The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #167754   Message #4049890
Posted By: Joe Offer
02-May-20 - 02:57 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Lilli Schull/Shaw(American murder ballad)
Subject: ADD Version: Lisa Shaw
Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry:

Lillie Shaw

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the crowd gathered to see his execution "for the murder of Lillie Shaw, Who I so cruelly murdered And her body shamefully (?) burned." He recalls the crime, sees his parents in the crowd, and hopes for forgiveness
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Henry, from the singing of Sofia Hampton)
KEYWORDS: homicide execution punishment gallows-confession
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 55-56, "Lillie Shull" (1 text)
BrownII 308, "Lillie Shaw" (1 text)
BrownSchinhanIV 306, "Lillie Shaw" (2 excerpts, 2 tunes)

Roud #4627
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Pretty Fair Widow (Lillie Shaw)" (subject)
NOTES [54 words]: Although there are two songs on this subject, and this one at least spread enough to be collected three times, no one seems to have found details on the fates of Lillie Shaw and Jim Wilcox/E. B. Preston.
Frank Proffit, who supplied the Warner ballad, claimed the murder took place in the 1880s in Mountain City, Tennessee. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.7
File: BrII208

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2020 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.



LILLIE SHAW

1. The great crowd now has gathered
Around this jail today,
To see my execution
And to hear what I’ve to say.

2. Now I must hang this morning
For the murder of Lillie Shaw,
Who I so cruelly murdered
And her body shamefiely burned.

3. Then I knelt down to Jesus,
In penetrated grief,
And begged that he might save me
As he did the dying thief.

4. Then my soul could hear a whisper
Said in most gentle tone,
‘My grave is one sufficient
To hold this violent one.’

5. The cries of poar Lillie
Again I could almost hear,
As she begged me not to kill her,
Her life alone to spare.

6. The fire where I burned her
Again was in my sight,
The only fire consuming
In the fire that form so bright.

7. Now I must hang this morning,
The time is drawing near,
But I have a hope in heaven
And death I do not fear.

8. And there’s my Dear old Parents,
Who now for me will maurn,
Likewise my wife and baby
Who will be left alone.

9. God care for my baby,
Who will be left alone;
I pray the lord will keep him
From all danger, harm, and sin.

10. The hour has now arrived,
I can no longer stay.
I hope that I will meet you
In Heaven some sweet day.

#308 in The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, - Volume 2, page 721

Notes:
308
LILLIE SHAW
Henry, in SSSA 55, printed a ballad entitled ‘Lillie Shull,’ obtained from Elk Park, Avery county, in 1933, which has the same substantial content as the following but orders the stanzas somewhat differently and shows a number of verbal differences.
From Mrs. Minnie Church, of Heaton, Avery county, who between
1930 and 1939 contributed this and many other items to the Frank C. Brown Collection.

Volume 4 of the Brown Collection has two melodies for #308. I'll transcribe them if somebody asks. joe@mudcat.org