Baldy Green

DESCRIPTION: "Come listen to my ditty... 'Tis about one Baldy Green... He was a way up six horse driver On Ben Holiday's stage line." Green is halted by robbers, but rather than yielding the gold, he restarts the team. Green is shot; the money is saved
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt-AmericanMurderBallads)
KEYWORDS: robbery gold horse homicide
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 22, 1865 - Robbing of the Pioneer Stage driven by George E. "Baldy" Green near Silver City
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, pp. 209-210, "(Baldy Green)" (1 text)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia2, pp. 606-609, "Baldy Green (1 text plus a broadside print)
Roud #22293
NOTES [63 words]: Burt-AmericanMurderBallads claims this incident actually happened, but can offer no supporting evidence, nor even cite the location of the failed robbery. The data on the robbery comes from Cohen.
There was an article, "History of Baldy Green," in Southern Folklore Quarterly, Volume IX, number 1 (March 1945), but I have not seen it and do not know if it is about this song. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.2
File: Burt209

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