Mountain ballad, about 90 stanzas, sung during World War 1 and later wars by soldiers from eastern Kentucky. Early version, as sung in Virginia, printed in 1918.

Joe Clark, born 1839, lived here; a shiftless and rough mountaineer of that day. His enemies were legion; he was murdered in 1885.

In the moonshining days of 1870's, he ran government - supervised still.