He worked for four days and left early the next morning on foot, wearing the boots. Late that afternoon two deputies from Wilkes County, N.C. appeared at Major Grayson's farm. They told the Major that Tom Hall was actually Thomas Dula (Tom Dooley) a fugitive wanted for a sordid murder on the east side of the Blue Ridge.

Major Grayson invited them to spend the night and next morning, July 11, 1886, agreed to help find Dula, buckled on the seven shot rimfire Deemore .32 caliber revolver he had carried through the Civil War and led the deputies in the direction Dula had fled. They overtook the former Confederate at Pandora, nine miles west of Mountain City, soaking his feet in Doe Creek, seeking relief from the blisters the new boots had made. Grayson dismounted, picked up a rock and told Dula he was under arrest. No doubt the pistol Grayson was carrying influenced Dula. Frank Grayson, great-grandson of James W.M. Grayson, now owns the gun.

Grayson put Dula on his horse behind him and returned to his home near Trade where they spent the night. W.F. Grayson (father of J. Luke Grayson) was a young boy at the time and he guarded Dula during the night. The next morning Grayson put Dula on the horse behind him. He tied his hands and tied his feet underneath the belly of the horse and headed to Wilkes County to deliver the prisoner to jail. He was hanged at Statesville, NC on May 1, 1868, for the knife slaying and secret burial of Laura Foster. If it hadn't been for Grayson, Tom Dula might have been in Tennessee as the old ballad states. But it was not to be. His few days in Tennessee only made some history.

Grayson did not return to Wilkes County to testify against Dula in the trial of 1866, or the fall term of 1867. During the trial of 1868 Grayson was in Nashville as a member of the State Legislature. The summons on record to Grayson did serve a good purpose a few years later. It provided the researchers of history and folk music the clue to the identity of Grayson when the ballad of "Tom Dooley" became popular. The interest in the identity of Grayson and his connection with Tom Dula was only natural since his name was the only name other than Tom's in the ballad.

Family tradition: Col J.W.M. Grayson finally had to use his pistol to keep the group from NC from lynching Dula on the spot when he was found and captured in Tennessee. Grayson and Dula were both veterans of the horrible Civil War, although on different sides, and Grayson was determined that he wouldn't hang in Tennessee and was determined to return Dula to North Carolina personally to see that he got a fair trial by jury. Perhaps Grayson felt that there had been too many illegal hangings during the Civil War."

The first recording of the Tom Dooley ballad was cut by Major Grayson's nephew, Gilliam Banmon (G.B.) Grayson from Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee. G.B. Grayson and Henry Whittier traveled to Memphis and recorded the song for Victor Records on 1 October 1929.

Graphics by