Looking Back: A Glimpse Into Kentucky's Forgotten History: 09/03/22

On Sunday, July 11, 1915, eight year old Georgia Baird was playing with her friend four year old Vanletta Landers in an abandoned cabin in the Thompson Station community of Clark County, Kentucky, near the Montgomery County line.

A man allegedly slipped in the cabin from the rear, grabbed the Georgia from behind. Allegedly he grabbed her throat to keep her from screaming while he had his way with her. He was finally scared away by the screams of the four year old. The screams alarmed the parents of one of the girls. Their approach, along with Vanletta's screams, scared the perpetrator away and he escaped into the fields.

Posses searched high and low for the suspect until Tuesday morning, when Wallace Smothers was arrested near the crime scene on the farm of Lee Bush, and charged with the crime.

Smothers was rushed to the jail in Winchester. Fearing a lynch mob, he was later transferred to a jail in Lexington, KY. While in the Lexington jail, officials received a phone call stating that six cars of people from Winchester were heading toward Lexington with the intent of breaking Smothers out of jail and mobbing him. This prompted Sheriff Bradley summoned help from the Lexington police department and they placed 20 additional officers around the jail. However no mob ever showed up and there was no need for the extra officers.

Smothers was later brought back to the Winchester jail when a special grand jury returned an indictment against him. The trial began on July 298, 1915 at 9:00 A.M. in Winchester, KY. More than 100 officers surrounded the proceedings at the request of Sheriff Gilbert.

The jury was in place by noon and the trial began.

During the trial, Smothers claimed his innocence. He stated that he had been sitting on the cabin porch when Georgia ran down from the upstairs of the cabin, grabbed his hat, and ran off upstairs with it. He stated that he followed Georgia upstairs, retrieved his hat and went back to the door of the cabin. He stated that he became frightened when little Vanletta questioned him about attacking Georgia. And he also heard screaming from the women of the house asking where Wallace Smothers was located. He was afraid they would think he had done something, and therefore fled the scene.

Much of Smothers testimony was refuted. And at 3:00 P.M., after deliberating for only 30 minutes, the jury handed down a guilty verdict with the punishment of death in the electric chair.

A motion was requested by Smothers for a new trial. He claimed that he had not been given a fair trial and stated that he believed the jury should have been made up of people from other counties. However on Saturday, July 30, 1915, Judge Benton of the Clark County Circuit Court denied the motion. Wallace was soon transported to the prison in Eddyville, KY. And on September 3, 1915, his execution was carried out.

Smothers claimed his innocence right up to the very end. Just prior to his execution he wrote his wife stating that he was not guilty of the crime, but he had made peace with God and was ready to die. He then requested that his wife raise their two children right and teach them to go to church.

Was he guilty of the crime? Part of me trusts the judicial system and believes the jury made the right decision. But a bigger part of me makes me question the verdict and sentence. Why? Well, we all know that innocent people have been sentenced to prison, and no doubt some even executed for crimes they did not permit. As good as it is, the judicial system can sometimes get it wrong.

Also, in 1915, DNA was unheard of. So there was no scientific way of proving his guilt. And this was just 50 years after the Civil War. Although they were free from slavery at the time, blacks were still discriminated against, mistreated, even beaten and killed solely for the color of their skin. And no doubt many were charged with and punished for crimes they didn't commit, simply because of the color of their skin.

Add all those to the fact that he claimed his innocence, even to his wife, all the way up to the very end, makes me question the verdict. But this was 54 years before I was born. So I can only go on what is published in the newspapers of the day. Was he guilty? Or was innocence lost twice? Whichever it was, 107 years ago to this very day, Wallace Smothers was executed in Eddyville, KY.

NOTE: The newspaper articles below were used as references in this blog.