This niggun is from Slovita, which is a town that is famous for a printing press. The printing press was originally founded by Reb Moshe Shapiro, the Rabbi of the town. This Reb Moshe had two sons, Reb Shmuel Avraham Aba and Reb Pinchas, who took over the printing press from him.
There was a little bit of a controversy between the printing press in Vilna and the printing pressing Salvita. And however it happened, there was some type of libel against the printing pass in Slovita.
They were convicted and they were sentenced to a terrible and inhuman punishment, which is known as running the gauntlet. This punishment was, going through two rows of soldiers holding weapons, clubs, and sticks, and the brothers would have to go in between these rows of soldiers. The brothers were braced into a harness, so they couldn't bend over so they couldn't cover themselves.
So they brought the first brother, Pinchos, then the next brother, Shmuel Avraham Aba. At one point they sense they couldn't pull Shmuel any further, Shmuel Aba had dug in his heels into the ground. Because his Yamulka fell off his head, and didn't budge until someone put it back on.
As they were enduring this unthinkable brutality, they were able mentally endure this by transporting themselves by singing this niggun