Murder of Solomon P. Sharp

Date: November 7, 1825 • Location: Washington, United States

Jereboam O. Beauchamp murdered Kentucky legislator Solomon P. Sharp; Beauchamp later became the first person legally executed in the state.

Jereboam Orville Beauchamp was an American lawyer who murdered the Kentucky legislator Solomon P. Sharp; the crime is known as the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy. In 1821, Sharp had been accused in Bowling Green, Kentucky, by Anna Cooke of fathering her illegitimate child; it was stillborn.[a] Sharp denied paternity, and public opinion favored him. In 1824, Beauchamp married Cooke, who was seventeen years his senior. She asked him to kill Sharp to defend her honor.