I was a boatman by my trade,

voiceand Steve Butler For M. C. Parler Collected by Billy Whitfield Sung by Mr. Otis Williams Wesley, Arkansas December 27, 1959 Reel 328, Item 1 Jack Williams I was a boatman by my trade, Jack Williams was my name And by a false deluding girl Was brought to grief and shame. In Cathern Street I did resort And people did me know, I fell in love with a pretty girl Which proved my over throw. I took to robbing day and night To maintain her fine and gay And what I got I valued not But gave to her straight way. Bound down in iron strong With rattling chains about my limbs, She longed to see them on. I wrote a letter to my love, Some comfort for to find, Instead of proving a friend to me She proved to me unkind. She was not true to me, Saying thieves company I do dispise And as you made your bed young man, Down on it you must lie. As in this lonesome cell I lie, 'Tis no more than I deserve, It makes my very blood run cold I think how I've been served. If ever I gain my sweet liberty, A solemn vow I'll take To shun all evil company For that false woman's sake. But the heavens proved kind to me As you can plainly see, I scaled to the walls and gained My sweet, sweet liberty. At length to new gate I was broughtFunding for digitization provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Happy Hollow Foundation