Composite Cabinet Card of Mugshots of Prisoners Executed by Electric Chair at the Ohio Penitentiary, 1897–1905

Columbus, Ohio, 1907. Composite photograph measuring 3 ¾ x 5 ½ inches on heavy cardstock, with text verso. Some fading and small stains with some damage to corners. Excellent.. A composite cabinet card photograph of inmates executed by electric chair at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus between 1897 and 1907, with an image of the electric chair itself. The mugshots are numbered, with corresponding information on the back of the card naming the prisoner, his execution date, and his crime. Ohio began using the electric chair instead of the gallows in 1897, last used it in 1963, and abolished its use in 2001. Overall a quite macabre and sobering piece of electric chair ephemera from the early years of its implementation, following its invention in 1881 by the dentist Alfred Southwick. We find one other copy of this souvenir card in OCLC.