1C. The Rowan County Crew- Johnson (WV) 1927
[This ballad is said to have been composed by blind fiddler James W. Day (b. 1861) also known as Jilson Setters. Settlers was discovered by collector and folk organizer Jean Thomas in the 1920s, who has documented the feud centered around Morehead, Kentucky in the years 1884-1887 during which 20 people were killed and 16 wounded (John Pearse).
R. Matteson 2014]
1C - THE ROWAN COUNTY CREW
Communicated by Mr. Aubrey Goff, Lenore, Mingo County, November 15, 1927. Obtained from Mr. Lawrence Johnson.
1. Come all of you young people, fathers, mothers, too,
I'll relate to you the history of the Rowen County crew,
Concerning bloody Rowen and many a dreadful deed,
I pray you pay attention, come, listen how it reads.
2. It was a day in August, all on election day,
John Martin was shot and wounded, some say by Johnny Day;
But Martin wouldn't believe it, he wouldn't have it so,
He said it was Floyd Tolliver that struck the fatal blow.
3. Martin he recovered, some months had come and passed,
It was in tho town of Morehead, those two men not at last;
Martin and a friend or two about the streets did walk,
They seemed to be uneasy and no one wished to talk.
4. He walked into Judge Carey's grocery, he walked up to the bar,
But little did he think, dear friends, it was his fatal hour.
Martin saw the situation, he rushed in at the door,
A few words passed between them concerning the row before.
5. The people all got excited, they began to leave the room,
When a ball from Martin's pistol laid Tolliver in his tomb.
His friends all gathered round him, his wife to weep and wail,
And Martin was soon arrested and lodged in Rowen Jail.
6. In the jail in Rowen County, there to remain a while,
In the hands of law and justice, to bravely stand his trial;
Some people talked of lynching him, at present it did fail,
And Martin's friends removed him to the Winchester jail.
7. Some persons forged an order, their names I do not know,
The terms were soon agreed upon, for Martin they did go.
Martin seemed to be uneasy, he seemed to be in dread,
They set up a plan to kill him to the jailer Martin said.
8. They put the handcuffs on him, his heart was in distress,
They took him to the station, abroad the night express.
The night express she rambled on all at her usual speed,
They were only two in number to commit this dreadful deed.
9. When the train arrived at Farmers, they had no time to lose,
They stepped up to the engine and told him not to move;
They stepped up to the prisoners with pistols in their hands,
In death- he soon was sinking, he died in iron bands.
10. Martin was in the smoking car accompanied by his wife,
They did not wish her present, when they took her husband's life;
When the dreadful deed was committed, she was in another car,
She said, "O Lord, they've killed when when she heard the pistol fire."
11. The death of these two men caused great trouble in our Land,
caused men to leave their wives and families and take the parting hand;
Relations still at war, oh, will it never cease,
I pray to God that I may see our land once more in peace.
12. They shot and killed Sol Bradly, a poor an innocent man,
They leave his wife and children to do the best they can,
They wounded young Ed Sizemore, although his life was saved,
He seems to shun the grog-shop, since he stood so near the grave.
13. They killed the deputy sheriff Bumgardner was his name
They shot him from the bushes, they taken deliberate aim;
The death of this man was dreadful, oh, may it never be forgot,
His body was pierced and torn by thirty-three buckshot.
14 Come all of you young gentlemen, take warning from a friend,
Your pistols- will get you in trouble, on this you may depend;
At the bottom of the whiskey glass a lurking devil dwells,
It ruins the minds of those- that drink it and sends their souls to hell.
Laws 820. See OFS II 160.