In 18th-century London the gallows at Tyburn was the dramatic focus of a struggle between the rich and the poor. Most of the London hanged were executed for property crimes, and the chief lesson that the gallows had to teach was respect private property. The executions took place amid a London populace that knew the same poverty and hunger as the condemned. Indeed, this account shows how there was little distinction between a criminal population and the poor population of London as a whole.