The Legend of Tom Dooley - He was born Tom Dula in Yadkin Valley, Wilkes County NC in 1845, he was a banjo player and a "ladies man" who while in his teens began a relationship with the wife of a local cobbler, before enlisting in the Confederate 42nd Regiment of the North Carolina Infantry, where after he participated in many battles in the Civil War.
Tom Dooley Chords by Doc Watson .
North Carolina Ghosts - The Legend of Tom Dooley.
After the war he returned to the hills and resumed his relationship with the cobbler's wife, and with her consent began another affair with her cousin a young woman who had moved into her house as a servant, who was joined by another cousin some time later whence Dula began romancing her as well, unfortunately she was infected with syphilis which she passed onto him who passed it onto the other two girls .. when symptoms appeared Dula allegedly vowed revenge.
18yo Laura Foster disappeared on May 25, 1866 her body was located in a shallow grave some short time later, suspicion immediately fell on Dula and he lit out for Tennessee and began working on the farm of a Colonel James Grayson, after finding out they were onto him he left Grayson's farm and was subsequently taken into custody in Pandora, Tennessee, and returned to Wilkes County to stand trial with the co-accused cobbler's wife.
When the press learned the complicated details of Dula's sex life, the newspapers went crazy and the trial became a national sensation. Tom Dula was found guilty of murder and hanged May 1, 1868 in Statesville, North Carolina, he went into the ground in Happy Valley Cemetery by the side of the old North Wilkesboro Road near Elksville, North Carolina .. he maintained his innocence to the end, while the popular opinion was that the cobbler's wife who was found not guilty had actually committed the killing .. some say he wrote the words to the song. Edit.
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