Becker jury going to luncheon (LOC)

Bain News Service,, publisher.

Becker jury going to luncheon

[between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915]

1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

Notes:
 Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).

Format: Glass negatives.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

General information about the Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain

Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.11677

Call Number: LC-B2- 2531-4

Comments and faves

  1. ★

    Peter Ellis, Fugue, nikoskaragio, Exold, and 16 other people added this photo to their favorites.

  2. rockcreek (53 months ago | reply)

    A decent summary of the Charles Becker case is available from Wikipedia:

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Becker

  3. cotinis (53 months ago | reply)

    Regarding rockcreek's note about the swastika symbol on the car--the use of the swastika as part of the logo of the KRIT Company is mentioned in the Wikipedia article and this article from The Detroit News, 16 January 2000. And here is a photo of a KRIT car with the symbol from another Flickr user. Looking at the photo large, I can see a similar logo above the radiator on this car--seems to identify it as a KRIT car. Perhaps some car fanatic out there can tell us the exact model.

    This use of the swastika symbol, of course, predates its adoption by Nazi Germany--it was a widespread symbol in many cultures, see, for instance Wikipedia and history1900s.about.com/cs/swastika/a/swastika history.htm. The latter has a good summary of its use at the time of this photo:

    Even in the early twentieth century, the swastika was still a symbol with positive connotations. For instance, the swastika was a common decoration that often adorned cigarette cases, postcards, coins, and buildings. During World War I, the swastika could even be found on the shoulder patches of the American 45th Division and on the Finnish air force until after World War II.

  4. carlamatic (52 months ago | reply)

    The swastika is a symbol which predates the third reich by a millennium or two. It's an ancient buddhist symbol, and many aboriginal American tribes used it.

  5. technogeo (39 months ago | reply)

    I don't believe this is a K-R-I-T motor car. It's an open-top bus. K-R-I-T didn't make unusual vehicles like this. They made mainly small automobiles, like Roadsters and Runabouts. Their cars had small swastikas on their bronze hub caps, with the word K-R-I-T in large bronze letters across the front of the radiator. The top of the radiator shell was peaked, not flat, like the one on the bus in this photo. See the photo of the 1910 model in the Detroit News article mentioned above. The 1912 models were almost identical. Moreover, car makers didn't paint large corporate logos on the sides of the hoods.

    Something else is going on here. This bus has a number 10 on the side of the front seat, suggesting it's part of a fleet. The swastika could be the logo of a local transportation company.

  6. technogeo (39 months ago | reply)

    Here are some scans of genuine K-R-I-T trade literature from around 1910:

    I don't see any connection.

  7. cotinis (39 months ago | reply)

    Technogeo--you are absolutely correct about the "radiator ornament"--that is a man's hand, holding a cigar, not a swastika! This is obvious, now that it is pointed out, but the illusion is quite something.

    Edit: I corrected the Wikipedia article, referencing this discussion

  8. technogeo (39 months ago | reply)

    Thanks cotinis! The next task is to figure out the real make of this vehicle. It looks like an early truck chassis. The front end looks a bit like a 1906 REO.

    www.flickr.com/photos/fritsklijn/3654963032/i n/pool-reo_v...

    There is a cropped photo of a "1909 open-top Rapid sight-seeing bus" used in Denver in a book by Floyd Clymer. It doesn't show the front end, but the back end is similar in some ways: 5 bench seats behind the driver, a right-hand steering wheel, and solid rubber tires. Much wider body, though. It extends over the rear wheels.

  9. cotinis (39 months ago | reply)

    Yes, and one must wonder about the logo on the side. Surely, somewhere, there is information on a NYC bus company with that as the logo. It seems to have been pretty widespread at the turn of the century as a generic good luck sign used for many commercial concerns. Perhaps a judicious search of the New York Times archives will reveal something interesting.

    I'm still laughing at myself seeing what I was looking for in the large image--that is just so easy to do.

  10. technogeo (39 months ago | reply)

    Here's another clue, from page 3 of the NY Times, October 23, 1912: Finish Testimony in Becker Case

    "The faces of the jurors gave no indication yesterday as to whether or not they had made up their minds on the case. Each man as he passed from the jury box to the waiting sightseeing automobile which conveyed them to the Murray Hill Hotel, seemed thoroughly conscious of the responsibility which rested upon him."

  11. Caesar1956 (35 months ago | reply)

    The building next to the vehicle is the Manhattan Criminal Courts Bldg., next to the Tombs Prison. The vehicle and passengers are facing the 'Bridge of Sighs' on Franklin Street. There was another 'Bridge of Sighs' ,taller and shorter on White St. Centre St. is in the background. For a view of both bridges see middle photo digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?718586 F

  12. WG Finley (33 months ago | reply)

    @technogeo Of course KRIT didn't build any cars like this, the vehicle is clearly the work of a coach builder. During this time not many manufacturers were making chassis that I'm aware of the coach builders would have to convert an actual vehicle. So it's not outside the realm of possibility that this is in fact a KRIT (the time period is right and the symbol is there) and was converted by a coach builder.

  13. technogeo (33 months ago | reply)

    WG Finley: There's no evidence that KRIT built a truck chassis with RH drive and a completely different radiator shell. Also, the symbol is too large and conspicuous to be that of an auto maker. I still believe it's the logo of a local transit company, painted on the side of an import from England or France. We need to track down the owner of the NY licence plate 45139. There must be a record of it somewhere.

  14. Wystan (32 months ago | reply)

    Could be an early version of a British or European charabanc? 19 pages of charabanc-tagged photos on Flickr, but none looks exactly like this model.

    The 1908 Fiat comes close (click on image to see a bigger version):

  15. Wystan (32 months ago | reply)

    Incidentally, the jury found Policeman Becker guilty of Gambler Herman Rosenthal's murder. Here's Becker:

    And here is Rosenthal, in the box:

  16. maorlando-God sustained me 2011 walking w/ me 2012 (25 months ago | reply)

    Another link for this case: www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/tombs /killercop2.... .

  17. breitensteinl (25 months ago | reply)

    Thanks for the information on the KRIT auto. I'm doing some family research and found that my grandfather, August Meinhardt, was killed on November 16, 1916 while driving a KRIT. There was an incline at a railroad crossiing, apparently he put the car in reverse instead of a forward gear and the car flipped over into the ditch and he was killed. He was probably one of the first owners of a car in Waubaunsee County, Kansas. Does anyone know how many KRIT's were manufactured in 1916?

  18. This photo was invited and added to the Classic Vehicles - Young and Old group.

  19. Wystan (24 months ago | reply)

    A newly-posted Bain/LOC photo of the Becker jury:


    Bain/LOC photo of the Becker Jury, posted on Flickr on March 11, 2011:

  20. Comebychance (2 months ago | reply)

    The Photographed Vehicle has absolutely nothing to do with the,
    KRIT MOTOR CAR CO. DETROIT MICHIGAN USA
    KRIT MOTOR CAR CO did not make heavy Vehicles.
    The Swastika emblem on the side of the Vehicle in the Photograph is that of the
    GREEN CAR SIGHT SEEING COMPANY
    Broadway and Twenty-Third Street, NEW YORK

  21. technogeo (2 months ago | reply)

    Nice work, Comebychance!

  22. rockcreek (2 months ago | reply)

    Thanks, Comebychance - do you have an image or citation for confirmation? Would be nice to pass this on to LC, if so.

  23. Comebychance (2 months ago | reply)

    Thanks technogeo & rockcreek. Photo of Family owned 1912 KRIT Touring Car along with Green Car Sight Seeing Company information (copyrighted 1912). Further GCSSC photos can be found at ComeByChance photostream. Also Google "Green Car Sight Seeing Company" for more information. Their Swastika emblem can be seen in the centre of their company address details on their vehicles.





  24. Arden (LOC P&P) (2 months ago | reply)

    Comebychance: Great work! Thank you for figuring out that this car was part of the Green Car Sight Seeing Company fleet and for providing the photos of their literature using the swastika symbol. You have helped solve a mystery! We will add information about the company to the description of this image.

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