Several local residents were on hand Thursday, September 8, at the community center to listen to author Lisa Coffman speak at a gathering that was sponsored by the Clinton County Historical Society.

Coffman, pictured above during last week’s presentation at at right, is a professor at California Polytechnic State University. Originally from Tennessee, Coffman is researching and putting together information about the Jerome Boyett lynching and the involvement of the Winningham family in the chain of events surrounding the shootings that occurred the 1930s.

Over the years, Coffman said she was drawn to this story. She has countless hours of research and she has interviewed relatives of many of the people who experienced this time and who are familiar with the story.

“Growing up in Tennessee, I’ve heard the Tennessee side of the story,” Coffman said to those in attendance at the community center. “I want to know the Kentucky side of the story.”

Clinton County Sheriff Willie McKinley Winningham was shot and killed on July 29, 1933 in the line of duty. Winningham responded to the scene when Reed Cox opened fire on a man in Stovall Store in the Highway Community. Winningham went to Cox’s house to arrest him.

According to “Once Upon A Lynching: The Jerome Boyett Story” by John Hendricks, Winningham tried to get Cox to surrender peacefully. Shots were fired and some people who were attending Highway Church at the time rushed to the Cox residence only to find Sheriff Winningham staggering on the front porch.

According to reports, Winningham’s final words were: “Oh, Lord I’m killed … I’m shot.” He was 38 years old.

It was later decided that Winningham managed to fire a shot during the altercation, fatally wounding Cox.

Winningham’s wife, Anne, finished out her husband’s remaining six month term, making her Clinton County’s first woman sheriff.

The book Coffman is writing is going to be more focused on the Winningham women, including Willie Winningham’s widow, Anne Winningham.

The planned book will take a close look at the life and struggles after the night Sheriff Willie Winningham was killed. The Winningham’s had two daughters, one of whom died later that year on Christmas Eve.

The shooting of Sheriff Willie Winningham came the same year that his father, Pickett County Sheriff George Winningham, and his brother, deputy Floyd Winningham, were both killed in a gun battle with Boyett in April, 1933.

It was a tough year for Willie Winningham’s widow, Anne, who during the span of 1933 found herself grieving not only the deaths of her husband and daughter, but that of her father-in-law and brother-in-law also.

Anne finished out her life in Clinton County, living her final years in a small house on Clear Street near Lay Simpson Furniture Company, where she operated a small florist business. She passed away on February 28, 1988.