Comments on: Account of the cruel and barbarous murder...

Account of the cruel and barbarous murder...

thomas j wise — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:20:27 -0800

Dying Speeches & Bloody Murders digitizes over five hundred broadsides owned by the Harvard Law Library, all of them devoted to "last dying speeches"--that is, sensational accounts of crime, punishment, and (fictional) confession, intended to be sold at public executions. The New York State Historical Association has an online exhibition devoted to nineteenth-century American murder pamphlets. You can find a couple of seventeenth-century examples at the Early Modern Web and the Folger Library. Old Bailey Online briefly puts this literature into context. (Main link via C18-L.)

By: Item

Item — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:32:31 -0800

My inner serial killer thanks you.

By: Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:39:41 -0800

Wow, these are fascinating. Thanks for the links.

By: subbes

subbes — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:41:48 -0800

Instantly favorited by this rubbernecking ghoul. Awesome!

By: Mblue

Mblue — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:47:20 -0800

Grue approves.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:02:55 -0800

Wow. Just, wow.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:04:17 -0800

Ah, thomas j wise, we don't see enough of your posts, but when they surface, they are always gems. Thanks for these great links.

By: jonson

jonson — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:04:05 -0800

Awesome. tjwise, you rock.

By: LarryC

LarryC — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:54:32 -0800

Great post. Thought to make it clear the first link is to English broadsides, though a handful of them deal with American crimes. The American equivalent was most often 8 to 24 page little books usually called "gallows narratives." Typically a condemned prisoner would be interviewed by a minister who would record the wretch's life story in the first person and publish a quickie little book with a title something like "The Awful Narrative of Larry C, a Sailor, Who did Kill a Snarker and Was Hung on January 5th." The booklets would dwell on the crimes and sins of the malefactor with salacious detail, then conclude (usually) with a formulaic confession and acknowledgment of God's justice. They were the trash literature of the colonial and early national period. I am surprised that I cannot find any online.

By: CitizenD

CitizenD — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:35:45 -0800

tjwise, thanks!!

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 12:49:00 -0800

Fantastic post, thanks!

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 14:49:54 -0800

Love your erudite and interesting posts thomas j wise. Now that I know about the destructive personality disorders (NPD, ASPD, BPD and HPD) forming in the first six years of life, usually as a result of being abused as a child (a combination of both nature and nurture). I can't help wondering how crimes, such as those depicted in these fascinating documents, would be perceived throughout history with that information.