Will Lockett

Petrie Kimbrough (May 1888 – March 11, 1920), 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. 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.

The case is notable for the fact that the authorities used brute force to prevent white mobs from lynching Lockett, who was black. When a mob tried to storm the courthouse, the Kentucky National Guard and the state police opened fire on them, shooting over 50 people. Six people, 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 returned with 10,000 people, they were confronted by over 1,200 U.S. Army soldiers, armed with tanks, machine guns, and snipers, who had been requested by the governor. Brigadier General Francis C. Marshall declared martial law, secured the area, forced the mob to leave, enacted citywide censorship, and had military patrols guard various parts of the county, including the black districts.