Circus, Sideshow & Oddities

Lot #381:

Papers and Photographs pertaining to Executions by Electric Chair at Sing Sing Prison.

[Capital Punishment—Sing Sing Prison] Papers and Photographs pertaining to Executions by Electric Chair at Sing Sing Prison. V.p. (mostly New York), 1920s. Twenty pieces, including a 1925 blueprint (25 x 40”) of the Sing Sing electric chair, entitled “Drawing Showing Design and Dimensions of Chair Used for Executions by Electricity at Sing Sing Prison—Ossining, N.Y./June 25, 1925,” depicting the front and side elevations, seat and leg block, and head rest, with detailed written specifications; a signed and dated technical drawing by H.M. Jalonack of General Electric of circuitry for the electric chair (dated 6-11-31); two copies of blueprints (10 ¼ x 8”) of electric components from General Electric (1932) to Graybar Elec. Co., for Sing Sing Prison; a two-page quote and sketch from General Electric, dated Oct. 13, 1931, for the construction of electrical devices to be used for the electric chair; carbon copy of a letter (1940) from George R. Hitchcock to the Commissioner of the Department of Correction regarding the employment of an electrician for executions at Sing Sing, “at compensation of $150, per execution;” an undated two-page inventory of parts for the electric chair, on Sing Sing Prison form paper, with a stapled manuscript attachment to mail the inventory the F.J. Lahey, Mattewan State Hospital, Beacon, NY; a typed inventory of electrical parts, one by GE Company, on Sing Sing form paper; seven pieces of inter-departmental communication and correspondence between Sing Sing personnel and Cairns & Brother for the manufacture of electrocution helmets; a contact print photograph of the electric chair (10 x 8”); two pieces of correspondence pertaining to electrocution helmets supplied by A.G. Spalding Co; and two prints of diagrams for the switchboard and transformer room within the execution chamber (11 ½ x 8 ½”).