Ballad of Hardin Town, The

DESCRIPTION: "I'll tell you a tale of Ioway... about a crime in Hardin Town...." Barowner Thorne has betrayed an Indian chief's daughter. The chief seeks him out in the bar, but is shot by an unknown assailant. The chief's son kills a bar patron and goes to prison
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Hempel, Annals of Iowa)
KEYWORDS: homicide Indians(Am.) revenge prison punishment
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1847 - The Hardin Tragedy. An old Indian was shot to death, and his son randomly killed Patrick Riley in revenge. There was no ravished daughter, and the old man was not a chief
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, pp. 136-137, "(The Ballad of Hardin Town)" (1 text)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia2, pp. 473-474, "The Ballad of Hardin Town" (1 text)
NOTES [54 words]: Hardin, Iowa, is a tiny hamlet, unincorporated, almost due west of Prairie do Chien, Wisconsin, and roughly southeast of Decorah, Iowa. There is also a Hardin County, which does not contain the village of Hardin (which is in Clayton County). This is all I was able to learn about the area based on a casual Internet search. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.7
File: Burt136

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