Sam Bass

(Album: Cowboy Songs III: Rhymes Of The Renegades - 1993)

Sam Bass was born in Indiana, it was his native home
And at the age of seventeen, Sam began to roam
Sam first came out to Texas a cowboy for to be
A kinder-hearted fellow you seldom ever see

Sam used to deal in race stock, one called the Denton mare
He matched her in scrub races and took her to the fair
I used to coin the money and spent it just as free
He always drank good whiskey wherever he might be

Sam left the Collins ranch in the merry month of May
With a herd of Texas cattle the Black Hills for to see
Sold out in Custer City and then got on a spree
A harder set of cowboys you seldom ever see

On their way back to Texas they robbed the U.P. train
And then split up in couples and started out again
Joe Collins and his partner were overtaken soon
With all their hard-earned money they had to meet their doom

Sam had four companions-four bold and daring lads
They were Richardson, Jackson, Joe Collins, and Old Dad
Four more bold and daring cowboys the rangers never knew
They whipped the Texas Rangers and ran the boys in blue

Jim Murphy was arrested and then released on bail
He jumped his bond at Tyler and then took the train for Terrell
But Mayor Jones had posted Jim and that was all a stall
'Twas was only a plan to capture Sam before the coming fall

Sam met his fate at Round Rock, July the twenty-first
They pierced poor Sam with rifle balls and emptied out his purse
Poor Sam he is a corpse and six foot under clay
And Jackson's in the bushes trying to get away

Jim bad borrowed Sam's good gold and didn't want to pay
The only shot he saw was to give poor Sam away
He sold out Sam and Barnes and left their friends to mourn
Oh, what a scorching Jim will get when Gabriel blows his horn

And so he sold out Sam and Barnes and left their friends to mourn
Oh, what a scorching Jim will get when Gabriel blows his horn
Perhaps he's got to heaven, there's none of us can say
But if I'm right in my surmise he's gone the other way