Flatt & Scruggs - The Last Public Hanging in West Virginia lyrics

Rock of ages cleft for me Now that could be the voice of John F Morgan in the Ripley jailhouse singin' hymns Well ol' Johnny might just be singin' hymn this mornin' Cause this is gonna be a hangin' day for him Now people say that Johnny was a bad man and that he had a name for bein' mean He cut a hatchet one cold weary morning he k**ed two children and the widow Green By a thousand people gathered there in Ripley invited by the sheriff Jay O Shimm Havin' fun and drinking moonshine liquor and listenin' to ol' Johnny singin' hymn The day don't call in Ripley West Virginia the scaffold stood in silence in a field Johnny kept on singin' in the jailhouse waiting there to eat his final meal Then rumor started flying through the gathering That John F Morgan might get his reprieve The people started yelling toward the sheriff Afraid they'd miss for all they come to see But Jay O Shimm the sheriff of Jackson County Afraid that such a thing could have been done Said I said there was gonna be a hangin' and I still mean it there's a gonna be one They led John Morgan from the Ripley jailhouse And he rode through the happy laughin' crowd But when John Morgan stepped upon the scaffold They grew quiet when he lift his head and bowed They listened to the preacher say the last words They fixed the news and tied John Morgan's hand The signal came and someone sprang the dead's rout And sent John Morgan to another land The last public hanging in old West Virginia a true story written in this song On the sixteen of December in fifteen ninety seven John F Morgan paid the price of doing wrong