beckercase

Charles Becker "became the first American police officer to receive the death penalty for murder" in the summer of 1915: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Becker

Officer Becker, who was executed:

A picture of the Beckers at the time of his second murder trial in 1914: news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19140512&... The building at 2291 University Avenue in the Bronx, where Helen Becker lived, was also where her husband's body was brought following her husband's execution at Sing Sing on July 30, 1915. query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9407EFDF1138E633A... The building and its neighbors look more or less the same in this 2011 Google Street View image, though the gas street lamp has been replaced by an electric one, the stained glass on the stairway windows has been replaced, the basement windows bricked in, and fire escapes added: maps.google.com/maps?q=2291+university+avenue,+n.y.&l...

Thanks to all of you for filling in the story. We'll add some of this information to the record the next time we update.

One of the old Tombs prisons in NYC had a Bridge of Sighs, like in Venice: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombs_Prison Becker was NYPD police officer accused of ordering hit on underworld figure. Famous case of 1912, there are quite a few photos on LOC-Flickr collection related to the Becker case.

Bearing only a slight resemblance to its Venetian namesake, New York City's Bridge of Sighs connected the Criminal Courts Building with the House of Detention (popularly known as The Tombs) across Franklin Street. New York City police Lieutenant Charles Becker, was the first American police officer ever executed for murder. The verdict of guilty in his first trial, in 1912, was overturned on appeal, but he was convicted again in a 1914 retrial, and was executed in 1915.