Tom McArdle
It was in the year of '98 that year of blood and sin
That they hanged brave Tom McArdle near the town of Crossmaglen;
Brave, honest Tom McArdle was a hero of his time,
He was famed for mirth and innocence, but never charged with crime.
In the town of Crivkiernan beside the rocky road
Not far from County Monaghan he kept a little forge
His loving wife and family from hunger for to shield
Each day from early morning his hammer he did wield.
But Mcaul, the Yoeman captain, a statement he did take
That for the coming rising, brave Tom some pikes did make
It was there they roughly seized him, these treacherous Irishmen
And hanged him on a high ash tree near the town of Crossmaglen.
This tree in time showed every sign of this dark and evil deed,
The stem and root told forth the truth that an innocent man did bleed,
Upon the spot those imps did rot as did those imps of sin,
That hanged brave Tom McArdle near the town of Crossmaglen.
Allyou good men around Crossmaglen now rally to the call
And to his cherished memory build up a marble wall,
And there in golden characters let his memory be inscribed,
Brave, honest Tom McArdle who for faith and country died.