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Thomas Howard, a news
photographer, secretly wore a camera strapped to his ankle and just
as the executioner pulled the switch on Ruth, he crossed his legs
and snapped a picture. The photo would run on the front page of the
New York Daily News.
Conocida por los medios sensacionalistas como la "rubia de acero"
o "la rubia sangrienta, Ruth Snyder fue la primera mujer en ser
ejecutada en la silla eléctrica. en 1895 - 12 de enero de 1928
en la penitenciaría de Sing sing. Gracias a un ingenioso mecanismo
ideado por el fotógrafo de noticas Thomas Howard introdujo
secretamente una cámara de fotos escondidas en la pernera de
sus pantalones. Las cámaras estaban prohibidas en las ejecuciones.
En el instante de la descarga, cruzó las piernas y, gracias
un ingenioso mecanismo, accionó el obturador logrando la única
fotografía de una ejecución en la silla eléctrica.
Fue condenada en It took a jury only an hour and a half to convict
them on May 9, 1927. El jurado apenas tardó una hora y media
en alcanzar su veredicto.al que ella.
Mató a su marido en complicidad con su amante, Jud Gray, que
tuvo idéntico fin.
The press continued to report daily on her fate and still the public
clamored for more. Ruth received 164 marriage proposals from her fans
while she sat on Death Row. Her attorney, Edgar F. Hazelton, told
reporters: “She cries continuously and bitterly in the last
minute cell. She has made her peace with God and is reconciled to
her fate” (Dolan). On January 12, 1928, Ruth Snyder became the
first woman to die in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison in the
20th century. Just before she died, Ruth whispered these words: ”Forgive
them, Father, they know not what they do!” Not ten minutes later,
Judd Gray met death in the same chair. Elliot described Gray in his
journal in these words:
Fue la segunda mujer en ser ejecutada en la silla electrica en la
prision de sing sing, en nueva york.
On March 13, 1927, Ruth Snyder, a Queens housewife, and her lover
Judd Gray, a corset salesman, murdered Ruth's husband Albert, the
art editor of Motor Boating magazine. After a sensational trial, the
duo was sentenced to death.
The day after the execution, Daily News had the front page filled
by the enlarged picture showing Ruth at the moment of her death. The
picture was such a hit that the News had to run off an additional
750,000 copies.
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 cameras.
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