The February 1, 1893 murder of Henry Smith in Paris, Texas was the first blatantly public, actively promoted lynching of a southern black by a large crowd of southern whites. Smith, an insane ex-slave, allegedly killed Myrtle Vance, the three-year-old daughter of a brutal Texas policeman after the policeman had assaulted him. Although the child had not been sexually molested, a local clergyman, Bishop Haygood, fueled the growing hysteria with lurid tales of how the child had been "taken by her heels and torn asunder in the mad wantonness of gorilla ferocity." The suspect was captured in Arkansas. He confessed on the train back to Paris, Texas.
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I am not related to this family, just passing on this information which comes from a website called "American Lynching." The link for the site is listed below.
Joyce

http://www.americanlynching.com/main.html

Smith grabbed the child's legs, one in each hand, and ripped the 3 year old girl apart.

If we held these sort of punishments today no matter what color some one is, there would be very little crime in this country.

Genealogy Bank holds newspaper clippings concerning the murder of Myrtle Vance and the circumstances of the man's death. You might have to pay a small fee for the info.