Jack McGuireThey would have lynched meHad I not been secretly hurried awayTo the jail at Peoria.And yet I was going peacefully home,Carrying my jug, a little drunk,When Logan, the marshal, halted meCalled me a drunken hound and shook meAnd, when I cursed him for it, struck meWith that Prohibition loaded cane—All this before I shot him.They would have hanged me except for this:My lawyer, Kinsey Keene, was helping to landOld Thomas Rhodes for wrecking the bank,And the judge was a friend ofRhodes And wanted him to escape,And Kinsey offered to quit on RhodesFor fourteen years for me.And the bargain was made.I served my timeAnd learned to read and write.
They would have lynched meHad I not been secretly hurried awayTo the jail at Peoria.And yet I was going peacefully home,Carrying my jug, a little drunk,When Logan, the marshal, halted meCalled me a drunken hound and shook meAnd, when I cursed him for it, struck meWith that Prohibition loaded cane—All this before I shot him.They would have hanged me except for this:My lawyer, Kinsey Keene, was helping to landOld Thomas Rhodes for wrecking the bank,And the judge was a friend ofRhodes And wanted him to escape,And Kinsey offered to quit on RhodesFor fourteen years for me.And the bargain was made.I served my timeAnd learned to read and write.