wfgodot
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Interesting read from Daily Oklahoman:
Murals of the “Mad Artist” of McAlester finally being restored
For more than half a century, four murals painted by a murder convict at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary hung in the prison’s
rotunda. After decades of deterioration, and several more of being stored in a shed, those murals are finally being restored.
From the Oklahoman, 1982:
Early Day Inmate a Real Con Artist
Murals of the “Mad Artist” of McAlester finally being restored
For more than half a century, four murals painted by a murder convict at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary hung in the prison’s
rotunda. After decades of deterioration, and several more of being stored in a shed, those murals are finally being restored.
much more at the linkThe state was still known as Oklahoma Territory when the stone mason turned butcher put his wife’s body through his meat grinders in an attempt to hide her body from authorities, so the story goes. The German-born son of nobles was shunned by his family for marrying a common woman, and tensions were said to have started early in the marriage, although reportedly due to religious differences.
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Exactly why he chose to kill her and sell her remains to his customers is still unclear. He seemed to rarely speak at length, offering little insight.
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Little was known of the quiet German other than his horrific crime, but perhaps a Kansas Department of Corrections document offered prison staff in Oklahoma one clue as to what was to come: an inmate count sheet, upon which one line read: “Conrad Maass, occupation: portrait painter.”
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From the Oklahoman, 1982:
Early Day Inmate a Real Con Artist