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Charles Becker...
Charles Becker...
Item # 551834
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July 30, 1915
FITCHBURG DAILY SENTINEL, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, July 30, 1915
* Charles Becker
* New York City Police officer... Execution
This 12 page newspaper has a nice banner headline on the front page: "PROTESTS INNOCENCE TO THE END" with subhead. Other news of the day throughout.
Usual browning with little margin wear, mostly along the spine, otherwise good. Should be handled with care.
wikipedia notes: Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 - July 30, 1915) was a New York City police officer in the 1890's and 1910's and who was tried, convicted and executed for ordering the murder of a Manhattan gambler, Herman Rosenthal. Becker was the first American police officer to receive the death penalty for murder. The scandal that surrounded his arrest, conviction, and execution was one of the most important in Progressive Era New York in the 1890's and 1910's.
On July 29, 1912, Becker was approached at the precinct's closing hour by special detectives from the District Attorney's Office and placed under arrest. He was tried and convicted of first degree murder that fall. The verdict was overturned on appeal on the grounds that the presiding judge, John Goff, had been biased against the defendant. However, a retrial in 1914 affirmed his conviction. Although contemporary newspapers were unanimous in asserting his guilt, Becker went to the electric chair in Sing Sing on July 30, 1915, professing his innocence. After a Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, Charles Becker was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, on August 2, 1915.
Category: The 20th Century
No Longer Available
