Ballad of James Monk

My mom told me that her mom would sing a lullaby to her children about the first murder in Clearfield County, PA.  I think these are the lyrics, but I've never found a tune.  

Come all ye good people,

Who now have to view

This sad and shameful death,

I have brought myself unto;

I pray you all take warning

By my unhappy fate,

And shun vice and folly

Before it is too late.

Chorus- Alas, I am undone.

In the county of Centre

I drew my first breath,

And in that same county

I meet my shameful death;

Had I obeyed the counsel

My parents gave to me,

I would not have to suffer

Upon this shameful tree.

I hope you will remember .

James Monks is my name,

This day I confess

To my sorrow and shame,

That I shot Reuben Giles,

Whom I never saw before,

And left his body weltering

In its purple gore.

I hunted in Clearfield

In Eighteen-Seventeen

Around the head of Stump Creek

Where I had often been,

And while on my way homeward,

On Anderson Creek hill,

I stopped to drink and gamble,

Like many men do still.

I left the stone tavern

In anger at two men

For cheating me in gambling,

At least I thought so then,

And walked off in the twilight

With evil thoughts astir,

And soon I met a stranger

Who said, "Good evening. sir."

Just after I passed him,

The thought occurred to me

To kill him for his money,

There is no one here to see;

And, without further thinking.

As if from hell inspired,

I turned-took down my rifle-

And in a moment fired.

I now caught his horse

And tied him to a tree,

Then hastened to my victim,

Who faintly said to me,

“My friend, you have killed me.”

But all I would reply

Was quickly to go to him

Resolved that he must die.

The devil so possessed me,

Before he was quite dead,

With my tom'hawk I gave him

Two blows upon the head;

Then dragged him off a distance,

And stripped him of his cloth "

And like a savage left him

To wild beasts exposed.

In trying on his shoes,

I found they were too small,

I cut them in the instep,

And let my penknife fall;

This knife and an old song book,

Left here as by design,

And with his ball-pierced clothing,

Betrayed this deed of mine.

His horse and saddle bags,

They now became my prey,

His watch and pocketbook,

I also took away,

Then covered up his body

With leaves and rotten wood

Some distance from the roadside,

Where once a tree had stood.

I threw his hat away

Before I rode a mile,

Then rode on toward Karthaus,

Pursuers to beguile,

And early the next morning

I viewed my bloody store,

And thought I could conceal

This, my gun, forevermore.

I hid his bloody shirt

In the trunk of a tree,

But this too was found

And produced against me;

To show that private murder

Would never be concealed,

A dog told the secret,

And the whole was revealed.

I tried to plead "Not guilty,"

My lawyers did their best,

But proof on proof appeared,

And guilt rankled in my breast;

His bones too were produced

And presented at my trial,

And this last shocking proof

Would admit of no denial.

One more thing I'll mention

Before I'm done with time;

Some blamed Andrew Allison

For this, my cruel crime;

But since I am to suffer,

To tell a lie, I scorn,

He's innocent as the infant

Or the child yet unborn.