The Hands of Death
The Depression years were tailor-made made for the lurid noir pages of the New York Daily News. Every day, they offered readers new stories, ranging from the dreary lives of the impoverished to the frivolous lives of the celebrated. They offered vivid pictures of life, from inescapably ugly moments to magnificently beautiful ones - and of death, often steeped in tragic failure, but occasionally bedecked with dazzling accomplishment.
Now and then, Hicksville - either the village itself or, as in this case, the Aviation Country Club - provided suitable fodder:
His head hanging forward, the dying pilot sits in his cockpit.
New York Daily, News June 6, 1930
New York Daily News, December 31, 1931
There were many ways in which people could die during the nadir of the Depression. The Daily News regularly focused on three that were too commonplace. Each day, it published year-to-date totals of New York City deaths that had been attributed to automobile collisions, to improperly distilled (and not only illegal, but also poisonous) alcohol, and to gunfire.
New York Daily News, December 10, 1929
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Although Hicksville was not big, now and then its stories managed to push the City off the front page, as each of these did:
The body of Pretty Steve Sweeney, a victim of his own gang,
lies dumped on the grounds of the Aviation Country Club.
New York Daily News, December 22, 1930
Presumably, photographers all over Long Island kept one ear
open for nearby sirens, so that they could photograph mishaps
before the bodies were removed, and send the film to the News.
New York Daily News, October 17, 1932
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