MURDER THROO DRINK: THE GALLOWS
RECITATION

THEY'VE teun him off te the Station noo,
Sumbody said that they always knew
'Twad end like this; for the fearful strife
Wad only end i' the loss ov a life,
An' that wad be i' the life ov the wife.

"Murder!" wes whispered in ivry breeth.
A poor aud wummin wes kicked te deeth
Ay, kicked te deeth wivher man's greet feet
In hob-nail beuts, that he wore i' the street.
An' sumbody said that it sarved her reet.

Sumbody always hes sumthing te say.
Aw heard they'd been drinkin mony a day
Ay, mony 11 day an' many a year,
Till the wummin had lost a' sense 0' fear,
An' nivvor thowt that her end wes near.

But ivry life mun cum tiv an end,
The seuner wi' drinkin, ye may depend;
The seuner wi' drink, for it's murder's mate,
For it fills the breest wi' passion an' hate,
That the hangman nivvor hes lang te Walt.

The prisoner sits iv his gloomy cell,
An' hears for his-sel the funeral bell.
But sumbody says that they owt te see
The murderer hung on the gallows tree;
It's a shem that it shud se private be.

Oh, but sumbody here shud stop an' think
Ov the evil deun throo the evil drink.
For it's murder here, an' it's murder there,
It's murder throo drink myest ivrywhere,
An' the gallows is varry seldom bare.

Keep clear 0' the drink for yor lives, aw say;
Keep't oot 0' yor awn an' yor bairns' way,
Tho sumbody says it'll de ye gud;
But it nivvor will, nor it nivvor cud;
It corrupts the mind, the body, an' blud.

-Source: Joe Wilson, (author) Songs and Drolleries, 1890