[1] On August 29, 1868, two white men by the names of John Blyew and George Kennard entered the house of the Foster family, an African American home in Lewis County, Kentucky.
[1] The two white men attacked the family with an axe; four African-Americans died and many were injured, including children.
The two youngest children were the only survivors: 8-year-old Laura Foster, who hid, and her 6-year-old sister Amelia, who was hacked in the head, but lived.
Blyew was pardoned by Governor William Jackson Worthington, who had expressed doubts over the evidence used to convict him, on December 8, 1896.
According to one report at the time, his refusal to escape when he had the judge may have been in a factor in the jury's decision to spare his life.
Kennard was pardoned by Governor Luke P. Blackburn on health grounds on March 28, 1885, and died on April 5, 1923, at the age of 82.