Description
1824 Broadside Execution and Dissection of Body
‘Trial And Sentence Of Dan M’Donald Elphinston Before the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, on Monday the 21st of June, for the Murder of his Mother-in-Law, by Stabbing her with a knife, in Libberton’s Wynd, in March last, when he was sentenced to be Executed at Edinburgh on Wednesday the 28th day of July next, and his body to be given for dissection.’
Original 1824 broadside announcing the execution and body dissection of Dan M’Donald Elphinston for the crime of murder. Execution broadsides, often called a ‘dying speech,’ were single sided sheets that were cheap and speedy to produce. They were used for popular or ‘street’ literature, and were commonly sold on the street by hawkers and peddlers — street performers in their own right — and cost a halfpenny or a penny. The broadsides themselves were often produced by printers who specialized in them. No gory detail was spared. The writers were motivated to make a quick penny and thus embellished their stories for shock value, much like the tabloids of today. They were printed to be read and posted up in public places. This copy was archived by the printer John Muir as part of his permanent records.
Noteworthy reference to the use of executed bodies for medical dissection. Grave robbing was notorious across Europe as an answer to the lack of cadavers for medical study because of outdated restrictive legislation. Executed prisoners were often the only legal means to obtain corpses.
6.5 x 11 inch broadside on original period mount to 9.5 x 15 inch sheet.
