Lyr Req: William Winter

Subject: William Winter
From: GUEST,Keith Hudson
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 05:35 AM

I can't find the words to the song about William Winter,an itinerant worker, who murdered one Margaret Crozier in the Northumberland village of Elsdon. He was caught and executed and his body hung in a cage on a hill above the village. The chorus goes... Murderer,murderer, murderer the cry, And they hung me on the gallows to darken Elsdon sky.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Winter
From: MMario
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 10:05 AM

So far all I have found is this description of the tale:

In the vicinity of Steng Cross, near to the roadside is the eerie site of a Gibbet or `stob', as the Northumbrians call them. Known as Winter's Gibbet, it was from this that the body of a certain William Winter was hung, following his execution at Westgate, Newcastle in 1791. Winter, a gypsy had been ecxecuted for the murder of an old woman, called Margaret Crozier, who lived in the vicinity of Elsdon.

The old woman ran a small drapery store in the neighbourhood, which led Winter to believe she was wealthy. He murdered her after breaking into her home to find that she had little worth stealing. He seems to have been a rather desperate character, as he had not long returned from transportation. His family did have a history of crime, as both his father and brother also died by execution.

Winter's body was returned to the Elsdon area following his execution in accordance with an old custom that murderer's corpses should be displayed near the scene of their crime.

The site of the body hanging from the gibbet is said to have haunted a young shepherd boy by the name of Robert Hindmarch, who at the age of eleven, had given the evidence which largely convicted Winter. Hindmarch's life was dominated by a constant fear of reprisals from Winter's friends and this probably led to his early death at the age of twenty two.

For a time the morbid site of Winter's body, drew sightseers from all around, until the stench from the corpse became so bad that people began to avoid using the road that passed that way.

Eventually the corpse was taken down and burried, but was replaced with a carved wooden effigy of Winter, of which only the head now remains. This gives the gibbet the curious appearance of an incompleted game of hangman.

In the last century the gibbet was viewed with considerable superstition, with one of the strangest claims being that chips taken from it had the magical ability to cure toothache.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Winter
From: masato sakurai
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 10:53 AM

Another description, and photos, but no mention of the song.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Winter
From: fogie
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 12:31 PM

I hope my grandparents didnt know about this before they named my dad W.W.- he didnt look anything like the wooden head I'm glad to say.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Winter
From: GUEST,Keith Hudson
Date: 15 Jul 02 - 01:59 AM

Mmario, this couldn't possibly be the Mmario late of the Mexico City Hash house Harriers by any wild chance. Keith

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Winter
From: MMario
Date: 15 Jul 02 - 08:27 AM

no -sorry.