Saturday, April 25, 2015

Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley


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"Tom Dooley" is an old North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina. It is best known today because of a hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio. This version was a multi-format hit, reaching #1 in Billboard, the Billboard R&B listing, and appearing in the Cashbox country music top 20. It fits within the wider genre of Appalachian "sweetheart murder ballads".

The song was selected as one of the American Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[1]

In the documentary Appalachian Journey (1991), folklorist Alan Lomax describes Frank Proffitt as the "original source" for the song. Although there are several earlier known recordings, notably the one by Grayson and Whitter made in 1929, approximately 10 years before Proffitt cut his own recording, the Kingston Trio took their version from Frank Warner's singing. Warner had learned the song from Proffitt, who learned it from his Aunt Nancy Prather, whose parents had known both Laura Foster and Tom Dula

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Murder of Laura Foster
Before the war, Ann Foster, a local beauty, married an older man, James Melton, who was a farmer, cobbler, and neighbor of both Ann and Tom. Melton also served in the Civil War, fighting in the battle of Gettysburg.[6] Both men were taken prisoner and at the end of the war returned home. Shortly after arriving home, Dula resumed his relationship with Ann. Given his reputation as a libertine,[2][9] it did not take Dula long to also begin an intimate relationship with Ann's cousin, Laura Foster. Folklore suggest Laura became pregnant shortly thereafter, and she and Dula decided to elope.[6] On the morning she was to meet Dula, about May 25, 1866,[9] Laura quietly left her home where she lived with her father, Wilson Foster, and took off on his horse, Belle. Laura was never seen alive again.[1]

While it is not certain what happened that day, many of the stories that have grown out of the folklore implicate Ann Melton. Some believe Ann murdered Laura Foster because she was still in love with Dula and was jealous of Laura because Tula was marrying her. Others believe that Dula knew or suspected that Ann had murdered Laura, but because he still loved Ann he refused to implicate her after he was arrested and took the blame for the murder. Ultimately, it was Ann's word that led to the discovery of Laura's body, leading to further speculation as to Ann's guilt. Ann's cousin, Pauline Foster, testified that Ann had led her to the site of the grave one night to check that it was still well hidden.[6]

Witnesses testified in court that Dula made the incriminating statement he was going to "do in" whoever gave him "the pock" (syphilis). Testimony indicated Dula believed Laura had given him syphilis, which he had unknowingly passed on to Ann. The local doctor testified that he had treated both Tom and Ann for syphilis with Blue Mass, as he did Pauline Foster, who was in fact the first to be treated. Many believe that Dula may have caught the disease from Pauline Foster and passed it on to Ann and Laura.[citation needed]

Laura's decomposed body was found with her legs drawn up in order to fit in a shallow grave. She had been stabbed once in the chest. The gruesome murder, combined with the low murder rate, and numerous rumors that circulated in the small back-woods town, captured the public's attention and led to the enduring notoriety of the crime.[1]

Dula's role in the murder is unclear.[9] He fled the area before Laura's body was found after locals accused him of murdering Laura. Under the assumed name of Tom Hall, he worked for about a week for Colonel James Grayson, across the state line in Trade, Tennessee. Grayson would enter folklore as a romantic rival of Dula's, but this was not true. It was simply an incorrect inference drawn from the lyrics of the song, and became more widespread as the facts of the case were largely forgotten.[9] Grayson did, however, help the Wilkes County posse bring Dula in, once his identity was discovered.[1]

Trial[edit]

Following Dula's arrest, former North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance represented him pro bono, and always maintained Dula's innocence. He succeeded in having the trial moved from Wilkesboro to Statesville, as it was widely believed that Dula would not receive a fair trial in Wilkes County. Dula was convicted and, although given a new trial on appeal, he was convicted again. His supposed accomplice, Jack Keaton, was set free and, on Dula's word, Ann Melton was acquitted. As he stood on the gallows facing death, he is reported to have said, “Gentlemen, do you see this hand? I didn’t harm a hair on the girl’s head”.[9] On 1 May 1868 he was executed nearly two years after the murder of Laura Foster.[6] His younger sister and her husband retrieved his body for burial.[1]

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