By RICK WAGNER
• “Kinnie Wagner”
Sung by Al (Altoona) Craver, alias of Vernon Dalhart, created by Andrew Jenkins and recorded Feb. 16, 1926.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbdo_2sXeaM
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/element/2000031402/W141638-Kinnie_Wagner
Lyrics:
There was a man in Tennessee
Kinnie Wagner was his title
He received into lousy enterprise
And murderer he became
While down in Mississippi
The issues it commenced
For Kinnie bought a pistol there
And shot him down a person.
They set lousy Kinnie in the jail
It was on a person Xmas Working day
There was no one to go his bail
But he produced his getaway
He went to see his sister
Way up in Tennessee
And there they caught weak Kinnie
And took his liberty
They drove him to the river front
On one particular mild April working day
And there weak Kinnie drew his gun
Much too daring did he engage in
They took bad Kinnie back again to jail
The judge to him did say
“Your sentence shall be demise, my boy”
But Kinnie got away.
• “Kinnie Wagner’s Surrender”
The tune was a observe-up to “Kinnie Wagner,” sung by Dalhart, written by Jenkins, recorded Sept. 13, 1926 and issued that year and in 1927. One more variation was listed as by Craver. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9tPkUtrRA0
The very same tune was sung by Ernest Stoneman and recorded in 1927 and issued in that yr and 1928. Aliases for Stoneman utilised on some releases were Uncle Jim Seany and Uncle Ben Hawkins.
https://www.youtube.com/enjoy?v=J5cYQr9FiSE
Lyrics:
I’m confident you’ve heard my story
From the Kinnie Wagner track,
How down in Mississippi
I took the highway that’s erroneous.
It was down in Mississippi
Where by I murdered my initial guy,
When the sheriff there at Leachville
For justice took his stand.
Then I went from Mississippi
To the point out of Tennessee,
Two guys went down prior to me
As I took my liberty.
I wandered to the place,
I in no way could obtain relaxation,
’Til I went to Texarkana
Absent out in the west.
All over again I commenced ingesting,
And all over again I pulled my gun,
And inside a solitary second
The fatal function was accomplished.
The sheriff was a woman,
But she received the fall on me
I quit the recreation and surrendered,
Gave up my liberty.
I’m now in Mississippi,
And I quickly shall know my destiny
I’m waiting for my demo,
But I do not dread my fate.
For however the solar is shining,
The sky is blue and reasonable
But my coronary heart is not repining
For I do not concern the chair.
I have had my worldly pleasures,
I’ve confronted a a lot of a person,
But it was down in Texarkana
The place a lady termed my hand.
Younger males, younger guys, acquire warning,
Oh take my past assistance:
If you commence the recreation in lifestyle improper
You will have to undoubtedly pay back the cost.
• “The Ballad of Kinnie Wagner”
This tune was the past in a trilogy of kinds sung by Dalhart. It also was referred to as “The Fate of Kinnie Wagner” sung by Craver (Dalhart) and Carson Robison. The Dalhart version was recorded Nov. 8, 1926.
Lyrics:
It was down in Mississippi,
(or Way down in Mississippi)
Not several a long time back,
A youthful guy begun out in daily life,
A lifetime of sin and woe.
Now Kinnie Wagner was his name,
A bandit daring and free of charge
He shot down Sheriff McIntosh
And fled to Tennessee.
(or Then he went to Tennessee)
He was captured up in Tennessee
And place into the jail
He had no a person to help him out,
No one particular to go his bail.
But Kinnie broke the jail 1 evening
And he designed his getaway
He assumed that he could go by existence
And in no way have to fork out.
It was out in Texarkana
Exactly where Kinnie fulfilled his fate
A female sheriff known as his hand
And he pulled his gun too late.
He was taken again for demo
Appropriate the place the deed was performed,
The choose to Kinnie turned and reported,
“No extra you’ll pull your gun.”
For Kinnie Wagner broke the law
And he threw his daily life away,
And proper behind the jail bars
He’ll sit until judgment day.
So people acquire good warning
And heed this variety guidance,
Really don’t at any time break the laws of God,
You are going to generally have to pay.
Be aware that these tracks stray from the info and get of occasions in Wagner’s daily life from time to time. For occasion, he turned himself in to the female sheriff in Arkansas, and he turned himself in immediately after the Tennessee shootings. Also, Wagner very likely could not have acquired bail on a murder demand and the Mississippi killing was Xmas Eve just after a November escape. In addition, it ought to be Leakesville instead of Leachville, although some variations list it as Leakesville. To additional confuse issues, the unique Mississippi rates were from routines in George County, Mississippi, close to Lucedale.
Altoona or Al Carver was a pseudonym for Marion Attempt Slaughter, but he was best regarded by the phase identify Vernon Dalhart. In “Kennie Wagner’s Surrender,” listen to the track closely to listen to Dalhart pronounce Mississippi in a drawn-out way. https://countrymusichalloffame.org/artist/vernon-dalhart/
Andrew Jenkins was a preacher who went blind in 1938. He wrote additional than 800 tracks and sang with his family. Several ended up about up to date occasions and typically experienced a ethical of miniature sermon as the final verse. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/content/arts-lifestyle/andrew-jenkins-1885-1957
An FBI file gives Carson Robinson, an affiliate of Dalhart, credit history for creating and singing 1 music. Robinson and Dalhart were being musical associates for a although but later on parted methods.
Ernest Stoneman https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/21507 served Ralph Peer . https://birthplaceofcountrymusic.org/about/information/ralph-peer-display screen-at-the-museum-goes-beyond-the-bristol-sessions/ do the historic 1928 Bristol Classes in Bristol, Tennessee, called the “Big Bang” of place music. Uncle Jim Seany and Uncle Ben Hawkins ended up pseudonyms for Stoneman.
Between all those learned in all those classes was The Carter Loved ones, from Maces Springs or Hiltons, Virginia, in Scott County. The Carter descendants continue to reside not way too considerably from the place Wagner grew up where he turned himself in for the Kingsport killings in 1925 where by he was recaptured immediately after nearly 3 several years out of a Mississippi jail by the FBI in 1943 and where he was buried in 1958. On the other hand, The Carter Loved ones under no circumstances produced a recording about Kinnie Wagner.
Resources: FBI memos from the 1940s, on the net audio archives, folkorist.org, murderpedia, thepastwhispers.com, fresnostate.edu and the inbound links to the track recordings.
Attempt the Kingsport Times Information application these days. Obtain in this article from Google Play and the App Shop.
