Authentic Particulars of the Most Horrible Murder! Of an Old..

1834. 14-1/2" x 9" (37 x 22.8 cm). 14-1/2" x 9" (37 x 22.8 cm). "The Most Horrible and Determined Murder That was Ever Committed in This Country" [Broadside]. Ward, James [b. 1788 or 1789]. Authentic Particulars of the Most Horrible Murder! Of an Old Greenwich Pensioner, Named Bailey, Who was Stabbed to the Heart, By James Ward, Another Pensioner. London: Printed by G. Smeeton, [1834]. 14-1/2" x 9" (37 x 22.8 cm) broadside, text in double columns below headline. Light browning, faint offsetting in places, small tear to left margin not affecting text. Rare. $1,750. * Ward was accused of stabbing Bailey, his roommate at Greenwich Hospital (a workhouse-like residential facility for retired seamen). A hospital doctor testified that Ward was under the influence of a severe fever at the time of the murder, and based on this broadside's account, it almost certainly altered his mental state. When he was asked "how it was the knife was so clean...He said, 'why, I licked it clean with my tongue.'" Ward was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity. OCLC locates 2 copies of this broadside (British Library, Newberry Library). No further copies located by Library Hub or by us in institutional catalogues.