Au fin fond des Ozarks, du Missouri à l’Oklahoma, on chante encore parfois au coin du feu, une étrange ballade en mémoire d’une petite fille assassinée en 1927. Plusieurs variantes de cette chanson existent mais la plus célèbre fut enregistrée par Carson J. Robison, alias Vernon Dalhart qui s’emparait de tous les faits divers atroces (comme le naufrage du Titanic pour écrire des tubes)
Pour l’écouter : un petit clic ici.
La victime : Marion Parker Demande de rançon du kidnappeur aka Renard
La famille de Marion (le père, la mère et la grand-mère) :
courtesy Herald-Examiner, 1928
La fausse piste : un voyou abonné aux petits délits.
Le vrai coupable : William Edward Hickman, un séduisant étudiant et lecteur avisé de Nietzsche qui serait l’incarnation du Sur-homme selon l’essayiste Ayn Rand
courtesy Herald-Examiner
Pour en savoir plus : chapitre 2 « La comptine de l’enfant découpée en morceaux », in Crimes et Procès Sensationnels à Los Angeles, page 55-101.
Lyrics :
‘Way out in California,
A family bright and gay
Were preparing for their Christmas
Not very far away.
They had a little daughter,
A sweet and pretty child.
And everyone who knew her
Loved Marian Parker’s smile.
She left her home one morning
For her school not far away.
And no one dreamed that danger
Was lurking near that day
But then a murdrous villain,
A fiend with heart of stone,
Took little Marian Parker
Away from friends and home.
The world was horror-stricken,
The people held their breath,
Until they found poor Marian,
Her body cold in death.
They hunted for the coward,
Young Hickman was their man.
They brought him back to justice,
His final trial to stand.
The jury found him guilty,
Of course they could not fail.
He must be executed
Soon in San Quentin jail.
And while he waits his sentence,
Let’s hope he learns to pray
To make his black soul ready
For the great judgement day.
There is a great commandment
That says, « Thou shalt not kill »
And those who do not head it,
Their cup of sorrow fill