"Hanging in County Jail Yard, 1876" Stereograph of William Adin's execution for killing Barbara Adin (his wife), Hattie McKay (his stepdaughter), and Elizabeth Benton (her friend), in Cleveland on June 22, 1876

Photograph mounted to card with orange coating, approx. 4 x 7 inches. Verso stamped "Printed from copy negative / photographer unknown" and labeled in green pen "Hanging in County Jail Yard 1876." The photograph corresponds to an image from the Ohio Historical Society collection of Cleveland photographs that identifies it as the execution of William Adin, a ticketed event that was photographed by Jerry Green, a local photographer known to produce and sell stereoviews (Cleveland Evening Post, June 22 1876, p.4)

William Adin was a moderately successful expressman in Cleveland. He owned a grocery store, which his wife operated, and was said to have an unremarkable disposition until he went "sour" when his step-daughter, Hattie McKay, reached womanhood. According to Hattie, Adin made several "unsuccessful attempts" to "ruin" her, before publicly claiming she was a prostitute and a thief, trying to get her fired from her job in a millinery shop. Meanwhile, he had also become paranoid that his wife, Barbara, was stealing from him, and complained to anyone who would listen about his grudges against them. He became nasty in public, and violent and abusive at home.

On December 3, 1874, William Adin threatened to kill Barbara and Hattie after breaking down a door in their house. The two women fled. Hattie stayed with a friend, Elizabeth Benton, and carried on an independent life. Barbara petitioned for a divorce that she did not receive, and in a few months, was living with him again.

On December 4, 1875, William Adin killed Barbara with an ax and a claw hammer in the morning. He hid her body behind a screen, then rode across town to demand Hattie come live with him, then beat her to death when she refused. When Hattie's friend Elizabeth walked in on the event, he beat her, too, although Elizabeth survived long enough to give her account of what happened.

It was summed up in countless headlines, like “William Adin, an Expressman, Chops His Wife to Death With an Ax. And Then Beats His Step-Daughter and Her Friend Till They Cannot Live” Cleveland Leader, December 6, 1875.

In the present day, the murder of these women is a hook for a spooky walking tour: "Visit the house where in 1875, William Adin hacked his wife to death with an ax, then proceeded to ride across town and kill two more women with a hammer." It's described in the sensational genre of local history, "for sheer cussedness, mayhem and gore galore, there is nothing to beat William Adin’s triple murder bloodbath." (See: By the Neck Until Dead by John Bellamy II, who has written extensively about Adin).

The very stylized handwriting on the back of the stereoview card is notably the same as the caption on the photo at the Ohio Historical Society that gives the full date: June 22, 1876, connecting it to Adin. The circumstances of the reprints are unknown, but if they were being created for small-time commercial purposes, omitting Adin's name would have created a broader market amongst consumers eager to speculate about the subjects of macabre mementos.

There may be irony in the fluctuation of value associated with Adin's name, but there is none in the timelessness of a "ghastly" tale in which, at minimum, a man says he is going to kill two women, and then does. And then one more. The walking tour costs $20, plus a processing fee.