Untitled (album frontispiece)

17 October 1874

Shoots Harry Larkyns at Calistoga

On 17 October 1874 Muybridge went to Calistoga and shot Larkyns at point-blank range, saying he had a message for him from his wife; Larkyns died that night, and Muybridge was arrested without protest and put in the Napa jail.

February 1875

The murder trial: Muybridge is acquitted

Muybridge was tried for murder in February 1875; Stanford had arranged his defence, and the attorney W. W. Pendegast pleaded insanity because of the head injury of 1860, although the defendant himself indicated that his actions had been deliberate. The jury acquitted him as having committed justifiable homicide, explaining that if the verdict was not in accordance with the law, it was in accordance with the law of human nature.

after February 1875

Central America: nine months of “working exile”

Shortly after his acquittal Muybridge left on a previously planned nine-month photography trip to Central America, now acting as a “working exile”; in Guatemala he advertised his works under the name “Eduardo Santiago Muybridge”. It is believed that shooting aboard a constantly rolling ship helped him develop his ability to take pictures more rapidly.

June 1878

It is revealed when a galloping horse leaves the ground

The pictures showed that a running horse has all four hooves in the air at regular intervals, not with its legs extended to front and back, as illustrators imagined, but when its legs are collected beneath its body as it switches from “pulling” with the front legs to “pushing” with the back legs.

15 June 1878

A demonstration for the press: a snapping strap caught in frame

For the session of 15 June 1878 the press and a selection of turf men were invited; an accident with a snapping strap was captured on the negatives and shown to the attendees, convincing even the most skeptical witnesses. The news of this success was reported worldwide.

8 July 1878

First projection of his photographs at the San Francisco Art Association

The Daily Alta California reported that Muybridge first exhibited magic-lantern projections of his photographs at the San Francisco Art Association on 8 July 1878. Newspapers could not yet reproduce detailed photographs, so the images were widely printed as woodcut engravings, and six series were soon published as cabinet cards titled “The Horse in Motion”.