I was born and raised in Boston
A place you all know well
Brought up by honest parents
The truth to you I'll tell
Brought up by honest parents and raised most tenderly
Til I became a sporting lad
At the age of twenty three
My character was taken and I was sent to jail
My friends they came and tried in vain to get me out on bail
The jury found me guilty, the clerk he wrote it down
The judge he passed the sentence
I was bound for Charlestown
They placed me on an east bound train, one cold December day
And every station we passed through I could hear the people say
There goes the Boston burglar in cold chains he is bound
For one crime or another he is bound for Charlestown
All you who have your freedom take a warning if you can
And don't go round the streets at night breaking laws of God and man
For if you do you'll surely rew and find yourself like me
Serving up full twenty years in the penitentiary
