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
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