“The Fate of Talmadge Osborne”
Description
Talmadge Osborn does not get out of the way of a backing train in time, has his hands cut off, and dies. The company is not liable according to the "Johnson Law." Singer warns listeners to walk carefully, lest they be killed by a train
Long description
Talmadge Osborn, a man who behaves oddly, does not get out of the way of a backing train in time, has his hands cut off, and dies. The company is not liable according to the "Johnson Law." He is taken home; people say "Many a man's been murdered by the railroad/And laid in his cold, lonesome grave." Singer warns listeners to walk carefully, lest they be killed by a train, and that their high-living ways may put them on the county road for six months
Notes
Stoneman, who knew Osborn(e), remembers that he used to hop freights while drunk, probably the cause of his fatal accident.
The "Many a man killed on the railroad" verse seems to have been spliced into this song as a bridge, having been collected from tradition earlier.
The "Johnson Law" absolved a railroad from liability for accidents occurring on its right-of-way. PJS
Cross references
- cf. "The Wreck on the C & O" [Laws G3] (floating verses)
Recordings
- [Ernest Stoneman and] The Dixie Mountaineers, "The Fate of Talmadge Osborne" (Edison 52026, 1927) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5369, 1927); Ernest V. Stoneman, "The Fate of Talmadge Osborne" (OKeh 45084, 1927)(Victor 20672, 1927) (one of these is on RoughWays1, misspelled "Talmedge")
References
- Sandburg, p. 371, "There's Many a Man Killed on the Railroad" (1 fragment, 1 tune, with only the "There's man been killed on the railroad" stanza, which could be from this, or "The C. & O.," or others)
- Roud #12188
- BI, RcTFOTO