New York Times Historical Database

T-ref@evpl — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:41:00 GMT

The New York Times Historical (1851-2004) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. It is available through our databases pages and can be accessed outside of the library with an EVPL library card. I received a call today asking for information about Jesse Walker, an Evansville native who committed a crime in New York in 1919 and was subsequently sent to Sing Sing Prison and excuted. Although I couldn't find any articles in our Evansville newspaper index, I was able to find his obituary in the Browning Genealogy Database. The Browning Genealogy Database is the lifetime work of Charles Browning, who compiled the obituary records of Vanderburgh County and surrounding southwestern Indiana from Evansville newspapers. Here is an example of a citation from the New York Times Historical:

BOY MURDERER DIES IN SING SING CHAIR; United States Senators Fail to Win Commutation for Jesse Walker. LAST WORDS FOR MOTHER Companion Also Under Death Sentence for Killing Stationer in Attempt at Robbery.Special to The New York Times. February 11, 1921, Friday Page 7, 567 words.

OSSINING, N.Y., Feb. 10.--Last-minute efforts of influential persons failing to obtain a reprieve, Jesse Walker. 20 years old, of Evansville, Ind., a sallor veteran of the war, was put to death in the electric chair at Sing Sing tonight, [ END OF FIRST PARAGRAPH ]

Research Blog : Jesse Walker

New York Times Historical Database