[Letter to the Editor of the Daily Graphic]

Unknown

1927 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

Four-year-old William "Billy" Gaffney disappeared from his apartment building in Brooklyn on February 11, 1927, along with a playmate. Although the other child was found unharmed shortly thereafter, Billy Gaffney was not, and his case captured the attention of New York City via its newspapers for many years. In 1934 Albert Hamilton Fish confessed to kidnapping and murdering Gaffney after a witness to the crime identified him. This intriguing photograph documents a letter sent to the editor of New York's Daily Graphic newspaper over a month after the disappearance was publicized and is an example of a photograph made for evidentiary purposes. The letter, which includes a small sketch of a pair of human eyes that substitute for its author's signature, describes the perpetrator as a "short fellow" who was paid to commit the crime. However, Fish, a tall man who was already elderly by 1927, had apparently not been motivated by money.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1927

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Funds from various donors, 2001