Broadside offering a reward for the capture of George Fachney

Commentary

This broadside begins: 'HUY and CRY FOR APPREHENDING GEORGE FACHNEY Professor of Gaming and one of the subaltern Officers in Collonel Caldwell's new levied Regiment of Robbers / By John Dalgliesh, Lockman of Edinburgh.'

Dalglish, or Dalgliesh (there are two different spellings on the broadside), was 'lockman' or hangman of Edinburgh, and this versified offer of a reward for George Fachney's arrest, 'alive or dead', is appropriately attributed to him. It was actually written by Alexander Pennicuik (d.1730), a burgess of Edinburgh who wrote poetry in the style of Allan Ramsay (1686-1758).

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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