THE SHEEP-KILLIN' DOG

Hae ye heard o' the dog that's been killin' the sheep,
How he baffled the watchers, and gae them the slip?
Sum says it's ne dog, but the ghost ov a glutton,
That when upon earth had a strng tyest for mutton.

CHORUS: He's a bloodthirsty villin,
We'll hunt him and kill him,
And send his skin up te Newcastle museem.

Sum says it's a wolf just cum doon frae the hills,
To tyest a' the flesh meat they hev aboot Sheels;
Jack Proctor declares that he saw the beest runnin,
An' sweers 'twas the deevil or else 'twas a yungin.

Chorus

Sum says it's a beest that nebody can tyem,
A laffin High Anna aw think is the nyem;
What iver it be, deevil, ghost, or wild beest,
It's clear it delights on gud mutton te feast.

Chorus

He beats the bowld rifles, the pollis an' aw,
They sweer sic a beest in thor lives they neer saw;
He prowls oot at neets an' thor shanks he suin cracks,
An' leeves them caud deed on the broad o' thor backs.

Chorus

Byeth aud wives an' yungins wi' greef the tyel lairns,
And feere the greet beest shud fall foul o' the bairns;
The perambulators they darn't set oot,
For feer they fall in wiv the sheep-killin' brute

Chorus

We've h'ard of hobgoblin a witch, an' a warlock,
But surely he's givin the butchers pilgarlick.
Noo for the reward aw wad he ye te strive,
And bring him te Shgeels either deed or alive.

Chorus

Edward Elliott, 1862


In October 1862 considerable alarm was felt by the farmers near North Shields, on discovering morning after morning that severala of their sheep had been worried and left dead in the fields. Suspicion fell on several poor dogs but, although closely watched, the offence ould not be brought home to them. One dog was chased (on suspicion) all the way from Shields to his master's house in Percy Street. Thye offender is still at liberty.- Note, 1862