MONTGOMERY COURTHOUSE MYSTERY PHOTO

A most unusual photo was recently submitted by Bob Curtis. Perhaps our site visitors can enlighten him as to the story behind this old card. If you have info about an incident that might have happened by the Courthouse and jail around 1909 please contact Bob.

"I wonder if you might be able to help me identify the scene shown in a postcard that I purchased recently. It is of the black and white "real photo" variety. From the stamp box, I believe it dates from somewhere between 1904 and 1918. It's slightly blurry and skewed, as if it was taken hastily. From my travels, I recognize the side of the beautiful old Montgomery County Courthouse, and the back of the brick building next door (a jail?). There are eight or nine men in suits milling around between the buildings. There's an irregular hole in the brick building at about second floor level with a rope or cable hanging from it.

The card was sold as a view of an outhouse, which is in the foreground, but this doesn't make sense to me. Could this be a shot of a jail break, or is there a more mundane explanation? There's no writing on the back other than the date 1909 written in pencil.

I'm originally from Upstate New York, and I have a particular attachment to the Mohawk Valley. I'd appreciate any information that you or any of your colleagues might be able to provide."

Yours,

Bob Curtis

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