Tag: Geneva Hardman

100 Years Later: Geneva Hardman’s Letter

The Murder of Geneva Hardman and Lexington’s Mob Riot of 1920 recounts events that took place 100 years ago. In this series of blog posts, I will recount the events which took place on the centennial anniversaries. For more background about this interesting chapter in Lexington, Kentucky history, purchase and read my recently published book.

On January 24, 1920, little Geneva Hardman sent a letter to her big sister. Geneva lived in the South Elkhorn community in southern Fayette County, Kentucky. Her sister, Nettie, had married and moved to Louisville where she lived with her husband and their two young children, Earl and Hugh.

A portion of the letter written by Geneva Hardman to her sister on January 24, 1920. Geneva would be murdered 11 days later. Hardman/McGregor family collection.

The letter itself contained nothing particularly groundbreaking. In it, young Geneva tells her sister about the weather and about the family’s recent trip to town. Her brother brought her some candy. Everything was innocent and childlike.

The letter read:

Lexington, Ky
Jan 24 1920.

Dear Net,
How are you all colds our colds is not much better. Mama has just come from town with Clayton and Bob and Pruitt. Bob gave me some candy they were Rabbits. I am going to school. tell Earl and the baby I would like to see them. What are you been doing. We had a storm Friday and get dark as night at school and we good not see much and the trees was braking down. The big tree down in the sinkhole went down and another tree down by the gate. tell Earl and the baby I will send them some book as soon as I can. it is all most bedtime. so i will close.

write soon,
from Geneva Hardman

It is altogether unlikely that Geneva ever had the opportunity to send her nephew the book she promised.

Prior accounts about Geneva’s murder and the ensuing trial of Will Lockett have always ignored the victim. My newly released book attempts to correct this by telling some of the backstory about Geneva and her family. This letter is part of that story.

This letter has been saved by her family for a century as a family treasure; it is the only known document to have been written by Geneva Hardman that exists today.

But the storm cloud that blotted out the sun before Geneva wrote the letter would not be the only storms to wreak havoc on the South Elkhorn community during the winter of 1920. Just eleven days after Geneva wrote to her sister, Nettie, Geneva’s life would come to a tragic end.

This post contains excerpts from Peter Brackney’s The Murder of Geneva Hardman and Lexington’s Mob Riot of 1920 (The History Press, Charleston, SC: 2020).

For more information about the book or to schedule an event with the author, click here.

The Murder of Geneva Hardman Released!

Today’s the day!

January 20, 2020. The Murder of Geneva Hardman and Lexington’s Mob Riot of 1920 hits shelves today!!

AUTHOR’S STORE

Interested in getting a copy? The best way is to order it directly from me using the button above. The second best way is to support a local bookstore and pick it up there (if they don’t carry it, ask them to do so!!) You can also order it online from amazon.com (or anywhere else you buy books…)

Details about upcoming author events will soon be posted on the Geneva Hardman page on this site. You can (and should) also “LIKE” the book’s Facebook Page: Geneva Hardman Book.

On social media, please share the book including any pictures of it you see in stores or “out in the wild.” Reading it? Post a selfie! And be sure to use #GenevaHardmanBook in all your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts!

This post contains excerpts from Peter Brackney’s The Murder of Geneva Hardman and Lexington’s Mob Riot of 1920 (The History Press, Charleston, SC: 2020).

For more information about the book or to schedule an event with the author, click here.

Governor Morrow was “a man with a brain and a spinal column”

A photograph making its way around Kentucky-history-loving Facebook is of Governor Edwin P. Morrow signing Kentucky’s adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing women the right to vote.

The landmark photograph was taken on January 6, 1920, and the photograph made its rounds (of course) because of the centennial celebration of the occasion.

Edwin P. Morrow was a progressive Republican governor elected in 1919 by defeating the sitting governor, James D. Black. I’ve recently learned a great deal about Governor Morrow as he was the sitting governor during The Murder of Geneva Hardman and Lexington’s Mob Riot of 1920.

Morrow was born in Somerset, Kentucky on November 27, 1877, to one of the founding families of the Republican nParty in Kentucky. His father helped form the party her and was a staunch supporter of Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 presidential campaign and was the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 1883.

A lawyer by training, Morrow took the appointment of defending a man accused of robbing a church treasurer of thousands in church funds and thereafter killing him. In the wake of the sensational murder, the accused confessed. But Morrow “soon showed that Moseby’s confession has been extorted, and a very great deal of the testimony as presented was faulty.” The acquittal that followed was only the beginning of Morrow’s rising star.

He went on to serve as his hometown’s city attorney before being appointed as the U.S. District Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky by President William Howard Taft.

In his race for governor in 1919, Morrow campaigned on the platform that he “was not bound to any man, or group of men” … making “no pledges nor promises to secure his nomination.” Morrow promised “to bring a new and better day to Kentucky.” His inaugural address sought the guidance of God for the “strength to do the right” and for sustenance “in the administration of law and justice.”

The administration of law and justice would prove to be one of Governor Edwin Morrow’s most shining legacies. The February 1920 murder of Geneva Hardman and the ensuing trial of Will Lockett shone a light on Governor Morrow and his resolve. The New York Evening World commented that Morrow “seems to be a man with a brain and a spinal column, both in good working order and in their proper places.” Morrow exercised both of these faculties during the events that unfolded in Lexington in early 1920 and his role cannot be overstated.

Morrow served one term and died in 1935. He is buried in the Frankfort Cemetery.

This post contains excerpts from Peter Brackney’s The Murder of Geneva Hardman and Lexington’s Mob Riot of 1920 (The History Press, Charleston, SC: 2020).

For more information about the book or to schedule an event with the author, click here.