65. The Lexington Murder
Variously known as 'The Oxford Girl,' 'The Wexford Girl,' 'The Lexington Girl,' 'The Knoxville Girl,' 'The Bloody Miller,' and in England as 'The Wittam Miller' and 'The Berkshire Tragedy,' this ballad tells a story similar to that of 'The Gosport Tragedy' and also to that of the American 'Florella,' 'Poor Naomi' ('Omie Wise'), 'Pearl Bryan,' 'Nell Cropsey,' and others. See the headnote to 'The Gosport Tragedy,' and also FSS 311 and BSM 133-4, both of which give extensive references showing the diffusion of the ballad; add also Davis, FSV 271-2 for texts from Virginia, Morris, FSF 336-9, for texts from Florida, and Randolph, OFS II 92-104 for texts from Missouri and Arkansas. The texts selected for presentation here are reckoned to belong to the tradition of 'The Wittam Miller' because of the names under which they are known in North Carolina or because they are, most of them at least, marked by the killer's excuse for his appearance that it is due to "bleeding at the nose." Most of them also remember that the murderer is a miller or a miller's apprentice. The ballad about Nellie Cropsey, a North Carolina girl murdered early in the present century (see no. 307, below), is in most of its texts modeled very closely on 'The Lexington Murder.'
A. 'The Lexington Murder.' Collected by Mrs. Zebulon Baird Vance near Black Mountain, Buncombe county, and received by the Society in April 1915.
I My tender parents brought me up,
Provided for me well,
And in the city of Lexington
They put me in a mill.
2 'Twas there I spied a bright young miss
On whom I cast my eye.
I asked her if she'd marry me,
And she believed a lie.
3 Last Saturday night three weeks ago,
Of course, would have been the day.
The devil put it in my head
To take her life away.
4 I went into her sister's house
Eleven o'clock last night.
But little did the creature know
For her I had a spite.
5 I asked her kind to take a walk
A little piece away
That we might have a joyful talk
About our wedding day.
6 We went upon a lonely road,
A dark and lonely place;
I took a stick from off the fence
And struck her in the face.
7 She fell upon her bended knee
And loud for mercy cried:
'For Heaven's sake don't murder me!
Fm unprepared to die.'
8 But little attention did I pay;
I only struck her more
Until I saw the innocent blood
That I could not restore.
9 I run my hand thru her cold black hair;
To cover up my sin
I drug her to the river bank
And there I throwed her in.
10 And on returning to my home
I met my servant John.
He asked me why I was so pale
And why so hurried on.[1]
11 I went upstairs to go to bed.
Expecting to take my rest.
It felt to me that fires of hell
Were burning in my breast.
12 Then all young men this warning take
And to your love be true;
Don't ever let the devil get
The upper hand of you.
1. The dialogue between the killer and his man John (or his master, or his mother), given in B F G J, in which he accounts for the blood on his clothes by saying that he has had the nosebleed, has been lost in A and D.
B. 'The Bloody Miller, or, The Murdering Miller.' Contributed by I. G. Greer of Boone, Watauga county, in 1915 or 1916. Fairly close in text to A. It lacks the first two stanzas, beginning with
One month ago since Christmas last,
That most unhappy day,
The devil he persuaded me
To take her life away.
Stanza 8 of A also is missing in this text. The last seven stanzas run:
6 And then, to wash her sins away,
I took her by the hair
And drug her to a river near
And left her body there.
7 Then to my mill, my mill I ran.
The miller was amazed.
He slowly fixed his eyes on me
And slowly he did gaze.
8 'Oh, master, master, master dear,
You look as pale as death.
Have you been running all this night
That put you out of breath ?
9 'What means the blood upon your hands.
Likewise upon your clothes?'
I answered him immediately,
'By bleeding at the nose.'
10 I snatched the candle from his hand
And to my bed I run.
I lay there trembling all that night
For the murder I had done.
11 I lay there trembling all that night,
I could not take my rest;
I could but feel the pains of hell
Roll o'er my guilty breast.
12 The morning dawned, the sheriff came,
He took me to my jail,
And bound me there for six long months,
And then in death to wail.
C. 'Come All of You Who's Been in Love and Sympathize with Me.' Contributed by Miss Madge Nichols of Durham about 1922. A somewhat reduced form, with no indication that the murderer is a miller; placed here rather than with the local American forms of the story because of the nosebleed in the final stanza:
They asked of me most seriously
How come blood on my clothes ;
I answered them most modestly :
'By bleeding at the nose.'
D. 'Lexington Murder.' Reported by Miss Gertrude Allen of Taylorsville, Alexander county (later Mrs. R. C. Vaught). The tune was recorded in June 1923. The text agrees with A stanza by stanza except for a few slight variations and verbal rearrangements. Possibly the reading of the first two lines of stanza 8,
I ran my fingers through my hair
To hide away my sin,
whereas in A he seizes the girl by her "cold black" hair, means that he wiped his bloody hands on his hair. Nosebleed does not figure in this text.
E. 'Lexington Murder.' Contributed by Virginia Hartsell of Stanly county. The same text as A with negligible verbal variants. The second sheet of the manuscript seems to have been lost; it breaks off with his meeting with "my servant John."
F. 'Lexington Murder.' From Mrs. Nilla Lancaster of Wayne county. Essentially the A text with slight verbal variations, except that it lacks stanzas 1 2 4 and has the nosebleed item. It ends:
7 On my way returning home
I met my servant John.
He asked me why I was so pale
And yet I was so warm ;
8 And why there was so much blood
All on my hands and clothes.
But innocent was my reply:
'Twas bleeding from the nose.
9 Come all young men and warning take
If your love goes out untrue,
And never let Old Satan get
The uppermost hand of you.
G. 'The Knoxville Girl.' One of two texts contributed by Mrs. Minnie Church of Heaton, Avery county, in 1930. It tells the same story as the preceding versions, but with sufficient variation to justify giving it in full.
1 There was a little girl in Knoxville,
A child we all knew well.
Every Sunday evening
Out in her home I dwell.
2 We went to take an evening walk
Abotit two miles from town.
I drew a stick up from the ground
And knocked her back around.
3 She fell down on her bended knees,
For mercy she did cry:
'Oh, Willie dear, don't kill me here.
For I'm not prepared to die.'
4 She never spoke another word.
I beat her more and more,
Stained the ground around her ;
Thin her blood did flow.
5 I taken her by her golden curls.
I drug her round and round;
I threw her in the river
Close to Knoxville town.
6 'Go there, go there, Knoxville girl.
Got dark and rolling eyes,
Go there, go there, Knoxville girl ;
You'll never be my bride.'
7 I started back to Knoxville,
Got there about midnight.
Mother she was worried.
Woke up in a slight.
8 'Son, oh, son, what have you done?
Here's blood your clothes so.'
The answer I gave mother
Was 'bleeding at my nose.'
9 I called for a candle
To light myself to bed.
I called for me a handkerchief
To bind my aching head.
10 I rolled and tumbled all night through,
Was troubles there for me,
And flames of hell around my bed
And in my eyes could see.
11 They taken me to the Knoxville jail,
They locked me in a cell;
My friends all tried to get me out,
But none could go my bail.
12 Her sister swore my life away.
I'm hell bound without doubt.
I was a single man
That carried her sister out.
H. 'Bloody Miller.' Mrs. Church's second version, bearing the same date, is somewhat shorter. The girl bears the name Nell, which suggests that this text was felt to belong to the 'Nell Cropsey' story. Its content, however, is substantially the same as that of the other 'Lexington Murder' texts except that, like E, it is incomplete ; it ends with the first half of stanza 8:
When I returned to the mill again
I met my servant John ....
I. 'The Lexington Murder.' Collected by W. Amos Abrams apparently in 1935 or 1936, from one of his pupils, Mary Bost of Statesville, Iredell county. Substantially the same text as A.
J. No title. Given to W. Amos Abrams in 1939 by Imogene Norris, "to whom the ballad was sung 8 years previously by Mrs. Martha Hodges." Does not differ materially from A except at the end, where nosebleed figures and where he speaks not to his servant but to "the miller" :
9 Then to the mill, the mill I ran.
The miller was amazed.
He slowly fixed his eyes on me
And slowly he did gaze.
10 'What makes your hands so bloody, sir?
And likewise on your clothes?'
I answered him immediately,
'By bleeding at the nose.'
11 Then to my bed, my bed I ran.
For I could get no rest.
For I could feel the flames of hell
Burn through my guilty breast.
K. 'The Wexford Girl' (contributors', not the singer's, title). Contributed by Professors W. Amos Abrams and Gratis D. Williams of Boone, Watauga county, as obtained in the summer of 1945 from Pat Frye of East Bend, Yadkin county— concerning whom see the headnote to 'Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight'
G. It is a reduced form of the A version.
1 . . . one day on Christmas last
Was a very pleasant day.
The devil he persuaded me
To take her life away.
2 She promised to meet me at her sister's house.
'Twas eight o'clock that night.
So little did that creature think
I owed her any spite.
3 I asked her to take a walk with me,
It weren't but a little ways,
So all amount and little agree
And 'p'int the wedding day.
4 I drew a stake all out a fence,
I struck her in the face.
'Oh Lord, oh Lord, don't murder me;
I am not fitten to die!'
5 While she fell on her bended knees
To wash her sins away,
I tuk her by the hair of the head
And drug her to some river near.
6 I drug her to some river near,
I left her body there.
Straight to the miller's hall I run
And the miller was in a maze.
L. 'Last Saturday Night, Two Weeks Ago.' From the John Burch Blaylock Collection. It is the A version with numerous slight verbal differences and lacking stanza 2.
M. 'Poor Nell.' A single stanza reported in 1920 by B. C. Reavis, with the tune. Apparently conceived to belong to 'Nell Cropsey,' but clearly it is a stanza of 'The Lexington Murder.'
My father tried to rear me right,
Provided for me well,
Until we came to Lexington
And placed me in the mill.
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65. The Lexington Murder
The story of all the versions that follow is very much like that of SharpK i 407, No. 71 A: 'The Miller's Apprentice,' or 'The Oxford Tragedy' ; also BSO 233-5, version C, 'The Murdered Girl.'
The Lexington Murder.' Sung by anonymous singer. Recorded, but no date or place given. The text of this version is a combination of versions A and F.
For melodic relationship cf. **SCSM 402, version A, general melodic line. Scale: Tetratonic (4). Tonal Center: e-flat. Structure: abac (2,2,2,2) = aa^
(4,4)-
2 Last Saturday night three weeks ago,
Oh, cursed be the day,
The devil put it in my mind
To take her sweet life away.
3 I went down to her sister's house
At eight o'clock last night,
And she, the poor girl, seemed not to think
For her I had a spite.
4 I asked her if she'd take a walk
A little way with me,
That we might have a little talk
About our wedding day.
5 We walked along a-side by side
'Till we came to a silent place ;
I picked me up a stick from the ground
And struck her in the face.
She fell upon her bended knee,
'Have mercy !' she did cry,
'For Heaven's sake, don't murder me,
I'm not prepared to die.'
I heeded not the mercy cry,
But struck her all the more
Until I could see that innocent blood,
The blood I could not restore.
I covered my hands in her cold black hair
To cover up my sin,
I dragged her to the river bank,
And there I plunged her in.
I started on my way back home,
And I met my servant, John,
'Why do you look so very weak,
And yet you are so warm ?'
'And what is the cause of all that blood
Upon your hands and clothes?'.
And as the innocent one replied,
'The bleeding of my nose.'
I lit my candle and I went to bed
A-thinking I could rest.
It seemed as if the flames of hell
Was burning on my breast.
A(I) 'Lexington Murder.' Sung by Mrs. G. L. Bostic. Recorded near Mooresboro, Cleveland county, August 7, 1939. There is some melodic relationship with the anonymous version (65A), and the Dunnegan version of 'Nellie Cropsey' (307C), measures 2-4.
Scale: Hexachordal. Tonal Center: d. Structure: abac (2,2,2,2) = aab (4,4).
2 I went down to her mother's house,
Just half past eight o'clock.
But little did the think
That I had a spite at her.
3 I said, 'Come, take a little walk,
For just a little way,
So we can have a little talk
About our wedding day.'
4 So, walking side by side,
'Till we came to a silent place,
I drew a slat from off the fence
And struck her in the face.
5 Down on her bended knees she fell,
And cried, 'For mercy sake.
For heaven's sake, don't murder me.
For I'm not prepared to die.'
6 But little did I heed her cry;
I only struck her more
Until the blood was overflowed
All on her handsome face.
7 I hid my hands in her black hair
And tried to hide my sin,
And drug her back to the river-side.
And there I throwed her in.
a(2) 'The Lexington Murder.' Sung by Mrs. J. Trivette. Recorded at Heaton, Avery county, August 10, 1939. Other titles given are 'The Bloody Miller' and 'The Cruel Miller.' Melodically, there is some relationship (measures 2-4) with the Dunnegan version of 'Nellie Cropsey' (307C).
The devil put it in my heart To take her life- a - way.
Scale: Mode III. Tonal Center: d. Structure: abed (2,2,2,2,).
'The Bloody Miller, or The Murdering Miller.' Sung by Dr. I. G. Greer. Recorded as ms score at Boone in 1915 or 1916. With stanza 9 of this version of George Petrie, The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland, 134, and the Complete Petrie Collection,' 693-694:
'Oh, Johnnie, dearest Johnnie,
What dyed your hands and clothes?'
He answered him, as he thought fit,
'By a bleeding at the nose.'
Scale: Dorian (plagal.) Tonal Center: e. Structure aba^c (2,2,2,2) = s (4,4).
'Lexington Murder.' Sung by Mrs. R. C. Vaught. Recorded at Taylorsville, Alexander county, in June 1923. Measures 3-8 are closely related to those of the 6sA and 307C versions.
Scale: Hexachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: e-flat. Structure: abed (2,2,2,2).
'The Knoxville Girl.' Sung by anonymous female singer with guitar. Recorded, but no date or place given. The only thing in common between this text and that given in II 244 f. is the "dark and rolling eyes" of stanza 6, line 2. Besides this, the structure of our tune definitely requires two stanzas as given in the printed text.
Scale: Hexatonic (4), plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: abacabacd (2,2,2, 2,2,2,2,2) = aabaaS (4,4,4,4).
We went to take an evening walk,
About a mile from town ;
I picked up a stick from off the ground
And knocked that fair child down.
She fell upon her bended knees,
And 'Mercy,' she did cry.
Said, 'Willie, dear, don't kill me here,
For I'm unprepared to die.'
I did not listen to her words,
I beat her more and more
Until the ground around her
Was but a bloody pour.
I took her by her golden curls.
And dragged her 'round and 'round,
And threw her in the water deep
That flows through Knoxville town.
I Started back to Knoxville,
Got there about midnight.
My mother was so worried,
She woke up in a fright
Says, 'Son, oh, son, what have you done?
You've blood [on your hands and clothes]
The answer that I gave her
Was 'Bleeding at the nose.'
They took me to the Knoxville jail
And locked me in a cell.
My friends they tried to get me out,
But none could go my bail.
Her sister swore my life away,
She swore without a doubt
That I was the very man
That laid her sister out.
M. 'Poor Nell.' Sung by B. C. Reavis. Recorded, but no date or place given.
Measures 1-2 and 5-6 are strongly reminiscent of 'Home, Sweet Home.'
Scale : Hexachordal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: abac (2,2,2,2) = aa^ (4,4).