May Ruth Snyder 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 photograph.
Ruth Snyder between c. 1925–1928
Mugshot for her transfer to Sing Sing Prison in 1927
Ruth Snyder's mid-execution photo taken by Tom Howard and published the next day in the New York Daily News
Lorraine Snyder
The electric chair is a specialized device employed for carrying out capital punishment through the process of electrocution. During its use, the individual sentenced to death is securely strapped to a specially designed wooden chair and electrocuted via strategically positioned electrodes affixed to the head and leg. This method of execution was conceptualized by Alfred P. Southwick, a dentist based in Buffalo, New York, in 1881. Over the following decade, this execution technique was developed further, aiming to provide a more humane alternative to the conventional forms of execution, particularly hanging. The electric chair was first utilized in 1890 and subsequently became known as a symbol of this method of execution.
Electric chair at the Florida State Prison
The execution of William Kemmler, August 6, 1890
The former Louisiana execution chamber at the Red Hat Cell Block in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, West Feliciana Parish. The electric chair is a replica of the original.