Rainey Bethea Criminal

Rainey Bethea (c. 1909 – August 14, 1936) was the last person to be publicly executed in the United States. Bethea, who was a black man, confessed to the rape and murder of a 70-year-old white woman named Lischia Edwards, and after being convicted of her rape, he was publicly hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky. Mistakes in performing the hanging and the surrounding media circus contributed to the end of public executions in the United States.

Personal facts

Birth dateJanuary 01, 1909
Birth place
Roanoke Virginia
Date of deathAugust 14, 1936
Place of death
Owensboro Kentucky

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Topical connections

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Rainey Bethea on Wikipedia

External resources

  1. http://geocities.com/lastpublichang
  2. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30912F83A54147B93C7A81783D85F428385F9&scp=3&sq=Rainey%20Bethea&st=cse
  3. http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/aug/14/1936-owensboro-hanging-last-its-kind-us
  4. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=bethea&GSfn=rainey&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=11846303
  5. http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/apr/010430.execution.html
  6. http://www.thegrio.com/black-history/black-history-1/after-75-years-last-public-hanging-haunts-city.php
  7. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,756507,00.html
  8. http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/aug/11/w0812-execution-im-113097