Steve Earle – Justice In Ontario

Oh you who hail from Ontario

Know the tale of the Donnelly’s Oh

Died at the hands of a mob that night

Every child and man by the oil torch light

Jim Donnelly was no angel sure

But they burned his barn, broke down the door

Well the children cried while they killed old Jim

Then they killed his wife, then they turned on them

No judge, no jury, no hangman, no justice in Ontario

A hundred years or more have turned

And you always hear how much we’ve learned

Well a man lay dead in a Port Hope bar

And the blood ran red on a hardwood floor

And the big men ran through the nearest door

Only one man knew what had happened for sure

Well one and all wore the outlaws’ brand

And the big bikes roared through the Great Northland

When you live on the edge of the law

You know, justice in Ontario

Blue smoke still hung in the air

No one spoke when the cops got there

Well the local constable made the call

Send us Corporal Terry Hall

They all sang a different tune

When Corporal Hall walked in the room

With his picture book and a list of names

One by one the witnesses came

And they told him what he wanted to know

Justice in Ontario

The provincial cops searched far and wide

And the outlaws ran but they could not hide

And they brought em in every single one

Save the man who actually fired the gun

It was down in London, they were tried

And the guilty man stood free outside

When he took the stand to pay his debt

The judge was blind and the jury deaf

In Kingston Town they’re locked up still

When the sun goes down and the air is chill

You could swear you heard Jim Donnelly’s ghost cry

“Justice In Ontario”