The execution and dying behaveour of James Mitchel and W.Hollins who was executed this morning at the old bailey

Execution broadside with a woodcut engraving of the gallows entitled 'The execution and dying behaveour of James Mitchel and W.Hollins who was executed this morning at the old bailey'. The broadside describes the crimes, trials and execution of William Henry Hollins found guilty of the murder of Elizabeth Pilchen, servant to Cartwright of Lower Grosvenor Street and James Mitchel found guilty of the murder of Miss M. Welshman of Mount Street in 1814.
Until 1868 public hangings were a popular form of entertainment for the London crowd. Such occasions provided an opportunity for cheap printers and street vendors to 'turn a penny on the street' by selling accounts of the crimes, trial and 'dying speeches' of executed criminals as souvenirs to the baying spectactors. As soon as the trap fell the street vendors began running amongst the crowd selling the broadsides. Execution broadsides were published by a small number of printers many of whom, such as Thomas Birt, James Catnach and James Pitts were based around the Seven Dials area of London. Spelling and grammar was often poor and the details not always accurate. Although ususally printed between the end of the trial and the date of the execution (usually a gap of a few weeks) they could be quickly changed to accomodate last minute information such as reprieves and dying confessions. The printers often used battered woodcuts, and, for the gallows scene, used a stock block with a pierced central section to allow the sex and required number of hanging figures to be changed as required. Female criminals were depicted by using a block for a male figure, cut square at the knee to represent a skirt.