In 1904, New York nuns brought forty Irish orphans to a remote Arizona
mining camp, to be placed with Catholic families. The Catholic families
were Mexican, as was the majority of the population.
Soon the town’s Anglos, furious at this “interracial” transgression, formed a vigilante squad that kidnapped the children and nearly lynched the nuns and the local priest. The Catholic Church sued to get its wards back, but all the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled in favor of the vigilantes.
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674005358
Soon the town’s Anglos, furious at this “interracial” transgression, formed a vigilante squad that kidnapped the children and nearly lynched the nuns and the local priest. The Catholic Church sued to get its wards back, but all the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled in favor of the vigilantes.
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674005358