The Lynching of William Taylor

Marker Text: On September 12, 1884, a mob of at least 400 young white men lynched a 25-year-old Black man named William Allen Taylor near this location beside the Trinity River. Weeks before the lynching, Mr. Taylor was arrested after being accused of robbing and assaulting a white woman. During this era of racial terror, allegations against Black people were rarely subject to serious scrutiny and often sparked violent reprisal. In June, local white press reported that the woman’s alleged attacker was an unidentified Black man but did not mention allegations of assault. Rather, sensationalized reports came months later, as local officials struggled to enact punishment, and hostile suspicion targeted William Taylor. Although no credible evidence tied him to any offense, plans to lynch Mr. Taylor began to spread among te white community. In response, the sheriff transferred Mr. Taylor to a jail in Waxahachie to await his trial. But on September 12, as Mr. Taylor was en route to Dallas, a lynch mob abducted him from police custody, still handcuffed, and hanged him from a tree. Although law enforcement officers were armed, they did not use force against the mob to protect William Taylor. These were his last words: “Boss, you are hanging an innocent man. I don’t know anything about it and won’t tell a lie by saying I do.” No one was ever held accountable for the lynching of William Taylor.