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 reared most tenderly. Till 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 they tried in vain to get me out on bail. The jury found me guilty, the clerk he wrote it down. For breaking of the Union Bank, I was sent to Charlestown. They put me on an eastbound train one dark December day. 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's bound for Charlestown." All you who have your freedom, take warning if you can. And don't go round the streets at night breaking laws of God or man. 'Cause if you do, you'll surely rue and find yourself like me. Serving up to twenty years in the penitentiary. Serving up to twenty years in the penitentiary.