05/06/2026
In March of 1916 an explosion and fire broke out inside the city jail, located at 410 E Overland, killing 24 inmates. During a Typhus outbreak it was the Department of Health's mandate that all people crossing from Mexico and people being booked into jail were to be de-loused using kerosene, gasoline, and other dangerous chemicals. While booking people into jail, they were stripped and bathed in these volatile chemicals and their clothes washed in the same chemicals. The jail was 2 floors of metal cells, all locked. After being soaked, wearing clothing still wet with gasoline and kerosene, an inmate who was arrested on public drunkenness charges pulled out a soaked cigarette and attempted to light it. Other inmates warned him that it would cause him to set himself on fire, but he eventually lit the match. This caused a huge explosion, setting everyone on fire, most locked in their cells. Witnesses said the floors, ceilings, and bars turned red with heat. Police officers were able to get 14 people out, some running through the streets on fire. Some fell to the ground, their bodies melting the street where they lay. This location is now a parking lot. The incident was called the El Paso jail Holocaust, and has been all but erased from our history. This incident directly led to the 1917 bath house riot, spurred by the fear of burning in the same way. I the 1920s the Department of Health switched to using DDT and Zyklon B (yes the same chemical used in Germany and Poland during WW2). Much safer, right?
