Again, Richie, I'm having problems following you here. How can the lack of a stanza in the American oral versions be proof that the broadside came from oral tradition?

"the ballad was taken from tradition and captured in print at that moment in time." That is known to have happened mostly with material after 1800, but there is nothing to prove that the earliest print version is not the original and current thought is certainly moving towards that idea.

'broadside printers changed and elaborated the ballad text." Yes they did, but more often they shortened rather than elaborated and they were usually altering what was an earlier printed version rather than one from oral tradition.

'The Roxburghe ballad of 1720-1750, in my opinion, sounds like it has been "created from tradition." ' If by 'created from tradition' you mean the writer took traditional material and blended it with a circulating current story, that's highly likely. Also, don't forget, the writers often weren't particularly sophisticated themselves. As you progress from the 17th to the 19th centuries their status was descending all the time.