Broadside entitled 'Executions In Paisley'

Commentary

This account begins: 'With some of its observations on the infrequency of these occurrences here the Glasgow Chronicle took occasion to favour us last week.' No publication details have been included.

The author of this piece appears to be criticising an article that appeared in the 'Glasgow Chronicle', in which the residents of Paisley were accused of savouring the spectacle of an execution. What then follows is a detailed chronological account of the executions that occurred in Paisley, from the early seventeenth century until the execution of John Craig and James Brown in 1829. A large number of those punished during the seventeenth century appear to have been victims of the notorious witch-hunts that were taking place at this time.

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.

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