Diamond Bell

Gather 'round and a story I will tell
About the gunslinger Diamond Bell
She was the reigning terror of the west
Her vision in a scarlet carriage dress

With 30 shining diamonds on her barrel
Fitted always in a red apparel
She reveled more in murder and in gore
Than anyone who's worked the job before

I was only a kid from Arkansas
I never had a running with the law
'Til I ran and I stumbled and I fell
In love with the bandit Diamond Bell

Diamond Bell, where are you now?
Over the meadow and through the trees

For seven long months we rode the trail
Camping out along the union rail
T'was all in the merry month of May
When we landed a job to kill a judge in Cassoday

She spoke as we trampled through the heat
She said, "The boys from Kansas know I'm hard to beat"
Then turning with a grin she says to me
"We're going on a Kansas killing spree"

Diamond Bell, where are you know?
Over the meadow and through the trees

Well, the courtroom gallery was full
When she put a bullet through the judge's skull
We made a bold dash across the plane
And bullets flew around us like the rain

In a Dodge City hotel I awoke
I was chained by the ankles to a bedpost
Surrounded by a dozen volunteers
And it took me all my strength to fight the tears
Fight the tears

Diamond bell, where are you now?
Over the meadow and throught the trees

Well, there's Mexican girls who sing and tell
Songs of the bandit Diamond Bell
But of me this is all the song I got
And the law will avenge the men I shot

So farewell, I bid you all adieu
And I'm sorrowful for leaving all of you
But a lesson to you all I hope to be
By the telling of this wretched tragedy

Well, the Sun has gone down in the west
The last beams have faded are the crest
Come morning I'll be swinging in the Sun
Like the pitiful prisoner I've become, I've become

Diamond Bell, where are you now?
Over the meadow and through the trees