On Tuesday night, Nov. 19, 1929, at this site, Marshall Ratliff was hanged from a utility pole guy wire until dead before a crowd of about 1,500 people in what was identified as the last mob lynching in Texas. Ratliff, also known as the Santa Claus Robber, had dressed as Santa Claus and led a gang of four in robbing the 1st Nat’l Bank of Cisco on Dec. 23, 1927. During that robbery, he and his gang murdered 2 people, several others were wounded, and 6 people ultimately died as a result. After being tried for his crimes and serving time in Huntsville Prison, he was brought back to Eastland County on Oct. 24, 1929. He tried to escape on Nov. 18, 1929, and mortally wounded the jailer, Uncle Tom Jones. The next day, during that futile attempt’s aftermath, an angry mob stormed the jail and dragged the nude Ratliff from his second-story cell to this site. The first rope broke under his weight, and another was quickly brought, after which he was allowed to hang for about 30 minutes until the Justice of the Peace declared him dead. Word of Ratliff’s hanging was promptly sent to Jones, the wounded jailer, who died within hours.