Smashing of the Van

[Verse 1]
On the eighteenth of September it was a dreadful year
When sorrow and excitement ran throughout auld Lancashire
At a gathering of the Irish boys they volunteered each man
To release those Irish prisoners out of the prison van

[Verse 2]
In Manchester one morning those good heroes did agree
Their leaders, Kelly and Deasy, should have their liberty
They drank a health to Ireland and soon made up the plan
To meet the prisoners on the road and take and smash the van

[Verse 3]
With courage bold those heroes went and soon the van did stop
They cleared the guards from back and front and then smashed in the top
But in blowing open of the lock, they chanced to kill a man
So three must die on the scaffold high for smashing of the van

[Verse 4]
One cold November morning in 1867
These martyrs to their country cause a sacrifice were given
"God save Ireland" was the cry, all through the crowd it ran
May the Lord have mercy on the boys that helped to smash the van