Broadside entitled 'Trial & Sentence'

Commentary

This report begins: 'Account of the Trial and Sentence of Mrs. COCKER, who travelled the country with a show, accused of the Murder of her own Daughter, a girl about 9 years of age, in the parish of Kilbarchan, on the 20th of September last, by wounding her in various parts of the body, and afterwards throwing her into the Cart; she was tried at Edinburgh on Monday last, the 7th of June, 1824.' The sheet was published by William Carse of Glasgow, who is listed as working from various addresses in Glasgow between 1820 and 1836.

This broadside reports on a murder trial in which a mother was accused of killing her nine-year-old daughter, then flinging her body into a nearby river. Although the mother pleaded not guilty and the jury returned an ambiguous not proven verdict, the accused was held in jail so that a full investigation could be carried out. The reason for her further detainment was the behaviour of her six-year-old son, who had run away because of the mother's harsh treatment of her children. The family were entertainers, who travelled the market towns of the country to perform at fairs.

Broadsides are single sheets of paper, printed on one side, to be read unfolded. They carried public information such as proclamations as well as ballads and news of the day. Cheaply available, they were sold on the streets by pedlars and chapmen. Broadsides offer a valuable insight into many aspects of the society they were published in, and the National Library of Scotland holds over 250,000 of them.

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