Return to BalladsThe Ballad of Bumble Jack Bumble Jack was a simple soul, and he had a simple plan. He caught a train and headed west, to be a gun slinging man. He soon was elected sheriff of poor little Dalton town. The job came without a pay check, but he did not turn it down. Jack strutted down the sidewalk wearing his star of tin. He smiled at all the ladies, and tipped his hat to all the men. But, life without a paycheck was soon to take its toll. His belly was growing empty, and his bed was getting cold. Jack made a plan, one morning, to end his money woes. He rode out to the desert, and he took a change of clothes. Sporting a mask and top coat, Bumble rode back into town. He opened wide the bank doors, swinging his guns around. Jack took those sacks of money to his desert hiding place; then turned his horse toward Dalton, with a smile upon his face. When Bumble Jack rode into town, no one knew where he had been. They thought he was their hero; they knew he was their friend. He listened to the bad news with a still and somber face; then he called them all together at the local meeting place. Bumble walked into his office; took his gun belt off the shelf, then he left to lead the posse he had formed to hunt himself.
Shirley Alexander © 2007
