The Last Public Hangings in Lawrence County, Kentucky and Wilkes County, North Carolina

Today we bring you part of the end of an era of public executions in Appalachia, which had, in many cases, turned into an excuse for a carnival, with vendors selling food and drink (much of it the hard stuff) and children brought in for a day with a picnic and other family activities, prior to the hanging itself.

Our first story comes from Wilkes County, North Carolina, where an alleged horse thief shoots and kills the man looking for that horse; the second comes from Lawrence County, Kentucky, and involves a feud, with the accused shooting and killing his own uncle.

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