Nat Goodwin [Laws F15]

DESCRIPTION: A young mother, sick abed, is denied a last look at her dead baby. Her husband turns her out of the house. He falls in love with another woman and kills his wife. He is executed when his new flame testifies against him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan)
KEYWORDS: homicide abandonment baby execution husband wife
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 3, 1897 - Shooting of Mrs. (Walter) Goodwin
May 1898 - Hanging of Walter Goodwin
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws F15, "Nat Goodwin"
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 143, "Nat Goodwin" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 770, GOODWIN
Roud #3670
NOTES [55 words]: Although this song seems to be known only from the text found in Michigan by Gardner and Chickering, the tragedy took place in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. Gardner and Chickering report that after the hanging of Walter Goodwin, "Gertrude Taylor, the girl in the case, did the shooting." They do not report Taylor's eventual fate. - RBW
File: LF15

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