James Snook

James Snook medal table
Sport shooting
United States
Olympic Summer Games
gold	Antwerp 1920	Army revolver 30 m (M)
gold	Antwerp 1920	Army revolver 50 m (M)
World championships
gold	Camp Perry 1913	Free pistol (M)

James Howard Snook (born September 17, 1879 in South Lebanon , † February 28, 1930 in Columbus ) was an American sports marksman .

successes

James Snook took part in the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp . With the army revolver, he was Olympic champion in the team competitions over 30 and over 50 m , both competitions were won by the American team by a larger margin. Karl Frederick , Alfred Lane and Michael Kelly were among his competitors in both teams, while Raymond Bracken in the 30m competition and Louis Harant over 50m were part of the contest. 1913 Snook was in the discipline free pistol in Camp Perry with the team champion .

Murder charges and the death penalty

Snook graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in veterinary medicine in 1908 . In 1920 he became a professor in this subject at the OSU , and two years later he married. In the mid-1920s, he began an affair with student Theora Hix, with whom he lived in an apartment near the university. In June 1929 there was an argument between the two: according to Snook, Hix threatened to kill his wife and daughter if he did not separate from his wife. When Hix suddenly reached into her pocket, Snook feared she would pull out the revolver he had given her, whereupon he knocked her down with a hammer. Finally he cut her throat with a penknife. On August 14, 1929, a jury found him guilty of murder after only 28 minutes of deliberation , and the presiding judge imposed the death penalty . This was carried out on February 28, 1930 with the electric chair . Snook was the only American Olympian to date to be executed.

Web links

• James Snook in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• James Snook at Ohio State University (English, archive link)