The Last Public Execution in America
by Perry T. Ryan
CHAPTER 9
THE SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS FOR THE INDICTMENT
Judge George S. Wilson was the itinerant circuit judge of the
Sixth Judicial District, which encompassed Daviess, Hancock, McClean,
and Ohio Counties. Because the judge could not preside in each of
these courts at the same time, the judge moved from county to county,
holding court in segments of time known as terms. The terms of court
were published so that lawyers knew when the courts were in session.
When Bethea committed his crime, the term of the Daviess Circuit
Court had begun on April 20 and lasted twelve days. Largely due to
the public outrage at what was perceived by many citizens as one of
the most heinous crimes in Daviess County history, Judge Wilson
believed that a Special Term should be ordered, which he was
empowered to do in extraordinary circumstances. He ordered that a
special session of the grand jury be convened on June 22. For such an
order to be lawful, Kentucky law required that a notice of the
special term be posted in the courthouse. The law also provided that
a special term could not begin until at least ten days after the
notice was given, making the earliest possible date for a grand jury
to convene June 22. The notice stated as follows:
NOTICE
OF
SPECIAL TERM
OF
DAVIESS CIRCUIT COURT
Notice is hereby given that owing to the congested condition of
the Criminal Docket of the Daviess Circuit Court as that it cannot be
disposed of by the Court at its Regular Terms, an emergency exists,
therefore, the Daviess Circuit Court of Daviess County, Kentucky,
will be convened in Special Session on Monday, June 22, 1936, at 9
o'clock A.M., in the Daviess County Circuit Court Room at which
Special term of Court a Grand Jury will be empaneled to investigate
the prosecution of Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Rainey (or Railey)
Bethea on charge of rape and on the charge of Murder now pending, and
said Grand Jury so empaneled to return an indictment or indictments
in its discretion, against said Bethea.
The undersigned Judge of the Daviess Circuit Court will draw a
Grand Jury which will be entered upon the Order Book by the Clerk of
the Daviess Circuit Court for said Special Term of Court, the names
thereof after so drawn, will be delivered to the Sheriff of Daviess
County and said sheriff will summon said Grand Jurors to appear at
said time and place, that is nine o'clock A.M., Monday, June 22,
1936.
Notice is hereby further given that at said Special Term, a Petit
Jury shall be summoned for the purpose of trying the prosecution
which may be charged in any indictment or indictments against the
said Rainey (or Railey) Bethea, that is, the case or cases of
Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. said Bethea; said Special Term beginning
at said time, that is 9 o'clock A.M., Monday, June 22, 1936, shall
continue for fourteen juridical days ending Saturday, July 4, 1936.
Witness my hand as Judge of the Daviess Circuit Court, this June
11, 1936.
/S/ George S. Wilson
Judge, Daviess Circuit Court
The notice was served on the same day it was signed by the judge,
when Deputy Sheriff Richard McDaniel posted one copy of it on the
north door of the courthouse and another copy of it on a billboard
located in the hallway of the courthouse near the county court
clerk's office.
Later, on the same day in Louisville, Rainey Bethea repudiated his
confession. His explanation was, "I must have been drunk." He
claimed, "I never worked for Mrs. Edwards. I didn't own the ring they
found in her home. I didn't attack or kill her and I didn't know she
was dead."
The Third Confession
At about 9:00 p.m., on Friday, June 12, 1936, while in the
Jefferson County Jail, Bethea told Captain Wallace E. Crady, the
Captain of the Guards at the jail, that he wanted to tell him
something. Captain Crady went to his cell. The statement made at this
juncture was even more incriminating than before because it
corroborated Bethea's confession. Bethea told him that he wanted to
tell him where the jewelry was that he had stolen. Sealing his fate,
he stated that the rings and the jewelry were in a barn across the
alley next to where the lady was killed. Bethea told him that the
jewelry consisted of rings, bracelets, a brooch, and some other
jewelry. He stated that the dress was hidden behind a buggy top and
that the jewelry was in the buggy top. During this confession, Bethea
implicated a man whom he referred to as "Willie Johnson," who came to
Owensboro from Tennessee.
Within five minutes, Captain Crady telephoned the Owensboro Police
Department. The call was received by Warner Cecil, a desk sergeant.
Responding to Captain Crady's telephone call, Owensboro Officer
Harry O. Whittinghill and Officer William Vollman went to the barn.
They first found two strings of pearl beads and a string of amber
beads in a small box located in the garage in the rear of the house.
They also found the brooch and the dress. Officer Vollman found the
victim's dress alongside a towel and an old coat covering it behind a
buggy top. They returned to police headquarters.
Later that evening, not having found all of the stolen articles,
Captain W. P. Morris, the Night Captain of the Owensboro Police
Department, Officer Vollman, and Officer Whittinghill, returned to
the barn to search for more jewelry. Captain Morris found five rings
lying loose together, covered with hay. Officer Vollman picked up
some of the hay, and Captain Morris exclaimed, "Wait a minute, you
have got the rings right there." The jewelry was taken to police
headquarters, where it remained until Bethea's trial.
When Bethea revealed the location of the stolen jewelry, he
pounded the nail that sealed his own coffin, for, at that point, the
case against him was built to a degree of certainty that would ensure
his conviction at trial, in the event that he decided to plead not
guilty.
Based upon Bethea's accusation, the police arrested a black man,
Bill Mitchell, on Saturday, June 13, on vagrancy charges. He was
jailed pending further questioning and investigation. Mitchell, who
lived on an alley near the Ken-Rad (Kentucky Radio) plant, told the
police that Bethea had come to his home early on Sunday morning and
had asked him to leave so the two could get drunk together. He denied
any connection in the Edwards attack. However, officials in Owensboro
expressed doubt that Mitchell was an accomplice of Bethea. There was
only one set of footprints on the roof of the house where Mrs.
Edwards was found dead. It had been rumored that Bethea and Mitchell
had been dating the same woman and that Bethea might try to shift
part of the blame to Mitchell, as a result of jealousy. Mitchell
flatly denied Bethea's accusations.
The Fourth Confession
Bethea was again interviewed by a reporter from the
Messenger-Inquirer on Saturday, June 13, at which time he provided
yet another confession. He told the reporter that he and "Willie
Johnson" had gone on a "spree" from the "middletown section." He
stated that they visited two liquor dispensaries and later that night
purchased some moonshine. Bethea told him that they were out of money
and that he suggested entering the apartment of Mrs. Edwards, whom he
said was nearly deaf.
Bethea stated that he went to the rear of the home, where he got a
ladder and climbed upon the roof over the kitchen door and then
pulled his accomplice up. He stated that they took off their shoes
and walked across the roof to a window leading into Mrs. Edwards'
apartment. They found that the screen to the window was loose, so he
shoved it back and crawled through and his accomplice followed him.
Bethea stated that when they started into the front room, his
accomplice brushed against the victim's bed. Going into the front
room, where Mrs. Edwards kept her jewelry, Bethea picked up the
rings, went back through Mrs. Edwards' rooms, and crawled out of the
window.
He took the jewelry to a barn in the rear of the home of Joseph
Lyddane, who lived in a house only a few feet from where Mrs. Edwards
was attacked, where he hid the jewelry in some cans and covered them
up with grass sacks in an old buggy top.
Bethea denied attacking Mrs. Edwards, although he had already
admitted attacking her and later repudiated the confession.
Bethea told the reporter that he was afraid that he would be taken
by a lynch mob and that was why he was hoping that the law would take
its course.
Guards in the jail told the reporter that Bethea had been
pretending to be insane since he had arrived in Louisville on
Wednesday. Just before the interview ended, Bethea whispered to J. R.
Murphy, a guard at the jail, "The nigger in the next cell has got a
gun, and he has threatened to get me."
Bethea also told the reporter that he did not want to hang for his
crimes but that he would be willing to die in the electric chair,
"without a trial."
Back in Owensboro, Sheriff Florence Thompson announced that she
was prepared to fulfill the duties of her office and that she would
carry out the sentence if Bethea were sentenced to be hanged in
Owensboro. Sheriff Thompson stated that she had told County Attorney
Sidney B. Neal and Commonwealth's Attorney Herman Birkhead that she
did not want her sex to be considered in determining the charges upon
which Bethea would be tried. "I'm ready to do my duty," she bravely
asserted.
The Special Grand Jury
On Saturday, June 13, 1936, Circuit Judge George Wilson entered
another order, this time specifying the grand jurors to be summoned
for the special term. The judge drew the names from a list of
potential jurors which was maintained by the court clerk. The order
entered by the judge stated as follows:
STATE OF KENTUCKY
DAVIESS CIRCUIT COURT
JUNE 13, 1936
It appearing to the Court and the Judge thereof that Notice has
heretofore been posted for a Special Criminal Term of the Daviess
Circuit Court to be held June 22, 1936, in the Daviess County Court
House for the purpose of empaneling a Grand Jury to investigate the
charges of Murder and Rape pending against Rainey Bethea and for
summoning a Petit Jury for the trial of any indictment or indictments
which may be returned against the said Bethea and it further
appearing to the Court that the next Regular Session of the Daviess
Circuit Court is a Civil Term and no Grand Jury was drawn for said
Court and there is none now in the hands of the Clerk of the Court,
the Judge of the said Daviess Circuit Court has this day drawn from
the Jury Wheel, the following 24 names to be summoned by the Sheriff
to appear at nine o'clock A.M. on said June 22, 1936 in the Daviess
Circuit Court Room from whom a Grand Jury will be selected, sworn and
empaneled for the purposes aforesaid, viz:
1. W. R. Jones, County
2. B. S. Hemmingway, Co.
3. John M. Rudy, Co
4. W. F. Mafendorfer, City
5. H. D. Jones, Co.
6. J. W. Kerns, Co.*
7. Hugh Bailey, City
8. Ed Skillman, City
9. B. A. Camp, Co.
10. Ray Jones, City
11. W. H. Taylor, Co.*
12. Andy Donovan, Co.
13. A. L. Waite, Co.
14. W. H. Bradley, Co.
15. W. M. Lewis, Co.
16. W. J. Dawson, Co.
17. W. M. Salmon, Co.
18. W. J. Mitchell, Co.
19. W. B. Johnson, Co.
20. E. L. Burns, Co.
21. L. E. Hoskins, City
22. Richard Calloway, Co.
23. Louis Elliott, City
24. H. O. Whittinghill, City
/S/ George S. Wilson, Judge
* Indicates the name was misspelled in the original order.
A grand jury does not make determinations of guilt or innocence
but merely determines whether sufficient evidence exists to hold a
person over for trial. If it agrees that the evidence is sufficient,
it will return "a true bill" of indictment against the suspect,
charging him with a crime.
It is interesting to note that the penalty of hanging was only
available for the offense of rape. Persons convicted of robbery or
murder, for example, if given a death sentence, were to be
electrocuted in the privacy of the state penitentiary at Eddyville.
Although Bethea had been initially charged with the single crime of
murder, the chief prosecutor made the extraordinary decision to
charge him only with rape.
Were Bethea convicted of both of the charges and given a
death sentence, a legal question might arise as to whether he should
be hanged or electrocuted, since hanging was only available for the
crime of rape and electrocution was imposed for murder. The
Commonwealth's Attorney, Herman Birkhead, elected to seek an
indictment against Bethea from the grand jury only on the charge of
rape, to circumvent the legal question as to which method of
implementing the punishment would be used.