Florence Katherine Shoemaker Thompson Riney (October 30, 1892 – April 13, 1961) was the first female sheriff in the United States of America to carry out an execution.

Rainey Bethea, the last man to be publicly executed in the U.S., was convicted of rape and sentenced to death by hanging in Daviess County, Kentucky.

The judge asked Florence to fill the vacancy (customarily known as widow's succession) and she accepted as a way to support her family.

On July 25, 1936, just over two months into Thompson's term, Rainey Bethea was sentenced to death by hanging for raping Lischia Edwards.

[1] She wanted to carry out her duties, but being a devout Christian was concerned about her standing with the church should she follow through with the hanging.

They expected her to effect the actual execution, which would make her the first American woman to kill a man by court order.

The secretary of the Louisville National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Bessie Etherly, wrote to the current Governor, Happy Chandler, concerned about the way the execution would take place.

Thompson had asked each of her deputies if they would carry out the execution before offering the job to Arthur L. Hash, a former Louisville police officer and World War I veteran.

A reporter for The New York Times wrote: "Ten thousand white persons, some jeering and others festive, saw a prayerful black man put to death today on Daviess County's 'pit and gallows'.

"[5] The Chicago Sun reported that Thompson fainted at the base of the scaffold, forcing Hash to perform the task.