VIII.
The songs of this group are epic; rather than lyric as are those in VII, above. They are recitals of local tragedies—murders, assassinations, feudal battles, and disasters.
The Cause and Killing of Jesse Adams, ii, 3abcb, 25: A detailed recital of a domestic tragedy on the Brushy Fork of Blaine: Adams, overhearing his wife and her paramour, shoots her and attempts suicide.
Floyd Frazier, 3abcb, 16: A recital of Frazier's murder of Ellen Flannery: he hides her body under a pile of stones; later, is arrested, makes confession, and is placed in Pineville, Ky., jail to await execution.
Talt Hall, ii, 3abcb, 8: A recital of Hall's murder of Frank Salyers, his arrest in Tennessee, his confinement in the Gladeville, Va., jail, and his execution in Richmond, Va.
William Baker, 3abcb, 12: A recital of Baker's murder of one Prewitt in Clay County, Ky.: he hides the body in the woods and tells Prewitt's wife that her husband had deserted her.
Poor Goens, 4aabb, 5: A recital of the betrayal and murder of Goens for the purpose of robbery, on Black-spur Mountain.
The Rowan County Tragedy, ii, 3abcb, 26: A detailed account of a feudal battle in Morehead, Ky., on election day, and of the succeeding events connected with the arrest of the participants.
John T. Parker, 4aabb, 12: An account of the drowning of Parker in the Kentucky River one winter night, as, with three companions, he essays to cross, but their boat is capsized in the wash from the steamboat Blue Wings.
[Jeems Braggs], 4a3b4c3b, 8: A protest against the Governor's pardon of Braggs, upon the eve of his execution, for the murder of one Prewitt.
The Assassination of J. B. Marcum, 3aa6b3cc6b and 3aa6b3cc6b, 13: A detailed recital of the shooting of Marcum as he stood in the court-house door at Jackson, Ky., with animadversions upon the identity of his slayers and an account of their various trials.
The Irish Peddler, 4a3b4c3b, 7: An account of the murder of an old peddler and his wife, shot from ambush one June morning for the purpose of rifling their wagon.
John Hardy, iii, 4a3b4c3b, 6: An account of Hardy's shooting a man in a poker game, of his arrest, trial, conviction, conversion and baptism, and of his execution and burial on the Tug River.
Jereboam Beauchamp, 3abcb, 33: A recital of the murder of Beauchamp done upon Solomon P. Sharpe, Attorney-General of Kentucky, at Frankfort in the winter of 1824. (Cf. William Gilmore Simms' novel of the same name, and see [VII], 2.)