Murder

Broadsides were a business, and nothing sells better than tales of violent murder! "Horrid," "barbarous," “inhuman” were frequently used to describe these violent crimes. Often the writer of the broadside made up details of the crime when information was not available. The more sensationalised the writers could make a murder, the better a broadside might sell. In particular, the infamous string of murders in Edinburgh by Burke and Hare get particular attention, with over a dozen broadsides mentioning their names.