Last Public Hanging In West Virginia Lyrics - Flatt And 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 dead's 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 sixteen of December in fifteen ninety seven 

John F Morgan paid the price of doing wrong