[MURDER AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT]. Vintage Press photo of the execution of James Morelli in the electric chair

Chicago: Chicago Herald-American, 1949. Good. Photograph (ca. 230 x 190 mm; 9 3/16 x 7 3/8"), outer edges irregularly cut, image marked with printer's instructions; on verso a pasted newspaper reproduction of the photograph (see below) similarly marked. Photo creased and wrinkled with some short tears. EXTRAORDINARY AND ICONIC ARTIFACT, BEING AN ORIGINAL PRESS PHOTO OF THE EXECUTION OF JAMES "MAD DOG" MORELLI, TAKEN CLANDESTINELY BY TWO REPORTERS WHO SMUGGLED A TINY CAMERA INTO THE JAIL.

On the verso of our photograph is a clipping from the Chicago Herald-American (now Chicago American), the original source of the photo, and is stamped by the newspaper 7 December 1949, and again 25 June 1959. The caption reads: "A photo that stirred the nation and was widely hailed as a deterrent to crime -- James Morelli dies in the electric chair. The photo is unretouched."

BACKGROUND: The execution of notorious gangster James "Mad-Dog" Morelli in Chicago on Nov. 26, 1949 made newspaper headlines because -- contrary to law -- it was captured on film. This was about two decades after a similar incident in New York's Sing Sing prison, prompting major changes to execution access in America, including mandatory X-ray screening for all witnesses. To circumvent discovery, Chicaco Herald-American photographer Anthony Beraldi and staff reporter Joe Migon hid a loaded Minox 3" x 1" x 3/4" camera inside the heel of Migon's shoe (the insole protected the undeveloped film from the Inspectroscope). Migon snapped off four shots on fast panchromatic film at 1/5th second speed. Cook County Jail superintendent Chester Fordney declared that the photo was a fake, but his arguments are not universally accepted. A full account of the logistics of the present photograph is given in the March 1950 issue of "Popular Photography" (p. 86) which states that Migon's photos, "used in the Herald-American and serviced to other papers by the INP, again pointed out that 'Crime Does Not Pay.'"

COMMENT: Whereas the present photograph was published in newspapers around the world, according to a 2009 survey of criminologists revealed that 88% believe the death penalty was NOT a deterrent to murder (SOURCE: Amnesty International USA website: "The Death Penalty and Deterrence" posted May 18, 2017). The same source provides documentation that the murder rate in non-Death Penalty states has remained consistently lower than the rate in states with the Death Penalty. Therefore, the present photograph figures prominently in the discussion of capital punishment in the United States.

PROVENANCE: Potter Auctions 11/20/21 lot 270. This is the only example we have located at auction.