Poor Chronic Man, The

DESCRIPTION: The "poor chronic man" from Athlone goes to visit a cousin in Belfast. Along the way he meets a girl, who wines him, beds him -- then puts him to sleep and steals his clothes and money. He is taken into custody, and wishes he had never left home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1911 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(56b))
KEYWORDS: whore trick prison
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 118, "The Poor Chronic Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leyden-BelfastCityOfSong 33, "The Connaught Man's Trip to Belfast" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC118 (Partial)
Roud #3341
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(56b), "The Connaught-man" ("I am a poor Connaught man, from the town of Athlone"), Sanderson (Edinburgh), 1830-1910; also 2806 c.15(119), Harding B 40(1)[last verse illegible], "The Poor Connaughtman"; 2806 c.15(23), Harding B 19(32), "The Connaughtman's Adventures in Dublin"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Gold Watch" [Laws K41] (plot) and references there
NOTES [50 words]: Leyden-BelfastCityOfSong's Connaughtman visits Belfast; Harding B 17(56b) is about Glasgow; the other Bodleian broadsides take place in Dublin.
Leyden's text has the couple travel by steam coach, rather than steamboat, into Belfast. Leyden says that the steam train had been in operation since 1839. - BS
File: FSC118

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