In the beautiful hills,
in the midst of Rome county,
That's where I have lived for
many long years,
That's where my heart has
tended most ever,
That's where the first step
of misfortune I made,
For nearly five years I courted
and married
Amanda Gilbraith was
then called my wife
Her three brothers stabbed me
for some unknown reason
Just three months later,
I'd taken Tom's life
For thirty -five years,
this whole world I rambled
I traveled all England,
to France and to Spain
And I thought of my home,
way back in Rome County
And I boarded a steamer
and I came back again
I was captured and tried
in the village of Old Kingston
Not a man in the county
would speak one fine word
When the jury came in
with a verdict next morning
My lifetime in prison
was the word that I heard
When the train left the shed,
was about el even -thirty
The chains they rattled,
an d the handcuffs were tight
When young Diddy Gleeson
Takin' hold of the throttle
Oh, hundred and thirty
was soon out of sight
Men went to the mine
In the fields of Big Brushy
Some went to that grave, I'm sorry to say
But I'm going to the pen
Station there in Old Nashville
Just to labor and worry
The rest of my day
In the scorching hot sun
On the foundry I'm toilin'
Yes, toilin' and worryin'
My life all the way
They'll measure my grave
on the bank of old Tumala
Just as soon as I've finished
the rest of my days
See, Pollard was great,
but Bora was better
That's good and that's better all over,
you see
Boys, when you write home
from the prison in Nashville
Place a verse of this song
in your letter for me
No matter what happens
to me in Rome County
No matter how long my sentence may be
I love my old home,
way back in Rose County,
for it's a way up in the East Tennessee.