Texas Justice Takes Matters into Its Own Hands: A Lynch Mob Executes a Convicted Murderer in Broad Daylight

In the small town of Hillsboro, Texas, a shocking display of vigilantism unfolded on January 21, 1919. Bragg Williams, a negro under death sentence for the brutal murder of Mrs. George Wells and her child at Itasca, was taken from the Hill County Jail by a mob and burned at the stake in broad daylight. The crowd, numbering in the hundreds, stood by with a sense of eerie calm as the lynch mob carried out its gruesome task. The incident was said to have been sparked by the filing of a notice of appeal by Williams’ attorneys just a day prior.