Young Johnson

DESCRIPTION: Johnson is accused of forging a bill, or his uncle's will. He is tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged. The ladies offer five or ten thousand pounds for his life but the jury cannot free him. At his death he bows and bids his companions farewell.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1435))
KEYWORDS: crime execution trial death gallows-confession
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "YOUNG JOHNSON"
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 142, "Young Johnson" (1 text)
Roud #12718
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1435), "Young Johnson the Handsome Man of Maidstone" ("Come all you wild young men a warning take by me"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also 2806 c.18(222), Harding B 25(495), "On the Death of Young Johnston"; Harding B 25(2136), Firth c.17(301), Harding B 11(714), "Young Johnson"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hughie Grame" [Child 191] (theme of ransoming condemned prisoner)
cf. "Geordie" [Child 209] (theme of ransoming condemned prisoner)
File: ReCi142

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