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