Press Photograph of Mrs. Bessie Opas, conspired to kill her husband ("Woman Behind Bars")

New York: International News Photos, Inc., 1933. 6.5 x 8.5 inches with stub of press text attached and stamped on verso. Light surface soil and wear, fading to text.

Chicago, June 24, 1933. A rather compelling photograph of Mrs. Bessie Opas, who was found guilty of conspiring to kill her husband for the insurance money, with the caption: "Despite the dramatic gesture of her husband, who strode across the court room and embraced her immediately after the jury had taken up the question of her alleged conspiracy to kill him, the young woman, Mrs. Marion Opas, was found guilty after the jury had been out less than an hour..."

The press dubbed her "Gold Tooth Bessie" when Mr. Opas finally divorced her over the financial burden--the murder plot had been more easily forgiven. ("Wife's Murder Plot, Theft and Lawyer Fees Prove Too Much," Chicago Daily News July 7, 1933). A compelling image of Mrs. Opas' shrewdness, posed as if in a pastoral scene of a girl at a window or a fence, wearing a frilly, sheer blouse with short ruffled sleeves, staring contemplatively with a devilish smirk—or staring devilishly with a contemplative smirk. Only she knows.