A traveling side-show "Crime Museum"

Photographer Jack Delano took this photo of a traveling side-show in March of 1941. It was supposed to be a "Crime Museum".

Construction workers who were working on the building of Ft. Bragg in North Carolina were the source of income for a variety of people. "Gas stations, barbecue stands, and amusement centers" followed the workers - as well as Claud Thornton's traveling crime museum. Delano described the crime museum as "consisting of dilapidated effigies of famous criminals run by an old shell-shocked World War veteran."

It's an interesting "museum" - showing Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger and other well-known criminals of the day. Then there are George Washington and Joe Louis who were examples of "what you may become if you go straight". A little preaching with the show!