Orphan Girl- J. Will Short (MO) 1890 Randolph G
[My title. From: Randolph, Ozark Folksongs; 4 vols. 1946-50; reprinted Columbia, 1980, II, 92. Randolph notes follow. I've renamed some of his versions by creating local titles.
Randolph attributes his versions to the local murder of Lula Noel in 1892 which, according to a report in History of McDonald County, Missouri (1897), is "One of the most appalling crimes ever committed in McDonald county was the murder of Mary Lula Noel daughter of W. H. and S. E. Noel on the 10 day of December, 1892." Lula Noel and William Simmons (the convicted murderer) are not mentioned in Randolph's versions and neither are the locations Lanagan and Joplin.
The attribution is accurate and in some versions he acquired corresponding testimony (Version B, for example). This however does not mean the text of the ballad was changed in any way.
The following appears in consecutive stanzas of the original Berkshire broadside:
21.
But snatch’d the candle from his hand,
and went unto my bed.
22 Where I lay trembling all the night,
For I could take no rest,
which indicated this is from an old reduction. I assume Orphan = Oxford but that is a guess.
R. Matteson 2016]
G. "Orphan Girl" Sung by Mr. J. Will Short, Galena, Mo., Aug. 15, 1941. He learned the song from his mother, near Galena, about 1890
My father bound me a printer's boy
'Bout eighteen years of age
He bound me to a miller
That I might learn some trade.
And there I fell in love with an orphan girl
With dark and sparkling eyes,
I thought that I would marry her
If she did not deny.
I went into this lady's house
About eight o'clock at night,
But little did the lady know
I owed her in despite[1].
I asked her to take a walk with me
To some far distant place,
Where we might have some private talk
And name the wedding date.
She agreed to take a walk with me
To some far distant place,
Where we might have some private talk
And name the wedding date.
I took her by the lily-white hand
And led her to the place,
And from the fence I drew a stake
And smoothed her down the face.
She fell upon her bended knees,
Oh Lord, have mercy on me, she cried,
Oh Johnny dear, don't murder me here,
For I'm not prepared to die.
The second time I drew my stake
Just as I did before,
And out of her eyes and nose and mouth
The gushing blood did flow.
I took her by the lily-white hand
And swung her round and round,
And drug her down to the river's side
And plunged her in to drown.
I went into the miller's house
About twelve o'clock at night,
But little did the miller know
As he gazed upon my sight.
Oh Johnny dear, how came that blood
Upon your hands, likewise your clothes?
The only reply I gave the miller,
Was bleeding at the nose.
I snatched the candle out of his hand
And to my bed I ran,
And there I lie a-trembling
For the murder I had done.
And there I lie a-trembling
No peace, no comfort, no rest,
I felt the guilty pains of hell
A-rushing through my breast.
They took me down to Washington,
And there my life to try
And by my own confession
I was condemned to die.
--------
1. spite