Let Me Die in His Footsteps

AUTHOR’S NOTE

ON AUGUST 14, 1936, in the small town of Owensboro, Kentucky, the last lawful public hanging was conducted in the United States. Rainey Bethea, while suspected in the rape and murder of an elderly woman, was indicted and convicted only on the rape charge. The sentence for a murder conviction would have been a private execution, while the maximum penalty for a rape conviction was a public hanging in the county in which the crime occurred. The rape for which Rainey Bethea was convicted occurred on June 7, 1936, and he was executed at approximately 5:15 a.m. on August 14 of that same year.

A female sheriff presided over the hanging, and it has been estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 people gathered to witness the execution. The event was widely reported in newspapers across the country. Many such accounts told of a carnival-like atmosphere, which allegedly included hanging parties, hot dog and popcorn vendors, and shouts for justice. Others, witnesses to the events that day, remember a more somber, dignified gathering.

The story I have written was loosely inspired by this piece of Kentucky history. However, the crime depicted in Let Me Die in His Footsteps, the characters, and the location are all inventions of my imagination and are in no way intended to represent, define, or comment upon the historic event.