Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Hicks the Pirate
Hicks the Pirate
Hicks the Pirate
A mournful tale, heartrending
To you, kind friend, I will relate
The solemn truth intending
Of three met a tragic fate
An oyster sloop was sailing
Upon the ocean's spakling tide
In the healtful breeze regaling
She moved upon the waters wide
But upon this oyster vessel
A pirate bold had found his way
With wicked heart, this vassal
The captain & 2 boys did slay
He seized the gold & silver
Which this poor captain had in store
His watch & clothes did pilfer
While he lay struggling in his gore
He overboard soon threw them
The murdered boys & captain too
The briny deep enclosed them
And they were quickly gone from view
But the eye that never slumbers
Did follow the murder's track
And the vigilance of numbers
To justice brought the monster back
In a boat he left the vessel
When the wicked deed had done
And soon the murderous rascal
Had far into the country gone
He soon was overtaken
And to New York was brought again
A lonely wretch, forsaken
Who had the boys & captain slain
By a true & faithful jury
He was found guilty of the crime
Some raved & cursed like fury
But he had met his fate in time
Twixt heaven & earth suspended
On Bedloe's Island Hicks was hung
Some thousand there attended
To see the horrid murderer swung
"Hicks The Pirate" from 'Folk Songs Of New York' Folkways FH5276
(1966) - June Lazare.
From the sleeve notes:
The score of years that preceeded the Civil War the usually landlocked
gangs turned their attention towards the waterfronts of New York. Gangs
like the Hudson Dusters, the Gophers, & the Daybreak Boys worked the
East River Piers while the Charlton Street Gang worked the Hudson Docks
& so successful were they that they ran their own sloop as far up river as
Poughkeepsie & becoming real River Pirates. Hicks was a gangster & not
pirate was drugged & found himself shanghaied by a fellow free lancer.
Upon waking he murdered the skipper & 2 young crew, in gruesome
fashion. He was convicted of the triple murder & at the hanging the Peanut
vendors & lemonade stands did a brisk business to the beat of the
& the fife & drum. His procession from jail to the gallows on Bedloe's
Island took on the aspect of a circus & a general holiday atmosphere
prevailed. Soon after he was buried his body was dug up by grave robbers
& sold to medical students.
Hicks The Pirate - March, 1860
BF
oct99