Come all you fathers and mothers And brothers, sisters, too I'll relate to you the history Of the Rowan County Crew Concerning bloody Rowan And many needless deeds Now friends, please give attention Remember how it reads It was in the month of August All on election day John Morton, he was wounded They say by Johnny Day Old Morton couldn't believe it He could not think it so His thought was Floyd Tolliver Who struck the fatal blow Oh Morton, he recovered Some months had come and pa**ed All in the town of Morehead These men they met at last Old Morton had a friend or two About the street did walk He seemed to be uneasy No one he wished to talk He walked in Judge Carriage's grocery And stepped up to the bar But little did he think He'd met his fatal hour The sting of d**h was near him As Morton rushed in the door And a few words pa**ed Concerning the row before The people being frightened Rushed out of the room And the ball from Morton's pistol Laid Tolliver in the tomb His friends they gathered around him A wife to weep and wail And Morton was soon arrested And confined in jail He was put in jail of Rowan And there to remain awhile In the hands of law and justice To bravely stand a trial The people talked of lynching him But presently they did fail Some of his friends removed him To the Winchester jail Some persons forged an order Their names I do not know And the plan was soon agreed upon And for Morton they did go
They slipped the handcuffs on him His heart was in distress They hurried to the station Stepped on the night express All along the line she lumbered All at her usual speed There was only two in number To commit this awful deed Old Morton in the smoking car Accompanied by his wife They did not want her present When they took her husband's life When they arrived at Farmer's They had no time to lose And a band approached the engineer And forbid him not to move They stepped up to the prisoner With pistols in their hand In d**h, he soon was sinking He died an Ireland band / He died in iron bands His wife heard the sound She was in another car She cried "Oh Lord, they've k**ed him" When she heard the pistol fire The d**h of these two men Cause trouble in the land Caused men to leave their families And take the parting hand Our relations are still at war May never, never cease Oh, if I could see our loved ones Once more in peace They shot and k**ed a deputy sheriff Bumgardner was his name They shot him from the bushes After taking deliberate aim The d**h of him was dreadful May never be forgot His body was pierced and torn By thirty-three buckshot They shot and k**ed Sol Bradley A sober and innocent man They left his wife and children To do the best they can They wounded young Ed Sizemore Although his life did save He seemed to dodge the grog shops That stood so near his grave