U.S. - Canadian border at Point Roberts, WA (photo - Fuchs Florian)
DEGRADING TALE OF 1970
by Paddy Graber, ca. 1970
Sung by Paddy Graber
Transcribed from Paddy's home-made tape recording
This song, set to the tune of the Irish song “The Holy Ground,”
was made by
Paddy Graber of Vancouver, B.C. from
articles in the Sun and the Province
newspapers shortly after this incident occured in Point Roberts, WA. Point
Roberts is a part of the U.S. located on the southwestern tip of
British Columbia,
but not physically connected to the U.S. - a geographical oddity.
Oh the yarn I’m going to spin you occurred in the month of June
The twenty-second was the date and it ended around about noon
It’s about a grader operator, be now you know him well
His home’s in beautiful BC and his name ‘tis Ernest Estelle
If a man he works for another, he’s entitled to his pay
And that money should be paid to him without too much delay
Oh, but if he cannot get it, and he takes back what he’s done
With private property involved, you can bet it’ll cause some fun
Well Estelle’s climbed on his grader, he kissed his wife goodbye
The sun shone bright and clearly, no cloud was in the sky
I am going to Point Roberts for the money that’s owed to me
And when I get it in my fist I’ll return to beautiful BC
If a man he works for another, he’s entitled to his pay
And that money should be paid to him without too much delay
Oh, but if he cannot get it, and he takes back what he’s done
With private property involved, you can bet it’ll cause some fun.
When Estelle’s he crossed the border, Sapo was waiting there
“Not one dollar will I pay ‘till the job’s done fair and square”
“I have graded and mixed you paving, for that I will be paid,
I want my money right away or again I’ll use my blade”
A car bore down upon him with vigilante men
The deputies they drove that way with their chart sheets and their pen
Oh these men of law and order with their pistols and their mace
To have a Canuck flaunt their law was a downright disgrace
They tried to break his window with a two-foot iron bar
A deputy drove in too close and the blade ripped in his car
And Estelle’s revved up his grader, and when he dropped his blade
He zigzagged up that new blacktop, what a hell of a mess he made
Then Estelle’s head out for the border and the vigilantes had their fun
They chased that grader up the street and they blazed with every gun
With their pistols and their shotguns they fired a fusillade
And in a chase of thirty miles an hour what a valiant team they made
For three miles they chased our hero, firing all the way
They really showed the well Canuck that crime it did not pay
Oh these men of law and order from the land of the brave and free