Portraits of the Nicely Brothers.

After a recent post about the Nicely Brothers, who were hanged for the coldblooded murder of Herman Umberger in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania in 1889, I was contacted by Rick Carbone who told me he had some old photographs of the Nicelys. Rick was kind enough to share these portraits of Josiah G. “Joseph” Nicely and David C. Nicely:

Josiah G. “Joseph” Nicely

David C. Nicely

It was common at the time, to sell photographs, mounted on card stock, as souvenirs of sensational murders. These portraits were produced in Indiana, Pennsylvania, near the site of the Umberger murder. They were obviously the models for the drawings below, published in the Somerset Herald at the time of the hangings - it is interesting to note that the artist did not exaggerate Joe’s mustache.

More on the Nicelys here: The Nicely Brothers.
More on murder portraits here: Souvenirs of Murder.