Hi Steve!

There are 2 books, actually indexes: 1. Native American Balladry, and 2. American Balladry from British Broadsides by Malcolm Laws. Rose Connolly is not in the latter (which I have). That leads me to believe that it is in the former (which I don't).

Rose Connolly certainly didn't come from a W.B. Yeats poem so that means, if what you heard is correct, that it came from You Rambling Boys of Pleasure (a really fine folk song). It didn't. You Rambling Boys of Pleasure isn't about murder and isn't really a ballad but a song.

See if you can get a look at Native American Balladry.

All the best.