The Last Public Execution in America

by Perry T. Ryan

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CHAPTER 8

THE ARRAIGNMENT AND TRANSFER TO LOUISVILLE

Despite intensive interrogation, Bethea admitted nothing until he was arraigned before City Police Judge Forest A. Roby. At that time, Bethea reluctantly acknowledged his true identity. He waived examining trial and pled not guilty. The judge determined that the charge (murder) was so serious that Bethea should be held without bail and that the case should be held over for consideration by the Grand Jury of Daviess County.

In fear that a lynch mob might form and take Bethea out of the jail to be lynched without a trial, Circuit Judge George S. Wilson signed an order requiring that he be taken to Jefferson County for safekeeping. The order stated as follows:

Commonwealth of Kentucky, Plaintiff,

vs.

Rainey Bethea, Defendant.

It appearing to the Court that Rainey Bethea has been apprehended and charged with crime, that is, the murder of Mrs. Lischa R. Edwards, and it further appearing to the undersigned Judge of the Daviess Circuit Court that there is danger or probable danger of the removal by violence of said prisoner, from the hands of the Officers or from the Daviess County Jail, which is insecure, the Sheriff of Daviess County, is now ordered to take forthwith said prisoner, Rainey Bethea, and to remove him for safekeeping to the Jail of Jefferson County, in the City of Louisville, Kentucky, that being the nearest Jail where said prisoner may be safely kept, to be held by him until further orders of this Court or the Judge thereof.

Said jailer of Jefferson County shall receive said prisoner and deliver to the Sheriff of Daviess County a receipt therefor.

The said Sheriff of Daviess County will make due return of the execution of this order and file same immediately with the Clerk of the Daviess Circuit Court.

This 10 day of June, 1936.

 

/S/ George S. Wilson

Judge Daviess Circuit Court

 

Immediately taking Bethea from the courthouse, Patrolman Raleigh Bristow and Deputy Sheriffs Albert C. Reisz and Lawrence I. Dishman sped away with Bethea in a car east from Owensboro toward Louisville on what is now U.S. Highway 60. They traveled through Hancock County, and drove through downtown Hawesville.

Following alongside the Ohio River and nearing Cloverport, in Breckinridge County, Bethea made his first confession. "I might as well tell you something," he said, to the surprise of the deputies. He stated that he had crawled into the bedroom window, had choked Mrs. Edwards and had beaten and raped her, leaving her motionless across the bed. Bethea stated that he did not know whether she was dead or alive at the time of the rape itself. This was significant because under Kentucky law, a man could not rape a corpse. If the victim was dead at the time of sexual intercourse, the offense would not have been rape but some other crime.

He stated that he believed his big mistake in committing the crime was in taking off his ring while he was trying on the rings which he had taken from Mrs. Edwards' fingers. "When I left, I forgot my ring," Bethea stated, apparently disgusted with himself.

Continuing to drive, the officers passed through Hardinsburg and stopped in Harned at a small store, where they purchased cheese and crackers for their prisoner to eat. At other times, Bethea complained that the whiskey he had been drinking for more than three days was "burning him up." So the officers purchased three bottled drinks for him.

The officers and Bethea arrived at the Jefferson County Jail at about 7:00 p.m., on Wednesday, June 10, 1936. When he was admitted to the jail, Bethea was carefully searched for the first time, and the officers found his underclothing and trousers to be bloodstained in the pubic area. Bethea admitted that he had obtained the bloodstains when he raped Mrs. Edwards, so they took the underwear back to Owensboro but permitted him to keep the trousers because he had nothing else to wear.

Bethea repeated his confession at the Jefferson County Jail in Louisville. Fearful that Bethea might recant the confession, the officials of the jail wisely contacted Robert M. Morton, a Louisville lawyer who practiced only a short distance from the jail, at 530 West Jefferson Street, to witness a written confession. Morton was not only an attorney, but also a notary public, authorized by law to take acknowledgments. The officials wanted to avoid the potential criticism that the confession was coerced, so they asked George H. Koper, a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal, to be present.

In the jail cell, Morton listened to Bethea's confession, wrote it out, and read it to him to assure accuracy. Bethea then signed it in front of Morton, Deputy Sheriffs Lawrence I. Dishman and Albert C. Reisz, Officer Raleigh D. Bristow, and George H. Koper. The affidavit stated:

State of Kentucky, County of Jefferson.

The affiant, Rainey Bethea, age twenty-two years, a resident of Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky, says that on Saturday, June sixth, 1936, sometime during the night of said date, he entered the home of Mrs. Lischa R. Edwards, at Fifth and Crittenden Street, in Owensboro, Kentucky, and did there and then choke and ‘rape' the said Lischa R. Edwards; that he gained entrance to said home, through a window; that after said attack, this affiant took from a dresser in said room of Lischa R. Edwards, four rings and also took from her room one ladies' pink-, or orange-colored lace dress; that he took all of said articles to his room at, or in the rear of Fourteenth and Frederica Street, in Owensboro, Kentucky, and hid the rings under certain curtains in his said room.

Affiant further states that he formerly worked for the said Mrs. Lischa R. Edwards and lived in the rear of her home; that he knew her by sight and was acquainted with the surroundings of her home; that when he entered the room, Mrs. Edwards was sitting on her bed; that he walked over to the bed, choked her until she fell over on the bed, and then assaulted her; that so far as he knows, she never moved again after he had choked her around the throat; that at the time he entered said room, he had a prison ring on his finger; that he removed said ring and left it on the dresser where he had taken the other rings; that he found a white pocketbook in the room and took two dollars from same.

Affiant says that this statement is made by him, of his own free will; that the same was volunteerly [sic] made by him because he feels that it will be to his best interest to tell the truth.

/S/ Rainey Bethea

Subscribed and sworn to before me, R. M. Morton a Notary Public in and for Jefferson County, Kentucky, this the tenth day of June, 1936. My commission expires January 12, 1938.

/S/ R. M. Morton

Notary Public

530 West Jefferson Street

Louisville, Kentucky.

(SEAL)

 

Witnesses:

/S/ L. I. Dishman, D. S.

/S/ A. C. Reisz, D. S.

/S/ R. D. Bristow, Owensboro Police Officer

/S/ George Koper, C. J. Reporter 

Morton told Bethea that in order to make certain nothing could be added to the paper on the bottom of the first page he should sign at the bottom of the page before taking the acknowledgment. Then Morton had him sign at the top of the paper, so nothing further could be added there. Morton then asked each of the witnesses to hear the statement read and to sign the statement as witnesses.

At once, while still in Louisville, Patrolman Bristow notified Chief Thornberry, who had been left in Owensboro, of Bethea's written confession. The officers immediately searched Bethea's residence, at the corner of Fourteenth and Frederica Streets, but found nothing.