Rainey Bethea
| Rainey Bethea | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1909 Roanoke, Virginia |
| Died | August 14, 1936 Owensboro, Kentucky |
| Criminal penalty | Death by hanging |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Conviction(s) | Rape |
Rainey Bethea (c. 1909 – August 14, 1936) was the last person to be publicly executed in the United States. Bethea, who confessed to the rape and murder of a 70-year-old woman named Lischia Edwards, was convicted of her rape and 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.
Born in Roanoke, Virginia, Bethea was an African-American orphaned after the death of his mother in 1919 and his father in 1926. Little is known of his time before he arrived in Owensboro in 1933. He worked for the Rutherford family and lived in their basement for about a year. Bethea then moved to a cabin behind the house of Emmett Wells. He worked as a laborer and rented a room from Mrs. Charles Brown. He also attended a Baptist church.
Bethea's first brush with the law was in 1935, when he was charged with breach of the peace, for which he was fined $20, then in April of the same year, he was caught stealing two purses from the Vogue Beauty Shop. Since the value of the purses exceeded $25, Bethea was convicted of a felony, grand larceny, and sentenced to one year in the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville. He arrived there on June 1, 1935. His physical showed him to be 5 feet 4 3⁄8 inches (1.635 m) tall and to weigh 128 pounds (58 kg). He was paroled on December 1, 1935.
On returning to Owensboro, Bethea continued to work as a laborer and was paid about $7.00 per week. Less than a month later, he was arrested again, this time for house breaking. On January 6, 1936, this charge was amended to drunk and disorderly. He was unable to pay the $100 fine and remained incarcerated in the Daviess County Jail until April 18, 1936.
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