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Events on August 14 in history

1936Aug, 14

Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last known public execution in the United States.

Rainey Bethea (c. 1909 – August 14, 1936) was the last person publicly executed in the United States. Bethea, who confessed to the rape and murder of a 70-year-old woman named Lischia Edwards, was convicted of her rape and publicly hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky. Mistakes in performing the hanging, and the surrounding media circus, contributed to the end of public executions in the United States.

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Events on 1936

  • 7Mar

    Treaty of Versailles

    Prelude to World War II: In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupies the Rhineland.
  • 29Mar

    Remilitarization of the Rhineland

    In Germany, Adolf Hitler receives 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal remilitarization and reoccupation of the Rhineland, receiving 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters.
  • 9May

    Addis Ababa

    Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.
  • 26Jul

    Spanish Civil War

    The Axis powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.
  • 7Sep

    Benjamin the thylacine

    The last thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial named Benjamin, dies alone in its cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.