John Edward Fletcher PhD - The True Story of Tom Dooley: From Western North Carolina Mystery to Folk Legend

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2013 by John Edward Fletcher, PhD

All rights reserved

First published 2013

e-book edition 2013

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN 978.1.62584.499.6

Library of Congress CIP data applied for.

print edition ISBN 978.1.62619.043.6

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

The story of Tom Dooley has been, over the years, a blend of fact and fiction. It is a story that holds a fascination to all who hear it, and so often more facts and fiction have been added. In his book, Dr. Fletcher digs deeper into his family history to find the truth that has been imbedded in this legend that has found worldwide attention. Being so closely related to the Foster and Melton families, Dr. Fletcher has the advantage of finding the true facts. Even today, the story of Tom Dula, Ann Melton and Laura Foster will continue to stir the imaginations of writers who hope to solve the mystery of this oft-told story.

EDITH MARIE FERGUSON CARTER

Curator and Owner/Operator

Whippoorwill Academy and Village and Tom Dula Museum

Ferguson, North Carolina

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the immortal words of Albert Einstein, which I paraphrase here, If I have seen more than others who have written on this matter, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants. This story could not have been written without the aid and cooperation of numerous other individuals with an interest in this Wilkes County, North Carolina legend. I have attempted to cite the important references about which I am aware concerning this story. In particular, I am indebted to my many North Carolina cousins for their contributions; to Tony W. Foster for the genealogy of the Foster families; to Wayne Monroe for his research on the Dula and Triplett families; to Edith F. Carter of the Whippoorwill Academy and Tom Dooley Museum; to Dr. John Hawkins of Caldwell County for cooperating on much of the research and exchanges on the Allison, Foster, Dula and Triplett interconnections; to my brother Robert W. Fletcher, who did a lot of the local legwork on locations, photographs and running down our family connections to the story; to James Terry Melton for his access to the Melton Family Histories; and to many other unnamed individuals who responded to my requests for documented information.

Essential resources were the Internet sites of Faye Moran, Coming Home to History, Wilkes County, the Internet Resources of Ancestry, Family Search of the Latter-Day Saints Church; and, of course, the landmark books of the now deceased John Foster West. In particular, the resources, photos and illustrations from the Tom Dula Museum in the Whippoorwill Village were invaluable in writing this history. Other specific resources are cited where their data are used and discussed.

Lastly, I wish to thank Tony Foster, Tom Foster, Robert Fletcher and Terry Melton for their contributions and cooperation in completing and installing the final marker for the Eternal Triangle, which now marks the graves of the principals in The True Story of Tom Dooley. In particular, Robert Bob Fletcher and James Terry Melton are acknowledged and thanked for their extensive work in the restoration of the Old Melton Cemetery, where Ann Melton is buried.

Any misquotes, mistakes or otherwise incorrect information herein are the responsibility of the author.

In the preparation of this manuscript, I wish to thank Leah Davis for graphic arts work and for her dedication to detail in its final presentation and my wife, Carol Fletcher, for helping read and correct the many drafts of the manuscript.

INTRODUCTION

Wilkes County, North Carolina. The year is 1865.

This is a factual retelling of the nations first nationally publicized crime of passion and the true story behind the ballad that was the number one song by the Kingston Trio in 1958 and is still known and sung today. The True Story of Tom Dooley also details the various interconnected families whom the legend affected. It is told, not as the various legends and songs tell it, but as recounted in articles from contemporary newspapers, from the transcripts of the trial documents that remain and from other public records. More than one hundred witnesses gave testimony before the grand jury, and eighty-three were called for Tom Dulas first trial. Of those who testified during the two trials against Tom Dooley, written records of only about twenty of those witnesses remain today. Besides those, the summaries of the trial testimony that were made by two different judges and the statements written by the prosecution and defense attorneys make up the remaining official records.

This history may not be the whole storyand possibly not the entire true story thanks to the passage of time. Some of the testimony is dubious at best, if not complete lies, and some of the testimony is contradictory, therefore it cannot all be true. The first part of this history gives the background and details up to the time that Laura Foster disappeared, and then it follows with a description of the few months after she went missing, the story of how her body was found and, finally, the trials and situations affecting the final outcomes.

The circumstantial evidence will be discussed, and the various events will be placed in a proper perspective of the true story. It is hoped that the facts are detailed, the myths debunked and the mistakes present in other accounts corrected here.

This is not a novel, and there is no fiction written here. Where the facts are not established or are inconclusive, alternative scenarios are presented to explain what might have happened. In that sense, this is truly The True Story of Tom Dooley.

Chapter 1

THE MURDER OF LAURA FOSTER

HISTORY AND THE LEGEND

There have been many stories, books, articles and even a movie and a play written about the Wilkes County murder allegedly committed by Thomas Caleb Dula. After all that publicity, do we really know who Tom Dooley, the man, was and how he came to be involved in this affair? The stories told and retold in the Hill Country and in Happy Valley of the Yadkin River are filled with myths, distortions and superstitions that often creep into local folklore and the verbal retelling of local events.

One notable example is the story often repeated by the blind balladeer and popular ballad singer Doc Watson, whose great-grandmother (Betty Triplett Watson) supposedly attended to Mrs. Ann Melton on her deathbed. Doc states in one of his recordings that there were really two men involved: a man named Grayson and Tom Dula. Grayson supposedly was in love with Laura Foster and helped track down Tom Dula after she was murdered. The truth is that Lieutenant Colonel James William Monroe Grayson never met Laura Foster but did employ the fugitive Tom Dula under the false name of Tom Hall, as he called himself, at his plantation in Trade, Tennessee. Colonel Grayson helped arrest Tom Dula when the posse from Wilkes tracked the fugitive to his farm.