HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 28 - Councilmember Requested Item: Community Historical Marker City Council
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Item # 28
City of Santa Ana
20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Staff Report
November 15, 2022
TOPIC: Councilmember Requested Item: Community Historical Marker
TITLE
Discuss and Consider Directing the City Manager to Direct Staff to Develop a
Community Historical Marker Policy and to Install a Community Historical Marker on the
Corner of Sycamore and Fourth Streets to Honor, Remember, and Memorialize the
Story of Francisco Torres
DISCUSSION
Councilmember Hernandez added the following councilmember requested item:
Historical Analysis: Lynching of Francisco Torres
Francisco Torres was a Mexican farm laborer of the Modjeska Ranch in Santiago
Canyon during the summer of 1892. The 400-acre ranch belonged to the Polish actress
Helena Modjeska and her husband Karol Bozenta Chlapowski. Those close to Mr.
Torres described him as a good worker and a quiet man who kept to himself. Standing
at five-foot-two, Mr. Torres was given the nickname “Shorty.”
On the morning of July 30, 1892, Chlapowski learned the county road overseer had
been unable to collect the annual road poll tax of $2.50 from Torres, who had worked at
the ranch for less than a month. William McKelvey, 55, a former sea captain and ranch
foreman, was instructed by Chlapowski to withhold the $2.50 from Mr. Torres’ $9 salary
as a “poll tax” owed to the county.
During this era, deep racial hostility lurked in Orange County, oftentimes fueling
tensions between Anglo and Latino communities. Additionally, the language and cultural
barriers played a vital role in this incident. McKelvey was unable to explain to Torres
why his pay had been docked, causing Torres to leave without his pay in frustration.
As Mr. Torres protested, he returned to the ranch to demand his money. A fight ensued
and Mr. McKelvey was found dead by a housekeeper. Due to McKelvey’s popularity,
there was a public outrage, protests were organized, and rewards were offered for
Torres’ capture. Through a cell window, Torres claimed he had acted in self-defense
and that McKelvey had attacked him first and had drawn a pistol.
Councilmember Requested Item: Closed Session Discussions Relating to Labor
Negotiations
October 4, 2022
Page 2
3
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On August 20, 1892, a mob of men wearing white cloths over their heads with eye cut-
outs, including many “prominent citizens”, broke into the Sycamore Street Jail, dragged
Francisco Torres out, and lynched him by hanging him from a telegram pole on the
corner of Sycamore and Fourth streets. Mr. Torres’ lawyers had asked for a change of
venue, claiming that their client’s life was in danger. When his body was found at dawn
a place card was pinned to Mr. Torres’s chest, which read “Change of venue.” No one
was ever held accountable for the lynching of Torres.
This lynching has been considered the county’s darkest moment, the only lynching to
ever occur in Orange County and the last in California state history. This historical
marker will serve as a testament to Fernando Torres to condemn the vigilante justice
that occurred, the lack of action taken to bring Torres’ murderers to justice, and
education to our community about this heinous act of racism within our city. Only when
we acknowledge our downfalls as a whole can we move to right our wrongs and
deconstruct the racial and cultural barriers that led to the loss of lives. Everyone has the
right to due process and no one should fall victim at the hands of a mob motivated by
racist vigilante justice.