Gladys Kincaid (I)

DESCRIPTION: "Little Gladys Kincaid" is talking with a friend. Her brother finds her body, and instantly concludes that Brodus Miller killed her. A reward is offered. The community is outraged that a "Negro beast" could do such a thing causes him to be hunted down
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Henry, collected from Hazel Winters)
KEYWORDS: abduction rape homicide death punishment
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, pp. 57-58, "Gladys Kincaid" (1 text)
NOTES [186 words]: To tell this song from Gladys Kincaid (II), consider this opening stanza:
Little Gladys Kincaird,
A girl we all knew well,
She started back to her home
To where her mother dwell
And on on her way she met a girl
And stopped her for a talk
And while they was a-standing there
Up Brodus Miller walked.
It sounds to me as if this version is based on "The Knoxville Girl" or something like it. Henry's version -- the only one extant -- seems to have lost at least one crucial verse describing her abduction, and presumably her rape. The racism of the text is palpable; in the song, it appears that the only evidence against Brodus Miller was that he was Black.
Although this murder inspired two ballads (this one and one in Brown, neither widespread), the editors of Brown were unable to determine anything about the story behind the ballad.
A correspondent who signs herself "Amanda" tells me the murder took place in Morganton, North Carolina. Her grandmother apparently knew Gladys Kincaid, and sang one of the songs (probably Gladys Kincaid II).
This is item dF41 in Laws's Appendix II (Gladys Kinkaid II is dF42). - RBW
File: MHAp057

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