(Video by Thomas Gresham)
On Saturday, December 3, 2011, I was honored to sing the song I wrote, "The Shadow of the Murdered Man" at Barry Ward's Holiday Homecoming in the Black Forest Community Center. My husband, John Gresham, accompanied me on the mandolin.
In 1883, Mary Green left her home in Ohio to marry her college sweetheart in Salida, Colorado. Six months after they married, her husband, Ed Watkins, was hanged as a cattle rustler in Canon City. Mary, who was only twenty-three when she became a widow, never doubted her husband's innocence. In fact, she wrote a letter to the Denver Tribune addressed "To the murderers of my husband." In the letter she wrote, "The murdered man's shadow will be with you and keep you company in the lonely places."
Inspired by Mary's words, I wrote this song:
The Shadow of the Murdered Man
by
Gayle Gresham
copyright 2011
You rode onto our ranch that August day,Branded my husband a cattle thief,
Still he let you search, cuttin' through his herd.
You locked him in the Canon City jail,
Let him out to raise his bail
'Cause you had a plan to kill my man
To get him out of your way!
Chorus:
You took away my love, my dear boy
Never more to ride,
You stole away his breath, his life blood,
Hanged by your lies.
The shadow of the murdered man
will be with you in lonely places.
In Salida, Ed raise his bail,
Returned to Canon on the midnight train
But you were waiting there by the courthouse stair.
A mob who claimed the hand of God,
Tied up the sheriff while Ed ran off,
Then a shot rang out, his body found
Hanging from the First Street Bridge!
Chorus
I'm still here on this ranch,
Invoking the shadow of your crime,
Justice may be slow, but conscience swift.
His blood will be upon your hands,
Your shame will whisper reprimands,
You're the guilty one, the evil one,
Who killed an innocent man!
Chorus
Note: The second, third, and fourth lines of verse 3 are also quotes from Mary's letter.
