Recordings & Info 6. Bloody Miller (Wexford Girl)
[See print sources
R. Matteson 2016]
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Mudcat posts
4) Roud Index
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 263 ( Listings, not attached yet)
2) Knoxville Girl - {Paul Slade)
Wexford Girl is a later form of the song, commonly found in America but rarely in England; it would, I suspect, be an Irish localisation of the earlier Oxford Girl. [Malcolm Douglass 2001]
X:1
T:Wexford Girl
S:Doerflinger, Shantymen and Shantyboys
L:1/4
M:3/4
J:1#
K:Dmixolydian
B3/4 c/4|d2B|G2B|(c2F)|A2 z/B/|({B/}A2)D|G2E|(C3|C)zE|\
DD({E/}F)|G3|A3/2z/({A/}B)|A2D|(GF)E|D3|]
: GUEST,Zant
Date: 02 Jun 10
I was rocked to sleep as a baby with Knoxville Girl..only it was "In a town of Expert" in the version my Grandmother and Mother sang. I know my grandmother sang it to my Mother in the year 1910...and to me in the 1930's My lullaby's were all cowboy songs...and lots of murders...lol I always wondered why he killed her..
I believe the answer is that the horrible crime is without any discernible motive and the message to the listener is that no one is exempt from crazy sudden urges that may sweep them up into some inexplicable and criminal act. A cautionary tale of the first water!
https://www.academia.edu/16917625/Memory_Print_and_Performance_The_Cruel_Miller_Revisited_
The Murdered Sweetheart Ballads: Berkshire Tragedy, a Provisional Discursive Bibliography by Tom Pettitt-- Centre for Medieval Literature and Cultural Studies Institute, University of Southern Denmark.
Memory, Print and Performance (‘The Cruel Miller' Revisited) by Tom Pettitt-- Centre for Medieval Literature and Cultural Studies Institute, University of Southern Denmark.
Pettitt, Thomas, "'Worn by the Friction of Time': Oral Tradition and the Generation of the Balladic Narrative Mode", in Contexts of Pre-Novel Narrative. The European Tradition
. Ed. Roy Eriksen. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1994, pp. 341-72
Contexts of Pre-novel Narrative: The European Tradition
By Roy Eriksen
https://books.google.com/books?id=ICPNMfN3TDgC&pg=PA341&dq=%E2%80%9C%E2%80%98Worn+by+the+Friction+of+Time%E2%80%99:+Oral+Tradition+and+the+Generation+of+the+Balladic+Narrative+Mode.%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbnvy3jN3PAhVHKx4KHVlmAl4Q6AEIIDAA#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9C%E2%80%98Worn%20by%20the%20Friction%20of%20Time%E2%80%99%3A%20Oral%20Tradition%20and%20the%20Generation%20of%20the%20Balladic%20Narrative%20Mode.%E2%80%9D&f=false
I offered an evasive scenario postulating
the ‘traditionalisation’ of the 18th century long broadside
through memoral transmission into something resembling the 19th century short broadside, the latter produced by the transcription of this song from performance rather than literate / literary revision. I was encouraged by the consideration that this scenario might be supported by the occurrence, in some few English and Scottish performances, of words or phrases which were not in the short broadside, but which evidently derived from the long broadside, in turn perhaps suggesting that it reflected, rather than accomplished, change. In the interim however their number dwindled, as I encountered short broadside variants in which those lines and phrases do occur
Alternate Titles
Hanged I Shall Be
The Oxford Tragedy
The Oxford Girl
Wexford Girl
Ekefield Town
Ickfield Town
Wexford Town
The Butcher Boy
The Prentice Boy
The Expert Girl
Johnny McDowell
The Prentice Boy
The Cruel Miller
The Miller Boy
Never Let the Devil Get the Upper Hand of You
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Notices of Fugitive Tracts
By James Orchard Halliwell, 1851 p. 90
118. THE BERKSHIRE TRAGEDY, OR THE WHITTAM MILLER, who MosT BARBAROUSLY MURDER’D His SwBETHEART. 12mo, Edinburgh. Printed for John Keed, in the Swan-closs, 1744.
In verse, with a cut of the miller on the gallows. It concludes with “the last dying words and confession of John Mauge, a miller, who was executed at Reading, in Berkshire, on Saturday, the 20th of last month, for the barbarous murder of Anne Knite, his sweetheart.”
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Traditional Ballad Index: Wexford Girl, The (The Oxford, Lexington, or Knoxville Girl; The Cruel Miller; etc.) [Laws P35]
DESCRIPTION: The singer invites the girl for a walk. They discuss their wedding. Then he takes up a club and attacks her. She begs him to spare her life. He beats her to death and throws her in the river. He is taken and hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1796 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.17(216); c.1700 (broadside, Bodleian Antiq. c. E.9(125))
KEYWORDS: wedding river homicide trial execution
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(Scotland,England(Lond,South)) Ireland
REFERENCES (46 citations):
Laws P35, "The Wexford Girl (The Oxford, Lexington, or Knoxville Girl; The Cruel Miller; etc.)" (Laws gives three broadside texts on pp. 104-112 of ABFBB)
Greig #137, pp. 1-2, "The Butcher Boy"; Greig #179, p. 2, ("Mary, my dear Mary") (2 texts)
GreigDuncan2 200, "The Butcher's Boy" (6 texts, 3 tunes)
Wiltshire-WSRO Gl 44, "Ferry Hinskey Town" (1 text)
Palmer-ECS, #57, "Hanged I Shall Be" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 133-136, "The Oxford Girl" (2 texts)
Randolph 150, "The Noel Girl" (7 texts plus 3 excerpts and 2 fragments, 5 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 108-111, "The Noel Girl" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 150A)
High, pp. 40-41, "The Wax-Ward Girl" (1 text)
Eddy 104, "The Murdered Girl" (8 texts, 2 tunes, but Laws assigns the B text to "The Banks of the Ohio" and omits the others. It would appear that Eddy's A and C texts belong here)
Gardner/Chickering 19, "The Knoxville Girl" (2 texts)
Neely, p. 150, "The Waxford Girl" (1 short text)
BrownII 65, "The Lexington Murder" (3 texts plus 6 excerpts, 1 fragment, and mention of 3 more)
BrownSchinhanIV 65, "The Lexington Murder" (3 texts plus 4 excerpts, 7 tunes)
Chappell-FSRA 63, "Nell Cropsey, III" (1 text, which despite its title does not mention Cropsey and appears to be simply a version of this song with perhaps some mixture with "Banks of the Ohio")
Morris, #180, "The Wexford Girl" 2 texts, 1 tune; the "A" text and tune being "The Banks of the Ohio" [Laws F5] and the "B" text "The Wexford Girl (The Oxford, Lexington, or Knoxville Girl; The Cruel Miller; etc.)" [Laws P35])
Hudson 30, pp. 141-143, "The Wexford Girl" (1 text)
Owens-1ed, pp. 81-83, "The Oxford Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-2ed, pp. 64-65, "The Oxford Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-Singing, "The Lexington Murder" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 159-164, "The Wexford Girl; Hanged I Shall Be; The Prentice Boy" (3 texts, which despite the collective title are all called "Knoxville Girl"; 1 tune on p. 402)
Shellans, pp. 68-69, "The Jealous Lover" (1 text, 1 tune, probably this but with some curious variants which hint at recomposition)
Brewster 36, "The Wexford Girl (The Cruel Miller)" (1 text)
Boswell/Wolfe, 31, pp. 55-58, "The Knoxville Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bronner-Eskin1 16, "Wexford Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bronner-Eskin2 39, "Coal Black Hair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 88-90, "Hang-ed I Shall Be" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 71, "The Miller's Apprentice, or The Oxford Tragedy" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 56, "Wexford City" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 634-636, "The Wexford Girl" (2 texts, 2 tunes); pp. 638-640, "The Worcester Tragedy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Mackenzie 115, "Waterford Town" (1 text)
Manny/Wilson 98, "The Wexford Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 785-787, "The Lexington Murder" (2 texts)
Doerflinger, pp. 288-290, "The Wexford Girl" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 225, "The Wexford Girl" (1 text+5 fragments of another text)
Warner 7, "The Waxford Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 150-151, "Knoxville Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 737, "The Knoxville Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 327, "The Oxford Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 115-116, "Knoxville Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 90, "The Wesford Girl" (2 texts)
MacSeegTrav 75, "The Wexford Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-AFS1, p. 265, "The Story of the Knoxville Girl" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 224, "Knoxville Girl" (1 text)
BBI, ZN1624, "Let all pretending Lovers"; ZN3196, "Young men and maidens all, give ear unto what I relate"
DT 353, CRUELMIL* OXFRDTRG* PRETPOL2; (628), WXFRDGRL
Roud #263
RECORDINGS:
Blue Sky Boys, "Story of the Knoxville Girl" (Montgomery Ward 7327, c. 1937)
Cope Brothers, "Knoxville Girl" (King 589, 1947)
Charlotte Decker, "The Worcester Tragedy" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
Mary Delaney, "Town of Linsborough" (on IRTravellers01)
Foster & James "The Knoxville Girl" (Supertone 9260, 1928) [also issued as by Jim Burke, possibly a pseudonym for Doc Roberts]
Marie Hare, "The Wexford Lass" (on MRMHare01)
Louisiana Lou, "The Export Girl" (Bluebird B-5424, 1934)
Asa Martin & James [Doc] Roberts "Knoxville Girl" (Conqueror 7837, 1931)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "The Knoxville Girl" (Brunswick 110/Vocalion 5121, 1927)
Arthur Nicolle, "The Wexford Girl" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
Aulton Ray, "Maxwell Girl" (Gennett 6205/Champion 15332/Challenge 335 [as Charlie Prescott]/Silvertone 5084, 1927; Supertone 9250, 1928; on KMM [as Taylor's Kentucky Boys])Aulton Ray on vocals. "Maxwell Girl" is a retitling of "Buffalo Gals," with "Maxwell" substituting for "Buffalo":
Maxwell Girl won't you come out tonight,
Come out tonight, come out tonight;
Maxwell Girl won't you come out tonight,
And dance by the light of the moon.
Arthur Tanner, "The Knoxville Girl" (Silvertone 3515, 1926) (Columbia 15145-D, 1927)
Mildred Tuttle, "Expert Town (The Oxford Girl)" (AFS; on LC12)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Antiq. c. E.9(125), "The Berkshire Trgedy [sic]" or "The Wittam Miller" ("Young men and maidens all give ear"), unknown, c.1700; also Firth c.17(216), "The Berkshire Tragedy" or "The Wittam Miller," unknown, 1796; Harding B 6(100), Douce Ballads 3(1b), Harding B 6(101), Harding B 6(102), Firth b.28(40a), "The Berkshire Tragedy" or "The Wittam Miller"; Harding B 6(96), "The Berkshire Trgedy [sic]" or "The Wittam Miller"; Harding B 6(98), "The Wittham-Miller" or "The Berkshire Tragedy"; 2806 c.17(40), Harding B 28(224), "Bloody Miller" ("My parents educated, and good learning gave to me"); Firth c.17(110), Harding B 11(752), Harding B 11(753), Harding B 11(754), Harding B 11(755), "[The] Cruel Miller"; Harding B 15(74a), "Cruel Miller" or "Love and Murder"; Firth c.17(109), "Cruel Miller" or "Love and Murder!"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of the Ohio" [Laws F5] (plot)
cf. "Camden Town" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Oxford Tragedy
The Expert Girl
Johnny McDowell
The Prentice Boy
The Cruel Miller
The Miller Boy
Never Let the Devil Get the Upper Hand of You (Carter Family version)
NOTES: Ozark folklore links this to the murder of one Lula Noel, whose body was discovered by the Cowskin River in Missouri in 1892. The song, however, is obviously older. Doerflinger traces it to a broadside about a murder committed at Reading, England in 1774. - RBW
Botkin, following Cox (who follows Belden), traces it to a British broadside, "Berkshire Tragedy" or "The Wittam Miller", circa 1700. - NR
Laws also lists this broadside in his catalog (it is, indeed, one of the texts he prints), but adopts his title based on common traditional usage.
Laws, in fact, draws a stemma, starting from the "Berkshire Tragedy," and listing a total of seven "recensions" (p. 119), though he considers the broadside to be merely of eighteenth century date. I have a problem with the whole reconstruction, though: It's too literary. Even if one assumes the original ballad was a broadside (and I think Laws assumes this more often than is justified), it does not follow that its entire history is found in the broadsides. The song is so common that one must suspect the larger share of the broadsides to be derived from tradition, rather than being the source of tradition. - RBW
In Peacock pp. 638-640 version A the girl is pregnant, as in Laws' text of "The Cruel Miller" ( American Ballads from British Broadsides chapter IV, p. 111).
Broadside Bodleian Firth b.28(40a), printed in London between 1800 and 1811, has 22 8-line verses; shelfmark Antiq. c. E.9(125), with the same text as Firth b.28(40a) has an estimated print date of c.1700. These are all clearly recognizable as the same ballad, down to the "bleeding at the nose" line. - BS
The "Love and Murder" broadsides listed here should not be confused with the other numerous broadsides of that title, many of which are versions of The Cruel Ship's Carpenter (The Gosport Tragedy; Pretty Polly) [Laws P36A/B]. ["Love and Murder" is a very common title for broadsides, which I suppose proves that cheap journalism is not a modern invention. - RBW] - BS, (RBW
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The Knoxville Girl [Laws P35/Sh 71/Me I-A44]
Rt - Waco Girl ; Jealous Lover - III
At - Berkshire Tragedy ; Never Let The Devil Get the Upper Hand of You ; Wittam Miller ; Cruel Miller ; Printer's Boy ; Hanged I Shall Be ; Prentice Boy - II
Mf - Poor Ex-Soldier
Pb - Yonkers Girl
Laws, G. Malcolm / American Balladry from British Broadsides, Amer. Folklore Soc., Bk (1957), p267 (Wexford Girl)
Wernick, Peter (ed.) / Bluegrass Songbook, Oak, Sof (1976), p 53a
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p224 [1920s] (Wexford Girl)
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p785 (Lexington Murder)
Albion Country Band. Battle of the Field, BGO BGOCD 354, CD (1997/1976), trk# 7 (Hanged I Shall Be)
Andress, Bobby. Solomon, Jack & Olivia (eds.) / Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p 30 [1960ca]
Birch, Amy. English Folk Music Anthology, Folkways FE 38553, LP (1981), trk# 3.03 [1974-1980] (He Pulled a Dagger)
Blue Sky Boys. Original and Great: Early Authentic Country Recordings, Camden CAL 797, LP (1964), trk# 4 [1937/08/02] (Story of the Knoxville Girl)
Blue Sky Boys. Bluegrass Mountain Music, Camden ADL2 0726, LP (1964), trk# 8 [1937/08/02] (Story of the Knoxville Girl)
Blue Sky Boys. Within the Circle; Wouldn't Be Lonely, Blue Tone BSRCD 1003/4, CD (1992?), trk# 10 [1937/08/02] (Story of the Knoxville Girl)
Chamberlain, Charlie. Doerflinger, William. M. / Shantymen and Shantyboys: Songs of the Sai..., MacMillan, Bk (1951), p288 [1940ca] (Wexford Girl)
Chamberlain, Charlie. Doerflinger, William. M. / Shantymen and Shantyboys: Songs of the Sai..., MacMillan, Bk (1951), p289 [1940ca] (Wexford Girl)
Church, Walter "Paddy". Hamer, Fred (ed.) / Garners Gay. English Folk Songs Collected by ..., EFDS, Sof (1967), p40 [1950s?] (Wexford Murder)
Clayton, Paul. Bloody Ballads, Riverside RLP 12-615, LP (1956), trk# B.02 (Miller's Boy)
Clubb, Selma. Scarborough, Dorothy(ed.) / A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, AMS, Bk (1966/1937), p160,402 [1930ca]
Copeland Family. Music of the Ozarks, National Geographic 703, LP (1972), trk# 14
Creech, Mrs. Berry. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p409/# 71D [1917/08/31] (Miller's Apprentice)
Dunaway, Georgia. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p100/#150H [1943/01/30] (Rexford Girl)
East, Earnest; & the Pine Ridge Boys. Old Time Mountain Music, County 718, LP (1969), trk# 11
East, Scotty. New River Jam: One, Mountain 308, LP (1976), trk# 5
Elliott, Joseph. Lloyd, A. L. / Folk Song in England, International, sof (1967), p235/p 79 [1905] (Miller's Apprentice)
Fink, Cathy; and Duck Donald. Cathy Fink and Duck Donald, Flying Fish FF 053, LP (1978), trk# B.04
Ford, Brownie. Stories from Mountains, Swamps & Honky-Tonks, Flying Fish FF-90 559, Cas (1990), trk# B.04 [1981/05]
Freeman, Mr. and Mrs. Arlie. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p102/#150K [1941/12/14] (Edward St
Galusha, John (Yankee John). Warner, Anne & Frank / Traditional American Folk Songs, Syracuse Univ. Press, Bk (1984), p 57/# 7 [1941] (Wexford Girl)
Hannah, John. Old-Time Smoky Mountain Music, Smoky-Mountains 01, CD (2012/2010), trk# 26 [1939] (Boston Girl)
Hargis, Wesley. Oh, My Little Darling; Folk Song Types, New World NW 245, LP (1977), trk# 4 [1934] (Lexington Murder)
Harris, Fred. Morris, Alton C. / Folksongs of Florida, Univ. Florida, Sof (1990/1950), p337/#180B [1934] (Oxford Girl)
Hudson, Sula. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p103/#150L [1941/09/15]
Knuckles, Delie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p408/# 71C [1917/05/18] (Oxford Tragedy)
Lilly Brothers. Country Songs, Rounder SS -02, LP (197?/1962), trk# 12
Lloyd, A. L. (Bert). Street Songs of England, Washington VM/WLP 737, LP (1960s), trk# 2 (Oxford Tragedy)
Louisiana Lou (Eva Conn). Banjo Pickin' Girl, Rounder 1029, LP (1978), trk# A.04 [1933/12/04] (Export Gal)
Louisiana Lou (Eva Conn). Classic Field Recordings. Landmark Country Sessions ..., JSP 77131, CD( (2010), trk# D.15 [1933/02/04] (Export Gal)
Louvin Brothers. Tragic Songs of Life, Capitol D 114846, CD (1996/1956), trk# 10 [1956/05/03]
Mac and Bob (Lester McFarland & Robert A. Gardner). Mac and Bob's Great Old Song's - Vol 1, Old Homestead OHCS 158, LP (1985), trk# A.07 [1926/12/10]
MacColl, Ewan. Scots Street Songs, Riverside RLP 12-612, LP (1956), trk# A.06 (Butcher Boy - I)
Mathis, Florence. Wolfe, Charles K.(ed.) / Folk Songs of Middle Tennessee. George Boswell, Univ. Tennesse, Sof (1997), p 55/# 31 [1950s]
McAllister, Marybird. Abrahams, Roger; & George Foss / Anglo-American Folksong Style, Prentice-Hall, Sof (1968), 6-9 [1958]
McBee, Hamper. Raw Mash, Rounder 0061, LP (1978), trk# 11
McBee, Hamper. Tennessee: The Folk Heritage, Vol. 2. The Mountains, Tennessee Folklore Soc. TFS 103, LP (1980), trk# 5 [1974]
McClellan, Mrs. Allan. Gardner, Emelyn E. & Geraldine Chickering / Ballads and Songs of Souther, Folklore Associates, Bk (1967/1939), p 78/# 19B [1935] (Waxford Girl)
McCourt, Miss Snoah. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p312/# 90B [1916/05] (Johnny McDowell)
Moore, Charlie. Country Music Memories. Vol. 1, Old Homestead OHS 90134, LP (198?), trk# A.06
Morris, Lucile. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 95/#150D [1933/02/22] (Expert Girl)
Morris, Lucile. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 97/#150E [1933/02/22] (Expert Girl)
Musick, Bessie. Scarborough, Dorothy(ed.) / A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, AMS, Bk (1966/1937), p161 [1930ca]
New Lost City Ramblers. Cohen, John, Mike Seeger & Hally Wood / Old Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1976/1964), p150
O'Neill, Clarence G.. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 97/#150F [1941/07/28] (Noel Girl)
Owens, William A.. Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p 64 [1920s] (Oxford Girl)
Painter, Fred. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p101/#150I [1941/09/26]
Pierce, Otis. Every Bush and Tree, Bay 102, LP (1975), trk# A.07 (Export Girl)
Poff, Mrs.. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p408/# 71B [1917/05/08] (Oxford Tragedy)
Rathburn, Mary. Scarborough, Dorothy(ed.) / A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, AMS, Bk (1966/1937), p162 [1930ca]
Richardson, Nellie S.. Flanders, Helen H. & George Brown / Vermont Folk Songs and Ballads, Folklore Associates, Bk (1968/1931), p 88 [1930/08] (Hanged I Shall Be)
Riddle, Almeda. Granny Riddle's Songs and Ballads, Minstrel JS 203, LP (1977), trk# B.04 (Oxford Girl)
Riddle, Almeda. Abrahams, Roger D.(ed.) / A Singer and Her Songs. Almeda Riddle's Book o, Louisiana State U. Press, Bk (1970), p 65 [1964-67] (Oxford Girl)
Robertson, Jeannie. Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 7. Fair Game and Fowl, Caedmon TC 1163, LP (1962), trk# A.09 [1953/11] (Butcher Boy - I)
Roberts, Mrs. Willie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p409/# 71E [1918/05/23] (Miller's Apprentice)
Schilling, Jean and Lee. Keep on the Sunny Side, Traditional TR 021, LP (1982), trk# A.04
Shockley, Eva. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 94/#150B [1928/08/12] (Noel Girl)
Short, J. Will. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 98/#150G [1941/08/15] (Noel Girl)
Sizemore, Asher; and Little Jimmy. Sizemore, Asher; and Little Jimmy / Favorite Mountain Ballads & Old T..., Sizemore, fol (1932), p11
Smith, Betty. For My Friends of Song, June Appal JA 018, LP (1977), trk# 12
Smith, Phoebe. Kennedy, Peter (ed.) / Folksongs of Britain and Ireland, Oak, Sof (1984/1975), #327, p713 [1956] (Oxford Girl)
Stephens, Mrs. Lee. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 93/#150A [1927/08/10] (Noel Girl)
Streeter, Harold. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1977/07,p 9
Tanner, Arthur. Paramount Old Time Recordings, JSP 7774, CD( (2006), trk# A.21 [1925/06]
Thornton, Laura. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 94/#150C [1926/10/04] (Noel Girl)
Tuttle, Mildred. Anglo-American Songs and Ballads, Library of Congress AFS L12, LP (1953), trk# A.02 [1941/12] (Expert Town)
Tuttle, Mildred. Emrich, Duncan / Folklore on the American Land, Little, Brown, sof (1972), p580 [1942/12] (Expert Town)
Tuttle, Mildred. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p102/#150J [1941/12/31]
Ward, Fields. Folk Music in America, Vol. 9, Songs of Death & Tragedy, Library of Congress LBC 09, LP (1978), trk# A.06 [1937/10/25] (Lexington Murder)
Ward, Fields. Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Our Singing Country, Dover, Sof (2000/1941), p174 [1937] (Lexington Murder)
Ward, Mrs. Crockett. 1941 Old Fiddlers Convention, Galax, Virginia, Voyage Beyond, CD (200?), trk# 3 [1941] (Lexington Murder)
Wiles, Mrs. Dayton. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p311/# 90A [1915ca] (Tragedy)
Wilson, Mary; and Mrs. Townsley. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p407/# 71A [1917/05/01] (Oxford Tragedy)
Wood, Mrs. Russell. Gardner, Emelyn E. & Geraldine Chickering / Ballads and Songs of Souther, Folklore Associates, Bk (1967/1939), p 77/# 19A [1930s]
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The Jealous Lover - III [Laws P35]
Rt - Knoxville Girl
Vass, Ruby. Shellans, Herbert (ed.) / Folk Songs of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Oak, Sof (1968), p68 [1959/06/20]
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George Petrie, the Ancient Music of Ireland, p. 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
PETRIE AMOI 1855 1 p134/ 1902 #693 1v & tune only "O Johnny, dearest Johnny - What dyed your hands and clothes ? - He answered as he thought fit - By a bleeding at the nose" -
CRUEL MILLER, THE - "I fell in love with an Oxford Girl - she'd a dark and a rolling eye" - A boy invites his girl-friend to take a walk to discuss their wedding, threatens her with a stake but, in spite of her pleadings, beats her to death - throws her body in the river - on returning home he is questioned about blood and says he has a nose-bleed - the body is found floating through the town and the boy is sentenced to be hung - LAWS #P-35 "The Wexford Girl" & ABBB 1957 p267 & ballad discussed p115-122 - ROUD#263 -- BSs have title "The Cruel Miller" ("My parents educated me - good learning gave to me") incl BG 5#209 & 9#111 - BARING GOULD SOW 1889 #63 from J.Woodrich, Thrushelton FWB 1890 tune developed & text re-written as "The Orchestra" (not in Rev Ed) - SHARP-KARPELES CSC 1974 #65 "The Miller's Apprentice" (9var in Ms) see Cf I p245 (Louis Hooper unpubl) - GREIG-DUNCAN 2 p-45 "The Butcher Boy" - PETRIE AMOI 1855 1 p134/ 1902 #693 1v & tune only "O Johnny, dearest Johnny - What dyed your hands and clothes ? - He answered as he thought fit - By a bleeding at the nose" - GREIG FSNE 1914 #137 & #179 - JFSS 26 pp23-4 Moeran: Shepherd Taylor, Hickling, Norfolk "Hang-ed I shall be" - JFSS 7:27 p44 Hammond: Joseph Elliott, Todber, Dorset 1905 "The Prentice Boy" - HAMER 1967 p40 Paddy Church Bedfordsh "The Wexford Murder" - SEDLEY 1967 p94 "The Cruel Miller" - PURSLOW WS 1968 p94 Hammond: Joseph Elliott, 6v/m "The Prentice Boy" - MUNCH Tristan da Cunha 1970 p71 "Maria Martini" (about "a Waxford girl" - another version of words has "waxen girl") from Repetto family - KENNEDY FSBI 1975 #327 Phoebe Smith - McCOLL-SEEGER 1977 p244-6 - PALMER 1979 #57 Moeran - PALMER EBECS 1979 pp107-9 Moeran: Shepherd Taylor 1921 "Hang-ed I shall be" - RICHARDS-STUBBS EFS 1979 p116 Amy Birch Devon "Prentice Boy" - "Dungheap" article #11 in MT (mustrad) --- SHARP FSSA 1917/32 #71 (vol I pp407-9) 5var: Mrs Mary Wilson & Mrs Townsley, Pineville, Bell Co., Ky 1917 (11v) (DC 2004)/ Mrs Poff, Barbourville, Knox Co 1917/ Mrs Delie Knucklwes, Barbourville 1917/ Mrs Berry Creech, Greasy Creek, Pine Mt., Harlan Co., Ky 1917/ Mr Dol Small, Nellysford, Va 1918 "The Miller's Apprentice or The Oxford Tragedy" - COX FSS 1925 p311 (W Va) - MACKENZIE NS 1928 p293 - FLANDERS-BROWN Vt 1932 p88 - HUDSON Miss 1936 pp141-3 Mississipi (w/o) - SCARBOROUGH 1937 p160 (NC & Va) - NEELY- SPARGO 3 1938 p150 - GARDNER-CHICKERING Mich 1939 p77 - BELDEN Mo 1940 p134 - BREWSTER Indiana 1940 p204 - LOMAX OSC 1941 p174 - RANDOLPH OFS 1946-50 2 p93 Mo & Ark - MORRIS FSOF 1950 pp336- 9 Mrs Jenks Hart Fla "The Wedding Day" - OWENS Tex 1950 p81 - DOERFLINGER 1951 p288 (NB) - BROWN NC 1952-62 p240 - PEACOCK NFL 1965 p638 (2var) "The Cruel Miller" - WARNER TAFS 1984 #7 p57 John Galusha NY "The Waxford Girl" -- Mary DORAN (tinker) rec by PK, Belfast 1952: RPL18581/ FTX-167 "Dublin City" - Fred JORDAN rec by PK, London 1962: FTX-130 "Down by the riverside"/ rec by Mike Yates & Bill Leader 1966: TOPIC 12-T-150 "The Watery Grave" - Paddy CHURCH (81) rec by PK, Biddenham, Bedfordsh 1955: RPL19338 "The Wexford Murder" - Jeannie ROBERTSON (tinker) of Aberdeen rec by PK, London 1953: RPL21092/ rec by Alan Lomax, Aberdeen: CAEDMON TC-1163/ TOPIC 12-T-195/ with Josh Mc CRAE (gtr): RIVERSIDE RLP-12-633 1956 "The Butcher Boy" - Ethel FINDLATER rec by PK, Breckan, Dounby, Orkney 1954: FTX-063 "The Wexford Girl"/ 7"RTR-0690 (from Ernest Marwick 1967) - Phoebe SMITH (gypsy) rec by PK, Woodbridge, Suffolk 1956: RPLLP 23099 tune hummed aft/ FTX-029 (vs ,4,5,6 & 7) & 100/ TOPIC 12-T-193 1970 "Wexport Girl" - Harry COX rec by PK, Catfield, Norfolk 19/7/56: RPL LP 22915 "The Prentice Boy"/ EFDSS LP-1004 1965: FTX-034/ rec by Mervyn Plunkett 12/6/60: TOPIC TSCD-512D 2000 "Ekefield Town" - Carolyne HUGHES (gypsy) rec by PK, Blandford, Dorset 1968: FTX-043 "The London Murder" - Unnamed Black Country Singer (2v) in "Talking with gypsies" radio prog introduced by John Seymour: FTX-283 - May BRADLEY rec by Fred Hamer, Ludlow, Shropsh: EFDSS VWML-003 cass 1989 - Freda PALMER rec Mike Yates, Witney, Oxfordsh: TOPIC 12-T-254 1975 - Mary Anne HAYNES (gypsy) rec Mike Yates, Kent: TOPIC 12-TS-285 1976 "Wexford Town" - Shirley & Dolly COLLINS: EMI SHVL-771 1970 - NOTTS ALLIANCE: TRADITIONAL SOUND TSR-011 1972 - Peta WEBB: TOPIC 12-TS-223 1973 Doran - Amy BIRCH rec by Sam Richards & Tish Stubbs: FOLKWAYS FE-38553 1981/ CASS-1292 "He pulled a dagger" - Ruth BURDON of Sandwich, Kent rec herself on cassette Feb 1982: 90-0626 (frag) "He took her by the lily-white hand" - OYSTER BAND "Prentice Boy" on Radio 2: 17/5/82: CASS-0415 - USA - Carter Family (trio) rec NY 17/6/37: DECCA 5479-A/ 7"RTR-0313-4 "Never let the devil get the upper hand of you" - E C BALL (voc/gtr) rec Alan Lomax, Va 1941: AAFS L-1/ 7"RTR-0309/ FTX-785 #24 "Pretty Polly" - Stanley Brothers: (PHILLIPS BBL-7410 & 7552)/ CASS-0239 - Mildred TUTTLE (voc/gtr) rec by Alan Lomax, Ark 1942: AAFS L-12 - John GALUSHA rec Frank & Anne Warner 1947 NY: FTX-921 - Harry (voc/mandolin) & Jeannie (voc/gtr) WEST rec S-Appalachians RIVERSIDE RLP-12-617 1956 "Knoxville Girl" - Frank PROFFITT rec by Frank & Anne Warner, NC 1959: FTX-932 "Pretty Polly" - LOUVIN Brothers: CAPITOL 14989 (45 EP) 1958 "Knoxville Girl" - Almeda RIDDLE rec by Jerry Epstein & Don Wade 1977: MINSTREL JD-203
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http://dla.acaweb.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/berea/id/201/rec/2
recorded version
Knoxville Girl
Primary Performer / Group Frank Couch,
Description Song sung and played on guitar by Frank Couch and recorded in Letcher County, Kentucky by Leonard Roberts [1954].
----------------------------
Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music
Hanged I Shall Be / The Oxford Tragedy / The Oxford/Wexford Girl /
Ekefield/Ickfield/Wexford Town / The Butcher Boy / The Prentice Boy
[ Roud 263 ; Laws P35 ; G/D 2:200 ; Ballad Index LP35 ; Full English HAM/2/8/20 ; trad.]
E.J. Moeran collected the grim murder ballad Hanged I Shall Be in October 1921 from ‘Shepherd’ Taylor of Hickling, Norfolk. Roy Palmer published it in 1979 in his Everyman's Book of English Country Songs.
A.L. Lloyd sang this ballad as The Oxford Tragedy in 1956 on his Riverside LP English Street Songs. He was accompanied by Alf Edwards on concertina. All tracks from this album were included in 2008 on his Fellside compilation Ten Thousand Miles Away. He commented in his sleeve notes:
Perhaps this is the most important of all murder ballads carried across England by the street singers. At least, a vast number of pieces of ballad journalism have taken it for a pattern during the last two and a half centuries. The original comes from a broadside from the end of the 17th Century called The Wittam Miller (Wittam is a village near Oxford). Most of the 19th Century stall-ballad publishers printed a version of this form favourite, which was probably the parent ballad to the American murder ballads The Knoxville Girl and Florella.
Norfolk singer Harry Cox sang it with the title Ekefield Town in a recording made by Mervyn Plunkett on June 12, 1960. It was included in 2000 on his Topic Records 2 CD anthology, The Bonny Labouring Boy. Steve Roud commented in the liner notes:
Quite widely collected in Britain by Cecil Sharp and his contemporaries, and in the repertoire of several well known post-war singers such as Cecilia Costello, Jeannie Robertson, and Phoebe Smith, this song was even more well-known in North America, where dozens of versions (under such titles as The Wexford Girl or The Lexington Miller) have been noted and published. As pointed out by Laws (American Balladry from British Broadsides, 1957), in a chapter on “ballad recomposition”, the original text appeared in the mid-18th century as The Berkshire Tragedy or The Wittam Miller, and has since undergone not simply the vagaries of oral tradition, but deliberate re-composition, apparently on more than one occasion. Comparing Harry's with the Original, his is severely truncated and avoids the wordiness of 18th century texts, but it includes many of the most telling details, such as the stake from the hedge, and the dragging by the hair. Nevertheless, the omission of the original motif of pregnancy leaves the murder motiveless in Harry's version, which heightens either the song's stark horror, or the sordidness, according to the listener's own viewpoint.
Jeannie Robertson of Aberdeen sang The Butcher Boy, in a recording made at her home in 1955, on her 1956 Riverside album Songs of a Scots Tinker Lady. Hamish Henderson commented in the sleeve notes:
This murder ballad, with its uneasy psychological undertones, is sometimes known as The Murder of Sweet Mary Anne. It appears to derive from a 17th century broadside in which the murdering lover is a miller. In the United States, the ballad is best known as The Lexington Murder or The Knoxville Girl, and has undoubtedly been the inspiration for several other murder ballads. In the form sung here, it is still very popular in Scotland.
Another recording of her made by Alan Lomax in 1953 can be found on the anthology Fair Game and Foul (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 7; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1970). The booklet noted:
This very familiar ballad, parallel to (if not a remake of) The Cruel Ship's Captain, might be called the classic British murder ballad, in the same sense that Omie Wise or Pretty Polly are the central ballads of the Southern American tradition. In most English variants, the murder weapon is a stick cut from a hedgerow, as in Harry Cox's version about Ekefield Town
As we're a-walking and a-talking
Of things that grew around,
I took a stick from out of the hedge
And knocked that fair maid down.
Perhaps the most dramatic verses occur in a version recorded from a gypsy woman in Suffolk:
It was about three weeks afterwards
When that pretty fair maid were found
Come floating down by her own mother's door
On, near Oxford Town.
Enoch Kent sang The Butcher Boy in 1962 as title track of his Topic EP The Butcher Boy and Other Ballads. All tracks from this EP were reissued in 1965 as part of the Topic LP Bonny Lass Come O'er the Burn. Norman Buchan commented in the sleeve notes:
Though Francis James Child characterised the broadside ballads as ‘veritable dungheaps’ he conceded the occasional ‘moderate jewel’. This one, ennobled by a splendid tune, is a good deal more than that. It contains little of the conventional trappings of the professional product—no last dying speech, no explanation for the murder, usually pregnancy, no ‘take warning by me’. Indeed it shows much of the bare economy of story line of our classical ballads and is obviously moulded by a community in which the great tradition was still very much alive. It will come as no surprise, therefore, that Enoch learned it from perhaps the greatest living expression of that tradition, Jeannie Robertson.
Sarah Porter sang Down By the Deep River Side in 1965 at The Three Cups, Punnetts Town. This recording made by Brian Matthews was included in 2001 on the Musical Tradition anthology of songs from Sussex country pubs, Just Another Saturday Night. The album's booklet commented:
Although this song looks like a version of The Oxford Girl, I'm told that it's actually a version of Floating Down the Tide (Roud 1414) which is derived from a quite different ballad. I'm sure the distinction would be lost on most of its singers.
Both songs are very widespread with a total of 240 entries in Roud—the earliest of which is dated 1796—though considerably more than half of them are from the USA and Canada. In England, at least, they are now very much the preserve of Travellers.
They go by a bewildering array of different names: The Berkshire/Worcester Tragedy, The Bloody/Cruel Miller, The Butcher/'Prentice/Miller/Collier Boy, Poor Nell, Johnny McDowell, The Lexington Murder … And then there's the staggering range of place names: Boston, Camden, Coleraine, Ekefield, Expert, Export, Knoxville, Lexington, London, Noel, Oxford, Shreveport, Waco, Waterford, Waxford, Waxweed, Waxwell, Wexford, Wexport … all relating to the Girl, Town or City of the action.
What this tells us, I think, is that these are songs which—perhaps more than any others—have the ability of sounding like a story you already know. It's the stuff of Urban Legend—songs of which the older singers would so often claim, “My father knew the people involved!” It's pretty dispiriting to realise that the murder of a pregnant girl by the man who made her so, was a commonplace.
I still think that Sarah Porter's song is of the Oxford Girl family as the girl gets murdered and doesn't drown herself.
Peter Bellamy sang this ballad in 1969 with the title The Prentice Boy on his second LP, Fair England's Shore. He also sang it on November 17, 1968 at the Young Tradition concert at Oberlin College, Ohio, that was released in 2013 on their Fledg'ling CD Oberlin 1968. He commented in the original album's sleeve notes:
The Prentice Boy is just one form of what must be one of the most widely-spread song plots in the world. This version comes from Norfolk, and has been collected under this title several times in that country; but listen to any version of The Oxford Tragedy or The Butcher Boy—or any of the American Omie Wise / Pretty Polly songs, and you find the same story. Perhaps it was always happening!
Shirley Collins sang this both tender and cruel murder ballad unaccompanied in 1970 on her and her sister Dolly's album Love, Death & the Lady. She commented in the album's notes:
From the singing of the fine Suffolk singer Phoebe Smith—a woman of great presence, whose stately, dignified style affected me quite profoundly. I am always struck by the tenderness underlying this murder ballad, which strangely doesn't seem inappropriate.
Phoebe Smith's own version titled The Wexport Girl was recorded by Paul Carter and Frank Purslow in her home in Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk, in 1969 and was included a year later on her Topic LP Once I Had a True Love.
Martin Carthy sang this song with the title Hanged I Shall Be on the Albion Country Band's album Battle of the Field. This album which was recorded in 1973 but wasn't published before 1976. A May 1973 live recording for the BBC appeared on The Albion Band: The BBC Sessions, released in 1998 after only a 25 year wait!
Mary Ann Haynes of Brighton, Sussex, sang Wexford Town in a recording made by Mike Yates in between 1972 and 1975 on the 1976 Topic album Green Grow the Laurels: Country Singers from the South.
Ray Fisher learned The Butcher Boy from the singing of Jeannie Robertson and sang it in 1999 at the Folk Festival Sidmouth.
Norma Watersons sang The Oxford Girl a much more straightforward murder story in 2005 on Waterson:Carthy's fifth album, Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand. Martin Carthy commented in the album notes:
With Liza's lead we sort of made up the melody for The Oxford Girl for Norma so sing from bits and pieces and personally I think that the result is rather good. In some sets of the song the words, towards the end, portray a full scale vision of the fires of hell at his bed foot, but it loses nothing by being ever so slightly more subdued.
John Kirkpatrick re-introduced the girl's pregnancy to the story, renamed the song to Ickfield Town, and sang it in 2005 on Song Links 2: A Celebration of English Traditional Songs and Their American Variants. Sheila Kay Adams sang the corresponding American variant, Knoxville Town. The sleeve notes commented:
This song, most commonly known as The Oxford Girl or The Cruel or Bloody Miller, tells in the first person the story of a young man who murders his sweetheart. In some versions, the girl is pregnant, and the story is often tenderly told—“I gently knocked her down” and “I took her down to the river's edge and gently throwed her in”. And generally the man shows remorse, or is it just a ploy to save himself from the gallows?
John Kirkpatrick calls his version Ickfield Town, and it's based on a version (Ekefield Town) from Harry Cox (born 1885) of Catfield, Norfolk. One of the greatest of the English traditional singers, farm worker Harry had a large and fine repertoire of songs, which he sang in his natural Norfolk dialect with a great deal of grace and beauty. John has added further words from two remarkable gypsy women, Phoebe Smith and Cecilia Costello.
Jackie Oates and James Dumbelton sang The Butcher's Boy in 2009 on her album Hyperboreans. She commented in her liner notes:
Learnt from the singing of Elizabeth Stewart via a compilation of Scottish songs put together by Alasdair Roberts. Of all the murder ballads that I've come across, I have found this the most graphic and yet the most compelling.
Jon Boden sang The Prentice Boy as the September 1, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. This video shows Jon and The Remnant Kings performing The Prentice Boy at the A Folk Song A Day Midsummer Concert at Cecil Sharp House, London, on June 23, 2011:
Ewan McLennan sang Butcher's Boy in 2012 on his Fellside CD The Last Bird to Sing. He commented in his liner notes:
I've never usually been drawn to murder ballads; but on hearing the brilliant version of this song by Enoch Kent I was drawn to this broadside. What came before our story here and what the motivation was remains a mystery.
Olivia Chaney sings The Oxford Girl in this 2014 video from the forthcoming album The Ballad of Shirley Collins:
Lyrics
Shirley Collins sings The Oxford Girl Waterson:Carthy sing The Oxford Girl
My parents said you catered me,
while learning they did give.
They bound me to apprentice,
A miller for to be.
I fell in love with an Oxford girl
She had a dark and a roving eye.
But I feel too ashamed for to marry her,
A-being so young a maid.
Then I fell in love with an Oxford girl
With a dark and roving eye.
And I promised her I would marry her
If she with me would lie.
I courted her for six long months
A little now and then
Till I thought it a shame to marry her,
Me being so young a man.
I went up to her father's house
About twelve o'clock one night,
Asking her if she's take a walk
Through the fields and meadows gay.
And I asked her for to take a walk
Down by some shady grove
And there we walked and we talked of love
And we set a wedding day.
I took her by the lily-white hand
And I kissed her cheek and chin,
But I had no thoughts of murdering her
Nor in no evil way.
I catched a stick from out the hedge
And I gently knocked her down,
And blood from that poor innocent girl
Came a-trinkling to the ground
But I pulled a little stick from off the hedge
And struck her to the ground
Until the blood of that innocent
Lay trickling all around
Down on her bended knees she'd fall
And tearfully she'd cry,
“Oh Jimmy dear, don't you murder me,
For I'm too young to die.”
I catched fast hold of her curly, curly locks
And I dragged her through the fields,
Until we came to a deep riverside
Where I gently flung her in.
So I went unto my master's house
About the hour of night.
And my master rose and he let me in
By the striking of a light.
Look out, she go, look out, she floats,
She's a-drowning on the tide,
And instead of her having a watery grave
She should have been my bride.
Well he asked of me and he questioned me,
“What stains your hands and clothes?”
Well I quickly made for to answer,
“Just the bleeding of my nose.”
No rest nor peace that night I find,
I do in torment lie.
For the murder of my own true love
Now I am condemned to die.
Harry Cox sings Ekefield Town
As I was fast bound 'prentice boy, I was bound unto a mill,
And I served my master truly for seven years and more,
Till I took up a-courting with the girl with the rolling eye,
And I promised that girl I'd marry her if she would be my bride.
So I went up to her parents' house about the hour of eight,
But little did her parents think that it should be her fate.
I asked her if she'd take a walk through the fields and meadows gay,
And there we told the tales of love and fixed the wedding day.
As we were walking and talking of the different things around,
I drew a large stick from the hedge and knocked that fair maid down.
Down on her bending knees she fell and so loud for mercy cried,
“Oh, come spare the life of a innocent girl, for I am not fit to die.”
Then I took her by the curly locks and I dragged her on the ground
Until I came to the riverside that flowed through Ekefield town.
It ran both long and narrow; it ran both deep and wide,
And there I plunged this pretty fair maid that should have been my bride.
So when I went home to my parents' house about ten o'clock that night.
My mother she jumped out of bed all for to light the light.
She asked me and she questioned me, “Oh, what stains your hands and clothes?”
And the answer I gave back to her, “I've been bleeding at the nose.”
So no rest, no rest, all that long night; no rest, no rest, could I find.
The fire and the brimstone around my head did shine,
And it was about two days after this fair young maid was found,
A-floating by the riverside that flowed through Ekefield town.
Now the judges and the jurymen on me they did agree,
For murdering of this pretty fair maid so hanged I shall be.
Oh hanged, oh hanged, oh hanged I shall be,
For murdering of this pretty fair maid, so hanged I shall be.
Peter Bellamy sings The Prentice Boy
As I was fast bound 'prentice boy, I was bound unto a mill,
And I served my master truly for seven years or more,
Till I took up a-courting with that girl with the rolling eye,
And I promised I would marry her if she would be my bride.
So I went round to her parents' house, it being the hour of eight,
And little did her parents think that it would be her fate.
And I asked her for to walk with me through the fields and meadows gay,
And there we told our tales of love and fixed the wedding day.
As we were a-walking and a-talking of these different things around,
I pulled a large stick from the hedge and I knocked this fair maid down.
Down on her bended knees she fell and loud for mercy cried,
“Oh, have pity on an innocent girl, I am not fit to die.”
But I grabbed her by the curly locks and I dragged her on the ground
And I dragged her to the river Brigg that run through Ekefield town.
It ran both deep and narrow; it ran both swift and wide,
And there I plunged the pretty fair maid that should have been my bride.
So I went back to my parents' house about ten o'clock that night.
And my mother she jumped out of bed all for to light the light.
She asked me and she questioned me, “What stains your hands and clothes?”
And the answer I gave back to her, “I've been bleeding at my nose.”
But no rest, no rest, all that long night; no rest, no rest, could I find.
For the fire and the brimstone around my head did shine,
And it was about two days afterwards this pretty fair maid was found,
A-floating by the riverbank that flowed through Ekefield town.
So the judges and the jurymen on me they did agree,
For a-murdering of this pretty fair maid a-hanged I will be.
Oh hanged, oh hanged, oh hanged I will be,
For a-murdering of this pretty fair maid a-hanged I will be
The Albion Country Band's Hanged I Shall Be
Now as I was bound apprentice, I was 'prentice to the mill,
And I served my master truly for more than seven year.
Until I took up to courting with a lass with that rolling eye
And I promised that I'd marry her in the month of sweet July.
And as we went out a-walking through the fields and the meadows gay,
Oh it's there we told our tales of love and we fixed our wedding day.
And as we were walking and talking of the things that grew around
Oh I took a stick all out of the hedge and I knocked that pretty maid down
Down on her bended knees she fell and loud for mercy cry,
“Oh spare the life of an innocent girl for I'm not prepared to die.”
But I took her by her curly locks and I dragged her on the ground
And I throwed her into the riverhead that flows to Ekefield town,
That flows so far to the distance, that flows so deep and wide,
Oh it's there I threw this pretty fair maid that should have been my bride.
Now I went home to my parents' house, it being late at night.
Mother she got out of bed all for to light the light.
Oh she asked me and she questioned me, “What stains your hands and clothes?”
And the answer I gave back to her, “I've been bleeding at my nose.”
No rest, no rest all that long night, no rest there could I find
For there's sparks of fire and brimstone around my head did shine.
And it was about three days after that this pretty fair maid was found,
Floating by the riverhead that flows to Ekefield town.
That flows so far to the distance, that flows so deep and wide.
Oh it's there they found this pretty fair maid that should have been my bride.
Oh the judges and the jurymen all on me they did agree
For a-murdering of this pretty fair maid oh hanged I shall be.
John Kirkpatrick sings Ickfield Town
O as I was fast bound 'prentice boy, I was 'prentice to a mill,
And I served my master truly and never thought no ill,
Till I took up a-courting with a girl with a rolling eye,
Oh her beauty bright was my delight, she being so young and shy.
Well I promised I would marry her, and her I did beguile.
Oh I kissed her and I courted her until she proved with child;
Then I asked her if she'd take a walk through the fields and meadows gay,
So that I might tell her tales of love, and fix our wedding day.
And as we were walking and talking all the different things around,
Oh I drew a stick from out the hedge and knocked this fair maid down.
Down on her bended knees she fell, so loud for mercy cried,
“Oh, come spare the life of a innocent girl, for I am not fit to die.”
I took her by the curly locks and I dragged her on the ground
I dragged her to the riverside that flows through Ickfield town.
Oh it runs both long and narrow; it runs both deep and wide,
And there I plunged this pretty fair maid that should have been my bride.
And then I went home to my parents' house, it being so late at night.
Oh my mother she jumped out of bed all for to light the light.
She asked me and she questioned me, “Oh, what stains your hands and clothes?”
And the answer I gave back to her, “I've been bleeding at the nose.”
No rest, no rest that live long night; no rest, no rest could I find.
The fire and the brimstone around my head did shine.
Look how she goes, look how she flows, a-floating on the tide;
Instead of having a watery grave she should have been my bride.
But it was about two days after, this fair young maid was found,
A-floating by the riverside that flows through Ickfield town.
Oh the judges and the jurymen on me they did agree,
For murdering of this pretty fair maid so hanged I shall be.
Oh hanged, oh hanged, oh hanged I shall be,
For murdering of this pretty fair maid, so hanged I shall be.
Jeannie Robertson sings The Butcher Boy
His parents gave him good learning,
Good learning they gave unto him,
For they sent him to a butcher's shop
For a butcher boy to be.
It was there that he met with a fair young maid
With dark and a rolling eye,
And he promised for to marry her
On the month of sweet July.
For he went up to her mother's house
Between the hour of eight and nine,
And he asked her for to walk with him
Down by the foaming brine.
But they walked it east and they walked it west
And they walked it all alone,
Till he pulled a knife from out of his breast
And he stabbed her to the ground.
She fell upon her bended knees
And for mercy she did cry,
“Owen Barry, dear, don't murder me
For I'm not prepared to die.”
But he took her by the lily-white hand
And he dragged her to the brim,
And with a mighty boundward push
He pushed her body in.
He went home till his own mother's house
Between the hour of twelve and one,
But little did his mother think
What her only son had done.
He asked her for a handkerchief
To die around his head,
And he asked her for a candle-light
For to show him up to bed.
But no sleep, no rest, could this young man get,
No rest he could not find,
For he thought he saw the flames of hell
Approaching his bedside.
But the murder it was soon found out
And the gallows was his doom.
For the murder of sweet Mary Anne
That leis where the roses bloom.
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Magical Corpses: Ballads, Intertextuality, 8c the Discovery of Murder 13
With heavy wounds and blows,
And every wound drew forth fresh blood
Come trickling through her clothes.
And on her bosom a knife was found
Through sorrow, grief and shame,
And on the handle of the knife
Was Squire Nathaniel's name.
T done the deed," Nathaniel cried;
"My soul hangs forth for hell.
Just hide this cold corpse from my eyes,
And then the truth I'll tell."
(Greenleaf 1933:116-18)
Another supernatural manifestation occurs in "Rosanna's Overthrow"/
"Fair Rosanna"/"The Oxfordshire Tragedy; or, the Virgin's Advice." A
flower (a damask rose) grows on the victim's grave and instantly grows up
again whenever it is picked?until picked by the murderer, when it immedi?
ately withers and dies. At this occurrence, he betrays himself?"He said, 'It
is Rosanna's blood! which springs up from her fair body'"and immediately confesses to the murder (RoxburgheBallads 1869-99: VIII, 68-69,1
Magical Corpses: Ballads, Intertextuality, and the Discovery of Murder
Author(s): David Atkinson
Source:
Journal of Folklore Research
, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jan. - Apr., 1999), pp. 1-29
Published by: Indiana University Press
Excerpt
. "The Berkshire Tragedy," the broadside version of "The Wexford
Girl," is narrated in the first person so that the murderer himself is made to
observe, "Heaven had a watchful eye, and brought it so about / That,
though I stiffly did deny, this murder would come out" (Roxburghe Ballads
1869-99: VIII, 629-31). Nor is this the only providential interpretation of
crime and punishment to be found among ballads of this kind:
He clasped her then within his arms and haste unto the shore,
And soon afloat within a boat prepared by him before,
A rope he tied around her waist, and after tied a stone.
One gentle splash, and like a flash the murderer was alone
Alone? Oh, no. All-seeing eyes was watching from on high,
And God is just; the murderer must from His great vengeance fly.
The brand of Cain upon his brow, no rest again he'll find
Until upon the gallows high he'll expiate his crime.
("The Millman Song" in Doerflinger 1990:285-86)
Rather than face her many friends, she followed in his path;
He led her to a lonely spot, and awful was his wrath;
But little did he think that far above in the blue sky
A witness there who sees a crime with an all-seeing eye.
All night a headless body lay aside a lonely street
Suspicion points to three young men as having done the deed;
The evidence does plainly implicate all three of them,
For more atrocious crime no man did ever hang.
("Pearl Bryan IV" in Cohen 1973:59-60)
Nevertheless, there are versions of murdered-sweetheart ballads like
"The Wexford Girl" and "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" that more or less
just end with the murder itse
The title of " The Berkshire (or Barkshire) Tragedy," properly belongs to a ballad
frequently found on old broadsides, and on later broadsides by Pitts also, the scene
of which is laid at Wythanm Mill, above Oxford. This totally distinct ballad has
usually the explanatory title " The Berkshire Tragedy, or the Witham Miller, being
an account of his murdering his sweetheart."
nosebleed
Paul Slade:
This is a belief from English folklore which goes back at least as far as 1180, when Nigel de Longchamps' Mirror for Fools has a character interpreting his nosebleed as a sign of bad luck to come. The same idea appears again in John Webster's Duchess of Malfi from 1614 and in Samuel Pepys' 1667 diary. On July 6 that year, Pepys writes: “It was an ominous thing, methought, just as he was bidding me his last Adieu, his nose fell a-bleeding, which run in my mind a pretty while after.” (6, 7)
We know this notion was still current when The Bloody Miller was written, because 1684 also produced The Island Queens, a play by the restoration dramatist John Banks with this exchange:
“DOWGLAS: ‘No sooner was I laid to rest, but just three drops of blood fell from my nose, and stain'd my pillow.’
QUEEN MARY: ‘That rather does betoken some mischief to thyself.’
DOWGLAS: ‘Perhaps to cowards, who prize their own base lives. But to the brave, ‘tis always fatal to the friend they love.’”
The Cruel Miller, Hanged I Shall Be, The Wittham Miller or Ekefield Town
---------------
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads - Volume 4 - Page 117
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0486431487
Francis James Child - 2003 - Preview - More editions
The omen of nose-bleed occurs in the ballad of ' The Mother's Malison,' No 216, C ; both nose-bleed and horse-stumbling, as omens, in Webster's Duchess of Malfi, Act II, Scene 2, Dyce, 1859, p. 70, cited, with other cases, in Ellis's ed. of
-----
Berkshire:
assizes: a court sitting at intervals in each county of England and Wales to administer criminal and civil law
post boy: a boy or man who rides post; a letter carrier
gaol: jail
man manservant or valet; a usually male worker or employee
cast record: register, or give (a vote).
fetters: a shackle for holding a prisoner by the ankleany shackle or bond
----------------------
Date Published 1763-1775 ?
British Library - Roxburghe 3.750-751
The Oxfordshire Tragedy:
Or, The Virgins Advice.
PART I.
YOung virgins fair, of beauty bright,
And you that are of Cupids fold:
Unto my tragedy give ear,
For tis as true as e'er was told.
In Oxfordshire, a lady fair,
The daughter of a worthy Knight,
A gentleman that livd near,
Was enamourd of this beauty bright.
Rosanna was this maidens name,
The flower of fair Oxfordshire;
This gentleman a courting came,
Begging of her to be his dear,
Her kind heart to love inclind,
Young Cupid bending of his bow,
And left a fatal dart behind,
That provd her fatal overthrow.
Within a pleasant grove they walkd,
And valleys where the lambs do play;
Sweet pleasant tales of love they talkd,
For to pass the long summers day.
My charming sweet rose, said he,
See how the pleasant flowers spring;
The pretty birds on every tree,
With melody the groves did ring.
I nothing have to please or delight
My soul, but those charms of thine;
Our heart are fixed, therefore my dear,
Like turtles let us both combine,
Let me embrace my hearts delight
Within this pleasant bower here;
This bank of violets for my bed,
Shaded with those roses fair.
She said, What do you mean, I pray?
I am a noble lady born.
What signifies my beauty bright,
When my honour it is gone?
My parents they will me disdain,
And young virgins me deride,
O do not prove my overthrow,
If you love stay till Im your bride.
Sweet angel dear, I do vow,
By all the powers so divine
You are she whom I adore,
And in love my heart confine.
And if thou dost me refuse
This sword must soon end my woe;
Them from her arms he straitway flew,
And in his passion his sword drew.
Her hands as white as lillies fair,
Most dreadfully she did wring;
She said, My deaths approaching near,
Should I relieve and succour him
It brings on my sad fall,
Tis I must receive the wound,
The crimson dye forsook her cheeks,
At his feet she droppd on the ground.
This innocent he did betray,
Full sore against her chaste desire,
True love is a celestial flame,
But flames of lust a raging fire,
But when her senses did revive.
He many vows and oaths did make,
That hed for ever true remain,
And her company not forsake.
PART II.
NOW virgins to the second part,
Observe this sweet creatures end,
When once your virtue it is gone,
Youve nothing you to recommend.
After our traitor had his will,
He never did come near her more;
Then from her eyes both night and day,
The crystal tears did pour.
In the silent grove she then
Did wander quite alone;
And for the creature she had lost
In the said bower thus would moan.
Oh that I was some little bird, That I might fly to hide this shame;
O foolish maid, thus to believe
The base delusion of a man.
The harmless lamb could sport and play,
The turtle constant to his mate;
Nothing more wretched is then I,
To buy the man that doth me hate,
I will to him a letter send,
Remembering of the vows he made
Within that shady bower, where
My tender heart he first betrayd.
Her trembling hands a letter wrote,
My dearest dear, what must I do;
Alas! what mischief have I done,
That I am slighted so by you.
I have slighted many lords of fame,
Who little knows my misery,
I did forsake a worthy knight,
And all for the sake of thee.
And now my little infant dear
Will quickly spread abroad my shame.
One word of comfort send to me
Ere by thy cruelty I am slain
This answer to her he did send,
Your insolence amazes me,
To think that I should marry one,
With whom before I had been free.
Indeed Ill not the father be
Unto the bastard that you bear;
So take no farther thoughts of me.
No more from you pray let me hear.
When she this letter did receive,
She rung her hands and wept fullsore,
Yet every day she still would range
To lament within that bower.
This faithless wretch began to think,
How noble were her parents dear;
She said I sure shall punishd be
When they my story come to hear,
So then the devil did begin
To enter in his wretched mind;
Her precious life he then must have,
Then how to act the thing did find.
He many times did watch her out
Unto the pleasant bower, where
One day he did in private go,
When he knew she was not there,
And privately he dug her grave
Underneath an oaken tree;
Then in the branches he did hide,
To act this bloody tragedy,
Poor harmless soul she nothing knew,
But as usual she went there;
And on a bank of violtes she
In a mournful manner did sit down.
Of his unkindness did complain,
You gentle gods so kind, said she,
Did you this grave for me prepare,
He then descended from the tree.
As she the grave did spy,
She then arose to view the same:
She little thought her lover there:
He said, Strumpet, thy death is near.
O! welcome, welcome, she replyd,
As long as by that hand I die.
This is a pleasant marriage-bed.
I am ready: Use your cruelty:
But may the heavens bring to light
This crime, and let it thus appear:
Winter or summer on this grave,
May this rose be the same
Never to wither, tho its cropt,
But when thy hand doth touch the same,
Then may the bloom that moment cease,
To bring thy crime to sham.
More she said, but with his sword
He peicd her body thro
Then throwd her body in the; silent grave
Saying, Now theres end of you
He filled up the grave again,
With weeds the same did overspread,
Then unconcernd he strait went home,
And instantly he went to be d.
Her parents were grieved sore
For the loss of their daughter dear;
Thinknig that she was stole away,
Who was to their riches heir
Twelve mounths ago this was done,
Theres thousands for a truth do know,
Accordingly as she did desire,
On her the damask rose did grow.
And many wondered at the same,
For all the winter it did spring:
If any one did crop the rose,
In a moment it would grow again.
The thing was told the country o'er,
And many came this sight to see;
This miracle from heaven shewn,
Among the rest he must curious be.
To go and see if it was true.
And when unto the place he came,
The beauteous rose he saw in bloom,
And eagerly he cropt the same.
The leaves faded from oft the bush
The rose within his hand did die:
He said, It is Rosannas blood,
Which springs up from her fair body.
Many people that were there
Took notice of what he did say:
And said he had a murder done,
And the truth he told without delay.
They dug and found the body there,
The first of June it is well known:
Before a magistrate he went,
And in a prison be doth mourn,
Till he punishment receives,
No doubt but he will have his due.
Young men by this a warning take,
Keep your vows whateer you do.
For God doth find out many ways,
Such henious crimes to bring to light;
For murder is a crying sin,
And hateful in his blessed sight.
Printed in Aldermary Church-yard, London.
---------------------
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.
----------------------
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.
-----------------------
on December 4, 1934, James E.Wilcox shot himself in Elizabeth City, the secret of the disappearance and death of Nellie Cropsey was sealed forever. A third of a century had passed since Nellie's body was found floating in the Pasquotank
Nell Cropsey was 19 - the most beautiful girl in Elizabeth City, N.C. - when she disappeared from her front porch the night of Nov. 29, 1901. The last person to have seen her alive was Jim Wilcox, who had been courting her.
But Wilcox didn't join the search for her body, and 37 days later, when it was pulled from the Pasquotank River, everyone in town was convinced that he was responsible for her death. There was talk in the streets of holding a lynching. The evidence against him was, at best, circumstantial and Wilcox stoically proclaimed his innocence.
After a sensational trial - during which the courtroom crowd virtually cheered for the prosecution - Wilcox was convicted of murder and sentenced to serve 30 years in prison. In 1918, after the governor granted Wilcox a pardon, townspeople shunned him.
Late in his lonely life, Wilcox claimed he knew how the beautiful Nell Cropsey died, but he made sure the secret of her death was not to be revealed. Hence, we - after reading all the testimony presented here by Bland Simpson in this non-fiction novel - are left to make our own hesitant judgment.
Wilcox could have hit Nell on the head and tossed her body in the river, but that seems unlikely. Some said that her father, who had brought the family to Elizabeth City from Brooklyn just three years before Nell's death, might have been responsible. That, too, seems unlikely. A stranger in the night? There were uncertain reports of a skiff crossing the river and people on Riverside Avenue. Suicide? Perhaps, but Nell wasn't despondent and left no note.
Two reasons why no one will ever know what happened to - she's always described as "the beautiful" - Nell Cropsey is the amateurish detective work employed and the unprofessional autopsy carried out in the Cropsey's barn in full view of curious bystanders.
Simpson, who grew up in Elizabeth City where the mystery of Nell Cropsey is the stuff of local folklore, teaches writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and here adopts the engaging method of telling his story through the words and thoughts of Wilcox; Nell's older sister, Ollie; her uncle, Judge Andrew Cropsey; a young newspaperman, W.O. Saunders, and various local characters.
To authenticate these first-person narratives, Simpson interviewed more than 50 oldtimers who remembered the Cropseys, Jim Wilcox and W.O. Saunders, and he consulted court records and newspaper accounts. The result is a captivating account of a mystery that captured the attention of folks for miles around.
Simpson has turned a local legend into a first-rate, but unsolved, whodunit.
* Molineux is editor of the editorial page.
* THE MYSTERY OF BEAUTIFUL NELL CROPSEY
By Bland Simpson; University of North Carolina Press; Illustrations. 170 page
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The Ancient Music of Ireland. Volume 1 / George Petrie ed. pp. 114–196, 1855.
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North Carolina Folklore Journal - Volumes 46-49 - Page 90
https://books.google.com/books?id=crMnAQAAIAAJ
1999 - Snippet view - More editions
"The Lexington Murder" 1973:051;