Sam Bass (2) Sam Bass was born in Indiana, It was his native home. At the age of seventeen Young Sam began to roam. He first came out to Texas A cowboy for to be. A kinder-hearted fellow You hardly ever see. Sam once dealt in race stock, One called the Denton Mare. He matched her at scrub races And carried her to the fair. Sam used to coin the money And spend it very free; He always drank good whiskey, Wherever he might be. Sam left the Collins ranch In the merry month of May With a herd of Texas cattle The Black Hills for to see. Sold out in Custer City And then got on a spree. A harder set of cowboys You hardly ever see. On their way back to Texas They robbed the N. P. train. They split up in couples And started out again. Joe Collings and his partner Were overtaken soon; With all their hard cash money They had to meet their doom. Sam met his fate at Round Rock On July the twenty-first; They pierced poor Sam with rifle-balls And emptied out his purse. Now poor Sam's (a?) corpse, And Piper's in the quay, And Jackson's in the bushes A-trying to get away. Jim Murphy borrowed Sam's good gold, And did not want to pay; The only way he saw to win Was to give poor Sam away. He sold out Bass and Barnes And left their friends to mourn. Oh, what a scorching Jim will get When Gabriel blows his horn! From Ballads and Songs, Belden Collected from George Williams DT #621 Laws E4 RG oct96
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!