Hi,

Thanks to Gwilym Davies for sending two recordings he made, the West Virginia version Wexford Girl I did not have. I'm going to post this small chuck of research on US versions. Comments welcome- to view online: http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/6-berkshire-tragedy-cruel-millerknoxville-girl.aspx

This is about Lexington Miller/Lexington Murder:

"The Lexington Miller," a broadside (see copy above) dated 1829-1831 and printed by Leonard Deming in Market Square, Boston, is also a reduction of The Berkshire Tragedy. The broadside was also printed as "Sold wholesale and retail by Hunts & Shaw, no. 2 Mercantile Wharf, and head of City Wharf[29]" in the 1830s and 1840s. It's hard to tell if it's meant to be Lexington, Massachusetts or some other Lexington (perhaps Kentucky or North Carolina) in the US. In 1929 Mellinger E. Henry published the text of the Lexington Miller in The Journal of American Folklore (Vol. 42, No. 165, pp. 247-253) which he received from Kittredge as it appeared in a broadside in the Harvard Library. The text was reduced from The Berkshire's 22 stanzas (or 44 with divided lines as originally found in the broadside) to 11 and a half (or 23 with divided lines) in The Lexington Miller. Here are the first two stanzas:

The Lexington Miller

Come all you men and maidens dear, to you I will relate.
Pray lend an ear and you shall hear concerning my sad fate,
My parents brought me up with care, provided for me well,
And in the town of Lexington employ'd me in a mill.

'Twas there I 'spied a comely lass, she cast a winning eye,
I promis'd I would marry her if she would but comply:
I courted her about six months, which caused us pain and woe;
'Twas folly brought us into a snare, and it prov'd our overthrow.

Of the 23 stanzas only 3 new stanzas appear that are not found in the Berkshire Tragedy- one at the beginning and two at the end. The first is an opening stanza (see above) and in the last two he contemplates his death, bids farewell and offers a warning to be true to your lover, which is similar to the warning in Lexington Murder. The reduction of stanzas and other changes appear to be made by Deming or one of his writers directly from a copy of the Berkshire Tragedy. Some of the other changes are expurgatory--including "If she would but comply" from "If she would with me lie" also "she cast a winning eye" from "I cast a wanton eye" and the fact that this comely lass was pregnant was removed. These changes were made to adhere to the standard mores of Boston in the early 1800s.

Two of the most revealing changes were made in the following stanza:

Now straight unto the Mill I went,
like one that's in a maze,
And first I met was my servant boy,
who deeply on me gaz'd;

In Berkshire when he returns to the mill he meets his "man" who is the miller since he is an apprentice boy. In The Lexington Miller he meets his servant boy, a bizarre twist. How could this change happen? In The Lexington Murder he meets "his servant John":

And on returning to my home
I met my servant John[].

In a North Carolina variant of the Lexington Murder titled Bloody Miller[] the source of the first two lines from Lexington Miller is revealed:

Then to my mill, my mill, I ran,
The miller was amazed[],

This is similar to the original Berkshire text and shows that the first two lines were not copied from Berkshire but taken from a different version possibly printed and lost or from the text of a traditional version that represents The Lexington Murder. This proves that The Lexington Murder predated The Lexington Miller and is the reason why the broadside has Lexington in the title. The earliest example of the Lexington Murder is Eddy's C version collected from Mrs. Mary Boney of Perrysville, Ohio which has vestiges of the last two stanzas of the Lexington Miller. In Boney's version and nearly all the Lexington Murder versions is the opening with "tender" parents that provided for him well-- this "tender" has been removed from the broadside "Lexington Miller" which shows that Mary Boney's version was not based on the broadside but pre-dates it and that the changes to the broadside come from a similar unknown text. Despite the corruptions that are inevitable over a long period of time, here is her version:

"Lexington Girl." From Mrs. Mary Boney, Perrysville, Ohio[].

1. My tender parents brought me up,
Provided for my wealth[me well],
And in the town of Lexington
Employed me in a mill.

2. A lady came unto the mill,
And cast a wanting[wanton] eye;
I told her I would marry her
If she with me would lie.

3. So early the next Monday,
As you may understand,
Her mother wanted me to marry her
A-Saturday off-hand.

4. I sorrily reflected
And troubled in my mind,
Saying, "Polly[Folly], you have gained my love
Which caused my overthrow."

5. I went unto her sister's house
About eight o'clock at night;
I asked her for to take a walk,
A walk a little ways.

6. I told her we would take a walk
But a little ways,
That her and I might well agree
Upon the wedding day.

7, I then deluded her away
To some convenient place;
I drew a stake all out of the fence,
And struck her across the face.

8. She fell upon her bended knees,
"For mercy's sake," she cried,
"For mercy's sake don't murder me,
For I'm not fit to die."

9. I never minded a word she said,
But pelted her the more,
Until I had her life destroyed
To cover my sins o'er.

10. I took her by the hair of her head,
And threw her into the river;
I then returned unto my mill
Like one of olden age[ who was amazed.].

11. The miller he stepped up to me,
And on me he did gaze,
Saying, "How came this blood
Upon your hands and clothes?"

12. I replied, "It was bleeding
Of the nose."

13. I went into my chamber
And threw myself on the bed,
I rolled and I tumbled the whole during night,
There was no rest for me.

14. The next day they sought for her
And could not find her;
Then they sought for me,
And in my chamber found me.

15. Her sister swore her life against me,
Without doubt or fear,
Saying I was the last man
That conveyed her sister out.

16. Then back to Lexington
Where first I drawed my breath,
And by my own confession
Condemned me there to death.

17. Adieu to Lexington, adieu,
And, my old friends, adieu;
Young men, a warning take,
And to the girls prove true,
And oh, for God's sake, do.

Despite multiple printings, only one traditional version, Db, "The Lexington Tragedy," sung by Alonzo Lewis of York, Maine on October 1, 1948 has been collected that is based on the broadside. Notice how "tender" is missing in the opening and it's instead based on The Lexington Miller's opening. Although Lewis's version is short and the ending is missing, it's given in full here:

Lexington Tragedy- sung by Alonzo Lewis at York, (ME). Dated 10-01-1948. Transcribed R. Matteson, 2016.

1. My parents brought me up with care,
Provided for me well,
'Twas in the town of Lexington
They plac'd me in the mill.

2. A handsome girl came to my room,
On her I cast my eye,
I told her that I'd marry her,
If she would with me lie.

3. I courted her about six months,
Which caused us pain and woe,
When folly brought us into a snare,
And proved our overthrow.

4. I went down to her uncle's house,
Bout eight o'clock one night,
But little did she think on it
I owed her any spite.

5. So let us take a walk
Just a little ways,
That we can talk and well agree
Upon our wedding day.

6. So hand in hand I led her around,
Down in the lonesome place,
I pulled a stake out of the fence
And struck her in the face.

7. Then coming to herself again,
For mercy she did cry,
"Oh Johnny dear, don't murder me,
For I'm not prepared to die."

8. I paid no 'tention to her cry,
I laid it on the more;
Till I had taken her life away,
Which I could not restore.

9. Returning to my mill again,
Like one that was amazed;
The miller being at the door,
And strictly on me gazed.

10. "Where have you been, Johnny," he said,
What has dyed your hands and clothes?"
I answered him as I saw fit,
"Take a-bleeding at the nose."

11. The next morning she was searched for
And was not to be found,
And I was apprehended
And in my chamber bound.

12. Her sister swore against me
She swore it was no doubt
That I's the man who murdered her,
For I did lead her out.

G. Malcolm Laws in his 1957 "American Balladry from British Broadsides" devoted almost 18 pages to the Berkshire ballads which included the text to Lexington Miller broadside. He did not have access to the Alonzo Lewis version (above) which I've recently put on my web-site. Laws equates the "Lexington Miller" with the "Lexington Murder" and says that, "Several traditional texts related to 'The Lexington Miller' may be found in American folksong collections." As an example he gives Fields Ward's Virginia version titled "Lexington Murder" which is not similar to "The Lexington Miller" except for the Lexington title. The only similarity found in all complete versions of The Lexington Murder is the "I met my servant John" line. Although Laws did not say how they are related, I have shown that the Lexington in the Lexington Miller title is not a mere a coincidence and that The Lexington Murder pre-dates the 1830 broadside and was used in its construction.

Richie