The 19 16 lynching of jesse washington in waco, texas stands as one of the most widely known and scrutinized lynchings. Just over two months after the birth of a nation, estimated ten thousand people watched as a mob mutilated, strangled and burned washington to death on the grounds of the city hall. In other words, if we're doing an experiment on whether or not people would still come out to a public execution if they were ever brought back in the twentieth century, the data point gest that the answer would be yes.