Execution of John Jones, Alias Owens, At Aylesbury, For the Murder..

1870. London: H. Disley Printer [1870] 19-1/4" x 14-1/4. London: H. Disley Printer [1870] 19-1/4" x 14-1/4" The Second Known Copy [Broadside]. [Execution]. Jones, John [d.1870]. Execution of John Jones, Alias Owens, At Aylesbury, For the Murder of 7 Persons at Denham, On May 22nd. London: H[enry] Disley, Printer, [1870]. 19-1/4" x 14-1/4" (49 x 36 cm) broadside mounted to backing sheet, main text in four columns below headline, central woodcut vignette spanning middle columns, woodcut vignettes and verses in five columns below text. Moderate toning, horizontal and vertical fold lines, light foxing to backing sheet and top portion of broadside, small tear to center of broadside with minor loss to vignette, small piece of cellotape and adhesive residue to backing sheet. $3,850. * Jones (also Jenkins or Owens) was a blacksmith in Uxbridge. A "wild dissolute character," he was no stranger to the law: on his release from prison for theft in 1869, he allegedly told two wardens that he was owed money and would kill to get it. In May of 1870, he beat Emanuel Marshall and Marshall's wife, mother, sister and three children to death. He was apprehended wearing Marshall's clothes and had pawned a watch and chain from the house. The most striking aspect of this broadside is the central image of Jones at the gallows surrounded by high walls and barbed wire. Following the Capital Punishment Amendment Act of 1868, public executions were banned, and the act stipulated that prisoners sentenced to death for murder be executed within the prison walls and buried on prison grounds. The act was thanks in large part to reformers like Charles Dickens and Sir Robert Peel who thought public executions barbaric and grotesque. This broadside is rare and appears to be unrecorded. No copies listed on OCLC or Library Hub. We located a copy at the Thames Valley Police Museum in Berkshire England, which has an exhibit dedicated to that case. For an account of this case see Watson, The Denham Massacre.