Broadside regarding the last dying words of Elizabeth Warriner

Commentary

This broadside begins: 'THE LAST DYING WORDS, SPEECH, & CONFESSION OF ELIZABETH WARRINER, Who was Convicted at the last Lincoln Assizes, for the Horrid Murder of her Step-Son, J. Warriner, by poison, and who was Executed at the City of Lincoln, on Saturday the 27th of Oct. 1821.' It was printed by John Muir of Glasgow and probably sold for one penny.

The story of Elizabeth Warriner and her execution in Lincoln for the grisly murder of her 12 year old stepson, J. Warriner, must have sparked a lot of interest for it to be picked up by a Glasgow publisher. Generally broadside producers specialised in publishing local news and reports for the local market. This broadside, however, indicates that even at a time when travelling long distances was time consuming and often troublesome, stories of such heinous crimes managed to transcend such difficulties.

Reports recounting dark and salacious deeds were popular with the public, and, like today's sensationalist tabloids, sold in large numbers. Crimes could generate sequences of sheets covering descriptive accounts, court proceedings, last words, lamentations and executions as they occurred. As competition was fierce, immediacy was paramount, and these occasions provided an opportunity for printers and patterers to maximise sales.

previous