Classic Poem

1.

Frankie was a good girl
As everybody knows;
She paid a hundred dollar bill
For Albert a suit of clothes,
Just because she loved him so.

2.

Frankie took them to him;
Albert put them on,
Went stepping off down the broad highway,
Saying, " By, by, Honey, I'm gone
For I'm your man who won't treat you right. "

3.

Frankie went to the beer shops
And called for a glass of beer,
Saying to the bar-room keeper,
" Have you seen little Albert here? "
" Oh, no, no, Frankie, no. "

4.

The keeper turned to Frankie,
Says, " Frankie I told you a lie;
He left here about an hour ago
With a girl he called Alice Fry;
I know he's your man; he won't treat you right. "

5.

Frankie went to the bar-room;
She called for a glass of gin,
Saying to the burie-be,
" I'm going to get drunk again;
I'll kill my man, who won't treat me right. "

6.

Frankie went down the broadway,
With a razor in her hand:
" Stand back all you loving girls;
I'm hunting my gamblin man;
I'll kill my man, who won't treat me right. "

7.

She went down to the pool room;
She looked in the pool room door,
And there she spied the man she loved,
A-sitting in the middle of the floor,
Saying, " I'm your man who won't treat you right. "

8.

" Come to me, little Albert,
I'm calling through no fun;
If you don't come to the one loves you,
I'll shoot you with my old gun;
For you're my man, who won't treat me right. "

9.

Albert went behind the counter;
He fell upon his knees —
Look right up into Frankie's face,
Saying, " Frankie, don't shoot me please,
For I'm your man who won't treat you right. "

10.

Frankie got up next morning,
About nine o'clock.
She picked up that forty-four gun,
And fired the fatal shot,
She killed her man, who wouldn't treat her right.

11.

" Turn me over, Frankie,
Turn me over slow;
Turn me over on my left side;
Those bullets hurt me so.
You've killed your man who wouldn't treat you right. "

12.

People all said to Frankie:
" Little girl, why don't you run?
Don't you see that chief police
With a forty-four smokeless gun?
You've killed your man who wouldn't treat you right. "

13.

Frankie went down to the river;
She marched from bank to bank;
" I've done all I could for a gambling man
And yet I got no thanks
For killing my man who wouldn't treat me right. "

14.

Frankie went to the funeral;
She rode in a rubber tired hack;
When they lowered him into the grave,
She screamed, " He'll never come back,
He'll never come back, he'll never come back. "

15.

Frankie had two children,
A boy and a girl;
She told them if they ever saw their papa,
They would see him in another world.
She killed her man who wouldn't treat her right.

16.

Frankie sat in the court-room,
Fanning with an electric fan.
Whispering to her sister, she said,
" Never love a gambling man,
For all you do, he won't treat you right. "

17.

Judge said to the jury:
" Jury, I cannot see,
Though Frankie has killed the man she loved,
Why she should not go free
For killing her man who wouldn't treat her right. "

18.

Frankie walked out on the scaffold,
As brave as a girl could be,
Saying, " Judge, you tried me
Murder in the first degree,
For killing my man, who wouldn't treat me right. "

19.

Now little Frankie is buried;
She's sleeping by Albert's side;
Albert was a gambling man,
And Frankie was his bride;
She killed her man, who wouldn't treat her right.