Waxford Girl- Mrs McClellan (MI) 1935 Gardner B
[From: Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan by Chickering and Gardner 1939. Their notes follow.
R. Matteson 2016]
THE KNOXVILLE GIRL
For references and a discussion of this song, which is found in several English broadsides of the early nineteenth century and which Belden notes is derived from the eighteenth-century broadside, "The Wittam Miller," see Belden, JAFL, XXV, ir; and Henry, JAFL, XLII, 247-253. See also Eddy, No. 125; Greenleaf and Mansfield, p. 119; Henry, JAFL, XLV, 125-130; Hudson, pp. 25-26; Scarborough, pp 159-164; and Sharp, I, 407-409.
B. The Waxford Girl. Sung in 1935 by Mrs Allan McClellan, near Bad Axe.
1. I drew a stake from out of the hedge and knocked this fair maid down.[1]
2 She fell upon her bended knee, for mercy she did cry,
Saying, "Johnny dear, don't murder me, I'm not prepared to die."
3 I took her by the yellow locks and drew her over the ground
And threw her into the water that flows through Waxford town
"Lie there, lie there, you Waxford girl, you thought to be my
bride. You never shall enjoy me, nor you to me be tied."
4 I went to my father's dwelling about twelve o'clock at night,
Which caused my aged mother to rise up in a fright.
"O son, O son, what have you done? What's blooded all your clothes?"
The answer that I gave to her was, "The bleeding of my nose."
5 I was taken on suspicion for taking her sister out;
Then I was taken prisoner and put in Waxford jail.
There was none to go security and none to go my bail.
I owned that I was guilty and ought to go to jail.
6 The judge to me did say, "For the murdering of the Waxford girl
On the gallows you must die."
1. not sure if this is an error at UK site or how it appears in the book. The stanzas are irregular.