As I recall, the earliest version in print was in the 1780s in Kent - with no mention of the non-payment. My suspicion (see my article above) is that the payment question was added by a type of singer that Eleanor Long,the ballad scholar, called a "rationalizer". Here is a horrible bunch of murders - we need to know why. Because....

There are lots of examples in today's political world of people constructing what might be rational reasons for seemingly irrational acts.

Jon Bartlett