Another tidbit:

When Mose Houston given a sentence of a lifetime of hard labor in the state penitentiary, he stood up and thanked the judge. He meant it, obviously - the alternative was a death penalty. Even so, the newspapers though it unusual to thank the judge for a life sentence, and they made "THANKED THE JUDGE" the headline of their report.

I am aware of only one version of the ballad that mentions this, and it is a most unusual one that has almost nothing in common with other versions. It appears in an unusual publication, too, a 1970s songbook called The Best Bluegrass Songbook - Ever! by Arthur Bayas and Lipton Nemser. If it weren't for the fact that the last verse is about thanking the judge, a historical fact that is missing in other versions, I would have consigned this version to the trash, thinking that the compilers had written it.

Does anyone have a clue where the compilers might have gotten their version? Anybody ever heard of Arthur Bayas or Lipton Nemser? (This sound to me like they could be phony names.)