296
Emma Hartsell
'Emma Hartsell,' a ballad recovered in five variant copies, indi-
cating considerable oral circulation at one time, is the story of a
rape, a murder, and a lynching. These outrages occurred at a time
when, on account of various local efforts to bring Negroes into
politics in North Carolina, racial troubles were rife, especially in
Wilmington, and flared up in a number of deeds of violence. The
Raleigh News and Observer, of May 31, 1898, p. 7, crediting the
Charlotte Observer, reports the facts.
Miss Emma Hartsell, a young lady of Cabarrus county, was brutally
assaulted by negroes yesterday, and afterward murdered. Last night
Concord resounded with uproar, and two negroes were hanged to the
same tree.
The victim of the outrage was a daughter of Mr. Sam Hartsell. who
lives four miles from Concord. Yesterday afternoon some time between
2 and 5 o'clock, she was outraged and murdered, her throat being cut
from ear to ear.
The first news of the tragedy was heard by Mr. Frank Pharr from
the lips of a young negro, who was going to town to tell about it. Mr.
Pharr suspected this negro and held him until officers arrived.
NORTH CAROLINA BALLADS 685
In the meantime, the news had circulated rapidly and crowds of both
town and country began gathering. The negro held by Mr. Pharr was
named Joe Kiser, aged 24 years, of Cabarrus county. In a short time
another negro named Tom Johnson, aged 20 years, of Lincoln county,
had been arrested.
The remainder of the story follows the familiar pattern of South-
ern lynchings. The sheriff and his deputies arrested the Negroes
and took them through a threatening crowd to the jail. That night
a mob stormed the jail, overpowering the sheriff's forces, broke the
lock of the cell door, and dragged the victims out. "They pro-
tested their innocence all along the way" to the place of the hang-
ing. "The Rev. W. C. Alexander, pastor of the Presbyterian
church, walked by their side, talking to them and trying to minister
to them spiritually," and pleaded in vain for a moment of silence,
"so he could pray for them." Asked if they had a parting word to
speak, "They said they were not guilty, and that was all." The two
were hanged from the same tree, and their bodies were riddled with
shots.
Davis FSV 277 lists a song without title having the first line in
common with "Emma Hartsell."
A
'Death of Emma Hartsell.' From Loy V. Harris, Mount Gilead, Mont-
gomery county, with music; undated.
1 In eighteen hundred and ninety-eight
Sweet Emma met with an awful fate.
'Twas on the holy Sabbath day
When her sweet life was snatched away.
2 It set my brain all in a whirl
To think of that poor little girl
Who rose that morning fair and bright,
And before five was a mangled sight.
3 It caused many a heart to bleed
To think and hear of such deed.
Her friends, they shed many a tear.
Her throat was cut from ear to ear.
4 Just as the wind did cease to blow
They caught the men, 'twas Tom and Joe.
The sheriff drove in such a dash
The howling mob could scarcely pass.
5 They got to town by half past seven;
Their necks were broken before eleven.
The people there were a sight to see.
They hung them to a dogwood tree.
6 Fathers and mothers, a warning take :
Never leave your children for God's sake.
686 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
But take them with you wherever you go,
And always think of Tom and Joe.
7 Kind friends, we all must bear in mind
They caught the men who did the crime.
There's not a doubt around the lurk ;
Tom said he held her while Joe did the work.
8 Sweet Emma has gone to a world of love
Where Tom and Joe dare not to go.
We think they've gone to hell below
For treating poor little Emma so.
9 Dear friends, we all remember this,
That Emma will be sadly missed.
And one thing more I do know —
This world is rid of Tom and Joe. *
10 As they stood on death's cold brink,
Joe Kizzer begged the man for drink.
'No drink, no drink.' the man replied ;
'To Hell, to Hell your soul must fly.'
1 1 And one thing more my song does lack :
I forgot to say the men were black ;
Her friends and neighbors will say the same.
And Emma Hartsell was her name.
From Wilma Foreman, Stanly county ; undated. Eleven stanzas, fol-
lowing A closely, with a few interesting verbal differences : "marvelous
sight" in stanza 2 for "mangled sight" ; "for God-sakes" in stanza 6 for
"for God's sake" ; "around us break" in stanza 7 for "around us lurk" ;
"the sheriff" in stanza 10 for "the man."
C
From Elsie Lambert, Stanly county (?); undated. Eleven stanzas, fol-
lowing A closely, with these main verbal differences : "marble sight" in
stanza 2; "half pass seven" in stanza 5; "for God sake" in stanza 6;
"break" for "lurk' 'in stanza 7 ; "the sheriff" in stanza 10.
D
From Effie Tucker ; without address or date. Eleven stanzas, differing
only in a few verbal details from A : "marble sight" in stanza 2 ; "a
many a heart," "a many a tear" in stanza 3 ; "break" for "lurk" in
stanza 7; "death's cold bank"; "my song doith like" in stanza 11.
From Macie Morgan. Stanly county; undated. Six stanzas correspond-
ing to A, 1-6. The fourth stanza reads :
NORTH CAROLINA BALLADS 687
Just as the wind did close to bellow,
They caught the men was hauling marble
could hardly pass.
The sixth lacks a line corresponding to 1. 2 in A 6.
----
296
Emma Hartsell
'Death of Emma Hartsell.' Anonymous singer. Recorded as ms score at Mount
Gilead, Montgomery county ; no date. There is quite a lengthy account of the
whole story with details that seem not to have appeared in print elsewhere,
given in the Kannapolis Daily Independent of Sunday, December 18, 1955, by
its staff writer Randolph S. Hancock. The story is based on an interview this
reporter had with E. J. Linker, seventy-one, who said that the murdered girl
was his first sweetheart. That gives to the whole story the value of an eye-
witness account.
4
Scale : Hexachordal. Tonal Center : e-flat. Structure : aba^bi (2,2,2,2) = aa*
(4.4).