Arthur Little photograph   Save
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections
Description: Before the closing of the Ohio Penitentiary in 1979, the execution chamber within the facility housed and displayed photographs of many of the prisoners sentenced to death throughout the state’s history. This portrait of Arthur Little is one of them. Little, a World War I veteran, was one of the members of a small, ragtag gang of Columbus residents led by Henry Loudermilk. Desperate for money after recently being laid off from his job, Little conspired with his fellow gang members to rob $60,000 from John M. Kidney, an elderly farmer from Monroe Township in Pickaway County. The gang had heard rumors that this vast sum of money was hidden somewhere on Kidney’s property. So on December 10, 1931 they invaded Kidney’s home where they beat and tortured the residents inside: Kidney himself and his infirm sister, Sarah. They then scoured the house in search of the hidden money but were only able to find $446, a small fraction of the sum they had originally anticipated. Disappointed, the assailants fled the crime scene, leaving the Kidney siblings to die. The victims were later discovered and assisted by a visiting neighbor. However, John’s injuries were fatal and he died while in the care of the county sheriff. Sarah, on the other hand, was eventually able to recover. And she later testified against her attackers in court. Little fled from Ohio after learning that John Kidney had died from his injuries. He first went to Indiana and then to North Carolina where he was eventually captured. Little was the fourth and final member of the gang to be executed. The caption at the bottom of his photograph reads, “No. 168, Arthur Little of Pickaway County, Electrocuted July 22, 1932, for the murder of John Kidney of Pickaway County, Ohio.” He was electrocuted at the age of 39. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08227
Subjects: Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections; Capital punishment--Ohio--History; Electrocution; Death row; Ohio Penitentiary (Columbus, Ohio)
Places: Pickaway County (Ohio); Columbus (Ohio)