L. Sullivan, got Zarate fired when Sullivan complained about the quality of his work. In the fight, Sullivan's arm was broken and Zarate was arrested by Weslaco police. Zarate was placed into an unguarded building that was sometimes used as a jail.

Lynching

At 8:00 PM, Thursday, November 9, 1922, a mob of 8-15 people were able to break the lock to the temporary jail and forced Zarate at gunpoint into a car. It was hours before the absence was noticed by police. He was never seen alive again and Zarate's body was found on a road 5 miles (8.0 km) from Weslaco on November 11, 1922.

Aftermath

After the lynching, anti-minority sentiment in some Texas cities and towns peaked with large white mobs roaming the streets demanding Blacks and Mexicans leave their areas. On November 16, 1922, hundreds of whites marched through the streets of Breckenridge, Texas. Mexican Consul General Eduardo Ruiz complained to Governor Pat Morris Neff about the lynching and anti-Mexican protests. When this got no response he lodged a complaint with Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes. Hughes then ordered Governor Neff to act and the Governor rushed extra police to Weslaco who improved the conditions for Mexicans living in the region.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• "Mexico Protests Weslaco Affair". The Brownsville Herald. Brownsville, Cameron, Texas: Brownsville Herald Pub. Co. November 15, 1922. pp. 1–6. ISSN 0894-2064. OCLC 12903289. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
• Cole, Stephanie; Parker, Alison Marie; Edwards, Laura F. (2004). Beyond Black and White: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the U.S. South and Southwest. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 9781585443192. - Total pages: 144
• Cardoso, Lawrence A. (1980). Mexican Emigration to the United States, 1897–1931 - Chapter (pp. 96-118) 6 Mexican Policies and Attitudes in the 1920s: New Urgency. University of Arizona Press. JSTOR j.ctvss3xzr.10. Retrieved March 13, 2022. - Total pages: 23
• "Find Missing Mexican Shot Through Heart". Evening Star. Washington, District of Columbia: W.D. Wallach & Hope. November 16, 1922. pp. 1–42. ISSN 2331-9968. OCLC 2260929. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
• "Rangers hold lynch mob at bay in Waco". New-York Tribune. New York, New York: Ogden Mills Reid. May 27, 1922. pp. 1–18. ISSN 1941-0646. OCLC 9405688. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
• McWilliams, Carey; Meier, Matt S.; García, Alma M. (2016). North from Mexico: The Spanish-Speaking People of the United States, 3rd Edition: The Spanish-Speaking People of the United States. ABC-Clio. ISBN 9781440836831. - Total pages: 448
• Robertson, Campbell (April 25, 2018). "A Lynching Memorial Is Opening. The Country Has Never Seen Anything Like It". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
• United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (1926). "To Prevent and Punish the Crime of Lynching: Hearings Before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on S. 121, Sixty-Ninth Congress, First Session, on Feb. 16, 1926". United States Government Publishing Office. Retrieved January 23, 2022.