Date:  Tue, 14 Mar 1995 14:59:36 -0500

From:  "Peter L. Patrick" <PPATRICK[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GUVAX.BITNET>

Subject: Re: Sam Hill



I haven't thought of "Samuel Hall" in years. It was one of my dad's

'daring' songs when we were kids. (He's still alive but doesn't sing

very much, at 87.) The rest of the time he was pretty moderate in

language too, but when he drank a little he liked to sing this one,

full of curses (though he too said "muckers" or "muggers", so it

wasn't all THAT daring!) But I never had any thought it was British.

My dad's from Michigan (Muskegon), b. 1907, Scots-Irish. He used to

deliver laundry in his teens to vaudevillians summering up by the

Lake, so maybe he picket it up from them.

    I don't remember many of the verses, but they included the one

Joan gave, more or less, and others like:



"Oh the sheriff he came too, he came too, he came too

"Oh the sheriff he came too, with his boys all dressed in blue

"They're a gang of muckers too, Damn their hides."



Somewhat later (!) in the narrative, he'd slow to a drag and sing:



"To the gallows we must go, we must go, we must go..."



    Followed by:

"I saw Nelly in the crowd, in the crowd, in the crowd

"I saw Nelly in the crowd, and she looked so very proud

"That I hollered right out loud, 'Damn your eyes!'"



So evidently Samuel Hall, unrepentant soul, was also hanged. Not as

memorably as Joe Hill, but with some drama of his own making...

    --plp