Man at an upper window, Carthage Jail, Illinois — Underwood & Underwood

A man in a dark coat leans from an open upper window, resting one hand on the sill. The paired photographs show the jail’s east wall at close range: rough-faced masonry, white-painted window frames, projecting wooden additions, and dense climbing vegetation around the lower windows.

The printed caption identifies the building as the jail at Carthage, Illinois, and the upper window as the one “where Joseph Smith was shot and from which he fell.” The photograph records the site rather than the event; the man at the window is not identified. The publisher’s view number, (20), precedes the caption.

Published by Underwood & Underwood on a gray mount bearing the firm’s publisher and works-and-studios imprints, together with its Sun Sculpture trademark. The copyright line reads “Copyright 1904 by Underwood & Underwood.” This establishes the stated copyright year, not necessarily the date of exposure. The reverse is unprinted, with only a faint, illegible pencil notation at the upper right.