This week in 1868
May 7th, 2013 by admin
“Gentlemen, do you see this hand? Does it tremble? I never hurt a hair of that girl’s head.”
— Tom Dula, aka Thomas C. Dula, convicted of murder, hanging, North Carolina.
Executed May 1, 1868
The name Tom Dula was provincially pronounced “Tom Dooley,” and his case was the basis for the murder ballad of the same name, made famous by folksingers—particularly the Kingston Trio in 1958. Few facts from the case, however, are reflected in the song lyrics and its famous bridge, “Hang down your head Tom Dooley . . .”
In May 1866, Dula and accused accomplice Ann Melton were arrested for the murder of Laura Foster in a sordid love-triangle scenario.
Melton was exonerated a few months after Dula’s execution.
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