Editors Note: Yes, we know it is not Monday. The Out of the Box staff had a technical glitch this afternoon and accidentally published Monday’s post today. We will have a new, non-mug shot post on Monday.
This is the latest entry in a series of posts highlighting inmate mug shots in the records of the Virginia Penitentiary. Theodore Gibson’s mug shots caught my attention because they showed how much he aged in prison. When I researched his case, I was shocked by what I found.
Photograph of Theodore Gibson, #32872, 25 October 1934
Records of the Virginia Penitentiary, Series II. Prisoner Records, Subseries B. Photographs, box 23, accession 41558, state records collection, Library of Virginia
In the early morning of Thursday, 18 October 1934, William H. Woodfield, a 71-year-old night watchman for the coal yard of W.A. Smoot and Company in Alexandria, was murdered. Woodfield’s skull was crushed with a hammer. No money was stolen but Woodfield’s watch was missing. On Tuesday, October 23, acting on an anonymous tip, the Alexandria police arrested 25-year-old Theodore Gibson. He confessed to the killing two days later. Gibson stated that he was walking through the coal yard when he was accosted by Woodfield who ordered him to leave the yard. Woodfield struck him, Gibson claimed, so he grabbed a small sledge hammer and hit Woodfield in the head twice. Gibson dragged the body 50 feet and fled.
The speed of Gibson’s legal proceedings, according to the Washington Post, was “believed to be a record for administering justice in Alexandria.” That is an understatement. Two days after his arrest, Gibson was indicted by a special grand jury, arraigned in the Alexandria Corporation Court, tried and sentenced to life imprisonment – all within one hour and five minutes! Gibson was received at the Virginia Penitentiary the same day. I did not find any record of Gibson being pardoned or paroled so I assume he died in prison.
Next Week: Preston Waters and Alfred Williams
-Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist
