Dunbar the Murderer

DESCRIPTION: "Awake, sad muse, awake and sing, And softly touch the mournful string...." "Oh brutal man... Two blooming children you have slain, A little paltry gold to gain." "The mother dear the lads did send To Dunbar's home some months to spend."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1855 (Supplement to the Ulster County Almanac)
KEYWORDS: homicide children money
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, pp. 91-92, (no title) (1 excerpted text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Children in the Wood (The Babes in the Woods)" [Laws Q34] (plot)
NOTES [39 words]: Burt-AmericanMurderBallads notes an obvious similarity to "Babes in the Woods." Since her (printed) source evidently does not link the song to any actual historical event, it may well be a song composed in imitation of that piece. - RBW
File: Burt092

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