Jesus Bruno Martinez en las Bartolinas de Belen. Ultimas Noticias de S. Juan de Ulua. Las Alhajas de Treffiel [caption title]

Mexico: Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, 1892. About very good.. Broadside, approximately 15.5 x 12 inches. Light edge wear and a few small chips. Light toning and dust soiling. A scarce popular news broadside, illustrated by José Guadalupe Posada, that relates the "ultimas noticias" concerning the imprisonment and impending execution of Jesús Bruno Martinez, a member of the notorious late 19th-century Mexican gang, "La Profesa." In 1892, the gang robbed a jewelry store in Mexico City, in the course of which Martinez fatally stabbed the jeweler. His trial, conviction, and execution aroused great public interest, and the various stages of his case, including an attempted escape from the Belen prison in San Juan de Ulúa, were the subject of several Arroyo-Posada news sheets. The present broadside carries a sharply printed Posada woodcut that depicts Martinez remonstrating with himself in his prison, supposedly ("mas ó menos") after being informed of the rejection of the appeal against his death sentence. The text discusses a sudden illness befalling two of the other incarcerated gang members the discovery of the stolen jewels and money in the home of a confederate, and prints the lyrics of a song that imagines Martinez's prison lamentations.
Tyler, Posada's Mexico 116.