The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-04-24

He was falling down grade at ninety
miles an hour.
The whistle began to scream
He was found in the wreck with his
hand on the throttle
And his body all SCARED By steam
Did he ever pull in? No; he never
pulled in,
Though his train was due at ten.
And for hours ard hours the switch
men lay waiting
For the mail-train that never pulled
in.
The news ran over the telegraph wires
And this is what il said
That the brave engineer that left Mon
roe this morning
Is lying at North Danville dead
Come, all you young ladies. and take
warning;
Take warning from this time
Never speak rash words to your sweet
He may go and never return
The song also has an aftermath OF
a lawsuit, as shown by the following
dispatch to the New York World last
year:
camden, n. Jan effort 10 estab-
Iish the right of the author OF a folk
song to collect royalties. even though
he never put the song on paper. has
been made here by attorneys for Da-
vid Graves George. picturesque self
styled hill-billy, and former railroad
brakeman.
George is suing the Victor Talking
Machine company, which sold 5000
600 monograph records of the song.
The Wreck of Old o. Through his
attorneys, Robert S. Nase of Flushing.
L. l., and Minatree ]. Fulton Of Rich
mond, Va, George declared he had
derived his inspiration for the song
on September q, 1908. when the crack
mail train, No. 81, of the Southern
railway, sped past Franklin Junction.
Va, and jumped OF 2OO-fOot trestle-
Numerous fellow hill-billies. the at
torneys stated, are ready to testify
that George originated the song.
which later became a favorite-
Nathan Burkan of New York and
Louis lie Due Of Camden, attorneys
for the company, asserted the Victor
company already has paid royalties
to one other company, and 10 three
other persons who have represented
themselves as authors OF the song.
"The trouble, it appears, began in
1927, when the company announced
in a Richmond paper. according 70
George, that it was looking for the
author of the song in order 10 pay
him royalties. From far and wide in
the hills, the authors appeared.
"In 1922, the company sets forth.
Prof. r. w. Gordon of Harvard set
out to collect American folk songs
and found that both Frederick Lewey
of Lynchburg and Carl Noel Of Dan
veil, Va, claimed authorship OF The
Wreck The company compensated
both. and also Henry Whittier OF
Lynchburg, and the General Phono-
graph company, which had gotten out
records of the song before the first
Victor records appeared on August Is,
1924.
''Burkan asserted the plaintiff hill
billy had copied the song from phon-
ograph records between 1924 and 1927.
when he read of the offer.
Georges suit is not brought under
the copyright law, since he never
wrote down the song. but under the
common law dealing with property
rights"
Almost as famous as the foregoing
is the combination hobO-railroad ball
lad: 1.-THE Wabash CannOn-BaIl."
which has the following chorus:
We hear the merry Jingle,
The rumble and the roar.
AS she dashes through the woodland
And comes creeping on the shore
We hear the engines whistle
And the merry hoboes' call
AS we ride the rods and brake-beans
On that Wabash CannOn-Bau-
The verses to this song are as va
ried as the singers thereof. Here In
one which is typical:
Now here's to long Slim Perkins
May his name forever stand:
Hell be honored and respected
And when his days are over
And the curtains round him fall
Well ship him of to Satan
On that wabash CannOn-Ban
An interesting railroad ballad Is q
combination railroad outlaw song
whose endless number OF verses tel
the story OF desperate named:
RAILROAD BILL
Railroad Bill was settin' at the tank
Waitin' for the train they call Nancy
Hank,
Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill was settin' at the curve.
waitin' for the passenger, but he didn't
have the nerve,
Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill was desperate man.
Shot the lantern from the brakenaais
hand,
Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill had "a Colt.
Shot all the buttons off the braksm1a's
coat,
Railroad Bill
come in on Number One.
Saw Railroad Bill with "a gun.
Railroad Bill.
come in on Number Two,
Railroad Bill had just gone through.
Railroad Bill
come In on Number Three
Railroad Bill I could not see,
Railroad Bill.
An so on ad infinitum-
Ca 1891. Western Newspaper Unio.-p