Thomas C. Dula (June 23‚ 1844 – May 1, 1868)[1][2] was a former Confederate soldier who was convicted of murdering Laura Foster. National publicity from newspapers such as The New York Times turned Dula's story into a folk legend. Although Laura was murdered in Wilkes County, North Carolina, Dula was tried, convicted, and hanged in Statesville. Considerable controversy surrounded the case. In subsequent years, a folk song was written (entitled "Tom Dooley", based on the pronunciation in the local dialect), and many oral traditions were passed down, regarding the sensational occurrences surrounding Laura Foster's murder and Dula's subsequent execution.[1][3] The Kingston Trio recorded a hit version of the murder ballad in 1958.[4]
The Trio had taken the song, without acknowledgement, from the singing of singer and folklorist Frank Warner, who had learned it from Frank Proffitt, a preserver of traditional culture, during one of the many singing and song-sharing sessions he and his folklorist spouse Ann had enjoyed at the Proffitt and Hicks homes in North Carolina. Frank Proffitt had learned the song, among many others, from his aunt Nancy Prather, whose parents had known Tom, Laura Foster, and Ann Foster. A court case, brought by Frank Warner on Frank Proffitt's behalf, settled the matter of "ownership" of the song in the latter's favor, and he received royalties from the Trio's and other performances of the song.[5]
^ abcWest, John Foster (April 2002). The Ballad of Tom Dula: The Documented Story Behind the Murder of Laura Foster. Parkway Publishers. ISBN 1-887905-55-3.
^ ab"Tom Dula". Wilkes County Chamber of Commerce. Archived from the original on June 8, 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
^West, John Foster (May 1993). Lift up Your Head, Tom Dooley: The True Story of the Appalachian Murder That Inspired One of America's Most Popular Ballads. Asheboro, North Carolina: Down Home Press. ISBN 1-878086-20-0.
^The Kingston Trio (album) at AllMusic
^"Traditional American Folk Songs from the Anne and Frank Warner Collection"
Thomas C. Dula (June 23‚ 1844 – May 1, 1868) was a former Confederate soldier who was convicted of murdering Laura Foster. National publicity from newspapers...
on the 90-year-old folk song "Tom Dooley", which had been inspired by the real-life case of convicted murderer TomDula. The ballad, as sung by The Kingston...
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Tom or Thomas Dooley may refer to: TomDula (1845–1868), American figure of folk legend hanged in North Carolina for murder "Tom Dooley" (song), American...
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in Albanian. She is occasionally referred to affectionately by fans as "Dula Peep", which originated as a mispronunciation by American talk show host...
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episode of the TV series Sheena, she guest-starred as the villain Caroline Dula. Tallman appeared in the 2002 psychological horror short, Jennifer Is Dead...
(Pardue) Proffitt, who had known both Dula (locally pronounced "Dooley") and Laura Foster. The Kingston Trio learned "Tom Dooley" from a recording by Warner...
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