Archive

1941

“Homicides increased 4 %…”

August 14, 2013
1941

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New York Daily News, August 14, 1941

Exactly how much crime was there in 1941 (Weegee’s most productive, and perhaps “best,” year).
There were 183 homicides in the first half of 1941, in New York State. (And 614,235 arrests.) That would be about one a day. Then the very recent “Murder on the Roof” and the recent “Bandit” and the imminent “Their First Murder” were perhaps, more-or-less, the only murders that occurred on that day…

How many homicides are there today? According to the NY Times:
“There were 414 recorded homicides so far in 2012, compared with 515 for the same period in 2011, city officials said. That is a striking decline from murder totals in the low-2,000s that were common in the early 1990s, and is also below the record low: 471, set in 2009.”
“414 Homicides in ’12 Is a Record Low for New York City” – New York Times, December 28, 2012

To be continued…

Weegee Daily… August 11, 1941… Big-City Desperado…

August 11, 2013
1941, Weegee Daily

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PM Daily, August 11, 1941
Bandit Roy Bennett, 27, was slain by detectives when he tried to escape after attempting to hold up the New York Delicatessen, 1288 Sixth Ave. He had arrived from Texas by bus a few hours earlier, apparently planning to try his hand as a big-city desperado.
PM Photo by Weegee

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Weegee Daily, August 11, 2013
WD Photo by Ceegee

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Published (Weegee’s World and the Berinson book) versions of the big-city desperado…

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PM Daily, August 11, 1941
The Bandit shares the page with a tank burning from highly inflammable bottled benzine; the Lindberghs at an America First rally; the widow of the scientist who discovered the ‘magic bullet’ that cures syphilis; and the actor Robert Montgomery in the Navy in London…

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Unidentified Photographer, August 1941
Surrounded by salmon: the young man who was working behind the counter at the New York Deli at 12:30 A.M. when Bennett attempted his sole New York stick-up… Apparently Bennett was “spotted as suspicious” (no stop and frisk) as he arrived at a New York bus station and followed by a pair of detectives…

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New York Daily News, August 11, 1941
“Bullet Ends Texan’s Crime Career in N.Y.”
 “A Texas small town boy with a mail order pistol launched his New York career at 10:30 P.M. Saturday night. At 12:30 A.M. yesterday. he died with his boots on and a detective’s bullet in his heart…”

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Unidentified Photographer, New York Daily News, August 11, 1941, p.16
Tragedy In New York.
“Roy Bennett lies sprawled, face down and dead, on Sixth Ave…”

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Unidentified Photographers, New York Daily News, August 11, 1941, p.16
Gloomy Sunday
Four Pictures of Trouble and Tragedy On Land and on Sea

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Unidentified Photographer, “Detective Examining a Body,” August 10, 1941
A pair of screen shots from a photo agency…

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Weegee Daily, August 11, 2013
WD Photo by Google Street View

To be continued…

Weegee Daily… August 6, 1941… Afterward, fishgum…

August 6, 2013
1941, Weegee Daily

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PM Daily, August 6, 1941
Afterward, business as usual: Replacing burned-out bulbs in the Wrigley sign.
PM Photos by Weegee

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Weegee Daily, August 6, 2013
Afterwork, business as usual: making photos, chewing fishgum, and (not) replacing (metaphorical) burned-out-compact-fluorescent bulbs…
WD Photos by Ceegee