Last Public Hanging In West Virginia
Flatt & Scruggs

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 aim for bein' mean

He took a hatchet one cold weary morning he killed two children and the widow Green

Five thousand people gathered there in Ripley invited by the sheriff Jay O Sean

Havin' fun and drinking moonshine liquor and listenin' to ol' Johnny singin' hymn

The day dawned cold 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 Sean 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 tip his hat and bowed

They listened to the preacher say the last words

They fixed the noose and tied John Morgan's hand

The signal came and someone sprang the death trap

And sent John Morgan to another land

The last public hanging in old West Virginia a true story written in this song

On the sixteenth of December in eighteen ninety seven

John F Morgan paid the price for doing wrong


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Lyrics by Flatt & Scruggs

  A Hundred Years From Now   Another Ride With Clyde   Atlantic Coastal Line   Baby Blue Eyes   Ballad Of Jed Clampett   Barrow Gang Will Get You Little Man   Before I Met You   Big Spike Hammer   Blowin' In The Wind   Blue Ridge Cabin Home   Bound To Ride   Boy Named Sue   Branded Wherever I Go   Bringing In The Georgia Mail   Bummin' On Old Freight Train   Cabin Home On The Hill   Cabin In Caroline   Cabin On The Hill   Catch The Wind   Coal Miner's Blues   Come Back Darling   Confessing   Cora Is Gone   Cryin' Holy Unto The Lord   Cryin' My Heart Out Over You   Crying Alone   Darlin' Corey   Detroit City   Dig A Little Deeper In The Well   Dim Lights Thick Smoke   Dixie Home   Doin' My Time   Don't Get Above Your Raisin'   Don't Let Your Deal Go Down   Don't Think Twice It's All Right   Don't This Road Look Rough And Rocky   Down In The Flood   Down In The Valley   Down The Road   Drowned In The Deep Blue Sea   East Bound Train   Faded Red Ribbon   Flint Hill Special   Foggy Mountain Special   Foggy Mountain Top   Folsom Prison Blues   Four Strong Winds   Gentle On My Mind   Get In Line Brother   Girl From The North Country   Give Me Flowers While I'm Living   Give Mother My Crown   God Loves His Children   Going Across The Sea   Gone Home   Gonna Settle Down   Good Things (Outweight The Bad)   Good Times Are Past And Gone   Hard Travelin'   He Took Your Place   Head Over Heels   Hello Stranger   Homestead On The Farm   Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance   Hot Corn, Cold Corn   Houston   I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome   I Saw Mother With God Last Night   I Still Miss Someone   I Walk The Line   I Wonder Where You Are Tonight   I'd Rather Be Alone   I'll Be No Man's Wife   I'll Be On That Good Road Some Day   I'll Be Your Baby Tonight   I'll Go Stepping Too   I'll Just Pretend   I'll Never Love Another   I'll Never Shed Another Tear   I'll Stay Around   I'll Take The Blame   I'm Gonna Ride That Steamboat   I'm On My Way To Canaan's Land   I'm Traveling On And On   I'm Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darling   I've Just Seen The Rock Of Ages   If I Should Wander Back Tonight   If I Were A Carpenter   Is It Too Late Now?   It Ain't Me Babe   It Takes One To Know One   It Won't Be Long   Jackson   Jimmy Brown The Newsboy   Joy Bells Ringing In My Soul   Kansas City   Keep On The Sunny Side   Legend Of The Johnson Boys   Let Those Brown Eyes Smile At Me   Like A Rolling Stone   Little Darling Pal Of Mine   Little Girl In Tennessee   Maggie's Farm   Martha White Theme   Memphis Tennessee   Mr. Tambourine Man   Nine Pound Hammer   Ninety Nine Years Is Almost For Life   No Mother In This World   No Mother Or Dad   Ode To Billie Joe   On My Mind   On The Rock Where Moses Stood   Over The Hills To The Poor House   Philadelphia Lawyer   Picture Of Bonnie   Please Don't Wake Me   Prayer Bells Of Heaven   Preachin' Prayin' Singin'   Rainy Day Women Numbers 12 And 35   Reunion In Heaven   Rock Salt And Nails   Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms   Rose Conelly   Roust-A-Bout   Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town   Salty Dog Blues   So Happy I'll Be   Some Old Day   Somehow Tonight   Someone Took My Place With You   Southbound   Starlight On The Rails   Stone The Builders Refused   Storms Are On The Ocean   Sun's Gonna Shine In My Backdoor Someday   Take Me Back To Tulsa   Take Me In Your Lifeboat   Take This Hammer   Ten Miles From Natchez   Thinking About You   This Land Is Your Land   Til The End Of The World Rolls Round   Times They Are A Changin'   Tis Sweet To Be Remembered   Tonight Will Be Fine   Train That Carried My Baby From Town   Troublesome Waters   Universal Soldier   Wabash Cannonball   Wait For The Sunshine   Wanted Man   We'll Meet Again Sweetheart   When I Left East Virginia   When Papa Played The Dobro   When The Angels Carry Me Home   When The Saints Go Marching In   When You Are Lonely   Where Have All The Flowers Gone   Who Will Sing For Me   Why Don't You Tell Me So   Will The Roses Bloom   Will You Be Lonesome Too   Worried Man Blues   Wreck Of The Old 97   You Are My Flower   You Can Feel It In Your Soul   You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone   You're Not A Drop In The Bucket   You've Been Fooling Me Baby   Your Love Is Like A Flower

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