When Henry Smith, a black man, learned that he was suspected of killing a white girl, he fled his home of Paris, Texas, likely fearful of being lynched. Soon after, a posse seized Mr. Smith and without a full investigation or trial, named him the murderer of the girl. The police did not intervene at any time. On February 1, 1893, a mob of 10,000 gathered, stripping Mr. Smith naked and beating him. He was placed on a carnival float and paraded through town to the fairgrounds. There, he was tortured before a cheering crowd, including children, and burned alive. Afterward, the crowd clamored for souvenirs of the lynching: ashes and pieces of bone. Mr. Smith’s death was one of many public spectacle lynchings, in which crowds of white people, often numbering in the thousands, gathered to witness heinous killings that featured prolonged suffering of the victim. Many were carnival-like events, with vendors selling food and photographers printing postcards.