Vernon recorded this for Edison Labs on November 25 of 1925, thirteen years after the incident portrayed in this song occurred in a Carroll County Virginia courthouse (see
this page for the full story, put on the web by an ancestor of an eye-witness: a picture of the Allen family, and more period press
clippings, can be found here). There are several lines that sound like they were lifted from "Casey Jones" and changed slightly,
but the similarity ends there: the story is vital and the music drives it with a good fast tempo. The violin player is uncredited, but his work on this record is a highlight. The disc from which this was sampled had some groove
damage in the beginning, and a bit of wear in some of the loud parts, but it is still a good listen. (For further information about Vernon Dalhart,
"Hillbilly-Music.com" has a nice write-up about him.)
