The Great Pixley Train Robbery Songtext
von Cass McCombs

To your hands I give you
Aboard from Hawaii
The ship they call Northern Light
A fugitive
One of three highwaymen
Who stopped the Pixley train that night
About 8 PM
22 February
We forced 7 thousand in gold
Two were killed in the melee
A fireman of the train
And a passenger from Modesto

The leader was an
Insurance agent, this I know
The third man set for
Remote islands near the equator


When he found the ship
Would not put in there
There′s reason to believe he set her on fire
When our bomb exploded
Buckshot unloaded
We three made off in dire
To the Right Honorable
American Council
To the Hawaiian King
I swear before Notary
To make a clean breast
Of the whole thing

In hope of salvation
For surely I'll be found before port
Before Postal authorities can act
I surrender myself unto the reward

Since I was taken
From the Napa asylum
And put on a whaler for my own good
I told the Captain
Not to let me ashore
Except under guard
If no faith is placed
In this letter
You are letting a brigand free
The passenger coaches
Were not molested
Violence I can′t see