Moses of the Mail

DESCRIPTION: "It was a dark and stormy night, The snow was falling fast, I stood on Thorpbridge Junction Where the reckless Moses passed." Although there is no description of a wreck, the song ends with the dying words of Moses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1954 (MacColl-ShuttleAndCage-IndustrialFolkBallads)
KEYWORDS: train death storm
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
MacColl-ShuttleAndCage-IndustrialFolkBallads, pp. 8-9, "Moses of the Mail" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Jon Raven, _VIctoria's Inferno: Songs of the Old Mills, Mines, Manufacturies, Canals, and Railways_, Roadside Press, 1978, p. 49, "Moses of the Mail" (1 short text)
NOTES [61 words]: Although the text in MacColl-ShuttleAndCage-IndustrialFolkBallads is described as composite, it doesn't make much sense: It is never made clear if there was a serious accident, or if engineer Moses retired after a minor injury, or if the whole thing is just a talltale. The song is said to refer to an actual engineer, Henry "Moses" Poyser, who worked in the 1880s. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.1
File: MacCS08

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