The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1869-10-29
Ghoifs a1pctty.
sHAMus O'BRIEN's HANGING.


peculiar style, with its wit, humor and
eloqucnce, it has few il any equals.
Read it and you will want TO read it
again.
Just afther the war, in the year '69,
AS soon as the boys were ali scattered
and bate,
Twas the custom whenever a pisant
was got,
To hang him by thrial harrin' sich as
was shot
There was thrial by jury goin' on by
daylight,
And the martial law hangin' the lawns
by night.
It's thin was hard times for an honest
Eossoon;
If he missed in the judgo--he'd meet a
dragoon;
AM whether the soiers or judges gev
sentence,
The divil much time they allowed fur
repentance.
An its many's the fine boy was thin
for his keepin',
Wild small share Of rcstin', or atm, or
sleepin',
An because they loved Erin, an scorn-
cd to sell it,
A prey for the blood hound, mark for
the bullet
Unsheltered by night, and nnrested by
day,
With the heath for their barracks re-
venge fol their pay;
An'the bravest and hardest boy is them
Was SHAMUs O'BRIEN, from the town
iv Ghngall.
His limbs were we'll set, an his body
was light,
An the keen.fanged hound had not
teeth half so white;
But his face was as pale as the faco Of
the dead,
And his cheek never warmed with the
blush of the red;
bye,
For the divil himself couldn't blaze
with his eye,
So dro!l an SO wicked, so dark an so
bright,
Like fire flash that crosses the depths
Of the night;
An he was the best mower that ever
has been,
And the iligantest hurler that ever
was seen.
In fencin' he gev Patrick Mooney cut
An in jumpin' he bate Tom Malowney
tut;
For lightness iv fut there was not his
peer,
For, by gorra, he'd almost outrun the
red deer,
An his dancin' was sich that the men
used 10 stare,
An the women turned crazy, he done
il so square;
An ny gorra the whole world gev il
into him there.
An it's he WAS the boy that was hard
to be caught,
An it's many's the one can remember
quite well
The quarc things he done; an its of
heerd tell,
How he freekened the magistrates in
Cahirhally,
An escaped through the sQjers in Aber-
IUr Valley;
An uthurcd The yeomen, himself agin'
four,
An stretched the two strongest on auld
Baltimore.
But the fox must sleep sometimes, the
wild deer must rest,
AM ireachery prey on the blood iv the
best.
Afther many a brave action OF power
and pride,
An many hard night on the noun
tain's bleak side,
An q thousand great dangers and tolls
overpast,
III the darkness of night he WAS taken
at last.
Now, Shamus, look back on The beauti-
lul moon,
For the door Of the prison must close on
you soon,
An take your last look at her dim love.
ly light,
That falls on the mountain and valley
this night
One look at the village, one look at the
food, IN.
An one at the sheltering, far distant
wood,
Farewell 10 the forest, farewell to the
hill,
AM farewell to the friends that will
think of you still.
Farewell 10 the pathrrn, the hurlin' an
wake,
An farewell to the girl that would die
for your sekc.
An twelve sodgers brought him to the
Mary borough Jail;
An the turnkey rcsavCd him, refusin
all bail,
The feet limbs wCr chained, and the
StllrOnS nanuS WOr oOului
An he laid down his length on the cold
prison ground,
An tine dreams OF his childhood KEN
over him there,
As gentle AN soft as the sweet summer
air;
An happy remembrancos cruwdlng on
ever,
As fast as the foam FAKES drift down on
the river,
Bringing fresh to his heart merry days
long gone by,
Till the tears gathered heavy and thick
IN his eye.
But the tears didn't fall, for The pride
at his heart
Would not suffer one drop down his
pale check to start;
An he spraug to his feet in the dark