: HANGED TODAY IN HISTORY (April 5): Wealthy barrister Arundel Cooke coveted his wife’s family estate … but alas, she had a brother. So he hired John Woodburne to help him solve that problem … with a knife. Alas, the two of them were almost as incompetent at murder, as Mr. Cooke turned out to be as a lawyer (1722) … also, a devout father who murdered his children to save them from eternal hellfire after his wife started bringing them to the “wrong” church.08:10: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLEET-STREET, Chapter 96, 96, and 97: Todd seems inclined to take out his frustration on Johanna, but he settles down when a couple customers come in. The second customer tips her off discreetly that her father is across the street, so she goes right over as soon as she’s sent away for breakfast, and they reunite. Then Sir Richard gives her two pistols and tells her the plan: Two officers will be hiding in the shop. Meanwhile, he has some business he has to wrap up at St. Dunstan’s church … or, rather, underneath it. 43:40: HORRID BROADSIDE: “Trial, Sentence, and Execution of ROBERT BLAKESLEY, for the Wilful Murder of JAMES BURDON, in Eastcheap.” (1841) This murder was the sad result of a psychotic break by a mentally unwell man who, while raving and trying to reach his wife of three months with a knife, fatally stabbed his brother-in-law, who was trying to protect her from him.GLOSSARY OF EARLY-VICTORIAN SLANG USED IN THIS EPISODE:CANARY BIRDS: Prisoners. CONVEYANCERS: Practitioners of larcenous enterprises, from theft to the fencing of stolen goods. KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows running amok late at night in fields and ditches, trying to stagger home. TOPPING COVES: Executioners — specifically, hangmen, as “topped” is Flash-cant slang for “hanged” even though it sounds like it ought to refer to decapitation.KNIGHTS OF THE BLADE: Swaggering companions who are boastful of their prowess and may also claim a military rank — Captain, Major, Colonel — that they don’t really have a right to.