On January 13, 1916, a fight inside this theater initiated a race riot. Mobs of Anglos—angered by the killing of 17 American engineers by Villista troops at Santa Ysabel, Chihuahua—went on a rampage. They beat and knifed down every Mexican man, woman or child they encountered on the street. When they heard of the race riot, numbers of Carrancista soldiers stationed in Juárez crossed the bridges to help their compatriots. The riot was quelled only after General Pershing placed the town under martial law and prevented Anglos from entering the Second Ward.
