Paddy on the Greenock Railway

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An Irishman - accused of travelling without a ticket - reacts violently and is imprisoned.

  [534Notation]

Paddy one day from Greenock Town
To Glasgow city sure was bound [Note 534.1]
He swore that if it cost him a crown¹
He'd go along the railway
Paddy from home had never been
A railway train had never seen
He longed to see the great machine
That runs along the railway
With that he flew in furious ease
Tell me the railway if you please
My carcass will not be at aise
Till I have seen the railway

     Hubbaboo, dideroo, fillaloo all the way
     Three hundred miles in half the day
     Ah! Says he, get out the way
     I'm going by the railway

Then off he flew with furious might
And put the people in a terrible fright
Blood_and_'ouns¹ get out of my sight
I'm going to catch the railway;
The railway station soon he found
The first-class fare he then paid down
Thinking thus to be first in town
That day upon the railway
Paddy, who'd been the ladies delight
Jumps into a box with all his might
Chock full of ladies dressed in white
Who were going by the railway.

He sat among their satins white
They screamed with all their might
For he put them in a dreadful fright
That day upon the railway.
Up came a chap with curly hair, [Note 534.2]
Swore that Paddy hadn't paid his fare
And cursed him for an Irish bear
Who'd ne'er been on a railway
Pat's Irish blood began to rise
He took the spalpeen¹ by surprise
He bled his nose and blacked his eyes
That day upon the railway.

The peeler¹ soon grabbled [sic] poor Pat
And before the magistrate, that's flat
He swore he had been in fact
Nigh murdered on the railway
For three months paddy was sent the mill¹
Bad luck to the Rail he had his fill
The silent dodge² made him quite ill
After excitement on the railway
Soon he grew quite thin and weak [Note 534.3]
Thinks he, I've had a narrow squeak
For bedad¹ they'll not let me even speak
Through fighting on the railway.

     Hubbaboo, fillaloo, all the way
     Sure there was the devil to pay
     I never shall forget the day
     That I ran on the railway.