Livermore (locally /ˈlɪvərmɔːr/)[3] is a home rule-class city[4] located at the confluence of the Green and Rough rivers in McLean County in the U.S. state of Kentucky.

[5][6] Livermore achieved national and international notoriety in the second decade of the 20th century for a bizarre lynching.

The New York Times account holds that a local mob of fifty overwhelmed the sheriff, who had hid Porter in the opera house basement to protect him.

[7] Another version reported by several Kentucky papers omitted the sheriff's concern and had Porter taken from the jail to the opera house, where admission was charged to witness the hanging.

Those in the gallery were permitted a single shot at Porter; those in the orchestra seats were allowed to empty their guns.

[8] The NAACP quickly condemned the lynching and sent letters to President Taft, the Congress, and Governor Willson of Kentucky.

At Willson's insistence, Kentucky issued warrants for 18 of the lynchers; three leaders – including Mitchell's brother Lawrence – were separately indicted and tried for murder, but quickly acquitted.

[8] At the time of the indictments, it was locally reported that Clarence Mitchell, "the young white man" whose shooting had enraged the Livermore mob, "has since fully recovered, and has married.