The story goes that John Hardy was a coal miner in West Virginia, and he killed another miner after getting into a fight during a crap game. Harry Smith said the amount of money at stake was 25 cents (but that was before inflation).

Here's the text of the order for execution:

"State of West Virginia vs. John Hardy. Felony. This day came again the State by her attorney and the prisoner who stands convicted of murder in the first degree.... The prisoner saying nothing why such sentence should be passed.... It is therefore considered by the court that the prisoner, John Hardy, is guilty... and that the said John Hardy be hanged by the neck until dead... on Friday the 19th day of January 1894."

Lomax says this about his final days and the writing of the song:

"While awaiting execution in jail, he is said to have composed this ballad, which he later sang on the scaffold. He also confessed his sins to a minister, became very religious, and advised all young men, as he stood beneath the gallows, to shun liquor, gambling and bad company. The order for his execution shows that he was hanged near the courthouse in McDowell County, January 19, 1894. His ballad appears to have been based upon certain formulae stanzas from the Anglo-Saxon ballad stock...."

I remember the Carter Family singing "John Hardy was a desperate little man," but Lomax printed it as "John Hardy was a brave little man..." (probably that's the way Hardy wrote it)

John Hardy was a brave little man,
He carried two guns ev'ry day.
Killed him a man in the West Virginia land,
Oughta seen poor Johnny gettin' away, Lord, Lord,
Oughta seen poor Johnny gettin' away.

John Hardy was standin' at the barroom door,
He didn't have a hand in the game, 

Up stepped his woman and threw down fifty cents, 

Says, "Deal my man in the game, Lord, Lord...."

John Hardy lost that fifty cents, 

It was all he had in the game, 

He drew the forty-four that he carried by his side

Blowed out that poor Negro's brains, Lord, Lord....

John Hardy had ten miles to go, 

And half of that he run, 

He run till he come to the broad river bank, 

He fell to his breast and he swum, Lord, Lord....

He swum till he came to his mother's house, 

"My boy, what have you done?"

"I've killed a man in the West Virginia Land, 

And I know that I have to be hung, Lord, Lord...."

He asked his mother for a fifty-cent piece, 

"My son, I have no change."

"Then hand me down my old forty-four

And I'll blow out my agurvatin' [sic] brains, Lord, Lord...."

John Hardy was lyin' on the broad river bank, 

As drunk as a man could be; 

Up stepped the police and took him by the hand, 

Sayin' "Johnny, come and go with me, Lord, Lord...."

John Hardy had a pretty little girl, 

The dress she wore was blue. 

She come a-skippin' through the old jail hall
Sayin',
"Poppy, I'll be true to you, Lord, Lord...."

John Hardy had another little girl, 

The dress that she wore was red, 

She came a-skippin' through the old jail hall
Sayin'
"Poppy, I'd rather be dead, Lord, Lord...."


They took John Hardy to the hangin' ground, 

They hung him there to die. 

The very last words that poor boy said, 

"My forty gun never told a lie, Lord, Lord...."

Here's Roscoe Holcomb:

Nice one, pinz! I reckon there's nearly as many variations as there are performances. Here's Leadbelly, without his customary 12-string:

http://www.we7.com/track/John-Hardy?trackId=462956&m=0