On this date in 1868, an African-American girl of whom little is known beyond the single name “Susan” was hanged in Henry County, Kentucky, for the murder of a child she was babysitting.
According to a local newspaper she “writhed and twisted and jerked many times.” It was reported that many “solid citizens” asked for a piece of her hanging rope for a souvenir after they cut her down. (Source)
Susan remains to this day the last female executed in Kentucky — although there is one woman, Virginia Caudill, currently on the state’s death row.
On this day..
- 1935: David Maskill Blake, wedding's eve murderer
- 1391: Agnese Visconti and Antonio da Scandiano, adulterous lovers?
- 1885: August Reinsdorf and Emil Kuchler, Kaiser Wilhelm I bombers
- 1940: Peter Barnes and James McCormack, the last IRA men hanged
- 1896: Benjamin Ratcliff, school shooter
- 1545: Cornelis Appelman and Willem Zeylmaker, Batenburgers
- 1931: The Longhua Martyrs and the Five Martyrs of the League of Left-Wing Writers
- 1902: Privates Edmond Dubose and Lewis Russell, deserters to the Philippine Resistance
- 1579: Thomas Sherwood, Catholic martyr
- 1714: Various rebel slaves in the Cape Colony
- 1852: Martin Merino, Jesuit assassin
- 1920: The White Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak
There’s even talk they may have non-execution-related content.
I wouldn’t know anything about that.
Nice find, Tim — thanks. The Times archives are such a trove for these forgotten old hangings in America’s every nook and cranny …
The New York Times archive has the story:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C02E7D71630EE34BC4C52DFB4668383679FDE