Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

Circus, Sideshow & Oddities

Wed, Oct 23, 2019 02:30AM EDT
Lot 379

Photograph of the Hanging of Rufus Binyon.

Estimate: $800 - $1,200

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$30 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
Photograph of the Hanging of Rufus Binyon. Ardmore, Indian Territory: Webb, [1905]. Cabinet-format photograph of the hanging of Binyon, seen on the gallows heavily restrained, hooded, and noosed. Image 4 x 2 ??, on studio blind-stamped mount. Creases and abrasions to image. Binyon, who was black, was executed on Sept. 22, 1905 in Ardmore, then part of Oklahoma?s Indian Territory, for the 1900 murder of his 8 year old step-daughter, whose body he attempted to cremate. He was found guilty in early 1902 and sentenced to hang. He appealed the sentence up to the U.S. Supreme Court and petitioned for executive clemency to President Theodore Roosevelt, but was denied. The hanging took place in the jailhouse yard in Ardmore.