Commentary
This crime report begins: ' An Account of a Murder that was committed in Bridgeton on Sunday morning last, the 16th March 1823. on the body of a young man, named Peter O'Niel, when 5 different wounds were made in his body, & the apprehension of a man charged with the murder.' It was published by Mayne & Co of Glasgow. This is an early report of sectarian violence in Glasgow. Peter O'Niel was apparently murdered when an argument about religious differences led to one gang challenging another to a fight. Around one hundred years later Bridgeton was demonised as one of the breeding grounds of the gang violence for which Glasgow became notorious in the 1920s. It is a reputation the area has struggled to throw off. 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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Date of publication:
1823 shelfmark: L.C.Fol.73(047)
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