From Swallows’ In the Shadow of the Seven Stars
Dead and Gone
About Dead and Gone
DATE: Wednesday, February 25, 1891
LOCATION: White’s Row, Spitalfields, London
SCENE: More than a week after her death, the witness visits the lodging house in White’s Row where Frances Coles was staying on the night of her murder. He is looking for answers that may not exist, recalling a time when they had worked together for a chemist wholesaler in The Minories. He still believes that they would have been married if external forces had not intervened in their engagement. From the beginning, his family had pressured him to end the affair. Lacking the courage to defy his parent’s wishes, he eventually acquiesced to their pressure. Shortly after, Frances left her position and disappeared into the streets of Whitechapel, where she lived hand to mouth, turning tricks for food and lodging, until her very unlucky demise.
RELATED RESEARCH: Swallow Gardens, Frances Coles’ Tragic Last Days
Thought I’d follow you to the dying lands
From the chapel to death’s door
Should have closed my mind when you hypnotized
Should have turned from you when you called
Ten steps under cold stone arches
A stifled scream
And now you’re dead and gone
Saw your sad blue eyes in the pale moonlight
Long locks and red‐stained lips
Should have sheltered you when they put you out
Should have come for you when you called
Blood mural in the Swallow Gardens
A flash of light
And now you’re dead and gone
Dead and gone
Dead and gone
Dead and gone
The beast at the heart of it
You never had a stake in this
Piece of meat caught a vice grip
A wolf had to come for it
Dead and gone
Dead and gone
Dead and gone
Now that I need you child
Now that I want you child
Dead and gone
Dead and gone
Dead and gone
© 2013 Crandall
Performers:
Aaron Kerr – Bass
Brett Hansen – Electric Guitars
Jeff Crandall – Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Organs, Percussion
Justin DeLeon – Drums
Randy Gildersleeve – Slide Guitar