The Ballad Of Wild Bill Ebaugh
©1993 Dakota Sid Clifford


Instrumentally introduce "Billy Boy"

Henry Lewis went hunting with his dad and younger brother James
October Nineteen Forty Four on the road to Scotts Flat Dam
Old Fred Reed had gone along but he didn't feel like walking
He says " I'll stay here with the car and sleep some if I can".

According to the plan, two men took the south side sayin'
"Henry, flush 'em our way, we can catch 'em by surprise".
He went into the timber on the north of Deer Creek Canyon
That was the last they ever saw of Henry Lewis alive

Fred Reed heard a single shot fifteen minutes later
Then the dogs come running back, their tails to the ground
Another shot rang out, and they searched for him till midnight
Their cries were all unanswered. Henry Lewis could not be found

Sheriff Carl Tobiassen he organized a posse
Of men and boys who knew the wild country pretty good
Al Bates the scoutmaster, six boy scouts, and the Sheriffs sons
Deputy DeSoto's crew, and under Sheriff Bill Woods

Well Henrys Uncle Jack found some marks along the banks
On Snow Mountain Ditch and he followed up the track
A mile or more downstream he found the body in the water
His coat pulled up around his head and a bullet in his back

Al Bates he was hollering, he said his scouts had found a tunnel
He said the things inside belong to someone we all know
Wet boots and underwear, incriminating evidence
We've found the secret hiding place of that wild man Bill Ebaugh

Well Uncle Jack he cautioned them," he says I don't think Bill is dangerous
He prob'ly don't know about Henry's death, they've been friends for years."
But nobody listened, and the word went down the grapevine
Bring that longhaired hermit down, revenge was in the air.

Wild Bill they called him, the phantom of the hills.
Known to be eccentric with a rare and mystic charm
A blue eyed bearded giant man with long and flowing hair
It was generally accepted that he'd done nobody harm

When he was only twenty two, he'd been declared insane
And sent away to Napa State, where they declared him cured
Lovers holding hands at night had heard him singing love songs
Or running naked through the brush, the lines are rather blurred

He'd been accused of buying a mountaineers wife for twenty bucks
And holding her a love slave in his cabin under stress
A county jury acquitted him, it added to his mystery
The local girls about town seemed to like him none the less

And as it is with mystery, it blossoms into fear
Rumors feed the frightened who stumble into shame
Every cabin broken into, every head of cattle missing
Every wife suspected kissing...Ebaugh got the blame

A fat reward was offered, though the state attorney general
Said it seemed more like a bounty since there were no charges filed
Panic turned to frenzy and rumors turned to outright lies
The last chance slipped away for mother Ebaughs child

Irwin Woodrow Davis, with his wife and only son
Walked by Adriano's abandoned cabin,. he had lived near to them
The heat was in the chimney and a window broken out
Irwin had heard the news of Wild Bill and figured it was him

He went back in the early morning, it was just a mile away
He got within a hundred feet and there he took his aim
Well Bill came out at daybreak to wash in the running water
Davis shot him through the heart,

The court said none to blame.
The press conceived a heyday, "we've lost a dangerous menace
The county has been saved the time and trouble of a trial"
It's never been uncovered, what it was that really happened
But Billy, we miss your singing, and the women miss your smile