Life, Trial and Execution, Of Serafin Manzano, For the Wilful..

1860. An Unrecorded Account of a Brutal Wiltshire Murder [Broadside]. [Execution]. Manazano, Serafin [d.1860]. Life, Trial and Execution, Of Serafin Manzano, For the Wilful Murder of Mrs. Trowbridge, An Old Woman 62 Years of Age, At Ashcombe, Wilts. Who was Executed in Front of the Gaol at Devizes. Devizes [Wiltshire]: West, Printer, [1860]. 19-1/2" x 9-3/4" broadside, text in triple columns below headline and woodcut vignette of execution, woodcut portrait in middle of second column, four columns of verse below text. Moderate toning, light creasing and soiling, a few small stains to left edge. Rare. $2,250. * Manzano, a Spaniard, was charged with the brutal murder of Anastasia Trowbridge. The motive may have been robbery, as Manzano took a number of pieces of clothing when he left which were used to identify and apprehend him. At trial, his defense counsel "complained that everything had been done to excite prejudice against him" after photographs of Manzano with a policeman were prominently displayed in town and the sheriff's chaplain gave a sermon that assumed his guilt. The jury convicted him after deliberating for less than an hour and he was hanged. This broadside appears to be unrecorded. No copies located on OCLC or LibraryHub. Not at Harvard or the British Library. (Inventory #: 80736)