Nellie Crospie- Betty Bostic (NC) 1938 Abrams C
[Abrams Collection; Item. Yet attached to another murder. Nellie Cropsie was murdered by Jim Wilcox in Elizabeth City on Nov. 29, 1901 and dumped in the river.
The text is the standard "Lexington Murder" version from NC, no name changes in the text- only the title has changed. There are a number of different ballads that have been attached to and or rewritten about Nellie Cropsie. No authentication is offered by the Abrams Collection-- only her name has been given as a title for the Bostic version.
Tune from G.L. Bostic (relative) who called it the Lexington Murder:
http://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/489a29a4fa785f3739efa73a1228d807.mp3
R Matteson 2016]
Nellie Crospie- sung by Betty Bostic of Mooresboro, NC March 5, 1938 as learned from her grandmother; sent to Abrams.
1. My tender parents brought me up
Providing for me well,
And in that city of Londonshire
They placed me in the mill.
2 And there I spied a pretty fair maid
And on her[1] I cast mine eye
I promised that I would marry her
And she believed the lie[2]
3. I went into her sister's house,
At eight o'clock one night
But little did that creature know
At her I a spite.
4. I asked her for to take a walk,
With me a little ways,
That she and I might have a talk,
About our wedding day.
5. We walked along until we came,
To a lone and desert place,
I took a rail off of the fence,
And struck her in the face.
6. She fell upon her bended her knees,
And loud for mercy did cry,
For heaven's sake don't murder me
I'm unprepared to die.
7. But little I paid t owhat she said;
But only struck her more
Until I saw the innocent blood
That I could ne'er restore.
8 I wrung my hand thru her cold black hair;
To cover up my sin
I drug her down to the riverside
And there I plunged her in.
9 I returned unto the mill
I met my servant John.
He asked me why I looked so pale
with ti so very warm.
10 I lit my candle and went to bed.
Expecting to take my rest.
But ti seemed as though the fires of hell
Were burning in my breast.
11 Come all young men and a warning take
And to your lover prove true;
Don't never let the devil get
The upper hand of you.
1. MS In honor
2. standard change in NC of "If with me she will lie,"
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Charlotte Daily Observer 1903
10 Jan 1903
Elizabeth City, Jan. 9 - James E. Wilcox lies in a strange cell tonight. He was taken to Hertford, the scene of his new trail, today. His removal was guarded with the utmost caution. The authorities carried him in a closed carriage to the outskirts of the city and by pre-arrangement with the railroad authorities, spirited him away from the city. Every movement was guarded and
several hours elapsed before the removal became known to the public.
This will be the second trial of Wilcox, he having been convicted at the first trial of the murder of Miss Nellie Cropsey, a young woman on whom he called one night and of whom not a trace was found from the time she was last seen with young Wilcox until her dead body was found in the river near her home.