Sally Monroe- Mrs. Hayes (NL) 1929 Greenleaf

Sally Monroe- Mrs. Hayes (NL) 1929 Greenleaf

[From: Ballads and Sea-Songs of Newfoundland by Elizabeth Bristol Greenleaf, Grace Yarrow Mansfield. Kittredge's notes follow. This is a hybrid ballad- the first 7 lines is Young Sally Munroe and the second is based on the shortened British broadside "Polly's Love" circa 1820 which his rarely found in North America but widely collected in England in the later part of the 1800s on.

R. Matteson 2016]


Mrs. Hayes recited these fragments together, but the first seven lines belong to "Young Sally Munroe," otherwise known as "Charles Dickson" (Dean, The Flyint Cloud, pp. 35-36; Journal of the Folksong Society. III, 291; Greig, lxxiv; Ord, pp. 115-116). The rest is a bit of "The Gosport Tragedy" (Campbell and Sharp, No. 39; Mackenzie, No. 29; Cox, No. 89; Journal xx. 261).


57. Sally Monroe--  Fragments recited by Mrs. Hayes on the S. S. Sarona, 1929.

1. Instead of being a friend of mine,
To me he proved a foe,
He never gave my letter
To young Sally Monroe.

2 The ship was lost
And down amongst the number went
Young Sally Monroe.

3. The captain said, "My young fellows,
I'm afraid some of you
Have murdered some fair maid
And then ran away.
Her poor troubled ghost
Has appeared on the scene."
Up steps one young man,
And he says, "It's not I."
Up steps young Willie
And he says the same.

4 She stripped him and tore him
And lore him in three,
"Because you have murdered
My baby and me."