Booth was one of the last people to be sentenced to death in England for forgery.
The Prolific Forger
Booth was finally hanged at Stafford for his crimes and was to suffer
terribly, as this account from The Star for 20th August, 1812 makes clear:
“On Sat. Aug. 15, about 12 o’clock, William Booth was brought upon the
scaffold to suffer the punishment due to his crimes; he acknowledged the
justice of his sentence. A most distressing occurrence took place at the
time of his execution, the rope slipping, he fell to the ground and many
people thought he was dead, but the unfortunate man got up and fell on his knees, praying for mercy for his misdeeds. The assistants then prepared the scaffold again, but owing to a mistake the drop remained fast, when Booth gave the signal for it to fall, and it was not until much force had been applied that the drop fell. The number of people who attended was not so numerous as was expected, but all appeared much shocked at the sufferings of the poor malefactor.”
