More pieces of the puzzle. N Howard "Jack" Thorp published a version of the lyrics in his 1921 edition of "Songs of the Cowboys" (reprint 1984, University of Nebraska Press). He includes 7 verses. Compared with the 9 verse text in the DT, Thorp's verse 1 matches DT v. 1, Thorp v. 4 matches DT v. 4, and Thorp v. 6 matches DT v. 7. Verses 2,3,5 and 7 of Thorp are different from any in the DT. Thorp calls the song "The Dying Cowboy". The Streets of Laredo song is in Thorp as "The Cowboy's Lament" In the header to "The Dying Cowboy (Bury Me Not..) Throp says, "Authroship credited to H. Clemons, Deadwood, Dakota, 1872. I first heard it from Kearn Carico, at Norfolk, Nebraska in 1886."

Annie Laurie Ellis of Uvalde, Texas published the words and musical notation to "Oh Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" in the July/September 1901 issue of the Journal of American Folklore. She included the instructions "All notes should be slurred more or less to give the wailing effect." This was likely the first appearance of a "cowboy" song in scholarly journals and it might be the first publication of both the words and music of a traditional cowboy song in any format. Ms Ellis, unfortunately, had no information on the history or origin of the song.

rich r