[Chorus]
Poor Ellen Smith. How was she found?
Shot through the heart lyin' dead on the ground.
Her body was mangled and all cast around
And 'X' marks the spot where poor Ellen was found.
They picked up her body, carried it away
And now she's a-sleepin' in some lonesome old grave.
Who had the heart and who had the brain
To shoot my little Ellen on that cold lonesome plain?
[Chorus]
Poor Ellen Smith. How was she found?
Shot through the heart lyin' dead on the ground.
Her body was mangled and all cast around
And 'X' marks the spot where poor Ellen was found.
They picked up their rifles and hunted us down.
They found us a-loafin' all 'round town.
The judge may convict me and God knows he can
But I know I died as an innocent man.
[Chorus]
The warden has told me that soon I'll be free
To go to her grave near that old willow tree.
I'm free from the walls of that prison at last
But I'll never be free from my sins from the past.
[Chorus]
I said 'X' marks the spot where poor Ellen, was found.