Edward Hickman
'Edward Hickman.' From the John Burch Blaylock Collection.
1 Oh, come all ye good people
And listen while I tell,
The fate of Edward Hickman,
A boy we all know well.
2 He kidnapped Marion Parker ;
He thought he'd gain a ransom,
But the law soon ran him down.
3 He took her to the movie
And gave her candy too,
And made her every promise
To every kind and true.
4 T only need some money
That your rich dad can give.
If you will pay the ransom,
Your little girl shall live.'
5 Then he took poor little Marion
And brought her to his room.
But little did she dream that night
She would meet her doom.
6 Then early in the morning
She found that he had lied.
Before the evening sun had set
The little girl had died.
7 Oh, how the news was flying,
Broadcast by the radio.
Throughout the entire country,
Stirring up the people so.
8 So way up in Oregon,
In a far ofif Western town,
The fox at last was captured —
The law had run him down.
9 The judge then found him guilty;
In black the bird is dressed.
The people pass the trial;
The judge then took his seat.
NATIVE AMERICAN HALLADS 607
10 The Story of that murder
Is too awful to repeat;
The jury passed the sentence,
'We will hang him 'til he's dead.'
11 There stood his anxious mother
With a tear drop in her eye.
'What a pity, oh, what a pity
My precious son must die.
12 'Edward, darling Edward,
Unto your fateful doom
You'll be carried to the chapel
To meet an awful doom.'