War Mothers Memorial outside windows in Municipal Auditorium that were broken during riot protesting Communist rally, San Antonio, Texas, 1939

''San Antonio Saturday surveyed the havoc wrought in the greatest exhibition of mob violence and vandalism in the city's history--caused by a meeting of a handful of Communists in the Municipal Auditorium. In the wake of the mass hysteria participated in by a crowd of 10,000 Friday night (August 25), were 17 identified injured....The demonstration, brought on when veterans' and other organizations condemned action of the city in granting a permit to the Communist party for a rally in a structure dedicated as a war memorial, was led by teenage youths and a sprinkling of veterans....''''....Seats and valuable tapestries and paintings in the auditorium were slashed by the vandals as police obeyed orders to abandon the building and invite the rioters in to look for the Communist leaders [who had already left the building]....'