Death of Samuel Adams

DESCRIPTION: "In the state of old Kentucky... A horrible crime was committed And later brought to light." "A man was cruelly murdered, Samuel Adams was his name." The buried body washes up in a flood, and Joe Schuster and gang sentenced to life imprisonment
AUTHOR: Grover Frazier?
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: homicide trial prison work
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-BalladMakingInMountainsOfKentucky, pp. 242-243, "Death of Samuel Adams" (1 text) (OakEd, pp. 242-244)
Roud #4131
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rowan County Crew (Trouble, or Tragedy)" [Laws E20] (lyrics)
NOTES [61 words]: Neither this song nor Thomas's notes are very clear as to what actually happened here. Reading a great deal into a small amount between the lines, I suspect that Samuel Adams, left without work in the Depression, arrived perhaps at Ashland during the labor troubles. He took a job as a guard and was killed as a result.
This is item dF62 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: ThBa242

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.