The Last Public Execution in America

by Perry T. Ryan

HERMAN A. BIRKHEAD, THE CHIEF PROSECUTOR

Herman A. Birkhead was born in Daviess County on April 7, 1870, a son of Benjamin Thadeus and Rosa Williams Birkhead. He moved to Owensboro in 1903. After attending the public schools in Daviess County, he enrolled in the Western Kentucky College at South Carrollton, where he received a B.S. in 1891. He later attended Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky, and eventually the University of Michigan. He married Orabel Crockett, but they had no children.

He joined the bar of Daviess County in 1903, when he formed a partnership with R. E. Watkins. He remained in the partnership until Watkins was elected circuit judge. At that time, he became a partner with George S. Wilson, who also became circuit judge and heard the Bethea trial.

Birkhead first served as the County Attorney of Daviess County from 1913 until 1921. In 1922, he served as the master commissioner of the Daviess Circuit Court. He served as Commonwealth's Attorney from 1933 to 1940 and again from 1943 until 1945.

Birkhead was a member of the First Baptist Church of Owensboro, where he taught a Sunday School class. He was also a member of the Elks Club and was a charter member and third president of the Daviess County Lions Club.

Birkhead died after a four-week illness on June 1, 1954, at the age of eighty-four, at the Owensboro-Daviess County Hospital. He is buried in the Elmwood Cemetery in Owensboro.