You're listening to the drag.

It's October 3rd, 1885.

Six people are dead and more than a dozen attacked after an unknown murderer has terrorized

Austin for nine months. The killer has targeted Austin's black community in the dead of night.

Multiple black men are in jail, all accused of some kind of connection to the attacks.

The two most likely suspects, Oliver Townsend and Doc Woods,

are in jail based on eyewitness testimony that's shaky at best.

And despite the arrests, fear still pulses throughout the city.

With the police organized night patrol units, the threat of lynching rises.

Targeting not just those arrested in relation to the crimes,

but also black men throughout the city, incarcerated or not.

Even though the newspapers claim law enforcement are trying to prevent the lynchings, they

might be involved in them too. The night of October 3rd, Austin City Marshal, Grooms Lee,

arrives at the front door of the Black Elephant Saloon,

one of the only black-owned businesses in East Austin.

The Black Elephant saloon was a hot spot for police to look for crime.

The Daily Statesman says it should, quote, bear watching.

The Marshal is looking for a man named Alex Mack, sometimes called

Alec Mack in the newspaper reports. The Daily Statesman was kind of obsessed with him and

had reporter Max's behavior several times before

detailing his arrests for being drunk and disturbing the peace.

According to the story, Mac tells the Austin Daily statesman.

...