“You’ve bullied the weak, you’ve robbed the poor;
The starving brother you’ve turned from the door
You’ve laid up gold where the canker rust,
And have given free vent to your beastly lust.”
“You’ve justice scorned, and corruption sown,
And trampled the laws of nature down.
You have drunk, rioted, cheated, plundered, and lied
And mocked at God in your hell-born pride.”
“You have paid full fare, so I’ll carry you through;
For it’s only right you should have your due.
Why, the laborer always expects his hire,
So I’ll land you safe in the lake of fire.”
– The Devil, speaking in “The Hell-Bound Train” collected in Songs of the Cowboys (1908) by N. Howard “Jack” Thorp. The author/composer is unknown, but Thorp notes that he first heard the song at a camp on the Pecos River, sung by a cow-puncher named Jack Moore.
