Sharyn McCrumb - The Ballad of Frankie Silver

The courtroom began to empty.

“What does it mean?” Mrs. Silver sat looking up at her black-clad attorney. Her pale face wore an expression of guarded hope, as if she scarcely dared to believe what she thought must be true.

“You have the gift of six months,” Wilson told her gravely. “I pray that you will use it wisely, madam, in prayer and meditation. Court will meet again in March.”

“It’s over?”

“It is called a continuance, madam.” The lawyer’s voice bristled with annoyance, no doubt because his time was being wasted to no good end by a young puppy of a judge who cared little for the concerns of the western reaches of North Carolina. David Swain’s ambitions lay in Raleigh, and no doubt he had deserted our country courthouse to further his own aims.

“What must I do?”

“You must wait, Mrs. Silver, like the rest of Burke County. Good day.” Thomas Wilson gave her a slight bow and nodded to the jailer, who had come forward with the shackles to take the prisoner back to jail.

David Newland appeared, with a smile of triumph. “This has been the best day’s work Will Butler ever did!” he announced. “He has managed to stall the case until spring, and has thus given the governor time to issue the pardon. I have no doubt that he will do it.”

I motioned for him to keep his voice down, for I saw little Mrs. Silver walking slowly toward the door and glancing back at us. I knew she was listening to Colonel Newland’s declaration: she lifted her head and took a deep breath, as if a weight had been lifted from her back.

Newland, oblivious to my warning signal, prattled on. “Or perhaps the thanks should go to young Judge Swain for this extra time in which to prevent this execution,” he was saying. “Quite providential of Swain not to turn up for this court date.” The colonel turned to Thomas Wilson. “Is it Mr. Woodfin’s doing, do you think, sir?”

The lawyer’s face was white with anger. At last he said, “I believe the word you used just now was providential, Colonel Newland, and I judge it to be the correct one. I should thank no one but Almighty God for this respite, if you are inclined to think it a blessing. My prayers on that subject will be that the prisoner not have her suffering prolonged by false hopes and a protracted wait for a death that would be more merciful if it came quickly.”

And so she was gone, locked away for another season to pass the harvest, and then the winter, in that narrow cell, and I’m afraid I gave little thought to her over the next several weeks, for we are busy enough at harvesttime. I know that the ladies of Morganton continued to visit her, though, for I have heard Elizabeth speak of it among her sisters. They have made quite a pet out of the county’s most notorious criminal, and I found myself wondering if the ladies were basking in the melodrama of the doomed woman, or whether they envied her the courage and determination she showed in disposing of an unwanted husband. The men of the county thought she had perpetrated a great wickedness, but I am not sure that the fair sex shared our thoughts on the matter. Many a man in the tavern was uneasy enough when the talk turned round to Frankie Silver, and those who professed the loudest that she should be hanged without delay were the very men who seemed the least respectful of their own wives. I wondered sometimes if brutish husbands behaved a little better that year because of the terrible example of retribution that Mrs. Silver had set before us.

Several weeks after the dismissal of court, elections were held and John Boone took his place as the newly elected sheriff. I am sure he thought that the case of Frankie Silver would be over and done with before he took office, but it lingered still, harrowing him with the dreadful possibility of an execution in his term. Other prominent citizens of the county were still trying to persuade state officials to listen to reason. True to his word, Thomas Wilson wrote a letter to the governor on behalf of his client.

Statesville 19

November 1832

My dear Sir,

I hope you will pardon my troubling you with these few lines. The importance of the subject which I wish to mention will plead my justification. It is the condition of the unfortunate lady who is now confined in our jail at Morganton: Franky Silvers. She has been induced for some little time to believe a Pardon has been granted by your Excellency. This opinion has got abroad through a misunderstanding of Col. David Newland.

It is not necessary that I should multiply in words or reasons why I think she should win a pardon. Suffice it to say that I have no hesitation in saying that the community expect her Pardon and I believe generally wish it. Mr. Joseph Erwin was present at the trial to whom I refer you. He, I know, at one time thought it a case very doubtful. I saw David Newland at Wilkesboro & read the letter which Hugh M. Stokes wrote on that subject. I fully concur in sentiment with him as to the opinion of the community. There is certainly one, but few more, who think or wish her execution. It is believed by many that her Parents was very instrumental in the perpetration of that horrid deed. If so, shurely it is a powerful reason why the executive clemency should be extended to one of her age and condition.

I know, my dear sir, that you have often been reproached for extending the Ordinary Power vested in the Executive. You have nothing to fear from this approach: humanity is certainly one of the greatest attributes.

I do hope and trust, Sir, that if it is consistent with your duty and feelings toward a miserable wretch that you will grant her a Pardon if not already done, and forward same to me at Morganton. I did request our Sheriff Mr. Boone to speak to you on the subject. I know your engagements and fear that I have already wearied your patience.

Please accept the opinion of my highest esteem and regard for your welfare.

Th. W. Wilson

Montfort Stokes, who was in his final days as North Carolina’s head of state, declined to reply.

In due course we found out why Judge Swain had not appeared to convene the fall term of Superior Court, and it proved to no one’s surprise that our judgment had been accurate: the gentleman had pressing business in grander places than our country backwater. David Lowry Swain was running for governor.

He had resigned his judgeship in order to spend the autumn months campaigning for the office among his influential friends in Raleigh, while his duties to justice in the mountain counties lay forgotten, overshadowed by his ambition. When the news became known, this turn of events was remarked upon by various community leaders in Morganton, with varying degrees of approval. The most charitable remarks I heard concerning Judge Swain’s candidacy were to the effect that perhaps it was a good thing, since Swain was a native of Asheville; perhaps, as a westerner himself, Swain could do some good for the oft-neglected mountain areas of North Carolina. Some said they would vote for him, and others were not so sure. Former sheriff Will Butler said that if Judge Swain’s attention to duty as a circuit judge was any indication of his concern for his homeland, we would do better to elect a monkey as governor, for we could do no worse. I saw a great deal of sense in the sheriff’s estimation of the situation, but I did not say so, for discretion is a lawyer’s greatest virtue, and besides, I thought there was very little chance that a man from our part of the state would win anyhow, since the political power is and always has been concentrated in the eastern part of the state.

David Swain did win, though. He was not chosen in the general election, which was held in November. At that time Andrew Jackson was reelected president, much to the consternation of a number of gentlemen in Burke County, and to Swain himself, who had bitterly opposed Jackson’s politics, but our local yeoman farmers were happy enough to hear of Old Hickory’s success, for he was a man of the people, and from these parts himself, and a few of them even vowed to make the long ride to Washington to attend the party for his inauguration in January. Then, in December, the politicians in Raleigh appointed David L. Swain to a special one-year term as governor of North Carolina, so in the end no one got to vote for him, but he became governor all the same, and in the main Will Butler was wrong about David Swain’s attitude toward the mountain counties. He was to prove a loyal friend to his home region, and he favored the advancement of the railroads into the western territories of the state, which would be a great boon to progress for the region, but he did not right all the wrongs in our portion of the state. Not by any means.