Bill Sevastis photograph   Save
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections
Description: This photograph from the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus is of William (Bill) Sevastis, a 54-year-old waiter of Belmont County, Ohio. His formal attire suggests that the photograph was taken during his trial or sentencing. was the individual to be executed via the electric chair in Ohio. Sevastis was convicted of murdering Mike Kutsos, his employer, and was the 230th individual to be executed via the electric chair in the State of Ohio. The caption at the bottom reads: "No. 230, Bill Sevastis of Belmont County, Legally Electrocuted February 26, 1941, for the Murder of Mike Kutsos, at Martins Ferry, Ohio." 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: AL08284
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); Martins Ferry (Ohio); Belmont County (Ohio)