Elizabeth City, NC
[From: North Carolina Folklore Journal - Volume 22 - Page 52, 1974. Some info from google books below. This is a version of Lexington Murder that has one small change (Nell is added in last line 2nd stanza) that is sung about the murder of Nell Cropsey. I do not have the Journal, do not have title and I'm not sure who the informant is (guessing from info) or who wrote the article- sorry. The text is accurate.
R. Matteson 2016]
Info: The first one was sung by my aunt Mrs. Grace Zurawicki born c.1940 I also recorded a variant by my mother, but I have not used it since it is almost identical in text to the one by my aunt. The two singers are sisters and learned the song from their mother, Mrs. Ida Davenport of Norfolk, Virginia.
Throughout the trial he refused to make a statement, and at his sentencing he maintained his plea of innocent. There is yet another ballad concerning Nell's death and many people believe that it was written by Wilcox during his prison stay.
Nell Cropsey
My dear old parents brought me here,
Provided for me well.
And in the city of Dixie Belle,
They placed me in the mill.
Last Saturday night, three weeks ago,
When cursed be the day,
The devil put it in my head
To take little Nell's life away.
I went over to her sister's house,
'Twas eight o'clock that night,
And little did the poor girl think
Against her I had a spite.
I asked her to take a little walk
A little ways with me,
So we might have a little talk
About our Wedding day.
So off we went both side by side,
Till we came to a silent place,
I drew a slab from off the fence
And struck her in the face.
Down on her bended knees she fell
And, oh, for mercy cried:
For heaven's sakes, don't murder me,
I'm not prepared to die.
I wound my hands in her coal black hair
And tried to hide my sins;
I drug her down to the river's edge
And there I plunged her in.
As I went back to the mill that night,
I met my servant John;
He asked me why I was so pale
And why I was so wan.
And what was the cause of so much blood
All on my hands and clothes;
I told him 'twas a terrible case
Of bleeding at the nose
As I went to my room that night
And tried to take a rest,
It seemed as though the flames of hell
Were burning in my breast.
So come all young men and warning take,
When love gets out untrue.
And never let the devil get
The upper hand of you.