Executed
Pleasant W. Shields
Pleasant W. Shields was hanged on June 26, 1868, near Litchfield, Kentucky, in an execution carried out after he had been held in the county jail. According to the Daily Dispatch, the sheriff took him from the jail to the gallows before a crowd estimated at five to seven thousand people. At his request, he sang and prayed with the Rev. Mr. Armstrong on the gallows, and he was hanged at about 2 p.m. His father received his body and took it to Ohio County for burial.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state
Reported by: contemporary newspaper account.