Monday 23 September 2013

Many Thanks To Wendy And Peter,

from bonny Scotland,


coming to my rescue when I was trying to find a ditty, it was I have now found out a poem titled, The Shooting of Dan McGrew, a epic poem that earn't it's author a fortune,

the poem was written by Robert William Service, this from the article,


in 1896, at the age of 15, Robert W. Service left Scotland where he was born, and emigrated to Canada. There he joined his younger brother in an experiment in ranching. The life of a farmer in British Columbia, however, was far from his expectations and after 18 months he set off for California. For the next 6 years Service drifted up and down the Pacific coast. In 1903, finding himself broke in Vancouver, he applied to and was hired by the Canadian Bank of Commerce and won a posting in Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory.


           Desiring a quiet place to work he went to his bank in his off-hours. The startled bank guard fired a shot at him. This event was the inspiration for the poem "The Shooting of Dan McGrew". The poem was well received by his Yukon  friends. After that, Service wrote  many poems and found a publisher; and Songs of a Sourdough (reissued as The Spell of the Yukon) was published. 

                His obituary that appeared in the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph of Sept. 16, 1958,  stated,  ". . . His stuff made money hand over fist. One piece alone, The Shooting of Dan McGrew rolled up half a million dollars for him. . . . " . And keep in mind, that was in the 1950s.


all of this from a half remembered ditty.

      

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