Molly Vaughn- Mrs. Kruse (MO) 1928 Randolph A
[From Ozark Folksongs I, 1946 by Vance Randolph. Part of A appears two pages later in a printing error. His notes follow,
R. Matteson 2016]
54. MOLLY VAUGHN
The "Molly Vaughn" ballad was first printed in 1806, under the title "Peggy Baun" (Jamieson, Popular Ballads, 1806, I, p. 194). There are numerous American variants. Campbell bell and Sharp (English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 1917, No. 40) give a version from North Carolina and a fragment from Tennessee, while Pound (American Ballad's and Songs, 1922, p. 78) reprints the song as Wyman heard it in Kentucky. Kittredge (JAFL 30, 1917 p. 358) reports several texts from Massachusetts and Kentucky, and gives many British and American references. Recently reported versions include those of Chappell (Folk Songs from Roanoke and the Albemarle, 1939, p. 101), Eddy (Ballads and Songs from Ohio, 1939, p. 192 Gardner (Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan,1939, pp. 66-67), Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England, 1939, pp.274-276), Halpert (JAFL 52, 1939, pp. 56-58), Treat (JAFL 52, p. 32) and Morris (Southern Folklore Quarterly 8, 1944, p. 176). This ballad appears also in the Bromn (North Carolina Folk-Lore Society) collection.
A. "Molly Vaughn.' - Contributed by Mrs. Homer Kruse, Neosho, Mo., July 20,1928.
Come all you young fellows
Who handle a gun,
Beware of shootin'
After the down sun,
I'll tell you a story
That happened quite late,
Of Miss Molly Vaughn,
Whose beauty was great.
Jimmy Rangal went a-huntin',
A-huntin' in the dark,
He shot at his true love
An' he missed not the mark.
He went to his true love
An' found she was dead,
A fountain of tears
On her bosom he shed.
Sayin' oh dearest Molly,
I loved you as my life,
An' I always intended
For to make you my wife.
Jimmy Rangal run home
With his gun in his hand,
Sayin' oh dearest uncle,
I have shot Molly Vaughn !
I've killed that sweet Venice,*
The flower of the morn,
But alack an' alas
I am left all alone.
Up stepped his old father
Whose hair was quite gray,
Sayin' oh dearest son,
You must not run away.
Stay in your own country
Till the trial is at hand,
An' you may be cleared
By the law of our land.
The girls of Calabra
Were all very sad,
When they heard that their favorite
Pretty Molly was dead.
The girls of Calabra
Went all in a row,
Molly Vaughn at the head lies
Like a fountain of snow.
The day of his trial
Her ghost did appear,
Sayin' oh dearest uncle,
Jimmy Rangal goes clear.
With her apron spread about her,
He took her for a swan,
But alack an' alas,
It was poor Molly Vaughn.
*Venus?