Ellen Smith and Peter De Graff
Nos. 305, 306
In the Frank C. Brown Collection there are two fairly distinct
ballads about Ellen Smith and Peter De Graff.
Peter De Graf¥ was convicted of the murder of Ellen Smith in
the August 1893 term of Forsyth Superior Court, Judge Winston
presiding. When he appealed to the North Carolina Supreme
Court, on several technicalities, the verdict of the lower court was
affirmed. The opinion of Chief Justice Shepherd (North Carolina
Reports, 113:688 ff.) alludes to the flight of the prisoner to Roanoke
and New Mexico and his subsequent return to North Carolina,
and to a letter found in the bosom of the dead woman, alleged to
be in the handwriting of the prisoner.
Of the longer and more circumstantial ballad written about the
murder, there is a full version (with music) in AMS 32-3. See
also Combs, FSMEU 219-22 (from Kentucky); Henry, FSSH
315 (a fragment, from Avery county, North Carolina) ; Gordon,
"Old Songs That Men Have Sung," Adventure, November 10,
1924, p. 191; and Hudson, FSM 193^4 (Mississippi). Davis FSV
274 lists six texts of 'Poor Ellen Smith,' which seems to be the
same song as the one immediately following.
305
A
'Ellen Smith (Tune: "How Firm a Foundation").' From L G. Greer,
Boone, who got it from Miss Lura Wagoner, Vox, Alleghany county,
and copied it in a manuscript book of songs loaned to Dr. Brown in
August 1936. MS dated October 30, 191 1, and initialed by F. C. B..
showing that Greer sang it.
1 Come all you kind people my story to hear,
What happened to me in June of last year.
Of poor Ellen Smith and how she was found,
Shot through the heart lying cold on the ground.
2 'Tis true I'm in jail a prisoner now,
But God is here and hears every vow.
Before Him I promise the truth to relate,
And tell all I know of poor Ellen's sad fate.
NORTH CAROLINA BALLADS 71$
3 The world of my story has long known a part,
And knows I was Ellen's own loving sweetheart ;
And while I would never have made her my wife,
I love[d] her too dearly to take her sweet life.
4 I saw her on Monday before that sad day ;
They found her poor body and buried it away.
My heart was quite broken ; I bitterly cried
When friends gently told me how Ellen had died.
5 That she had been killed never entered my mind
Till the ball through her heart they happened to find.
Oh, who was so cruel, so heartless and base
As to murder sweet Ellen in that lonesome place?
6 I saw her that morning, so still and so cold,
And heard the wild story the witness told.
I choked back tears when the people all said
That Peter Degraff had shot Ellen dead.
7 Half crazy with sorrow, I wandered away.
And lonely I wandered for many a day.
My love in her grave and her hands on her breast.
While bloodhounds and sheriffs would give me no rest.
8 They said I was guilty and ought to be hung ;
The tale of my crime was on everybody's tongue.
They got their Winchesters and hunted me down.
But I was far away in Mt. Airy town.
9 I stayed off one year and prayed all the time
That the man might come back that committed the crime,
So I could come back and my character reveal ;
But the flowers had faded on poor Ellen's grave.
10 I came back to Winston my trial to stand.
To live or to die, as the law may demand.
McArthur may hang me, my fate I don't know ;
But I'm clear of the charge that is laid at my door.
1 1 Ellen sleeps calmly in the lonely graveyard,
While I look through the bar, and God knows it's hard.
I know they will hang me at last if they can.
But God knows I die an innocent man.
12 My soul will be free when I stand at the bar,
Where God tries his cases, and there like a star
That shines through the night shall my innocence be.
O love, I appeal to the justice of time.
7l6 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
'Peter Degraff (to the tune of "How Firm a Foundation").' Contributed
by A. L. Elliott; without date or address. Like A, stanza for stanza,
line for line, but with a few verbal differences: "wondered" (stanza 7)
for "wandered" ; "Ere the flowers had faded" (9) for "But the flowers
had faded"; "O Lord, I appeal to the justice of Thine" (12) for "O
love, I appeal to the justice of time."
C
'Ellen Smith.' From W. Amos Abrams, Boone, as collected from Mary
Bost, Statesville ; undated. Eight stanzas : stanza 5 being six double
lines ; stanza 8, two lines ; the others, four double lines. Every line,
with some slight verbal variations, occurs in A, but the order varies
widely. C i corresponds to A i ; C 2, to A 4 ; C 3, to A 8 ; C 4 is two
lines each as in A 7 and 8; C 5 is last two lines of A 8 plus A 9; C 6 is
A 10; C 7 is two lines each of A 3 and 12; C 8 is two lines of A 12.
(Collation by N. L W.)
D
'Ellen Smith.' From the John Burch Blaylock Collection. A fragment
(five stanzas and one line of a sixth) corresponding to A i, 2, parts of
4-5. 7, 9. II (one line).
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30s
Ellen Smith
'Ellen Smith.' Sung by Dr. I. G. Greer. In 1952 the singer sang this at his
home at Chapel Hill for the editor. The tune is identical with the one this
singer uses for his 'Little Omie Wise,' 300I above. It very closely resembles
the tune of 'How Firm a Foundation' in the Sen'icc Hymnal, Hope PubHshing
Co., Chicago, 1938.
Scale : Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center : f. Structure : abab (4,4,4,4) = aa
(8.8).
'Ellen Smith.' Sung by Mrs. Ewart Wilson. Recorded at Pensacola, Yancey
county, in 1929. The tune is that of 'How Firm a Foundation.' The text uses
the last two lines of stanza i and the first two of stanza 4 as printed in II 7i4-i5-
Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: aa^bai (4-4-4-4) =
Keprisenbar.