Lexington Miller- (MA) c.1829 Deming broadside
[Leonard Deming broadside of "Lexington Miller" and "Johnny Jarman" Boston c. 1829.
The first record of the Berskshire ballad in North America is "The Lexington Miller," a broadside (see copy below) dated 1829-1831 and printed by Leonard Deming in Market Square, Boston. The text is a reduction of The Berkshire Tragedy (c. 1700)-- also with changes. The Lexington Miller was also printed as "Sold wholesale and retail by Hunts & Shaw, no. 2 Mercantile Wharf, and head of City Wharf[1]" in the 1830s and 1840s.
It's hard to tell if it's meant to be Lexington, Massachusetts or some other Lexington (perhaps Kentucky or North Carolina). The text was reduced from The Berkshire's 22 stanzas (or 44 with divided lines as originally found in the broadside) to 11 and a half (or 23 with divided lines) in The Lexington Miller. The changes appear to be made by Deming or one of his writers directly from a copy of the Berkshire Tragedy and the incorporating some text from the traditional ballad The Lexington Murder, a standard North Carolina traditional version. The changes are revealed through Eddy C, The Lexington Girl and include the servant questioning the murderer about the blood on his clothes as well as the 3 stanza ending.
In 1929 Mellinger E. Henry published a text of the Lexington Miller in The Journal of American Folklore (Vol. 42, No. 165, pp. 247-253) which he received from Kittredge as it appeared in a broadside in the Harvard Library. Despite multiple printings, only one traditional version (Alonzo Lewis of Maine- Flanders E) of the broadside revision has been collected and it appears to have had little effect on tradition. A standard North Carolina version is titled "The Lexington Murder," keeping the Lexington title.
The body floats down to Wentontown, which is unusual and not found in any other versions.
R. Matteson 2016]
The Lexington Miller
Come all you men and maidens dear, to you I will relate[1],
Pray lend an ear and you shall hear concerning my sad fate,
My parents brought me up with care, provided for me well,
And in the town of Lexington employ'd me in a mill.
'Twas there I 'spied a comely lass, she cast a winning[2] eye,
I promis'd I would marry her if she would but comply[3]:
I courted her about six months, which caused us pain and woe;
'Twas folly brought us into a snare, and it prov'd our overthrow.
Her mother came to me one day as you shall understand,
Begging that I would appoint a day, and marry her at hand;
It was about one month from Christmas, O, cursed be that day,
The devil put in to my heart to take her life away.
I was perplex'd on every side, no comfort could I find
Then for to take her life away, my wicked heart inclin'd;
I went unto her sister's house at eight o'clock at night,
And she, poor soul, little thought or knew I ow'd her any spite.
I said, come go along with me, out door a little way,
That you and I may both agree upon our wedding day,
Then hand in hand I led her on, down to some silent place;
I took a stake out of the fence, and struck her on the face.
Now she upon her knees did fall, and most heartily did cry,
Saying, kind sir, don't murder me for I am not fit to die;
I would not harken unto her cries, but laid it on the more,
Till I had taken her life away, which I could not restore.
All in the blood of innocence, my trembling hand have dy'd,
All in the blood of her who should have been my lawful bride;
She gave a sigh and bitter groan, and cast a wishful look,
I took her by the hair of the head and flung her in the brook.
Now straight unto the Mill I went, like one that's in a maze[5],
And first I met was my servant boy, who deeply on me gaz'd;
How came that blood upon your hands, likewise on your clothes?
I instantly made reply, 'twas bleeding of the nose.
I called for a candle, the same was brought to me.
And when the candle I had light, an awful sight I see;
Now straightway unto bed I went, thinking relief to find,
It seemed as if the plagues of hell, were lodg'd within my mind.
Next day her body was search'd for, but it could not be found,
Then I was in my chamber seized, and in my chains were bound.
In two or three days after, this fair maid she was found,
Came floating by her mother's house, that was near Wentontown.
Her sister swore against me, she said she had no doubt,
'Twas I that took her life away, as 'twas I that led her out.
It's now my end comes hastening on, and death approaches nigh[6],
And by my own confession I am condemn'd to die.
Now fare you well to Lexington, where my first breath I drew,
I warn all men and maidens, to all their vows prove true.
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1. The first two lines (stanza 1) have been added and are not part of Berkshire.
2. from "wanton"
3. Replacing the line "if with me she would lie."
4. the last two lines and rhyme have been rewritten.
5. This has been changed from "amazed" to "a maze," in Berkshire it appears "I sorely was amazed."
6. added from tradition?