The Four Marys- a hitchhiker (TX) 1941 Owens
[Fragment from Texas Folk Songs, Owens, 1950. Some of his notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
The words in this fragment are spoken by her as she is mounting the stairs to the gallows. I first heard these stanzas from the Bohler fami|y, who made their living by fishing from a houseboat on the Neches River, at that time tied up near a bridge east of Silsbee.
The Four Marys- Sung by an unknown hitchhiker in East Texas, 1941.
1. Oh, little did my mother think
When first she cradled me
That I should die so far from home
Or hang from a gallows tree.
Refrain.: Last night there were four Marys,
Tonight there'll be but three;
There was Mary Seton and Mary Deaton
And Mary Carmichael and me.
2. They'll tie a napkin round my eyes,
They'll not let me see the deed,
And they'll never let on to my father and mother
But what I have gone o'er the sea.
(Refrain)