James Cewrell Edwards portrait

This photograph from the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus is of 31-year-old James Edwards of Canton. His formal attire suggests that the photograph was taken during his trial or sentencing. Edwards was the 287th individual to be executed via the electric chair in Ohio. The caption at the bottom reads: “287 -- James Cewrell Edwards of Stark County, Legally Electrocuted May 9, 1952, for the Murder of Helena Tuebner.” 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