#OTD in 1915, Tomas Aguilar was executed by Rangers after an alleged escape attempt. Ranger Captain James Monroe Fox oversaw the troop that murdered him.

J.M. Fox would be the same Captain that would resign in 1918, in the aftermath of the Porvenir massacre, which was carried out by men under his command.

See OTD thread on Porvenir and Fox’s involvement here: https://twitter.com/refusing2forget/status/1619345581725593601?s=42&t=fnhM57-5KtMako0zvobXKQ.

@BenjaminHJohns1 addresses the murder of Tomas Aguilar in his book, Revolution in Texas, describing the letter J.M. Fox wrote to the commander of the Ranger force.

Fox wrote, “Yesterday we caught a Mexican by the name of Tomas Aguilar one of the 3 that robes [sic] the Depot at Combs and sit [sic] the R.R. bridge on fire…”

“To which he admitted and was also in the killing of Mr. Austin & Son of course he tried to make his escape but we killed him.”

Of note within this letter is that Fox suspected Aguilar of these crimes, but like his superiors, showed no interest in anything resembling due process.

@BenjaminHJohns1 writes that ethnic Mexicans were lynched in Texas after nearly every raid during 1915.

The murder of Tomas Aguilar by Company A of the Texas Rangers under J. M. Fox is only one instance of many, of the sanctioned lynchings by law enforcement that occurred during 1915.