Rowan County Crew (Trouble, or Tragedy), The [Laws E20]

DESCRIPTION: An account of the Tolliver-Martin feud, which the legal system is powerless to end. Casualties of the fighting include John Martin, Floyd Tolliver, Sol Bradley (an innocent bystander), and Deputy Sheriff Baumgartner; even this does not end the feud
AUTHOR: James W. Day ("Jilson Setters")
EARLIEST DATE: 1918 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: feud death fight injury
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1884 - Date of the Tolliver-Martin shootings
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So,SW)
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Laws E20, "The Rowan County Crew (Trouble, or Tragedy)"
Thomas-BalladMakingInMountainsOfKentucky, pp. 5-9, "Rowan County Troubles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-DevilsDitties, pp. 148-150, "The Rowan County Troubles" (1 text, 1 tune) (OakEd, pp. 18-22)
Randolph 169, "The Rowan County Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 324-326, "The Rowan County Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Combs/Wilgus-FolkSongsOfTheSouthernUnitedStates 61, pp. 161-162, "The Tolliver Song" (1 text)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 39, "A Tolliver-Martin Feud Song" (1 text)
Cox/Hercog/Halpert/Boswell-WVirginia-B, #1A-C, pp. 111-118, "The Rowan County Crew" (2 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #52, "Rowan County Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, pp. 196-197, "Rowan County Trouble" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, pp. 257-258 "The Rowan County Crew" (1 text)
Botkin-TreasuryOfAmericanFolklore, pp. 891-892, "Rowan County Troubles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 194-195, "The Rowan County Crew" (1 text)
DT 703, ROWANCRW
Roud #465
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Rowan County Crew" (on Boggs1, BoggsCD1)
Ted Chestnut [as Chesnut], "The Rowan County Feud" (Gennett 6513/Champion 15524 [as Cal Turner], 1928)
Robert L. Day, "The Rowan County Crew" (AFS, 1938; on KMM)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A West Virginia Feud Song" (theme, lyrics, metre)
cf. "Death of Samuel Adams" (lyrics)
NOTES [101 words]: Jean Thomas, who knew both James W. Day (who had been in the area when the feud started) and Lucy (Mrs. John) Martin, has extensive notes about the arguments which led to this feud.
Interestingly, Thomas attributes this song to James W. Day, not "Jilson Setters," even though she always calls him "Setters" elsewhere. I can't even find a hint in Thomas that the two were the same.
For what sounds like a legal analysis of this case, see L. F. Johnson, Famous Kentucky Tragedies and Trials, The Baldwin Law Book Company, 1916 (apparently a revised edition was put out by Henry Clay Press in 1972). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: LE20

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