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Gangs of New York

Tough Enough: Teen Criminal Mugshots from 100 Years Ago

Okay, maybe it’s just me that does this, but occasionally I love perusing the document archives of the New York Department of Records, a treasure trove of municipal maps and photography from the past.

Buried amid the grisly crime photographs and disaster images are an interesting array of mugshots.  With little information attached, we can only try to figure out the lives of these people through their clothing and expressions.

Below I present to you a few of the junior mugshots from the Department of Records, those teenagers and young adults who commits a host of unknown crimes between 1910 and 1920. Try and imagine what their lives might have been like, what might have driven them to commit the crimes in which they were captured, or whether were even guilty at all. Whatever happened to these young men? If I can find more information on them, I’ll update this post.

I’m linking directly from the Department of Records, so you can click into each entry and drag the images around. Please give it a few seconds to load. Their website is a bit tricky.

Name: L. Rose
Taken: 1916-1920
 

Name: Louis Cohen
 Taken: 1916-1920

Name: Benny Stern
Taken: August 13, 1913

 Name: “Wolf”
 Taken: 1916-1920

Name: Unknown
 Taken: 1916-1920

Name: Jone
Taken: 1916-1920

Name: Goffe
Taken: 1916-1920

Name: McAvoy
Taken: 1916-1920

Name: Unknown
Taken: March 17, 1911
Name: W. Dorsch
Taken: 1916-1920

3 replies on “Tough Enough: Teen Criminal Mugshots from 100 Years Ago”

Fascinating! “Wolf” — is that a nickname or an alias? And he’s so young! Love to read any add’l info if you find it. When I visited Sydney a few years ago, the Justice and Police Museum had an exhibit of police photos which were really interesting b/c instead of standard mugshots, those arrested were allowed to pose however they wanted, and they obliged. Anyway, great stuff, thanks again.

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