The last public execution in the United States took place on August 14, 1936, in Owensboro, Kentucky. The event drew a crowd of over 20,000 people and was a gruesome spectacle that marked the end of an era of public executions in America.
The condemned man was Rainey Bethea, a 22-year-old African American who had been convicted of the rape and murder of a 70-year-old white woman named Lischia Edwards. Bethea had been arrested in Owensboro and was quickly tried and convicted in a highly publicized case. The prosecutor sought the death penalty, and the judge obliged, sentencing Bethea to be hanged.
The execution was set to take place on August 14, 1936, and news of the event had spread throughout the region. People came from all over to witness the hanging, and vendors sold food, drinks, and souvenirs to the crowd. The local sheriff had even arranged for a carnival to be held nearby to entertain the spectators before and after the execution.
The day of the execution was hot and humid, and by mid-morning, a large crowd had gathered outside the courthouse where the hanging was to take place. Many people had brought their children to witness the event, and some even climbed trees and rooftops to get a better view. The atmosphere was festive, with people singing and cheering as they waited for the hanging.
As the hour of the execution approached, the crowd grew restless. The sheriff, who had never overseen an execution before, became nervous and began to drink heavily. When it was time for Bethea to be led to the scaffold, the sheriff stumbled and fumbled with the keys to the jail cell, causing a delay of several minutes.
Finally, Bethea was led out of the jail and walked the short distance to the scaffold, where he was hanged by the neck until dead. The entire event took less than 15 minutes, and the crowd quickly dispersed, many of them still cheering and celebrating the execution.
However, the spectacle of the hanging soon became a national scandal. Newsreel footage of the event was shown in movie theaters across the country, and many Americans were horrified by the spectacle of a man being executed in public. The event also drew criticism from civil rights leaders who saw it as a symbol of the deep racial tensions in the South.
As a result of the outcry, public executions were banned in many states, including Kentucky. Today, executions in the United States are carried out in private, with only a small number of witnesses allowed to attend. The era of public executions is now a thing of the past, but the memory of the last public execution in the United States remains a haunting reminder of a bygone era.