“Boy Killed by a Falling Tree in Hartford”
Description
Young Isaac Alcott, newly arrived in Hartford, goes riding. He goes to "cut some timber for a sled" and is hit by a falling branch. Found many hours later, it is too late to save his life. His funeral is described; the song ends with a moralizing stanza
Supplemental text
Boy Killed by a Falling Tree in Hartford
Partial text(s)
*** A ***
From Helen Hartness Flanders and Marguerite Olney, Ballads
Migrant in New England, pp. 167-169. From Edward Horton,
Plymouth Union, Vermont. Collected before 1940.
Come, all you young people far and near,
A true relation you shall hear
Of a young man as ere you see
Was killed in Hartford by a tree.
One Isaac Alcutt was his name,
Who lately into Hartford came,
Residing with his brother James,
Last Thursday noon went, as it seems,
(stanzas 1, 2 of 17, printed as 16)
Cross references
- cf. "Harry Dunn (The Hanging Limb)" [Laws C14]
- cf. "Chance McGear" (plot)
- cf. "The Substitute (plot)
References
- Flanders/Olney, pp. 167-169, "Boy Killed by a Falling Tree in Hartford" (1 text, 1 tune)
- ST FO167 (Partial)
- Roud #4680
- BI, FO167