William Patrick Jennings portrait

This photograph from the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus is of 22-year-old William Patrick Jennings. His formal attire suggests that the photograph was taken during his trial or sentencing. Jennings was found guilty of beating 18-year-old James Oswald to death following a minor car accident in Youngstown. The caption at the bottom reads: "No. 234, William Patrick Jennings of Mahoning County, Legally Electrocuted March 31st, 1943, for the Murder of James Oswald." 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