Theodore Roosevelt McClure photograph   Save
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections
Description: This photograph from the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus is of 24-year-old hospital employee Theodore "Ted" McClure. His formal attire suggests that the photograph was taken during his trial or sentencing. McClure was the 278th individual to be executed via the electric chair in Ohio. The caption at the bottom reads: “No. 278 Theodore Roosevelt McClure of Cuyahoga County, Legally Electrocuted May 10, 1950, for the Murder of Nicola Salnpo.” The victim's name is spelled Nicholas Salupo in period newspaper articles. In 1885 the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio, became the location for all executions, which previously took place in the various county seats. In 1896 the Ohio General Assembly mandated that electrocution replace hanging as the form of capital punishment. The Ohio Penitentiary regularly offered tours as well as souvenir photographs and postcards of the building and prisoners on death row. A total of 315 prisoners, both men and women, were executed in the electric chair known as “Old Sparky” between 1897 and 1963. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08330
Subjects: Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Capital punishment--Ohio--History; Death row; Electrocution; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections; Ohio Penitentiary (Columbus, Ohio); Prisons--Ohio
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)