Apparantly, Burl Ives recorded On The Grand Canyon Line some time in the 1950s ( Burl Ives, Vol. 3, Decca DL 5093, LP (195?), cut#B.04), but I haven't managed to discover if it's the same song as the Michael Hurley recording, which goes:

GRAND CANYON LINE

On the Grand Canyon Line I was riding, riding along
On the Grand Canyon Line I was singing no song
On the Grand Canyon Line I was riding along
Couldn't go back to Texas;I know I done wrong.

I passed the State Bank and no money I had
It wasn't that I really meant to be bad
But I robbed the State Bank with a trembling hand
With the pistol and the money, through the big door I ran.

Sitting all alone in a boxcar with four walls
Just 'cause of a break in a rich man's law
I thought about my sweetheart and I started to cry
When I get caught, by the neck I die.

The boxcar door opened, and a posse walked in
The Sherriff said "Now grab him, boys,I think that's him."
They took me to a jailhouse and now I must die.
Five hours to live; how the time flies.

I hope that helps a bit.  I'm guessing at the moment that Hurley's song is just a partial re-write of the earlier one.  It seems that The Grand Canyon Line was a nickname (1903) for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company -but you probably knew that already.

Malcolm