Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
John Funston

John Funston

John Funston

John Funston a youth of but twenty years old
With light hair and blue eyes he ventured so bold;
He was young, fair, and handsome with light hair and blue eyes
He wrought his own ruin by seeking a prize

He murdered William Cartmell a youth of renown,
On the road leading from Freeport to Cochocton town;
He murdered him and robbed him of money and of goods,
And made his way home through a thicket of woods.

Soon after, young Johnston to prison was bound;
He denied all the charges that against him were found;
He said he was nigh when young Cartmell was shot,
And hearing the gun, he came up to the spot.

Soon after, John Funston was sporting with joy
On the money he took from the poor murdered boy;
Squire Major then took him and brought him straightway
To New Philadelphia, his actions to try.

Squire Major then took him and bound him so fast;
Said he, "There ye must lie till your sentence is passed."
The jury found him guilty, and unto him they said,
"You must hang by the neck until you are dead."

On the twentieth of December, in the morning quite soon,
He called to the sheriff to confess what he'd done;
He confessed to his God for the crime he had done,
He said he was a murderer, his race it was run.

They took him to the gallows on a cold, stormy day;
The crowd that was round him was awful to see;
And When he got there he wept very sore
To think that he'd ne'er see the world any more.

His two little brothers brought a carriage that day
To bear the dead body of Funston away;
And when they got there, they wept bitterly
To think on the gallows their poor brother must die.

The doctors stood round him his pulse for to feel,
Thinking at night his dead body so steal;
'Tis forbidden by law and considered not right
To steal the dead body of Funston at night.

  Mr. Sneary used to hear his parents sings this song. He is of the opinion that
the sweetheart of William Cartmell, the victim, was the author of it.

DT #756
Laws F23
From Eddy, Ballads and Songs From Ohio
collected from C. A. Sneary of Canton
(tune in)
SOF
apr97