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):
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, pp. 55-56, "Lillie Shull" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 308, "Lillie Shaw" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 306, "Lillie Shaw" (2 excerpts, 2 tunes)
Roud #4627
RECORDINGS:
Yvonne "Mollie" Hicks (Hagie), Derek Piotr, "Lily Schull" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #172, recorded 05/11/2022, but the singer is prompted so heavily that it is not clear how much she actually remembered)
Bobby McMillon, "Lily Shull" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #12, recorded 08/14/2020)
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 6.7
File: BrII208

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography