1. Apparently, this song reflects a time when white men in the South might go down to the "Negro district" to indulge in sexual dalliance with "loose women" there.

2. It was all about a little Christian boy who was lured away by a "Jewess" who proceeded to carve out his heart "with her little penknife," etc.

1. It's possible that some white men might have done that, but from the lyrics it sounds more than a minstrel show number, with the singer being black or in blackface. There were many such songs.

2. Well, this was a Child ballad, "Sir Hugh", popularized in the US by Nelstone's Hawaiians as "Fatal Flower Garden", and included in the Harry Smith anthology. By that time the Jewess had become a gypsy. Of course, neither group ever had such a ritual, but it makes an interesting song.