The picture, of a coat and a hat, was one of seven taken that afternoon at the Latin Lounge. But why?

Hours earlier, someone had fatally stabbed a man identified as Edward Curbreia, 32, in the bar, on Broadway at West 100th Street in Manhattan. It was Feb. 1, 1959, and two detectives arrived at the scene — in car 1514, according to a meticulously kept logbook — with their big, tripod-mounted camera. They took a picture of the busy block (a sign in a neighboring grocer’s window advertised a special on smoked tongue: 39 cents a pound) and others inside the bar and its bloodstained bathroom. The detectives carried various flashbulbs that would have popped as they lit up the dark room.

The coat check closet must have caught someone’s eye. Inside were a single hat and coat, each one with a chip, No. 38.

The detectives set up the camera. Pop.

The Latin Lounge photos were among thousands taken from 1914 to 1975 by officers assigned to the New York Police Department’s photo units. Later, when the cases were closed, the photos were boxed up and stored in various places, including, most recently, a basement room at 1 Police Plaza.