In this here dark and bloody ground They were true types indeed, Of many demons dead and dam'd Who fostered that same greed. A hellish greed of lust to blast The virtuous and fair, To gratify that vain desire No human life would spare. There Emma Thomas lay in gore, A frightful sight to view; Poor Fanny Gibbons in a crisp, And Bob, her brother, too. Bob was a poor lame crippled boy, Beloved by everyone; His mother's hope, his sister's joy, A kind, obedient son. At that dread sight the mother's grief No mortal tongue can tell. A broken heart, an addled brain, When all should have been well. Both her dear children lying there, Who once so merry laughed. There stiff and stark in death they lay, Cut down by Ellis Craft. That dreadful demon, imp of hell, Consider well his crime; Although he was a preacher's son, Has blackened the foot of time. --Peyton Buckner Byrne This ballad was composed by Peyton Buckner Byrne of Greenup, Greenup County, Kentucky. He is in error in writing the name of Emma Thomas; the murdered girl's name was Emma Carico. The tragedy occurred in the early '80's in the mill town of Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky, which adjoins Greenup County. The town of Greenup was formerly called Hangtown because of the many hangings which occurred there in the days of the Civil War. Peyton Buckner Byrne was a schoolteacher in that County and one of his scholars, Miss Tennessee Smith, supplied this copy of the old schoolteacher's ballad. Ellis Craft is buried on Bear Creek in Boyd County, not far from Ashland where he committed the crime. THE MORAL OF THE BALLAD There's a sad moral to this tale. Now pass the word around; Pull off your shoes now and walk light; Ashland is holy ground. Bill Neal he came from Virginia, A grand and noble State, But his associates were bad And he has shared their fate. Bill Neal he saw Miss Emma Thomas, So beautiful and fair That all his hellish greed of lust Seemed to be centered there. Bill Neal he was a married man, Had children and a wife; And ofttimes bragged what he would do, If it should cost his life. Bill Neal done what he said he would, And yet a greater sin; Then with a great big huge crowbar Broke Emma's skullbones in.