Awful Execution of John Bird Bell

DESCRIPTION: Bell's parents made him pick pockets and "join a mob to murder and rob." At trial Bird and his mother cry. "For want of parent's proper care This boy's condemned to die"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1891 (Kidson-TraditionalTunes)
KEYWORDS: crime execution homicide trial mother
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, pp. 128-130, "Awful Execution of John Bird Bell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1108
NOTES [46 words]: In keeping with the tradition of trial ballads, Bird's mother "her grey hairs she did tear."
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, quoting a broadside: "Awful execution of John Bird Bell, a boy aged 16 years, for the murder of Richard Taylor, aged 13, at Maidstone, on Saturday last." - BS
Last updated in version 3.0
File: KuTu128

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