After a black person was lynched nearby, rumors spread that blacks were planning revenge. Also, a scuffle broke out over a business disagreement between a white and black resident. Many accounts said that white resident James Spurger instigated events by claiming he was threatened by blacks. All known victims were unarmed, and most were shot in the back as they fled; no whites were injured. Spurger, Reagon McKenzie, S. F. Jennings, and at least 13 other white men were arrested for the attacks, and Spurger and six others were indicted, but none were ever tried. State Judge B.H. Gardner convened a grand jury; almost all local citizens were subpoenaed, and prominent people who resisted testifying were arrested. Seven of the men were indicted on 22 counts of murder; Gardner sent them to be tried in Houston but the special prosecutor did not proceed. Elections had removed Gardner and others involved in prosecuting the case from office, and the next administration did not pick it up again. The defendants were released without trial. In May 2014, freelance journalist E. R. Bills published "The 1910 Slocum Massacre: An Act of Genocide in East Texas with The History Press". The following August, Constance Hollie-Jawaid, a Dallas Independent School District administrator, whose great-grandfather, John Holley, was among the Slocum Massacre victims, enlisted Bills to help file an application for a Texas state historical marker commemorating the Slocum Massacre. When the Anderson County Historical Commission repeatedly demonstrated antagonism toward Hollie-Jawaid's marker application, Hollie-Jawaid applied to the Texas State Historical Commission directly, and the marker was approved on January 29, 2015. On January 16, 2016, the Slocum Massacre historical marker was placed and dedicated one-half mile south of Slocum on FM 2022. Jawaid's great-grandfather, John Holley, survived the massacre but fled with his family, losing the granary, dairy, and general store that he developed after being freed from slavery. Slocum sits at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 2022 and Texas State Highway 294, southeast of Palestine in the southeastern part of Anderson County. Slocum had its own school in the mid-1980s. The Slocum Independent School District serves area students who attend Slocum High School and Slocum Elementary School. It is a very small school that as of 2016-2017 has around 300 students in the grades k-12 and is registered as a 1A by UIL.