The Great Pixley Train Robbery

To your hands I give you
Aboard from Hawaii
A ship they call Northern Light
A fugitive, one of three highway men
Who stopped the Pixley train that night
About 8pm, 22 February
We forced 7 thousand in gold
Two were killed in the melee
A fireman of the train
And a passenger from Modesto
The leader was an insurance agent, this I know
The third man set for remote islands near the equator

When they found the ship
Would not put in there
There's reason to believe he set her on fire
When our bomb exploded
Buck shot unloaded
We three made off in dire
To the Right Honorable
American council
To the Hawaiian king
I swear before notary
To make a clean breast of the whole thing
In hope of salvation, for surely I'll be found before port
Before postal authorities can act
I surrender myself unto the reward

Since I was taken
From the Napa Asylum
And put on a whaler for my own good
I told the captain not to let me ashore
Except under guard
If no faith is placed
In this letter
You're letting a brigand free
The passenger coaches
Were not molested, violence I can't see