Editing Comanche County, Texas (section)

===Expulsion of the African Americans===
In 1886, "one of those too horribly frequent crimes was committed by an African American. He was quickly caught and was punished in accordance with the rules of the unwritten law." Following this lynching, at a meeting of the white citizens "it was resolved to give every negro in the county one week's notice to leave the county, and committees of men from different sections of the county were appointed to carry out the will of the white people."<ref name=Courier/><ref name=Billy>{{cite journal
|title=The Negro Exodus from Comanche County, Texas
|first=Billy Bob
|last=Lightfoot
|journal=[[The Southwestern Historical Quarterly]]
|volume=56
|number=3
|date=1953
|pages=407–416
|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30237625
|jstor=30237625}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Notices have been posted in various towns of Comanche County, Texas, warning all "niggers" to leave under penalty of death, and it is fairly declared by the whites that no colored people will be allowed to live in that section.<ref>{{cite news
|newspaper=[[Belmont Chronicle]]
|title=(Untitled)
|location=[[St. Clairsville, Ohio]]
|date=August 5, 1886
|page=1
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29070659/
|via=[[newspapers.com]]}}</ref>}}

{{blockquote|In my days over the public well in the little railroad station [of [[De Leon, Texas]]], 16 miles from Comanche, there was a villainously painted sign, which read as follows: "Niggers! Let not the sun set on you in Comanche County."<ref name=Courier>{{cite news
|title=Tabooed: Texas County Where Negroes Are Unknown. Exiled by the people. Warn them to stay away from the place. Situation has drawbacks
|work=[[The Courier-Journal]]
|location=Louisville, Kentucky
|date=August 19, 1901
|page=4
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29070944/
|via=[[newspapers.com]]}}</ref>}}

Comanche County was a [[sundown town]], and in 1886 the communities of Bibb, De Leon, Fleming, Sipe Springs, and Whittville had signage reading, "No negroes allowed in this town."<ref name="ComancheCountyTX">{{Cite news |date=July 30, 1886 |title=Driven from Home |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/611087955/ |location=[[Fort Worth, Texas]] |newspaper=[[Portage Daily Register]] |page=1 |access-date=2024-09-21 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> According to a 1953 study, the county took pride in and publicized its all-white population.<ref name=Billy/>

Black porters on the train would hide in the baggage car as trains passed through Comanche County. Because of the threats to its porters, the railroad asked that the sign be removed, and the town of De Leon moved it to the town well, "in the middle of Texas Avenue". No report gives the date of the sign's removal.<ref>{{cite news
|title=In a 'sundown town' in Texas, white vigilantes forced Black residents to leave home
|first=Bud
|last=Kennedy
|date=May 3, 2022
|newspaper=[[Fort Worth Star Telegram]]
|url=https://news.yahoo.com/sundown-town-texas-white-vigilantes-214539094.html}}</ref>