302. The Murder of Laura Foster

 


302
The Murder of Laura Foster

One of the three ballads which Mrs. Sutton describes and quotes
was, she says, "written by a man named Land, who lived near the
Fosters." This concerns itself only with the murder; it does not
identify the murderer. There afe four variant copies of it in our
collection.

The following information about Thomas Land was procured
for the present editors in the spring of 1947 by Miss Edith Walker,
formerly of Boone, from Mrs. Laura Timmons, of Boone, "who
was reared near Hudson and in Hudson [Caldwell county]. She
once taught school and is a lover of the ballads."

I remember [writes Mrs. Timmons] that Dr. Wright [of Appalachian
State Teachers College] was from Wilkes and that his father married a
Land. My dad and oldest sister knew the Lands well, as they lived on
Stony Fork in Wilkes Co. So I called Dr. Wright about an hour ago.
He has a book of verses written by his uncle Thomas Land, evidently
the one you are interested in. We didn't find the Laura Foster ballad
in this book, but may later.

This Thomas Land came to Wilkes Co. from Tennessee. Was a
captain in the Confederate Army, was wounded at Gettysburg — fit under
Jackson. Served on the Board of Education in Wilkes Co. Think I've
heard my father (a minister) speak often of him. When I was a child
I went with my father to his brother's home. His name was Col. Dave
Land. I don't remember but I've probably been to Tom's home, too. . . .

In a letter of later date (spring of 1947), Mrs. Timmons added:

Mr. R. F. Greene [of Boone or the vicinity] . . . knows all about
[the Foster murder] and says some of the older people in that settle-
ment are still living.

A Nelson [Melton— Ann Melton?] woman helped with the murder.
Some say she said the body was too heavy to carry, so they cut her in
two ; each carried half in a sack and buried her. The Nelson woman was
sent to prison, and went blind when she was old. Tom Duly was hanged
in Wilkesboro.

I think I've been close to the scene of the crime. Lawsee, we talked
so much about it and the folks in that section whom Mr. Greene and I
both know. Seems as though I may dream that very murder tonight !
I'm nearly scairt.

They say Tom Dula (I'm sure he was some kin to me) wiped his
mouth with a handkerchief, then turning said, "Now, Laura, I'll wipe
your mouth," and as he said so he stuffed it into her mouth and stabbed
her with the knife. Doesn't that sound like the ancient tales? The sack
reminds of Rigoletto's daughter (don't know how to spell it).

 

708 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

 

No title, but other copies are entitled 'The Murder of Laura Foster.'
From Mrs. Sutton, who in a note on 'The Two Sisters' wrote : "Last
week an old man, seventy-seven, came to my office and told me he had
read my story about Tom Dula's songs. 'I went to Statesville to see
him hung,' he said, 'and I can get all of Mr. Land's song for you. I'll
get my grand-daughter to write you out the ballit as soon as she comes
to see me.' "

Whether the following text is the result of the old man's prom-
ise, or whether it is from some other source, Mrs. Sutton does not
explain. Accompanying this copy, however, was a long note (the
first of two written on the Dula songs), from which the following
has been extracted:

"I can remember one of the horror tales of my childhood was how
the devil came after Ann Melton when she died. An old lady told me
that she saw her, and that blue flames crackled round her bed and that
she screamed in agony to her friends, 'Take him away, the big black
man in the corner, the one with the pitchfork !'

"If tradition is to be believed, the devil was entitled to all the actors
in this grim 'eternal triangle,' Laura Foster and Ann Melton were both
in love with Tom Dula. He is represented as having been a handsome,
fascinating ne'er-do-well whose relations with women were bad. He
promised to marry Laura at 'sun-up' one morning. She slipped away
from her home to meet him but was murdered. Six weeks later her
mutilated body was found by Col. Jim Horton. She was in a shallow
grave so small that her limbs had been broken to crowd her body in.
My grandfather says she was very beautiful but most vicious.

"Tradition has built up around her the sort of legend that always
grows up around a beautiful erring woman. In each of the three songs
she is represented as being the victim of jealous rage. Ann Melton
admitted once that she had stabbed Laura, and gave as her excuse that
Laura had given to Tom Dula an evil disease which he, in turn, gave
to Ann.

"Whatever the facts are, this is the most popular folk song in the
Brushies. It is sung to banjo accompaniments, to fiddle 'obbligatos' and
in the usual 'song-ballet' style. ^ The glen where the body was found
and a ghostly ball of blue white fire rises from there on spring nights
[sic]. The ghost of Laura hunting for her false lover.

"In its stark horror the story might be a Greek tragedy. Ann's
revenge upon Laura is Medean in its concept and execution. Tom Dula
never implicated Ann. He went to his execution as he had lived, wicked,
picturesque, daring and cloaking his deeds in an impenetrable veil of
silence. One old lady told me, 'He never told on Ann 'cause he knowed
that Ann killed Laura jes' 'cayse he told her a lie on Laura.' "

I A tragedy I now relate.

'Tis of poor Laura Foster's fate —
How by a fickle lover she
Was hurried to eternity.

* Mrs. Sutton's remark about the popularity of the "song" and its
musical accompaniments would seem to refer, not to the Thomas Land
ballad, which she was preparing to quote, but rather to the other two
songs, which she knew about at the time but had not traced out.

 

NORTH CAROLINA BALLADS 709

2 On Thursday morn at early dawn,
To meet her doom she hurried on,
When soon she thought a bride to be,
Which filled her heart with ecstasy.

3 Her youthful heart no sorrow knew ;
She fancied all mankind was true,
And thus she gaily passed along
Humming at times a favorite song.

4 As eve declined toward the West,
She met her groom and his vile guest.
In forest wild the three retreat ;

She looked for person there to meet.

5 Soon night came on, with darkness drear.
But while poor Laura felt no fear,

She tho't her lover kind and true,
Believed that he'd protect her too.

6 Confidingly upon his breast

She leaned her head to take some rest.
But soon poor Laura felt a smart,
A deadly dagger pierced her heart.

7 No shrieks were heard by neighbors 'round.
Who were in bed and sleeping sound.
None heard those shrieks so loud and shrill
Save those who did poor Laura kill.

8 This murder done, they her conceal
And vowed they'd never it reveal.
To dig the grave they now proceed.
But in the dark they made no speed.

9 The dawn appeared, the grave not done.
Back to their hiding place they run.
And they with silence wait the night.
To put poor Laura out of sight.

10 The grave was short and narrow too,
But in it they poor Laura threw.
They covered her with leaves and clay,
Then hastened home ere break of day.

1 1 Since Laura left at break of day,

Two nights and days have passed away.
The parents now in sorrow wild
Set out to search for their lost child.

 

710 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

12 In copse and glens, in woods and plains
They search for her but search in vain ;
With aching heart and plaintive mourns
They call for her in mournful tones.

13 With sad forebodings of her fate
To friends her absence they relate.
With many friends all anxious too
Again their search they do renew.

14 They search for her in swamps and bogs,
In creeks and caves and hollow logs,

In copse and glens and brambles too,
But still no trace of her they view.

15 At length upon a ridge they found
Some blood all mingled with the ground.
The sight to all seems very clear

That Laura had been murdered there.

16 Long for her grave they search in vain.
At length they meet to search again.
Where stately pines and ivys wave

'Twas there they found poor Laura's grave.

17 This grave was found, as we have seen,
'Mid stately pines and ivys green.

The coroner and jury too
Assembled, this sad sight to view.

18 They took away the leaves and clay
Which on her lifeless body lay,
Then from the grave the body take
And close examination make.

19 Then soon their bloody wounds they spied,
'Twas where a dagger pierced her side.
The inquest held, this lifeless maid

Was there into her coffin laid.

20 The jury made the verdict plain :
'Twas that poor Laura had been slain ;
Some ruthless friend had struck the blow
That laid poor Laura Foster low.

21 Then in the church yard her they lay,
No more to rise 'til Judgement day;
Then robed in white we trust she'll rise
To meet her Savior in the skies.

— Thomas Land

 

NORTH CAROLINA BALLADS 7^1

 

'The Murder of Laura Foster.' With music as sung by Mrs. A. I.
Green; without date or address. Twenty-one stanzas, with only slight
verbal variations from Mrs. Sutton's copy of the Land ballad.

 

'The Murder of Laura Foster.' From Laura Pennell and Ella Harden,
Ferguson, Wilkes county ; undated. Twenty-one stanzas, with only
slight verbal variations from Mrs. Sutton's copy of the Land ballad.

 

'Tragedy of the Death of Laura Foster.' Anonymous; no address, no
date. Twenty-one stanzas, with only slight verbal variations from Mrs.
Sutton's copy. Stanza 4, line 3 (which in Mrs. Sutton's copy reads,
"She met her groom and his vile guest"), reads "The murderer and his
vile guest," and to it is attached a footnote : " — a female accomplice —
were both arrested, and after remaining in prison for a great while, the
murderer was convicted and hung, and his female accomplice set at
liberty."

---------------------------
 

 


302

The Murder of Laura Foster

 

'The Murder of Laura Foster.' Sung by Mrs. Myra Barnett Miller. Recorded
probably at Lenoir, Caldwell county, in 1939, 1940, or 1941. There is con-
siderable melodic similarity between this tune and the version of 'Francis Silver's
Confession,' 301 B, by the same singer. With reference to the statement about
"a long address to several thousand persons" made by Thomas C. Dula, (II 705)
cf. The Waning of the Middle Ages by J. Huizinga (London, 1927), p. 3.

4
Scale: Hexatonic (6), plagal. Tonal Center: e. Structure: abcai (2,2,2,2).

 

A(I)

'The Murder of Laura Foster.' Sung by H. McNeill. Recorded as ms score
at Lenoir, Caldwell county, between 1921 and 1925.

 

Scale: Heptachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: d. Structure: abb^a (2,2,2,2).

 


'The Murder of Laura Foster.' Sung by Mrs. A. I. Green. Recorded as ms

score at Heaton, Avery county, in 192 1.

 

Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: abca^ (2,2,2,2). Cir-
cular tune (V).