“I am doomed to die, my glass is run, For the murder of my darling son.” 225 Murder of a Wife near Hastings 226 Lamentation of John Fletcher and Ann Lawrence, who now lie under Sentence of Death at Maidstone Gaol 227 Execution of Michael Barrett for the Wilful Murder of Sarah Jane Hodgkinson, one of the Sufferers of the Clerkenwell Explosion 228 ---- of Allen, Gould, and Larkins, for the Murder of Sergeant Brett 229 The Last Moments and Confession of Wm. Sheward 230 Execution of John Devine, for the Murder of Joseph Duck at Marylebone 231 ---- of Martin Brown, for the Diabolical Murder on Newmarket Hill, near Lewes 232 ---- of A. Mackay, for the Murder of Mrs. Grossmith 233 Shocking Murder of a Wife and Six Children 234 Execution of John Gregson, for the Murder of his Wife at Liverpool 235 ---- of F. Hinson, for the Murder of Maria Death 236 ---- of J. Rutterford, at Bury St. Edmunds, for the Murder of J. Hight 237 Blank Leaves for mounting other Examples of “GALLOWS LITERATURE” A COLLECTION OF “COCKS,” OR “CATCHPENNIES.” “The common people are to be caught by the ears as one catches a pot by the handle.” [Illustration] [Illustration] DIVISION I. A COLLECTION OF “COCKS,” OR “CATCHPENNIES,” STREET DROLLERIES, SQUIBS, HISTORIES, COMIC TALES IN PROSE AND VERSE. “COCKS--fictitious narratives, in verse or prose, of murders, fires, and terrible accidents, sold in the streets as true accounts. The man who hawks them, a patterer, often changes the scene of the awful event to suit the taste of the neighbourhood he is trying to delude. Possibly a corruption of COOK, a cooked statement, or, as a correspondent suggests, the COCK LANE ghost may have given rise to the term. This had a great run, and was a rich harvest to the running stationers.”--HOTTEN’S SLANG DICTIONARY.