Sam Hall

[Robin Hamilton]

> FWIW, some sixty years ago, I read a science-fiction story entitled,
> "Sam Hall," in the old pulp mag, Astounding Science-Fiiction, in which
> it was the cover story, IIRC. Some verses of a "folksong," The Ballad
> of Sam Hall, "inspired by the life of the title character," were
> included:

I think this would be from the mid to late fifties at least, from memory.
Mack Reynolds was the writer, or if not him, one of John W. Campbell's main
stable of writers at the old _Astounding_.

> Oh, my name it is Sam Hall
> And I hate you one and all

The chorus mutates something considerable, in the wake of Ross -- that's one
of the more polite versions.

> It's taken till now for me to discover that the author didn't simply
> make up the story out of whole cloth.

The original historical figure was John Hall, hanged in 1707 (not 1701, a
common mistake stemming from Cecil Sharp).  He becomes progressively more
fictionalised as his story works its way through the trial transcripts, the
Newgate Ordinary's account, Smith's _Lives of the Highwaymen_, and onwards
through the various editions of _The Newgate Calendar_.  And that's even
before (or beside) the song.

> However, again, IIRC, the "Sam
> Hall" of the ASF story was a union organizer or one whose story was
> used as inspiration by people who were union organizers, the story
> being loosely based on the (science-fictionalized) history of the IWW.

It was certainly political, but I doubt if it was pro-Wobbly (though my
memory, like Wilson's, is from a time ago).  Campbell was pretty right-wing,
and the writers he published -- notably Robert Heinlein -- lent the same
way.

> I have no idea why this
> hardly-at-all-interesting-to-me-at-the-time-or-even-now story has
> remained lodged in the back of my thinking cap for over half a
> century. But, "there it is," as we used to say, during the Viet-Nam
> Era.

The Devil has all the best tunes.

> I'm absolutely (yeah, right) certain that I correctly recall the mag,
> the title of the story, the couplet, and, perhaps, even the cover
> artist: Van Dongen(??). The rest is only slightly better than a WAG.

It might have been Kelly Freas, who was Campbell's main illustrator for
Astounding.  I don't recall the cover myself.

Ah -- just googled this -- it was Poul Anderson, not Mack Reynolds.

        Sam Hall   Poul Anderson   Astounding, Aug '53

Robin

(You can Peek Inside the story courtesy of Amazon:

        http://www.amazon.com/Going-Infinity-Poul-Anderson/dp/0765305976#reader_0765305976

R.)

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