tamburina: The person on the chair was Ruth Snyder, a woman convicted of killing her husband for insurance money. In 1928, this was a sensational story followed by a tragic verdict – Ruth Snyder would become the first woman to be electrocuted since 1899.
Photographers are not permitted into executions in the United States. For the Ruth Snyder case, the New York Daily News was desperate to get pictures; so they hired a Chicago Tribune photographer Tom Howard. On the day of her execution (12 January 1928), Howard, posing as a writer, arrived early in Sing Sing Prison and took up a vantage position. A miniature camera was strapped to his left ankle, the shutter release button was concealed within his jacket. As Snyder’s body shook from the jolt, Howard hoisted his pant leg and secretly snapped with a one-use camera.
It is still the only photo taken of an execution in the United States.
