The last public execution in the USA

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

On August 14, 1936, the last public execution in the history of the United States took place in Owensboro, Kentucky

Rainey Bethea had been convicted of raping and murdering seventy-year-old Lischa Edwards, but the event had become nationally famous because rumors spread that the executioner might be a woman, one Florence Thompson, who had become sheriff of Davies County after the death of her father, who held the position.

Arthur Hash, a former Louisville police officer, offered to operate the trapdoor lever for him, and Florence accepted.

On the day of the execution, however, in front of a crowd of 20,000 people, including journalists from all over America who had come to immortalize the moment, the man showed up drunk and at the decisive moment stood still before the eyes of the world. A deputy pulled the lever for him and Bethea fell to the ground from a height of 10 feet, breaking his neck; The embarrassing outcome of this event, combined with the outcry that followed in the months that followed, contributed to the decision to permanently halt public executions in the USA.

[Pat Riot]

Here is a better version with a little more detail than Alessandro13 wrote. Perhaps he or she was drunk when they pulled the trigger on submitting that blog?

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainey_Bethea

While the crime was infamous locally, it came to nationwide attention because the sheriff of Daviess County was a woman. Florence Shoemaker Thompson had become sheriff on April 13, 1936, after her husband, sheriff Everett Thompson, unexpectedly died of pneumonia on April 10. Shoemaker became sheriff through widow's succession, and as sheriff of the county, she was tasked with hanging Bethea.

Arthur L. Hash, a former Louisville police officer, offered his services free of charge to perform the execution. Thompson accepted this offer. He asked that she not make his name public.^[9] Hash arrived at the site intoxicated wearing a white suit and a white Panama hat. At this time, no one but he and Thompson knew that he would pull the trigger.^[10]

On August 6, the Governor of Kentucky, Albert Chandler, signed Bethea's execution warrantand set the execution for sunrise on August 14. Thompson requested the governor to issue a revised death warrant because the original warrant specified that the hanging would take place in the courthouse yard where the county had recently planted, at significant cost, new shrubs and flowers. Chandler was out-of-state, so Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky Keen Johnson, as acting governor, signed a second death warrant moving the location of the hanging from the courthouse yard to an empty lot near the county garage.

Rainey Bethea's last meal consisted of fried chicken, pork chops, mashed potatoes, pickled cucumbers, cornbread, lemon pie, and ice cream, which he ate at 4:00 p.m. on August 13 in Louisville.^[11][12] At about 1:00 a.m., Daviess County deputy sheriffs transported Bethea from Louisville to Owensboro. At the Daviess County Jail, professional hangman Phil Hanna of Epworth, Illinois, visited Bethea and instructed him to stand on the X that would be marked on the trapdoor.^{[citation needed]}

Bethea left the Daviess County Jail at 5:21 a.m. and walked with two deputies to the scaffold. Within two minutes, he was at the base of the scaffold. Removing his shoes, he put on a new pair of socks. He ascended the steps and stood on the large X as instructed. After Bethea made his final confession to Father Lammers of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, who had also supervised Bethea's conversion to Roman Catholicism during Bethea's incarceration at the Jefferson County Jail two weeks prior to the execution,^[13] officers placed a black hood over his head and fastened three large straps around his ankles, thighs, arms, and chest.

Hanna placed the noose around Bethea's neck, adjusted it, and then signaled to Hash to pull the trigger. Instead, Hash, who was drunk, did nothing. Hanna shouted at Hash, "Do it!" A deputy then leaned onto the trigger, which sprang the trap door.^{[citation needed]} Bethea fell 8 feet (2.4 m), and his neck was instantly broken. Afterward, two doctors confirmed he was dead. His body was taken to Andrew & Wheatley Funeral Home.^{[citation needed]} He wanted his body to be sent to his sister in South Carolinaso that she could arrange for him to be interred next to his father, but against these wishes, he was buried in a pauper's grave at the Rosehill Elmwood Cemetery in Owensboro.^[2][14]

It was estimated that a crowd of about 20,000 people gathered to watch the execution.^[9]Afterwards, Hanna complained that Hash should not have been allowed to perform the execution in his drunken condition. Hanna further said it was the worst display he experienced in the 70 hangings he had supervised.^{[citation needed]}

The spot where the scaffold stood (approximately 37.775248° -87.116462°) is now part of a drop-off/pick-up lane in front of the Owensboro Convention Center.

[Rye Miles #13621]

They should bring this back on TV. Pay Per view and proceeds go to the victims families!

[Badlands Bob #61228]

53 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

They should bring this back on TV. Pay Per view and proceeds go to the victims families!

The Romans already had this problem figured out.  Gladiator games.   There is a large stadium in every major city in the country.  The prisons are full of criminals who like to fight.  Deterrence, tax savings, entertainment, justice.  

 

It's probably a good thing they don't make me king.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Yeah, we think a lot alike: hang 'em all and let God sort 'em out.

 

I strongly believe that no one arrested and tried should have their name or picture publicized.  

 

After the trial if the accused is acquitted they still should not publicize the name or picture to protect someone that the courts have found innocent.  

 

If, on the other hand, the accused is found guilty they should not publicize the name or picture to keep the puke from getting his / her "day of glory" or any other  any other sick recognition.

 

No matter what the method of execution ALL of the gory details, especially the act itself, including screaming, wetting themselves, jerking around, any noises the person made, and obvious pain must be publicized to discourage any one else from doing this and the body buried or burned in a totally unmarked place and at an unannounced time.

 

DON'T MAKE THEM FAMOUS OR RECOGNIZED IN ANY, WAY, SHAPE OR DESCRIPTION!!!