An Extra “Hidden” Danger: Lynching

On Aug. 20, 1892, an armed, hooded mob in Santa Ana absconded with jailed murder suspect Francisco Torres. They pinned a crude sign saying “change of venue” to his chest, and lynched him at Fourth and Sycamore streets. Torres, a laborer arrested in the killing of his employer at a South County ranch, had claimed self-defense. No one was ever held accountable in the notorious incident, and nothing at the intersection acknowledges it ever happened.