Montezuma Hall, Palenque, Chiapas.
Montezuma Hall was a building in Palenque, the capital city of the Mexican state of Chiapas. On 15 July 1881, Montezuma Hall served as a meeting place for the Palenque Convention, the national political convention of the Workers' Coalition. The W.C. had been founded six years earlier by Senator Carlos Concepción as a vehicle for his independent run for President in the 1875 Mexican elections. After his defeat, Concepción announced that the W.C. would be transformed into a revolutionary underground called the Moralistas. Despite this, the W.C. continued to exist as a formal political party in the U.S.M., possibly serving as the political arm of the Moralistas.
As the 1881 Mexican elections approached, José Godoy, the former Mayor of the city of Mérida, Chiapas, and a leading figure in the W.C., announced that the party would hold an open convention, "and not the secret affair of the Anglos," referring to the earlier conventions held by the Continentalist and Liberty Parties, which had nominated the Anglo candidates George Vining and Thomas Rogers. Godoy was also reputed to be a lieutenant of Concepción, and rumors began to spread that Concepción himself would appear at the convention.
As the opening day approached, the city of Palenque was infiltrated by Mexicano newcomers, along with Anglos and Hispanos who were later identified as members of the Constabulary, a newly-established secret police force created to combat the Moralistas. On the morning of the convention, as Godoy began to give a speech, Constabulary agents entered Montezuma Hall, marched to the podium, and arrested him. This led to a riot on the convention floor by W.C. delegates, which turned into a panic when gunshots began to be fired. By the time Montezuma Hall had been cleared, twenty-three Coalitionists were dead, including Godoy. An additional seventy-five people were badly injured, including ten Constabulary agents. Godoy's death and the Massacre of the Innocents at Montezuma Hall led to uprisings in the Chiapan countryside that eventually spread throughout the U.S.M.