In the beautifulhills, in the mids of Roan county
There's where I have roamed for many long years
There's where my heart's been tending most ever
There's where the first step in misfortune I made
I was about thirty years when I courted and married
Amanda Gilbreth was then called my wife
Her brothers stabbed me for some unknown reason
Just three weeks later I'd taken one life
For twenty-five years this whole world I rambled
I went to old England to France, and to Spain
Then I thought of my home way back in Roane county
I boarded a steamer and came back again
I was captured and tried in village of Kingstone
Not a man in that county would speak one kind word
When the jury came in with the verdict that morning
A life time in prison was all that I heard
When the train pulled out about eleven-thirty
The chains they did rattle, and the handcuffs were tight
And when Denny Gleason took hold of the throttle
The engine one-thirty was soon out of sight
Some went in mines in the hills of big brushy
Some went to their graves I'm sorry to say
But I came to thishere stationed at Nashville
To labor and worry the rest of my days
In the scorching hot sands of the foundry I'm toiling
Yes toiling and worrying my life all away
They'll measure my grave on the banks of old Cumberland
Just as soon as I've finished the rest of my days