Thomas James Howard Jr. (September 11, 1894 – 8 October 1961) was an American photographer who worked at the Washington bureau of P. & A. Photographs during the 1920s. His photograph of the execution of

Ruth Snyder Ruth Brown Snyder (March 27, 1895 – January 12, 1928) was an American murderer. Her execution in the electric chair at New York's Sing Sing Prison in 1928 for the murder of her husband, Albert Snyder, was recorded in a highly publicized photogr ...

in the

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

Sing Sing Prison Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...

, on January 12, 1928, has been called "the most famous tabloid photo of the decade".

The execution photo

Photographers are not permitted into

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

s in the United States, so the '' New York Daily News'', determined to secure a photograph, resorted to subterfuge. They brought in Howard, who was not known to the prison warders or journalists in the New York area. He arrived early and, passing himself in by posing as a writer, he took up a vantage position so as to be able to take pictures with the help of a miniature camera that he had strapped to his right ankle. The camera had a single photographic plate that was linked by cable to the shutter release concealed within his jacket. When Snyder's body shook from the jolt, Howard pressed the shutter release, exposing the plate. The image appeared to have caught the subject in motion from the execution, which added to the already dramatic scene. Snyder chair

The photograph was published the next day on the front page of the paper under the banner headline "DEAD!"; Howard gained overnight popularity, and was paid very well for the image. Thereafter he worked in newspaper photography in Washington and Chicago, retiring as chief photographer for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' in 1961, the year of his death. He had been in semi-retirement since 1951 following a heart attack. The camera Howard used to snap the shot is part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The state attempted to prosecute Howard and the newspaper, but nothing ever came of it. For many years afterwards witnesses to executions were searched and asked to hold up their hands so they could not operate

hidden camera A hidden camera or spy camera is a camera used to photograph or record subjects, often people, without their knowledge. The camera may be considered "hidden" because it is not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another obje ...

Personal life

Howard's grandson is actor

George Wendt George Robert Wendt Jr. (born October 17, 1948) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Norm Peterson on the television sitcom '' Cheers'' (1982–1993), which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Em ...

, and his great-grandson is actor and comedian

Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 20 ...

. His wife, Helen, died in 1958.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Tom 1894 births 1961 deaths American photojournalists Photographers from Chicago Journalists from Illinois 20th-century American photographers 20th-century American journalists American male journalists