Will Lockett | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Petrie Kimbrough May 1888 Pembroke, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | March 11, 1920 (aged 31) |
| Cause of death | Execution by electrocution |
| Other names | Will Hamilton Will Hampton |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 4 |
Span of crimes | 1912–1920 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky |
Petrie Kimbrough (May 1888 – March 11, 1920),[1] better known by his alias Will Lockett, was an American serial killer who killed three women and one girl between 1912 and 1920 in three states, also attempting to kill a woman in his native Kentucky.[2] He was executed for killing 10-year-old Geneva Hardman, whom he killed by crushing her head with a stone. Lockett pleaded guilty to the crime, and admitted to three other murders before his execution.[3]
The case is notable since the authorities used brute force to prevent lynch mobs from killing Lockett, a black man. When white mobs tried to storm the courthouse, the Kentucky National Guard and the state police opened fire on them, shooting over 50 people. Six of them, including five members of the lynch mob, were killed. The Brooklyn Eagle remarked that the incident was "the first time south of Mason and Dixon's Line that any mob of this sort had actually met the volley fire of soldiers." When the mob, now numbering 10,000, returned, they were confronted with over 1,200 U.S. Army soldiers requested by the governor. Brigadier General Francis C. Marshall declared martial law, secured the area with tanks, machine guns, and snipers, forced the mob to leave, enacted citywide censorship, and had military patrols guard various parts of the county, including the black districts.[4]
- ^ "Negro Admits Murder Three: Will Lockett, Slayer of School Girl Near Lexington, Confesses To Killing Two Other Women". Greenwood Daily Commonwealth. 8 March 1920.
- ^ "Admits He Strangled Two Women To Death: Petrie Kimbrough, Facing Execution, Makes Revolting Confession of Earlier Slayings". Washington Times. 9 March 1920.
- ^ "Condemned Negro Slayer Confesses More Murders: Convicted Killer of Ten-Year-Old Admits to Causing Death of Two Others and Probably Third". Richmond Times-Dispatch. 9 March 1920.
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