#OTD in 1915, Texas Rangers murdered Jesus Bazan and his son-in-law, Antonio Longoria, in cold blood.
Raiders from Mexico had ridden onto their Hidalgo County ranch and stolen horses and other supplies, so the men were faced with a predicament.
The men had two choices. Report the theft and face revenge from the raiders or their allies, or ignore it and risk being accused of supporting “bandit activities.”
In response to revolutionary violence in Mexico and the Plan de San Diego uprising, the state government flooded the border area with Texas Rangers and other law enforcement, leading to strong racial division and the killing of many innocents.
Historians estimate that between 100-300 ethnic Mexicans were killed between August 1915 and June 1916. Residents of the area refer to this period as “la matanza,” or the massacre, due to the indiscriminate violence.
Bazan and Longoria decided to report the theft, and witnesses reported seeing the men have an uneventful conversation with Captain Henry Ransom.
Reportedly, Bazan and Longoria left and began making their way home on horseback. Ransom and two civilians followed by car, and then a man reached out and shot both men in the back.
Both Jesus Bazan and Antonio Longoria fell from their horses and died on the side of the road. Ransom instructed witnesses not to bury or move the bodies as a warning and an extreme act of disrespect.
Ransom had a reputation and a penchant for severe violence, and in a further act of disrespect, Roland Warnock, a local ranch hand reported he took a nap after killing the men, allowing the bodies to putrefy in the sun.
Eventually, sometime in October, two of the Longorias’ friends Martiriano and Timotea Cantu buried the remains of Bazan and Longoria with the help of other bystanders, including Anglo ranchhand Roland Warnock.
There were no police investigations into the murders, nor did Ransom make any mention of the murders in his monthly report.
The lack of interest by law enforcement into these murders only further illustrates the way that Texas Rangers have been allowed to run rampant and take the law into their own hands.
For generations, the Bazán and Longoria families lovingly tended the gravesites and kept alive memories of their fallen ancestors.
Kirby Warnock, the grandson of one of the witnesses, featured their killings prominently in his 2004 film “Border Bandits.” https://refusingtoforget.org/border-bandits-released/
Refusing To Forget took on the memorialization process of the Bazan and Longoria murders and submitted an application for a historical marker in in Hidalgo County in 2014.
The Texas Historical Commission rejected the marker in 2014, and again in 2015, but finally approved it in 2015. The RTF team collaborated on the marker and its unveiling with descendants.
https://refusingtoforget.org/historical-markers/jesus-bazan-and-antonio-longoria/
The Bazan-Longoria story was featured prominently as part of the @BullockMuseum’s 2016 exhibit “Life and Death on the Border,” including images lent by the family. A traveling version of the exhibit will be hosted by at least five venues in 2023-25. https://aaslh.org/life-death-on-the-border-1910-1920/
We refuse to forget Jesús Bazan and Antonio Longoria.
Information for this thread is thanks in large part to “The Injustice Never Leaves You” by Monica Munoz Martinez, “Revolution in Texas” by Benjamin Johnson, and the project “Lynching in Texas”.
