Jack Gardner's Crew

Kind friends, pay attention to all I do mention;
It's only a few words I'm going to say
In praise of a man, and his name I will mention:
Jack Gardner, the champion boy of the day.
He was a youth when he came here to lumber.
Down in the dance-room his wife he first knew.
There gave out a fellow that can't tell the number,
But Gardner and Quincy was the best of the crew

These boys, they were both chums; they had money, and plenty
Down into Newport for pleasure did go.
There they did fight, till they'd beat about twenty
Before these two lads they begun for to know.
They sent for a policeman; but they soon got mistaken,
Take two such devils they never could do;
Arm in arm, they walked down to Mill Street
To meet at the roundhouse, Jack Gardner and his crew.
In less than five minutes the bullies were flying,
The walls and the ceilings were all painted red;
All down in the bar-room a large number were lying,
Brought down by the strong arms of the bullies, 'twas said.
This noise increased, till it sounded like thunder:
The walls gave way, and the citizens flew.
The town of Tyrone had to knock under
Back into the dance-room when Jack Gardner's crew.

It's time to give o'er; he's had many a hard tussle,
Never were whipped in his life, it is true;
The town of Tyrone, where he whipped Big El Russell
And drove from the bar-room the rest of his crew.
Next Jack met with a toughy-eyed bully,
It happened to Jamestown on a shooting-match day;
They say Jack fought him a half hour fully,
Till he gave in, and Jack won the day.

Gardner and Quincy is no longer partners,
For they say Jack licked him in St. Mary's Town.
Where the crowds are large, it's there you'll find Gardner,
With a sash on his waist and his collar turned down

From Folk Songs of the Catskills, Cazden Haufrecht and Studer
Collected from George Edwards
Note: Tune is related to Blantyre Explosion and Lost Jimmy Whalen
RG