Trials & Execution of Chas. Melford, & Wm. Melford, brothers; Jeremiah Sullivan, Thomas Chapman, & Wm. Johnson, Who were Executed in Front of the Old Bailey this Morning

Execution broadside printed with an account of the crimes, trial and execution of the brothers Charles and William Melford (aged 17 and 21) and Jeremiah Sullivan (aged 28) convicted of burglary and Thomas Chapman (aged 28) and William Johnson (aged 30) convicted of horse theft who were publicly executed at the Old Bailey in 1828. The broadside, printed by Thomas Birt, includes a generic woodcut engraving of the crowd before the gallows.
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.