Photographing An Execution. Tom Howard's Picture of Ruth Snyder in the Electric Chair. 1928

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Ruth and Henry's mugshots.

Electric Chair at Sing Sing Prison.

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Blog Created: 1-15-2023

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Ruth Brown Snyder (March 27, 1895 – January 12, 1928) 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.

Murder of Albert Snyder ~

Ruth Brown Snyder was a homemaker from Queens who began an affair in 1925 with Henry Judd Gray, a married corset salesman. She began to plan the murder of her husband Albert, enlisting Gray's help, but he was reluctant. Some claim that Ruth's distaste for her husband apparently began when he insisted on hanging a picture of his late fiancée, Jessie Guischard, on the wall of their first home and named his boat after her. Guischard, whom Albert described to Ruth as "the finest woman I have ever met", had been dead for 10 years. However, others have noted that Albert Snyder was emotionally and physically abusive, blaming Ruth for the birth of a daughter rather than a son, demanding a perfectly maintained home, and physically assaulting both her and their daughter Lorraine when his demands were not met.

Murder victim, 33 year old artist and husband to Ruth, Albert Snyder.

Ruth first persuaded Albert to purchase insurance, and with the assistance of an insurance agent (who was subsequently fired and sent to prison for forgery), "signed" a $48,000 life insurance policy that paid extra if an unexpected act of violence killed the victim. According to Gray, Ruth had made at least seven attempts to kill Albert, all of which he survived. On March 20, 1927, the couple garrotted Albert and stuffed his nose full of chloroform-soaked rags, then staged his death as part of a burglary. Detectives at the scene noted that the burglar left little evidence of breaking into the house. Moreover, Ruth's behavior was inconsistent with her story of a terrorized wife witnessing her husband being killed.

Police discovered that the property Ruth had claimed had been stolen was still in the house, but hidden. A breakthrough came when a detective found a paper with the letters J.G. on it (it was a memento Albert had kept from former lover Guischard) and asked Ruth about it. A flustered Ruth's mind immediately turned to Gray, whose initials were also J.G., and she asked the detective what Gray had to do with the murder. It was the first time Gray had been mentioned, and the police instantly became suspicious. Gray was found in Syracuse, New York. He claimed he had been there all night, but it was found out a friend of his had set up Gray's room at a hotel to support his alibi. Gray proved far more forthcoming than Ruth about his actions. He was caught and returned to Queens and charged along with Ruth.

The trial ~

Ruth and Gray turned on each other, contending the other was responsible for killing Albert; both were convicted and sentenced to death.

Execution ~

Ruth was imprisoned at Sing Sing in Ossining, New York. On January 12, 1928, she became the first woman to be executed at Sing Sing since Martha Place in 1899. She went to the electric chair 10 minutes before Judd Gray, her former lover. Her execution (by New York State Electrician Robert G. Elliott) was photographed at the moment electricity was running through her body with the aid of a miniature plate camera strapped to the ankle of Tom Howard, a Chicago Tribune photographer working in cooperation with the Tribune-owned Daily News. Howard's camera later was owned by inventor Miller Reese Hutchison and later became part of the collections of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

The camera that Tom Howard attached to his leg.

Tom Howard’s camera used to photograph Ruth Snyder.

Picture taken of Ruth Snyder in the electric chair by Tom Howard.

Ruth Snyder at the moment the electricity hit her.

Ruth was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Her footstone reads "May R." and includes her date of death. Gray was interred in Rosedale Cemetery in Montclair, New Jersey.

Albert and Ruth had one child, a daughter named Lorraine, who was nine at the time of her father's murder. Following the pronouncement of the death sentence on her mother in May 1927, legal disputes arose between the relatives of both parents regarding the care of the child. Warren Schneider, brother of Albert, petitioned to be allowed to appoint a legal guardian who was not a member of Ruth's family. Josephine Brown, mother of Ruth, also petitioned for custody of the girl. Lorraine had been in the care of Brown since the murder. Lorraine was formally placed by her maternal grandmother in the Catholic institution where she had been residing at the time of her mother's execution. Ruth requested that her daughter not be brought to the prison for a final visit.

Lorraine Snyder.

On September 7, 1927, Josephine Brown was awarded guardianship of the girl. During this time, there were disputes with the insurance company Ruth had used to insure her husband's life. Although one policy, worth US $30,000, to Gray's daughter, was paid without contest, they filed suit to void two other policies, worth $45,000 and $5,000 (the three combined policies worth $1.25 million in 2021). By May 1928, the insurance company made available $4,000 for the maintenance of Lorraine. In November 1928 a ruling in the case was reached, with a court finding the policies could not be collected because they had been issued fraudulently. At the time of the judgment, the lawyer acting on behalf of Ruth's family asked the court to allow them to appeal without a printed record on the basis that the family was destitute and unable to sell the house due to the notoriety of the case. By May 1930, it was ruled on appeal that the two policies were invalid.

While incarcerated on death row, Ruth Snyder wrote a sealed letter which she requested be given to Lorraine "when she is old enough to understand". One year after her mother's execution, Lorraine was apparently aware that her parents were both dead, but not of the manner of either of their deaths.

Depiction in popular media ~

The drama Machinal (1928) by playwright Sophie Treadwell is based on Snyder's trial.

The movies Blessed Event (1932) and Picture Snatcher (1933) make references to Snyder's execution.

A fictionalized version of the trial was the basis of scenes in State's Attorney (1932) with John Barrymore as the prosecutor.

In the movie The Penguin Pool Murder (1932), the characters suspect their case is similar to the Snyder-Gray case. There is also a reference to a woman being recently executed.

The case was the inspiration for the novella Double Indemnity (1936) by James M. Cain, which was adapted for the screen (1944) by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler.

Cain mentioned that his book The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) took inspiration from the crime.

Raymond Chandler's 1949 novel The Little Sister alludes to the Ruth Snyder photograph in Chapter 16.

Near the end of the 1951 film The Thing from Another World, a reporter named Scotty mentions that Snyder's execution was the first he ever covered. When another character asks Scotty if he was able to get a picture, Scotty answers "No, they didn't allow cameras, but one guy..." The approach of "The Thing" interrupts him, but Scotty seemingly is referring to Howard's photo of Snyder in the electric chair.

In the 1954 novel The Bad Seed, author William March based his depiction of Bessie Denker's execution upon that of Ruth Snyder.

Guns N' Roses' 1991 album Use Your Illusion features, as part of the enclosed artwork, a photo of the band posing in front of an oversized reproduction of the Daily News headline/photograph announcing Ruth Snyder's execution.

The 2001 book Seeds of Evil: The Gray-Snyder Murder Case by Karl Schweizer is an account of the case, and is based on actual court records interspersed with vivid dialogue.

The 2011 novel A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion by Ron Hansen is based on the murder case.

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Murder victim Albert Snyder on a boat during better times.

Bringing Albert Snyder out.

At the time of Albert's murder.

The house today.

Corset salesman and murderer, Henry Judd Gray (1892 - 1928).

Daughter Lorraine Snyder.

Lorraine Snyder as a teenager.

Ruth, with her mother, Josephine Brown, and daughter, Lorraine.

JANUARY 6: General scene at the hearing for Ruth Snyder and Henry Judd Gray. Present at the hearing are District Attorney Newcombe (1), Edgar F. Hazleton (2) and Dana Wallace (3), Ruth's lawyers; William J. Millard (4) and Samuel L. Miller (5), Judd's lawyers, and Gov. Smith. (Photo by NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images).

Jurors Leaving Courthouse.

Lawyer Dana Wallace, who represented Ruth Snyder.

Members of the jury for the Ruth Snyder trial board a bus for their hotel after another day in court.

Police open lane for jurors in the trial of Ruth Snyder.

Ruth Snyder hours after being questioned 1927.

Ruth Snyder in the witness stand as her confession is read to the court.

News photographers line up to get a photo of Ruth and Henry outside the courthouse.

Evidence.

The wire used to kill husband Albert.

Evidence gathered for the trial.

Representatives for Condemned Sing Sing Clients and Reporters. Ossining, New York" Sidelights On The Execution Of Ruth Snyder and Henry Judd Gray. Outside the Sing Sing prison after they had paid their last visit to their condemned clients, Ruth Snyder and Henry Judd Gray. In the group are--Attorneys Miller, Lonardo, Hazelton, and Wallace, surrounded by newspapermen.