Two Murders

Nicholas Fairless was a magistrate

Pulled from his horse on his way out to Jarrow

By two vengeful miners

His skull so battered he died ten days later

One man was found and the other set sail

On seeing his friend strung up on Jarrow Slake

Justice swift and unyielding

Clamped in iron in his blue trial jacket

Cuthbert Skipsey was a quiet man

Respected at the pit, a wife and six children

He wasn't one to make trouble

Never one to make trouble

But the killing of Fairless had turned tensions high

There was a meeting at Chirton for the men on strike

Special constables made to break it up

And one, George Weddle, drew out his pistol

And shot a man set on making peace

Respected at the pit

A wife and six children, shot him dead on the spot

That George Weddle, the policeman

He went to trial on the 3rd day of August

Six months for manslaughter

Justice swift and accommodating

A man of worth dies at the hands of rage

Another hangs rotting on Jarrow Slake

And one shot dead for nowt

By a man confined for six months then out