"Old Talt Hall"

Talt Hall main page | song & audio | newspaper clippings

Some folks said Talton Hall killed 99 men, but a more reasonable estimate is eight to ten. Like most outlaws of his day, Hall had a career which was greatly exaggerated, and many crimes were laid at his feet by rumors and by tabloids such as The Police Gazette. Born in Kentucky, Hall grew up with John Wright and M. B. "Doc" Taylor, two other desperadoes from the region.

During the Civil War, Talt Hall rode for the Confederacy with General Morgan. He was tried for murder in 1866, 1875, and again in 1883--each time escaping conviction by jurors too terrified to find him guilty. Finally in July of 1891, Hall killed Police Chief Hylton of Norton, Virginia. Upon conviction he was hung inside a specially built, covered gallows in Big Stone Gap in 1892.

According to folklorist James Taylor Adams, "Old Talt Hall" was composed by Uriah N. Webb, a ten-year-old boy. At one time it reportedly was sung in the mountains of far Southwest Virginia.