Tragedy Now Strikes Hard. ... - Fairport Convention

«The customary quiet of Babbacombe, a residential suburb of Torquay,

was greatly disturbed early on Saturday morning

And the peaceful inhabitants were aroused to a state of intense alarm and

terror by one of the most frightful tragedies that human devilment could plan

or human deed could perpetrate

The name of the victim was Miss Emma Anne Whitehead Keyes, an elderly lady of

some sixty-eight years

The name of hr home and the scen of her tragedy, was 'The Glen'

She was found early in the morning, lying on her dining room floor

Her throat had been horribly cut and there were three wounds on her head

It was evident that her murderer had also attempted to burn the corpse»

The world has surely lost it’s head, the news is full of crimes

There’s robberies in The Telegraph and there’s murders in The Times

And always more obituaries and even one of these

Concerns the brutal slaughter of an old Miss Emma Keyes

The police have got their man, they’re sure, he never left the scene

Indeed, he raised the hue and cry, a most unusual thing

An arsonist, a murderer, his soul will soon be frying

He’s young but old enough to kill but he’s not too young for dying

And it seems the populace will queue to see him stand in court

To hear him speak his wicked lies while smiling at his thoughts

This arrogant young ruffian is obviously guilty

Though nowhere does it say exactly how or why he killed her

Forget it dear, it’s not the first and there’s bound to be another

And the way you carry on you’ll have us thinking she’s your mother

This man called Lee has had his day and soon he’ll be forgotten

So put that paper down before your breakfast goes quite rotten