Kentucky, B, 1899-1990, Undated

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8-C—-Owensboro, Ky., Messenger - Inquirer, Sun., May 18, 1975

Document preserved

: Bethea hangman selects career to promote

By JOE FORD, Director

Owensboro Area Museum
Many persons residing in
Owensboro recall the fateful day
in August. 1936. when the last
public hanging in’ the entire
United States took place. On that
date. Rainey Bethea was publicly
executed for the rape-murder of
Lischa Edwards Witnesses to
this grisly affair recall many de-
tails of the event. but few paid
scant attention to the execu-

“toner.

* The “hangman” was George
Phillip Hanna. a native of Illi-
nois. Strangely enough Hanna
was a very compassionate man
who took up his unpleasant work
after witnessing a hanging that
was poorly conducted. The con-
demned man didn't die quickly
and slowly strangled as he dan-
gled from the rope. The trau-
matic experience of seeing the

tormented victim struggle for
many minutes made Hanna de-
termined to develop quick hu-
mane methods of dispatching the
condemned prisoners.

He researched his work care-
fully. He developed a special lu-
bricant for his ropes. Experience
taught him that the traditional 13
turns in the hangman’s noose
made the knot too large and he
shortened the number of wraps
to 8 or 9. Hanna also advocated
administering a strong shot of
morphine. or similar drug. just
before the execution. As he stat-
ed. “This doesn't make the pris-
oner exactly anxious to die. but it
does make him less terrified.”

Hanna felt that his attempts at
humane executions were suc-
cessful. However. he did con-
sider the Owensboro hanging to
be one of two cases that he did
poorly. After Rainey Bethea was

placed on the trap door and the
rope adjusted. the hangman
stepped back and signaled an-
other man whose duty it was to
pull the lever and spring the trap.
Unfortunately. the man had
looked .away and. semmingly.
couldn't or wouldn't raise his
eyes toward the scene above.
After several tense moments
Hanna said. “Alright. let it go.~

With a start, the assistant jerked-

the lever and the last public exe-
cution in the United States was

The Owensboro Area Museum
is especially interested in obtain-
ing information or artifacts per-
taining to early Owensboro. We
were very pleased when Mrs.
Doug (Linda) Watkins gave us
access to the material relating to
Hanna. If you own similar docu-
ments. won't you allow them to
be copied? The original will be

returned to you as soon as possi-
ble. ;

this show and have an enjoyable:
evening while helping the home .

and the museum. Incidentally.
Jnembers of the saddle club pre-
pared an attractive display in the
museum. For memories of a
time when no lady would ride a
horse in a regular saddle, see the
display featuring a side-saddle
and other items of the period
when horses were a part of every
household.

Thanks to Morris Smith for a
postage stamp issued to com-
memorate the Kentucky Derby.

These “first day of issue” cancel-
lations are always sought by
stamp collectors. Other items
donated to the museum include a
Begonia from Mildred Powell.
Several rare parasitic plants.
known as Squaw Root. were
brought in by Noel Lindley.
Snapshots of the old Daviess
County Courthouse were do-
nated by Ray Russell (no horse

appears in the photographs) and

tadpoles of the African Clawed>

Frog were the gift of S. Michele
Morek of the Brescia Biology
Department.

Snakes were captured this
week by Mary Lilen Lamar.
Greg and Debra Nash. Dave
Lawson. Stephen Gene Leonard.
Danielle Leonard. and Tom
Young's Science Class at Whites-

. ‘

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ville School. Other live creatures
were the gift of Ronnie Lee Bag-
gett. Todd and Traci Alexander.
and Ernest Tichenor.

Meetings scheduled in the ever
busy museum this week include
the Art Guild Monday at 7:30. All
other groups meet_at this same
our and they are the Ohio Val-
ley Aquarium Society. Tuesday:
Owensboro Motorcycle Club.

”* and

The trial, the most dramatic

and emotionally tense legal spec-

15 p.m. when Judge Henry M.
Rainey Bethea was the last

death for the shotgun murder o!
tacle in recent years in Owens-
boro, lasted from 8:30 a.m. to 9:
Griffin charged the jury and sent
them out to deliberate the fate of
Michael Land. The first two days

of years for armed robbery
Cochran Dorsey.

Owensbere

His Tory

humane executions

Wednesday: the Davie:
Fish and Game As
Thursday: and the
County Historical Soci
day. You are invited
any of these club mectir

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These are faces of Kentuckians watching a man hang. The
photograph was made 29 years ago, on August 15, 1936, at
the hanging of Rainey Bethel in Owensboro. Some 15,000
or more persons were on hand, in a carnival atmosphere.

This Urtdarapks, woo Jatin Frome

| He oy Nae aHKou, % Yio
Lowsvillee Courier — Journa te -
phi oko dite wetiounr.

ne LOR TL :

"THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
| INDICTMENT °

FOR «15.54; a

RAINEY (RAILEY) BETHEA

. Defendant

_ Presented by the Foreman of the Grand Jurp to the “}
Court, in open Court, In thé presence bf the Grand

i
‘

Sstettubtctenetetmeesgee stig sani gtas ten a os
SHAE aye edy RTS g.

$4. aber

jasesene!

STATE OF KENTUCKY
DAVIESS CIRCUIT couRT

SPECIAL JUNE TERM, 1936
JUNE 25TH, 1936

CRIMINAL ORDER BOOK #21,
PAGE #565,
Comthe of Kye, . Plaintiff,

we VS we : logs 71

Rainey (Railey) Bethea, Defendant.

The defendant, Rainey (Ratley) Bethea, having entered a
plea of guilty and indicating to the Court that he did not care to

file Written Motion and Grounds for a New Trial and this Court being

about to adjourn for the Term, and the aforesaid defendant, Rainey
(Railey) Bethea, being in Court and being informed by the Court of
the nature of the indictment against him herein as well as of his
plea and the verdict of the jury in this prosecution and being ask-
ed by the Court if he had any legal reason to show why the judgement
of this Court should not be rendered upon said verdict and none be~
ing showns it 4s now adjudged by the Court that the said defendant,
Rainey (Railey) Bethea, be taken henoe to the Jail of Daviess Coun~
ty, and there safely kept until the 3ist day of July, 1936, on
which dey vetween sunrise and sunset the Jailer of Daviess County
Shell deliver him to the Sheriff of Daviess County who shall hang
him by the neck until he tg deade

A COPY ATTEST:

BEN S. McCORMICK,CLIRK,
BY D.C.

STATE OF KENTUCKY

DAVIESS CIRCUIT couURT

SPECIAL JUNE TERM, 1936
JUNE 25TH, 1936

Commonwealth of Kentucky,

Plaintiff,

VS: INST RUG? To ¥ LOOT

Rainey (Railey) Bethea,

Defendant,

The defendant, Rainey (Railey) Bethea, in person and

in Open Court waived formal arraignment, and personally entered

& plea of guilty to the charge contained in the indictment;

the jury will, therefore, find the defendant, Rainey (
Bethea,

Railey)
guilty as charged in the indictment and fix his punish-

ment at confinement in the penitentiary for not less than ten (10)

years nor more than twenty (20) years, or at death, in the dis-

cretion of the jury.

GIVEN, LY y ;
a fbb Lig JUDGE

We, the jury, find the defendant, Rainey (Railey)

Bethea, guilty as charged in the indictment and fix his punishment

JUN 25 1996
ATTEST

_ McCORMICK, GCherk
oo aut D.C.

FILED»

DAVIESS CIRCUIT COURT.
SPECIAL JUNE TERM, 1956-6

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, PLAINTIFF,

VS. INDICTMENT

RAINEY (RAILEY) BETHEA, ; DEFENDANT.

The Grand Jury of Daviess County, in the name and by
the avthority of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, accuse the de-
fendant, Rainey (Railey) Bethea, of the crime of Rape upon the
pody of a female of and above twelve years of age, committed
4n manner and form as follows, to-wit:

That the said Rainey (Railey) Bethea, in Daviess
County, Kentucky, on the day of June, 1936, and before the
finding of this indictment, the said Rainey (Railey) Bethea,
being a male person, did unlawfully, feloniously, wilfully, and
with force and arms, make a violent assault upon Lishia Re Ed-
wards, and then and there said Rainey (Railey) Bethea, forcibly
against the will and consent of the said Lishia R. Edwards, un-
lawfully, wilfully and feloniously, did rape, ravish and carnal-
ly know said Lishia R. Edwards, a women of and above the age of
twelve years, contrary to the form of the Statute in such‘ cases
made and provided; and against the peace and dignity of the Com-

monweelth of Kentucky. hy: RS Al
| ree || " Bi eles ~seaan |
| Rae, Bae ' HERMAN As BIRKHEAD, TAD ses
com nea . COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY 9 7)
te pt Og BS i . i ae
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hanging be public or private. Offi-.
cials' here decided upon & public
banging without announcing their
reasons. . i

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 14 (2) .—
Three Negro murderets died in the
electric chair here today, within six-

teen minutes. They were C, H. Bal-
brick mason of

his, convicted of shooting Richard

ae nt

B2* {PRHtON HeREDEERDER: LEXINCITONE AP. SYRORSDRY "AUGUST T4, 1980" Rr LE aia eet mn gaye Oe a te ee en NR. sp bare ent sags) iat Aad

Public hanging 90 years ago bad memory in Owensbord

ddsottened tweak (2! In all the thousands of public lady with four children hang a man, monplace in Kentucky in 1898. Anoti books as the last person bly to restore the gallows,”
' OWENSBORO — ‘ce hangings in the United States since he would do it for her,” recalled Mrs. er man was scheduled to die on the | executed in America. " ermal poet ml Jo er
that attracted theusands of 1607, no women had ever officiated Thompson’s daughter, Mary Lillian gallows in Covington one week after Today, Owensboro would rather , Museum. oe hme
é ae mire before. me ‘ _ Thompson Lee, who was 17 at the Bethea’s hanging. forget the infamous event. .. . , nobody was interested.” 4
States would ‘rather forget about it But Florince Shoemaker Thomp-' time. But the public outcry over the There is no historical markir at ’ Mrs. Lee said, “Owensboro !
tod eo! “st son, who waa ed sheriff. upon Mrs. Thompson, protected by an Qwensboro hanging spared his life. the site to tell visitors it ever hap- | ; Ike to live it down.” woul
Fifty years ago today, Rainey her husband’s death several months FBI agent, viewed the hanging froma And sensationalism in the American pened. tase & "of ‘the of bad
“Bethea was hanged for raping a ev lier, was spared from pulling the nearky car, Mrs. Lee said. ‘, 1 rad mage oon picture of. —- There is no, exhibit: dt the local ithe hanging as bara’
Fe Owensboro , we ae . 8 that Kentucky — museum, although it was perhaps the ©
go 5.000 people — A former Louisyille sheriff, Ar- across the country, a sensational the last state with public hangings — most nationally significant event, ig The Chicago American, for exam, 7
4 many enel Rie - —whorcame thur Hash, volunteered for the grim event that sold newspapers to a De- would banish public executions the Owensboro history. == =’. ple, ran a bannér headline f
largely to see Owensboro’s woman task. _pression-ravaged America. following year, “I went to Washington once and ing “20,000 ‘Have A Good AL
sheriff hang a black man. “He said before he would let a Public hangings were still com- Bethea would go into the history was practically promised the money Law Hangs A Slayer.” .

_ * , Ml * - “¥? Th ‘ emery
oe &: a RE RES ORR As an aie. Te yr ee

a TNA ie Be

RAINEY BETHEA (Owensboro, Kye, Be1h-19 36

"Owensboro, August ll, 1936-Rainey Bethea, burly 22-year-old Negro, was hanged publicly here today
in an execution witnessed by 15,000 persons and supervised by Mrs, Florence Thompson, frail ite
woman sheriff of Daviess County. The level tripping of the trap of the temporary gallows, located r
in the heart of Owensboro, was pulled by Harry Hasch, former Owensboro policeman, who is known
throughout Kentucky by the nickname, Dare Devil Dick, He volunteered to do the job for Mrse
Thompson and she, changing her mind at the last minute, accepted the offer.

"A milling throng surrounded the vackn t lot, adjacent to the county garage where the gallows had
been erected. The crowd was in a holiday mood, Only a moment before the arrivel of Bethea from
Louisville, where he had been held in a precaution against lynching, vendors of hot dogs and
lemonade shouted their wares and found many willing purchasers. In fact, here and there, in she
trowd, was a bit of hot dog or a soft drink as Bethea plunged to his death. Through the night

a crowd had swarmed the streetse All lights were left on by special police order and extraordinary
precautions were taken against drinking. Bars were closed and those showing signs of intoxication
were arrested. Only six, however, were taken into custoyd,

"Negroes, fearing a possible race riot, were at home in hiding. The UP correspondent through the
night did not see a single Negro except for bellboys in the hotels which were filled with visitors
from all partsof Kentucky and adjoining states. Mrs. Thompson remained in an automobile at the
fsot of the gallows when Hasch pulled the lever that executed Bethea at 5:28 AM, The crowd

cheered and yelled as Bethea's body dropped. It was not jll@natured or violent buf rather

appeared to be a "hangman's holidaye" People stood on the roofs of surrounding buildings, hung
from telephone poles, leaned out of windows and stood on automobiles to witness the execution,

One group even took possession of the roof of a hearse waiting to take Bethea's body awaye

"One man, Walter Schultz, came all the way from Jacksonville, Fhac,y with a party of six friends

to see the execution, At hel? AM the first tests of the trap were made, It jammed. "Look out

or you'll break it,' the crowd yelled, A few minutes later, as the trap was tested again, the
crowd roard: 'Now youre doing it.' Then the trap was tested again and a 75 pound weight used ab
the testing crashed through and just missed a deputy beneath the scaffold, The crowd cheered
#Bring on the Negro, we're getting tired,' the spectators chorusede
"125 policemen were present from Louisville to aid local authorities and state officers in preserving
orderes eelhe Negro was brought in at 5:20 AM. He was serious but calm Two deputies accompanied
him and helped him up the steps of the scaffold. At the foot of the 13 steps the Negro stopped and
tied his shoe, Rev. John Thompson, Gatholic priest, stayed with him, He had administered the last
rites. The Negro made no statement which was audible to the crowd ten feet below hime

"a black hood was placed over his head, his lips moved. He Looked ahead, but did not

flinch, Rev. Thompson patted him on the shoulder.seeZhe crowd, pressing tightly around the gallows
was not disorderly but only out for a good time, Fifty percent of them were from out of towne

Many children, including young babies, were carried on the shoulders of parents who had stayed

up all night. The negro was pronounced dead 16 minutes after the hangingesse."

OSS sed ene ein octamer

SACRAMENTO BFE, Sacramento, Calife, BaL-1936 (United Press report)

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MXSXKR DETECTIVE, December, 1936

A four-time loser, James A.
Lewis, 29, faces a living
death behind prison walls
after being sentenced in
San Francisco to life as an
habitual criminal. He
started his crime career at
the age of sixteen

In Chicago, Mrs. Mil-
dred Bolton © startles
Public Defender Ben-
jamin Bachrach and a
crowded court-room by
calmly admitting that

TRUE

Sobbing out her story, Lillian Davis, 18,

confesses to a series of hold-ups in Brooklyn

with a toy pistol. The girl maintained the

crimes were instigated by a man with

whom she had recently struck up an
acquaintance

“Wanted” for six
years, Leonard
Cellura, “Black
Leo,” former king
of Detroit’s un-
derworld, sur-
prised police by
walking into hom-
icide squad head-
quarters and
giving himself up

These three members of
the infamous Black
Legion in Detroit, found
guilty of false imprison-
ment, face possible

; 4 : Prison terms of five

Sat * : , ay p years. They are (eft

bind in ‘hie wthcs cas . E me to right) ‘Thomas F.

shot him to death ; Lage a # Cox, Earl Angstadt and
’ 3 4 Frederick A. Gulley

Peewee may Row

Fleeing from police through
the crowded streets of Green-
wich Village, New York, in
this car which they had
stolen, one man was critically
injured and another (shown
in foreground) was shot to
death by officers

Twenty thousand persons assem-
ble in Kentucky to watch the hang-
ing of Rainey Bethea, 22-year-old
Negro, shown on the gallows
talking to an officer just before he
paid the penalty for the murder of a
70-year-old white woman

=A
Qn

"\ a ae Js tif « ;
Ie RFD

RAINEY BETHEA (Kentucky )

"Kentuckians convicted of every capital erime except criminal
re assault die in the electric chair. fFor rapists the penalty is hanging
in the county where the crime was committede Last year 1,500 sight-
seers packed Swithland to see William Thomas De oe become the State's

ae first white man fee or rape De eat in

4 1s' TL April
Bess San ARs DAS MCE Belend Hie Daal iee Sn
p atatse ¢ tgoflo xpaosld to edt é i ie, 9 Hetty fr ® me vedios ——
Nadded wees Aatar Ste % He We Aiea tf et 2 sere rth Yatey? othea,
who raped and strangled a 70-year-old white woman, was Kentucky's
only female sheriff, plump, matronly » Florence EAEEP RO atk n her
: husgand died <br Mehths AZO, Governctt Geist Borja ni fi appy?

Chandler passed “his job on to here It thus became her duty to spring

: the trap under Betheae A devout Roman Catholic, Sheriff Thompson con-
Sulted her priest, learned from him that nothing in canon law pro-
hibited her from sending the blackamoor to bis legal death. Prevestant
Churmen Concurrede Nevertheless, soft-hearted Sheriff Thompson sighed:
'I suppose I will spend the rest of my life forgetting-or trying to
forgete' Would she lose her nerve at the last minute was the one big
question last week at Owensboro, scene of the hanginge

"Night before the execution, Owensboro was host to the greatest
crowd in its history. Cars poured in from neighboring counties, Illi-~
nois, Indiana, Missourie Every bar was packed to the doorse Down
the main street tipsy merry-makers rollicked all nighte ‘Hanging
parties! were held in many a home. Sheriff Thompson's 17-yeareold
daughter sneaked out against her mother's orders to attend onee As
before the execution of Rapist De Boe, one motorist was in such a
hurry to get to the scene that he cracked up, £3X killed himself.

"The hanging was scheduled for dawn (5:12 ae me)e By 3 ae mo the
lot near the Ohio River where the scaffold was erected overflowed with
10,000 men, women and children. Hawkers squeezed their way through
the crowd selling pops hot dogse Telephone poles and trees were
festooned with spectators. By 4:30 ae me the crowd crushed through
the wire fence around the scaffold. Police had a hard time getting
Phil Hanna from Illinois, whose knowledge of knots has made him a dis-=
tinguished necessity at 80 hangings, to the gallowse Businesslikes,
he tested the trap three times, found it goode

"At five o'clock the sky was dove greye The crowd grew impatient,
began to yip: ‘Let's gol! Bring him out/' At 5:20 ae me, bethea,
his stomach bulging with chicken, pork chops and watermelon, was pusmed
through the crowd to the base of the platforme ‘I don't like to die

“ with my shoes on,! he said, sitting down on the bottom step and taking
them off, Up the 13 steps to the platform he walked. Then for the
first time the crowd learned that Sheriff Thompson could not nerve

herself to her jobe Fingering the trap lever instead was Arthur
‘ (*Daredevil Dick!) Hasch, a pensioned Louisville policeman, deputized
by Sheriff Thompson. The Sheriff miserably sat in her automobile 50
yde away. Assistant Hangmam Hanna adjusted the noose. Unlike Rapist
De Boe, who was permitted to quarrel for an hour with his victim,
Negro Bethea had nothing to saye ‘Man, he’s there}! whispered an ad-
miring spectator. The hote-dog sellers fell quiet.
"At 5:25 @e Me everything was ready, At 5:28 there was a swish,
a snape Doctors climbed through the supports, felt Bethea's pulsee
the spectators closed ine At 5:44 a, m, physicians pronounced Bethea |

‘Sn the CRI ME SPOTLI G
OF GM Fe ee

* * (me

a,
ae

eOha® A

The hanging of Rainey Bethea, rapist, showing a portion of the crowd of 20,000 who came at dawn to watch the doomed man plunge to his death

Latest Sensations in the Crime Whirl and
What the Law Is Doing About Them

LADYS MacKNIGHT, 17, of
Bayonne, New Jersey, had the

sinister distinction of being the

nonth’s most cold-blooded, brutal
killer She chopped her mother to
teath with a hatchet in the kitchen of
their home, while her boy friend,
Donald Wightman, 18, held the 47-
year-old woman. Puffing on a ciga-
‘ette, Gladys confessed she had been
sore at her mother for trying to keep
1er out of beer saloons. But imme-

jiate motive was Mrs. MacKnight’s
efusal to serve an early supper. With
the body weltering on the floor, the
two made sandwiches for themselves
they flea!

vefore

The morning of August 11, Neda
Taka, 22, Japanese actress, ran scream-
ng from her Los Angeles home, a
gash in her throat. She fell dead on
lawn Police sought two Amer-
an men, believed to be involved in
triangle love affair with the pretty
Oriental.

Chicago shuddered over its fourth
iotel murder of a woman in three
nonths. Mary Louise Trammell, 24,
as found by her husband when he
ame home from work, lying strangled,
aped and dead. Her body was nude,
Rufo Swain, gorilla-like Negro, 27,
cused of this outrage, was questioned

murdered in
Chicago

Louise Trammell,
her hotel room in

OFFICIAL DET

also about the similar slayings of
Mrs. Lillian D. Guild in May, Mrs.

‘lorence T. Castle in June and Miss
Audrey Vallette in July. However,
Thomas Starr, another Negro, has
been convicted in the Guild case.

Still another bedroom horror was
staged in Pueblo, Colorado. Dorothy
Drain, 16, and her sister Barbara, 14,
were discovered terribly beaten and
gashed with an ax. The elder girl
had been sexually assaulted, then
murdered. The younger, evidently
chopped down to close her mouth,
survived cruel wounds.

“J want you to get rid of that baby.

Japanese actress
Neda Taka whose
throat was
slashed fatally in
“a triangle love
affair”

T'll get 4ou. Feed it
poison,” Kenneth Wagner, of Arnold,
Pennsylvania, told his housemaid,
Mrs. Jessie Hankey, 25. Or that’s her

If you don’t,

story. Both are charged with the
murder of Wagner’s 14-day-old girl
infant. Police absolved the mother of
blame.

In Wabash, Indiana, Harry E. Sing-
er, 25, pleaded guilty to killing Mrs.
Viola Wesley, 36, her husband John
and their young daughter, and burying
them in a single grave. The crimes

HCTIVE, October 15,

Florida, had

40-year-old w

was charged
wreck a train |

unique features

oman, a_ grand:
ith hiring two

piloted by her engi:

husband, aged 70. Object, murd
the sake of insurance mon
were committed, Singer said, because a tea wit oe . Pils Ri be
: ht. 11€ in court ar O-
he feared the husband was about to claimed bel in her
Weer his relations with Mrs. The jury found her guilty.

Sheriff Joseph Ring, of Vicksburg, hata ie ne nese ry _ aera
Mississippi, probably will think twice bleeding aol clot ine rip dtc
hereafter before he tries to reform sex halted a ‘cop in reskin, Ne
sinners. Louis Mize, 24, told the 4 made all moat shocking <
sheriff that Mrs. Mize was misbehaving he ever h ard’ Mrs. TPopmenk.
in Vicksburg National Military Park heen kidn: rR aA i eda
with Martin W. Decelle, 35, a bakery befoves real eae ee
superintendent. Ring accompanied phihaliy atcisad ey 18 mont
the husband to the spot and gave De- of the l ter = yaad heer ee AAA
celle “some advice for the future.” by tl ieee ij bi fot te seboges tip d gtnete
An altercation followed. Mize Rene polls, id, are:sought

a gun, shot Decelle dead and was

Jessie Hankey

who killed the

infant of the man

she worked for

“because he told
me to”

ing at his wife when he was over-
powered.

Thwarted abrormal lust is thought
to lie behind the shooting of Clara
Gaerbrandt, 16, by her foster-father,
Norman Gaerbrandt, 36, suicide. The
man forbade her to have friends or
amusements. She fled to the house of
a neighbor at Vail Gate, New York.
Gaerbrandt trailed her with a shot-
gun and butcher-knife, took her life
and then his cwn.

Trial of Mrs. L. W. Vann in Milton,

1936

2W
dre 4 Florence
aim

woman sheriff,
ment to have ;
for the hangi
Negro rapist,

we go to press,

bell-hop, was

North

Th ompson, Ke:

Carolina.

decided at the 1
a deputy spring t
ng of Rainey
Owensboro
Martin Moore
convicted at As
of the mu

Helen Clevenger.

Gladys Mac:
Knight ana
Donald
Wightman

These are the

two who con-

fessed to siaying

her mother with
a hatchet

(Continued from Page 38)

, alter the fact that Helen was a poison-
ously dangerous character, whom the
State of Arkansas intended to free in
ten years or less. My reason for ex-
amining her case is to throw a spotlight
upon the need for sterilizing such sub-
normal females before they have com-
mitted crimes, if possible, and after
they have reached the State institutions
without fail. Helen’s chief stigma was
a terrible heredity, of which the ef-
fects upon her should have been easy
to spot early in life.

How much better it would have
been for the State of Arkansas if Helen
Spence Eaton could have been given
the proper treatment when she first
fell afoul of thelaw. Helen, to be sure,
was not notably feeble-minded, but
she was a specimen of “degenerate off-
spring,” to use the late Justice Holmes’
term. Her urge towards crime, as well
as her fertility, assuredly should have
been curbed. If it had been done she
might be enjoying a tranquil, normal
life today.

Instead, this is what happened:

On July 10, 1934, Helen was working
in a strawberry patch with a number
of other prisoners at the Jacksonville
Women’s Prison Farm. Late in the
afternoon, as it was growing dark, the
girl complained of illness. She
crouched on the ground, holding her
stomach, and seemed to be in severe
pain. Permission was given her to re-
turn to the main farm building alone
and apply for medicine.

The guards watched her as she
hobbled the long distance to the house.
She was dressed in coarse overalls, a
man’s shirt and heavy men’s shoes.
No one suspected a trick. But as soon
as Helen had passed through the door-
way she straightened up and ran with
agility down a corridor to where she
knew the night watchman would be
preparing to go on duty.

She approached the watchman from
behind and snatched his pistol before
he realized what, was happening. She
drove him back into his room, locked
the door and threw away the key.
Then she darted through the rear gar-
den, dodged from bush to bush and
reached the shelter of a clump of
“woods,

tT watchman immediately started to
shout, but this aided Helen. Other
officials concentrated on the room
where the man was pounding the walls
as he yelled for help, and they did not
think to look outdoors for the fleeing
girl. By the time they had released
the watchman and heard his story,
Helen had made her fourth escape
from the Prison Farm.
It was thought that she might still
be in the building, which was searched
from cellar to garret. The only clew

tound was a note in the girl’s locker,
proving that she had premeditated her
flight. It was written on the back of
a rejection slip from a popular maga-
zine to which she had offered a story,
and said:

“To whom it may concern: I’ll never
be taken alive.”

The prison authorities stated after-
wards that Helen had spent her scanty
leisure in writing several detective
stories, and now and then had tried
her hand at poetry. None of it had
been accepted for publication.

Great excitement prevailed at the
Prison Farm and throughout the coun-
tryside that evening of July 10. B. O.
Brockman, Deputy Superintendent,
and a posse of guards scoured the
roads, woods and fields. The fact that
Helen had gained possession of the
watchman’s pistol caused alarm, for
her farewell note was regarded seri-
ously. Her attitude of late had been
brooding and savage. It was felt that
if man, woman or child attempted to
halt her, she would shoot to kill.

The hunt was kept up until nearly
midnight but no trace of the fugitive
could be uncovered. Brockman figured
that she had managed to get a hitch-
hike ride either by persuasion or
threats. News of her escape, however,
had been flashed to the Little Rock
Police Department and relayed from
one end of the State to the other.
Probably she would be captured in a
few days, as she had been on her for-
mer breaks,

BUT it transpired that Helen had not

gone very far. Early the next fore-
noon a telephone call was received
from a farmer on an isolated holding
about seven miles away. This man
conveyed only the bald fact that a girl
he believed. to be the one wanted had
been in his house that morning, and
was now somewhere in the brushwood
near-by.

Brockman hurried out to the farm.
By an irony of fate, he took with him
Frank Martin, the convict guard, whom
Helen had once planned to slug and
whom she particularly hated. Martin
was armed with a double-barreled
shotgun, and Brockman with shotgun
and revolver.

The farmer’s wife told a clear story.

“My man went down to the sweet
potato field after breakfast,” she said.
“I was alone in the house. I heard
steps.on the back porch, and the next
minute a girl wearing overalls walked
in on me. She was stained with mud
and her hair was full of burrs. She
looked as if she had slept in the bush.

“I opened my mouth to ask her what
she wanted, but before I could say a
word she drew a gun and pointed it
at me. She said we’d have to drive
her across country to some place where

she could catch a train, and that we
must also give her money for traveling.

“Well, I'd heard the whistle had
been blowing over at the Prison Farm,
and I guessed this was a runaway.
She scared me stiff. I didn’t answer
her, but just turned and scooted out
of the house, screaming. I didn’t stop
until I found my husband. He came

. back with me, but the girl had gone.

Then he telephoned to you.”

“You mean to say she let you run
without taking a shot at you?” Brock-
man demanded,

“That's right, sir. I don’t think she
even called after me to stop.”

“My God, woman, you’re lucky! Do
tot gamma what the girl looked
ike?”

“She was right pretty. Dark com-
plexioned, and with big brown eyes,
Couldn’t have been more than twenty-
three years old.”

From this description, there could be
no doubt that the invader had been
Helen Spence Eaton. But a couple of
hours had elapsed, and she had had
time to visit some other farmhouse and
possibly enforce her demand. She
might be miles away in a car or rig.
A search of the neighborhood, how-
ever, would be the logical next move.

Brockman phoned a report to the
Prison Farm. Then he and Martin be-
gan to explore the narrow dirt roads
in all directions, stopping at cabins to
make inquiries.

T WAS a hilly and well-wooded coun-
, ideal for a game of hide-and-
seek from the fugitive’s point of view.
Without a larger force, Brockman did
not have much hope of succeeding.
But suddenly, as he and the trusty
looked down from a crest of rising
ground, they saw Helen walking along
the road scarcely a quarter of a mile
away, limping with weariness.
Apparently she was not aware of
their presence, but a moment later she
swung aside into the brushwood and
was lost to view. Brockman felt that
it would be easy to cut off her escape
if he and Martin separated and con-
verged on the patch of brush from op-
posite sides. So the Deputy went to
the left, and Martin to the right.
Helen blundered to her doom at the
hands of Martin. They came face to
face at the edge of the undergrowth,
From a distance of a few yards the
convict guard called to her to surren-
der. The hunted girl’s answer was to
reach for her pistol. Martin threw his
shotgun to his shoulder and fired twice.
Helen pitched forward, riddled with
buckshot. She was dead before Brock-

man arrived on the scene, a finale that -

was far from agreeable to the Deputy.

Brockman’s own wife was Superin-
tendent of the Prison Farm. He didn’t
know how the public would take the

shooting of a girl by a male trus*~
acting as a bloodhound, under t
Superintendent’s husband. He w
very soon to find out.

A tremendous uproar greeted tne
news. A. G. Stedman, head of the
State’s penal system, was forced to
resign in three days, and S. L. Tod-
hunter, former Warden of the Peni-
tentiary, was appointed in his place.

Todhunter’s first act was to remove
both the Brockmans. He then ordered
all trusty guards back to their cells and
all shotguns banished.

“No women will be guarded with
shotguns during my administration,”
he declared.

POINTING out that the use of armed

trusties was vicious, even when
they were set to control other men,
Todhunter promised that paid guards
would be substituted everywhere when
funds were available.

Meanwhile, a Grand Jury had been
called into special session. On July
14, three days after the shooting, it in-
dicted Frank Martin for first degree
murder.

The same day Helen’s body. was
claimed by her uncle, Pless Spence,
and taken to St. Charles on the White
River for burial. Spence, who lived
on a houseboat like the rest of the
tribe, had not heard the news of her
death until he made a chance visit to
De Witt.

On July 19 B. O. Brockman was in-
dicted as an accessory to the murder
of Helen Spence Eaton, and the date
of both trials was fixed for late Sep-
tember,

These emotional gestures failed.
Frank Martin had not committed legal
murder, no matter how detestable the
system which had made it possible for
him to kill in the name of the law.
He was acquitted by a jury and the
charge against Brockman was dropped.

The good that came from Helen’s
death was the permanent reform of
Arkansas prison regulations, in the
matter of arming convicts. But what
a waste her pitiable short life had
been! She was twice a murderess at
the age of 22, when she perished blood-
ily herself. Across the border in
Louisiana, a short while before, Bon-
nie Parker, whom Helen had foolishly
admired, had been slain by a posse ir
much the same way.

It would have been’ better if neither
of these women ever had been born.
An advanced society would have seen
to that, by sterilizing their obviously
inadequate parents. Once born, both
Helen and Bonnie could have been
saved from the extreme results of their
heredity by personal sterilization, I
can’t repeat too often that if we have
failed to prevent at least we can do our
best to cure.

Behind the Owensboro Hanging (Continued from Page 28)

His dread-filled eyes widened as they
gazed at the letter “R” on the ring we
set before him. But at the end of our
questioning Richey, like Russell, had
admitted nothing.
‘ Wearily I nodded in the direction of
the cell block. “Lock him up,” I or-
dered tersely, and Alfred Richey
shuffled off between the officers,
Meanwhile Patrolman Vogel had
been photographing the finger-prints.
Soon he had the complete set ready
for classification. He planned to com-
pare them with every set of prints on
file at headquarters. by
Monday afternoon at four o’clock
funeral services were read for Mrs.
Edwards. Tuesday morning her body
was taken to Lousiville for cremation.
Two days passed and we had been
unable to secure any incriminating
evidence against the two suspects we
had jailed. Patrolman Vogel worked
on the criminal records and files and
at last he pulled from the alphabetical
cards a set of finger-prints which ap-
peared similar to those he had photo-
graphed in the murder room. They
were the only ones in the file that gave
promise. And they were of one
Rainey Bethea, Negro.
Vogel compared them carefully with

the prints on the photograph.

“Chief, I believe these prints are the
same!” he cried excitedly.

“Of course, some of the characteris-
tics on this print from the bedroom
are not distinguishable, but most of
them compare , favorably, especially
with the fourth finger of the right
hand.”

It was true, and Patrolman Vogel
and I returned to the victim’s bed-
room to compare the set from the crim-
inal file with the developed finger-
prints on the bed. They were similar,
but we felt that they were not quite
clear enough. So we immediately for-
warded the photograph and the origi-
nal prints to the Department of Jus-
tice at Washington for verification.

ad THEIR cells, Russell and Richey

stuck to their stories of knowing
nothing about the crime, and our offi-
cers diligently and determinedly con-
tinued their investigation.

They were told of a Negro, one
Rainey Bethea, who had been em-
ployed at the Wells home several years
before. He had been in Daviess Coun-
ty jail on minor charges several times.
In fact, our records showed that from
January 6, 1936, to April 18, he had

occupied a jail cell, serving out a $100
fine assessed in police court for being
drunk and disorderly.

The officers went to his room but he
was away from home. They visited
the places he _was said to frequent,
scoured the town for him. Their ef-
forts proved futile.

The case was being given wide-
spread publicity and photographs of

the celluloid ring had been carried in‘

the local newspapers. And it remained
for a 15-year-old boy to decide whose
finger the cheap band had graced.

On Wednesday morning this lad
made the startling statement that he
had seen that ring several times.

Within a few minutes we were talk-
ing with him.

“Sure, I’ve seen that ring a lot of
times,” he declared again.

“You're positive?”

He nodded with decision. “Yes, sir,
and it had the same broken place in
the back, too.”

We knew the youth was sincere. He
was earnestly trying to aid us.

“He wore the ring to work often,”
the boy continued.

“To work?” we asked eagerly.

“Yes, sir, the fellow worked around
our home—a colored fellow. I know

that’s his ring. Bethea if

“Who did you say?” we interrupted.

“Bethea—that’s his name,”

“Do you mean that Bethea was hired
by your parents, too?”

“Yes, sir,” the lad replied.

Later, alone at my desk, I reviewed
the sudden developments of the case.
The officers were already on the look-
out for Rainey Bethea, whom the boy
had named as owner of the celluloid
ring. Rainey Bethea was one of the
former servants of Mr. and Mrs. Wells
and Mrs. Edwards. And Rainey Bethea
was the man whose name had reached
the alert ears of the patrolmen.

Bur Bethea was nowhere to be found.
He had not been seen since Sunday
noon.

The town was combed and even. the
box cars on railroad sidings near
Owensboro were searched, but no-
where was.there a trace of the missing
Negro.

The net of evidence was tightening
about him. But what of the initialed
ring? Had the letter “R” really been
a “B”? No, it was plainly an “R.”
Had Rainey Bethea chosen’ the initial
for his first, rather than his last name?

We immediately dispatched descrip-

BETHEJ

“9

view of the mor-
id crowd that
ithered to see a
nurderer hanged

> WAS eleven a.m.:on the beautiful
Sunday morning of June 7, 1936.
The little town of Owensboro, Ken-
ky, was slowly awakening to an-
ler tranquil Sabbath. Everything
\s quiet, peaceful, just as it had been
countless other Sabbaths. Every-
ng, that is, except in one room in a
nbling old home owned by Mr. and
's. Emmett Wells.

Members of the Smith family, who
‘upied an apartment in that house,
re preparing to go to church when
B. Smith noticed something unusual.
s. Lischa Rarrick Edwards, a neigh-
> of theirs noted for her regularity
habit, had not been seen that morn-

‘I_haven’t even heard her moving
yut in her apartment,” Mrs. Smith
‘lared.

‘That’s odd,” interjected Mr. Smith.
's — o’clock. Do you suppose
*s ill?”

‘Maybe we'd better see,” Mrs. Smith
eed. She and her husband made
ir way to the aged woman’s apart-
not.

“hey rapped sharply upon the door.
2y called aloud to her. But there
$ no response.

Mrs. Edwards—are you there?”
ain and again they called, listening
antly for her voice, a voice they
ver again would hear.

Mrs. Smith turned the door-knob
ciously. ‘5

It’s locked!” she said. “And I know
t Mrs. Edwards hasn’t left the house’
s;morning! Perhaps she is ill.” ;
I’m afraid so,” her husband stated.

CCL

Few of the 20,000 Who Attended
That Spectacular
Few of the Millions Who Read

of It in the Newspapers, Know
the Detective Story Behind It

“Tll ask Robert Richardson to come
over, and I’ll get a stepladder.” Mr.
Smith backed a pace or two from the
door and surveyed the old-fashioned
transom above. The long, window-
like ventilator stood open.

Mrs. Smith remained in the hall,
knocking and calling futilely, as she
awaited the return of her husband
with their young neighbor. Presently
the two men joined her and Robert
Richardson adjusted the ladder against
the bedroom door, Swiftly he scaled
its rungs and stood peering through the
transom into the room beyond.

A GASP of horror escaped him. His

eyes distended with fright and his
sun-tanned face blanched until it was
white and bloodless. Suddenly he
sprang into action, forcing his body

through the narrow transom. “Some- ‘

thing awful has happened,” he cried.

A few moments more and he had
worked his way through the aperture,
dropped to the floor below, and un-
locked the door. The Smiths rushed

Rainey, black, hanged Owensboro, Ky., on 8/14/1936

yes

Hanging, or

into the bedroom only to stand, as he
had stood, rooted to the spot, staring at
the body across the bed! ‘

It no longer seemed strange that
Lischa Edwards had not arisen as usual
on’Sunday morning, that she had not
attended church services and that no
sound had issued from her apartment.

Lischa Edwards was dead!

H*®. badly beaten face,. the cruel

marks of fingers upon her throat,
the lace curtain, blowing gently in the
screenless window, told their graphic
story.

“Murdered!” Richardson whispered.
The word resounded through the room
of death like a clarion, striking terror
to the hearts of the Smiths. For under
the same roof, they had slept peace-
fully while a fiend had attacked and
slain the aged and wealthy widow.
Suppose that fiend had climbed in an-
other room! .

They called in Mr. and Mrs. Emmett
Wells. Mr. and Mrs. Wells notified the
proper authorities. And a few minutes

Mrs. . Florence | Thompson,
“woman. sheriff. of Daviess
County, who delegated her
: hangman's . job }y:

7 Na

* < : 4 > we
Ontothe*roof of the barn
at, the. right and along a
walk ~hidden’behind the

vines a killer crawled

By R. P. Thornberry

Chief of Police, Owensboro,
Kentucky, as Told to

Martha Lee Forgy

later Coroner Delbert J. Glenn (sum-
moned from church!), Chief of Detec-
tives Vollman and Patrolman Raleigh
Bristow were in the murder room.

The coroner made a cursory exami-
nation. The 70-year-old widow had
been brutally and criminally attacked
before she was slain! :

The voice of the preacher in the
church droned on with his sermon... In
scores of little, white cottages fires
were burning briskly in ovens, house-
wives were humming and singing to
themselves as they went about their
Sabbath tasks. The citizens of Owens-
boro had not heard yet about the fiend-
ish crime in the Emmett home. They
did not know that a butchering rapist,
a moron of the worst sort, was at large
in the serene little town, at large to
strike again without warning.

No woman in Owensboro was safe
as long as that fiend roamed the streets.
Furrows lined my brow when Chief
Vollman and Patrolman Bristow
phoned me and told me of their dis-
covery. With Commonwealth’s Attor-
ney Herman A, Birkhead I sped to the
scene of the crime.

We found the bedroom in almost
perfect order. Only the bed, upon
which lay the bruised and broken body
of Lischa Edwards, gave evidence of
the brief, fierce struggle that had taken
place there.

Her attacker had moved silently,
making even more pitiful her helpless
defeat. The beating, the assault and
the cold-blooded murder would have
caused any official to shudder. And I
had known Lischa Edwards for quite
a few years. Practically everyone in
Owensboro knew and loved her. As
Lischa Rarrick, a prominent and popu-
lar girl, she was born and reared in
Daviess County. She had been wooed
by Elza Edwards, a well respected
Daviess County farmer. Twenty years

before Mr. Edwards had died, leaving ©

his widow a vast and valuable estate.

POIGNANT memories passed quickly
through my mind as I stood at her
bedside, gazing upon her beaten face
and the deep, vicious imprints of the
slayer’s fingers upon her throat.
Those prints stood out boldly. On
every hand the same matching sworls
seemed to mock us. No murderer ever
left a better trail of finger-prints. We
found them everywhere. on the win-
dow sill—where the killer entered—
and on many objects in the room.
Even as I gazed at those prints Coro-

His progress is shown imme-
diately below the window by
which he entered

rl ENTERED

PORCH ROOF.
= 2 a8 Cee \

BEDROOM”
| WIN2OW,

REET

ner Glenn, who was standing near the
screenless window, bent to scutinize a
small object on the table before him.
I saw the interest quicken in his face
as he scooped the thing up in his right
hand and held it to the light. -

A queer bit of carving it seemed to
be, a novelty ring cut from an inele-
gant square of dice. A single, dark

‘initial, “R,” stood out in bold relief

against a square white background.

ORONER GLENN held the initialed
celluloid toward us and declared,
“Tt is broken on the underneath side!”

We completed our examination in
the bedroom and moved outside, cir-
cling the yard and making a careful
survey of the premises. Under a cov-
ered walk we went to the servants’
quarters in the rear.

At a red barn by the alley we picked
up the trail of the slayer. A covered
garbage pail and a tall, round ash-
can had supplied the means of ascent
to the low roof of the building. Prints
of bare feet led us over the porch of

the barn to a narrow gangway, over
which the moron had stepped onto the
roof of the long servants’ cottage. On
a portion of its porch roof we found
the same muddy footprints, leading to
the kitchen roof of the residence, At
times there were finger-prints mingled
with toe and heel prints, as if the
slinking figure had crawled on all fours
to keep himself out of the range of
the revealing moonlight.

Within the house, and without, the
slayer had left an unmistakable trail.
It was not difficult to visualize his
every move. °

Mrs. Edwards was known to have
kept a fair sum of money in her apart-
ment at all times and she owned sev-
eral valuable diamonds. We surmised

A diagram of the Wells house
grounds, showing the mur-
.derer’s means of egress, indi-
cated by the dotted line

At the left is a view of the
window through which the as-
sailant sneaked, intent upon

robbery—and worse

that the primary motive for the crime

was robbery.

The body of Mrs. Edwards was re-
moved to the Glenn Funeral Home
where, after an examination, | Dr.
George Barr confirmed Coroner Glenn’s
belief that she had been criminally
attacked.

It was an appalling fact, staggering
to us, as officials, that in our quiet,
peaceful town of 30,000 inhabitants
had happened this atrocity; that at
large among us was the lustful fiend,
perhaps even now planning to fasten
his cruel fingers about the throat of his’
next innocent, defenseless victim. :

But there must be no second victim,
I thought grimly. Our job lay clearly
before us.

About noon we locked the murder
om to keep other persons from enter-
g it and to preserve the finger-prints
itil I could recall Patrolman William
ogel, our finger-print expert, from a
ication visit in St. Louis. Word was
sspatched to him immediately and we
rned to neighbors of the victim for
iestioning.
We heard again the story of young
chardson’s gruesome discovery as he
‘ered over the transom; talked to the
ellses and the Smiths, and then to
sidents of the house next door.
Thomas L. McSwine, who occupies
upper apartment in the adjoining
‘use with his wife, set the time of the
‘angulation at approximately 2:30
n. The McSwine’s bedroom win-
‘ws faced those of Mrs. Edwards and
| had been raised, due to the intense
at.

HEY had heard the woman’s hushed
scream. Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Miller,
10 also have a second-floor apart-
ent, told us of hearing a muffled cry.
“I was awakened by the howling of
y German police dog,” McSwine told
“IT got up to quiet him when I
ard a strange, gurgling scream.
len everything was quiet until a few
nutes later I heard an automobile
at had been parked on Fifth Street
ive away.”
Mrs. Wells told us, nervously glanc-
g behind her as she talked, that she
d roused from her slumber briefly,
lieving that she had heard a baby
y during the night. There were no
ildren in the home, but only a few
ys before the wife and children of
Phillip Edwards of Lexington,
ughter-in-law and grandchildren of
ts. Edwards, had been visiting her,
d Mrs. Wells, not fully awakened by
e outcry, sleepily had attributed the
und to that. ‘
As we talked with the various neigh-
rs, Mrs. Frank Zinsz, Mrs. Edwards’
ece, who had been notified. arrived.
te checked through Mrs. Edwards’
longings to determine what had been
ken. Four diamond rings, a diamond
ooch, a dress and an undetermined
aount ‘of money were missing. I
ade a detailed record of their de-
ciption. .
A one-fourth karat diamond set in
iite gold; another fourth-karat set in
rite gold; a half-karat diamond in
rite gold, and a three-fourth karat
amond set in yellow gold. The dia-
md brooch, heart-shaped, was set
th a half-karat stone in the center.

HE brooch, we were told, Mrs. Ed-
wards often wore at the neck of her
zhtgown. Apparently the attacker
moved the pin from her nightdress
lowing the assault. ;
Again we locked within the room its
crets and
ounds and the outbuildings before
turning to my office.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Birkhead
vod a few feet away, regarding the
rvants’ cottage, the kitchen roof of
. a and the connecting covered
UK.
“This job was done by no stranger,”
declared. Coroner Glenn and I
dded in agreement.
“The killer went directly to her bed-
om,” Birkhead added. “The fact’
at he gained an entrance with such
parent ease indicates that he knew

again we surveyed the |

The celluloid

the place and the people in the home
remarkably well.”

We decided to learn something about
those who, as servants, had made their
home in the cottage in the rear of the
estate. Mr. and Mrs. Wells cooperated
with us fully.

WE. WERE particularly eager as we
listened to the names of the help.
Would we find a name beginning with
“R” among them?

I turned the broken celluloid ring
once more in my fingers. What an in-
significant bit to exchange for the
valuable diamonds and the life of the
wealthy widow. But would it play a
significant part in trapping the brutal
murderer? Would it eventually re-
veal the identity of its owner?

I suppose everyone has read in the
newspapers of similar atrocious crimes,

In these bushes along the river the killer thought he was

safe from the eyes of the police—but: not for

ring which the

At the left are the rings
stolen from Mrs. Edwards

daintily
removed—and left behind, a damning bit of evidence

murderer

of other women attacked and mur-
dered, of other morons and _ rapists
prowling the streets at night. \But un-
til it strikes near your home, in your
own town or your own neighborhood,
you cannot realize the paralyzing feel-
ing of terror, the stark, utter horror
that grips everyone no matter how
strong and how resourceful they are.

Pandemonium broke loose in Owens-
boro when news of the attack and
murder became generally known.
Doors and windows were locked and
double-bolted. Women refused to
budge out of doors after dark, and they
ventured out in the daytime only when
it was absolutely essential. Holsters
and six-shooters reappeared around
the waists of usually peaceful, God-
fearing men.

The Owensboro Messenger and In-
quirer published, on its front page, a

strong and pointed editorial decrying
the civilization that might cause such
a crime and criticizing the police for
not having captured the culprit. One
of its paragraphs read:

“Owensboro citizens are demanding
that those sworn to preserve the peace
of the community and protect its peo-
ple act and act quickly. Women and
children of the city are living in a state
of terror, fearing that the fiend, if un-
caught, will commit other outrages in
this city.

“How long are the citizens of
Owensboro going to stand for such
crimes? Are these crimes committed
because officials and jurors are lax in
their sworn duty? ...”

How we smarted under those blasts!
We were doing our very best, working
at fever pitch day and night. od
knows we had no desire to see such a
crime repeated. We had our own
wives, our sweethearts and children.

a bead men, like busy bees in a hive,

were at work throughout the town,
checking the activities and the dwell-
ing places of all those whose names
had been given to us, when Patrolman
Vogel, after a flying trip from St.
Louis, made his appearance at head-
quarters,

We were prepared to keep an all-
night vigil. No one thought of sleep or ’
relaxation ...

Hours passed and the evening shad-
ows had fallen once more when Chief
of Detectives Vollman and Patrolman
Bristow entered my office with a mid-
dle-aged man in tow.

They ordered him into a chair op-
posite me and he sank there, his eyes |
staring with fear. Jack Russell, his
name was, and he knew full well how 3
high public feeling had soared against
Mrs. Edwards’ slayer—and that the
penalty for assault in Kentucky is the
gallows.

He was terrified, but he vehemently
denied being the owner of the ring or
having any connection with the slay-
ing. Continuous grilling availed us |
nothing, but he was led to a cell and
locked up.

A few hours later officers again en-
tered my office, prodding before them
a second shrinking figure.. Although
he was several years younger than
Jack Russell, Alfred Richey’s face was
drawn and haggard with fear as we
launched into our questioning of him.

(Continued on Page 40)

long

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wig eer gabe» Ms
Chahine Oe i og
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PEPE ISA At ees Ser
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3 The only. other’ ‘bid. sted
sic | by James: C.: Miller, ‘Campbelisvilie,

lions of Bethea to police authorities
and all peace officers in surrounmng
cities and towns. Jack Russell ana
Alired HKichey were released, absolved
of ait connection with the crime.

(Names of Richey and Russell are
fictitious, to protect innocent persons.)

Much ‘action had taken place since
carry Wednesday morning and word of
the suspicion of Bethea was on the lips
+t everyone. Not only the officials, but
also every Owensboro citizen was on
ne alert.

‘the terror of Owensboro citizens
‘urned into a smoldering hatred.
kaimey Bethea would have fared bad-
y haa he fallen into their hands.

A little after two o’clock Wednesday
itternoon John Waltrip, a local painter,
eft his work at a house in Allen Street
ind walked down toward the Ohio
tiver to rest a few minutes in the cool-
ng shade of the small river park,

at Furst and Daviess Streets. he
loliced_ a Negro standing off to one
aue. There was something familiar
‘pout the slouched figure, and Waltrip
valked a few steps nearer. As their
‘yes met the Negro shifted his position
uadenly, turning his back squarely
ipon the painter.

At 2:30 I was seated before my desk,
ondering the case deeply. Bethea
vas proving to be an elusive fugitive.
’erhaps he had traveled far since Sun-
‘ay noon, I thought, when the ringing
t the phone broke in upon my cogita-
ion,

A whispered voice came to me over
he wire.

Be is John Waltrip, the painter.
I’ve got a fellow spotted down
ere. You’d better send somebody over
) the river right away.”
I waited only long enough to get a
2w details and then I called Patrol-
ien Dayton Hicks and Frate Austin
ho, with a newspaper reporter, hur-
ied through the business district, past
ie courthouse square, and one block
orth to the river.
There was no Negro in sight upon
1eir arrival, but they found George
lahn awaiting them and he pointed
own the bank at the foot of Allen
treet.
There was a rustling among the
illows, which were poorly concealing
oS form close to the water’s
ge.
The officers drew their revolvers and
ood on the high embankment, look-
‘g down upon the object. “Come
2re, boy,” they commanded. A dark
‘ce peered up at them, eyes watching
‘e sunlight playing upon _ their
eapons,
“Come up,” the officers repeated.

‘HE figure crawled from the willows
and began the steep ascent.
John Waltrip had worked a clever
ise. When the darky had whirled
vay from him he had walked closer
id started a casual conversation,
udying the features of the fellow be-
re him.
Finally the Negro made a guarded
mark about “the law” and Waltrip
id assured him that there was only
ie thing to do if the police wanted a
‘son for anything. “I’d get under
e river bank,” he advised.
Waltrip hurried over to George
lahn, who stood some distance away.
<eep your eye on that Negro for me,
ill you?”
Glahn nodded assent.
“And don’t let him get out of your
ght. I’m going to call the police.”
Glahn’s face grew puzzled. “The po-
2e? You don’t think——?”
There was a note of impatience in
‘altrip’s excited voice. “Yes, I think
at fellow is Bethea!” he declared.
And the officers wondered .if his
mch was right as they watched the
irky stagger up the grade.
Presently the third suspect in the
se was seated before me and I ad-
‘essed him as Rainey Bethea.
“Dat ain’ mah name, Chief,” he
outly contended. “Ah’m James
nith.”
“That’s strange. You were Rainey
othea the last time you were brought
here,” I commented.

But the Negro maintained that it
was a case of mistaken identity, that
he knew nothing about the murder of
Mrs. Edwards; that he never had been
employed at the Wells home; that he
never had lived in the servants’ cot-
tage, over which the slayer had
climbed on the night of the crime;
that he owned no celluloid ring, broken
or otherwise, and that he. was James
Smith. His denial was thorough and
complete.

“Ah’m James Smith. Ah’m 22 yeahs
old, and Ah lives in Greenville,” ‘he
declared.

However, I was not to be deceived
by his eloquence. I knew that the
man before me was Rainey Bethea.

No amount of grilling drew any ad-
mission from him until he was ar-
raigned before Judge Forest A. Roby.
Then he reluctantly acknowledged his
true identity and waived examining
trial. A warrant charging him with

The famous “Humane Hangman,”

G. Phil Hanna of IHlinois, who

traveled to Owensboro to assist in
the hanging of Rainey Bethea

Mrs. Edwards’ murder had been issued
Wednesday morning and the necessary
papers for his transfer to the Jefferson
County jail in Louisville were signed
by Circuit Judge George S. Wilson.
Following his admission, Bethea be-
came sphinxlike. I detailed Patrolman
Raleigh Bristow, with Deputy Sheriffs
L. I. Dishman and Albert Reisz, to
leave for Louisville with him at once.
We were afraid of mob violence.
Ironically enough, when Bethea was
brought in he had in his possession a
feature article published on the Sun-
day of Lischa Edwards’ death and
written about Patrolman Vogel. The
article mentioned the number of con-
victions secured in Daviess County
through identification of finger-prints.
As the officers sped over the road
with the Negro he maintained his sil-
ence until they neared Cloverport.
Then, suddenly, to the amazement of
the officials, he said, “I might as well
tell you something.” Forthwith he
launched into an oral confession.

HE HAD crawled into the bedroom

window, he. declared, choked the
aged widow and beaten and assaulted
her, leaving her motionless across the
bed. Whether she was dead or alive at
the time of the assault, Bethea declared
he did not know.

His big mistake in the crime, he be-
lieved, was in taking off his celluloid
ring and laying it down while he tried
on the diamond rings wrenched from
the fingers of Mrs. Edwards.

“When Ah left, Ah fahgot mah ring,”
he stated disgustedly.

Bethea repeated his confession at the
Jefferson County jail in Louisville,
swearing to it before a notary and
signing it before witnesses. Patrol-
man Bristow notified me at once.

The officers found Bethea’s under-
clothing bloodstained and they took it
from him to bring back to Owensboro
as evidence at his trial.

Notice of a special term of Daviess
Circuit Court to be convened in
Owensboro on Monday, June 22, was
posted Thursday by Judge Wilson. The
Kentucky law requires that notice be
given ten days in advance of a special
term, making June 22 the earliest pos-
sible date for a grand jury investi-
gation of the attack and slaying.

EFT alone in the Louisville jail,
Bethea repudiated his confession,
“Ah musta been drunk. Ah nevah
wo’ked fah Mis’ Edwahds. Ah didn’
own the ring and Ah didn’ attack or
kill Mis’ Edwahds,” he cried.
However, after indictments had been
returned against him he told the
Louisville officers where he had hid-
den the valuable diamond rings he had
taken from Mrs. Edwards the night
he attacked and murdered her. Owens-
boro patrolmen found the missing
jewels in the loft of a barn, just as
Bethea had confessed.
The jewels, until their discovery,

.had been the only missing link in the

chain of evidence against Bethea.

At 7 o’clock Thursday morning, June
25, a crowd began to gather at the
Owensboro courthouse, filling the
courthouse to capacity and keeping
the state police busy. In the courtyard
hundreds of men and women milled
constantly, while armed officers stood
guard at the four entrances.

Bethea entered a plea of guilty, but
the commonwealth, represented by
Commonwealth’s Attorney Herman A.
Birkhead and County Attorney Sidney
B. Neal, elected to present the evidence
that had been gathered by officers
since the crime and arrest of Bethea.

After hearing this and a plea by the
commonwealth’s attorney for the death
penalty, the jury retired and returned
its verdict in four and a half minutes,

“Guilty!” their verdict read.

The penalty for the atrocious crime
was the gallows. Bethea was rushed
back to Louisville and placed in the
Jefferson County jail to await the date

. of his execution, set for Friday, July

MBS: Florence Thompson, woman
Sheriff of Daviess County, at once
began preparations for the hanging.

On Wednesday, July 29, a double-
deck gallows, borrowed from Indiana,
was erected in the yard of the Daviess
County garage and Mrs. Thompson
asked Governor A. B. Chandler for a
state police detachment. On the same
day, however, Bethea’s attorneys, R.
Everett Ray and State Representative
C. W. Anderson, Louisville Negro law-
yers, declaring that his constitutional
rights were transgressed at the trial,
sought to block the hanging.

Federal Judge Elwood Hamilton
granted a writ of habeas corpus, set-
ting a hearing for Wednesday morn-
ing, August 5. The plea of the attor-
neys was denied and the date of the
execution was reset for Friday, August
14,

Thursday preceding the holiday of
death brought thousands of persons,
drawn by morbid curiosity, from every
state in the union and traveling in
every conceivable type of conveyance,
to gaze at the gruesome structure out-
lined against the setting sun.

\YHEN the final hour grew near the
streets of Owensboro were desert-
ed. The rest of a curious mob hurried
to the setting of death. People climbed
to points of vantage atop adjoining
buildings, automobiles and even tele-
phone poles.

At 4:30 G. Phil Hanna, famed “hu-
mane hangman” from Epworth, Illi-
nois, appeared on the scene with the
ropes. With him were Sheriff Chester
Pyle of White County, Illinois, and
Sheriff Sam Malone of Hamilton Coun-
ty, Illinois.

A small, young Negro, flanked by
Deputy Sheriffs L. I. Dishman and A.
C. Reisz, and closely followed by
Father H. J. Lammers of Louisville,
approached.

eee eee

At the foot of the first eight steps
Rainey Bethea hesitated. His face
showed no fear. He paused not for
lack of strength to ascend, but to make
a strange request. Turning to the offi-
cers he said, “Boys, I would like to
change my socks.”

Be mob of 20,000 persons pushed a

little nearer to the scaffold as the
darky sat there, pulling off his tattered
shoes,

Then came the socks, the left
a striped affair with toes and heel gone
and the right a solid tan, also sprinkled
with holes.

From his pocket he carefully drew
a pair of brand-new black silk socks
and pulled them on. Then he arose
and his noiseless, silk-shod feet briskly
mounted the gallows. Just as the sun
rose above the horizon he trotted up
the thirteen steps.

Chief of Police R. P. Thornberry

of Owensboro, Kentucky, co-

author of this story, who was in-

strumental in bringing Bethea to
the gallows

Sheriff Pyle and Malone strapped his
arms, still manacled at the wrists, and
then strapped his knees and ankles.
Phil Hanna adjusted the black hood
and the noose with its huge knot was
fitted swiftly.

The trap sprang apart and the
Negro shot straight downward, hurtling
to his death. Then the thousands
surged forward, trampling down a high
wire fence, packing and jamming for
a closer view.

Fourteen minutes later four physi-
cians pronounced Rainey Bethea dead,
and again the mob rushed forward.
People swarmed into the framework
and clutched at the black hood.

T= body of the Negro was cut loose

and three hours later, after re-
quiem mass had been said for him by
Father A. J. Thompson at St. Stephen’s
Catholic church, it was carted away to
a@ pauper’s grave.

Newspapers throughout the country
hopped upon that large, morbid crowd
that had witnessed the hanging. Bar-
baric, it was called, and editorial
writers lambasted the faults of human
nature that prompted such a gathering.

But those same newspaper writers
had not seen the horribly mutilated
body of Mrs. Lischa Edwards. Those
writers had not felt the terror that
gripped the city of Owensboro when
the rapist was still at large—they did
not know the desperate fear we felt
that he might strike again and this
time destroy one of our own dear ones.

am not trying to defend those
twenty thousand persons who made a
carnival out of an execution. I am
merely stating that I was glad to see
Rainey Bethea, bestial rapist, hanged.
There is no place in this world for
persons of his ilk.

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SATE TTI a eRe a

LUTHER WILLIAMS— ‘
lice of Bircham The ex-Marine who overpowered Bircham after.
” with him. the killing, shown with his young son, Luther, Jr.

* who had a black record as a criminal and an escape-artist, Bircham gripped the wheel tighter and shot his car for-

> was completely exonerated of having any connection with ward. As Tennyson pursued the careening Packard, Ross

F. the Nashville bank holdup. It was proved he was in Cali- «radioed headquarters, maintaining contact.

fornia at the time the crime was committed and had not been The wild two-mile chase that followed was like a movie

in any kind of trouble for several years. thriller—Bircham turning corners at full speed on two wheels
Meanwhile, Birmingham authorities disclosed that Birch- with the police car right behind, siren screaming and the

me ams sister, Mrs. Pearl Bell, to whom he had given the power Officers firing warning shots into the air.

of attorney, had succeeded in removing his bank account, Bircham spun around a breath-taking curve and drove into
Chief Burgess and Detectives White and Murry spent an a dead end at Burnett and Thurston streets. Plowing into a

entire day tailing June Bircham’s sister, Mrs. Thelma Mathis, chestnut tree, he wrecked his car.

on the chance that slte might lead them to Bircham or June.

Although Mrs. Mathis spent considerable time driving here out and ran around the front o

™ and there around the city and then to the Henson’s home in in whose yard he had crashed.
‘Gainesboro, she did not contact the Birchams. This was un- The police car pulled up, and Ross dashed to the back of

fortunate because, had he been apprehended at this time, the house to head Bircham off. Tennyson followed ‘the path

murder would possibly have been avoided—murder that was Bircham had taken around the front of the house. Bircham
y heard Ross running around the rear of the house.and whirled

™ to strike so soon.
around to make a retreat. Then he heard Tennyson coming.

N Sunday, August 14, at 9 p.m., Patrolmen John Tenny- As Tennyson rounded the corner, Bircham jammed his two
son and John Ross were cruising the section assigned to guns into the officer’s chest and pulled the triggers. Tenny-

them in Louisville, Kentucky, when suddenly a speeding son dropped.
Packard zoomed northward on First Street—a one-way At that instant Ross saw Bircham in the darkness and

thoroughfare southward. ordered him to halt.

Tennyson swung the police car onto First Street and “I give up! I give up!” Bircham cried, and advanced to-
on the accelerator. As the officers rolled even with ward Ross with his hands up.

the Packard, Ross leaned out the window. The patrolman failed to see the pistols in the gunman’s

“Pull over to the curb,” he shouted. =. hands until spurts of flame sent three slugs tearing into his

As the middle-aged driver of the wrong-way car turned chest. Bircham then hurdled a fence.

bis head to look at Ross, the latter saw that it was Earl Mrs. Bircham shrieked throughout the shooting. Still in

Bircham! He recognized him from pictures he had seen at the car, she continued screaming.
slice headquarters during roll call and in the newspapers. In the house next door, Mr. and Mrs. Luther , Williams

“You're under arrest!” he called. were preparing for bed. (Continued an page 64)

ets.»

=) CHARLIE HUNTER—
yy Like Pierce, this alleged accomp
_ evcused June of “just trying to get even

am, snapped as
e Louisville jail.

“ht a car and drove
. C. Penny robbery

»y the FBI before a
am, charging June
ection with hiding

‘ontgomery holdup,
-e discovered later.
‘ween Nashville and
almost on his heels,
2 elusive desperado.
clues, aware that it
sainst the time they
bandit would strike

f the home of W. J. Burnside,

lieved that Bircham -.
Scores of telephone ~~
ns who insisted they
and in a West Side®’
ot and thorough in:
nered, us
‘ a police character
{ the second bandit_

licers in 1945 as an @
on, Tennessee. When =
taken residence in: i@

ie had been repo:
robbery. But Hyde

PR pn

Abandoning June, who was sitting beside him, he jumped *

boards and wall. These were rushed to
FBI at Washington for laboratory inspec-
tion. In addition, Murrell stuffed a pair
of pants in the package. ;

At the end of the long conference, Chief
Bush summoned Frank Quintana to his of-
fice. Quintana entered with eyes gleaming.
“You have perhaps solved the murder?”
he asked, looking from one face to the
other.

Bush noted that the squat man seemed
pleased when he announced, “Yes, Quin-
tana, we have solved the murder.”

The tavern proprietor leaned forward.
“Who was it?” he asked. ,

Bush ignored the question. “Frank,” he
said, “why would a man like you—with a
good wife and two fine children, make
love to another girl? To get to the point,
why did you make love to your waitress,
Mary Noriega?” ,

Quintana leaped from his chair. “That
is a dirty lie.”

Chief Bush, a past master at questioning,
motioned him back ‘to his chair. “Never
mind the theatricals, Frank. “I'll tell you
exactly what you did. You don’t have to
tell me. : ,

“When Mary Noriega came to work for
you, you knew she was-a nice girl; loved
her husband. But you couldn’t keep your
hands off her, even when she refused to pay
any attention to you. You didn’t know it,
but she was so true to her husband, she
even told him what you were doing.

“Then you found out,” Bush continued,
“that before Mary was married, she used
to go out once in a while with Joe Corces.
You figured that was the reason why she

wouldn't pay any attention to you; you

thought she loved Joe. It didn’t occur to
you she might love her husband.” ;

All color had left the plump prisoner's
face. He was shaking his head. “It’s a
lie,” he said. “I’m being framed.”

“Just a minute,”. Bush added softly.
“There’s a woman called Jackie who comes
in your place for beer once in a while.
Last week you told her that Joe had gone
to your wife and told her you were making
love to Mary.” .

“Another lie!” Quintana cried, this time
more weakly.

‘Oh no,” Bush continued, “it’s not a lie.
Joe. did go to your wife. She admits it
now, although she didn’t until after we
talked to Jackie. That’s why she brought
your clothes to the beer parlor.

“But that isn’t all, Frank. After you
killed Joe in the kitchen, you dragged his
body: out the wide door and through the
weeds. Then you bolted the door and
waited until Armando Pasado came back
with his crab box. He asked where Joe
was and you told him he’d gone out with
two drunks and a blonde. Then you forced
Armando to help scrub the kitchen, but
you didn’t notice the blood spots on the
wall and you didn’t know that more blood
dripped into the basement.”

Quintana shifted uneasily. “Fish blood,
I told you,” he said.

Bush continued: “After you scrubbed
the floor, Armando and you took a walk,
supposedly to look at that other beer place.
But you forgot to tell us something. You
did look at that other beer place all right.
Also you went in and used the telephone.
You called the police station, told them a
man was‘killed at Fortune Street near the

bridge. You didn’t know that the pro
prietor heard you.”

Quintana had slumped down in his chair.

Bush reached in a desk drawer, produced
a small steel bar, about a foot long and
nearly an inch in diameter. “You struck.
him on the head with this,” he said. “You
hit him from behind again and again. Joe
never had a chance. This piece of iron
matches the holes in his head. We found
it hidden in your kitchen.”

Bush hesitated briefly, then added: “Just
one more thing will clinch this case. That's
the report of the FBI on whether that
blood was from fish or a human. If it’s
human blood, you are the killer, because
only you. and Mary Noriega had a key.
And Mary has a clean-cut alibi.”

IVE DAYS later, Bush received a spe-

cial delivery letter from J. Edgar
Hoover, FBI chief, stating positively the
brown spots on the stool top, ceiling, walls
and also on Quintana’s pants were human
blood.

In March, 1941, Quintana went on trial
in the district court at Tampa, still stoutly

maintaining his. innocence. The jury be

lieved otherwise, but because there was no
actual proof he had planned the crime in
advance, Frank Quintana got off with 20
years in Florida State Prison at Raiford.
“This is the finest case of circumstantial

evidence ever presented to a Florida jury,”

Assistant State’s Attorney J. Frank Umstot
told the jury, in concluding his argument

To this day, the statement goes unchal-
lenged. Armando Pasado, of course, was
entirely innocent of the crime and was

completely cleared, as was Mary Noriega.

PAYOFF IN BLOOD ~

: Continued from page 33

Mrs. Williams jumped as several explosions
suddenly blasted the night.

Williams, a 215-pound ex-Marine, op-
ened the back door and walked down the
steps to the yard. He wheeled around as

someone jumped over the fence. He looked

into the barrels of two guns. “Give me
your car keys!” Bircham demanded. “Quick,
hand them over, or you'll taste lead.”

Before Williams had time to reply, Bir-
cham pulled the triggers of both pistols.
They clicked but didn’t go off.

Mrs. Williams, standing in the back
doorway, ducked inside and slammed the
door. She was going to phone for help.

“Tell your wife to open the door or I'll
plug you,” the gunman said. Again he
pulled the triggers of both guns and again
they failed to go off. Williams winced as
the desperate thug then jammed both pis-
tols into his back.

“Go inside and get those keys for me!”
Prodding Williams with the guns Bircham
followed up the steps.

When the veteran reached the top one,
he slowly placed one foot inside the door
which Mrs. Williams had opened.

Now’s the time to move, he decided, if
I ever am to. He whirled around, grabbed
the guns, and the two men toppled down
the steps.

After a struggle which Williams later
described as “a fight for my life” he man-
aged to get his hands around Bircham’s
throat.

“Lie still or I'll choke the life out of
you!” Williams panted.

For the second time that night Bircham
screamed, “I give up! I give up!”

Williams, exhausted from the life-or-

death battle, yelled for help. His wife ran
into the yard.

“Run get me a rope, honey,” Williams
gasped.

While he trussed the gunman securely,
Mrs. Williams told him she had called the
police when the trouble in the yard first
started,

As soon as the shooting had ceased, Mr.
Burnside ran into his yard and held Mrs.
Bircham, who had remained in the car.
She offered no resistance.

OUISVILLE Patrolmen Louis F. Brown
and Orville Savage arrived 20 minutes
after the shooting began. They found Offi-
cers Tennyson and Ross on the ground,
unconscious. June Bircham, still hysterical,
was being guarded by Burnside. Bircham
was on the ground, securely trussed up
with a piece of rope.

Realizing that Tennyson was near death,
Patrolman Brown wanted to get a good
look at the man who shot him. He yanked
Bircham by the hair of his head, jerked
his face up into the light. “You're Earl
Bircham!” Brown exclaimed incredulously.

Bircham ducked his head and remained
silent.

“Orville,” Brown called to his partner,
“this is Earl Bircham!”

As Officer Savage bent over the desper-
ado, Brown radioed headquarters that they
had in custody one of the nation’s most-
sought-after fugitives.

“Although Bircham’s.put on’ a lot of
weight,” Brown explained, “I recognized
him immediately. from his picture on the
department bulletin board and from de-
tective-magazine descriptions.”

The two’ wounded officers were placed
in an ambulance and sent to the hospital.

Tennyson died within a few minutes, An

emergency operation was performed on
Ross and the slugs. were removed from. un-
der his heart. Surgeons said he had an
even chance to live. Tennyson had died
from two bullets in the center of his heart.

Officers, examining Bircham’s pistols,
discovered why they had failed to shoot
when Bircham pulled the triggers on Wil-
liams. The barrel of one gun was jammed
with dirt. Evidently Bircham had pushed
the gun into the ground when he landed
from his jump over the fence. oe

The second pistol had been clicking
over empty chambers. If. the trigger had
been pulled one more time, the gun would
have fired! .

The subdued outlaw and his wife were
hustled into a police car and driven to
headquarters. In the shadow of the City
Hall flag, half-staffed for the popular
young officer who had died in the ex-
change of shots, Bircham denied the kil-
ing, the shooting, the robberies—every-
thing. ’

. Gazing at the lowered flag, Major
Charles C, Doyle, night chief of the Louis-
ville police, said “That fellow Bircham
will never leave the State of Kentucky
alive!” 3

With Tennyson’s ‘murder, Bircham be-
came Public Enemy No. 1.

W' EN June Bircham was brought in for
questioning, she surprised investigators
by sobbing; “Thank God at last I’m safe in
the hands of the police.”

Louisville Detective Lieutenant Ellis Jo-

ae te See

4 seph asked Mi
» by that.

“T’ve lived o
would close ii
two years I'v:
cham have be:
wanted to tip «
but I didn’t da:
As it was, he }
the time with
I didn’t want
comings and

Mrs. Bircha
that her husb
bank, the Na
pany, the Nas!
livan’s Depart:
and the J. C.
gomery. In
with these cri
other holdups
ed: “I know
man who wo:
job—the bank
you who he :

She named
Louisville gas-

“He also hx
Nashville Gas .
she said.

She told offic:
with Charlie |
nessee, on th
“He cased the
Company job |

While autho:
and Hunter, J)
a detail of inve:
Road near We:
south of Lou
way, where sh«
.from the Ame:

Across a sli
incline about |!
buried in a hoi
had been cove
and brush.

Wrapped in :
sum of $13,00(
the bank, datc
holdup was ex:

June, her \
Didn't I tell .
I sometimes |
to tell you th:

At the timc
had on his pe:
wife had $7.‘
checks drawn
bank, stuffed i,

Pe hidden in her

The former

* implicating he

robberies at ;

7a dishonest thi

June admitt

a waiting in the
~ bank holdup. “.
B,. -away from any

_ly. “Never! So:

‘along and sit

didn’t want to,
Mr. and Mr:
out bond in difi
ville jail.
Twenty-six-y¢
was arrested at
at midnight, A
and city detec

’ issued the next

bank robbery, |
masked bandit
and held 35 em

Se while Bircham

joni

ler’s cages. U.
recommende
His hearing »

. e. fore a U.S. c

the pro-

his chair.
. produced
long and
‘ou struck .
ud. “You
gain. Joe
» of iron
We found

‘ed: “Just

e. That’s

ether that
if it’s

r, because
vad a key.

ved a spe-
J. Edgar
tively the
‘ing, walls
»re human

t on trial
till stoutly
ie jury be-
aere was no
he crime in
off with 20
it Raiford.
iccumstantial |
‘lorida jury,”
“rank Umstot
his argument
goes unchal-
* course, was
me and was
uy Noriega.

were placed

» the hospital. ¢
minutes, An
rformed on
ved from. un-

he had an
i had died
of his heart.
am’s pistols,
ued to shoot
ers on Wil-
was jammed

, had pushed
cn he landed

been clicking
e trigger had
e gun would

his wife were
iad driven to
of the City.
the popular
d in the ex-
‘ied the kill-

heries—every-

flag, Major
‘of the Louis-
low Bircham
of Kentucky

Bircham be-
brought in for ~

-d investigators
iast 'm safe in >

-nant Ellis Jo- 2a

seph asked Mrs. Bircham what she meant
by that.

“lve lived only for the day the police
would close in on us,” she replied. The

two years I’ve been married to Earl Bir- .

cham have been a hellish nightmare. I've
wanted to tip off the police so many times,
but I didn’t dare. You just don’t know Earl.
As it was, he kept my eyes black most of
the time with his brutal beatings because
I didn’t want to join him in his lawless
comings and goings.”

Mrs. Bircham confirmed to the officers
that her husband held up the Nashville
bank, the Nashville Gas & Heating Com-
pany, the Nashville Coca Cola plant, Sul-
livan’s Department Store in Old Hickory
and the J. C. Penny Company in Mont-
gomery. In addition to linking Bircham
with these crimes, she named him in 20
other holdups in various States, and add-
ed: “I know you all are trying to find the
man who worked with him on the last
job—the bank robbery. I’m going to tell
you who he is.”

She named William Curtis Pierce, a
Louisville gas-station attendant.

“He also helped my husband on_ the
Nashville Gas and Heating Company job,”
she said.

She told officers that her husband worked
with Charlie E. Hunter, of Gallatin, Ten-
nessee, on the department-store holdup.

“He cased the Nashville Gas and Heating

Company job for Earl,” she said.

While authorities went to bring in Pierce
and Hunter, June Bircham led Joseph and
a detail of investigators to a point on Stites
Road near West Point, Kentucky, 12 miles
south of Louisville, off the Dixie High-
way, where she directed them to the cache
from the American National Bank branch.

Across a slight ravine and up a steep

’ incline about 15 yards, the loot was found

buried in a hole about 18 inches deep. It
had been covered over loosely with earth
and brush.

Wrapped in an old green slicker was the
sum of $13,000, all bearing wrappers from
the bank, dated August Ist, the date the

‘holdup was executed.

June, her ‘voice trembling, cried, “See!

- Didn't 1 tell you I was telling the truth?

I sometimes get mixed up, but I’m trying
to tell you the truth.”

At the time of Bircham’s capture, he
had on his person $6,867 in cash, while his
wife had $7,521 in cash and_ cashier’s
checks drawn on a Covington, Kentucky,
bank, stuffed into an old tobacco sack and
hidden in her brassiere. ,

The former Tennessee farm girl began

implicating her husband in the various

fore a U.

robberies at precisely the same time her
husband was tellirig the police: “Give June

a break. She’s a good kid. She never did.

a dishonest thing in her life.”

June ‘admitted that she was the woman
waiting in the second getaway car in the
bank holdup=“But I never drove any cars
away from any robberies,” she stated firm-
ly. “Never! Sometimes Earl made me go
along and sit in the car. God knows |
didn’t want to, but what was I to do?”

Mr. and Mrs. Bircham were held with-
out bond in different sections in the Louis-
ville jail.

Twenty-six-year-old William Curtis Pierce
was arrested at his apartment in Louisville
at midnight, August 14th, by FBI agents
and city detectives. Named in a warrant
issued the next morning charging him with
bank robbery, he was accused of being the
masked bandit who stood at the bank’s door
and held 35 employes and customers at bay
while Bircham raked up the cash in the tel-
ler’s cages. U. S. Attorney Ward Hudgins
recommended a bond of $35,000 for Pierce.
His ity was set for that afternoon be-
. commissioner,

Pierce, tall and lanky, was originally
from Bowling Green, Kentucky, FBI rec-
ords showed, and had a criminal record
dating from 1935. Investigation revealed
that he was a close associate of Bircham
when the latter lived in Bowling Green
under the name of Harty Cooper.

Ten witnesses to the most recent hold-
ups, accompanied by Chief Burgess, arrived
in Louisville, and both Bircham and Pierce
were positively identified.

“I wish I'd never seen Public Enemy
Number One!” Pierce declared, after he
was escorted to Nashville on August 24th.

Heavily manacled, he arrived in the cus-
tody of Federal authorities from Louis-
ville. After a brief stop at the U.S. Mar-
shal’s office in the Federal Building, he was
taken to Davidson County jail under heavy
guard where he was scheduled to remain
until the date of his trial. He was unable to
post the $35,000 bond.

Smiling nonchalantly behind a 10-day
growth of beard, he said, “I've never had
any connection with Bircham except that
of gambling. June Bircham must have
thought I put the cops on Bircham’s tail,
and this is her way of getting even.”

Bircham was arraigned in the Louisville
police. court on August 15, 1949, on a
charge of wilful murder.

June told officers that her husband’s
“take” in the past year was $57,450 from
Nashville and Davidson County alone. “I
never want to see him again,” she vowed,
tears in her eyes. “He had me so bullied I
was afraid of my own shadow—afraid to
open my mouth to speak. I never knew
cn his fist would come bashing into my
ace.”

She told the investigating officers that
her husband beat her worse than she had
seen enraged men flog their mules.

“Bven the first night of my married life
was a disappointment,” she admitted, low-
ering her eyes in embarrassment. “Two of
Earl’s friends carried us from Rossville,
Georgia, where we were married, to Gains-
boro, where I was shown the home Earl
had bought and furnished for me. It was
real nice, nicer than any I had ever seen.
I was so proud and nervous and excited,
but I needn’t have been. Earl and his
friends went right out into the kitchen and
started playing cards for money. 1 went out
to watch and Earl said, ‘Be a good girl,
baby, and go somewhere else. A woman
will jinx a card game.’ I thought maybe he
would quit the game soon, so I went to the
bedroom and waited. He didn’t come that
night. When he did come the next morn-
ing, I said, ‘John’—I called him that at
that time—'I thought you said you were a
farmer.’ He smiled the way he always used
to. It was the sweetest, most winning smile
you ever saw. It would have melted a stone.
Then he said, ‘Baby, I made more money
tonight, more damned money than your
old man ever did in a year at farming’.”

Co E. Hunter was arrested at his
Gallatin, Tennessee, home on the night
of August 17th by FBI agents and Sum-
ner County Sheriff Harris Reddick. The
officers seized Hunter at the request of
Lima, Ohio, Police Inspector Donald Mil-
ler, after June implicated him and her hus-
band in the jobs done recently in Ohio.

Inspector Miller stated that at 7:30 on
the evening’of May 28th of this year, they
(allegedly Bircham and Hunter) entered a
Lima supermarket and demanded that Fred
Guy, the manager of the store, open the
company safe. When Guy explained that
it was controlled by a time lock, the men
became enraged and Bircham fired his
pistol at him. The shot missed, however,
and the men fled in a stolen car which was
ne recovered nearby—a typical Bircham
trick,

The following morning, as they attempt-
ed to break into a motor company in Piqua,
Ohio, they were surprised by Lieutenant
Noah Studebaker and Patrolman Ed Hen-
derson of the Piqua police force. The two
outlaws, carrying shotguns, immediately
fired at the officers and fied. Lieutenant
Studebaker was crippled for life but Hen-
derson recovered.

FBI agents, Nashville city police and
State Highway patrol officers had had Hun-
ter under surveillance for some time past,
believing he was one of Bircham’s contact
men. They also suspected him of aiding the
bandit in the holdup of Sullivan’s Depart-
ment Store in Old Hickory.

Hunter was arraiged on August 18th be-

fore U. S. Commissioner Tom Cook on the
formal charge of illegal flight to’ avoid
prosecution in Ohio. He had a fairly long
criminal record.
. “Sure I know Bircham,” Hunter con-
fessed, “but only as a gambling friend. That
fellow is one of the best card players I’ve
ever seen, and I’ve seen the best.”

Like William Pierce, Hunter accused
June Bircham of trying to get even with
him.

“T know she fingered me in connection
with. the Ohio robberies’ and the depart-
ment store deal,” he complained. “I don’t
know why she’d tell such a thing about me,
unless it’s because she thought I squealed
on them.”

ROM their remote, back-country water-
melon farm in Tennessee, a weeping,
elderly coupled traveled to Louisville to
see their daughter, June Bircham. Leaving
the hills for the first time in their lives, Mr.
and Mrs. Mac Henson said: “We want to
do everything we can for our little girl.”
The grief-stricken parents were accom-
panied to police headquarters by their
other daughter, Mrs. Thelma Mathis, and
their attorney, W. P. Flatt of Cookville,
‘Tennessee. They waited with typical moun-
tain patience and silence by the front door
until June, flanked by two Louisville de-
tectives, was led past them from her Jef-
ferson County cell. A» few minutes later
they were allowed to visit with her pri-
vately in the homicide office.

Flatt, who wasn’t allowed to talk with
June, described the Hensons as honest, un-
educated farmers. “There's not a better man
than Mac Henson in Jackson County,”
Flatt said, “and June is just a poor ignor-
ant girl who got hooked up with a smooth-
talking criminal.”

‘After the 20-minute visit, the couple
came out crying. The frail father, tieless
and in shirt*sleeves, sobbed openly,” his
shoulders shaking. Mrs. Henson’s eyes
brimmed with tears. "

The Hensons said that June had tried to
leave her husband, had in fact, tried to run
away. Mr. Henson, his fists clenched, add-
ed: “Junie came home to us but Bircham
came after her. He said he’d kill her if she
didn’t. go back with him. She was scared
and went.”

Bircham announced to Lieutenant Jo-
seph that he would help clear up several
cases in other States if, at his trial (sched-
uled for October) he were given life im-
prisonment instead of a death sentence.

“Bircham told me that there are more

jobs to be cleared up in Nashville,” Joseph ~

said, “and also that he wanted to do right
by a man who is now in prison, apparently
for a crime Bircham committed.”

Because of a spreading rumor circulat-
ing to the effect that friends of Bircham’s
on the outside were plotting to help him to
escape, the guard was doubled and eve!
outlet was under close surveillance at Jet-
ferson County jail.

Four huge turnkeys, heavily armed, stood
a silent vigil outside the tiny 10-by-4-foot

cell in which the killer-robber, stripped of
all clothing except his underwear, sat alone.

Admitting for the first time that he shot
and killed Officer Tennyson and wounded
Patrolman Ross, Bircham claimed self de-
fense. ;

“If someone is shooting at you with a
gun,” he said, “and you have a gun in your
hand—well...”

Patrolman Ross previously made a state-
ment to the effect that while they were
pursuing the bandits through Louisville

streets, they, the officers, had fired warning

shots in the air.

N October 9, 1949, John Clifford, a
guard was flabbergasted to see Bircham
approaching him in the cellblock cor-
ridor. The prisoner, a gun in each hand,
flipped a wall switch, throwing the cor-
ridor into semi-darkness. Glaring menac-
ingly at Clifford, he snarled: “Gimme those
keys quick, or I'll blow your guts out!”

“You'll have to come get them,” Clif-
ford said.

As Bircham advanced, Clifford lunged
at him. The two srapet frantically and
then Clifford knocked him to the floor.

A call for help brought officials and
other guards, who overpowered the pris-
oner. They discovered that Bircham’s two
guns were made of soap. They were at a
complete loss to understand how the des-
perado got the hacksaw blades with which
he cut through his two vertical cell bars or
how he was able to saw the bars without
being detected by the heavy guard placed
around him since his, arrest. Elaborate
precautions had been taken ever since Bir-
cham had been brought to the jail. Guard-
ing against future desperate last-minute at-
tempts to escape, jail authorities placed the
prisoner in solitary confinement in a base-
ment dungeori cell. The walls of the cell,
which is used only on rare occasions, are
lined with solid steel. There are no bars,
no outside windows or doors. There is onl

one opening—a foot square covered with.

wire mesh near the top of the tiny room. —

Bircham refused to disclose how he was
able to fashion the realistic pistols or how
he came in possession of the hacksaw. Po-
lice believe that he obtained the soap by
saving small scraps given him and welding
them together into large bars. They specu-
lated that he scraped paint from the cell
wall and‘took dirt from the floor to color
the guns. It remained a mystery how the
gunman secured scrap strips of metal that
formed the trigger guards and the coins
that he pressed into the fake revolvers
that gave them such an authentic appear-
ance.

Regarding the saw blades, Bircham
yawned and said “Maybe I've got friends.
Who knows? Anyway, that’s the sixty-four-
dollar question, isn’t it?”

iy guard for the bandit was again dou-
bled.

Bircham went to trial on October 11,
1949, Police had taken extra precautions
against a possible effort by Bircham to es-
cape. Everyone who entered the courtroom
was searched. The courtroom was searched
thoroughly before anyone was admitted.
Plain-clothes detectives were scattered
through the crowd, and two armed guards

were stationed at each door., Bircham was .

transferred through a tunnel from the jail
to the courthouse after a minute search

of the tunnel. Police said that they had re- .

liable reports two of Bircham’s friends were
in Louisville and were going to try to
“spring” him.

The jury deliberated one hour and 15
minutes and convicted the bandit of wil-
ful murder. His punishment was fixed as
death in the electric chair as was sought by
the commonwealth.

The widow of the slain patrolman stood
tensely behind the prosecution’s desk as the
sentence was pronounced. “I'll never rest
until I see him strapped in the chair,” she
murmured, ‘

Circuit Court Judge Loraine Mix said

after the trial that the date of ‘the imposi-

tion of the death sentence would be deter-
mined by defense action. He explained that
the defense had until November 5th to
file a motion for a new trial. ;

On October 20th, Louisville Police Chief -

Carl Heustis announced that it was costing
the city $143.52 a day to guard Bircham.
He asked that Bircham be removed im-
inediately to the State Prison to eliminate’
that expense. “The department already has
spent three thousand dollars to maintain a
full-time guard detail around Bircham,”
Chief Eustus declared. “The detail includes
six detectives and twelve patrolmen on spe-
cial duty, twenty-four hours a day. We can't
take any chances on an escape, so I want
to get him away from here.”

In a surprise move, Judge Mix formally
sentenced Bircham on October 22, 1949.
He overruled a motion for a new trial, and
set Bircham’s execution date for March 18,
1950. Authorities explained that safety
precautions prompfed the action to. avoid
a possible escape attempt.

Bircham was denied a last-minute request
to confer with his wife.

“This is probably the last time Pll get ~

to see her,” he pleaded with Judge Mix in
open court.

“I’m sorry,” the judge replied, “but we’ve
made other arrangements for. you.”

Earl David Bircham was -immediately —

whisked away in chains to the Kentucky
State Prison in Eddyville by two car-
loads of heavily armed policemen, and was
placed in the death house.

June Bircham, William Curtis Pierce,
and Charlie E. Hunter are awaiting trial,
at which time their innocence or guilt will
be established. ;

Epiror’s Nove: The name Jud Hyde,
as used in the foregoing true story, is
fictitious, to spare needless embarrassment
to a man who, although he had a criminal
record and was for a time under suspicion,
actually had no connection with the crime
for which Earl Bircham was convicted.

DICTIONARY FOR DOOM

Continued from page 23

a futile search of the leaf-covered area
for some sign of the gun, but the move
was completely fruitless. Jennings final-
ly called a halt to the search.

Back in Marion, Teaster told the sheriff
in earnest tones: “I know it all sounds
crazy, but that’s exactly what happened.”

“Don’t worry, Roy,” Jennings assure
him. “I’ve known you for a long time,
and I don’t think you’d go around making
up stories like this. One thing more. Do
you think you could recognize this man
if you saw him again?”

Teaster assured him that he could.

After the cabbie had left, the officials
discussed the value of his ‘strange story as
a potential clue. “The whole thing could
have: happened,” Jennings said, “and yet
could have had little connection with the
murder of Hazel Shortt. On the other
hand, the man in gray could have been
her killer. We all know that murderers
get warped, twisted ideas about perpetrat-
ing the perfect crime. There’s a good
chance he made Teaster throw the gun
away because he wanted Teaster’s finger-
prints on it. He must have known that
sooner or later Teaster would tell some-
one about the incident. Offhand, that
sounds like it. would be dangerous, and
you’d think he would have killed him be-
fore reaching Marion. But I’ve got a

. vealed these to be all Series E
ings Bonds. Some of the bonds had mere- ©

hunch he wanted Teaster to tell the po-
lice—because he: figured that would serve
to draw suspicion on the cabbie.”

“Do you think his orders to Roy to let
him off at the hospital was a. blind?”
White asked. :

Jenning shrugged. “It’s a possibility.

d But I think it wouldn’t hurt to take a look

at the victim’s room at the hospital. Come
on, let’s get out there.”

D°. TOR BLALOCK gave quick per-
mission to the, investigators, and within
a short time an orderly had led them to
the second floor of the Harmon Building,
where the victim maintained her quarters.

As the investigators stepped into the
neatly-furnished room, they exchanged
quick looks of surprise. Torn documents
seemed to litter almost every foot of the
floor of the main room. An ins
ar Sav-

ly been torn in half, and it was easily
seen they were payable to Hazel Shortt,
with her sister named as beneficiary in
event of her death.

In the adjoining bathroom, burned frag-
ments of more war bonds lay on the tile
floor, while in the toilet were large pieces
of the valuable papers that had failed to
flush down.

tion re- .

“What does all this. mean?” Boone. ex-
ploded. .

Jennings shook his head grimly, and
made no reply. He began moving around
the combination sitting and bedroom, and
several'discoveries were made that almost
had the investigators reeling in bewilder-
ment.

The first thing they noticed was a dic-
tionary lying on a nearby dresser with its
pages opened to the “D” section. At the
top of the right-hand page the word “dis-
honor” had been marked by two parallel
lines drawn by a pencil. Lying on each
page were two small snapshots, both pic-
tures of a handsome, pleasant youth. In
one picture he was attired in an army
uniform; in the other he wore army
coveralls.

In a closet, hung between several
dresses, were a man’s robe and a pair of
striped pajamas. No name or initials were
readily discernible in either. garment.

Boone stifled a shout, then held up a
jagged piece of paper.
part of a marriage certificate! Hazel
Shortt was married!”

“Who's the husband?” Jennings asked. :

Boone shook his head. “The name's
gone—torn out.” :
Sure enough, both the name of the

groom and the place where the marriage | p
x

“So help me, it’s

e ‘was performe:
.. from the cert:
* of the docum:
he ~ Hazel Shortt »
% of December,
“Book No 12, |
Hurriedly in'
» ‘appeared compk
Shortt had bee
months and th:
. had consumma!

‘the dictionary «

-WENNINGS, 3:
to believe tha’
acquired a hu:
associates bein:
short time he ©
truth. Gladys
assistant, seeme:
sheriff’s revelai
been married.
* to the identity :
*% - call that of lai

~ -and- depressed
Ss weeks ago th:
= considerable

)t. spoke to her ;

° room. “She
what it was
added.

J. W. Whi
division, wa
knew his. m
married. “Li
me. I never
But he, too
Shortt had «;
pied.

However.
the victim’s
- who provide
mer of ligh
said she wa:
superior ha:
that early ti
observed H:
steps to the
earnestly to

m. . paper bag.
familiar abo

4 a hurry aad
& .. but she thor
2“y had strolled
ae to Miss Sho
a she could rei
‘ Nurse Kili:

recall the in
“Miss Shortt
Lovelace |i
room.”
c Within a *
~* had located :
ate man,
peared sur;
s nificance of i
be: all the polic.
»° istration bui
Bs “But Hazel
, Lovelace .
” tim the pre’
i unteered, h
he to town wil
: halted: the
partment st
~~ had continu
‘S the cab-dri
to further
complete
visor’s husi
secret, didi
Hurrying
nings ran
_ promptly c
Be. saying: “S.
%.. store, and
Restaurant.’

DAVIESS CIRCUIT COURT.
SPECIAL JUNE TERM, 19566

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, PLAINTIFF,
vs. INDICTMENT
RAINEY (RAILEY) BETHFA, DEFENDANT.

The Grand Jury of Daviess County, in the name and by
the avthority of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, accuse the de-
fendant, Rainey (Railey) Bethea, of the crime of Rape upon the
body of a female of.and above twelve years of age, committed
in manner and form as follows, to-wit:

That the said Rainey (Railey) Bethea, in Daviess
County, Kentucky, on the day of June, 1936, and before the
finding of this indictment, the said Rainey (Railey) Bethea,
being a male person, did unlawfully, feloniously, wilfully, and
with force and arms, make a violent assault upon Lishia Re Ed-
wards, and then and there said Rainey (Railey) Bethea, forcibly
against the will and consent of the said Lishia R. Edwards, un-
lawfully, wilfully and feloniously, did rape, ravish and carnal~
ly know said Lishia R. Edwards, a woman of and above the age of
twelve years, contrary to the form of the Statute in*such' cases
made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the Com-

monwealth of Kentuckye es acy med
| J 28) ) HERMAN Ae BIRKHEAD, *'2 fq
Ee 4). GCOMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY () Fj
WITNESSES: , 0 ue aie Oy
Delbert Glenn. Coenen . ee Kop, CY. Vitpatiy Jou
_ Tom Smith, bitctahad, re ; artis PCrmeth | acta Jeffree

Aobert— ich oe VACA

Birdie G

be Ee Disha | _ [dl [hecggers]
» CO, Retag tu | | ee

[foder? orto, cpa. Ws rtm & RWS,

not or could not pull the lever to spring the trap door

fq a Baik ip Sa cs fae oA t
and a daputy pulled it for her!

Ltr, dated 10-?)-1977 from Mrs, Phil Pearce, Carmi, Ill,

sai ree, Mt VP a ken Ug

| vy Library 4 see/Safakis' ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAY CRIM,
_ page 69.

1936 |

ORTHEA, Ra iney August 1},

TEs LEita eh g

-
a a ae ee ee ee ee Oe

nad oe f :
: tr S Tt Crk AGS

Retned, a 22evresreold \wensccoro, -J ro wes Semen
tonang for the rape and strangulation of a 7Q-year-old |
white woman under an odd Law that -reqrires tiat a a

convicted of criminal assault be hanged in the county
3

= r o> + aa) We Ts SINT + - } + oO A = 3-5 4 ea 5 ba) +- ye
fro wiarn ne was convicted instead of dieing in the
atoantwat A ab Aan ak Lea roar task oo ees Lae cee Rese —T5ra seats
pt Or ee Se ek BASS IS Cd te a oe § 7 ¢€ me wE CALS 3: vt ag te b A ENS SE
2 t
oy —oel ge +r Ke ace 4 n TQ
a. CROWG= Of. 10,90 Eee. Jwensboro , Neg OR Chel Pee yd
VA ie
QmatinKn e ms, Te perk ee we oe a! +3 Le
OOUrce - 4 Le a ee Ae tg eS Ae
ww Pi qe ane Cn

re
nRainey Bethea, age 22, hanged Auge 1h. 1936, at 5:23 AM
(this evidently correct date) for rape and murder of Mrs.
_Eleatdwards-a-fo=year=old widow. At the time of the
hanging, Mrs, Florence Thompson was the sheriff, The a
° f ;
paper states that at the last minute, Mrs, Thompson wou

3
BETHBA, Rainey,bla I. hangedOwensboro, KY Aug. 1 hl, 19 36
ee GEORGE C.. WRIGHT tate
' Racial Violence in Kentucky

1865—I940

Lynchings, Mob Rule, and “Legal Lynchings”

& Viet tke apie ens tors wi

SR A et RNIN Ha aN

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Baton Rouge and London

ya"

East aaneTeS

es eA adh ua ta
[Oe Sgt So

" Mev ehd nig g este nhent
3 Fier 0
Raw) ae eee i ep tert -
PR etd paces cath
Oa eC TELY

it was
eh orie 2-minute

ic chair here
-old gunman

year

10am. H

toe
aa

The 49-
dead at 12

west

Bircha

Louisville Patrolman John Tennyson

in the

: e.was giv
prison chaplain, the Rev

L. J. Knoth, fulfilled

volts of electricity. After that Dr.
“The

| M. H. Moseley examined him and

if he hed

Deputy Warden Wal-
ada sa

bens

chair sits.
ter Step

re
i
Be
i
[va al bb ak a

hanging on his cell wall and
“Time is getting

he’s a fine man.” __ -
Bircham was asked a
recent attempt to escape

; | cell. Using improvised too

he was asked.
swered:
digging straight down.”

j
| :
|

Denies Money Story

night that she had divo
; bre ied, and was living
s troit, <4

him,
De-

, Came from for his defensp, par-

‘Uqularly the expensive last-

; Minute legal efforts in his ‘behalf.

|... -4y relatives raised jt,” he
|

a telegram from

Said. ;
Bircham read
}{ his sister whom he identified only
we'll

{

dav reading a Bible.

| Bircham went to the
and
q

They were in| answer
te his final rannect Ha! wanted

i ‘to talk freely
showed of impatience. |. .
He looked at a ‘black-faced' dial

ie
t his
tron his

you hope to; go?”
Bircham chuckled and: an-

“Frankly, I don’t know. I was

Asked if he bad heard! from

af he ae...
EST hae . :
PAPA. tat aee CRT ee i)
iene! SRT RMS TE, sb
e ¥ arts dates fee! * 4
‘ Sy, AP SA hag
LG he seek ce, Ae
oe na a! Seg ae Le
3 ei, oie 1 Des me

Ney

WE ry

ons “5
ey ea
BCs

times within six years.! His last

Prison, Lansing, ircham, |;
a trusty in the prison poe i
stole a guard’s uniform and

‘his former wife, June, Bircham
replied, “Not for some time.” He
said he did not know until to-

Bircham deénied that h “has
lots of money buried in numerous

| He was asked where the ‘money | market was reinforced

the newest company carved from

Ludwigshafen, now turning
chemicals at the rate of more than
$160,000,000 yearly, repeived a
new eorporate name—Badische .*
Aniline & Soda Factory. Ni of
mer Farben executives) are. ine |

cluded in the new. oa3

-combines which Allied
eon
wealler Baran |

Pm em oD a MR we a

New Firm Sef
Out,of Assets

Frankfurt, Jan. 31 — West
Germany’s bid for a major share »
of the world’s postwar ichemical
today by

ER Ener eee ee eee. Ween ener ae

assets of I.G. Farben.
The sprawling Farben|woarks st

* fed onthe win tres sport wit denn SPY ha, ne
ake, Bog é .
H ce oe
4 pie ated 2) eis

The new company’

big independent:
et up |

AE mo

gna

ei oF
ia
|

>
ial
*

; UF bas Ki

‘reset for Friday by Governor

Frankfort, Ky. Jan. 28 ()—
Eari D. Bircham’s execution was

Wetherby late today.

The Governor signed the order
minutes after he learned from
Washington that Supreme Court
Justice Robert Jackson had re-
fused to stay Bircham’s execution.

Last Saturday, Justice Stanley
Reed likewise refused to order a
stay. Jackson’s refusal apparently

was Bircham’s last chance, for any |

intervention by the Supreme
Court.

Bircham was convicted of kill-
ing Patrolman John Tennyson in
Louisville. His counsel, in asking
a last-minute stay of execution,
said new evidence had been
found.

This new evidence included an
asserted finding that the bullet
that killed Tennyson was not fired '
by Bircham.

Clerk Wires Governor

= ee

Rodes K. Myers, Bowling ;

Green, Bircham’s lawyer, told a

Washington reporter after Jack-
son acted that the clerk of the
Supreme Court had wired the

Chief Justice of the State Court |

Governor of Kentucky and the |
{
of Appeals, notifying them that |

a request for review of the case
is pending here.
“It’s now entirely up to the

State officials to decide whether |

to let the man live until the
Supreme Court can pass on the
petition for review,” he added.

Although the justices refused
to stay the execution, Kentucky
officials could order it held up
until the Supreme Court has had
a chance to rule on the request
for a review.

The new execution date is the
third set for Bircham, who was
wanted in four other states when
he was convicted of the murder
of Tennyson,

_ Convicted 2 Years Ago

Bircham, of near Martin, Tenn.,
was convicted October 22, 1949. ;
The shooting took place after |
Bircham drove his car the wrong |

4
way into a one-way street and |

two policemen began chasing him. ;

Wetherby issued the order after
consulting Attorney General J. D.
Buckman, Jr. The Governor said
his decision was reached “after
carefully considering the record
in the case and having observed
that due consideration has been
given to the defendant, and see-
ing no reason for setting aside the
judgment of the Jefferson Circuit
Court, or the Court of Appeals of
Kentucky.

The Governor added he had no
reason for commuting the sen-
tence or delaying execution fur-
ther. he

The original date for executing

Birchan at Eddyville Peniten-
tiary was.last June 22, but an ap-

peal to the federal courts stayed
that. Then Wetherby reset: the

date for January 18. The Ken- |}.
tucky Couft of Appeals on Jan-.

uary 17 gave Bircham a 10-day
stay so his attorneys could go
back to the Supreme Court, which

- ad

enya a) On Eee '
Hh MF 3 :
i} ‘ ce
what oe .

ofa AUR re b

fit

Be ee Z
ce

iStroes, |

any
anybody, but I would like to say |
that if I am guilty ef this mur-
der, I hope the members of the
family of Mr. Tennyson will al! |
forgive me.” i

‘Ready Te Ge’ |
“In days gone by, I bave been

treated by certain ‘
but not by officials this

have made my peace with
You boys will have to do the sa

:
HH

el
i
wo."
gz

B
Pa
Ang

his face,.Bircham closed his eyes
and again said “Good-by, Brother
Knoth, good-by, @eputy (Ste-
phens). 1 hope I will see all of you
in heaven.” ae
Mumbles A Prayer

ham was ry
final hour ‘of his life.
But he told me there was doubt

Bire

wane

' tte # » ‘ ¥ Vv 743 . *
ew ahictti« re fl ) etd fe, Os 42% + ‘ Y<g Bake ie
ae hfe y ayht int t TSE y “4 Eos Ae Bower, er MZ oe. aiyidek: wr) OO ee Be > a i) Pras
1 ety. § ’ ; -. + cape *e. a+ > * * Na kee e 6 ¥ CORTE ye Yip ef ; ~t ,
’ ‘ 4 cg re eee oe * ‘. reg y ay . $
x! VA at see 4 + he ¥ ae TY ' . di ¢ iy i > de SK TR BIN SE ts ;
SP AUS CME ae aN sed iat Steed og 6 SM Re Mas age i . 3 . %
Goostp 4 “a ~%, pe watt t s ¢ . - + ry 4
rt aye, a ‘au a f ~<a $ wo rigr eh at ys Cie OR hes pad es +t Chae = ts ry jee ere

ts.

AE Et ce eRnmP IMME LE Lo cules agietity. ie com RMN) aR tial

D. Mok RSS

fi
:

P
§

E
f
E

216 ~ Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940

wrote that the governor had once again demonstrated beyond any
doubt his concern for the race. What went unreported, however, was
Bradley’s decision to have the black man sent to Louisville until he
was assured that Blanks would be protected when he was returned to
Mayfield for trial. The governor informed Graves County officials of
this action and told them to proceed with plans for the trial. The gov-
ernor also warned them against any violence occurring during the
trial; to ensure the prisoner’s safety, Bradley sent along state troops to
protect the accused rapist. Bradley agreed that the trial could be held
in Mayfield but insisted that the jury come from Hickman County.
Protected by fifty guards, Blanks arrived in Mayfield on July 5 for his
trial. As the local newspaper stated, “Several hundred people were at
the depot to witness the strange spectacle of a company of soldiers
coming to Mayfield to save the neck of a brutal negro from a mob.”
Blanks had three attorneys, including Augustus E. Willson, the future
governor. Nevertheless, he was found guilty and sentenced to death.”

Six months after Blanks’s conviction, attorney Willson argued
before the Kentucky Court of Appeals that because of the sensational
rumors published in the newspapers, it had been impossible for his
client to receive a fair trial in Graves County. The same would have
been true, Willson said, if the case had been moved to Ballard, Hick-
man, Fulton, or Carlisle counties. Whites living in these areas of
western Kentucky, the attorney explained, almost universally agreed
that Blanks was guilty of raping a young white female—a crime re-
garded with high emotions. And, said Willson, the death sentence
should be overturned because the court had refused to grant a change
of venue from Graves County. Willson informed the justices that
when Blanks and the soldiers arrived in Mayfield, they were sur-
rounded by “a great throng of hundreds of men and boys. . . shouting,
‘Hang him!’ ‘Take him out!’” The court of appeals rejected the mo-
tions presented by Willson, dismissing his argument that prejudiced
newspaper accounts played any part in inciting the public’s indigna-
tion over Blanks’s alleged offense. Concerning the second motion, the
justices made a brief statement: “We are not prepared to say that
the court erred in overruling the motion for a change of venue.” It is
not a mandate that a criminal case be transferred to another area

2. Mayfield Monitor, July 6, 13, August 24, 1898.

simply because such a move was sought by the defendant, the justices
explained.’

Clearly, in their ruling in Blanks v. Commonwealth, the justices
of Kentucky’s highest court chose to ignore the obvious, that for dec-
ades the mere rumor that a black might have raped a white female
created, as Blanks’s attorney argued, an emotionally charged situation
and had led to numerous lynchings—or at the very least to white
mobs dominating court procedures, demanding quick “justice” for
black rapists. In the opinion of the appeals court, the fact that a hos-
tile mob had met Blanks and the soldiers at the train depot, followed
them to the jail, surrounded the jail until Blanks was taken to court,
and crammed into the courtroom throughout the trial, making known
its opinion of Blanks’s testimony by loud outbursts, had no effect on
the outcome.of the case.

Willson next turned to Governor Bradley in an attempt to save
Blanks’s life. He was defending Blanks, Willson informed the gover-
nor, “without fee or reward, or expectation of any fee or reward”
because of a sincere belief that justice must be served in the case. The
guilty verdict and death sentence handed the black man had con-
vinced Willson that mob justice prevailed in Kentucky:

This Bob Blanks case is a case in which Providence tests the soundness
of our whole system with the wager of an utterly unimportant human
cipher. Bob Blanks is the cipher, whose case tests the soundness and the
justice of our institutions, as much as if he were the most precious life
that ever was thrown in the scale. The lighter the weight that establishes
the scale is not true, the easier it is to prove the system unsound, and Bob
Blanks’ case seems to establish by the lightest possible evidence that the
scale of justice is not held evenly in our state.

Willson urged the governor to give Blanks a ten-year prison sen-
tence since he had admitted under oath to having sex with the young
white girl.*

Although swayed by Willson’s compelling arguments, Bradley de-

3. Blanks v. Commonwealth, 48 Southwestern Reporter, 161-64 (1898).

4. Augustus E. Willson to William O. Bradley, November 2, December 8, 1898, in
Bradley Papers; see also the undated letter from Blanks to Bradley, informing the gover-
nor of his innocence and stating that it had been impossible for him to receive a fair
trial. Also within the Bradley Papers are numerous letters, both pro and con, over
whether Blanks should be executed.

“Sacrifice Upon the Altar of the Law” 217

220 Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940

told the truth, and Martin’s witnesses—his relatives—had not. Suffi-
cient funds were raised by the NAACP to have the case appealed. The
death sentence was affirmed by Kentucky’s highest court. Governor
Stanley, who received praise for preventing a lynching, now felt that
justice had been served. Lube Martin died in the electric chair July 25,
1919. Interestingly, while applauding Stanley for saving Martin from
the lynch mob, the Crisis had sounded a note of caution that turned
out to be prophetic: “Thus Lube Martin has been saved from the
mob—at least temporarily. As to justice for a man who killed his
assailant in self-defense, that, even in Kentucky, is quite another
story.’”®

Black Kentuckians should not have been surprised that governors
Bradley and Stanley believed that justice had been served with the
executions of Blanks and Martin. Although condemning mob violence
and lynchings, they had acknowledged that whites were often frus-
trated and tried to reassure them that the guilty would be punished to
the fullest extent of the law. During Bradley’s term, fifteen men were
put to death by the state, eight of whom were Afro-Americans. After
denouncing the continuation of mob violence against blacks in his
message to state lawmakers, Bradley called attention to the subject of
rape. Juries have a right, he declared, to sentence not only convicted
rapists to death but also those convicted of attempted rape. “The
fiend who makes an assault on a defenseless woman, with such a
hellish purpose in view is equally guilty with who accomplishes
his purpose.”® Six of the nine men executed during Stanley’s term
were black. (He was governor for only three years and five months,
resigning to assume a seat in the United States Senate.) When staring
down the mob in Murray, Stanley said: “I’ll see that the laws are
enforced and enforced with vigor. I’ll protect that negro from mob
violence. And I believe in the death penalty, too. If cold-blooded mur-
der is committed, then that murderer should pay with his life. But
he should die only after twelve men have weighed the evidence care-
fully, painstakingly and in fear of their God, and have declared him
guilty. He should be a sacrifice upon the altar of the law.” Several
years after Martin’s execution, Stanley debated the famous attor-

_ 8. Crisis, XIII (March, 1917}, 227.
9. Bradley, “Message to General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky,”
86-87, in Bradley Papers.

“Sacrifice Upon the Altar of the Law” 221

ney Clarence Darrow about the death penalty. Stanley took the pro-
capital-punishment view, saying that it was a protection to society. !°

Both governors, therefore, believed they had done the right thing
in the cases. Clearly, Blanks was guilty of having sex with Tennie
Bailey. In court, his attorneys argued that Tennie Bailey was consid-
erably older than twelve years and, more important, that she was a
prostitute, “an inmate or regular attendant at a house of ill fame, and
that her reputation for virtue and chastity among those who knew her
and among whom she lived was bad.”"" According to the white news-
paper (which of course must be viewed with suspicion when it re-
ported the rape of a white female by a black man), Blanks had said,
before being put to death, that “the girl gave her consent to the com-
mission of the deed, and that he paid her a dollar.” On the other hand,
the evidence against Martin strongly suggests that he was justified in
thinking that his life was threatened by the white deputy sheriff. But
even if both black men were guilty and the evidence against them
overwhelming, how could the governors honestly think that return-
ing them to the same area would result in fair trials? To be sure, the
juries were composed of white men from other counties, but they
came from western Kentucky communities that experienced lynch-
ings and attempts to run blacks out of town. These whites’ strong
emotional feelings about a black raping a young girl or killing a law
officer likely did not differ from the feelings of others in the area. Fur-
thermore, given the racial hostility displayed during the trials, it
is not difficult to imagine what would have happened to the white
jurymen at either trial if they had voted for acquittal. Undoubtedly,
the presence of the troops prevented lynchings, but their presence was
also an indictment of the concept of a fair trial. When commenting on
how the law should be allowed to carry out its duty, neither governor
expressed any reservations about Afro-Americans being excluded from
the jury process. Both Bob Blanks and Lube Martin were convicted by
all-white juries during a time in Kentucky when no blacks were in-
cluded in the pools of jurors. To be sure, Bradley and Stanley had pre-

Io. Paducah News-Democrat, January 10, 1917. For details on the debate with Dar-
row, see the Stanley Papers and the Louisville Herald-Post, March 15, 1925.

11. Blanks v. Commonwealth, 163. In court, attorney Willson noted that the white
men who had kept the “house of ill fame” had left Mayfield, and all efforts to locate
them for the trial had proved futile.

Sac aePs no UeRORSS

| SEVEN “A Sacrifice Upon the Altar of the

Law,” 1875-1899

hen a rumor began circulating in Mayfield on January 12, 1898,
that a young white girl named Tennie Bailey had been raped,
attention centered on Robert Blanks, a black man in his mid-30s. Re-
alizing that being accused of such a crime could lead to his lynching,
Blanks quickly fled the state and successfully eluded the authorities
for four months. Mayfield’s police chief eventually tracked the ac-
cused rapist to Cairo, Illinois, where he was working in a strawberry
field when arrested. After having Blanks placed in jail, the chief re-
quested that the black man be returned to Mayfield to stand trial. The
governor of Illinois agreed, but Governor William O. Bradley, who had
pledged to end lynchings during his administration and who was
extremely sensitive to the racial violence that had occurred in May-
field in December, 1896, denied the request. In a dramatic statement,
he said: “The wholesale slaughter of Negroes by mobs in Graves
County and the failure to punish their murderers satisfies me that to
have this man sent back there would be to have him sent to his death,
and that he could not obtain even a semblance of a fair trial. If guilty
he deserves death, but punishment should be inflicted by law and not
by mob. I decline to issue the requisition.” The governor's action
had probably saved the black man’s life. When first commenting on
the rape and the capture of Blanks, the white newspaper wrote in a
matter-of-fact manner that once Blanks returned to Mayfield, “the
usual result will follow, as the crime was one of the most heinous
ever perpetrated here.’’'
The Kentucky Standard, a black weekly published in Lexington,

1. Bradley was quoted in the Kentucky Standard, May 28, 1898; Louisville Courier-
Journal, January 13, May 21, 1898.

Se ee et aie ere

218 Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865~1940

cided to hear from Graves County officials before making a final deci-
sion on the fate of Blanks. He wrote to J. E. Robbins, judge of the
Graves County Circuit Court, who had presided over the case, and
two days later received a lengthy reply. In Robbins’ opinion, Blanks
had committed rape and had received a fair trial and a just verdict.
The judge then appealed to the governor to allow the death sentence
to be upheld for the good of the state. Carrying out death sentences,
he argued, was the most effective way Bradley could end lynchings in
the state. Many “very reputable and good citizens,” he explained to
the governor, have applauded the outrages committed by the mob be-
cause of their belief “that the courts will not enforce the law, and that
executive clemency constantly interferes to prevent the proper pun-
ishment of crime.” Fully aware of Bradley’s commitment to uplifting
blacks, the judge next said that upholding the death sentence in the
Blanks case would in the long run aid Kentucky’s black citizens: “If
Bob Blanks should not be executed but have his punishment com-
muted, or be pardoned, the effect on the colored race in this state
would be dreadful. If such action be taken the life of any colored per-
son who hereafter commits any kind of crime will be very little value
to him, for no amount of vigilance on the part of judges and other offi-
cers of the law can further restrain the infuriated masses from acts of
violence against the colored race.”* The letter from the judge proved
persuasive. Assured that his actions of having the accused taken to
Louisville, having him escorted to Mayfield by fifty troops, and bring-
ing in jurors from another county had led to a fair trial for Blanks,
Governor Bradley refused to prevent the execution. Blanks died on
the scaffold in Mayfield on April 18, 1899, before a white crowd num-
bering in the thousands.‘

On December 9, 1916, deputy constable Guthrie Diuguid of Murray
was shot and mortally wounded by Lube Martin. According to the
version that several whites told in court, Diuguid, a peaceful man,
had several run-ins with Martin, and the Negro had gone so far as to
threaten to kill him. Diuguid, according to this account, was ap-
proaching the street when he was attacked by two relatives of Martin,
making it easy for Martin to fire six shots into his body. Several
whites testified that Diuguid’s dying words were that Martin had, as

5. J. E. Robbins to William O. Bradley, December 15, 1898, in Bradley Papers.
6. Mayfield Monitor, April 12, 19, 1899.

“Sacrifice Upon the Altar of the Law” 21 9

vowed, killed him. In his own defense, Martin swore that Diuguid
had, on several occasions, threatened to kill him. In March, after
local authorities refused Martin’s request to have Diuguid quit ha-
rassing him, Martin left Murray but returned four times for brief vis-
its. While there in September, Martin ran into Diuguid, who drew a
gun on him, saying: “I am going to kill you, you black son of bitch.
I have been looking for you all this year and you have been gone.”
Martin was able to escape by hiding in a building, and he left town
immediately thereafter. He remained in Tennessee for four months
and returned to Murray in December to see a physician. Realizing
that it would be impossible to avoid Diuguid indefinitely in the
small town and that the police had refused to help, Martin carried a
pistol for the inevitable confrontation. While walking to his father’s
house, Martin explained, he came upon Diuguid, who reached for
his weapon. Martin, however, reached his gun first and shot Diuguid
six times. The testimony of Ann and Sylvester Martin substantiated
this view.’

After his dramatic, highly publicized trip to Murray, Governor
Stanley vowed that Martin would be protected when he returned for
trial. Five weeks after the incident, Martin arrived back in Murray ac-
companied by members of the Kentucky National Guard. Presiding
over the trial was Charles H. Bush, the judge who had demonstrated
such little concern for Martin’s life that he had ordered the black man
returned to Murray so that he could be handed over to the mob. State
officials, however, were confident that Martin would now receive a
fair trial. They brought in sixty men from Christian County, which
they proudly said was not adjacent to Murray, so that twelve of them
could be selected to hear the case. Everyone entering the courthouse
was searched. After hearing evidence for more than two days, the jury
deliberated for only an hour before deciding on the death penalty for
Martin. Diuguid’s death statement had been crucial to their decision,
the jury foreman explained. Furthermore, the white witnesses had

7. Martin v. Commonwealth, 178 Kentucky Reports, 540-47 (1917); Martin v.
Commonwealth, 199 Southwestern Reporter, 603—10(1917); Paducah News-Democrat,
for most of December, 1916, through February, 1917, especially December 10, 1916,
January 10-12, February 20, 23, 1917; Murray Ledger, February 15, 22, 1917; board
minutes of the executive committee of the NAACP, March 12, 1917, December 9,
1918, in NAACP Papers.

i see hig

BETHEA, Rainey, bla

ck, hanged

ise teat ae pee Sa ehh

Owensboro, Kentucky,

: oe,
at aR ee, But Sada
Hea bc , ae Bi
b+ his OI Gag ae ek

a hy i ¢

oy EXECUTIVE ORDER
i. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY

TO THE SHERIFF OF DAVIESS COUNTY,
OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY, GREETING:

on August 1h, 1936.

WHEREAS, one Rainey (Railey) Bethea was on the 25th day of June, 1936,

at Owensboro on July 31, 1936, and

convicted in the Daviess Circuit Court for the crime of RAPE and was
by the Judge of said Court sentenced to die by hanging in Daviess Count:

WHEREAS, on July 29,1936, the Hon. Elwood Hamilton, District Judge

for the United States District Court for the Western District of Ken-
tucky granted a stay of execution for the purpose of hearing a writ of
habeas corpus and in obedience to said writ the defendant was produced
into the Court at Louisville, Kentucky, on August 5, 1936, and the writ
of habeas corpus was set down for hearing and was heard on said date
by the Hon. Elwood Hamilton, Judge of the District Court of the United
States for the Western District of Kentucky and after hearing the said
¢ writ arid the response thereto and the Court being sufficiently advised,
4 said writ was dismissed and the said defendant Rainey (Railey) Bethea
Rh; was remanded to the Jailer of Jefferson County at Louisville, Kentucky,

to be there confined and held according to law, and

WHEREAS, there has been no further date of execution set by any Court o
és, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and

i. WHEREAS, the defendant Rainey (Railey) Bethea having failed'to perfect

his appeal to the Court of Appeals in the proper manner but having an
uf attempted appeal considered by the Court of Appeals and the Court of

Appeals dismissed said appeal, and

ie WHEREAS, it appears that after careful consideration of all the facts

in this case, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky can see no

x reason for setting aside the judgment of the Daviess Circuit Court or

f the judgment of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky or the judgment of
a : the Hon. Elwood Hamilton, Judge of the United States District Court
for the “Yestern District of Kentucky, or any reason for suspending the
sentence or judgment of said Courts or to further grant stay of execu-
tion of said judgment or to commte the sentence imposed by said Courts

7 THEREFORE, YOU ARE NOW COMMANDED by these presents that you will on Fri

CAE EER EN C1 Sy

manner it was executed.

forty-fourth year of the Commonwealth.

KEEN JOHNSON

Secretary of State of Kentucky

August 14, 1936, at about the hour of sunrise of said day and within th
County of Daviess in the City of Dwensboro, cause the said Rainey (Raile
Bethea to be hanged by the neck with his body suspended so as to cause
death as quickly as possible and you will see that death does ensue and
will make due and proper return of this warrant showing how and in what

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I heve hereunto set my hand and caused the Great
Seak if the Commonweaith of Kentucky to be affixed thereto,

DONE at Frankfort, this the 12 day of August (1936) in the year of our
Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six and in the one hundred an

CHAS. D. ARNETT Governor of the Commonwealth

atiheiinaimanen ~ Er meee, ae eee ee eee

Executed the within order by hanging Rainey Bethea by the neck until
pronounded dead by Dr's W.L.Tyler,B.H.Seigler, and John S.Oldham.
This Hanging took place on County Garage Lot in Owensboro, Daviess
County, Kentucky, at (5:32 five thirty-two A. M. Friday August 14th,
1956 and said Rainey Bethea was pronounced dead fifteen minutes later

This August 14th

1956.

_ FLORENCE THOMPSON 8 D CO

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256 Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940

troduced that called for using the electric chair instead of the scaffold
for executions. Supporters of the bill added another feature to the law,
one clearly designed to end the rowdy behavior that occurred during
executions: “All executions of the death penalty by electrocution
shall take place within the walls of the State penitentiary, . . . and
such inclosures as will exclude public view thereof.” This bill, which
had the support of Governor Willson, was signed into law on March
20, I910.°

Eventually, however, the practice of hanging condemned rapists in
the county where they had been tried and convicted was reinstituted
in Kentucky. In an attempt to have Will Lockett quickly convicted
and returned to state prison, Lexington officials decided to indict him
only with the murder of Geneva Hardman, even though evidence ex-
isted that she had been sexually assaulted as well. Although elated
that “justice” had been meted out to Lockett, a number of Lexington
whites expressed a belief that the electric chair was much too hu-
mane for such a heinous crime, that Lockett should have been made
to suffer by dying at the end of a rope.* Quickly responding to these
intense feelings, lawmakers amended the death penalty law, adding a
feature that was clearly designed to appeal to the will of the mob:
“Except in cases where the accused has been adjudged to suffer a
death sentence for the crime of rape or attempted rape, in which event
sentence shall be executed by hanging the condemned in the county
in which the crime was committed, that such an execution shall be
within an enclosure to be provided by the county and admittance to
said enclosure be limited to 100 persons.”

In clear defiance of this provision to limit the number of people
witnessing a hanging, white authorities returned to executing Afro-
Americans in front of huge, boisterous crowds numbering in the
thousands. In June, 1932, Sam Jennings was executed in Hardinsburg
for the alleged attack of a white woman. According to a black news-
paper, “The hanging of the colored man. . . attracted such a throng of
men, women, and children as might have caused P. T. Barnum of
circus fame to hide his face in shame. It took Jennings seventeen

5. Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky (Louisville, 4
1910), 111-13; newsclip from the Willson Collection. :
6. See, for example, the Lexington Herald and Leader for March, 1920.
7. Acts of the General Assembly Commonwealth of Kentucky, 1920 (Louisville, _
1921), 693-94.

Color-Coded Justice 257

minutes to die, to the delight of the crowd who enjoyed every second
of the event.” The public hanging of Rainey Bethea in Owensboro on
August 14, 1936, hastened the end of the practice. Two months ear-
lier, the body of Mrs. Elza Edward had been found in her apartment.
The woman had been raped and her apartment burglarized. Found
among Edward's possessions was a ring that a police officer recog-
nized as the type made by prisoners in Eddyville. That led police to
Rainey Bethea, a former convict, who confessed to the murder and as-
sault and told the police where they could recover the woman’s miss-
ing items. At his trial in Owensboro, the jury deliberated less than
five minutes before sentencing him to death by hanging.

Adding interest to Bethea’s execution was the possibility that
the hanging would be carried out by a woman sheriff who had been
appointed to serve the remaining term of her deceased husband. Al-
though expressing a strong desire to see Bethea die, Florence Thomp-
son decided not to perform the chore. No matter. As the city’s histo-
rian noted, thousands of people came to Owensboro by horseback,
automobiles, excursion trains and buses, and even airplanes during
the days leading up to the execution. The Chicago Tribune made
much of the fact that many of the people coming were “women with
babes in arms.” The usual vendors arrived in Owensboro to profit
from the black man’s impending execution. Many citizens held “hang-
ing parties,” inviting out-of-town friends to Owensboro. Others held
impromptu barbecues and engaged in sporting activities. Some twenty
thousand people attended the hanging even though it took place at
5:30 in the morning. (The story in the New York Times said thou-
sands of white people, “some jeering and others festive, saw a prayer-
ful black man put to death on Daviess County’s pit and gallows.”’) Na-
tional newspaper accounts (which carried every detail for the folks
back home) depicted the people at the hanging as being uncivilized.
They told of how people rushed to the gallows to rip off Bethea’s

8. Louisville Leader, June 25, 1932. For an excellent account of the Bethea case, see
Lee A. Dew, “The Hanging of Rainey Bethea,” Daviess County Historical Quarterly, I
(July, 1984), 51-59. The Owensboro Public Library has several sources and newsclips
on Bethea. See, for example, “Executive Order from Governor Keen Johnson to Owens-
boro Sheriff,” setting the date of execution. From August 14 to 16, 1936, nearly every
major newspaper in the country carried stories and pictures of the hanging. See also the

_Lexington Herald-Leader of August 14, 1986, which did a story entitled “Public hang-

ing 50 years ago bad memory in Owensboro.”

258 Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865—1940

clothes, as well as the hangman’s hood, for souvenirs. The editor of
the newspaper in nearby Henderson had some criticisms of the hang-
ing as well: The hour of the execution, he wrote, should have been
more convenient—perhaps about 2:00 in the afternoon—so more
people could have attended. And it should have been conducted at the
high school so that everyone “could sit and be comfortable and see
the ghastly spectacle.”

Rainey Bethea’s execution drew nationwide attention to Kentucky
as the last state in which public hangings were conducted. Not sur-
prisingly, several organizations, concerned about the state’s image,
lobbied for an end to the practice. As the execution of John Pete
Montjoy approached in August, 1936, the ASWPL and the Courier-
Journal urged the governor to have the execution moved to Eddyville.
They achieved a partial victory when Covington officials agreed that
Montjoy would die in private, though the execution would still take
place on the gallows. In reaching his decision, the judge expressed
concern about the Roman Holiday atmosphere that had occurred in
Owensboro. Because of appeals, Montjoy’s execution was delayed un-
til December 17, 1937. Several months later, on June 3, 1938, Harold
Van Venison, also a Covington Afro-American, died on the gallows
after being convicted of rape. Within a month after his death, the new
law went into effect, calling for “all executions of the death penalty
by electrocution ... [to] take place within the walls of the state
penitentiary, ... and in such enclosure as will exclude public view

thereof.’ While white reformers were pleased that they had ended .

particularly gruesome practice, they never questioned that for more
than two decades virtually all of the men who had died on the gallows
were blacks who had been convicted by all-white juries.

This willingness to publicly execute alleged black rapists under-

9. See the Louisville Courier-Journal, December 12, 1937, for an article, “To Hang
in Private,” in the Sunday magazine; see also the paper's editorial of June 6, 1938, and
its praise of the ASWPL. Efforts of the organization to end hangings have also been
praised in Wilma Dykeman and James Stokley, Seeds of Southern Change: The Life of
Will Alexander (New York, 1962), 146. Acts of the General Assembly of the Common-
wealth of Kentucky (Frankfort, 1938), 640—41. Information on the execution of Ven-
ison was obtained from Perry T. Ryan, A Legislative History of Hangings in Kentucky
(Frankfort, 1988). I am grateful to Mr. Ryan, an assistant attorney general for the State
of Kentucky, for sharing his research with me.

PENSE

thy

His stickup jobs netted him a fortune.

But right now he’s sentenced to die!
By ARMAND WENZEL

T was 1:57 p.m., and in front of each of the three cages
of the Centennial Park branch of the American Trust
Company, Nashville, Tennessee, last-minute customers
waited impatiently in line to transact their business be-

fore the windows closed for the day, Monday August 1, 1949,
“Attention! Everybody!” The voice was businesslike,
commanding.

Every eye turned toward the doorway. Just inside stood ~

two well-dressed men, their faces partially covered with white
masks. Both held pistols in each hand. The speaker stepped
forward. “Everybody line up against the wall,” he ordered.

S i Vy es
SSS
——
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=S55 :
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——
ee eee ns
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Centennial Park branch of the American National
Bank in Nashville, Tenn., where bandits got $28,000.

‘feet, nine inches tall. He has dark eyes and hair and he moves

“Hands up, please! Do as you're told, and you won't be
shot. Quick now!” .
A young man arose from a desk, his hands over his head.
“Everyone follow me,” he said and walked ~to the wall. He
was J. N. Shockley, the branch manager. :
The bandits zipped into action with clockwork precision,
As the younger man guarded the doorway, the other entered
the first cage, rapidly rifled the cash drawer and scooped the
loot into a pillow case. a ;
A young woman carrying a baby turned into the bank
entrance. The youth on guard held the door open for her.
“This is a stickup,” he warned. “Stand over there by the eS
wall. You won’t have to raise your arms, Miss,” he added.
politely. i. :
Several customers entered the bank while the older bandit
ransacked the three cages. They were sent to the wall to join
the others. :
At two o’clock sharp, exactly three minutes from the time
the masked men entered the bank, the job, smoothly executed,
with machine-like perfection, was finished andthe two men
quickly made their exit.

Ce eee

OUR carloads of police officers answered Mr. Shockley’s
F call. Law-enforcement authorities from the City, County, '
State and FBI offices were represented, and they began
questioning the witnesses to the robbery. Bank. Manager
Shockley told Chief of Detectives Ed Burgess that the robbery
had netted the bandits $28,000. “I feel sure that we could
identify the men,” he added, even though their faces were.
partly concealed behind masks. The middle-aged bandit—
I'd judge him to be about forty-five years old—is about five

about: quickly. He was dressed in tan sport clothes and I
judge he weighs about a hundred and eighty. The younger
one is about thirty years old. He has light-blue eyes and
sharp features. He wore a blue coat, army pants, and. a
Panama hat.” aie
While the witnesses to the armed robbery accompaniéd
Detectives Rex White and J. M. Murry to headquarters to.
view Rogues’ Gallery photos, FBI agents and the remaining
policemen began a thorough investigation of the immediate
neighborhood. From Ed Arnell, a car washer, they got the
information they were seeking.
Arnell told them: “I saw two men run out the door of the
bank and dash into the Palmer-Hooper Motors garage. Ina
second they came out again in a car.” ;
The management of the garage didn’t know the car, a 1949
Lincoln convertible, was missing until informed by the offi-
cers. The car, their records disclosed, was listed to Colonel’
R. W. Henderson of the Smyrna Air Base. It had been left
for servicing that morning. ;
Within minites agents found the abandoned car on Kirk-

| Bircha Fails
T To Bore Out.

g Escape Try
ite} At Eddyville Balked.

| Special te The Courier-Journal

e Eddyville, Ky., July 8.—Earl
d|D. Bircham, convicted slayer of
a Louisville policeman, made an
‘| unsuccessful attempt to bore his

ete”

4
i

tld fy

cin

= t, | Way out of his death cell here, it

ge a a eo Be” | was revealed today.
ee . Wes PRESS d Eddyville Warden W. J. Bu-
Ss Sake AY eee ese Sacre rn. be chanan said Bircham had chipped
STE eon andi peers tay e4 at his concrete cell floor for
a Ree ance | about a month when discovered.

ik sien 1

“5

Lat ewe a i Ba ge “yt, | He also had managed to melt

See came... 4? the floor, by. using stolen wire

aed

some of the reinforcing stee) in

g whith he had hooked up to the
cell light socket.
Warden Buchanan is the subject

of an Allan M. Trout personality

sketch on Pagg 2 of The Passing
phow.

“These boys can teach you
something,” the warden com-
mented. “I didn’t know you
could cut meta] that way, but J
know now.

604% Feet to Go

“When we discovered that he
“was doing, he laughed and ‘apole-
Ogized for causing so much trou.
ble; said he wouldn't do it again,
He’s quite a Lord Chesterfield,
you know, rea} mannerly.
“Underneath the 6-inch floor
was 60 feet of solid limestone,
but of course he didn’t know that,
He could have worked -six
months With a jackhammer and
still got nowhere.”

Buchanan said Bircham was
discovered about a month agg
at his beaverish activity. Since
then he has been moved to an
identical death cell and his old

cell has been repaired. Thorough
weekly inspections are being
made of his cell, the warden said,
Bircham killed Ratrolman John
fear nen in a chase August 14,

2 Patrolmen Get : |
Sergeant’s Stripes _

Two Louisville patrolmen wer
Promoted to sergeant yesterda
from a Civil Service list of fou
eligibles, ie

-1...Safety Director John Moreme

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[, Earl D., white, elec. KY® (Jefferson) April 1, 1952.

TRUE DETECTIVE, NOvember, 1949

EARL DAVID BIRCH-

MRS.

EARL DAVID

AM. Robbery. Reward:
TRUE DETEcTIVE, $100.
Age, 45; height, 5 feet, 9
inches; weight, 158
pounds; hair, brown,
partly bald, may wear a
wig; eyes, brown; com-

plexion, ruddy; build,
medium. Occupations:
experienced house

painter and paper hang-
er. If located, notify Di-
rector J. Edgar Hoover,
Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation, Washington,
mC.

BIRCHAM. Harboring
Escaped Convict. Re-
ward: TRUE DETECTIVE,

Age, 26; height, 5
feet, 6 inches; weight,
145 pounds; hair, dark
brown; eyes, brown;
complexion, dark; build,
medium. Her teeth are
discolored.

If located, notify Di-
rector J. Edgar Hoover,
Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation, Washington,
Bot

i THE SPRING of 1941, shortly after
the expiration of a long prison sen-
tence at the Tennessee State Peniten-
tiary for bank robbery, Earl Bircham
committed a second robbery, this time in
the state of Kansas. For this crime he
was arrested, convicted, and sentenced
to a prison term of from ten to twenty-
one years.

After spending less than two years
incarcerated at the Kansas State Peni-

tentiary, Bircham managed to escape on
January 20th, 1943. Despite careful
supervision by the prison authorities, it
was to be the first of a series of break-
outs for the escape artist.

However, on this occasion his freedom
was short-lived, for the hardworking
authorities soon caught up with the fugi-
tive, and in exactly five months the rob-
ber was located at St. Louis, Missouri,
and returned to prison. In his

possession was found a loaded revolver.

During the following two years of
confinement, Bircham obviously never
lost his foolhardy determination to
escape.

On March 13th, 1945, the prisoner
again broke out of jail.

With police diligently attempting to
pick up the fugitive’s trail, Bircham was
finally located at Bowling Green, Ken-

(Continued on next page)

photograph used. None will be acc

| a
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Factasia

(Continued from page 52)

The United States has been without a
vice-president 15 times—seven vice-presi-
dents succeeded to the presidency, seven
other vice-presidents died in office, and
one, Calhoun, resigned.

Popcorn pops because there is mois-
ture trapped in the kernels and as it
converts into steam the kernels explode.

According to the Smithsonian Insti-
tution, it is extremely doubtful whether
there is any such being as a real white
man,

Joints made with animal glue have a
tensile strength of 5,000 pounds per
square inch—twice as strong as most
woods.

Franz Joseph Haydn is called the
father of the symphony but his wife had
so little use for his music that she cut up
her husband’s manuscripts and rolled
them into curlers for her hair.

It was once against the law for the
people in Massachusetts to ride a train
on Sunday, except to go to church.

Any organ of the human body can be-
come infected with tuberculosis.

Bugs, scientists believe, will have a
better chance than men to survive an
atomic war—they’re not so vulnerable
to radiation.

The violincello, of all musical instru-
ments, most nearly resembles the hu-
man voice.

It is generally agreed that the “seven
deadly sins” are: Pride, Covetousness,
Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy and Sloth-
fulness.

In Brazil the dollar mark is used for a
decimal point.

The largest number of flashes of light-
ning in one period ever recorded is 354
in 44 minutes in Buffalo.

America’s greatest inventor, Thomas
Edison, attended school for only three
months.

Comets’ tails have brushed the earth
numerous times; but their gases have
always failed to penetrate our atmos-
phere.

In ordinary times, of the 365 days ina
year, 289 are holidays in one country or
another.

It is believed that ice on the North
American continent once reached a
thickness of 10,000 feet.

This may not please anyone who be-
lieves in racial superiority but anthro-
pologists do not believe that an abso-
lutely pure race exists —the race that
comes the closest to being ‘‘pure’”’ is that
of the pygmies of Equatorial Africa.

There are 1,100 varieties of trees in
the United States but only about 100
have enough commercial value to be of
economic significance.

Heart trouble is 30 per cent deadlier in
winter than in summer.

At the close of the Civil War some
10,000 Southerners moved to Latin
American countries,

(Continued from previous page)
tucky, on January 7th, 1947. Once more
Earl Bircham was returned for con-
finement behind the bars of the Kansas
State Penitentiary.

Another eight months went by, dur-
ing which time Bircham plotted and
schemed, watching for an opportunity
to make his third jail-break. One day,
while he was at work in the prison
brickyard, the convict spied a freight car
which was ready to carry a load of
bricks outside the penitentiary walls.
Waiting for a moment when no one was
observing him, Bircham concealed him-
self in the car. Somehow he managed
to avoid detection, despite a check-up
of the train before it left the yard. At
the first convenient point outside, he
jumped off the moving freight car. It is
believed that he immediately sought out
his wife and that together they fled from
the state of Kansas.

Earl David Bircham is well known in
Bowling Green, Kentucky, and, since his
last escape, he is reported to have been
in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Gaines-
boro, Tennessee. In the past he has used
more than sixteen different aliases, and
he and his wife are probably now living
under an assumed name.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation
warns that Earl Bircham is an extremely
dangerous criminal. He is reputed to be
an excellent shot, and he is believed to
be armed. Great caution is urged in
bringing about his apprehension.

MICHAEL CONSOLO. Alias: Michael
Locaso. Murder. Reward: True DEtEc-
TIVE, $100. Age, 45; height, 5 feet, 7%
inches; weight, 161 pounds; hair, black;

Watch for theese Sugivives

eyes, brown; complexion, fair. Mark of
identification: prominent scar extending
from left nostril to left side of his upper
lip.

If located, notify Detective Division,
Police Department, 240 Centre Street,
New York 13, New York.

N A MILD SPRING DAY in 1946, a

motorist was slowly driving along
Madison Street in New York City. The
thoroughfare, lined with ramshackle
tenements, was quiet in the warm May
sun.

As the car passed into the shadow of
the Manhattan Bridge, its occupant was
startled to hear three loud shots issuing
from a near-by building. Certain that
something was wrong, the driver quickly
parked his car and hurried toward the
doorway from which the sounds had
come.

As soon as he had entered the
tenement, he was confronted by a shock-
ing sight. A man lay dead on the floor
of the entrance hall.

A rapid inspection revealed that his
slayer had shot him at close range about
the head.

The motorist immediately notified the
authorities of his discovery, and before
long the New York police arrived.
Swiftly they put into motion their well-
organized forces.

Since the motorist had seen no one
leave the building by the front entrance,
detectives carefully examined the prem-
ises, in the hope that the killer might be
lurking somewhere within. However,
they soon discovered a rear door open-
ing into a vacant lot. Apparently the
killer had cut through the lot to Henry
Street during the time that the front of
the building was the center of attention,
thus making his getaway.

After examining the articles found on
the victim, and making some inquiries,
police identified the slain man as a resi-
dent of the neighborhood, Anthony Im-
periale.

The authorities delved deeply into Im-
periale’s life and soon unearthed certain
evidence which pointed to a hardened
criminal, Michael Consolo, who they
learned had disappeared shortly after
the murder.

Consolo has been indicted for homicide
by the New York County Grand Jury,
and a warrant has been issued for his
arrest.

The present whereabouts of the al-
leged killer is unknown, although, in
view of Consolo’s criminal record, he
may possibly be serving a prison sen-
tence for some other offense.

WILLIE

TRUE DE1
feet, 7 in
black; e)
dark; bui
dition. M
and one
upper fri
mouth; s
located,

Police, G

RS. R!
next-
Greenvil:
in April,
lax in |}
and talk
fided to
of her hi
the begi
rested t
with a c
Towar
Black an
see Blac
another
bor’s ho
marks tc
Seeing
ent moo:
women |
street in
corner t
Unfortu:
reached
them alc
hastenec
But, b
able to ;
up with
began t
As the 1
the strec
wife, br
Upon re
her thre
The t
to the !
died wit
eventua
relate h
After
discove:
mediate
police :
on a ch
Repoi
alleged
farm so
not yet

fellow sat down on the

Barney Elliott

I couldn't stand it. I thought 1 was going to
see a great big ole rough looking guy. but this little
first step to take his shoes
off or tie them or something. When he got done, I
saw him run up those steps (to the gallows). - - He
was just a young kid. I couldn't watch that. 9

!
!
|
\

flew in its reporters and photogra-
phers so the pictures could be
rushed vack The Chicago Times
sent a darkroom on wheels

Capt Jesse Stone of the state por
lice had threatened to smash any
camera near the gallows But he
rescinded his order after the news-
papers appealed to Chandler

have made my peace with God.”

six teen-age boys had come
from Jacksonville, Fla. Hundreds
from Llinots, Indiana and all parts
of Kentucky were arriving hourly
Local estimates said not more
than a third of the crowd was from
Daviess County.

There were hundreds of chil-
dren, many of them babies.

There were “hanging partes”
and “necktie breakfasts.” Hot
dogs, popcorn, soft drinks, ta
males, fish and fruit were hawked
on the streets. Concess.un stands
were sei up on the courthouse lawn
and near the gallows. Nobody
slept more than a few minutes

Peopte stuod on roofs of down-
town buildings. clung to the tops of
telephone pules and stood on auto
mobiles The limbs of nearby trees
were thick with people. A few even
sat on the roof of the hearse that
waited for Bethea’s body Some
who had staked out front row seats
began selling then. v late-comers
A service station at Second and
Locust rented parking places

Mrs Thompson had deputized 12
men to assist her five-man force.
Twenty-two of the city’s 25 patrol-
men were on duty.

Liquor sales had stopped at mid-
night. Beer sales continued
through the night. But only six
people were arrested for drunken-
ness A Bowling Green policeman
just $21 to a pickpocket One car
was stolen. And police arrested a
jewel thief who had returned to
Owensboro for the spectacte.

t 4:20 a.m., activity begun

to pick up. The new gal-

lows was tested for the

first ume And the trap door stuck
George Phil Hanna, a White
County, Ind., farmer, had knotted
the ropes on 80 necks in # years as

a hangman But be had never
pulled the lever te drop the men te
their deaths

He prided himselt on hry human
Harianism in assuring 4 clean
death At 4 47. am. be tested the
gallows again This time. the trap
worked smoothly. dropping the 76

weight s0 suddenly that it

almost struck a deputy standing
below

Now there was nothing to do but
wait. There was a wire fence
around the gallows, but the crowd
pressed so tightly against it that
deputies began allowing peuple to
file inside -- mght up te the scaf-
fold

Dawn came at 5 12 The crowd
began shifting. looking for Bethea

by the scaffold

Bethea prayed briefly with the
Rev Herman J Lammers. the
Louisville Cathobe prnest who had
baptized him in jal (wo weeks car
her As they climbed the 13 steps.
Bethea said. “1 want to sce the
priest again”

Lammers patted his shoulder

At the top. Hethea tested the
trap door with his left foot tu be
sure it would suppurt his body
Standing on it, be mate bes rely
gious confession ty Lemuncrs ae

Bar Elliott, a lucal restaura-
teur, w over to the hanging
from his m —Scoot-In restaurant

at Second and Walnut streets. But

he turned away before the hang:
ing

“| couldn't stand it," Elliott said
years later. **| thought I was going
to see a great big ole rough louking
guy. but this little fellow sat down
un the first step to take his shors
off of be them or something When
he got done, | saw him run up
those steps ito the gallows! He

was just 42 young hed O couldn t
watch that

The black mish Was shipped
over Bethea s head Shera Laster
Pyle ot Carn. HL. whe had come
to assist Hanna. bound his hands
wna strap Hanna adjusted the
noe

“| was nervous.” Hash said fat-
cr “lt would be bad enough to hall
someone you knew and hated. But
to take the life of a man you'd nev-
er seen before, that was “ven
——*

Hanna‘s professionalism de-
manded decorum at hangings
There was alwavs a prearranged
signal for the trap to be sprung He
didn't want the con¢emned man to
know it was COMINR

But at $.32 am. when Hanna
was seady. Hash was looking
away He failed to see the signal.
“Po it now.” Hania com
sharply. upset at the miscue.

+] forgot to pull a bolt out of the
trigger.” Hash recalled later
“But somebody pulled it for me.
Then Bethea's body fell. It was the
most horntte sound | ever heard *

ethea fell straight down

B Sin feet to the end of the

rupe. His head jerked to

the nght Mrs Thompson watched

from the back seat of a car 75 feet
away. an FBI agent at her aide

“You could have heard a pin

drop It was so still.” Mary Lilhan

Thompson Lee. the sheriff's

As the minutes ticked by the
Rev John Thompson annointed
the body as it hung there

Fifteen minctes later, ductors

Bethea dead of a bro-
ken neck

Tle “cy was re. wed to Ss
Stephen Catnolic Church, where a

Mass was said by Thump-
son & 8 a.m.

Despite his request to be buried
beside his father. Bethea’s body
was taken to Potter's Field behind
Elmwoud Cemetery and laid in an
unmarked grave beade a horse
barn

It was 8.30 a.m. Barely three
hours had elapsed since the hang-

Ing

Back downtown, Hash told re-
porters. “I'm drunk as bell f am
getting away frum this town as
fast as Tecan

“Well. anyhow it's over ~

_§EE NEXT FRAME

Durie Im AtOUnt Misge. Cemetery
Vi taton af 6 4pm today at the
funeral home

f, Bethea linked through history

AUG 10 1986

By Keith Lawrence ‘f
Messenger

inqueret
Ney Nad seen each other only once Before that
morning 5@ years ago -- a quick glimpse
through a doorway.

But the woman sheriff and the black man con- of
victed of rape would be forever linked as the princi-
pal players in one of American justice's most sensa-
tional episodes.

If it hadn‘t been for Florence Shoemaker Thomp-
son, Rainey Bethea's death on an Owensboro gal-
= 14, 1936, would have been forgotten long

eublic hangings rere still commonplace in Ken-
ig 1996. Another man was scheduled tu die on

the gallows in Covington the following week

‘The public outcry over the Owensboro hanging
spared his life. And sensationalism in (he American
press painted such an ugly picture of Bethea’s hang-
ing that Kentucky — the last state with public hang-
wmgs — would banish public executions the following
year.

Aad Bethea would go into the history books as the
last person publicly executed in America

In all the tnousands of public hangings in Amert-
ca since 1607. no wuman had ever ulliciated At
least. that's what the newspapers of 1906 claimed
Mrs Thonipson, a 43-year-old mother of four who
had been sworn in only four months earher. would
be the firsa

Suddenly her picture. in an apron by the stove.
¥ as In papers cuast-to-cuast and around ‘he world

* She was the real victim of this = says her
daughter. Mary Lillian Thompson Ley, whe was 17
that summer

Jim Thompson, the youngest of the children. was
only 10 His memories of that summer are sketchy

But he says. “You take a lady whu had never
done anything other than be a housewife You ap-
point her shenff and tell her she nas the responsibilt-
ty of hanging a man. That's a lot to put on her She
didn't plan on doing the hanging. but uf she had to.

See SHERIFF/11A

iy nun i uae
ut

Maucts

SHERIFF

she was going to.”
Pees Everett Thompson died
1a on Good Friday that
April. County Judge James R. Wil
son asked Mrs. Thompson, a Union
County native, to take her hus-
band's post.

She was sworn in to serve until
an election in November At that
time, Mrs. Thompson would be
elected without opposition to serve
the remaining three years of the
term

“She had never done anything
Mrs. Lee recalled. “She used to
make all of my father’s shirts.”

“They swore her in before he
was even buried,” Mrs Lee said
“She was still numb. And she was
sull grieving for him when thev
sentenced that man to hang ~

Kentucky law said a man con-
victed of rape had wo be hanged at
the county seat And the sheriff
was responsible for seeing < was
done.

“It became a big (news) item be
cause of the lady sheriff." Thomp-
son said “Some of them called her
a ‘pistol-packing mamma * But she
never had a gun“

Mrs Thompson was worried that
summer. A devout Catholic, she
consulted priests and other people
in the community about what she
should do Their advice was to do
her duty.

There were stacks of ietters
from men across the United States
and several other countries pro-
posing marriage. There were daz-
ens of letters from men offering to
hang Bethea for her And there
were threats to kill her and her
children.

“To a 17-year-old, it was right
exciting.” Mrs Lee says today
“But it waa frightening. too The
FBI came m to protect us They
were here aboul a week.”

The tabloids were filled with the
activities of 17-year old Mary Lal
han the sheniTs
school daughter “ But many of
those activities never happened

“They said in Time of Life. | for-
get which. that | sold hot dogs at
the hanging.” Mrs Lew sand * One
of the papers had me ata hanging
party’ the might before | ws
hone"

“pretty high -

She added. ““Summe of them talked
about my mother walking up on the
scaffold and tainting. She was in a
car by the scaffold She didn't get

‘| was riding with an FBI agent

Mrs. Thompson gave the press
all the time they wanted. “but they

plummeting to hus death?

She steadfastly replied that she
would do her duty.

“It still makes me mad that none
of the men in that sheriff's office —
none of the men in this town — vol-
unteered to do it for her.” Mrs Lee
says

On Aug 13. Mrs Thompson re-
ceived a ese ae from a former
Louisville pice officer named Ar:
thur Hash said before he
would let a lady with four children
hang a man, he would do it for
her.” Mrs. Lee recalls.

“But she didn't know until he ar-
nved on that 4 a.m train that she
wouldn't have to do it.”

The newspapers said Hash was
drunk and implied that he was
somewhat unsavory. *'l stood there
on the platform at the depot when
he got off the train,” Mrs. Lee said
“He was not drunk. Sure, he had a
drink. He was about to hang a man.
But he came out of the goodness of
his heart | will forever be grateful
tohim “

The night before the hanging.
Thompson and his brother. Pal.
who was 12. were sent to a neigh-
bor’s Eugene. 1. and Mary Lil-
han, were allowed to attend

“We were mad because the other
two got to go.” Thompson says

“My beuther and I felt we

murdered) | don't think It
of hum as a buman being at

Mostly she watched th
where her mother sat with a
agent near the scaffold

“1 don't think she remen
much of what was happe
Mrs. Lee said. “She was still
ing over my father. I reall
ried about her. She looked :
that day. She was very depr
It was like the weight of the .
was on her.”

Mrs. Thompson later said
didn’t pull the lever because
didnt want her chikdren &
looked on as “children of thet
an sheriff who hanged a Negss

“The newspapers pers played
hanging up as a circus.” Th
son said. ‘It really wasn't. Son
the papers played up that
wasnt even there. She staye
the car, but she watched. Wher
didn’t do it. that took the wind
of their sails. So they had to
something else to write about *

Mrs Thompson finished
term m office She would |
serve eight years as a deputy $s
nis

“She bought a house down

SEE NEXT FR

Athy Ww * =

_ Bethea linked through history-

AUG 10 1986

By Keith Lawrence a a
ra

~trquret 3
Rey Nad seen each other only once before that
morning 3@ years ago — a quick glimpee
through a doorway.

But the woman sheriff and the black man con-
victed of rape would be forever linked as the princi-
pal players in one of American justice's most sensa-
tional episodes.

If it hadn't been for Florence Shoemaker Thomp-
son, Rainey Bethea’s death on an Owensboro gal-
lows Aug. 14, 1836, would have been forgotten long

ago.
Public hangings were still commonplace in Ken-
tucky in 1996. Another man was scheduled to die on
Ur gallows in Covington the following week
The public outcry over the Cwensboro hanging
spared hus life. And sensationalism in (he American

press painted such an ugly picture of Bethea’s hang- —

ing that Kentucky — the last state with public hang-
ings — would banish public executions the following
year

Aad Bethea would go intu the history books as the
last person publicly executed in America

In all the thousands of public hangings in Ameri-
va since 1607. no wuman had ever officiated. At
least, that’s what the newspapers of 1936 claimed
Mrs Thompson, a 43-year-old mother of four who
had been sworn in only four months earher. would
be the first.

Suddenly her picture. in an apron by the stove.
as IN papers cuast-to-coast and around ‘he world

‘She was the real victim of this’ says her
daughter, Mary Lillian Thompson Leg, who was 17
that summer.

Jim Thompson. the youngest of the children. was
only 10 His memones of that summer are sketchy

But he says. “You take a lady who had never
done anything other than be a housewife. You
point her sheriff and tell her she has the responsibili-
ty of hanging a man. That's a lot to put on her. She
didn’t plan on doing the hanging, but if she had to,

See SHERIFF:11A

Ly '

iy Dyn ~
Uctian> Caurld
vee a ated hay Waal
Jute

SHERIFF

she was going to."

Sheriff Everett Thompson died
of pneumonia on Good Friday that
April. County Judge James R. Wil-
son asked Mrs. Thompson, a Union

consulted priests and other people
in the community about what she
should do. Their advice was to do
her duty.

There were stacks ef Ietters
from men across the United States

ens of letters from men offering to
hang Bethea for her. And there
were threats to kill her and her
children.

“To a IT-year-old, # was right
exciting.” Mrs. Lee says today
“But it was frightening, too. The
FBI came in to protect us. They
were here about a week.”

The tabloids were filled with the
activities of 17-year-old Mary Lil-
han. the sheriff's “pretty high
school daughter.” Hut many of
those activities never happened

“They said in Time or Life. | for-
Ket which, that I sold bot dogs at
the hanging.” Mrs. Lee said “One
of the papers had me at a ‘hanging
party’ the might before | was
home °°

She added, ‘Some uf them talked
about my mother walking up on the
scaffold and fainting. She was in a
car by the scaffold. She didn't get
out.

“I was riding with an FBI agent
the night before the hanging A
Chicago Sun reporter stopped us
looking for the Western Union of-
fice He had already written his
story before the hanging. Since
then. I don’t believe half of what I

all the time they wanted. “*but they
were not allowed near her chil-
dren,” Mrs. Lee said.

As Aug. 14 approached, the ten-
sion mounted. Would Mrs. Thomp-
son pull the lever, sending Bethea
plummeting to his death?

She steadfastly replied that she
would do her duty.

“It stall makes me mad that none
ef the men in that sheriff's office —
none of the men in this town — vol-
unteered to do it for her." Mrs Lee
says

On Aug 13, Mrs. Thompson re-
ceived a telegram from a former
Louisville police officer named Ar-
thur_Hash. “He said before he
would let a lady with four chikdren
hang a man, he would do it for
her.” Mrs. Lee recalls.

**But she didn’t know until he ar-
rived on that 4 a.m. train that she
wouldn't have to do it."

The newspapers said Hash was
drunk and implied that he was
somewhat unsavory. ‘‘l stood there
on the platform at the depot when
he got off the train,” Mrs. Lee said.
“He was not drunk. Sure, he had a
drink. He was about to hang a man.
But he came out of the goodness of
his heart. I will forever be grateful
to him.”

The night before the hanging,
Thompson and his brother, Pal,
who was 12, were sent to a neigh-
bor's. Eugene. 14, and Mary Lil-
lian, were allowed to attend.

“We were mad because the other
two got to go,” Thompson says.

“My brother and I felt we should

to go and you didn't.” *

Mrs. Lee remembers her young-
er brothers sitting on the stairs
watching as their mother came

they asked, ‘Mama,
id you do it?’ They were s0 wor-

Mostly she watched the car
where her mother sat with an FBI

it was like the weight of the world
was on her.”
Mrs. later said she

didn't want her children to be
looked on as “children of the wom-
an sheriff who hanged a Negro.”

“The newspapers played the
hanging up as a circus,”
son said. *It really wasn't. Some of
the papers played up that she
wasn't even there. She stayed in
the car, but she watched. When she
didn’t do it, that took the wind out
of their sails. So they had to find
something else to write about."

Mrs. Thompson finished her
term m office. She would later
serve eight years as a deputy sher-
uf.

“She bought a house down by

SEE NEXT FRAME

’

faec8s shes

eran, 5

yore
HA

} 5 80
brought’ here, last

y for construction

dob survive, His mother, Mrs.| Of ® postoffice at Morganfield, Ky.

, 0}. ise yeaident of Louiss| The only other bid was off
i fymegbe tes ESS "| by James 0. Miller, Campbelisvitie,
i 85 BecTe~ me ialais

» | by, Gay, A B.’O!

0} Sol 5 ane y, sg

Senemi Riiue rma apesta ee

pte che tel

legs securely otwapped

en Btteietghans.

‘above awaiting the fon tal nib ee

, ee te asm cans oat

PSuper’s | Grave Tot Hours
beni AIAY After Pronounced Dead

SARS ee a ti

Sey ge See EY Sie f 30 ARE
4 parc ne aks

ss
AS a ae SRS ot. Pt a

Nw sete whe

1016 ‘Ky.

which the fugitive was convicted in the
foreign jurisdiction, and is an offense
against the laws of the United States, In
United States v. Bumbola et al., D.C.N.Y,,
23 F.2d 696, the court held that it is the
duty of a peace officer of a state to arrest
without a warrant any person committing
an offense against the laws of the United
States in his presence. Thus it will be
seen that appellant, for quite a while pre-
vious to, and at the time of, his apprehen-

238 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

BARRON v. PHELPS et al.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky,
Feb. 16, 1951.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing
May 4, 1951.

Hurtis Phelps and others sued W. BE. Bar.
ron for compensatory and punitive damages
for wrongfully cutting timber, and the de-
fendant. filed a counterclaim to recover for

BARRON v.

PHELPS Ky. 1017

Cite as 238 S.W.2d 1016

6. Trespass €=68(1)

In owner’s action against timber con-
tractor to recover damages for wrongfully
cutting timber, instruction relating to ac-
tivities of contractor and damages sustained
by owner was set forth in approved form.

7. Trial 261

Where a party offers an erroneous in-
struction upon a proper issue, it is duty of
court to prepare a correct. instruction.

claim denied wrongfully cutting the timber
and sought to recover $3,000 for lumber and

logs which it is alleged plaintiff wrongfully
deprived defendant. A jury trial resulted
in a verdict for plaintiff in the sum of $200
and from the judgment awarding plaintiff
that sum and dismissing the counter claim,
defendant appeals.

Two grounds are relied upon for rever-
sal: 1. incompetent evidence was admit-
ted; 2. the instructions were erroneous.

sion on First Street, and continuously certain lumber and logs. The Circuit Court,
thereafter, was in overt action in the com- Pulaski County, R. ©. Tartar, J., after a
mission of a felony in the presence of the jury verdict, rendered judgment for plain-

8. oe Pegs Coa RN On June 2, 1943, plaintiff and his wife en-
o: is : j
n owner's action against timber con~ tered into a written contract with defendant

officers attempting to take him in custody.
It not only was their right, it was their
duty, to arrest him, and, attendant upon
such right and duty, they had the legal
right to use such force as was necessary
to prevent appellant’s escape, even to kill-
ing him. Johnson v. Cheseapeake & O. Ry.
Co., 259 Ky. 789, 83 S.W.2d 521. Appel-
lant’s own testimony shows that as long as
he had ammunition, he would not submit,
unless shot or killed. It follows that he
had no right, or semblance of right, to re-
sist arrest or to flee in an attempt to escape
therefrom. Appellant testified on the wit-
ness stand that he knew the official char-
acter of the officers attempting to arrest
him. We have held in many cases that
the killing of an officer by one resisting
him, when the officer is in the proper dis-
charge of his duty to preserve the peace, is
murder, if the slayer knows the official
character of the officer. Cornett v. Com-
monwealth, 198 Ky. 236, 248 S.W. 540.

(19] Since appellant’s own testimony
convicted him of the murder of Tennyson,
only such errors as may be calculated to
have inflamed the minds of the jurors to
the extent of causing them to inflict the
extreme penalty in preference to life im-
prisonment, could be deemed to have been
prejudicial to appellant’s substantial rights.
nh have found no such error in this rec-
ord.

The judgment is affirmed.

MOREMEN, J., not sitting.

tiff, dismissed the counterclaim, and the de-
fendant appealed. The Court of Appeals,
Sims, J., held that certain instructions were
erroneous.

Judgment reversed,

1. Evidence €=474(18)
Generally, owner of real property is.
a competent witness as to its value.

2. Evidence €=474(19)

In action by owner against timber con-
tractor to recover damages for wrongfully
cutting timber, where owner identified char-
acter of only four of seven logs, and did not
testify he was familiar with value of logs
he was an incompctent witness to testify to.
value of all seven logs,

3. Evidence €=474(16)

Owner of property having no knowl-
edge of its value is an incompetent witness.
to testify to its value,

4. Trespass €>68(1)

In owner’s action against timber con-
tractor for wrongfully cutting timber,
where owner’s damage on logs taken was
$49 and damage to his land was $50, instruc-
tion should have limited owner’s recovery
on those items to such amounts respectively.

5. Trespass €>46(3)

In owner’s action against timber con-
tractor for wrongfully cutting timber,
where owner did not produce testimony that
he was damaged by certain 30 trees being
cut and left on his land he could recover
nothing on such item,

; full é
tractor to recover damages for wrongfully and Fred Price wherein the latter purchased

cutting timber, instruction on contractor’s
theory. of: case was set forth and approved.

9. Appeal and error €=460(1)
Failure to supersede does not prevent
losing party from taking an appeal.

10. Appeal and error €=485(1)
Only effect of a supersedeas is to stay -
proceedings pending appeal. {

11. Appeal and error €=437
Execution €=276(2)

- If no supersedeas is issued, successful
party in circuit court may have judgment
enforced, and should judgment be reversed
after execution has been done on it, success-
ful party on appeal must look to execution
creditor to make him whole. Civ.Code

Prac. § 747.

12, Appeal and error ©=781(4)

Even though defendant did not super-
sede judgment on appeal, and_ plaintiff
caused an execution to issue under which
land was sold and judgment satisfied, ap-
peal was not moot. Civ.Code Prac. § 747.

——-

Fritz Krueger, Somerset, for appellant.
H. C. Kennedy, Somerset, for appellee.

SIMS, Justice.

The parties to this appeal will be referred
to as plaintiff and defendant. °

Plaintiff, Hurtis Phelps sued W. E. Bar-
ron for $700.00 compensatory and $1000
punitive damages for wrongfully cutting
timber from plaintiff’s land in Pulaski
County. Defendant’s answer and counter-

238 S,.W.2d—64%4

a tract of timber in Pulaski County from

the former for $250.00 cash. The contract

provided the purchasers had until June 2,

1947, to remove the timber and that they

might set a mill on the land and make a road

anywhere thereon except in the seller’s gar-

den. Price sold his part of the contract to

defendant and is not involved in this litiga-

tion. ;

Defendant failed to remove the timber

by June 2, 1947, and he and plaintiff got into
a dispute over an extension of the time for
the performance of the contract. Defend-
ant testified that shortly before the contract
expired he told plaintiff he would not be
able to remove all the timber before June
2, 1947, and the Jatter orally agreed to an
extension until Dec. 2, 1947, in considera-
tion of defendant employing plaintiff to
work in cutting the timber and of defendant
furnishing plaintiff sufficient lumber to con-
struct a barn 30’ x 32’; that he employed
plaintiff who worked for him in the timber
until July 21, 1947, when, without warning,
plaintiff filed this action and enjoined de-
fendant from further cutting timber or
entering on the land.

Defendant further testified that subse-
quent to their agreement for an exten-
sion of the orginal contract, plaintiff asked
him to cut and furnish him lumber for a
two room house instead of the barn, to
which defendant agreed; then plaintift
wanted the size of the house increased to
one of three rooms, which defendant re-
fused. Later plaintiff asked that the house
be increased to four rooms and defendant
again refused. But he subsequently agreed

ihe Wee WETS

Set

MPR

932 By.

bility. The defendant could not evade
responsibility for the negligence of its em-
ployees merely because more specific in-
structions were not given by the doctors.

[7] The appellant contends that it was
error to refuse certain offered instructions.
One is that it was not required to anticipate
ithe act of the plaintiff unless there was
some previous conduct or demeanor on his
part which was known or could have been
known by the defendant’s employees in
the exercise of ordinary care to cause
them, in the exercise of such care, to
anticipate the plaintiff’s act. It seems to us
that this defense was embraced in the in-
structions given. The one upon which lia-
bility is predicated is in substance, if the
jury believed the employees were informed
or had discovered, or in the exercise of rea-
sonable skill and care should have dis-
covered, that the plaintiff's condition was
such “that he might reasonably be expected”
to attempt to escape and might thereby
be injured, then it was the defendant’s duty
“to use that degree of care to have him
watched or kept under observation to pre-
vent him from jumping or escaping and
injuring himself, which ordinarily skillful,
careful, prudent persons engaged in caring
for and treating persons in his condition
would have used,’ and if, under those
circumstances, the employees had failed to
observe those duties and their failure was
the proximate cause of plaintiff's injury,
the law is for the plaintiff.

The court gave five converse instructions
submitting the defenses. One is to the
effect that the hospital attendants were
not required to guard against or take
measures to avert any action of the patient
which reasonably prudent persons under
the circumstances would not anticipate as
likely to happen, and if the jury believed
that they knew or had reasonable grounds
for believing the plaintiff would attempt
to escape through the upper sash of the
window and after such knowledge or oppor-
tunity to acquire it, they failed to exert
such reasonable supervision over the plain-
tiff and by reason thereof he was injured,
they should find for the defendant. The
same defense is substantially embodied in

245 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

another instruction, which may well be
regarded as a duplication. Another is a
general instruction on the failure of the
employees to exercise ordinary care. An-
other authorized a verdict for the defendant
if the jury believed the plaintiff had sufi-
cient mind to know or realize the danger
of his attempting to escape. Another sub-
mitted the defense of contributory neg-
ligence. It will be seen, therefore, that
the terms of the refused instructions were
fully embraced in the given instructions.

Two other instructions offered by the
defendant and not given submitted its ex-
oneration from liability if its attendants
had followed or carried out the directions
of the plaintiff's physicians even though
the prescribed restraint and treatment were
insufficient and erroneous. The instruc-
tions were properly refused for the reasons
given above for holding the defendant was
not entitled to a peremptory instruction on
this ground.

The judgment is affirmed.

BIRCHAM v. COMMONWEALTH.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.
Feb. 1, 1952.

Petition for Writ of Certiorari Dismissed
March 10, 1952.

See 72 S.Ct. 630.

Karl D. Bircham was convicted in the Cir-
cuit Court, Jefferson County, Loraine Mix,
J., of murder and he appealed from an or-
der denying him a writ of coram nobis, The
Court of Appeals, Sims, J., held that where
the evidence set out in petition was merely
cumulative and was not of the character eal-
culated to change the result of the trial and
defendant had not used diligence to discov-
er this evidence before or at the time of his
trial, the writ of coram nobis was properly
denied.

Judgment affirmed.

See also, Ky., 245 8.W.2d 934.

|. Criminal Law €=997
Where defendant had been convicted
of murder and sentenced to death, certio-

BIRCHAM v. COMMONWEALTH *: ‘© Ky. 933
Cite as 245 S.W.2d 932

rari was denied by supreme court and
defendant had waited until two days prior
to date set for his execution before he
applied for writ of coram nobis on grounds
of newly discovered evidence, delay in
seeking writ was strongly persuasive of
fact defendant’s petition lacked merit.

2. Criminal Law €=997

On application for writ of coram nobis
by defendant who had been convicted of
murder and sentenced to death, where
evidence set out on petition was not of
character calculated to change result of
trial and defendant had not used diligence
to discover this evidence before or at time
of his trial, writ of coram nobis was prop-
erly denied.

eee

Robert W. Zollinger, Louisville, for
appellant.

A. Scott Hamilton, Louisville, for appel-
lee.

SIMS, Justice.

Earl D. Bircham was convicted of the
murder of a police officer, John Tennyson,
and his punishment fixed at death. See
Birchari v. Commonwealth, Ky., 238 S.W.
2d 1008, where a full statement of the facts
appears. Certiorari was denied by the
United States Supreme Court, Bircham v.

- Commonwealth, 342 U.S. 805, 72 S.Ct. 55,

after which the date of his execution was
fixed for Jan. 18, 1952.

On Jan. 16, 1952, two days before the
date set for his execution, Bircham filed his
petition in the Jefferson Circuit Court,
Criminal Branch, First Division (the court
in which he was convicted), seeking a writ’
of coram nobis on the ground of newly dis-
covered evidence. A general demurrer was
sustained to the petition in a concise and
well-reasoned opinion by Hon. Loraine
Mix, the judge before whom Bircham was
convicted. On the same day the record on
appeal was filed in this court and the judg-
ment was affirmed by an order which stated
the opinion would follow in due time.

In substance the petition states that
during his trial June Bircham, wife of
appellant, was confined in the Jefferson

County jail charged with being an acces-
sory to the murder of Tennyson; that
Bircham had a’ subpoena served upon her
and the jailer but his counsel and the trial
judge were informed by her attorney that
“he would refuse to permit said June Bir-
cham to testify because her statements
might tend to incriminate her upon the
charges filed against her and that her testi-
mony would not be of assistance to the
petitioner, but would be given, if at all,
on behalf of the Commonwealth of Ken-
tucky”. Tihe petition then sets out she
is now willing to testify for her husband
and her testimony will be that on the night
of the tragedy Bircham was dressed in
a yellow shirt and not a “T-shirt” as testi-
fied to by Officer Ross; that Bircham
wore a hat which was pulled down over
the side of his face and the officer did not
order Bircham to stop his car; that the
windshield and side windows of Bircham’s
car were obscured by rain and its dash-
board light was not burning; that the
officers did not attempt to arrest Bircham
but only informed him he was going the
wrong way on a one-way street; that
after leaving his car Bircham was im-
mediately placed under fire by the police
officers; that Officer Ross nearly inter-
cepted Bircham and the latter turned,
started around to the back of the house
and passed out of her view.

The petitioner further avers that a wit-
ness, Luther Williams, on the trial during
his cross-examination, evaded giving a
‘description of how Bircham was dressed,
and this witness and his wife would now
corroborate appellant’s wife as to the
clothes Bircham was wearing. The peti-
tion then states Bircham “has reasonable
grounds to believe that the gun used by
Officer Ross was never produced for ex-
amination by the Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation and if this gun were examined
at this time, it would show one of the
bullets found in the body of Officer Tenny-
son had been fired by the gun of Officer
Ross”,

It is manifest the testimony of June Bir-
cham and of Williams and his wife, is
but cumulative to that given on the trial
by Bircham. This evidence is far from

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being of a conclusive character and it is
not probable the jury would have returned
a different verdict had it heard same.
Furthermore, Bircham used no dilligence
to discover this evidence before or at the
time of his trial. He knew his wife. was
in the car with him on the night of the
tragedy, that she was then in jail in Louis-
ville, had been subpoenaed and was refusing
to testify, yet he did not move the trial
judge to have her brought into court so
his attorney could interview her and ascer-
tain what facts she knew and what testi-
mony she would give. Had this been done
and had she been-offered ws a witness as
to how Bircham was dressed, the court
could have confined the Commonwealth on
cross-examination to the matter covered
in her testimony and so informed her of
this limitation in her cross-examination.
In which event she probably would have
testified, since her describing Bircham’s
clothes could have in no way incriminated
her.

As to Williams having evaded defense
counsel’s questions on cross-examination as
to how Bircham was dressed, counsel
could have moved the court to require the
witness to give direct answers. Mrs.
William’s testimony would only relate as
to how Bircham was dressed and would
be cumulative. As to whether the deceased
officer was killed by a bullet fired from the
gun of Bircham or that of his fellow officer,
the defense had ample time to have had
these two pistols tested by ballistic experts
before the trial, since the shooting occurred
on the night of Aug. 14th and the trial
did not start until Oct. 11, 1949,

{1] In Anderson v. Buchanan, 292 Ky.
810, 168 S.W.2d 48, will be found an ex-
haustive discussion on the writ of coram
nobis. It was there pointed out the writ
does not issue as a matter of right but
the granting of it is in the sound discretion
of the judge who tried the accused, upon
a showing there is a strong probability
there has been a miscarriage of justice.
We there said delay in secking the writ
until the executioner is seen approaching
is suspicious, and unless it appears from
the record with reasonable certainty that

245 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

earlier action to secure the writ was not
reasonably possible, or that a supreme
emergency existed, a stay of execution
will not be granted. Here, certiorari was
denied by the Supreme Court on Oct. 8,
1951, 342 U.S. 805, 72 S.Ct. 55, and the
condemned man waited until two days
prior to the date set for his execution, Jan.
18, 1952, before he applied for the writ.
Such delay is strongly persuasive of the
fact his petition lacks merit.

[2] The new evidence set out in the
petition was not of the character calculated
to change the result of the trial. It was
merely cumulative. Furthermore, no dili-
gence was shown on behalf of accused to
produce the witness in jail and to. bring
her before the trial judge for an exami-
nation as to whether her testimony in
behalf .of her husband would incriminate
her. On the authority of Anderson v.
Buchanan, 292 Ky. 810, 168 S.W.2d 48,
we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The judgment is affirmed.

BIRCHAM v. BUCHANAN, Warden.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.
Feb. 1, 1952.

Petition for Writ of Certiorari Dismissed
March 10, 1952.

See 72 S.Ct. 629.

Habeas corpus proceeding by Earl D.
Bircham against Jess Buchanan, Warden,
State Penitentiary of Kentucky. The Clr-
cenit Court, Lyon County, Ira D. Smith, J.
denied the petition and petitioner appealed.
The Court of Appeals, Sims, J., held that
where the record showed indictment was
duly returned in open court and the judg-
ment sentencing defendant to death was reg:
ularly entered on verdict, the writ of habeas
corpus was properly denied.

Judgment affirmed.

1. Habeas Corpus €=30(1)

Habeas corpus will not lie to correct
errors which occurred on trial and is avail-
able only when judgment is void.

COZINE v. BONNICK Ky. 935
Cite as 245 S.W.2d 935

2. Habeas Corpus €=29

Habeas corpus proceeding to release
from prison one convicted of murder is
a collateral attack on judgment and lies

only where judgment under which prisoner

is held is void.

3. Habeas Corpus €=22(1)

Where defendant had been convicted
of murder and sentenced to death, record
showed that indictment was duly returned
in open court and judgment sentencing
him to death was regularly entered on
verdict, writ of habeas corpus was properly
denied. sae -

——$.@ :
Rodes Myers, Bowling Green, Robert
Zollinger, Louisville, for appellant.

A. Scott Hamilton, Louisville, for appel-
lee. :

SIMS, Justice.

On Jan. 16, 1952, this court entered an
order affirming the judgment of the Jeffer-
son Circuit Court, Criminal Branch, First
Division, wherein it refused to grant Earl

D. Bircham a writ of coram nobis. Birch-’

am v. Commonwealth, Ky., 245 S.W.2d
2. The following day Bircham filed his
petition in the Lyon Circuit Court asking
a writ of habeas corpus against Jess Bu-
chanan, Warden of the Eddyville Peniten-
tiary, to prevent the warden from executing
him on Jan. 18th and to cause him to
produce Bircham’s living body in court for
a hearing on the writ. Hon. Ira D. Smith,
Judge of the Lyon Circuit Court, upon a
hearing refused to grant the writ, and the
record was produced to this court January
17th on appeal. The judgment was affirmed
by an order entered on that day which
recited the opinion would follow as soon as
it could be prepared.

[1] The petition seeking a writ of
habeas corpus is quite long and sets out
what counsel for appellant deem to be
many prejudicial errors made during the
trial. This court has’ consistently held
habeas corpus does not lie to correct er-
rors occurring on the trial and is available
only when the judgment is void. Smith
v. Buchanan, 291 Ky. 44, 163 S.W.2d 5,
145 A.L.R. 813; Sharpe v. Commonwealth,

292 Ky. 86, 165 S.W.2d 993; Elliott v.
Commonwealth, 292 Ky. 614, 167 S.W.2d
703; Anderson v. Buchanan, 292 Ky. 810,
168 S.W.2d 48. A habeas corpus proceed-
ing to release from prison one convicted
of a crime is a collateral attack on the
judgment and lies only where the judgment
under which the prisoner is held is void.
Hageman v. Kirkpatrick, 283 Ky. 798, 143
S.W.2d 506; Sexton v. Buchanan, 292 Ky,
716, 168 S.W.2d 19,

[2] The petition further sets out that
the first indictment returned charged ap-
pellant with killing John Shepherd instead
of John Tennyson. This mistake was
discovered before trial and a second indict-
ment was returned charging him with
killing John Tennyson and appellant was
tried on this second indictment. It is
averred in the petition no order of court
was made. showing this second indictment
was returned in open court and no judg-
ment sentencing Bircham to death was
entered on the verdict. Appellant is mis-
taken, the record shows the indictment was
duly returned in open court and the judg-
ment sentencing him to death was regularly
entered on the verdict.

Judge Smith properly refused to grant
the writ of habeas corpus and the judg-
ment is affirmed.

awms

COZINE et al. v. BONNICK,

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.
Feb. 1, 1952.

Alice Patricia Cozine, an infant, by and
through her father and next friend, Harold
C. Cozine, for whom Ursula Walker was
substituted as next friend, sued Albert
Bonnick for injuries suffered in an anuto-
mobile accident, and after plaintiff attained
majority, the court ordered that the next
friend’s name be stricken and that the case
proceed in the name of plaintiff as the real
party in interest. From a judgment of the
Circuit Court, Campbell County, Ray L.
Murphy, J., dismissing the petition after

PAs ohbens

cts hea be ea SN?

ia.

a aft eed sil si
SF RU taste ae eta ars te Say,

NAME PLACE — CITY OR COUNTY

Louisville, Ky.

RESIDENCE

DOE & MEANS

He 515-1903

GEN

JOHN BLACK

DOB OR AGE RACE

Ble

OCCUPATION

RECORD

CRIME | OTHER

Murder

DATE

5-28-1902

VICTIM

: RA METHOD
Uncle, Archie James Black

"65

MOTIVE

SYNOPSIS

Black had killed sleeping uncle, Archie James, on Second Street Market nearly a year previously.

On day before a sanity jury determined he was or sound mind, in triat_vefore Sheriff's Court, tors
had already denied clemency. ReVe Father RX B. A. Cone of ueiy Exeee Church, on ce
TaVi 3 = " =[8 CO ~ We CV eu bia Wa ie eo . O e TF ag VA LATE = mind tie = - -
and that he was dull of comprehension, Said he saw visions at night and blood sats on athe ‘floor

an0 TAHOE avsla\a = EY 2 a ate ale a abe, Oo #4 oa ansSwWe YD OQUu€ $ LOWE VE di-

cated that ‘he understood “what was said to him, His attorney testified he had been of no assist-
ance in defense, could not answer questions intelligently and could assign no reason for murder of
old man James, Said plea at trail had been insanity and trial jury had found him sane, Admitted
mind had grown no worse since, Black's brother and sister testified he had fallen from wagon 20
years before and had had crazy spells since and always thought someone was trying to kill, having
fearful nightmares. Two sttnesses testified that he drank heavily and mind worked better when

drunk than when sober. One witness testified that Blaék, while working at the Market woutd some=—
pcg run PK boys pyey in a vicious pupae ete TI 2 i a aioe 1a he nese testi-

‘fold on n day before ane anced if he wanted to mount “eat he replied with a grins Mo I guess I'll
un ate _!! ames had provided she and a p to sleep for Black who was accus-
Voled to Sat one sink around && night and getting in late in morning, James remonstrated with hhm
and this led to quarrel on night of 2=27= 1902. Evidence brought out by prosecution was that James
was sleeping in wagon around 11 mm o'clock in morning on 5-28 and Black, with long Butcher knife,
cut his throat, Attempted escape but captured by policeman, At time of arrestg said James had
"made a bluff" at him while other witnesses proved James was sleeping, Black had served two terms
in penitentiary for malicious cutting and one term for stealing. COURTER=JOURNAL 9-15- 1903
Te © death without a tremor shortly airter iM, Ma sie calLlows Ww eady ed_and_smile

on face, Neck broken and aoa fh cut down after five minutes, Body interred in St. Louis cemetery.
COURTER-JOURNAL. Bel and 5_216=#1903

Bale ONT EP

TRIAL

APPEALS

LAST WORDS

EXECUTION

SOURCE

FRANK NEWTON OFFICE SUPPLY—DOTHAN

ace

<n \

Fifty years ago. 15.000 to 25,000
stood in what ts today the parking lot of the
Executive Inn Rivermont to see a man
hanged for rape.

It became the last public execution in the
United States. But there is no historical
marker to tell visitors that it ever happened.

It was perhaps the most nationally signifi-
cant event in Owensboru history. But there is
no exhibit at the Owensboro Area Museum
about it

The Kentucky Histurical Society has little
information on the hanging of Rainey Bethea
in 1836 In fact. a spokeswoman said records
there indicate that Kentucky's last public
hanging was in 193? in another city

doe Ford. director of the Owensboro Area
Museum. & one of the leading local authors.
bes on the hanging But he says there has
been [tthe interest in acknowledging the
event

“I went to Washington «DC.» once and
Was practically promised the money to re-
store the gallows."* he said. “But I got back
home and nobody was interested. It was the
keneral consensus of the museum board that
we shouldn't do anything about it.”

“Owensboro would like to live it down,”
said Mary Lilhan Lee. whose
mother was the sheriff in 1996. ““I hope this
doesn't stir it all up again.

Newspapers acruss America and around
the world attacked the Bethea hanging as
“barbaric “* As Owensboro endured a siege
of bad press. the community tried to forget
the hanging had ever happened

The Chicago American ran a two-deck
vantet headline on Au, 14 ~-2y.000 ‘Have A
Good Time’ As Law Hangs A Slayer.” There
Was a big photograph of the hanging and a
smaller headline that said ‘20,000 Play.
Cheer Hanging, Woman Sheriff Shirks.”°

Racism. sexism and regionalism ran ram-
port

Sherif! Thompson quieted her nerves
with a visit to the beauty parlor yesterday.”
one story said) Another said “like a good

: FR. los f <7 x Nal
Owens

ponte. @ My feeling is by the time the
6}

ging had occurred with all the
publicity that went with it, the peo-
ple of Owensboro realized that this
was an embarrassment. But it was
only boro. that it happened in
Owensboro.

Lee Dew

housekeeper” she moved the hanging from
the courthouse to protect the flowers.
Bethea, a black man, was described in one
account as “a healthy appearing young
buck."* Another described his last meal as in-

cluding watermelon.

And in some Owensboro sounded
like Dogpatch USA.

Kentucky Su Court Justice William

Gant of Ow recalls “Tistening to a na-
tional radio broadcast that da: describing
the settlers coming out of the hills with their
cuonskin caps and squirrel rifles. | looked
leit window and didn't see any hills or set-

News accounts talked about

"and people who “swarmed like carrion
over the gallows” while Bethea’s body hung
there. There were accounts of peuple tearing
the hood from his head and ripping it up for
souvenirs.

The Messenger-Inquirer made a point of
denying that the hood was ripped from his
head. Bethea’s socks and shoes left at the
foot of the gallows weren't even disturbed by
the crowd, the editorial added.

Bethea was the fourth Man sentenced to

death by a Daviess County jury — and the
There are still those who wonder if Bethea

was guilty. They point to the speed of the tri-

Woven Shuefay strane

boro chooses not to remember
event that drew national attention -

al — three days after his indictment, 18 days
after the crime. And his execution seven
weeks later.

M.H. Tayloc.79, of Habit was one of the 12
men on the grand jury that indicted Bethea.

“There was no doubt in the grand jury's
mind but what the fellow was guilty.” he
Says today. “I'm ashamed to say I went to
the hanging. It kind of affected you, even
though he was guilty.”

Lee Dew, who chairs Kentucky Wesleyan

College's history rtment, has writter,
articles about the Bethea hengine ai

He thinks a historical marker should be
placed at the hanging site. “It isa part of our
history,”’ Dew said, “It's just as important —
and probably a lot more factual than the
mythicization of Bill Smothers,” the man
who is called Owensboro's founder.

The hanging and the fesponse to it. he
thinks, were products of the times.

“You have to remember that this was in
the depths of the Depression,” Dew said.
“People were frustrated and angry. And this
was a free show.”

Historically, the carnival atmosphere cre-
ated by press accounts in 1936 is important
because i ended public executions, Dew
said.

“If a hadn't been for the spectacle in
Owensboro, it might have been years before
that law was repealed,” he said.

Owensboro has chosen to try to forget the
hanging, Dew said. “My feeling is by the
lume the hanging had occurred with all the
publicity that went with it, the peuple of
Owensboro realized that this was an embar-

rassment. But it was only incidental that it.

happened in Owensboro.‘

Editor's nete: Reporter Karen
Owen contributed to this story —

PUBLIC 2
HANGINGS = ‘4

Meerengerinquirer
Rainey Bethea was the fourth man to

dre on an Owensboro gaitows. Only one
other was a public execution.

@ Nov. 1, 1854 — Curtis Richardson,
part indian, age 21 or 22. was
Convicted of stabbing to death Wisiam
Lanifer in a Knottsville bar the -
previous Christmas. Lanifer had
slapped Richardson's hat from his
head. On the day of his hanging,
Richardson was taken from the jail on
the courthouse square and put in the
back of a wagon, sitting on his coffin.
Crowds later estimated in the
thousands waited by the gallows in
Murray's Woods, about 50 feet south
of the intersection of Ninth and

a hanging in H .wesville, Richardson
had told friengs, “I'l die like that
someday.”

@ 7 a.m. Feb. 17, 1906 — Ray
Green, 17, black, was convicted of
beating James Coomes of
Breckinridge County to death with a
plank and robbing him of $28 the
Previous July 31. Athough Green's
allowed 150 legal witnesses inside the
enciosure in the jail yard. Another 700
to 1,000 men and women jockeyed for
positions around knotholes. From the
gallows, he warmed, “Mind what your
mothers tell you and leave whiskey
out. Don't do as | have done.”

Wl 4:40 a.m. July 7, 1908 —
Mathiey, 39, white, was convicted
the shooting death of pregnant 17-
year-old Emma Watkins, with whom
he was in love, on June 26, 1904. A
man named Jim Gregson was also
shot to death, but it was for Miss
Watkins’ death that Mathiey was
hanged.

wmetarnces suanenOG 10 1985

EVANSVILLE MAN KILLED EN ROUTE HERE 10 BETHEA EXECUTION
. _ THE OWENSBORO INQUIRER ~

Ve Beate «|
; “ee
Pes |
oe ae CAT Nom ke, be

20,000 SEE BETHEA DIE ON SCAFFOLD
AS EX. “LOUISVILLE. CoP SPRINGS TRAP

~WEGHO IS MARGE
FOR ASSAULT Gf
WW AED WOMAN

i
lt
IS

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th wily
i Lsebbdec!

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Thain page & The Custoentin ti

& tusteraas

thre Lash HiRerey HEY =

Attorney
seldom
remembers

historic case-

By KarenOwen / A

It was a doozy of a case for an at-
torney who didn’t particularly en-
py practicing criminal law.

The defendant was a black ex-
convict accused of raping. robbing
and murdering an elderly white
woman. He had confessed once, re-
canted, then confessed again. He
told police right where to [lad the
woman's stolen jewelry.

The attorney was young, about to
be married in four days, and was
involved in the case only because
his father, the judge, was making
him.

His client. Rainey Bethea, was
the last person to be publicly
hanged in the United States. Yet 58
years later, Willi . Wilson Sr.
says although a copy
of the court file all these years. he
seldom thinks of the case that
made history.

Wilson, 73, was one of four local
attorneys who defended Bethea.
He 1s the -nly one still living in
Owensboro

He was 23 when his father, Cir-
cuit Judge George §. Wilson, ap-
pointed him to the case. Wilson
said

He was in contact with Bethea
only twice, Wilson said, once in
Lousville, where Bethea was held
for safekeeping after his arrest.
and the day of his trial

Bethea was arrested June 16.
three days after the body of widow
Elscha Edwards was found in her
apartment. He was indicted by a
special session of the grand jury
June 22. convicted June 25 and exe-
cuted Aug. 14.

It was typical for the court sys-
tem to move rapidly in those days
“when you had as much heat as
you had in this case."” Wilson said

Bethea report “vy confessed to
the crime as be was being trans-
ported to Louisville June 10, denied
his guilt June 11, then confessed
again June (2 That time. Mis t..
wards’ jewelry was discovered in
the hiding place Bethea described

But when he and WW Kirtley
an expeneneed Owensboro ¢rimi
nal lawsver who was also appointed

ete

febuic

AUG 10 1986

to Hethea's case. visited the
fendant on the Luursville jail -
said he was going to plead
guilty.” Wilson recalled

When he and Kirtley remin
Bethea of his contession. he sae
didn't commit .he crime Wil
said

Bethea didn't give his attore
much to work with to torge a
fense. however. Wilsun said ~
couldr't find any evidence ™

Although Bethea had done y:
work around Owensboro, whea -
attorneys started asking questse
“We couldn't find anybody in to
hardly who knew him.” Wik
said. *-People just would nut te
fy. Well, there was nothing tt
could testify about *

To defend Bethea. he and Kirti
decided to ask that the trial
moved to another county. Wils
said. At the time. getting a tr
moved required the attorneys
present affidavits by two peo
saying the defendant couldn't ¢
tain a fair trial here because of e
cessive publicity. Wilson said

The two ended up tearing :
their affidavits. however Beth
told them the morning of his tn
he planned to plead guilty

He will probably never forg
Bethea’s words. Wilson said
said. ‘All I want is time to mai
peace with my maker ©”

So the defense made no arg
ments during the tnal. As Con
monwealth Attorney Herman Bunt
head told the jury about the cas
Kirtley did object that Burkhea
was arguing the case rather tha
stating facts. Wilson said “Thi
was the only statement made dur-
ing the trial for the defense ~

A litthe more than a month later.
on July 38, three black attorneys
asked a federal judge to release
Bethea on the grounds that he had
not received a fair trial on
Owensboro

One of the new attornmys told the
judge at a hearing in Lauisv ibe
“Your Honor, they cuuld at beast
have pleaded for mercy. Wilson
recalled

Looking back. Wilson said even
though he and Kirtky wanted to
have the trial moved. Bethea
“probably got as fair a tnal here
as he could have anywhere ~

And he doesn't think Bethea's
tace and that of his victim had am -
thing to do with the way his caw
turned out If Bethea had not been
black. Wilson said. “1 think he
would have been hung just as
fast“

a Sa “7

LED EN ROUTE HERE TO BETHEA EXECUTION

VENSBORO

aha Nnee @ OO. ber

INQUI

ETHEA DIE ON SCAFFOL

RER

—

er |

pices A e ete
pie ae? See |
peste fee

ISVILLE COP SPRINGS TRAP

re Today

As Noose Is Adjusted On Neck Of Rainey Bethea He

WECRO 1 KAKGEO
FOR ASSAULT OF
WW AeED WOMAN

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* See ome=

‘ie ast Vr Rerep Ped:

Attorney
seldom
remembers
historic case-

eeeoun ) 17

It was a doozy of a case for an at-
torney who didn’t particularly en-
py practicing criminal law.

The defendant was a black ex-
convict accused of raping. rubbing
and murdering an elderly white
woman. Iie had confessed once, re-
canted, then confessed again. He
told police right where to Sind the
woman's stolen jewelry.

The attorney was young, about to
be married in four days, and was
involved in the case only because
his father, the judge. was making
him

His client, Rainey Bethea. was
the last person to be publicly
hanged in the United States. Yet 50
years later. William L. Wilson Sr
says although he has saved a copy
of the court file all these years. he
seldom thinks of the case that
made history

Wilson. 73, was one of four local
attorneys who defended Bethea.
He 1s the :nly one still living in
Owensboru

He was 23 when his father. Cir-
cuit Judge Geurge § Wilson, ap-
pointed him to the case, Wilson
said

He was in contact with Bethea
only twice. Wilson said, once in
Louisville, where Bethea was held
for safekeeping after his arrest,
and the day of his trial.

Bethea was arrested June 10.
three days afer the body of widow
Elischa Edwards was found in her
apartment He was indicted by a
special session of the grand jury
June 22, convicted June 25 and exe-
cuted Aug. 14

It was typical for the court sys-
tem to move rapidly in those days
“when you had as much heat as
you had in this case.” Wilson said.

Bethea reper’ “+ confessed to
the crime as he was being trans-
ported to Louisville June 10, denied
his guilt June 11, then confessed
again June 12 That time. Mis tou
wards’ jewelry was discovered in
the hiding place Bethea described

But when he and WW Kirtley.
an expenenced Owensboro crim
nal Law ver whee woes clea appointed

AUG 10 1986

to Kethea’s cave visited the de
tendant in the Louisville, jail “He
said he was going to plead not
guilty. Wilson recalled

When he and Kirtley reminded
Bethea of his contession. he said he
didn't commit .ne crime Wilson
said

Bethea didn't give his attorneys
much to work with to turge a de
fense. however. Wilson said “We
couldr't find any evidence *

Although Bethea had done yard
work around Owensboro. when the
attorneys started asking questions.
“We couldn't find anybody in town
hardly who knew him.” Wilson
said. “People just would not testi-
fy. Well. there was nothing they
could testify about."

To defend Bethea. he and Kirtley
decided to ask that the trial be
moved to another county. Wilson
said. At the time. getting a tral

‘moved required the attorneys to

Present affidavits by two people
saying the defendant couldn't ob-
tain a fair trial here because of ex-
cessive publicity, Wilson said.

The two ended up tearing up
their affidavits. however Bethea
told them the morning of his tnal
he planned to plead guilty

He will probably never forget
Bethea's words. Wilson said “He
said. ‘All 1 want ts time to make
peace with my maker © ~

So the defense made no argu-
ments during the trial As Com
monwealth Attorney Herman Birk-
head told the jury about the case.
Kirtley did object that Birkhead
was arguing the case rather than
stating facts, Wilson said “That
was the only statement made dur-
ing the trial for the defense *

A little more than a month later,
on July 28. three black attorneys
asked a federal judge to release
Bethea on the grounds that he had
not received a fair trial in
Owensboro

One of the new attorneys told the
judge at a heamng in Lousville.
“Your Honor, they could at least
have pleaded for mercy.” Wilson
recalled

Looking back. Wilson said ‘even
though he and Kirtley wanted to
have the trial moved. Bethea
“probably got as fair a tral here
as he could have anywhere ©

And he doesn't think Bethea’s
tace and that of his victim had any -
thing to do with the way his case
turned out If Bethea had not been
black. Wilson said. “I think he
would have been hung just as
fast"

miliam
penolts
mere |
Subs me
stl
*eutent

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Drown
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Taves
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0167

BEE PREVIOUS FRANE
Lee School (now the Elizabeth

Munday Senior Citizens Center)

and walked to work every day,”

“Mrs. Lee said. “People tell me

they can still see her walking down
the street like she had a rod in her
back. She was a marvelous lady.”

But Parkinson's disease, a mus
cular disorder characterized by
extreme trembling. struck her be-
fore she left the sheriff's office.

At 1 a.m. on April 13. 1961, Mrs.
Thompson — then Mrs. Carl Riney
— died at Mercy Hospital. She was
68. Her funeral. like Bethea’s, was
at St. Stephen Cathedral.

“| always contended the stress of
the hanging was responsible.”
Thompson said “After she left the
sheriff's office. she just stayed at
home with nervous tremors.”

SShe was the real victim
of this. 9

Mary Lillian
Thompson Lee

<e- --- +

AUG 10 1986

‘1 think she tried to
forget the hanging. It
took a whole lot out of
her. 9

Jim Thompson

e 6 20 prety
Flerence Shcemaker Thompson became shentf upon her husband $
Geath “They swore her in before he was even buned. her du.gnter Mary
Lukan Thompson Lue. remembers “She was still nutnbd And she was stil
gneving for han when they sentenced that man to hang

NA ansgetg

Pe eke

Paes. aa
PP Sbe

bared

ah Fe

8-C—-Owensboro, Ky., Messenger - Inquirer, Sun., May 18, 1975

Document preserved

Bethea han

By JOE FORD, Director

Owensboro Area Museum
Many persons residing in
Owensboro recall the fateful day
in August. 1936. when the last
public hanging in the entire
United States took place. On that
date. Rainey Bethea was publicly
executed for the rape-murder of
Lischa Edwards. Witnesses to
this grisly affair recall many de-
tails of the event. but few paid
scant attention to the execu-

tioner.

* The “hangman” was George
Phillip Hanna. a native of Mli-
nois. Strangely enough Hanna
was a verv compassionate man
who took up his unpleasant work
after witnessing a hanging that
was poorly conducted. The con-
demned man didn’t die quickly
and slowly strangled as he dan-
gled from the rope. The trau-
matic experience of seeing the

oe ene -

tormented victim struggle for
many minutes made Hanna de-
termined to develop quick hu-
mane methods of dispatching the
condemned prisoners.

He researched his work care-
fully. He developed a special lu-
bricant for his ropes. Experience
taught him that the traditional 13
turns in the hangman's noose
made the knot too large and he
shortened the number of wraps
to 8 or 9. Hanna also advocated
administering a strong shot of
morphine. or similar drug. just
before the execution. As he stat-
ed. “This doesn't make the pris-
oner exactly anxious to die, but it
does make him less terrified.”

Hanna felt that his attempts at
humane executions were suc-
cessful. However. he did con-
sider the Owensboro hanging to
be one of two cases that he did
poorly. After Rainey Bethea was

‘ a :
ae “a
/ Bi
? a : ;
; \ RS a Fy
see 4 Ete 4
ee >
i ke ft
a ii 4 6
t ae
ke phe ea! pe peur nncasn et eons a mf Aero ee ate macy n ops Ne eo lm crm TS FERRETS Fe a es BAB 0A on big 2 clageipe PEEVE 5. AF oe Oe Oe oui mye # words tar

With a start, the assistant jerked.

the lever and the last public exe-
cution in the United States was

returned to you as soon as possi-
ble.

Saturday May 24, at 5 p.m. on
the Daviess County Fairgrounds
at Philpot the Owensboro Saddle
Club will present a horse show.
Profits from the event will be
divided between the Spastic
Home and School and the Ow-
ensboro Area Museum. Attend
this show and have an enjoyable
evening while helping the home
and the museum. Incidentally.
Jnembers of the saddle club pre-
pared an attractive display in the
museum. For memories of a
time when no lady would ride a
horse in a regular saddle, see the
display featuring a side-saddle
and other items of the period
when horses were a part of every
household.

Thanks to Morris Smith for a
postage stamp issued to com-
memorate the Kentucky Derby.

ash Riess RE Has ear irae

These “first day of issue"’ cancel-
lations are always sought by
stamp collectors. Other items
donated to the museum include a
Begonia from Mildred Powell.
Several rare parasitic plants.
known as Squaw Root. were
brought in by Noel Lindley.
Snapshots of the old Daviess
County Courthouse were do-
nated by Ray Russell (no horse

appears in the photographs) and
tadpoles of the African Clawed
Frog were the gift of S. Michele
Morek of the Brescia Biology
Department.

Snakes were captured this
week by Mary kilen Lamar.
Greg and Debra Nash, Dave
Lawson, Stephen Gene Leonard,
Danielle Leonard. and Tom
Young's Science Class at Whites-

: cere YRED
SUeeds HSESES
Fe aBNS = a2
EEOs otc E
a->eoeSe 50a
o a & Se wo =
sucScursd wqgevce&
cia its See ee = BP yg
Sa GE Cc on
@ .- Ooms. 3356S
sag & Asta
sa55 2 ° nD
oS ust oS 2]
sOnEZO ==
EOoZses SEPss
Oto oe bo ove &
> sigs of Cn:
egesus s &
SL°ees BER2w
seen Bu pi6s08
go hk Ae OS
-SOSEBSREB =
2 —~O2 SESS Ss
BaBeEsrORs ss
P onl
ak ORSaSEn Hoos
~
oa -

Kvé

ville School. Other live creatures
were the gift of Ronnie Lee Bag-
gett. Todd and Traci Alexander.
and Ernest Tichenor.

tA ® ye ee

Owensbere

History

gman selecis career fo promeore humane executions

Wednesday: the Davies
Fish and Game As
Thursday: and the
County Historical Soci
day. You are invited
any of these club meetir

Buy U.S. Bc

Rainey Bethea was the last

The trial; the most dramatic
Daviess Countian to be sen-

of years for armed robbery” and
and emotionally tense legal spec-

death for the shotgun murder o!

Cochran Dorsey.
tacle in recent years in Owens-

boro, lasted from 8:30 a.m. to 9:
15 p.m. when Judge Henry M.

Griffin charged the jury and sent
them out to deliberate the fate of
Michael Land. The first two days

assault — in 1936. Kentucky
ranks 14th among the 50 states in
Eddyville was in 1962. The last
American executed was Louis
Jose Monge in June of 1967 in
Colorado for four murders.

number of executions. The last
person put in the electric chair at

tenced to death — for criminal

’
;
‘
Hy
’
’
’

2
!
»
,
>
?
i
s
4

com-
W35 and ©
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which

Kren, is |
e slate |
95,

and.

THE ‘MESSENGER, OWENSEORO, KY. TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1936. ,

ram Showing How Murderer Reached. Mrs. Edwards’ Room

ay OF he ens 55 sides

oye ?
- Seve: wavs

_ Drawing by Fred Bopp
ertrance of her ele located on the second floor of a
o a low roof at the alley shown at the left of the above drawing. Foot-~
ated: Py, the dotted line. Mrs. Edwards’ body was found on the bed,

Prayers For Rain
In South Answered

Showers Over Di be Sunday
Bring Rel,

‘The murderer of Mrs. Elza Hazards ik, Sunday morning gained
three-apartment house at 322 East Fifth street by pimping
prints left by bare feet show that he followed the path indic
marked X. <

Potato Shortage Discovered Body
_ Greatest Since ’19| Of Mrs. Edwards

Daviess Sends

6 To Junior Week

Winners in Rally to Take
Part in State Meets

No Improvement Expected
in Next Two Months =

SN Sones

Not that 100,000
be a bumper ¢
remember the >
239,000,000 bushels
record. . ee ee

Yet, 100,000,000.
pleasing this year
leaders, following
years, of 1932-
produced an aye
65,000.000 bushels.
was only 59,000,000

The outlook {0

‘harvest locked &

, in
i month period on
i and farmers’ hope

i
i
‘

\
i

| | bushels

bAltto

the spring.

rains came in AD
vive the grain a
J. C. Mohied;
state board of A
L. Collins, statist
ed States depar'
ture, predict: a
on the. 4

“thin Obold Are ph, weyers) hae Ka Aries a8
Hoe MORAL, AHA OU, Q ou
Lowusoi lee Cour) ar \ourweSe

Other True Crime Stories
in SIGNET Editions

The Amazing Crime and Trial of Leopold and
Loeb by Maureen McKernan

The actual story of the bizarre “thrill killing.”
‘Court testimony and the stirring plea of Clarence
Darrow. (#D1469—50¢)

I Stole $16,000,000 by Herbert Emerson Wilson

The life story of the “king of the safe-crackers,”
who stole millions in the twenties. (#41293—25¢)

A Murder in Paradise (revised and expanded)
by Richard Gehman
A seemingly normal man is driven to commit the
brutal unpremeditated murder of a pretty secretary.

(#S1307—35¢)

The Execution of Private Slowik
by William Bradford Huie
story of the only American soldier to be shot
tor desertion in Worla War il. (#1113—25¢)

THE FBI
IN ACTION

by KLN JONES

457

A SIGNET BOOK
Published by THE NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY

Z2S6T/T/e (uosdergjer) ashy °OeTe feqtum **q TaBy “WVHOUIE

BLANKS, Robert, black, hanged Mayfiel

HRP wy tissvy a yc tht eatee

OP >.

TOOK A LAST LOOK AT MIS

[the scaffold and requested @ collection

‘Athe cemetery here, He begged coa-

bling like a leaf, and words of prayet

> . me ry
dg k heb PONT NO
bs 4 *

i ed

Bob Blanks Died Like a
Coward.

eneuntiten cummed

COFFIN.

ee a Qe ne

HE WAS INNOCENT

« a

He Talked to the Lerge Crowd for
fs Mearly an Hou-.

SAI

Vibe

(Brom 8 Spectay Correcpreseny)
VAILYARD, [FLALD. KY.. Apri!
1R—~{(Spl.)—Bob Alanks paid the death
penially bere at 10:35 o'clock thts morn-
ing dde wroya seers iad, deciadoaigg iia.
slept Ul 6 e'clock this morning and had
good herve titi! hatter hts talk, Thou-
sand@ stsembied in the streets around
the fail, but all was quiet, He movated

from the mon inside, Then amending
the platform te the fence he talked
Nearly an hour, protesting his inae-
cence of the ciime. He begged to live
ti 10:9: When fe had fntehed his
tong talks he walked to the edge of the
nceffold, took a long oak at his coftiu
and esked to be burted by hia eh'id in

tinuously for a minute more time after
looking at hie coftin, The cap was
placed over his head, after he knelt
und preyed, wut wan tdlsed for a ‘ast
word, Shaiting hande with ali, he waa
placed on the trap door, Nis ody trem:

could be heard, e noose was quick!y,
adjusted und the drep was complete
at 1033, breaking hie neck instantly.

ve 8, Jail Wee Guarded...
‘ But few signs of life were noticeable
ana they were very aught. He wae
pronounced joni ion piss ina ache o
colored chers were wit on
the scutold. errs ‘ > ‘
- ‘With Bob Blanks’ death ende one of
: ever

d, Kentucky, on April 18, 1899 ,555550

‘ | Re 2 ‘5 |
+t € BLANKS, Robert, black, hanged Mayfield, Kentucky,
‘= on April 18, 1899,,,

«
4
RE
y

4
i

= Psi pee
aa ;
oa PEROT IS RRR Bes iahnnarentnte wanrtpavet® Figg pape

a
a:
Ks

Racial Violence in Kentucky
186 5-1940

Lynchings, Mob Rule, and “Legal Lynchings”

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Baton Rouge and London

iv"

BAS GLEE A AMET i ISP i OA NES 0 Sau atc ee po eye DRI

72 SOUTHWESTERN REPORTER. (By. | Ky.) pedo & Skeck iin me
TT
. J. appellee, Lucy J. in-law and hey“husband should leave the 3. Where a husband's heirs, in an action to
lant than be wae entitle 7 els Brown, brought ih sult against the appel- premises, a apparently with a view of } recover and held r % pref Bon ra
ike to the third ground, the rtle Webster, then Myrtle Robards, promotin armony in the family, she gi y ow occupie e
idence | lants, Myrtle q
As to the third ground, the only ev

property as her ho tead and not adversely
e premises in May, 1899. Bptthe the burden of pr f such fact on such
ciliation between J. D. B. Robafds and | heirs. : ae cae ee

8s wife was short lived. She Again sep-

complained of was brought out on the ry = yma Pp
examination of Jane Black, a sister of yes r, 3 i
appellant. She was asked this question A fe mite was short lived. Shor mp i
the commonwealth’s attorney, “Now, ta trated trom him in the foUfing “August
To ee ae ea ne aa eal 00 acres of land as bop and heaps: ; a noePatyrl gst
eS ae re hich question by a judgment of ‘ sen = | ws ts a mony or © sur
ee rs = ety wilneah Then the | out of the estate, @f her divorced hus port of herself gw Sr ge fpr ies
was not answer 2

commonwealth’s attorney asked this ques- J. D. B. Roba

r the possession of
the rents thereon, ! om circult court, Carlisle county.
be officially reported.”

on by Margaret Reno and others
inst Cal Blackburn. From a judgment i
favor of defendant, plaintiffs appeal.

afterwards pfirried her present hushgfd maar

claimed the Webster. An the meantime, J. D. B. Robards J. M. Nichols & Son, for appell Gus

tion, “Now, don’t you know that . — Sensor and wife mortgaged his life intepe$t in the | Thomas, for appellee.
the reason you were wor = poet not | interes?7J. D. B. land a mana par pti _ land
which witness answered, rag és as im- | Mrp/Lucy J. Brown, too as subsequently sold, ay orter became SETTLE, Margaret Reno
scared of him about that.” T v wi athe ls the purchaser. In addiféOn to the facts re- and others, claiming-fo be of kin to and the
proper, as appellant did not testi Rea in | we are asked to co cited above, both ofthe appellants relied only heirs at la .
court should not have permitted mo ‘—n upon the abandg pchent af the premises by brought this ction in the Carlisle circuit
view of the defense made by oe os Vink. genes Mrs. Brown 1n2809 as an estoppel. No facts, | court to rocOver of the appellee, Cal Black-
insanity alone, and the effort on t - ee HL however, ape’ alleged to support this plea. burn, $0@”acres of land lying in Carlisle, for-
of his counsel in the agen css ta in trustfor the use and benefit of JD. B. We ase of the opinion that B. F. and Lucy mesh Ballard, county. It appears from the
appellee’s witnesses and in the exam “e n | Robpes, son of B. F. and Lugy~ Robards, J. Behards took a life estate in the tract of ord that the land was formerly owned by
of his own to show his attempts to cu Pg land not to be divided, by#fo descend to 0 acres of land under the will of Mrs. Sug Lioyd Pickett, who was residing thereon at
and boys frequently as an evidence aan ial | the children that may be bern in lawful mar- gett, subjected to a charge of one-fo °F | the time of his death, which occurred in 1872.
insanity, this evidence was not preju - ors riage to said J. D. BRobards. But the the proceeds of the crop raised thereon fef the It further appears from the record that Lloyd
to him, but was rather in ald of his attemp property is given wjif restrictions to be mg education of their son, J. D. B. Robdtds. It | Pickett lett no children, but that his wi
defense. h tioned below. BAF. and Lucy J. Robert appears from the testimony that spfpellee, Mrs. survived him. In 1874 she married the Ap-

This record discloses the fact that the - have the priyitége of a home on the Jefid for Lucy J. Robards, has no minef children, and pellee, Cal Blackburn, with whom she“lived
pellant committed a most foul, brutal, an themselvesind any children they“fow have her son, J. D. B. Robards, pefs finished his edu- until her death in March, 1900. It if averred
unprovoked myrder.and the jury saw nt or she afay have, during thee minority, or cation, and has now po valid claim to one- | in the petition that Lloyd Pickg#f died intes-
er to fix the(Jegth penaltp which this = th; | a8 Jefg as any girl child sf hers is unmar- fourth the proceed of the farm. It therefore | tate, and that appellee is wrongfully in the
does not fee fied in interfering with; “A. But one fourth ofthe proceeds of the follows that appeffee is entitled to the use and possession of the land left“by Lioyd Pickett,
wherefore the judgment of the lower court crop raised is to }€ appropriated by my occupancy ofthe farm during her life. At upon whose death, it aimed, it descended
is affirmed. trustees to the education of said J. D. B her deathyJ. D. B. Robards has a life estate

under the statute
Robards, withthe view to his entering the there

n xffnistry as a Baptist or Presby-
a he farm, land and proceeds are to
be_cOntrolled by said trustees and nothing

fised on the farm is to be subject to any
one's debts except as to my own as bety
mentioned, and all raised on the farm ¢
the one fourth appropriated as befprt

wy and, at his death, it descends to his
en born in lawful wedlock. As appel-
ee was not a party to the proceedings in
which the appellant Myrtle Webster was ad- | the
Judged 100 acres of the land as alimony, | ¢
and J. W. Porter a Hen upon the residue to

rs and entitled to the pos-
- The answer of appellee, as
ended, denies that appellants are
ers or entitled to the possession of
aud, and avers that Lloyd Pickett left
will, which was admitted to probate in the
Ballard county court, and duly recorded in

the Ballard county court clerk’s office, but
tioned is to be used by Lucy J. Robards “4 Nor ig there any proof in the recor that the courthouse and clerk’s office in sfat
the benefit of herself and fap/fy, and B. F. port the plea of estoppel. We th county were destroyed by fire in , for
1 any | Robards, should he be lef’ a widower. » _s Properly adjudged ap which reason the will cannot bg“produced.
er pat gg ih of long as he may continug“inmarried. But @ possession of the pro

That by its terms the land
solutely to the testator’s
death, in 1872, to her
of more than 29 ye
held the actual

es Lucy J,Mobards’ shall be rals Sede cahr cane

enetcary, the est pe ligne of its proceeds. —

8 die without children, thet

ined a wid- | J. D. B. Robayés d ;

the beneicary” die without chil- | the land shg#f belong to the child of Lucy J RENO
e'

e, who from his
» in 1900, a period

al. v. BLACKBURN.

ssession thereof, claiming
f it dur- Is of Kentucky. March 18 1
to belong to the child bards,“~vho shall have the use - peals of Kentucky. a > 1 the world, and that appel-
og 7a Mone Gon have “tne use “* pa of life as directed in this bagi an cos 1903.) esided near her, had notice of the
duri; er life as directed in this will. . > 1 was probated in May, ’ SPROYED WILLS—PROOF—ADVERSE PO: f her title and the character of
thaf the perents took a ie. a = Vs elite pies J. Robards, and her bus ON—OCCUPATION BY WIDOW—HOM
the appropriation

the beneficiary's education, after which they pang, B. F. Robards, and their son, J. D.
mother, who was the surviving parent, t

lived on this tract of land until
: h ofthe | B. Robards, ‘
Lee Rgge Hg son ry Ay Bg e es- | he married the appellant —_— hepsi
cate with remainder to his legitimate“Children. | December, 1894, he being at tha

1,.W
which defendant claimed title to land had be.

of the answer,
the will was duly attested or that and charges that the wij#é of Lloyd Pickett

17 years old. Both families conti tted to probate, proof that by will testa- | Occupied the land 1 ntroversy only as a

occupy the premises until J. D. areas the land in contro y to defend- | homestead, and tkfs averment is denied by

and his wife separated in Ma i Ps ier 2h “ge was insufficient to sustain her title the rejoinder, he lower court, upon the

Bobards having died, Lucy. ew vr ere a widow Died land of her de- | issues an e€ proof taken by the p

ried A. A. Brown. appellant “eased husband unde; destroyed will and held judgment dismissing the xétition,

Webster appears not/fo have agreed with more et rious, ‘verse possession thereof for llowing appellee his costs.

her mother-in-law/after her marriage © and not = cere Mong vg nag ola he evidence furnished e depositions

Brown, and only’consented to return ols acquired ti fe by adverse possession as against ¢ tends to show that a was executed by
tt & Lockett, for appellee. husband on Jie condition that her mo husband’s heirs, Lloyd Pickett. Thr itnesses testified that

pellants. Locke ckett, °

Troutman,
account

trustee, excluding the
and in September, 1

the manufacturing
the attorney and

the logs, and on the 18th
r, 1895, James Sparks, a

jected to the payment of the
ment. The defendant, by
relied upon the facts recit

released, and was told by McK
Sparks release it; that he Imm

would see McKee before doing
immediately for that pu
in a few moments, and t

72 SOUTHWESTERN REPORTER. (Ky.

e London Manufac-

, they procured, for the
assignment to them of

y and returned
went with him

that the judgment had
that arrangements ha
which it would be

that no steps
the part of

. R. Grant, who
as sawyer for the
Company at the time
manufactured, and that

ber to pay off the Troutman judgment, ang
that the judgment had been fully satisfied.

nd the manufacturing com-
the purchaser at the price of
interest, and cost, and from that
ent defendant appeals.
We are of the opinion that the decided
weight of the evidence in the case is on the
side of the appellant. All parties agree
that Sparks, as attorne
jected to Howard’s

company, and this was the main in-
ment which brought about the arrange.
ment made with appellee. Nor is
verted that shortly after this
was entered into Troutma

BLACK v. COMMONWHALTH.
(Court of Appeals of Kentucky. March 18,
1903.)

CRIMINAL LAW—HOMICIDE—EVIDENCE—ACTS
OF DEFENDANT—NEW TRIAL—NEWLY DIS-
COVERED EVIDENCE—CUMULATIVB BVI-
DENCE—REVIEW—HARMLESS ERROR.

1. A new trial will not be granted for newly
discovered evidence, which was only cumula-
tive, and which would not have strengthened
that adduced by accused to any appreciable ex-

decisions of the trial court on motions for &
new trial shall not be subject to exceptions, the
denial of a motion for a new trial for newly
discovered evidence cannot be reviewed.

. Where, in a prosecution for murder by
stabbing, defendant did not testify, it was er
ror for the state’s attorney to ask defendant's
sister if she did not know that the reason she
was so afraid of defendant was that he had

sop? 50° Criminal Law, vol. 18, Cent Dig. $1 350,

tent.
2. Under Cr. Code Prac. § 281, providing that -

ky.) BLACK y. COMMONWEALTH. 773

cat two gad men, and had been sent to the
for

4. Where, in a prosecution for murder by
stabbing, the defense was insanity, and his
counsel, in cross-examination of a state’s wit-
nesses and in the examination of his own wit-
nesses, showed defendant’s attempts to cut
men and boys frequently as an evidence of his
insanity, the fact that the commonwealth’s at-
torney was erroneously permitted to ask a wit-
ness whether the reason why she was afraid
of defendant was that he had cut other men,
and been sent to the pen for it, was not preju-
dicial.

Appeal from circuit court, Jefferson coun-
ty, criminal division.

“Not to be officially reported.”

John Black was convicted of murder, and

he appeals. Affirmed.

Jos. BH, Conkling and H. W. Saunders, for
appellant. Clifton J. Pratt and M. R. Todd,
for the Commonwealth.

NUNN, J. The indictment charging the
appellant with willful murder of Archie
James was returned at the June term of
the Jefferson circuit court, 1902. On the
10th day of the same month the appellant
was brought into court, and, with his at-
torney, Henry Tilford, consented to dispense
with the formalitier of an arraignment, and
enterec a plea of not guilty of the offense
charged. On that day an order was made
by the court appointing Joseph L. Reed and
Dudley C. Jones attorneys to defend the
case. The trial of the prosecution was as-
signed for June 17, 1902, and, when the
prosecution was called for trial, Joseph BD.
Conklin and H. W. Saunders appeared as
counsel for appellant, and on their motion
the case was continued until September 26,
1902. On the calling of the prosecution on
the last date, the same counsel appeared,
and on their motion the trial was postponed
until September 30th, and on tbe last-named
day no further motion for a continuance was
made, and the trial was entered into. The
jury returned a verdict of
appellant's punishment
lant, by counsel, filed réago (
the court to grant him a new trial, which
motion was overruled, and he has appealed
to this court to reverse that judgment.

The facts in the case, as shown by the
tecord, are, in substance, these: In the
month of May, 1902, the appellant, at Sec-
ond Street Market, in the city of Louisville,
stabbed and killed Archie James. It occur-
red under the following circumstances, as
related by the witness Edgar Johnson, who
was a butcher in that market house: “Archie
James was sitting in a wagon. The wagon
was backed right up against the curbstone
in front of the market, and he had his head
down this way, and this man was in the
tear end of the market, about 40 feet from
James. John Black came walking from the
tear end of the market, and said to me, ‘I
want to borrow your knife,’ and took the
knife, about a 12-inch blade, and walked

out to where the old man James was, and
I happened to look just at that time. The
old man raised his head, and Black stuck
the knife in his neck. Neither said anything
to the other. Black turned immediately,
and walked back through the meat market,
and out the back door. Archie James jumped
up, and stepped a few feet forward, and
fell with his head in the door, and died in a
few moments. Black was sober.” Several
other witnesses corroborated this witness
Johnson. There was no attempt to contra-
dict this testimony. There was some intima-
tion that they had had some words the night
before at James’ house. When arrested, ap-
pellant said “he was trying to run his bluff
on me.” All the testimony shows that the
old man was unarmed, and was sitting in
his cart, about half asleep. Deceased was
about 65 years old, and appellant a young
man, and a nephew of the deceased.

The only attempt made to excuse appellant
from this foul crime was insanity. All the
witnesses for the commonwealth, seven or
eight in number, said that he was of sound
mind at all times when sober. The appel-
lant’s witnesses, except one or two, agreed
with those of the commonwealth as to this.
Appellant’s counsel contend for a reversal
on three grounds: (1) That the lower court
failed to grant appellant a new trial on ac-
count of newly discovered evidence; (2) that
the second instruction given by the court
to the jury was prejudicial to him; (3) that
the court permitted incompetent evidence to
be introduced over his objection.

As to the first ground, the newly discov-
ered evidence, if introduced, would have
been only cumulative, and would not have
strengthened that adduced to any apprecia-
ble extent; and under section 281 of the
Criminal Code of Practice, which says that
the decisions of the lower court upon mo-
tions for a new trial shall not be subject
to exceptions, and in the case of Gambill v.
Commonwealth (Ky.) 23 S. W. 960, this court
sald: “One of the grounds for a new trial
is the discovery of new evidence tending
to contradict the evidence of the witness for
the commonwealth. It is only necessary to
state that, the lower court having passed
upon that matter, its judgment thereon can-
not be reversed here, for this court is con-
fined in its review of crimnial appeals to
errors of law occurring on the trial.” In
the case of Hatton v. Commonwealth, 7 Ky.
Law Rep. 46, this court said: “An error
in overruling a motion for a new trial on
the ground of newly discovered evidence is
not a ground for reversal.” In the same
book, page 377 (Edrington v. Commonwealth),
the court said: “This court cannot review
the action of the lower court in overruling a
motion for a new trial made upon the
grounds of newly discovered evidence.”

As to the second ground, there was no
error in the giving of instruction No. 2, com-
plained of, and, taking all the instructions

“tO6T “ST ABW SANONQUeY SeTTTAstTnoT pesuey “yoeTq “uuor “yordE

AUG 10 1986

Bad publicity can do good 5F

subject of a special report in today’s

Messenger -Inquirer, seems to qualify
as an all-around sordid chapter in Owensbo-
re's history Over and over. as | read ac-
counts of the hanging peoply mentioned the
role of the press Most of the time it wasn't
taverably

@ Wilham Wilson Sroone of the lawyers
involved in the case. remembers the publici-
ty mainly as “so much malarky ”

@ Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Wil-
liam Gant remembers listening to a radio
bruadcast on that day that included an ab-
surd description of settlers coming out of the
hills around Owensboru with their coonskin
caps and squirrel ifles

@ Mary Lillian Thompson Lev, daughter of
the Daviess County sheriff at the time. re-
members a national magazine reporting that
she sold hot dogs zt the hanging. which she
had not “Since then © she sad. “I don't be-
heve half of what Tread —

Charly. the day was no highwater mark
fur the press The strangest thing to me. how-
ever. is why unvbuds would bother to make
up these things A perfectly accurate report
would have been sensational enough | re-
member the first time [| saw a ceproduction
ot that day's front page of the Chwensboro
Messenger It has a beld tlack headline.

20.000 see Bethea die on scatfold as) ex-
Loutsville cop springs trap Beneath it was
a photo that showed the huge crowd pressed
up around the gallows. where the “ex: Louis
ville cop” had his hand on the lever

Reading about the event made me shud-
der The atmosphere surroun’ “y it seemed
more appropriate to a rock ro ooll festival or
a World Senes game People stood on roofs
and sat on top of telephone poles Street ven-
dors sold not only hot dogs but popcorn, soft
drinks, tamales. fish and fruit People who
had good seats began selling them to late-
comers as the deadline approached Hun-
dreds of children were present

T he execution of Rainey Bethea. the

Cu . Cee na chap te 1 oe alacckc.., ah oly La rw

Na Ch - Wk wena kez .

Coverage of this event resulted in a chorus
of editorials that brought a good deal of un-
wanted publicity to Owensboro. As a result of
this intense and agitated public outcry. this
became the last public hanging in the United
States

“If at hadn't been for the spectacle in
Owensboro, it might have been years before
that law was repeajed.” said Lee Dew, chair-
man of the history department at Kentucky
Wesleyan College.

To the extent that it required some kind of
media onslaught to end public hangings. the
unpleasant attention it focused on Owensbo-
ro was probably worthwhile. Newspapers
need tu make the truth known, even if does
not always reflect the bright side of hfe
Good things can come out of bad publicity

If there are any doubts about the approprt-
ateness of our presentation today. 1 hope
they will be understood in this same spirit
As the S0th anniversary of this event ap-
proached. we were sensitive to sensationa-
lism of our subject But confronting this epi-
sode of history. confronting our feelings
about it. and trying to understand both. rep-
resent a worthwhile endeavor We have in-
cluded a story that tries to deal with this very
issue of Owensborus attitude toward its
most notorious event.

Remembering that day in 193§ may not be
pleasant. but forgetting it” would be far
worse

a i ne ee ee ee ee

Republic
assault oq

hey call it the “Democratic G
T tar.” the cock of the Demucratk
ty.

In legend. it stands invincible.

No matter how badly Democrats m;
doing when the precincts start repo
from eastern Kentucky, they never gn
until they hear the results from the spa
populated Jackson Purchase in far-we
Kentucky.

For generations, the Purchase has
solidly Democratic. The Democratic I
had no fear of disloyalty from the mer
women of those eight counties

Republicans were not a threat No m
how badly they were ignored by Frani
the Purchase counties always came thre

There's something about the South
seems to inspires myths That's all the J
octatic Gibraltar ts today: a myth.

In 1984. Democrat Walter Mondale ca
only two Purchase counties. Baliard
Marshall In 1985. Kallard County elect
Republican as county judgeerecutive
first Republican elected to blocel office t
in the memory of anyone m the courthor

But those werent the first cracks u
solid rock of the Democratic Party In
Richard Nixon swept all of western
tucky In 1968. Hickman and Fulton cou
followed the banner of George Wall
American Independent Party

In only one area of politics has the
chase never strayed from the Told So fa
Republican candidate for governor has
cartied one of those counties.

But it was evident at_Fancy Farm
Democrats are afraid 1987 will bring the:
crack that reduces their Gibraltar to gra

Larry Forgy would like to be the Rep
can who does if

At Fancy Farm, Forgy played on wes
Kentuckians’ feelings that Frankfort has!
gotten them He called the region “the isk
forgotten persons ”

The Purchase. he said, “hus been taken.
vantage of in Frankfort. It's time to se
them a message no more, no more ”

; , t i
rhe \W a Le CO
€

The jury agreed and teund that the school
district violated Vicki s constitutional rights
This resulted in an award of $70,000 against
the school district there

Tinvite Mr Fortney and others interested
in finding out what is going on in our country
to read The Battle for the Public a

“If the Foundations Be Destroyed.”

nd pormograpners. liberal press. reli-
gious persecutors, drug pushers, abortion-
ists. child abusers, am . those who think
the First Amendme. -ntitles them to

“rights” and “privileges” that are abhorrent
to mainstream America and which were nev-
er intended to be protected by the framers of
our US. Constitution are working overtime
to destroy America and its people’ Chris-

a strong America appreciate them and their
decision to remove smut from their stures

Editor's note: Chariotie Koewter is
marned and has two sons and a grandson.
She kves in Evansville, ind., and 's acting
area representative of Concemed Woman
for Amenca of Southern Indiana.

N\A Wagon pats
Pes ee w °
Mahete

Seu ea ae ree

: {
AA Po ek haweing -

AUG 10 1986

VIEW FROM THE CROWD= xs

Gertrude Hamilton was 11 years
old when Rainey Bethea was
hanged.

She remembers:

“Ht was a picnic. People were
just — Oh. it made me so sick |
think | threw up all day long
because | couldn't stand the
thought of it.

“There were mobs there at
that hanging.”

coastal penichine at Ga ete a cee heath

Paul Bushong, who was 43 at the time
of the hanging, recalls:

“The sentiment run pretty high. black
and white, it sure did. Now, | was working
in the oil field. | came in on the afternoon
before. | hadn't seen the gallows. |
thought I'd go down and look at it. And
just as | got there, they tried it out with a
sandbdag. That sandbag went down, hit

(man) three times —in my dreams.

“The first time, he. went down, and his
toes hit the ground and he was going
around and around.

“The next time he went down flat-
footed.

“Next time, I got the rope short enough
and then snapped it back about that long.
And then | woke up.”

Barney Elliott, a local restaurateur, had
opened the Scoot-in restaurant at Second
and Walnut streets three months before the
hanging. The night of Aug. 13, 1936. was
one of the busiest of his career.

“| had doughnuts stacked up on the
counter, couldn't even get them in the
case,” Elliott recalled. “We'd bring them in a
dozen to the plate and people would just

that rope and gave a little jerk, like that.
“went home that night and | hung that

Were es eS Tae

come and grab them. They were starving ~
We stayed open all night because
everybody was out there waiting for the big

hanging ~

“ae MY ma Vote a oe ac me eres. ¢ & KW

AUG 10

1986

een about ice cream

Competition
grows with

consumption

Rv Chriatanher Carey '-

Baskin-Robbins manufactures
ice cream for stores in a six-state
area at its plant at 11th and Locust
streets. It has 10 other plants in the
country.

Steady growth
Ice cream uction has been
growing abou percent a year

since the beginning of the decade.

analysts think the value will rise
about 6 percent to $85 billion this
year, she said.

The market for novelty items, de
fined as any individually packaged,
single-serving frozen snack. has
doubled since 1981 to about $1.7 bil-
lion, and analysts think it will dou-
ble again by 1990, Miss Davenport

FAVORITE FLAVORS -

Moeossnger inquirer
ice cream enthusiasts are no longer satisfied with vanitia,

chocolate and strawberry, as the rise of a combination called Cookies
‘n Cream itlustrates. The flavor even surpassed stawberry in

namilarity in @ TORE aunrm: Hare ie a ranting al tha mact nnnwilar

Ct ga Se Bes Sgr > ee ay"

. Executions still sign, of barbarism

we CY

Hie

Bye

the one in 1836. ti:is time to rid us of the chair. The recounting of this story on its Seth anvi injections. are far more humane. If states
When Bethea died on the gallows near the versary is particularty poignant in the like Kentucky want to show some respect for

broadcast | settlers coming out of Supreme Court ruling that ended executions electric chair would pass the
the hills with coonskin caps and rifles. Gant because of that bias, recent studies show that hangman's noose.

fe fete.
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children

The jury agreed god
district violated Vif onstitutional nehts
This resulted in an’. ard of $70 000 againse
the school district there

Linvite Mr Fortney and others interested
in finding out what is going on in our country
to read The Battle for the Public Schools.”

tound that the school

gious persecutors, drug Saders. abortion-
ists. child abusers. and. yes, those who think
the First Amendment entitles them to
‘rights’ and “privileges” that are abhorrent
to mainstream America and which were nev-

er intended to be protected by the framers of

our U.S. Constitution are working overtime

a strong America appreciate them and their
decision to remo~e smut from their stores

re Ba!
x a Ks aia

Saw we ao pw

Editor's net. . Chariotte Koewler is
marned and has two sons and a grandson.
She kves in Evansville, ind., and 1s acting
area representative of Concerned Woman
for Amenca of Southem Indiana.

“If the Foundations Be Destroyed.” “The

to destroy America and its people’ Chris-

\ '
Ve ae 3* Rau CYAWG =

EW FROM THE CROWD =

AUG 10 1986

/Cd>

rude Hamilton was 11 years

vhen Rainey Bethea was

jed.

@ remembers

was apicnic Peopie were
— On it made me so sick |
I threw up ali day long

use | couldn t stand the

znt of rt.

rere were mobs there at

Catt

oe - A
y _ & > \ \ he ’
r A LAS ~ G Sk £ @ LG hw

Paul Bushong, who was 43 at the time
of the hanging, recalis:

“The sentiment run pretty high, black
and white. it sure did. Now, | was working
in the oil field. | came in on the afternoon
before | hadn't seen the gallows. |
thought |'d go down and look at it. And
just as | got there, they tried it out with a
sandbag. That sandbag went down, hit
that rope and gave a little jerk. like that.

‘went home that might and | hung that

bicker ‘y Sear

AUG 10

A C at hk ta oN

(man) three times —in my dreams.

“The first ime, he went down, and his
toes hit the ground and he was going
around and around.

“The next time he went down fiat-
footed.

“Next time. | got the rope short enough
and then snapped it back about that long.
And then | woke up.”

abit ie Ve. A ae oe a

Barney Elliott, a local restaurateur, had
opened the Scoot-in restaurant at Second
and Wainut streets three months before the
hanging. The night of Aug. 13, 1936. was
one of the busiest of his career.

“| had doughnuts stacked up on the
counter, couldn't even get them in the
case,” Elliott recalled. “We'd bring them in a
dozen to the plate and people would just
come and grab them. They were starving.
We stayed open all night because
everybody was out there waiting for the big
hanging ”

Yee a enw

“een about ice cream

/ompetition
rows with

‘consumption

Chrristopher Carey '

Baskin-Robbins manufactures

ice cream for stores in a six-state
area at its plant at 11th and Locust
streets. It has 10 other plants in the
country.

Steady growth

Ice cream uction has been
growing about | percent a year
since the beginning of the decade.

analysts think the value will rise =

about 6 percent to $8 5 billion this
year, she said

The market for novelty items, de-
fined as any individually packaged,
single-serving frozen snack. has
doubled since 1981 to about $1 7 bil-
lion, and analysts think it will dou-
ble again by 1990. Miss Davenport

said

FAVORITE FLAVORS —

bheseenger-inquirer

ice cream enthusiasts are no longer satisfied with vanilla,
Chocolate and strawberry. as the rise of a combination called Cookies
'n Cream ittustrates The flavor even surpassed stawberry in

popularity in a 1985 survey. Hera ts a ranking of the most popular

At 4:30 a.m., Aug 14,
five mies west of
Owensboro on U.S. 60. a

‘car driven by Leonard A.

Peters. 36. of Evansville.
‘Ind.. ran into a ditch while
passing a truck and —
overturned several times,
killing him. Peters. his wife
and another couple were

on thetr way to the hanging.

f “in a major stick-up,
staked the $25,000 robbery of
the American National Bank
fashioned from:a pair of girl’s si
bank, he and his accomplice fi

stolen car. Minutes later they had switched to Bircham’s own 4
car, and this was driven directly to a previously rented, 4

private, single-car garage. Here the loot from the bank was *
dumped out on the floor, from the pillow case in which it had a
been collected, and split then and there. Thirty minutes later,
that nice, obliging, civic-minded citizen, Clyde Wallace, was 4

back in X-ville, and he hadn’t even been missed.

How often and how effectively did Bircham employ this 4
singularly simple but most efficient technique? Probably no .
one could answer that but Earl. But the record shows many

- Successful acts of banditry which Bircham is known to have 4

committed, including the $9,545.78 stick-up of a Big Bear
chain grocery store in Springfield, Ohio, and when he made

the mistake of coming to Louisville that Sunday night in Au- EB -
gust he was a much wanted man. Birmingham wanted him; a
Nashville wanted him; St. Louis wanted him; Detroit wanted ~
him; Cincinnati wanted him; Evansville wanted him; Topeka ©

wanted him; the list seemed endless.

Perhaps it is irony that Earl Bircham’s downfall and death —

were the consequences of a simple traffic law infraction of
which he must have been completely unaware. Cruising south
on First Street on the fatal night, Tennyson and Ross first
passed Bircham’s Buick parked at the curb. The officers con-
tinued their leisurely patrol, and a minute or so Jater the Buick
passed them, going south. In Louisville, First Street is a one-
way street southbound. Shortly after this, Tennyson and Ross

saw the Buick again, but this time Bircham was driving 4

north against the one-way traffic. He was not speeding and
there is no reason to believe that he even knew he was going
the wrong way on a
each other, Officer Ross Tecognized Bircham as “the man at
the top of the ‘Hit Parade’,” although he couldn’t immediately
recall Bircham’s name, Officer Tennyson threw Cruiser 800
into a tight U-turn to round in behind the bandit, and this was

was on! es

After wrecking his Buick, killing Officer Tennyson, an
grievously wounding Officer Ross, Bircham sought to .mak
good his escape from the now aroused neighborhood. H

. Or Tl Blow Your }

stayed out of streets and alleys, cut across lots, ‘scaled fe:

ces,
and actually got about four blocks from the scene of the mur- .. .
der when he came upon what looked to him like a. Heaven-
sent break. As the killer scaled a backyard fence, with a -gun
in each hand (he had a .38 and a .44), he came upon a citizen
who had come out into his backyard to find out why the dogs
in the neighborhood were aroused and barking. The citizen
was Luther Williams, 37-year-old stocky and powerfully built
ex-Marine, whose home was at 2623 Delor Avenue.

Earl Bircham wasted no time with frills or formalities. He
dropped catlike to the ground in Williams’ yard, leveled his
two guns and said “Give me your car keys or I'll blow your
head off!”

Williams was not one to panic, but neither was he one to
underestimate the situation when a two-gun man had the drop
on him. Slowly he raised his hands in the air, but his voice
was unexcited when he replied, “I haven’t got my keys with
me. They’re in the house.”

“Then. by God we'll go and get ’em!” snapped the killer.
“Turn around and march!” ‘

Williams complied,. and the two started toward the short
flight of steps which led to the back porch of the Williams
home and the kitchen door. Earl Bircham must have been
rattled, because he made an elementary mistake. As even a
rookie policeman knows, when you have a gun on a guy, you
don’t go up and shove the gun in his back, where he can get at
it and you stay at least four or five feet away from him, where
you'll have time for a clear shot if your prisoner tries any
monkey business.

But Earl Bircham disregarded this elementary rule. He fol-
lowed directly behind Williams, prodding his prisoner in the
back with gun muzzles. Luther Williams did some very fast
thinking. His wife was in the house and he was seriously con-
cerned about what this mad-dog killer might do to her. Once
having secured the car keys it seemed likely to Williams that
Bircham would kill them both, if for no better reason than to
eliminate witnesses against him in the event of his ultimate
Capture. So Luther Williams elected to take a desperate
Chance,

As he reached the top of the short flight of steps, above the
gunman, Williams suddgnly whirled and closed. With dazzling
speed his powerful hands gripped the barrels of both of
Bircham’s guns. Another instant and the agile ex-Marine had
Wrenched. the guns out of Birchar’s hands and sent them fly-
Ing into the night. Then he really got to work on the killer.

But more action-packed drama. and tragedy with a hairé

dinary mug, no stupid, tri T-ha)
gunman. When the occasion Tequired he a saint capable
of deadly, deliberate murder. But his business was not mur-
der; it was armed robbery, and he brought to it a highly in-
dividualistic and effective modus operandi which set him sev-
eral notches above Tun-of-mill hoodlums as an intelligent ras-
cal with imagination as well as daring.

The heart of Bircham’s Special technique was to be found
in his establishment of a double identity. Small jobs didn’t at-

in his business and, eventually, some word of his whereabouts
would reach the authorities, And, with modern communica- §
tions and motorized police units on all levels—municipal,
county, state and federal—neither could he hope to get very.a
far away from the scene of a crime before being spotted. .:

While this problem might have appeared insoluble to 1

< : . Or TUB low y

imaginative men, Earl Bircham found an answer—one that
baffled law enforcement men for a considerable time. First he

stickups. Instead, he went to some small town in the neighbor-
hood, preferably a community of about 10,000 population.
We'll call this X-ville.

As Arthur Jones, John Miller, Clyde Wallace, Earl Cooper
(all aliases he used), or under any other name that took his
fancy, Bircham would arrive unostentatiously in X-ville and
settle quietly in the community. During the days of his suc-
cess Bircham always had money, and he didn’t hesitate to use
it to implement this most important part of his scheme. He
was known to buy a modest house here and there, even to
open a small business such as a grocery store or a beer tavern.

As an individual, Earl Bircham was quiet and affable.
He was not a carouser; he displayed an interest in civic affairs;
he made friends easily, and he saw to it that those friends in-
cluded the authorities of the small town in which he was es-.
tablishing his cover identity. In this he was so successful that,
in one instance he was appointed a local Deputy Sheriff and
given a gun and badge!

Once well established as Clyde Wallace, respected small
merchant of X-ville, Bircham was ready for the next step.
Over a period of time, and without arousing the least suspi-
cion, he found it quite easy to visit the scene of the stick-up he
was planning and make a minute study of the situation. It is a
matter of official report in the FBI that his technical precision
in staging a hold-up was of such high order that, toward the
end of his career, the ultra-precise execution of the crime be-
Came, in itself, a finger pointing toward the perpetrator as
Earl Bircham.

When the time came for Earl Bircham to mount a major
Operation, the stage was well set. If the situation required it,
he would take along an accomplice, although he preferred to
Operate alone if possible. He never failed to use two auto-
Mobiles. He was caréful that one of these should be legally
his, Properly bought and paid for. This car he would park at
an obscure point conveniently remote from the scene of the
Crime. The car used to flee the scene of the crime could be
Stolen, and of course would carry false plates, but Bircham
Changed from one car to the other as soon after the stick-up
48 possible, and in the process he often changed clothes as well,

aioe by COL. CARL E. HEUSTIS
Chief of Police, Louisville, Ky.
with KEN JONES

“They’ve got me now, Baby! This is it!”
Earl David Bircham, payroll: bandit, bank robber, su
market stick-up artist, deadly killer and top man on the
tional “Hit Parade” of crime, clenched his teeth and mast
the accelerator of his powerful Buick sedan to the floorboar
Seconds later he gave the steering wheel a vicious wrench, ‘and’
amid the shrill protests of tortured tires, swerved the cars
wildly from First Street into Broadway, in Louisville, and tore ™
eastward through the hot and humid August night. His attrac:
tive wife June sat at his side, her eyes wide with anticipated
horror as the hand of the speedometer crept rapidly tows
100 miles per hour.
A shot rang out behind the speeding Buick. Then the p
ing wail of a siren at full volume split the night as Police’
cruiser Number 800, with Officer John Tennyson at the wheel ="
and Officer John Ross “riding shotgun” with him, took up the 4
chase. For long minutes the two cars roared along the heavily ™@
traveled thoroughfare in literal defiance of death, When rare a5
Opportunity afforded, Ross fired into the night from his ™
open window, but his shots were not effective, and the mo
powerful Buick began pulling slowly away. In the police car.
the two-way radio chattered unheeded and unused. Both o:
ficers were afraid to cut the siren because of the high speed am
of the chase—afraid it would be inviting an inevitable accident B:.
in which innocent civilians would certainly be killed. With the}
siren turned full it was impossible to send an intelligible signal @
to Police Headquarters summoning assistance. a
At Preston Street the killer swung his car south—and he!
must have regretted it almost instantly, for Preston Street was)
under construction, and light wooden barricades had been:
placed along the right of way for the protection of motorists
For a time Bircham tried to buck these barricades, and ‘thé
air was full of flying boards as the cars continued their
race through the night. Then, at Burnett Street, Bircham:
his final fatal error: He turned east into Burnett, which
to a dead end one block farther along, at Thurston Driv
Bircham slammed on his brakes; but he couldn't ho,

138

“2. Or ll Blow Your Head Of”

stop the Buick in time. With a splintering crash the car was.
wrecked in a ditch on the far side of Thurston Drive. Mi-

raculously, neither Earl nor June Bircham was seriously hurt
in this climactic crash. June Bircham remained seated in the
front of the wrecked Buick; Earl emerged with a gun in each
hand. Seconds later Cruiser 800 shrieked to a stop just short
of ramming the Buick, and Tennyson and Ross dashed out
with drawn guns.

Now many swaggering killers and would-be killers like to

hear themselves described as “two-gun men.” Actually there
probably aren’t a half-dozen hoodlums in the land who really
can handle two guns. But Earl Bircham was an exception. He
not only habitually carried two guns (there were four loaded,
heavy-caliber revolvers in the Buick during the high-speed
chase), but he could ’,s-idle two guns simultaneously and with
deadly accuracy. He was a crack marksman and lightning fast
on the draw, which is why he was classed as the most danger-
ous crook at large in the land on that August night.

As the police cruiser skidded to a stop and Tennyson and
Ross tumbled out, Earl Bircham disappeared into the night
around the corner of a garage and house fronting on Thurs-
ton Drive. Tennyson followed the path Bircham had been
seen to take around the right side of the garage; Ross went to
the left around the house to try to cut him off in that direction.
There were tense moments of silence; then the tranquillity of
the night was torn to shreds by a crash of revolver fire. Earl
Bircham had put one bullet straight through Tennyson’s heart;
another only an inch away. As Ross came panting around the
back of the house, Bircham quickly complied with the officer’s
order to put his hands up—but not for long! In the darkness
Ross didn’t see guns in the killer’s upraised hands. Before he
knew what was happening, Ross was on the receiving end of
a heavy caliber slug which entered his abdomen and lodged in

liver, another heavy slug through his chest just under the
heart, and a third through his left arm.

All but dead on his feet, young Ross still didn’t give up. He
*mptied his gun at Bircham, who was now fleeing over a low
“nce. When none of his shots registered, Ross actually threw

€mpty revolver at the disappearing killer in a futile attempt
to stop him. Ross then retrieved the gun, and staggered ‘back
toward Cruiser 800, trying to reload as he went. He didn’t
Manage to reload the gun, but by this time the neighborhood
Was aroused and citizens were beginning to appear at back

— and windows. “Get back in,” Ross warned them.

>
€re's an armed maniac loose out here!”

_ ee

SAREE ANG «ree a pipes saan Selig

_ Bircham was no weakilifig,
«, -pinioned the killer’s arms effectively. Then, slowly but inex-

‘The two rolled down the steps locked in desperate combat.
‘but Williams

was on top. First he

orably, he got a grip on one of Bircham’s wrists, drew his

arm behind him and started forcing it upward.
“Quit! Quit! For God’s sake, you’re hurting my arm!”
screamed the bandit.

“Shut up, or I'll break it off! Williams told him through @

clenched teeth. And then, just to show that he meant business,
he banged Bircham’s head a few sharp raps against the cement .

walk. Earl Bircham passed out.
As they rolled around on the ground, Williams had found

_ a 10-foot length of clothesline lying unused. When the police

and neighbors arrived a few minutes later, they found the 4

vicious cop-killer of an earlier hour tightly tied and completely 4

helpless, although still defiant.

When Earl Bircham fied the wrecked Buick, June Bircham
remained in the front seat. Before she could leave the scene,
a small crowd of neighbors had gathered, and her first en-
deavor was to mingle unobtrusively with them to try to avoid
police attention. She slipped from the car, and stood quietly
in the growing crowd, tightly clutching a large black purse.

That purse was vitally important to both Birchams, In it
was a large sum of cash—“getaway money” in case Earl
evaded arrest. But again a clear-thinking citizen broke up the
play. Fifty-two-year-old William Burnside, emerging from his
home nearby, immediately sensed that there was something
very wrong about June Bircham. He didn’t stop to ask ques-
tions; he simply grabbed the woman and held her fast until
Officer Louis F. Brown, arriving with Officer Orville R. Sav-
age, relieved Burnside of his responsibility. Savage took Ten-
nyson’s body and the wounded Ross to Louisville General
Hospital. Brown brought June Bircham to Headquarters, and
his first act was to turn over to me, personally, several thou-
sands of dollars taken from June Bircham’s black purse.

Officer Ross was revived at the hospital; immediately put in E.

an oxygen tent and prepared for surgery. But before they
wheeled him into the operating room we took Bircham to “™

his bedside. Ross was weak; rubber tubes were secured in his a
nostrils, and his chances for life seemed slim. But he was con- Ee:

scious, and as fellow officers approached he rolled his eyes in |

recognition. .
“Do you know us, Johnny?” asked one.
“Sure, boys!” he replied huskily,

“Do you recognize this man?” was our next question, as We rm

motioned Bircham forward. “ggg

“Sure! He’s the guy I shot at!” PARES

“Well, Johnny,” said a lieutenant of detectives, “your aim’
must have been a little off, because you didn’t hit him.”

“T’m sorry for that, Lieutenant,” whispered Ross, “but I sure
as hell tried to hit him!”

After that they wheeled Officer Ross away for a series of
operations which saved his life, but rendered him incapable of
full active duty. He returned to active duty briefly, but is now
retired on full pension. As for Bircham, although Officer Ross
missed, the electric chair at Eddyville, Ky., didn’t.

Probably it was some insight by Dillinger that kept his
,areer from ending in Louisville in April, 1934, - He entered the

office of a physician in the Starks Bujlding and made an appoint-

ment for 4 days later to have an x-ray made
Federal agents surrounded the building at th
ment, but the notorious Dillinger never showed UD.

of an injured knee,

Bircham escaped from prisons in Tennesee adn Kanses at least
5 times, once hiding in a laundry truck and once by putting on
a guard's uniform coat and hat and coolly walking to freedom, .
Little was known about Bircham because of his almost matchless a-
bility to cover his trail following his crimes through the year,

_ But his criminal record goes back to 1930 when he was arrested

for attempted burglary in Columbus, Ohio. A: tragedy some will
Say, thathe merely received "a slap on the wrist," for he had
learned he could laugh at the lenient laws, But a year later
he learned better, Convicted of robbery in Nashville, He was
sentenced to 20 y3ars, Paroled in 1940, the following year he
was sentenced to 10 to 30 years for a robbery in Kansas, He
escaped from the Kansas State Penitentiary at Lancing but was
recaptured in St. Louis, Escaping again in March 1945, he was
out until December 1946, when apprehended in Bowling Green,

In August, 1947, he escaped from the Kansas prison for the third
time and pulled more than a score of hold-yps in Ohio, Tennesee,
Alabam, Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky netting him $65,00 and
making him the object of a nation-wide search. One of the rob-
beries occured on July 2, 1949 in Louisville, in which Bircham
held up the Columbia Mantel Company. Firing into the floor to
Scare the victim, the bullet ricocheted ans struck the owner,

Louisville Alderman Joseph Detrick, in the jaw and Bircham made
off with $1500, .

On August 1, 1949, Bircham and his wife and a Louisville

- accomplice held up the American National Bank in Nashville,

After splitting up, Bircham and his wife sped to their plush
hide-out in Cinncinnati with plans to meet their accomplice

back here in Louisville on August l4¥th...and the fateful meeting
with Officers Tennyson and Ross was drawing near, .

~ The time was 9:15 p.m., and Bircham wheeled his big Packard
the wrong way on a one-way street. It was a little thing, but
it was a one-way street to the electric chair,

Encountering the auto going the wrong way on First Street

“near Broadway, the officers observed Kenton County license and
‘first thought it was just another confused motorist. But upon

pulling along side, Ross recognized Bircham from. police circu-
lars as being a wanted man and called for him to pull over,
Bircham did, just as he had on three occasions in Indfana when
he had received recent driving tickets from the Indiana State
Police, But this time he spooked and before the officers could

alight froamstheir cruiser, Bircham sped off and the fatal chase
Was on, . e

e time of the appoint-

-BIRCHAM, Harl D., white, elec. Ky. SP sia oleate

€

PY. JOHN H. TENNYSON
On a hot, rainy summer evening, August 14, 1949, fate
called for a meeting of two men and a vicious hoodlum, As a
result of this meeting, two of the participants would die and
the third would be disabled for life,

“The two men, policemen, were John H. Tennyson and John A,
Ross. Normally assigned to motorcycles, this evening they were
given a squad car because of wet streets, Patrolman Tennyson,
who lived at 3500 Bank Street with his wife and two children,

“had been a Louisville Police Officer for 7: years. His partner,
Ross, a rookie with less than a year on the force, lived at

3737 Kahlert with his wife and three children, Ail

As fate-would have it on this Saturday night, Tennyson |
stopped by a small downtown restaurant to see his wife who was
employed there as a waitress, It was something he had never
done before, It was 9:00p.m.; 15 minutes prior to the meeting,

The hoodlum was Earl David Bircham whose life was strangely
parallel in many respects to that of the infamous John Dillinger,

Both were ruthless and cunning, and both began their careers early

in life to become "Number One" on the F.B.I.*’s public enemy list,
Like Dillinger, Bircham loved flashy, fast sedans and money
flowed through his hands like water through a floodgate, And
their magnetic charm with the other sex was a legend of the
underworld, | |

The big difference between the two is that Dillinger drew
much of his strength from numerous henchmen who ‘surrounded hih,
While Bircham often played a lone wolf, with a maximum of two
accomplices,

To both, however, guns were their stock and trade, their
living. Dillinger"s gang accounted for the deaths of about 13
persons, although more than half of these were members of other
gangs, Actually, it was never known whether he or hig henchmen
shot and killed two policemen, two federal agents, and two’

sheriff's deputies during the years of 1933 and 1934,

The cold-blooded Bircham was named as the store-burglar
who shotgunned two Lima, Ohio policemen, and by coincidence,
-it was in Lima that Dillinger's pals recued him from jail after
shooting and killing the sheriff,

Slippery as an eel, both Dillinger and Bircham were con-
sidered the nations top escape artists, Besides his Lima escape,
Dillinger once carved a piece of wood to resemble a pistol to
free himself from jail at Crovm Point, Indiana,

Fae EO ee CCR I a ;

At Floyd and Gray and moments later at Preston and Oak,
» officers fired on the fiecing car. On Burnett, Ross shot
Sce more and Bircham, turning off “Burnett. onto Thurston Drive,
lost control and struck a tree in the front yard of 2576 Ee
Burnett Street.

Grabbing two .38 caliber revolvers, Bircham jumped from the
car leaving his wife, 3 pistols and $15,000, as he sprinted
between two houses, a bullet nicking his left ear as he rane

The officers split up, each taking a side of the houses
As Tennyson gained on Bircham he was heard to yell, “Please

‘stop buddy, or I‘m going to have to shoot yoy!" Bircham rounded

the rear corner of the house and stopped suddenly. As Tennyson
rounded the same corner he was met by the blazing guns of the

-. ambidextrous Bircham from point-blank range. 7. 230 SalLber

slugs ripped into Tennyson's heart from 6 inches away; his

Pom

life ending in screaming agonye

Unaware that his partner was dead, Ross with only one Live
shell left in his revolver, caught Bircham seconds later, and
commanded him to stop. "Igive up!" Bircham said as he walked
towards Ross with his hands up. But in the darkness, Ross
couldn't see that each of Bircham's hands held a gun. From 10
feet away, Bircham then cut his captor down as slugs tore through

o” left arm and lodged in his stomach and liver,

Trying to return the fire the officers gun only clicked,
He then threw is at Bircham as the latter fled westward from the
scene, He called out to Tennyson,-little knowing he would never

“hear his partner's voice again, Patrolman Ross then staggered
_ back to his cruiser to call for help but collapsed into uncon-~

sciousness beside the car. A citizen used the radio to report
that an officer had been shot and then other officers sped to
the scene.

Stunned from hitting the winshield as the car struck the
tree, June Bircham screamed throughout the shooting and was
standing beside the wrecked Packard when police arrived, z

In the meantime, three blocks away, the sounds of shots
and barking dogs aroused Luther Williams, 4 21.5-pound-ex-marine.
As he ventured into his pack yard at 2623 Delor to investigate
the disturbance, Bircham jumped over the fence and fell into

the yard. He had a gun in each hand.

“where are you going?’ the 37-year-old Williams asked
Bircham, "I'm just passing through,” he replied, somewhat be-
fuddled, Gaining his breath and senses, Bircham the ordered
Williams to hand over the keys to his car and before Williams
could reply, Bircham pulled the triggers on both guns. Nothing
happened! :

erie aaa cack Aaa aie eT tas ee iE ee eee a RT fa,

Continuing to threaten with the guns, Bircham ordered

illiams up the rear door steps. He pulled the triggers twice
more but te guns did not fire, At the top step, Williams
whirled: around and wrestled the guns from the paunchy, 170 pound
Bircham, Pressing the attack, the huskey veteran choked the 45-
year-old Bircham into submission and with the help of a neighbor,
tied him up with a piece of rope, An examination of Bircham's
guns revealed there was one more live bullet left and ane more
pull-on the trigger would have spelled death to the captor,

Placed in an oxygen tent at General Hospital, John Ross
hovered between life and death for four-days. Doctors were hesi-
- tant to inform his wife thathe had any chance to live. Over 100
citizens asked to donate blood to the critically wounded officer
but only 8 were needed,

On the third day, August 17th., John Tennyson was buried}

the funeral one of Louisville's largest. Conducting the services,

the Reverend Henry A. Pullen, Jr., pastor of the Mount Holly
Methodist Church, said in eulogy, “Greater love hath no man than
this, that he lay down his life for a friend. For surely, this
man lay down his life in the line of duty, protecting the lives
and rights of others,”

In the days that followed, June Bircham, described as
“a Tennessee farm girl,” helped the investigating officers clear
up numerous armed robberies, -She took the police to a burial
place on Stite's Station Road near West Point where a raincoat
was dug up containing $7,515, part of the ill-gotten loot from
the Nashville bank robvery, Naming the accomplice on the job,
he too was arrested in Louisville and later received a ten year
sentence, Local charges were filed away against Mrs, Bircham
and she was flown to Nashville where she received a probated =
sentence in Federal Court and was released,

On Saturday, “October 8, 1949, the likeness to Dillinger
again came out in Bircham, Confined in the Jefferson County
Jail awaiting trial, he sawed his way through two heavy steel

bars using a hack-saw blade that had been slipped to him by another

inmate, Aware that Bircham was sfiwing through the bars, others
jailed kept up an unusual amountod noise during the day to cover
the sound,’

Using two guns carved from soap, Bircham slipped from his

eell and approached a guard, Almost exact, the guns were meti-

culously and skillfully carved; the handles white and the cylin=
der and barrels blackened with shoe polish, He-had even stuck
two dimes on the handles to give the appearance fo brand decor-
ation, -

"Gimme those keys or I'll blow your guts out!" hissed Bir-
cham as he leveled down on the guard, But guard John Clifford,
51, was not fooled and after a scuffle in which Bircham was
knocked dovin and pummeled with a black-jack, help summoned and
the escape attempt foiled, Placed in solitary confinemerit,

-Louisville policemen guarded his cell 24-hours-a-day.

-—

Three days later, On October 11, 1949, the neat, almost

_ dapper Tennessee gunman listened quietly as an all-male jury
returned a guilty verdict after deliberating an hour and 9
minutes, Prosecuted by Asst, Commonwealth. Attorney Carl Ousley
and sentenced to death by Judge Loraine Mix, Bircham's amazing
cocksureness which he maintained throughout the day-long trial
deserted him, "When you play, you pay!" he siad being led back
to the jail. Uniformed officers and detectives were in abundance
as the word was out that two of Bircham's pals were in Louisville
planning to spring him during the trial, |

Transferred to Eddyville Penitentiary for execution set
_for March 5, 1950, Bircham again attempted to escape, Digging
“through 8 inches of concrete floor, he devised an ecetylene
torch from a shorted electric wire and cut through steel re-
inforcement rods only to strike solid limestone foundation on
which the prison is built, — 4%

"if ever the grapes of justice were squeezed to the last
drop in Kentucky, it was the Bircham case," But after 29 months,
Bircham's date with death came nigh in spite of every legal
procedure his attorneys could bring and in Spite of all the
efforts put forth by numbers of “do-gooders,"

It was just after midnight on February 1, 1952 when Bircham
smiled and raised his hands in a boxer's victory salute. "Hello
boys, how are you?" he said to reporters covering the story,

Strapped in the chair, the moan of the generator began---
building up the current to deadly voltage, Then the switch was
thrown, Only one charge hit Bircham, in two surges, He was
“pronounced dead at 12:10 a,m,-~-- and finally, like John Dillinger,
Earl David Bircham had paid the supreme penalty! |

BIRCHAM, Earl D., wh, elec. KY (Jefferson) February 1, 1952

TELLS OF SHOOTING—John
A. Ross, 22,:Louisville, Ky., police

mah, ‘told from “his hospital’ bed}
how he. was shot by«Ear] D. Birch-|’

am, notorious ‘criminal, ‘while
Bircham: :was* in ‘the act’ of ‘sur.
rendering. Ross was’still unaware
that his buddy,. Patrolman John
Tennyson, had been killed in the
gun battle. Bircham: was. in’ cus-
tody but. refused to discuss: the
Shooting, - | welebbro 4 i 9

where men were

sometimes mistook

playgirl type. She
oth feet smack on

er friend,
ive asked.
inted to a pretty

placing a blue-
mnt of a customer.

Mary

than anybody,” he

sr as long as you

waitress almost
itcher broke the

ied her’ composure

»w Ida better than
that isn’t saying
work the day’ shift
asked to be trans-

T used to ask her
uble date with me.
fellows. But she
1 the girls thought
er until I saw her
sedan with a man
y in the money.
ook it for granted
r going steady.”

o know more

car.
_ continued, “he
a conservative

no. fly-by-night.
1 big sedan. Could

“Did he wear

put that,” she an-
o, but I was too
a and the car to

never mentioned

s answered. “And
once kidded her
id egg man I saw
orushed me off. It
in’t want to talk

his exit when he
y wouldn’t be able
ore. But the pic-
2ssed business man
‘don his mind. He
etting somewhere.

oloney and Goltz
the tragic news to
at the Aetna Ad-

red-head, was al-

ve done such a
ned. “Ida knew a
was very particu-
gentlemen who re-

n’t,’ Moloney said

take them one by

we get.”

he tears from her
vt be done that

oloney helped Goltz
igate Joyce Randall,

——t

way,” she said when she had man-
aged to compose herself. ‘You see,
I work here in the daytme and Ida
worked a night shift. We didn’t even
see much of each other on weekends.
We didn’t double date.”

“But you do know the names of
some of the men?” Goltz queried.

Joyce Randall shook her head. “No,”
she said, “I just took a lot for granted
about her men friends. I really don’t
know a thing about them. Ida was an
introvert. She kept her feelings and
her activities to herself.”

“Try to think,” Moloney urged..
“Isn’t there at least one man you can
tell us about?”

“The only one I know about was a
man who took her out to his summer
place several times last summer and
this fall. She was a good golfer. She

‘ once told me, ‘I’ve finally found a good

partner.’ I think this man’s cottage
was out near Beaverton.”

The girl paused. “I’m not positive,”
she went on finally, “but I think she
stopped seeing him because he was
jealous of her.”

Moloney gave Goltz a quick look.

“This is very important,” Goltz said
to the girl, “Ida Hume was mur-
dered, shot down in cold blood. If
one of her boy friends was financially
able to own a summer cottage and
jealous enough to demand she see no
other men, we could have the motive
and be on our way to identifying the
killer.”

“I wish I could tell you his name
and where he lives,” Joyce said, “but
I can’t. All I know is that he had a
nice Buick.”

The detectives nearly choked.

“That’s significant,” Goltz pleaded..
“We think the man who shot her drove
there in a Buick. He entered by the
alley.”

“But I never met him,” Miss Randall
answered. “I never even saw him.”

The officers asked a lot of other
questions, but they got no more in-
formation.

“Tf you think of anything else, please
get in touch with us,” Goltz said as
they left.

“That was like pulling teeth,”
Moloney said. “But she did give us
the only decent lead we’ve got. We
now know that this bird owned a blue
Buick. And we know he’s got a
summer cottage near Beaverton,”

“Along with a few hundred other
Portlanders,” Goltz added.

By the time they reached the sta-
tion house, Thatcher had called the
Washingtonian Hotel in Seattle and
ascertained that the man to whom the
letter on Ida Hume’s desk was written
had an airtight alibi. He hadn’t been
out of town for weeks.

Other officers had checked on news-
paperman John Richter and found his
story true. He didn’t fit the descrip-
tion and he didn’t own a car. That let
him out.

Goltz and Moloney told Thatcher
what Joyce Randall had said about
the blue Buick and Beaverton.

“That’s good (Continued on page 76)

‘LOUISVILLE, KY.—Burly Luther Williams, shown with his
wife and son, Luther Jr., was the hero in the spectacular cap-
ture of Earl D. Bircham, tabbed Public Enemy No. 1 by the
FBI. Before encountering Williams, Bircham, an escaped con-
vict, had eluded a police dragnet in Louisville by shooting it
out with the cops. He managed to break through by killing
John H. Tennyson and critically wounding Patrolman John
Ross, who was taken to a hospital with two bullets lodged
near his heart.

Soon afterwards, Williams, 37, heard a noise in his back-
yard and went outside to investigate. The fleeing Bircham,
armed with two automatics, accosted the 200-pound ex-marine,
ordered him to go into the house and get the keys to the family
car. Williams turned to go, then whirled and hurled himself
at the convict. Bircham, aiming point black, pulled the triggers
of both guns at once. Fortunately for the oncoming Williams,
both weapons misfired. The force of his charge carried the
gunman to the ground, where, after a brief, barefisted struggle,
Williams emerged the victor. When the police finally arrived
on the scene, they found their leading public enemy com-
pletely subdued.

Bircham, who added murder to ‘his long record in the course
of his most recent escape, earned his dubious distinction as
the nation’s outstanding criminal by virtue of three holdups,
which netted him $55,000, three jailbreaks and numerous other

felonies.

L L/ = ome a L im y “
Liberte)

5) 21

649

| - THURSDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 22, 1949.

| Police Here To Honor Williams

For His Capture of Bircham

Luther Williams, ex-Marine
who captured Ear! D. Bircham,
notorious bandit, will be honored
October 5 by the Louisville Po-
lice Officers Association.

Williams will receive a gold
watch and $100 for overpowering
Bircham on the back steps of

Williams’ home, 2623 Delor, Au-

gust 14. Bircham, in jail here
awaiting trial, had killed Patrol-

Meat Group Renames Chief.

New York, Sept. 21 (4)—John
F. Krev, president of the Krey
Packing Company, St. Louis, was
re-elected chairman of the board
of directors of the American Meat
Institute today. Wesley Harden-
bergh of Chicago was re-elected
president of the institute.

0 ma
$ 385

FOR THE RIGHT

WAY TO GO

fur Reservations,

Information, Phone

3312

All bures Subject be 15% brdernl Tar

man John Tennyson and wounded
Patrolman John Ross a minute
earlier.

Bircham attempted to shoot
Williams, but his guns missed
fire.

The ceremony will be held at
Red Men's Hall, 27th and Mont-
gomery.

Canada’s Potato Crop Drops.

Ottawa, Sept. 21 (A) —Canada’s

potato crop is 11,000,000 bushels
lighter than last year’s crop of
92,000,000 bushels, the Canadian
Horticultural Council announced
today

NOBOD'

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ARTHI

Jae ~ som P, ‘
; pains ela aus ee Say wee ee ag XS er aed

ES ies pes « eacahs 1 oa eae ae Bigeere tte wah sina mee nemern 7 ad
be
ee es

RI we Sha)

Shy

- He was prono dead at
32 2:12 a.m, after jreceiving four |
= ,»300-volt charges of electricity,
he first was

2:06 and the
later. -
| Then the priso pict or.
M. H. . Moseley, examined him
and ordered twa more charges. ©
“They were givenjquickly., -. |.»
ee ae nora iar led - ig his

prison c at 3 minu
. JAMES re ROBINSON midnight. Flanked by prison
ards, he walked to the execu-
ion chamber a} short distance:

. i ie goo
Policeman | + Pitty HE ead ae, cown He

Slayer o

f
* ere no*laces in hi
~—-—_ {Is Spared for 10 Days pigegst
‘s lectric : chair,
: Bs Me Man Drops to His Knees
y When Told of Appellate Court’s Action |

Earl D. Bircham rarly last night was granted a 10-day
reprieve from death jin the electric chair at Eddyville State
Penitentiary. The ¢@lectrocution had been set for shortly
after last midnight.

Penitted during the trial at which
The Cqurt of Appeals pt Frank- he was are Se death sentence.

fort Savy the stay of execution "3. Failure of the indictment

ville ema, John oth ‘Fennyen. against him to be returned in

open court,
ora ; Telephones Depaty rwvanded )08 ot
was calle ediately after the court had
Ape hear the sea ite ay ee raat

TTAaT Me Lal

ay a
ned

é Aes eather At Deter «i Sse RR RTT ert see A wpoortoe pe camtitingegtt

into spe¢ial

we ALS :
\ >

ghey

‘

2 eredh

k j 'f eters

Inprie pane $

Oe Be

jeral Court jury tonight a

wi-~: G«
ee Be

¥arl 'D
repriev “from bite i
Penitentiary. The
after ] t midnight,

of ‘Appeals | t Frank-
fort gave the stay of lexecution

to the victed killer of a Louis-
ville po in, John Tennyson.
Bpe Session Callex
The of Appeals was called
into ial session to; hear the
Bircham:

Aegon It heard argu-
ments in the case for nearly an
hour and then deliberated almost
that long before it reached its de-
cision - 6:30 p.m.

The decision

* | follows: :
The | petitionar’s aE
for an order restra Jess
@:5 -warden of ithe State

Penitentiary at Eddyville, for a

“We was 6 = eal to stay
Bircham’s, execution, \the man
who captured him se@ys in. a
Page 2 interview.

ee of 10 days from leseeutiriy

1 D. Bircham is sustained. This
action is taken the rpose
of allowing Ear) D. Bircham to
apply to the United States Su-
preme Court for a writ of cer-
tiorari.” |

In laymen's language, the de-
cision gives cownsel for the de-
fense 10 days to bring records in
the case before the U. 5, puso
Court, |

Defense attorneys besed their
argument for the stay of execu-
tion on their contention that
Bircham waa denied the orderly
processes of lew on two ‘counts:

1. Perjured cetaany was ad-

71 Se eee

U. S. Attorney,
Carey, Acquitted
Of Seeking Bribe

Shreveport, La, es 7 (—
After deliberating 7 hee & pt
ult

Cee remee ef ne Lr eee 6 AOE Ge errs —

sienandad tinited Statam Attorney

"mitted suring the trial at which
he was given the death sentence.
2. Failure of the indictment

“against him.to be returned in

open court, |:
- Telephones Deputy Warden /

Immediately after the court had
reached its decision, Chief Justice
James W. Cammack reached Ed-
dyville’s deputy warden. Walter
Stephens by telephone to tel] him
of the stay of execution. Ste-
phens said Buchanan was ill in

hospital. Governor Wetherby
confirmed the ‘action in a call to

Stephens.

the Division of Corrections of the
Department of Welfare, who has
been acting as warden during
Buchanan’s illness, went to Death

Row and read the court order to'|

Bircham in his prison cell.

The condemned man dropped
to his knees and caper God,
Dr. Watson said. '

‘Where There's Life...’

Then Bircham added: .

“Oh, God, where there's life, :
there’s hope.”

With Watson when he went to
Bircham’s cell were Stephens and |
Assistant Attorney General John :
P. Browsring.

Browning said Bircham had on |
a clean white shirt and white

nts. The convicted killer told

rowning he had just taken a
bath and “if I was going to meet
my Maker, I wanted to be clean.”

Depressed by Blue Denim

Prison officials explained
Bircham had been allowed to
have the white shirt and nts
because the traditional lue-
a aa prison uniform depressed

Reporters were forbidden to in-
terview Bircham.

Robert Zollinger, Louisville,
one of Bircham’s attorneys, said
as soon as the petition is filed

in Wash-

with the Su e
ington, the Rorectt Court's clerk

FW: -Watadh® difector’ of |

“Tren as € “BREE ATS

heels
Ae Side comets
Nae me

Cates ap at he
oe as

babaecoe See Sar x re
Toes Were givae: eat 4
Pontes Beta

g
‘ oct, at Ot
Fea oe
Pee :

mah Ko tines

tae a ye :

a hood was pla
son’s head and |the first charge
of electricity was ordered given. .
Two witnesses' at the execution — |
were Sgt. Bert ‘Hawkins of roa Ey :
| Louisville police and John O. -
Morto deputy, United eipriger
m. - from uisville. t
The 32-year-o d Louisville man
was convicted jef killing little
Joyse Joan he lured her =:
from a bar on Market Street @ |
in Louisville ere her mo
was drinking. That was ‘the $
of July 7, 19 er per ee ¥
foynd days later under a truck
, Dear “the bar. | ii oe 5
| Desth } Read ria Bee e
At 7 pam. vedierday the Court

of Appeals death mandate was
read to Robinspn in his death _

‘cell.

But prison officials said‘tha
Robinson clung to hope he would °
be spared. ~.

Robinson refused the cea
“last meal” of fried chicken, bis al
!Ruits, vegetables and ‘dessert, — ot
Prison officials said it was the -

first time in their memory that aT ¥

i's

e: eka

Se AS op Gk

prisoner awaiting execution Ted >
| fused bod before the mbetud
hour-of execution.

They said he ate sparingly at |
breakfast and had no i since.
then. : | sk an
Reporters Ne Allowed In oa
Reporters, were re ie
sion to interviey 1 Aah
who talked w yesterday

se?

aoa

3 :

gon a hd

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Sh eto

5 pee eee pears,
ae Ss -

G6 se

Bs errs aii

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tame

Orvieto a

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meen in

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LG aed

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ei; BP iB Beeb bs: ns Bieiipe b

. et.

BRE $85
>:
es

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re
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. wok

ee eetinnhe ten mam se ne tlie > dene ste ner oe whmedh bey
** You sae % y 3 . ; '

hs : - the place for

5 ,
,ey
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. " at ae
qo? OF Wb A
soles :
te ’ bs

:
fee E

Pad
fe

> his case to the Sup
: Op October 8, 1951, on
Kentucky. ||
ecisi

E
Be

23
g
“|
Bese

=4
-
ac
z.

<The ifi
morning after Mrs. Tenneyson,

‘widow! of the patrolman Bircham

‘was convicted of killing, con-
ferred |with Governor Wetherby.
She skid she had information
bearing om the case that she was
willing to give. Wetherby declined
to hear the statement, telling her
her to go was to

and his cocounsel, Le-

court.|-..
: Zollinger

-'—~ Yand Logan, Bowling Green, then

asked the Court of Appeals for a

% : .*
x 5 : aan

: . Continued from First Page
pi ‘spared from the electric chair
' ‘and professed his faith in the
_ cLord| : as ee
-* “But if I have *to die,” the
" 2minis quoted .jRobinson as
saying, “I will die ‘with my heart
-}full-of Jesus Christ.” ef

‘° : Declared Sane | hee
j Etforts to get a reprieve for
: Robinson ended after two psy-
- chiatrists early yesterday declared
: him sane after an examination. '
* RRobinson’s body, was taken to
>a Kuttawa, Ky., funeral home.
» : After embalming, it will be taken
-' ?¢o the prison morgye where it
++ avill remain for three days unless

“veal any facts about the running

‘obinson Executed
g Shouse Child _

* will be buried in potter’s field at |

“Covered 5 F eae e
On January 5, Bircham wrote
what he termed a confession and

handed it to the prison chaplain
on one of the latter's visits to

Death Row. The nfession” had
been written with a pencil and
covered five pages. Yesterday

Bircham repeated what he had
in the confession, the

However, Bircham did not re-

gum battle with’ Tennyson and
another ee ent A. Ross,

that were not brought out ‘in his ' |
trial in Jefferson Circuit Court,

‘to the chaplain.
Bircham did state, the chaplain
said, thd#t: “If I did kill Tenny- |
son, I did it by accident.”-
The chaplain said ‘he
Bircham about an anonymous
letter received recently by Ken-
tucky and Tennessee newspapers
inquiring if an innocent man
was serving time in a Tennessee
prison for 4 crime Bircham had
committed. The chaplain said
Bircham denied any knowledge
of such a case. ae

the prison. _ 2:
Robinson was at liberty 5%
months after killing the Shouse —
child. He was arrested by the.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
in Providence, R.I. *. ) sy

- ‘valked Willingly at Trial;

‘ He talked willingly at his trial,
stating that after he killed Joyce
-Joan he “had no feeling that I.
had harmed anybody.” . =

He told how he talked the lit-
tle girl into leaving the tavern, —
where her mother, Florine’
Shouse, was. drinking with a
companion. Mrs. Shouse testified ©
she had visited several bars with
the child. ;2:2% 253

mechanic, said he

{ claimed.~Hf unclaimed, the body

ui "Weshington, Jan

pl elt anne a? Weer Hamnshire.

Robinson, a :
visited his mother at Irwin, Pa.,
after the*crime, then went to De-
troit and New York before set-—

tling down in vidence under
an assumed e. He is the
|father of three children living
with his estranged wife at Irwin. ;

Kentucky established the elec-
trin chair at the Eddyville prison

are "Lather Williams
Is ‘Just A. \

an : ae

,
tf

corr ae Cs adinelion aed:
nae , hte’

weed

> D—. Bircham wi
4 | said last night:

* Luther Williams was. talking
» about the 10-day stay of execu-
- tion granted Bircham by the Ken-
tucky Court of “Appeals so he
- could make a final plea to the

~ United States Supreme Court. -
“It’s just a waste of the tax-
+ ‘Spayers’ money to keep putting it
i off like this,” said: Williams.

'* Recalls Russian ‘Roulette

- Seated in the living room of’his
modest home at..2623 Delor, 39-
year-old Williams recalled the
blood-chilling, one-sided game of
‘Russian roulette he played with
’ Bircham the night of August 14,

aS
was getting eis to go to
bed about 10 after 9 pide’ I heard
the ‘shots,” he said.
(The shots were fired near——
’ Burnett and Thruston, two blocks
to -the east. Patrolman John
Tennyson was killed in the vol-
ley.:Bircham was sentenced to die
as the killer ' :
Disturbegy by a barking dog
a few mintftes later, Williams and

Feels Delaying Execution ,
¥ Taste f Taxpayers’ Money"
By GORDON ENGLEHART

ae ‘The ‘sturdy: truck driver who conquered bad man Earl
ip duaitsn hold he learned in a the Marines

“I'think they’ iatane an eet mistake”. > 4

~“#

IMe BEBROL.S

*
{

a man who had ag shot a buddy.
What was the rush on some drunk
in a back yard on Delor?

Had Bullet In One Gun

FBI. agents later told Wil-
liams theré -was one bullet left
in one of Bircham’s pistols. If

‘ Bircham had pulled the trigger

once more, that bullet would
have fired.

They theorized that Bircham,
after ‘firing I1 shots, had for:
some reason spun his pistol cylin-:
der so that the remaining round
was the fourth from the chamber.

The $16,000 found in Bircham’s
car was split between Mrs. Ten-
nyson, Patrolman John Ross
(wounded alomgside Tennyson),
and a bank and a store in Nash-
—ville robbed by Bircham. ~~~

“I don’t begrudge these people
any of the momey,” said Williams
last night. “I wish they had got-
ten twice what they did. But I
believe I deserved as much as
they received.” He got no money
reward.

his wife, Kathleen, stepped onto
the back porch and saw a man
climb their fenee.

Demands Car ‘Keys .

The man fell, “got up, and sud-
deniy drew two pistols on Wil-
liarms and demanded his car keys.
Before Williams ;could answer,
the man pulled , «both pests,
They clicked. ~ ©

“I said I didn't have the keys
with me.” Williams said. “I yelled

-to Kathleen to’ get inside and
lock the door. She did.

~~"The man snapped: ‘Tell yous
wife to unlock’ the door or I'll
kill. yoy both”” ;

Williams called to Kathleen to
- gniock,it. She obeyed. The man
_ aimed the gun in his right hand

at Williams and the one in bis

deft hand at Kathleen.

> Again 2 Harmless Clicks

He pulled the triggers. '
Click! -Click!. «+ +
ee The man turned Williams
x ground and, prodding him in the
4 Coback arith both : ‘pistols, started

cedpin up steps...
“> Halfway u rs ipulled the
; pale i > harmless

35 e x
his guns! [ne empty
na figured bis Situs anne zalls pied

Television C

‘Oo discarded pillow
‘ seat.

Lincoln was parked,
r window when the
> saw two men jump
was keeping my eyes

osity,” she explained. -

tor was kept running.
1€ woman behind the
ous!”

> other car, she said,
ne of the men to take
vay that car tore ‘off
' a*wreck before they
able to tell what kind

the witnesses readily -

many in the Rogues’
2-aged bandit. None
‘ bank robber,

‘vid Bircham, one of |
ition. Acknowledged.

’s most accomplished
ducting an extensive

Government agency,
. set elaborate traps.
Lle information tbat
or in the Gallatin. -
rnered in the care-

olman who was
' to capture him,

Bib

a
tes

It was revealed at this time that the white mask found in:
the getaway car was the same peculiar type used by Bircham:

in previous robberies.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation rushed additional
agents into the Nashville area. County and State police in-
stalled roadblocks throughout Tennessee and the boundries
of surrounding States.

City Identification Officer B. S. Griffis was able to get a
set of clear fingerprints from one of the doors of the escape
car, and they proved to match those of Earl Bircham.

“I'm afraid,” Chief Burgess said, “that unless we round up
the bandits immediately, we'll be plagued with an epidemic
of armed robberies.”

The anxieties of the authorities would have been tripled if
they had been able to foresee that before the culprits were
apprehended there was fated to be a gruesome murder of a
police officer, also the critical wounding of another.

T all began in 1930. Bircham, then a young man of 28,

was the son of a highly respected family in Weakley
County, Tennessee. The depression that year made it neces-
sary for him to accept a truck-driving-job in Columbus, Ohio.
Having been accustomed to a good salary and the luxury of
the genial atmosphere of his parents’ home, he became dis-
satisfied and morose. He became acquainted with an ex-con-
vict who told him he knew where they could pick up some
easy: money. The ex-con persuaded the young man to ac-

_company him on a “job”.

The two.men were arrested in the act of looting a store,
and Bircham was booked on a charge of attempted burglary.
He was given a light sentence, after which he returned to his
father’s home in Tennessee. ie

PATROLMAN JOHN ROSS—
He was seriously wounded when Bircham cried, "I
give up,” and then shot him three times in the chest.

His: experience in unlawfulness kept preying on his mind.
He: felt that his confederate’s “style of working” had been
crude, whereas if he had pulled the job his way, they would
not have been caught. *

The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became
to have another try. So on the morning of June 16th, 1931,
he made another attempt. Accompanied by a companion, he
robbed the People’s Bank in Dresden, Tennessee, of $2,600.

Again the cards appeared to be stacked against him. He
was recognized, and after a few days of high living on the
stolen funds, he was again arrested.

On December 4, 1931, he was sentenced to serve 20 years
in the State Prison in Nashville. His sentence was then com-
muted to from 5 to 15 years. He was paroled and then
returned to prison on February 12, 1939, for parole viola-
tion. He was released on April 26, 1940, after having com-
pleted his sentence. Bircham. was now 38-years-old and a
hardened criminal.

Immediately after his release he staged a series of daring
holdups. In 1941, under the alias Arthur Jones, he was
sentenced to serve 10 to 21 years in the Kansas State Peni-
tentiary in Lansing, Kansas, for first-degree robbery in Nesho
County, Kansas.

Concealing himself in a laundry basket, he escaped from
the prison on January 20, 1943. For five months he had
steady sailing, successfully staging robbery after robbery, and
then’ on June Sth, he was captured and returned to the
Kansas prison.

He escaped again on March 13, 1945. Dressed as a guard,
he walked calmly out through the prison gates. This time he
retained his freedom until June, 1947, before he was re-
captured. : :

. His last and final escape from the Kansas prison was suc-
cessfully maneuvered two months later on August 9, 1947.
Permitted to work in the prison brickyard, he managed to
hide himself in one of the trucks which left-the area loaded
with rocks.

., A Federal complaint was lodged against him for fleeing the
state to avoid confinement after conviction.

Shortly after his last escape, Bircham became a deputy
sheriff ina middle Tennessee county! Using the name John
Miller, he was well-liked and respected by the people of
Jackson County. They referred to him as a “prince of a
fellow” and he was welcomed into some of the best homes
in the community.

Even while serving as an officer of the law Bircham led a
double life. While regarded by the average citizen as an up-

‘right man, to another element he was known as a shrewd and

ruthless gambler. By far the largest portion of his income was

' derived from his gambling activities.

OMANCE entered into Bircham’s life at this period. On
R a trip to the home of Mac Henson in Gainesboro to buy
a dog, he met Henson’s 24-year-old daughter, June, and the
two fell in love.

After a whirlwind courtship of eight weeks, the couple
drove to Rossville, Georgia, a little town just south of Chat-
tanooga, and June Henson, an innocent farm girl, became
the bride of one of the most desperate criminals in the
United States. She was, however, totally unaware of her
husband’s infamy—at first.

It wasn’t long though before she learned that Bircham was
a heavy drinker and a card shark. When he drank he abused
her, but on sobering up he became remorseful and lavished
her with expensive gifts.

In May, 1948, he took her to Indianapolis, saying they
were going there to see the automobile races. On their ar-
rival he rented an apartment, and she was unable to persuade
him to return to their home in Tennessee. It was while they

Dad Ps ARG Ree

seas

ot geet

id you won't be,

\s over his head, po 2 iit inchiiaeiiiseisads
to the wall. He ‘ with a a laa Salt

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‘he other entered?
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ind the two men

te:

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ind they began’
Bank Manager
s that the robbery
e that we could®
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the door of th
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the car, a 1949
ied by the off
ted to Colonel THE MASTERMINDess
t had been left; The killer, tabbed by the FBI as.
“ Pubjic Enemy No, 1, hides black —
d car on Kirk: eye with hand ‘as he talks with a
S reporter not visible in’ the photo.

were in Indianapolis that June learned that her husband was
a holdup man and was wanted by the FBI. Frightened and
heartbroken, she eluded him and slipped back to her parents’
home in Gainesboro.

She had barely arrived when Bircham came after her. -
When she refused to accompany him he threatened to kill.

her and her parents, she later told police. “He’d have done
it, too,” she added. :

From then.on he made no attempt to conceal his activities
from her. He master-minded at least 15 holdups in Tennes-
see, Ohio, Alabama and Kentucky, it was later revealed.

Outstanding among these were the $19,000 robbery of the
Nashville Gas and Heating Company in 1948, the $9,000
holdup of Sullivan’s Department Store in Old Hickory, Ten-
nessee, the same year, the June 17, 1949, looting of the Coca
Cola plant in Nashville, and the July 14, 1949, $8,000 rob-
bery of the J..C. Penny Company in Montgomery, Alabama.
Bircham used an accomplice in all holdups with the excep-
tion of the Coca Cola plant robbery which he executed alone.

FBI agents missed him by-seconds in Birmingham, although
at the time they were unaware how close they came.

On the night of July 12, 1949, a car full of agents descended
on Bircham’s recently purchased $5,000 home. The bandit
and his wife had fled, abandoning their 1949 Buick which
was parked. in front of the house. The house and the car were
impounded, and the Birmingham bank in which Bircham car-
tied a large account was placed under surveillance.

Bircham. later admitted: “We had. a little pooch we called
‘Butch’. Butch .began barking that night and I stepped out-
side to find out what the beef was. I saw the agents driving
up and I jumped back into the house, grabbed June, and
slipped cut the back door into the woods. June begged me
to go ahead and let her stay and face it, and I guess I had
to gef a little rough with her to get her to go along.”

. The couple hitched a ride out of town with an unsuspect-

MOUNTAIN COUPLE—

Heartbroken parents of June Bircham, snapped as ™ ‘Like Pierce. ‘

they talked with girl reporter at the Louisville jail.
ing motorist. The next day Bircham bought a car and drove

to Montgomery where he engineered the J. C. Penny robbery

the following day.

On July 13th, a complaint was filed by the FBI ‘before a
United States Commissioner in Birmingham, charging June

Bircham with harboring a fugitive in connection with hiding
her husband in their Birmingham home.

On July 15th, the day following the Montgomery holdup,

the Birchams returned to Nashville, police discovered later.
Then Bircham flitted back and forth between Nashville and

other cities. The police were sometimes almost on his heels, ff
- but never could quite catch up with the elusive desperado.

Officers worked feverishly running down clues, aware that it
boiled down to a race against time—against the time they

knew would come when the cunning bandit would strike ;

again.

Authorities leading the investigation believed that Bircham ,

was still hiding in the Nashville area. Scores of telephone
calls were received by police from persons who insisted they

had seen Bircham on downtown streets and in a West Side”

restaurant. Each lead was given prompt and thorough in-
vestigation, but Bircham remained uncornered.

Then four witnesses picked a picture of a police character,
Jud Hyde, and said it. was the likeness of the second bandit
in the latest bank heist.

Hyde had registered with Nashville officers in 1945 as an
ex-convict and listed his address as Madison, Tennessee. When
last heard of by local police, Hyde had taken residence in
California. ; :

Investigation quickly disclosed that Hyde had been reported
seen in Nashville the day, before the bank robbery. But Hyde,

* @ecused June «

* who had a black
kwas completely «
the Nashville ba:
tfornia at the tinx

-.im.any kind of u

bah ‘Meanwhile, B:
“ams sister, Mrs.

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entire day tailin

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Although Mrs.

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fortunate beca.
murder would
to strike so s

N Sunday,
0 son and Jc
them in Lou:
Packard zoon:
thoroughfare s

Tennyson s\

stepped on the
the Packard, F

“Pull over t

As the midca
his head to lo

. Bircham! He 16:
%. police headqua:
>. “You're under «

Sah

cases and a white. mask were on the front seat. -

A woman, in front of whose house the Lincoln was parked,
told the agents she was looking out her window when the
convertible screeched to a stop and she saw two men jump
out and get into a waiting black car. “I was keeping my cyes
peeled on that waiting car out of curiosity,” she explained.
“Jt was so close to my house, and the motor was kept running.
What interested me most though was the woman behind the
wheel. I’ve never seen anybody so nervous!”

When the two men pulled up in the other car, she said,
the woman scooted over and allowed one of the men to take

away from here, I though they'd have a°wreck before they
went a block,” she added. She was unable to tell what kind
of car it was. :

At police headquarters, several of the witnesses readily
identified one mug-shot from among the many in the Rogues’
Gallery as being the photo of the middle-aged bandit. None
of them found a likeness of the younger bank robber.

The mug-shot was a photo of Earl David Bircham, one of

by police as being one’ of the country’s most accomplished
escape artists, the FBI had been conducting an extensivé
search for Bircham.

‘

Worcs in strict secrecy, the Government agency,

on the basis of what was believed reliable information that
Bircham was hiding out near Nashville or in the Gallatin
area. The elusive gunman was never cornered in the care-
fully laid traps, however.

i : A 4 ‘i ay 2 eee ‘
WILLIAM CURTIS PIERCE— JOHN H. TENNYSON—

“June Bircham must have thought I put the cops on . (Photo above.) Louisville, Ky., patrolman who was
Bircham’s tail, and this is her way of getting even.” killed by Earl Bircham while trying to capture him.

land Place near 25th Avenue South. Two discarded pillow

her place ‘behind the wheel. “The way that car tore off:

the ten most-wanted fugitives in the nation. Acknowledged.

along with Nashville officers, had set elaborate traps.

It was reve:
“the getaway c¢:
in previous i
_. The Feder.
_ agents into t)
stalled roadb!
of surroundin:
City Identi’
set of clear !
car, and they
= “I’m afraid.
the bandits in
» of armed rob!
Z The anxict
ge they had bee
‘ apprehended
police officer.

T all bega:
was the
\- County, Ten
; sary for hirn
alt Having been
WS the genial
. satistied an
vict who |
easy mon:
hy company h
The two
and Bircha
He was gi\
father’s ho

222 Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940

vented lynchings from happening; but by allowing Blanks and Martin
to be tried by all-white juries in environments where whites threat-
ened to lynch the men if they were not quickly convicted and exe-
cuted by the state, they had allowed “legal lynchings” to occur. They
had indeed surrendered to the will of the mob.

Although claiming to be opposed to lynchings, many white Ken-
tuckians were perfectly content to see blacks legally executed. They
failed to question the procedures used in the cases or to ask why trials
were not moved from areas where lynchings had been threatened.
They must have thought that the absence of blacks from the jury box
was as natural as the exclusion of Afro-Americans from most other
areas of society. Furthermore, few if any whites seem to question the
fact that virtually all of the blacks sentenced to death for rape were
young, poor, and often illiterate. Whites, in fact, described many of
these Afro-Americans as being “retarded,” “mentally deficient,” and
lacking in intelligence. This was as true in the late 1930s as it had
been in the 1880s. On occasion, white authorities and community
leaders pleaded with the mob to allow justice to take its course, and
when a black was accused of rape or murder, “justice” was swift and
sure. Countless numbers of black men were tried in hostile environ-
ments; judges and juries were convinced of their guilt before hearing
any evidence. To the satisfaction of many “law and order” Kentucky
whites, the number of lynchings declined in the twentieth century,
but this coincided with a rise in the number of legal lynchings in the
state. Indeed, it must be emphasized that a crucial reason for the de-
cline in lynchings was related to how white Kentuckians consistently
manipulated the legal system, ensuring that any black accused of cer-
tain crimes received the same punishment as that meted out by the
lynch mob.

On the other hand, of the nearly one hundred whites put to death
by the state from 1870 to 1940, none of them lost their lives for trans-
gressions against Afro-Americans. There would be a few occasions
when whites were charged with the rapes or the murders of blacks,
but all-white juries would not convict their white neighbors of such
crimes. Typically, when charged with the murder of a black, a white
defendant would say that the black had threatened his life or had
somehow offended him or a female relative. In the eyes of the jury,
therefore, the white was justified in his claim of self-defense. Cases of

“Sacrifice Upon the Altar of the Law” 223

whites raping black women rarely were taken to court. According to
the Courier-Journal, a sixteen-year-old black girl was raped by a white
man in Dishman Mill, not far from Bowling Green, in 1888. Calling
the incident a “diabolical outrage,” the paper noted that during the
struggle the young girl had her clothes torn off. The authorities had a
complete description of the man, and it was predicted that he would
be caught easily. No further stories exist, however, telling of the ulti-
mate outcome of the incident.'? At the most, a few whites were tried
for detaining a black woman. In fact, as far as can be determined from
available data, no man—white or black—was executed in Kentucky
for the rape of a black woman. (During the 1870s, for example, at least
three black men, Thomas Coleman of Bath County, James Brown of
Gallatin County, and Joe Sharp of Taylor County, were found guilty of
raping black women and sentenced to state prison. None of them,
however, was given a life sentence, and all were eventually pardoned
by Governor Luke P. Blackburn.) *

The research of several scholars agrees that the decline of lynch-
ings throughout the nation was due in part to the states taking ‘the
role of the mob. Writing in the 1930s, James Harmon Chadbourn and
Arthur Raper said that a pro-lynching sentiment was evident in the
judicial process. After a careful examination of white justice meted
out to blacks, Raper concluded that a legal lynching was little—if in-
deed any—improvement over an extralegal lynching. A more recent
scholar, Jacquelyn Hall, is not impressed that the number of lynch-
ings declined in the twentieth century as compared with the late
1800s. Many people put to death in the 1920s, she observes, were exe-
cuted by the state in a manner that shows that they were just as much
victims of lynching as others had been earlier: “The thwarted lynch
mob frequently demanded that public officials impose the death sen-
tence in a hasty mockery of a trial. If these ‘legal lynchings’ were in-
cluded in the statistics, the death toll would be much higher.” “

Roger Lane, in a study of blacks and violence in Philadelphia, ar-
gues that despite discrimination in Philadelphia society, the courts
lived up to the ideal of equal justice. Lane rejects the conclusion of

12. Louisville Courier-Journal, March 17, 1888.

13. Legislative Document No. 26, List of Pardons, 395—99, 405—406, 409-11.

14. Chadbourn, Lynching and the Law, 23; Raper, The Tragedy of Lynching; Hall,
Jessie Daniel Ames and the Southern Women, 133.

“ ~

166 KENTUCKY REPORTS. [Vol. 171.

wards by police officers and lodged in jail, where he re-
mained until his trial.

The appellant in his own behalf testified that when
Oster came to collect the rent he commenced cursing and
abusing him and made an effort to strike him with his
hatchet. That for the purpose of protecting himself
from the attack made by Oster he took the hatchet away
from him and struck with it the blows that killed him.
But his version of the affair was not supported by any
other material evidence, although a witness by the name
of Calvin Russell corroborated the appellant in respect
to some of his statements as to what occurred.

There was some attempt on the part of counsel for
‘the appellant to show that he was insane, but the evi-
dence on this subject was very slight and really not suf-
ficient to support an instruction, although the court in
the abundance of caution did give the usual instructions
allowable when insanity is set up as a defense to homi-
cide.

Other instructions submitted to the jury the issues
of murder, manslaughter, sudden heat and passion and
self-defense in appropriate manner and form.

In the motion and grounds for a new trial a new
trial was asked on the ground of newly discovered evi-
dence, but this ground for a new trial was not supported
by any substantial evidence in the form of affidavit or

otherwise and is not urged by counsel on this appeal as
a reason why a new trial should be granted.

It appears that during the examination of appellant,
who was introduced as a witness in his own behalf, it
was shown by his evidence that he had been confined for
a few mouths about twenty-five years ago in the Eastern
Hospital for the Insane located at Lexington, Ky., and
when this evidence was given, his counsel offered to read
to the jury an affidavit made by the superintendent of
this hospital for the insane, setting out that the records
of the hospital showed that the appellant had been com-
mitted in May, 1899, as an insane person suffering with
“acute mania, caused by religious excitement, and that he
was discharged as recovered in June, 1890. The trial
judge refused to permit the affidavit to be read to the
jury, and this is the only error assigned by counsel in
their brief. We do not, however, find that the court
committed error of any kind in refusing to permit this
affidavit to be read. We do not know nor have we been

cited to any rule of evidence that would permit affidavits
like this to be read on the trial of the case in the ab-
cence of some showing that the presence of the superin-
tendent or the records of the asylum could not be pro-
cured for use at the trial and there is no showing of this
hind. ee ;

But, aside from this, it is very apparent that this
aflidavit, if admitted, could not have served to excuse or
extenuate the crime or mitigate the punishment the jury
was authorized to inflict, because there was no other ev1-
dence even tending to show that the appellant at the
time of the homicide or afterward, or for twenty years
before, had been laboring under any mental disease, or
that he was for any cause not responsible for his con-
duct.

He had every opportunity in the trial court to make
his defense, and all of his rights were well protected not
only by the counsel appointed to defend him but by the
judge ‘who presided at the trial. The simple truth 1s
the appellant had no defense and the jury was fully au-
thorized by the evidence to find him guilty of murder
in the first degree and fix his punishment at death.

The judgment is affirmed.

Weidner v. Otter, et al.
(Decided September 26, 1916.)

Appeal from Jefferson Cireuit Court
(Common Pleas Branch, First Division).

1. Municipal Corporations—Automobiles—Duty of Operator at Street
Crossings and Other. Places.—It is the duty of the operator of an
automobile at street crossings as well as at other places used by
pedestrians, to keep a lookout, to run his machine at a reasonable
rate of speed, and to give warning of its approach.

2. Municipal Corporations—Street Crossings—Duty of Pedestrian at.
—It is the duty of a pedestrian in crossing a street used by automo-
biles and other vehicles to exercise such care as a person of ordin-
ary prudence would exercise for his own safety in crossing a street
at such a crossing, considering the amount and kind of vehicle
traffic thereat. He is not obliged as a matter of law to look
or listen for the approach of automobiles in order to Keep out
ef their way, and whether he has exercised the required degree

of care is for a jury to say under all the facts and circumstances

proven in the case.

Fal

— &

16 _ KENTUCKY REPORTS. [Vol. 171.
case of Talbott vs. Thorn, 91 Ky. 417. And the munici-
pality and abutting property owners are bound thereun-
der by the reservation in the deed of dedication.

It therefore results that appellees own in that part
of the street occupied by both of these tracks an ease-
ment under the reservation retained by the original ded-
icators, and have the right, without liability to abutting
property owners, to maintain and make such use of
these tracks as the increased business of the company
may require, subject, however, to whatever concurrent
rights in and to the street may have been perfected under
the deed of dedication by abutting property owners and
the public. As both of these tracks were built in 1889
pursuant to a valid authority so to do and are perma-
nent structures, whatever claim existed for damages to
abutting property owners by reason of the manner of
construction accrued then and is now, of course, long
since barred. Nor is this altered by reason of the fact
that in 1912 one of these tracks became a part of a main
line track leading from Cincinnati to Newport News.
This was not an additional servitude placed upon the
streets as the servitude of the two tracks had been there
since 1889, and the increased use of the tracks or either
of them to accommodate the increased business of the
company is not an additional servitude upon the street.
L. & N. R. Co. vs. Orr, 91 Ky. 109; Klosterman vs. C. &
O. R. Co., 114 Ky. 426; Kilcoyn vs. Chicago, ete., R. Co.,
141 Ky. 237; Ferguson vs. Covington & C. E. Bridge
Co., 108 Ky. 665.

It therefore results that the trial court did not err
upon the testimony adduced in directing a verdict in
favor of appellees.

There is one other objection urged by appellant en-
titled to consideration, and that is, the court below re-
fused to permit an amended petition charging negligent
operation of the railroad to be filed. This amendment,
however, was not offered until after the jury had been
selected and part of the evidence offered. As the trial
had already begun, it was within the sound discretion
of the trial court to permit an amended petition to be
filed, and as this amendment set up an entirely different
cause of action from the one upon which issue had been
joined and the trial begun, it was not an abuse of dis-
cretion to refuse to permit the pleading then to be
filed,

Tag hee

Aiding ates Sie Re ee fe a

Blue v. Commonwealth. 165

The relative rights of the public and of appellees in
that portion of the street occupied by the railroad tracks
are not involved here, and are in no way affected by this
decision.

Perceiving no error in the judgment it is affirmed.

Blue v. Commonwealth.
(Decided September 26, 1916.)

Appeal from Jefferson Circuit Court
(Criminal Branch).

Criminal Law—Evidence—Affidavit—Admissibility of—The affi-
davit of the superintendent of an asylum for the insane stating
from the records of the asylum that the accused had been an
inmate, was not competent evidence in the absence of 2 showing
that the presence of the superintndent or the record could not be
secured.

W. CLARK OTTE, EDWARD L. LAUSHELL and BRENT C.
OVERSTREET for appellant.

M. M. LOGAN, Attorney General, and D. O. MYATT, Assistant
Attorney General, for appellee.

OPINION oF THE Court py Jupcr Carrort—Affirming.

Under an indictment charging him with the murder
of Adam Oster, the appellant was convicted and_ his
punishment fixed at death. According to the weight of
the evidence the murder committed by appellant was
without provocation and exceptionally cruel. It appears
that the appellant was the tenant of Oster, and that on
the occasion of the homicide Oster, who was an old man
and a carpenter, went to the house oceupied by the ap-
pellant for the purpose of collecting his rent, carrying
with him a small kit of carpenter tools, incliding a
hatchet. When Oster arrived at the house the appellant
was on the inside, and, after a short conversation between
them in respect to the rent, the appellant pushed or
knocked Oster out of the door, and then took the hatchet
Oster had been carrying and struck him several hard
and deadly blows on the back and top of the head with
the edge of the hatchet, killing him almost instantly.
After he had finished his murderous work the appellant
fled from the scene but was captured a short time after-

. A
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Background: The Commonwealth of Kentucky substituted the electric chair for

hanging in 1910 or 1911 and that remained the only method of execution there until 1920 when a particularly heinous rape-
murder occurred in Fayette County. The

Legislature was then in session and the delegation from Fayette County introduced

legislation, which promptly passed and was signed into law, providing that, in the future those convicted of rape or rape-murder
would be hanged locally in the county of conviction, with the judge or commisioners ordering a public or a private execution.
It was under this statute that B was hanged publicly in Owensboro in 1936. Because

of the criticism that Kentucky received, the Legislature, at its next session, passed

new legislation providing that both rapists and murderers were to be electroctuted.

Two other hangings occurred under the old statute before the passage of the new

legislation, but these were private affairs, the local officials being unwilling to give

the media another "circus."

The case: B was 22-years-old and black, a native of Roanoke, VA, who had moved to Owensboro in 1931. He had worked as
a houseboy at various houses including one in which Mrs. E., a 70-year-old well-to-do widow, lived in a third floor apartment.
In 1935, B was sent to the Eddyville Penitentiary for burglary and he was released in

January, 1936. In early June, neighbors entered the E apartrnent after she failed to

answer her door and found her lying across her bed with bruises on her face and

neck. An autopsy subsequently revealed that she had been raped and strangled.

A cheap ting with the initial B of the type made in prison was found in her apartment.

The investigation showed that the murderer had climbed onto a coal house roof and from there onto the servant's house and
onto the roof of a covered walkway which led

to Mrs. E's apartment.

Because of the ring and his knowledge of the premises, a warrant was issued for B's

arrest and he was taken into custody a couple of days later from his hiding place in

some bushes along a river bank. His case was ordered to the grand jury and in less

that an hour he was taken in a police car to Louiswuile to forestall any lynching attempt. On the trip, B made a confession and
told officers where they could recover the jewelry that he had stolen from his victim. A special session of the grand jury

was called which indicted him and three days later (the minimum time allowed by

Kentucky law), he was retumed from Louisville for trial. Crowds had began gathering early and everyone entering the
courtroom was searched for weapons. When the courtroom was filled, armed state troopers forced hundreds of other people
into the yard. B had been secretly returned under heavy guard the night before and had slept in the courthouse. He pled
guilty and the prosecution presented his case with no

defense being offered. After three hours of testimony, the jury retired and retumed

after a 4 1/2 minute deliberation with a recommendation for the death sentence.

Four black lawyers from Louisville filed an unsuccessful appeal which was promptly
denied. A U. S. District Judge refused to take any action and Gov. A.B. (Happy)
Chandler signed a warrant setting a date of execution of August 14.

After his trial B was returned to Louisville for safekeepinhg. He was returmed to

Owensboro on the moming of his execution. At the time, Daviess County had a female Sheriff, Mrs. Florence Shoemaker
Turmer, and it was her duty to officiate

at the execution. A crowd minimally estimated at 10,000 persons (some estimates

were as high as 25,000) had gathered to witness the specatles and there was a

carnival like atmosphere with refreshment vendors in abundance. Excursion trains

brought in those who wanted to witness the hanging. Six teen aged boys had come

all of the way from Jacksonville, Florida, and there were numerous children of all

ages present.

H, a midwestern farmer who, as a young man, had witnessed a bungled hanging

and as a result had made a study of the entire process and voluntarily served any locale that requested him in making
preparations supervised the process. He had

already participated in over 80 hangings, never charging any money other than his

Wednesday May 28,1997 America Online: Galba33 Page: 1

CARPAL Wate ALLE CU DOE” me 10 OCTELA ELECETION
ley THE OWE NSHeO INQUIRER

M0000 SEE BETNEA BIE ON ScAFFoLD

AS EXLOBISVR

00 years ago,
crowds

Came to see
history made:

the last man to be pubircty
executed in Amenca These are
the stones of the hanging. the
woman who was shent!, one
lawyer forced to take part in the
Case and of Owensboro s
response to this sensationalized
historical event

By Keith Lawrence

hreeam. Aug I. 1936
On a twisting stretch of
US 60 somewhere in
Breckinridge County. LI Dish-
man and AO Heisz. Daviess
County sheriff's deputies. were
racing the dawn to Owensboro
Their passenger. a slightly built.
22-year-old black ex convict
named Rainey Bethea. had only
182 minutes fo live

A few miles away, a Lauisville
and Nashville train sped westward
through the Night toward
Owensboro. In « crowded Passen-
ger car sat Arthur Hash. once
known as the best-looking cup in
Louisville. Sill handsome. Hash
was hard to miss in his white suit
and white Panama hat — peculiar
dress for a hangman.

At the Daviess County Court-
house. Florence Shoemaker
Thompson, the 43-year-old sheriff,
sat waiting and worrying If Hash
failed to arrive, the mother of four
would become the first woman in
America to hang a man

er.

Dozens of newspaper reporters
and photographers from across
Country were waiting. too. His-
tory was about to be made — sen-
Sational history that sold
pers to a Depression-ravaged
America

On the streets of Quwensboro, a
city of fewer than 30,000, crowds
estimated at between 10,000 and
3.000 also waited. They in
the courthouse yard. on =. Tun-
ning boards of cars and in ditches
along the river.

In the parking lot of the county
Rarage at First and Locust streets,
a bright Streetlight cast eerie
shadows across the Waiting crowd
The raw lumber of a new gallows,

See HANGING/104

HANGING

built the afternoon before. towered
3 feet.

The area beneath it. the pit into
which the condemned man would
drop. was open to public view. The
heavy. weather-proofed rope, with
13 turns in the nouse, hung waiting
through the night.

F cst na A ape ah a
mith named John_Re
was hanged at mn,
Va, in October 1607, public hang-
ings had been a part of American
justice. But this would be the last
American crowd to watch a man
die on the gallows

The road that would end with the
13 gallows steps began Sunday,
June 7.

Elischa Edwards, a wealthy
widow, lived in three rooms on the
second floor of a house at 22 E.
Fifth St When she failed to answer
repeated knocks on her door that
morning about 11, Robert Rich-
ardson, a neighbor. climbed a ste-
pladder to look over the transum

When neighbors entered the
apartment, they found the 70 year-
old woman Iving dead aeross her

AUG 10 1986

The last han

bed. bruises on her face and
throat. 3 pool of blood beneath her.

Coroner Delbert J. Glenn would
tule at 6 p.m. that she had been
strangled and raped during the
night

Two hours after Mrs. Edwards’
body was found, police searching
her apartment discovered a black
Celluloid ring with a black “R”
against a white background. It
Was a cheap ring of a type com-
monly found at the state prison in
Eddyville.

The investigation showed that
someone had climbed onto a coal
house roof, then onto a servants’
house and onto the roof of a cov-
ered walkway and finally onto the
kitchen roof and into Mrs. Ed-
wards’ apartment.

Within hours. police were
looking for Bethea, a Roanoke,
Va., native who had moved to
Owensboro five years earlier.

Bethea had worked as a huuse-
boy for several Owensboro fami-
lies and had been employed at the
apartment house where Mrs. Ed-
wards lived. A year before, he had
been sent to Eddyville for bur-
glary. In January, after serving
8ix months, he ws released on pa-
role.

The celluloid ring was his, police
said

On June 10. a warrant was taken
charging Kethea with and
ape. Shortly before 2 pm.. a

er at Owensboro River Sand
and Gravel Co spotted Bethea be-
— some bushes along the river-

At 2:6 p.m., Patrolmen Dayton
Hicks and Frate Austin Caught
him at the foot of Daviess Street.

Twenty-five minutes later, Be
thea was arraigned before Police
Judge F.A Roby, who ordered his
Case sent to the grand jury. At2 50
P.m., he was in a police car speed:
Ing toward safe-keeping in Lanis-
ville

¢ was one of the hottest sum-
mers on record in Owensboro
Little rain had fallen for the
past month and by July, the mer-
cury would hit a record 107 de
grees. Tempers were short and lo-
cal officials wanted to Prevent a
lynching. .
Before the patrol car reached
- Bethea confessed to
Patrolman Raleigh Bristow and
Deputies Dishman and Reisz. At
6:38 p.m., in the Louisville jail, he
signed a confession, saying the di-
amond rings, necklaces and ear-
rings stolen from Mrs. Edwards’
apartment were hidden behind
Curtains in his room near 14th and
Frederica streets.

A search of Bethea’s room found
nothing.

The next day. Bethea denied his
guilt. saving he “must have been
drunk” when he confessed

But a dav later, he confessed
again — this time to WE Crady.a
jail guard. This time. he said the
Jewelry was in a barn across from
Mrs. Edwards’ apartment. The

jewelry and a dress belonging to
her were later found there.

Circuit Judge George S. Wilson
ordered a special session of the
grand jury to convene June 22.

Although Bethea was charged
with rape, robbery and murder.
Commonwealth Attorney Herman
Birkhead sought indictment on
only one charge — rape. In 1911,
Kentucky had established death
by electrocution fer all capital of.
fenses except rape. The penalty
for rape remained death by hang-
ing.
“I expect to prosecute-the de
fendant for rape and if he ts con-
victed, he will be hanged in Da-
viess County,” Birkhead promised
the grand jury

ACI 0 am . the grand jury be-
gan its deliberations At 11 45
am . they returned the single rape
indictment

Three days later, the minumum
time allowed by Kentucky law, the
trial began.

Crowds began to gather down-
town at 7 a.m. Everyone entering
the courtroom was searched for
weapons. When the courtroom was
filled, armed state troopers moved
hundreds of other people out into
the courthouse yard.

At 9:05, Bethea was led into the
Courtroom. He had spent the night
locked in the courthouse for extra
Protection. He was dressed mm the
same blue shirt and trousers he
had worn the day of his arrest The
only difference in his appearance
was the absence of his small mous-
tache.

A pool of 111 men was called for
jury duty. The first 12 were seated.

Before the trial began, Bethea

Four and one-half minutes later,
at 12:22 p.m., they returned to the
courtroom. The unanimous ver
dict reached on the first ballot was
death by hanging.

Bethea rose to stand before the
bench. Wilson ordered him
“hanged by the neck with his body
suspended so as to cause death”
between sunrise and sunset ‘uly
3

f July 10, four black law-

yers in Louisville began

working on Bethea's case,
hoping to show that he had not re.
ceived a fair trial because he was
a black man charged with raping a
white woman.

When they presented a motion
for a new trial the follow ng day,
the deadline for such motions al-
ready had passed

On July 28. Bethea’s new law:
yers filed an appeal Ut was denied

ging

on the 2%h. Then
Judge Elwood Ham
ville delayed the exe
decided — on Aug. 5
proceed.

away.
At 4 pm., Aug. 1
eaten his Last meal
en. pork chops.
pickles, mashed px
pie and ice cream
After finishing his
asked Jailer Martin
Paper and a pencil.
of paper, each a difi
color, he wrote to |
Fladge of Route 3, }
“Dear Sister: Thi:
ter and I have told
you my body and Iv
it beside my father z
and don't you worry

went to the gallows to
deputies and Bethea.
The crowd grew
dawn approached. A
tolled in from Dixon
ple One freight train
more The New York

AUG 10 1986

he last hanging-

per reporters
$ from across
aiting. too. His-
wm made — sen-
% sold newspa-
ssion-ravaged

“ Qarnsboro. a
30.000, crowds
een 10.008 and
They slept in
d. on the run-
and in ditches

t of the county
Locust streets.
ht cast eene
waiting crowd
a new gallows,

ING

efore. towered

it. the pit into
ed man would
hic view. The
fed rope, with
-, hung waiting

since a blacks:

| John_Read

uld end with the
began Sunday.

ds. a wealthy
ee ruoms on the
house at 322 E:
fatled to answer
a her door that
Robert Rich.
climbed a ste
. the transom
< entered the

bed. bruises on her face and
throat, 1 pool of blood beneath her.
Coroner Deibert J Glenn would
tule at 6 p.m. that she had been
“— and raped during the

body was found, police searching
her apartment discovered a black
celluloid ring with a biack “R™
against a white background. It
was a cheap ring of a type com-
monly found at the state prison in
Eddyville.

The investigation showed that
someone had climbed onto a coal
house ruof. then onto a servants’
house and onto the roof of a cov-
ered walkway and finally onto the
kitchen roof and into Mrs. Ed-
wards’ apartment

Within hours, police were
looking for Bethea, a Roanoke.
Va.. native who had moved to
Owensboro five years earlier.

Bethea had worked as a huuse-
boy for several Owensboro fam:
les and had been employed at the
apartment house where Mrs. Ed-
wards lived. A year before, he had
been sent to Eddyville for bur-
glary. In January, after serving
six months, he wus released on pa-
role

The cellulord ring was his, police
sard

On June 10, a warrant was taken
charging Bethea with murder and

ape. Shortly befrre 2 pm.. a

ef at Owensboro River Sand

and Gravel Co spotted Bethea be-

neath some bushes along the river:
bank.

At2. 6pm. Patrolmen Dayton
Hicks and Frate Austin caught
him at the fout of Daviess Street

Twenty-five minutes later, Be-
thea was arraigned before Police
Judge F A Roby, who ordered his
case sent to the grand jury. At2 50
pm . he was ina police car speed:
ing toward safe-keeping in Lauis-
ville

t was one of the holiest sum-
mers on record in Owensboro.
Little rain had fallen for the
past month and by July, the mer-

curtains in his room near 14th and
Frederica streets.
A search of Bethea‘s room found

nothing.

The next day. Bethea denied his
quilt, saying he “must have been
drunk" when he confessed.

But a dav later, he confessed
again — this time to W E Crady. a
jail guard. This time, he said the

jewelry was in a barn across from = _'

Mrs. Edwards’ apartment. The

jewelry and a dress belonging to
her were later found there.
Circuit Judge George S. Wilson
ordered a special session of the
grand jury to convene June 22.

Although Bethea was charged
with rape, robbery and murder,
Commonwealth Attorney Herman
Birkhead sought indictment on
only one charge — rape. In 1911,
Kentucky had established death
by electrocution for all capital of-
fenses except rape. The penalty
for rape remained death by hang-
ing

“I expect to prosecute the de-
fendant for rape and if he ts con-

victed, he will be hanged in Da-
viess County.’ Birkhead promised
the grand jury

At l0:@ a.m . the grand jury be.
gan its deliberations At 11:45
am. they returned the ungle rape
indictment

Three days later. the minimum
time allowed by Kentucky law, the
trial began.

Crowds began to gather down-
town at 7 a.m. Everyone entering
the courtroom was searched for
weapons. When the courtroom was

At 9:05, Bethea was led into the
courtroom. He had spent the night
locked in the courthouse for extra
protection. He was dressed in the
same blue shirt and trousers he
had worn the day of his arrest. The
only difference in his appearance
was the absence of his small mous-
tache.

A pool of 111 men was called for
jury duty. The first 12 were seated.

Before the trial began. Bethea
entered a plea of guilty. The pros-
ecution presented its case any-
way. But there was no defense.

After three hours of testimony
the jury retired at 12:18 p.m. to
consider the sentence.

Four and one-half minutes later,
at 12:22 p.m., they returned to the
courtroom. The unanimous ver-
dict reached on the first ballot was

‘death by hanging.

Bethea rose to stand before the
bench. Wilson ordered him
“hanged by the neck with his body
suspended so as to cause death”
between sunrise and sunset ‘uly
31.

a July 16, four black law-

yers in Louisville began

working on Bethea’s case,
hoping to show that he had not re.
ceived a fair trial because he was
a black man charged with raping a
white woman.

When they presented a motion
for a new tral the follow.ng day,
the deadline for such motions al-
teady had passed

On July 28. Bethea’s new law-
yers filed an appeal It was denied

on the 2%h. Then U.S District
Judge Elwood Hamilton in Louts-
ville delayed the execution until he
decided — on Aug. 5 — that it could
proceed.

On Aug. 6, Gov. AB. “Happy”
Chandler signed a new death war-
tam ordering Bethea to hang at
sunrise Aug. 14.

Bethea’s lawyers said there
would be no further appeals.

And now the end was only hours
away.

At 4 p.m., Aug. 13, Bethea had
eaten his last meal of fried chick-
en. pork chops, cornbread.

asked Jailer Martin J. Connors for

Fladge of Route 3. Nichols, SC.

Hash's train was pulling into
Union Station. Sheriff Thompson
was there to meet him. At 4.25, she
went to the gallows to wait for her
deputies and Bethea.

The crowd grew steadily as

dawn approached. A school bus -

rolled in from Dixon with 22 peo-
ple. One freight train brought 300
more The New York Daily News

SEE NEXT FRAM&

r4 I coulc

see a greal
fellow sat «
off or tie ud
saw him ru
Was just a\

Barney El

flew in tts report
phers sw the p
tushed vackh Th
sent a darkrawn

Capt: Jesse Sto
lee had threater
cameta near the
rescinded his ord
papers appealed

expenses, his sole purpose being to insure that the condemned man did not suffer.

Bethea was taken to the gallows and before ascending, asked to be allowed to take

off his socks as he did not want to die with dirty socks. The request was granted, and he left both his socks and his shoes at
the foot of the gallows. He also requested that he be buried by the side of his father, but this was denied and three

hours after he was pronounced dead, he was buried in Potter's Field beside a bam

in an unmarked graved.

Sheriff Thompson had assumed the officer after the death of her husband who had

died of natural causes and she was subsequently reelected. She was, of course,

under a great deal of pressure. She had received death threats against herself and her children, and people from all of the U.
S. A. and many foreign countries wrote

offering to hang B for her (H, the humane hangman, never pulled the lever himself).

Finally she selected a Louisville policeman. Mrs. T. later stated that she did not pull the lever herself because she did not
want her children to be looked upon “as the

children of the woman sheriff who hanged a negro."

Both the national and international media were present and had a field, calling the
Commonwealth barbaric and condemning the whole process. It was this publicity,
much of it embellished, that prompted the legislature to change the law.

Please acknowledge receipt and let me know if you need anything further on this
one.

Thanks

Watt.

Wednesday May 28, 1997 America Online: Galba33 Page: 2

CE tke imurde
th

8
SA

Sr
> ys.
< , & ;

rer of Mrs. Elza Edward
ree-apartment house at: 322 East Fifth:
how that he followed: the: p

“gained extrance

s early Sunday morning
vb 4 low roof. at the a

street: by climbin
th

Bes
CSure

Se
We) BPP SEE
St Ee ep

See ‘ es
: SNR

Sas
One

‘ny
e;

oe
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of her bedroom, located 0
3 lley shown at't
by, the dotted line.” Mra. Ed

YER egies F
3 EIEN. “

oe ee erence ae ES ewe ee ae

2S Branag by ried bapa

* *

“Not that 100,000,
‘be-a~ bumper-. oro

nm *

es. Yet: 100,000,000:

‘preduced an’ ave
- 15,000,000 bushels,
=} was only 59,000,000

rey eut fa agen! ol hw os

nthe second floor of a} =The.o 4
e: left of the above drawing; Poot- = eane outlook
ds’. body was.°found on the: bed,

“} harvest: looked ds
“\ ins the, spring.;::

-|No_Improvemen

o WM. Fale

@
Dib-
Sintec
“he

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®

vive the gt

Winners in Rally to Take’
“<" Part in State Meets

i month period on

-| and farmers’. hope
‘rains came in Ap
nan

;
*

ae ture.” predict:'a :

"| bushels on the |

we o'er ght oes,

‘ Delete
Sora rae te

;

Ie ‘ Ry Sagi a Sd ag
at RICES N '
hay 3 , ‘
° ~~
‘ 1B Sen

Sate

the year—and impound-
lebrated diary—was offi-
“approved in court late today,
Vecding the movie star’s bitter-
aught bettle with her ex-hus-
md, Dr. Franklyn Thorpe.
ante ten minutes after the
“it came within an eyel
reopened,
; A Prepared statement given by
: ee Aator’s lawyer so infuriated

p rks,

2 gy

2 pe. Bh. de
if

, 2 a“ rome

ey oF rats

i 2 rg}

a shen ha e
er oe

O28, a ete
ane view

Raptern ell a ‘nite ar
: X ¥

Crowds were attracted to the scene of the Rainey Bethea banging Thursday af

scaffold: was

mae

being erected and tested. The above photo shows @ curious group ims

ect.

device while others look on. The crowd grew, in size as the execution hour apy

AOOSENE

» .
i e
\
Ade YE We ica yet the tage ber: Mri agteee te wai ey ow DARE Et Sor Roatan a tits.: Hoorgilaainatics

URS ERE

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Be eet t
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Petia eet EX ROUTE in|

1012 Ky.

Commonwealth, on cross-examination of
appellant, to prove that he had been con-
victed of bank robbery in the state of Ten-
nessee in the year 1931, under the alias of

John Wallace; that he was convicted of

first degree robbery in Kansas in the year
1941; and that he had used fictitious
names from time to time in various. sec-
tions of the country. It is contended that,
since the testimony anent the convictions
in Kansas and Tennessee concerned other
crimes and had no connection with the
crime for which appellant was being tried,
it was incompetent and highly prejudicial.
The evidence was.competent, under the ad-
monition which was given by the court that
-it could be considered only for the purpose
of affecting defendant’s credibility as a
witness, if it did so. Section 597 of the
Civil Code of Practice provides that it may
be shown by examination of a witness that
he has been convicted of a felony. Since
appellant offered himself as a witness, it
was competent for the Commonwealth un-
der this provision of the Code to prove the
conviction by him. Bowman vy. Common-
wealth, 276 Ky. 745, 125 S.W.2d 213, and
cases therein cited. In Hannah v. Com-
monwealth, 220 Ky. 368, 295 S.W. 159, it
was held that it was permissible for the
Commonwealth’s Attorney on cross-exam-
ination to show that a defendant who of-
fered himself as a witness had been con-
victed of a felony, and to require him to
disclose the length of the term of his pun-
ishment, since the record of the judgment,
if produced, would disclose the same fact.
In Bates vy. Commonwealth, 260 Ky, 551,
86 S.W.2d 322 and Quillen v. Common-
wealth, 275 Ky. 158, 120 S.W.2d 1047, the
court held that, for the purpose of affecting
his credibility as a witness, it was com-
petent for the Commonwealth to show the
nature of the particular felony of which he
was convicted. The cases relied on by ap-
pellant are not in point. In Hickey v.
Commonwealth, 185 Ky. 570, 215 S.W. 431,
the Commonwealth attempted to interrog-
ate witnesses other than the defendant con-
cerning a crime of which the defendant
had not been convicted. Obviously such
testimony is not within the purview of Sec-
tion 597 of the Civil Code of Practice.

238 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

In Bullington v. Commonwealth, 192 Ky.
529, 236 S.W. 961, a witness other than the
defendant ,was permitted to testify that on
two occasions he had purchased whiskey
at the defendant’s restaurant and for
neither of which offenses was defendant
on trial. This evidence was held to be in-

competent because it did not show a con-.

viction of a felony, within the purview of
Section 597.. In Powell v. Commonwealth,
308 Ky. 467, 214 S.W.2d 1002, the evidence
objected to was to the effect that the de-
fendant on trial was a deserter from the
United States Army. The Commonwealth
did not attempt to prove that he had been
convicted of deserting the Army and even
if it had, we since have held that desertion.
from the Army is not a felony within the
purview of our Code. Blackburn v. Com-
monwealth, 314 Ky. 22, 234 S.W.2d 178. In
Grigsby v. Commonwealth, 299 Ky. 721, 187
S.W.2d 259, 159 A.L.R. 196, the evidence
complained of was to the effect that the
defendant merely had been charged with
the crime of desertion from the Army.
It was held there, as in the Powell case,
that it was not competent to show that the
defendant had been charged with ‘a par-
ticular crime although it was conceded in
the opinion that proof of conviction of a
felony was competent to impeach a wit-
ness in a criminal case. In Marcum vy.
Commonwealth, 254 Ky. 120, 71 S.W.2d
17, the court did not hold, as syllabus No.
4 recites, that “Commission of offenses
other than the one charged should be prov-
ed by witnesses and not by cross-examin-
ation of defendant”. That was a conten-
tion of the appellant which was rejected
by the court. In Lissenbee vy. Common-
wealth, 198 Ky, 639, 249 S.W. 782, the
court merely held that the character of the
defendant could not be attacked until jit
was placed in issue by defendant himself ;
and if such were done by introducing him-
self as a witness, the evidence would be
admissible to affect his credibility. In But-
ler vy. Commonwealth, 284 Ky. 276, 144 S,
W.2d 510, the questions were not concern-
ing convictions of felonies ‘but merely
charges without convictions,

[7] Evidence concerning appellant’s use
of fictitious names throughout the country

‘Zegechivtetiubinre ren . eaten aie ge Were Fies RT bro ad ss 5 Tbe ek ed se aheernene: WATS ATE ABT ER Hr tore ne?

'' BIRGHAM v. COMMONWEALTH °° “ Ky. 1013
/ Cite as 238 S.W.2d 1008
was adduced on the Commonwealth’s cross- tion “You knew you — wanted _ mee
examination of the appellant himseif: Ap- ony; you knew that?” was — pe .
pellant contends that this evidence was in- prove | motive for flight. _ = =
competent. We have held in Hayden v._ “Didn't you shoot ae with t e police .
Commonwealth, 140 Ky. 634, 131 S.W. 521, ficers in Toledo, Ohio? was in ree
and Miller v. Commonwealth, 241 Ky. 818, appellant's testimony on direct RR BOP
45 S.W.2d 461, a witness (in the Hayden’ that his battle with officers Tennyson an
case the defendant himself) may be asked Ross was sac first time he “ee aiid a
upon cross-examination any question test-_ countered a “thing of that ee = ve
ing his credibility as a witness; and in tainly was competent for - ° 4
Poore v. Commonwealth, 249 Ky. 665, 61 S.° question him concerning another a —
W.2d 320, the court observed that consid- affray with police officers to contra ® t e
erable latitude is allowed in the examina- statement given by him on direct gies
tion of witnesses for the purpose of testing tion. a objection was wrest . 4
their credibility. We have found no pre- question Hayy you ever ieee a eae
vious case in this jurisdiction in which evi- your life? Sustaining the rc) anes p
dence of the use of aliases has been dis-' tected the appellant if his ere t ces
cussed; and in this case we find it unneces- ‘would have been unfavorable to eek .
sary to determine its competency. How- from the statements contained _ his =
ever, stich evidence has been upheld for it seems that the a aor a
the purpose of affecting the credibility of extremely favorable to him if he none
witnesses in Louisiana, North Dakota, ° objected; so from re =! 4
South Dakota, Utah, and Arizona. State v. perceive that he was prejudice 4 : e -
Waldron, 128 La. 559, 54 So. 1009, 34 L.R. dence of Williams Combeniiong the nical
A., N.S. 809; State v. Ekanger, 8 N.D. 559, resulting in Bircham’s capture i co :
80 N.W. 482; State v. Sysinger, 25 S.D. petent as part of the res gestae, V siya es
110, 125 N.W. 879, Ann.Cas.1912B, 997; Commonwealth, 255 Ky. 361, ee : 5
Yecsie v. Larsen, 10 Utah 143, 37 P. 258; 201, and to show guilty eee geo c
Fletcher v. State, 40 Ariz. 388, 12 P.2d 284. crime for which he was on trial.

There would be some cages ag ae [13] Throughout his argument appel- ,
argupeeot at oo AGHA ey cat oa lant contends that the Commonwealth fail-
to show flight. If not —ee ie 4 ny ed to show that the fatal bullet was fired by
any other reason, we think it to pod ec appellant, and, in this connection, attacks
innocuous, a vat se epee the integrity of the bullet ag 8 as ex-.
view of the competent evidence } hibit No. 31, upon which the Common-,
more violent and heinous:conduct of appel- wealth relics in support of its argument to
lant in the past. the contrary. We cannot agree with ap-,

[8-12] On cross-examination appellant pellant’s contention. The rans sts
was asked the name of his friend who re- introduced Doctor Gohman, | bone: ~~
sided in the city south of Louisville. va pe ey ee Ur corer

i at he would rather not “make the Hospital, who :
ae. He was then asked “Why an autopsy on the hed i began
don’t you want to make a statement, ve a ree hs Sie — nar _

i ” y jecti ap- the points o : :
arcaepcnanle bred 7s Glisper of ibs bullets was deflected by the breast
Y Commonwealth, 186 Ky. 276, 217 S.W. bone and made its ot rg —
348; Hendrickson v. Commonwealth, 232 right side of the back; ee er = 2
Ky. 691, 24 S.W.2d 564; Stahl v. Common- the death of decedent, as — Bai
wealth, 244 Ky. 356, 50 S.W.2d 952, it was heart and lodging in the = : ane Pye
held that where a witness answers an in- first bullct was found in the c a
competent question in the negative the er- deceased and the nese se SS
ror is not prejudicial, whereas it might be the body. eas + : pil
if he answers in the affirmative. The ques- the presence of officer Node y,

1014 Ky. 238 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

Louisville Police Department, and a color- glasses in the shirt indicated that this was
ed helper. Both bullets were washed and done by the bullet which entered the heart.
placed in the custody of Berry who retain- George Berley, a ballistics expert of the
ed their possession until they were initialed Federal Bureau of Investigation, testified
by him and the doctor some forty-five min- that he received the box sent to the labo-
utes later; the fatal bullet differed from ratories in Washington and, among other
the other bullet in that it had a “crease” things, there were two bullets which he
or “nick” on its nose indicating that it had identified as exhibits No. 31 and No. 32.
met with some obstruction before entering He stated that he conducted tests by firing
the body. The doctor identified this bullet bullets from both the weapons which had
(exhibit No. 31) as the one which had pass- been identified as having been used by
ed through the heart and was removed Bircham in his battle with the officers. He
from the lung of the deceased. He iden- stated that his tests proved that exhibit No.
tified the second bullet as being the one 31 was fired from the .38 Caliber Colt Po-
which was found in the clothing of the de- lice Positive Revolver which was identified
ceased and which was marked and filed as as having been fired by Bircham in the bat-
exhibit No. 32. He stated that the bullets tle, and that he observed an indentation on

_ were in the same condition as when deliv- .the nose of the bullet, filed as exhibit No.

ered to officer Berry. Officer Berry testi- 31, which corresponded with the markings
fied that he was present at the autopsy for on the ear piece of the glasses which were
the purpose of recciving and preserving the taken from the pocket of the shirt removed
bullets for later identification. He stated from Tennyson’s body. It is apparent that
that the one removed from the right lung the Commonwealth traced the bullet which
was fired from a .38 caliber revolver and caused the death of Tennyson from the
that a “corrugated mark” on its nose dis- time it left the revolver fired by Bircham
tinguished it from the bullet found in the until it was introduced on the trial.
clothes of the deceased. He identified ex- : :
hibit No. 31 as the bullet removed from the __ [14] There remains for our determina-
right lung. He stated that when he receiv- #0 the interesting question of the power
ed the bullets at the hands of Doctor Goh- of the officers to arrest or attempt to arrest
man, he immediately placed them in an en- Bircham, and their eect rights in
velope where he kept them on his person respect to the force available to them in
until they were initialed by him and the effecting the arrest. They were not. pos
doctor. He then placed the bullets in sep- sessed of a warrant of arrest, Article 4,
arately marked boxes and delivered them to Section 2 of the Constitution of the United
the Chief of Police and two agents of the States provides for the extradition from
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Colonel OM¢ state to another of persons charged
Carl Heustis, Chief of the Louisville Po- With commission of crimes. In obedience
lice Department, testified that, under the to this Provision of the Constitution, the
supervision and in the presence of two Legislature of Beatecky, athe year 1G,
agents of the Federal Burcau of Investiga- Preset a0. Act prowiding. Xe mater in

: bess which an arrest may be made by peace offi-
tion, he placed exhibits No. 31 and No. 32 cers of Kentucky to assist other states in

: . vindicating their own laws. The substance
from Bircham and other items, and €x- oF the original Act has remained a part of
pressed the box to the laboratories of the our statutory law to this hour, and now ap-
Federal Bureau of Investigation at Wash- pears in KRS 440.080. In substance, it
ington, D. C. He testified that he assisted provides that any ministerial officer or oth-
in the removal of the shirt from the body of er person, to whom by name a warrant is-
Tennyson and found a pair of glasses with syed by any judicial authority may be di-
metal ear pieces in the left pocket of the rected, shall have the authority to arrest
shirt. One of the ear pieces had been a person guilty of the commission of a
driven through a note book and into the felony anywhere in the United States, if
body of deccased, and the location of the found in this state. In the year 1856, this

in a box, together with the weapons taken

Lib iphia RSET UTE RE eee tee te aR oe ABNER AST mores mn recsce te

BIRCHAM v. COMMONWEALTH Ky. 1015
Cite as 238 S,W.2d 1008 | ;
Court held that in no case can a fugitive crime for which the — was eet
justi ted was one which had not been comm1
from justice from another state be arres SS
i i the this state or in the presence
in this Commonwealth, except upon ; ~
production of an indictment found against attempting to ~~ sh pg ee ee
im i i fled, must bear in mind that, a’
him in the state from which he has led, 2 pages sectrthange se
i itive is guilty rendition of the decisio ave
or upon affidavit that the fugi g . es
i to, a peace officer was, an ’
me. Botts and Co. v. Williams, ;
_ ee 687, 56 Ky. 546. In that case with authority to arrest, without warrant,
; : 5 : ‘ =
the arrest ee made by private persons any person i . ees SS
i i for false a misdemeanor, in this state in the
without warrant and the suit was for -
arrest. The defendants were held to be of the officer making the arrest.

answerable. In the year 1897, the question
again was before the court; the only dis-
tinction being. that a peace officer made the
arrest. The court said: “Kentucky Stat-
utes, Section 1930 (KRS—440.080), author-
izes arrest and confinement in jaii, and
delivery over to the proper authority, of a
person guilty of a felony anywhere in the
United States, if found in this state, only
when a warrant has been issued by judicial

[15-18] As modern means of convey-
ance and improved highways increased fa-
cilities of escape to the point that a crim-
inal could flee to.a jurisdiction of safety
scarcely before the commission of a crime
was discovered, it became apparent to law
enforcement officers and finally to the Con-
gress of the United States that the barrier
presented by state boundaries should be re-
» moved. Accordingly, the Congress, in the
authority upon affidavit of te a year 1934, enacted a law which now is com-
Glazar v. Hubbard, 102 Ky. 68, 42 SW. Oia inder Title 18 U.S.C.A. § 1073 (for-
1114, 39 L.R.A. 210. Connecticut has a merly § 408¢) which, insofar as pertinent
similar statute (Gen.St.1930, Sections 6545- to cur guste, eats 86S We
Bey te nas ee ae = ever moves or travels in interstate or for-
Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors said: sigh: comenered “witht Sutial either (0 to
“SS. Seton, comeniies ne Gienac avoid prosecution, or custody or confine-
this spate, te a5 6 only Sette — ment after conviction, under the laws of
ty Ge ce Ce a haghape the place from which he flees, for murder,
and related to some offense conimitted in hidanping. -dmeaiery, “xoubekt esis.
another state, the officers could only obtain ape: gunk wick a lecmecels Seah oF
authority to arrest him (the defendant) as cnertion ccviuignaied bé Huestd of
a, eeee Sem ee —r a, lence, or attempt to commit any of the
der our statutory provisions governing he 5 seen ciisiaes au tea toe aeead
arrest and extradition of such fugitives. A, at ccc ewe ee the on ake
State v. Engle, 115 Conn. 638, 162 A. 922, pines trced whieh tie fugitive flees, * * *
S24: “The: apleion te TE Het ORY Cet shall be fined not more than $5,000 or im-
dered in the year 1932. Thus this Court’s prisoned not more than five years, or both.”
construction of our statute was fortified This Act was held to be constitutional in
by a similar construction of an almost iden- Hemana v, United States, 6 Cir, 163 F.26
tical statute by the highest court of Con- 958: certiorari denied 332 U.S. 801, 68 S.
necticut. So, under our laws in force pre- cy. 100, 92 L.Ed. 380; rehearing denied
vious to the year 1934, a fugitive from jus- 339 U.S, 821, 68 S.Ct. 152, 92 L.Ed. 397.
tice of another state could not be arrested Since the passage of this Act, any person

in this state, except under the authority of moving or traveling in interstate commerce
a warrant directed to the person attempting with intent to avoid confinement after con-
“the arrest. In considering the provisions yiction for robbery under the laws of the
of KRS 440.080 and the decisions constru- place from which he flees, is guilty of com-
ing it previous to the year 1934, we must mitting a felony whenever and wherever
werd i hended. Such flight is a separate and
not lose sight of the fact that in each case apprehended. EN, * perl
wherein the statute was construed, the distinct offense from the lar °

Fy
|
i
b

;

1008 =~iKy. 238 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

h : 2 ;
ibnbaeiie finest ote : cepacia can obtain a fair trial

’ nty.
Court of Appeals of Kentucky,

5. Crimi
Feb, 6, 1951. riminal law C>1166!(6)

Where defendant’s own testimony was
sufficient to convict him of murder and in-
sufficient to establish any justification for
Circuit Court, Common Pleas Branch, First ve his te eres abana
Division, Jefferson County, Loraine Mix, J. oe eee ae “Examingvon, of Jurors Pe:
of murder of a police officer and he deniuled. peatemy . made matements, wick < wand
The Court of “Anpeals Van Sant, C., held have been available to him in opening

P y of police officers to ar- statement and closing argument, to the ef-

_ without warrant defendant found fleeing fect that Commonwealth would not be sat
pee acs =e to avoid confinement aft- isfied with any verdict which did not ie
pt on _ robbery and that the killing flict the death penalty, and that there would
, while resisting him in the proper be no doubt in minds of jurors as to euilt

discharge of his duty, constituted
i murder. iudici
pliidie atch igroses was not prejudicial to defend-

Rehearing Denied May 17, 1951.

Earl David Bircham was convicted in the

1. Criminal law €=>1166(2) 6. Criminal law €=673(3)

Where defendant was tried and con- Permittin
_de the Comm i -
taine: a bger arn — by regular secution for Sacdet to a a.
isted to justity the said cling te cies CATT ser acne tote
of special grand jury, which indicted de- tele ee reer

obber

pena for the same offense, was imma- error, where Sect Cae
: such evidence could be considered only for
2. Indictment and information >140(1) the purpose of affecting defendant’s credi-
The statutory provision that grand jury bility as a witness. Civ. Code Prac. § 597
can receive only legal evidence is directed
to the grand jury and not to the courts
and hence court will not inquire into the
legality or sufficiency of the evidence on
which an indictment is based even if it is
averred that no legal evidence was pro-

duced before the grand jury. Cr. Code
Prac. § 107.

7. Criminal law €=1170!/2 (5)

Permitting the Commonwealth on
cross-cxamination of defendant to prove
that he had used fictitious names from time
to time in various parts of the country was
not prejudicial to defendant, in view of
Nee is evidence of much more violent
an i
ee eae ei einous conduct of defendant in the

Where evidence adduced on i imi
for change of venue was conflicting si ee
amination of prospective jurors did not es-
tablish that defendant could not obtain a
fair trial in county in which offense alleged-
ly was committed, overruling motion was
not abuse of discretion,

Any error in overruling objection to
cross-examination of defendant as to wheth-
er his refusal to give name of a designated
friend was because friend was a_ police
character, was not prejudicial to defendant
where he answered such inquiry in the ne :
4. Criminal law C>121 ative. :

Trial court has wide discretion in de- 9. Homicide €>166(1)
termining whether a motion for change of In prosccution for d i
venue should be sustained and abuse of officer, tine sasaiiinalek ad a re
such discretion is not shown merely be- to whether he knew he merida yale
cause of a conflict of opinion among wit- felony charge was com we rapier
nesses introduced on the motion as to tive for flight. ee

BIRCHAM v. COMMONWEALTH Ky. 1009
Cite as 238 S.W.2d 1003
17. Homicide C105
In prosecution for murder of a peiice It was the duty of city police officers
officer, cross-examination of defendant con- to arrest without warrant a person found
cerning another shooting affray with police fleeing from another state to avoid con-
officers was competent to contradict his finement after conviction of robbery, since
testimony under direct examination that he was engaged in committing in the pres-
battle resulting in death of officer for which ence of officers an offense against laws of
he was on trial was the first time defendant the United States, and officers had the legal
had ever encountered anything of that kind. right to use such force as was necessary to
prevent his escape, even to killing him. 18

U.S.C.A. § 1073.

10. Witnesses €277(3)

11. Criminal law G=1170V2(5)
Cross-examination of defendant as to

whether he had ever worked was not prej- 18. Homicide €=20

udicial where objection to such question The killing of police officer, while slay-

was sustained and answer, if given, would er, knowing his official character, was re-

have been favorable to defendant. sisting officer in the proper discharge of

his duty to preserve the peace, constituted

12, Criminal law €=363
doen “murder”.

Homicide €>174(1)

Testimony concerning events resulting
in defendant’s capture shortly after homi-
cide of police officer for which defendant

See publication Words and Phrases,
for other judicial constructions and defi-
nitions of “Murder”.

19. Homicide C=334

was on trial was competent as part of res
gestae and to show guilty knowledge of the
crime for which defendant was on trial.

Where defendant’s own testimony con-
victed him of murder, only such errors as
at might be calculated to have inflamed the
1%. Hemtene 234 (1) 4 . minds of the jurors to the extent of caus-

In prosecution for homicide, evidence ing them to inflict the death penalty in
was sttfficient to establish that bullet which preference to life imprisonment, could be
caused death was fired by defendant. deemed to have been prejudicial to defend-

- ant’ bstantial right
ia, Arrest 26903) nt’s substantial rights.

A peace officer has authority to arrest,
without warrant, any person who commits
a felony or a misdemeanor in the the state
in the presence of arresting officer.

—-———

Rodes K. Myers, Leland H. Logan, Bowl-
ing Green, and Robert Zollinger, Louisville,
for appellant.

A. E. Funk, Atty. Gen., John B. Brown-
ing, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

15. Criminal law €=29
Escape G1
. Any person traveling in interstate com-
merce with eyes be avoid ee after VAN SANT, Commissioner.
— = ge — oer* — Appellant and his wife, in a Packard
from which he fled is guilty of committing : ;
‘oe f automobile, were passing through a small
a felony in violation of federal law when- |. pee : ;
city (not otherwise identified) a few miles
ever and wherever apprehended, and such er :
flicht i t 1 disti ff F south of Louisville on the evening of Au-
ms a rs . pian ra —e gust 14, 1949. Appellant was ficeing from
_ a Pe _ — : nett vat nono the state of Kansas to avoid confinement
ee eg RtEED FETIERC HOM. after conviction for the crime of robbery.
hf : His wife was fleecing from the state of Ala-
16. Arrest C>63(3) bama to avoid prosecution in the United
It is the duty of a peace officer of States Courts for harboring her husband.
state to arrest without a warrant any per- They knew that agents of the Federal
son committing in officer’s presence an Bureau of Investigation were looking for
offense against the laws of the United them, if not in actual pursuit. They had
States. ‘ intended to stop at the home of a friend in

238 S.W.2d—64

ae ‘7 Arenigeg
ucstzg eze"g AYOnqUey peqnooaggeTe “6 feqtuM S*d Taeg “WVHOUIE

J9L

OT
oe

YY#E (uossz

sass ese

woos salience tpn asieeni :
See ecewantes

1010 Ky. 238 SOUTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

the small city, but drove on when they ob- face with Bircham who rounded the front
served a black Ford which they thought of the second house and ran between it and
was occupied by agents of the Federal a third house. Ross followed. When Bir-
Bureau of Investigation. They arrived in cham again came into view he raised his
Louisville at about 9:00 o’clock p. m. la- hands and announced “I give up”; but he
boring under the apprehension that peace immediately started shooting, inflicting six
officers of that city and of the government wounds in Ross’s body. Ross then fired the
had been alerted to their expected visit. single cartridge left in his revolver, after
In their excitement, they turned north on which he threw his revolver at Bircham.
First Street, failing to observe that it was Ross further testified that previous to Ten-
zoned and marked for southbound traffic nyson’s death, all shots fired by the police
only. City patrolmen John Tennyson and were directed into the air, but we think this
John A. Ross, in a police cruiser, overtook not to be material.

them and ordered them to pull to the curb.

Thinking they were about to be arrested | After Ross was wounded, Bircham con-
as fugitives of justice, they rapidly drove tinued his flight, finally arriving, and trip-
-on to avoid capture. The officers gave Ping over a fence, in the yard of Luther
chase, firing five shots either at them or Williams, whose attention had been aroused
into the air. The race ended when the by the barking of a neighbor’s dog. Wil-
pursued driver lost control of his car and !iams approached Bircham to determine the
hit a telephone pole. Still thinking he was trouble whereupon the latter pointed both
facing arrest as a fugitive, appellant fled W@Pons at Williams's face and demanded
on foot carrying a revolver in each hand. the keys to his car, simultaneously squeez-
The officers attempted to pocket him behind ig the triggers of both his revolvers. The
a house: Tennyson proceeding to the rear W¢aPons failed to fire, whereupon Bircham
and Ross to the front. Bircham ran from Otdered Williams into the house following
behind the house into a driveway between him with the guns to his back. Bircham
the house and the adjacent property. Ten- again pulled the triggers and the revolvers
nyson and Ross cross-fired at him, one ®8@in misfired. Williams then turned, took
bullet nicking him in the ear. Bircham hold of the revolvers by their barrels,
fired his revolvers several times after that, shoved Bircham down the steps, grappled
but didn’t know whether he struck the With, captured, and held him until help ar-
officers or not. The above statement of Tived. The prisoner was then placed in
facts was testified to by appellant at the the custody of officers who took him to
trial. Police Headquarters. He was later in-
dicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to
ith Tow exceptions, #3ch we now will death in the electric chair for the murder of
notice. He testified that when he and Tennyson. 7” will discuss other evidence
Tennyson drove alongside the Packard, pntreciaced: st “4 tesa! as m becomes il
they recognized Bircham as a fugitive from essary to the disposition of the various

justice wanted by the Federal Bureau of grounds assigned by appellant for reversal
of the judgment.

Ross related the same sequence of events

Investigation, from his picture appearing
on a poster reposing on the bulletin board The homicide occurred on the 14th day
at Police Headquarters. They then an- of August, 1949, and an indictment charg-
nounced to Bircham that he was under ar- ing appellant with the murder of Tenny-
rest, immediately following which Bircham son was returned by a specially convened
drove on at high speed. Ross further con- grand jury on the 29th day of August.
tradicted Bircham by testifying that while Appellant was arraigned on that indictment,
he (Ross) was in front of the house he demurred thereto, filed motion to set it
heard several shots being fired in the rear, aside, and entered a plea of not guilty. The
two of which struck, and one of which demurrer and motion to set aside the in-
killed, Tennyson. He said that between the dictment were overruled and the case was
first and second houses he came face to assigned to September 29, 1949 for trial.

bo snrernrten yr rer wont SN teeRt a Pertti Neat Ee eee

BIRCHAM v. COMMONWEALTH Ky. 1011
Cite as 238 S.W.2d 1008
Appellant then moved the court for a dence, Indictments & Information, Section
166.

change of venue.
In the meantime, to-wit; on or before [3,4] The evidence heard on the mo-
September 20, the regular grand jury im- tion for a change of venue was pening,
paneled for the September Term of court and examination of prospective jurors di
returned another indictment charging ap- not establish that appellant could not ob-
pellant with the murder of Tennyson. Ap- tain a fair trial in Jefferson County., The
pellant was arraigned on this indictment, trial court has wide discretion in determin-
demurred thereto, filed a motion to set it jing whether a motion for a change of ~~
aside, again moved for a change of venue, ue should be sustained or overruled, an be
and entered a plea of not guilty. The de- have never been disposed to declare that
murrer and motion to set aside the indict- he has abused this discretion merely be-
ment were overruled forthwith; the mo- cause of a conflict of opinions among wit-
tion for change of venue was overruled, nesses introduced on the motion.
upon condition it again would be consid- Appellant complains of the conduct of
ered if examination of the jury panel de- the Commonwealth’s Attorney in his voir
veloped cause therefor. On call of the dire examination of the jury. The Com-
case on September 29, it was reassigned to monwealth’s Attorney made frequent and
October 11, 1949 for trial. continuous statements to individuals he ex-
Appellant insists the court erred in over- amined in the presence of other prospec-
ruling his motion to set aside the indict- tive jurors to the effect that the Common-
ment because (1) no emergency existed to wealth would not be satisfied with any
justify the court in vacation to impanel a verdict which did not saflick as death
special grand jury, and (2) no competent penalty. He likewise told them that,
testimony or evidence was heard or viewed yespective of what they had heard and cad
by either grand jury. previously, they were | pene = =
[1,2] Since appellant was not tried qin FUE if they oe ccgeaicel bend
the indictment returned by the special on the sworn : es nie — bese Seg
grand jury, the first complaint may not be trial. | He additionally passa
indi ination that there would be no doud
entertained. The second indictment shows me Dae che aaiity ak aE
on its face that all material witnesses, ex- in their minds abo g !
cept experts introduced by the Common- cused.
wealth at the trial, were witnesses before [5] In his opening statement as wal te
the grand jury which returned the indict- in his closing argument, every statement
ment pursuant to which appellant was tried. complained of was available to the Com-
Irrespective of any rule which may obtain monwealth’s Attorney. He made no mis-
in other jurisdictions, our rule of long oJ toment either of law or fact and, an
standing prevails in a majority of states, though he should have wiited wail the
and is: Section 107 of the Criminal Code trial commenced to tell the jury that there
of Practice, providing that the grand jury would be no doubt in their minds that the
can receive none but legal evidence, is di- defendant was guilty, we believe that his
rected to the grand jury and not to the earlier statement to this effect could not
courts, for which reason the court will not have had the effect of operating to appel-
inquire into the legality or sufficiency of lant’s prejudice in this case. We are as-
the evidence on which an indictment is ured of this fact because as we hereinaft-
based even if it is averred that no iegal evi- &¢ will point out, appellant's own testi-
dence was produced before the grand jury. mony was sufficient to convict him of mur-
McIntire v. Commonwealth, 4 S.W. 1, a6 der and was insufficient to establish any
Ky.Law Rep. 469; Preyer 4 “a justification whatever for the crime.

.. 89 Ky. 555, .W. 5, y.
oe. 775; State v. Chance, 29 N.M. 34, [6] Appellant —— oe nee
221 P. 183, 31 A.L.R. 1466, Annotation ment should be reverse bece of :

i i ispru- on the part of the court in permitting the
1479; Annotation 27 American Jurisp

Metadata

Containers:: Box 16 (2-Documentation of Executions), Folder 18
Resource Type:: Document
Description:: Rainey Bethea executed on 1936-08-14 in Kentucky (KY)
Rights:: In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Date Uploaded:: June 30, 2019

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