Original subtitles

I was born Roxanna Stanton in Tarboro, North Carolina,

when tobacco was king.

During market time,

the warehouses were full of cured, bright-leafed tobacco,

and any little breeze would fan that sweet, strong smell,

and seal it over the center of town like a jar lid.

Daddy owned the funeral home.

He used to say, "There's two things for sure in Tar County."

"Tobacco brings money and people die."

When I married Aaron Walston,

we moved out to his tobacco farm.

It was about ten miles outside of Tarboro.

And I have to say,

the isolation of that little farm was something I had not known before.

By the time I was 20, our baby, Patty Estelle, was two.

And we worked hard getting that crop out every year.

I didn't think much about whether there would be anything else for me.

But then, the summer of 1937 changed my life forever.

At that time, I didn't understand all the things that happened,

but I knew they were irrevocable.

When my grandmother, Georgeanna, died,

I was as lonely as I ever'd been in my life.

Georgeanna had raised me ever since my mother died.

Sorry about your grandmother.

Thank you.

Are you gonna stay at her house?

No. I'm scared to stay there by myself.

Well, what about livin' at your daddy's?

His wife, Ruth,

is my mother's younger sister.

I know.

Well, I feel kind of funny about that.

What are you doin'? Is Baby asleep?

Yeah, Baby's asleep.

I wanted to last night and you just shrugged me off.

I had to get up at the crack of dawn.

Aaron...

Sometimes I think you're just doin' this,

'cause you can't think of anything better to do.

Daddy hired boys from all over eastern North Carolina

to work at the funeral home.

When his friends couldn't think of what to do with their boys

they sent 'em to Mr. Will for a job.

What do you say, boys? Good mornin', Will.

I got that Clark Gable picture at the theater.

Where he don't wear no undershirt?

- You won't see that one, will ya, Will? - No.

How do you expect me to keep the theater running?

Here comes a fella lookin' for a job, Will. What you wanna bet?

No, I got too many boys here now, Strother.

Don't matter.

They know ya all over eastern North Carolina

for havin' a soft heart.

I don't have any work, and room upstairs is plumb-full.

He ain't from Tar County.

I bet you he's a walk-away from the CCC Camp.

I'm looking for Mr. Will.

Ask inside.

I don't work here.

Thank you.

What are you doin'?

Just waitin' here like you told me.

Aaron!

Your folks are here.

Hello, Mr. Ta tie.

Hi there, Roxy. Aaron.

We're gonna ride over to, uh, Eureka, see Aunt Sally.

Thought some of y'all might want a ride back to Tarboro with us.

I believe I'll just stay here.

I got my new seedlings just getting started.

But y'all come in.

Roxy why don't you and Baby go on in?

Maybe we'll do that.

There's your grandpa over there.

There's your grandma.

Yeah.

Baby, you look like a cat under a collard.

Well, look who's here!

We're just waitin' for your daddy.

Come here, Baby.

Come here.

We're just waitin' for your daddy.

There was a wreck out at the crossroads last night,

and he had to stop by.

Come on, Roxy. I have something important to tell ya, come on!

What? It's important, come on.

I grew up playing in the backyard there.

So what happened to the coffin for the Mr. Master doll?

Well, we haven't played in those coffins

since Raider tried to sail off the top.

He did?

- Daddy's gonna have him hauled away. - Aw.

I had copied the design for my playhouse

out of my weekly reader.

And then built it out of old coffins.

Main thing my friends at school wanted to know was,

had I ever seen anybody dead?

- Boo! - Raider!

Hey you.

Callie and me finally saw a dead person.

We heard at school this man that got burned up

that they had him down here.

We pushed the door open real fast,

there was this little thing lying up on the table

like a log out of the fireplace.

We went flying up to the front of the house,

and then saw somebody sitting on the stairs watching us.

He wasn't like the other funeral home boys.

He said, "You must be Mr. Will's girl."

I told him I was his littlest girl. Roxy is his biggest girl.

He said, "If she's any prettier than you, she must be real pretty."

I couldn't believe I was standing there

talking to a grown man like that.

Who you got in there, Will?

Old Fate Renfroe. You remember him?

Poor old fella. He got hit,

broadside with a freight train over here at the Golden Weed.

Tear him up much?

Oh, yeah, he looks bad.

And I worked on him near all night,

that boy, Jack, came in and helped me.

He's good.

With his hands, you know?

He's cool about it too. He was eatin' a...

Bit-O-Honey bar 10 minutes after we quit.

You gonna keep him?

Oh, I can't. I can't, Strother, I...

He'd be a natural, you know...

A real natural but, you know, I got too many boys workin' here now.

Jack's a right smart fellow.

He, he reminds me of somebody, but...

I can't think who.

What the hell?

It's just Renfroe, giving you a goodbye.

What's he doin' sneaking up on me like that?

What's he doin' over there?

Go on, you shaggy-headed rascal.

Go on!

If you think you can get past them gals down at the hotel.

- That boy's a... - Roxy!

I believe you could use dose of Mr. Applewhite's Capudine.

You always look like you'd be afraid to say "Boo!" to a goose.

Two weeks later, in the middle of March,

the old hearse pulled up our drive.

At first, I thought it was Daddy comin' to see me.

But it was Jack Ruff in.

I'm Jack Ruff in. Hey.

Wanna draw?

What do you want?

I'm sorry. I thought you knew I was coming out.

All I know is you're somebody I've never seen before in my life.

Well, Mrs. Walston,

if your husband didn't tell ya, I guess I will.

I've come to help out.

Your daddy run the funeral home?

Mr. Will Stanton?

He's the one who sent me over here.

That was Neb just dropped me off.

Mr. Will said you might be able to use some help out here.

That's right, I sure could.

Come on.

I had seen Jack Ruff in before.

He was with Georgeanna,

in a dream.

Roxy?

I'm driving Jack back to town.

But supper will be ready soon.

I'll be back soon.

Well, dinner's not fit to eat now.

Don't worry about it.

I got me a hot dog in town.

Jack Ruff in's coming out next Saturday.

Why don't you cook us up a chicken stew?

Chicken stew?

When did you get to know this Jack Ruff in so good?

Fixing the well.

We're gonna check on it Saturday

and he's bringing his guitar out, we're gonna pick a few songs.

Well...

You hardly ever see a soul.

I didn't know you knew him.

Well, I didn't know him before this mornin'.

He gave me this mandolin string.

Had it right there in his suitcase. He just gave it to me.

The wind was blowing hard the night Jack came for dinner.

And I couldn't help thinking about Georgeanna's superstitions.

You know, every time somethin' bad's happened to me in my life,

it's happened to me in the month of March.

It's like a big, black cloud that just hangs there.

There's somethin' in the wind.

Aaron?

- Hey. - Hey.

How are you? Real good.

So, how do you like North Carolina?

I like it.

Well, how many boys does Mr. Will have over there now?

Too many.

It must be pretty stuffy in that...

Hmm.

Excuse me. Watch your fingers.

Excuse me.

What's your baby's name?

It's Patty Estelle.

But everybody just calls her "Baby."

Except Aaron's mother, Estelle.

She calls her "Es-telle," like every syllable's just nailed down.

Mom!

Excuse me.

This is good.

This is really good.

Here, here. Have some more. We got a lot.

Hey, Jack!

Hey, can you, uh, plan on coming out tonight?

Yeah. Just got me some new strings this morning.

Listen, Neb wanted to come out, if that's okay.

Well, uh...

I don't want it to turn into a get-together.

Okay.

I'll see you tonight.

Nah, I can't talk to you about this stuff.

You're a married man with a family to boot.

Besides, you don't want to hear about my date with Ava.

I got news for you, Jack.

Me and Ava Chisholm went steady in eighth grade.

Is that so?

In fact, I'll never forget one Saturday afternoon,

Ava and I were over at her sister's house.

I was sittin' on the couch...

Ava had her head in my lap.

All of a sudden, she shifts around,

she says, "Aaron, your belt buckle's hittin' me in the head."

I said "Ava, I'm not wearin' a belt."

Her sister looked at me real embarrassed.

I don't think Ava knew what was going on.

So where did you day your parents are?

My parents are dead.

I'm sorry.

It's all right. It was a long time ago.

Well, I made you all a pecan pie.

We'll be up there in a minute.

Come on, Baby.

Let's go. Yeah.

Whoa! Hello, Jack. Um, Aaron's not here right now.

Pretty.

Hi, Aaron. Some weather, huh?

Yep.

How's this gonna be for the seedlings?

This is perfect. That's what this is. This is perfect for the seedlings.

You know how muddy the roads will be.

I don't know why you just don't stay out here.

You can just make yourself a bed in the spare room.

I guess it would be a lot easier if I was just eta yin' out here.

Why don't you bring your clothes and things on out?

You know I could use the help.

I know you could.

I'll tell Neb to bring my things out now and just...

Not go back.

As soon as it quits rainin',

we'll have plenty to do then.

Roxy, why don't you clean out that chifforobe

in the spare room so Jack can put his things in it.

She's only got her sew in" stuff in there now.

Okay.

Turn it in.

Lower it down.

We might as well get on to bed early.

We're gonna need this rest when it comes time to prime.

Soon as that sun ever comes back out,

it'll get to grow in" real fast.

It's quit raining.

Come on in.

Quit raining.

Yeah, it sure did.

Well... I guess I'll get on back to town, now.

See ya. See ya.

See you in the morning.

See you in the morning.

Phew!

You wanna pick a little tonight?

Nah, I think we're gonna go on to bed early.

But you know where the keys are.

I mean, if you need the truck to go in

and see Ava or anything like that,

you go ahead and use it.

Neb came by last night.

Uh-huh.

Needed some help with a wreck out by Johnson Crossroads.

Old preacher and his wife swerved

in a ditch, hurt pretty bad.

Roxy,

Ray says, Daddy needs me to come over

to help him start to fix that back fence.

Horses go out again last night.

I gotta get over there.

Sorry, I can't watch Baby today.

Well, do you think you can take Baby to Daddy's?

Yeah, I can do that.

Come on, pretty Baby.

You're gonna go see Callie.

Here you go, Baby.

You wanna go for a ride in that big black car?

That's where we're goin'.

Bye.

Why don't you get that hot hair cut off?

Roxy.

I thought you were halfway to Raleigh.

I just wanna say that I appreciate every one of y'all out here.

I have a real good feelin' about the crop this year.

Treat every leaf as special.

Don't let the littlest leaf burn up in the sun.

We gotta eat.

Roxy's got fudge!

♪ Come by here, good Lord Come by here

♪ Oh, Lord, come by here

♪ Somebody needs you, Lord Come by here

♪ Somebody needs you, Lord Come by here

♪ Somebody needs you, Lord Come by here

♪ Oh, Lord, come by here

♪ Come by here, good Lord Come by here

♪ Come by here, good Lord Come by here

♪ Come by here, good Lord Come by here

♪ Oh, Lord, come by here I

Here you go, Jack.

You don't get much sleep with tobacco curing, do you?

Can't afford it.

Two years ago I lost my best barn.

Burned up.

Well, you want me to stay down here tonight?

No, I'll stay down here tonight.

You stay down here tomorrow night, okay?

Honey,

you have to move a little faster.

You're movin' like you're sleepwalkin'.

Whoa!

- Oh, boy. - Raider, you been fishin' lately?

- Not much. -You wanna pass me some more of those string beans?

Has your roof got a hole in it, Raider?

Gonna need patching?

Well, let's get back, boys.

I think it's fixin' to get real warm this afternoon.

Sure is. Listen, we ought to get those mules first.

Okay, they're gonna need some water.

I think we ought to get on over to Haws Landing for that barbecue.

You know, the only reason I didn't go sit up with 'em last night

to help 'em cook that pig was...

That's my best barn curio' out there.

I just wanted to see it.

I just don't care a thing about goin'.

Not go?

I don't see why.

I'm just not goin'.

I feel like I'm in the way over there.

Now, Roxy,

you know my family thinks so much of you.

And they love to see Baby.

Aaron,

there's somethin' about the Fourth of July

that just tears my nerves all to pieces.

It's all those loud noises and

firecrackers and all. And...

Those folks drivin' around in those fast pickup trucks, drunk!

Look, it's just too hot.

And everybody's crazy.

They're expectin' us, Roxy.

No.

Excuse me. I can't hear you. No.

Well, you do what you please, then.

Long life line,

long crooked double love line.

I got you a present. Hmm.

Okay. Can you just wait a minute?

Mmm-hmm. I gotta change Baby.

I'm sure her diaper's about ready to fall off.

Please.

Just a second. Okay?

Now.

That's Mom. Momma.

That's good. That was good. Okay, Baby.

Now, then, you wanna take a picture of me and Baby?

No. Now, we're gonna try a little trick.

Stay right there.

Mom.

What's the matter? Mom.

Whoa!

You ready? This is going to be some picture.

Baby!

Jack! Help!

I'll get the truck.

I was cookin' some peas, and Baby turned 'em over on herself.

Where is she?

She's with the doctor.

Hello, Doctor.

You can take her home now.

Okay.

Keep her quiet.

And keep her in bed.

Oh, and if she should happen to wake up tonight,

you might rub her with some more of this.

Okay.

I'll come out and, uh, check on her in the morning,

see how she's getting on.

Are there gonna be scars?

Probably. Yes.

How's Baby?

Where's the Kodak?

I hid it.

Aaron, where's...

Can't you take care of your own family?

Let me take her.

Okay, is it better, Baby?

Is it better?

Roxy?

There's somethin' Daddy wants me to talk to you about.

Daddy mentioned somethin' about Jack eta yin' here.

It might be better...

He said we ought to get the first 'bacco to market,

and then give him some money and send him off.

I've already told him.

I told Jack that

after the opening sale we'll be able to manage without him.

Why don't you tell him, too?

Somebody at the church mentioned to the folks that

it didn't look right with you and Jack eta yin' in the same house.

Talk to Jack about it.

Jack!

Jack, I've got to talk to you.

Shh. Shh. I've gotta talk to you.

I've gotta... I've gotta talk to you, Jack.

I've gotta talk to you.

I love you, Roxy.

You're prettier than any Ava.

Don't worry.

He's not comin' down here.

I came down here to tell you. Jack, you have to go.

I'm married.

I have a baby.

You could run off with me.

I'm married, Jack.

Did you talk to Jack?

Yes.

$5!

$5!

$7!

How're they biddin'?

They're biddin' a little low.

Yeah, I heard that.

They'll pick up.

$4!

They better.

Sta yin' out of trouble, Jack?

Yes, sir. All right.

$25!

Help me out.

Got us hot dogs from the Greek's.

First day of market, 1937.

I never thought I'd get a...

10.

Mmm-hmm. Oh!

I never thought I would.

Hell, I mean... I mean, she's worth it and all... I just...

I never thought I'd get it.

They're havin' a dance down at Wainright's this year.

I do see why we can't go.

You get Baby up early.

We can go on in, take in the whole festival.

Jack can take care of things around here.

I'll see ya tomorrow.

Al right.

Jack still had a pull for me.

And I thought then that maybe he always would.

But I had to make a choice.

All I hoped was that Aaron and I could forget everything that had happened

and start over.

Did y'all enjoy yourself last night?

Oh, the pageant was beautiful.

The whole family was there, and it was just, uh...

It was wonderful.

Nice festival?

Oh, it sure was.

Listen, I need you to ride over with me to Daddy's.

I wanna get that new truck I bought from him

before we go down to Carolina Beach.

You can drive it back here.

You're gonna get stung.

God damn it, Roxy.

Come on down back of the barn, Aaron.

I wanna show you something I killed down there today.

I don't know what it is.

Somethin' strange.

Some strange kind of animal.

Aaron, Baby's... Aaron's not here.

Put some clothes on Baby.

We gotta go.

Go where? Don't ask me that.

Just get your clothes...

Put some things in your suitcase. We gotta go. Now!

Get her blankets.

Where's Aaron?

Get in the car.

Jack, where is Aaron?

You don't really wanna know, Roxy.

Just get in the car.

I'll tell you about it later.

You got any rooms?

Jack...

Jack, I just... I need to go home.

After you see what's on my overalls, you won't wanna go home.

I, I can't keep it in any longer.

I hit him, not too far from the hole.

What hole? I hit him at the hole, Roxy.

What hole? The hole I dug.

I dug... Is Aaron okay?

Roxy...

I hit him twice... Why?

At the hole. I dug the hole, Roxy.

I dug a hole behind the barn.

Saturday, while y'all were in town.

And I sat out there and I looked into it all day

and all night.

I called him out there and I...

Hit him, and I...

Covered him up.

You!

We better be leaving here.

Roxy,

I'll treat you right.

Now, say you'll be ready to go.

Come on. Say it.

Kiss me now and say.

We've got to go.

Got the bus tickets to Birmingham.

I know somebody we can stay with.

I don't know why...

I don't know why I ever thought you'd go with me.

I'll come back for you as soon as I can.

We picked up Jack Ruff in when he was getting on the bus.

He told us where he buried your husband.

We called up to Tarboro,

and some of your people went out there and they dug him up.

He made a full confession.

Says you two planned it together.

You never saw those bloody overalls till yesterday?

No, sir.

You're sure about that? Yes, sir.

You're real sure? Yes.

I believe we can go on home, now.

She be arraigned on Monday morning.

She's gonna be arraigned, Roger?

I don't know how to say this to you, Roxy,

but I want you to know a little about what it was like.

You know. I'm used to that phone ringing at all times of the night.

But this time it, I just didn't know what to think.

I mean, it had to be somebody crazy.

But it did finally get through to me

that they were saying the sheriff in Georgia had called,

and that Aaron was probably dead

and you and Jack were off somewhere.

I called Ruth to come to the phone and try to make some sense out of it,

but she...

Was just as bad as me, at first.

I told them I'll be right on out there,

and they said it's no use. But, of course, I went.

I couldn't get to the farm fast enough.

Somehow, I thought you might be there.

Even though they said you were in Georgia.

When got out there,

they had already gone right to the grave,

a sorry hole not any way from the barn.

Anybody could have found it.

Anybody could have found that hole.

What was the matter with that boy, Jack?

What could he have been thinking of?

What was I thinking of?

You've got to see him, Roxy.

Got to make yourself look right at him.

Oh, Roxy.

You hold tight to that baby, Roxy. She misses her mama.

Don't you worry.

You daddy wanted to buy you one

but I told him I wanted to pick it out.

Nearly everybody in the world's got some kind of secret,

but everybody doesn't get found out

and have their pictures put in the paper.

We're gonna do the best we can.

When you walk in there tomorrow,

you stand up straight and hold your shoulders back.

Okay, okay, make way, make way.

Mrs. Walston!

Are you in love with Jack Ruff in?

Why didn't you go to your husband's funeral?

Are you really in love with that guy, Jack Ruff in?

Please, can we get a picture?

Let my wife through, please.

Did you murder your husband?

Bailiff, please read the confession.

"I stayed home all day Saturday and Sunday while the Walstons were gone."

"I dug the grave on Saturday, about 3:00 in the afternoon."

"I used the shovel which I got from the Walstons' house."

"I left the shovel at the hole."

"I hit him in the back of the head with the shovel."

"Knocked him out the first lick."

"He was lying down on his face"

"when I hit him the second time."

"I had been sleeping with her."

"No use to say I love her, and will die loving her."

"I had intercourse with her from June."

"In a way, she knew I killed him. In a way, she didn't."

"She wanted to run off with me,"

"but she couldn't, because of her husband."

"So, I killed her husband."

Now, Mrs. Walston, would you tell the gentlemen of the jury

how you met and got to know Jack Ruff in?

He came out to help my husband with the well.

And then he started helping with the tobacco crop.

Aaron told him to come on and move in.

Aaron would go down to the barn one night,

and Jack would go down the next.

I got up while Aaron was still sleeping

and I went down to the barn.

And then I got back before he woke up.

Now, Mrs. Ruff in, I'm gonna ask you a little bit about those nights down in the barn.

I'm Mrs. Walston.

But those nights down in the barn were your idea, weren't they?

He asked me to come down there.

But they were your idea, weren't they?

I wanted to go.

So you were in no way forced to go down into that barn were you, Mrs. Ruff in?

I am Mrs. Walston.

Now, please describe to the gentlemen of the jury

just what happened on the first occasion you had intercourse with him.

You heard the question, ma'am.

Please describe to the gentlemen of the jury,

the first occasion on which you had intercourse with him.

My husband had gone off,

and it happened in the garden.

In the garden.

And the next time?

I don't know.

It might have been the next day.

And these relations did occur every day thereafter, did they not?

Sometimes I was sick.

But, when your husband was gone, and you weren't sick,

it happened every day, didn't it?

Please, let the record reflect that the witness has nodded the answer, "Yes."

For him, for the State,

and for everybody else, for God's sake, don't turn him loose.

But a life sentence in prison would constitute a far more severe punishment

than the death penalty.

Whatever damnation comes out of this case,

she is the foundation for it.

Now, gentlemen, you have heard the evidence.

After a comparatively short time, this man was living in the house

with more freedom than the woman's husband.

She has been unfaithful to her child,

unfaithful to her husband

and unfaithful to her God.

Not in the annals of the history of North Carolina,

have we had a murder of such brutality as to compare with this one.

Gentlemen, I want you to return a verdict of guilty.

I want you to send Jack Ruff in

and Roxanna Walston to the gas chamber.

No!

Wait.

She never did say she'd run off with me.

I pushed her into the car that night.

She didn't know what happened.

And when [ finally told her, she ran away from me and hid.

They said yesterday that I do not have a heart!

I do have a heart,

and there's grief in my heart at the bottom.

Will, hold her up here. I'll get her some water.

Watch your head.

We have a verdict in the Walston murder case.

The jury went out at 11:25 and they were back at 12:05.

They found Mrs. Roxanna Walston

not guilty of conspiracy to murder,

and they found Mr. Jack Ruff in

guilty of murder in the first degree,

with no recommendation for mercy.

Handkerchiefs fluttered as the judge intoned the death sentence.

I know Kate would be happy to have her.

That sounds just like something a man would say.

That's half her trouble now.

Listening to ghost stories, all her life,

and always doing something some man thought she ought to do.

How can she go to Virginia, or anywhere else?

She needs to learn to do something first.

Could you lower your voice?

You know, this was your mother's bed.

That's why I brought you in here.

There's no better medicine in this whole world than lying in your mama's bed.

It was our mama's bed, too.

I lay right here myself when I wasn't much older than you are,

talking to Mama.

When I was in that tourist camp in Georgia with him,

I didn't know how to say, "No, I can't go with you."

I never said "no" to anybody in my life,

except for Aaron on the Fourth of July.

Different things happen to different people, Roxy.

Don't think you're the only one

something bad ever happened to.

What really matters is how you behave

after it's over.

And it is over.

Daddy, I'd like to go to the farm today.

You gotta get your driving license sometime.

I'm going to.

And then, I think you and me and Ruth ought to...

We ought to talk about you getting on a train

and heading up to Fredericksburg,

to stay with Aunt Kate for a while.

Daddy, I know I won't stay in Tarboro for my whole life.

But right now my child needs her family.

She needs a stable home.

I'm gonna stay right here and I'm gonna ride it out,

just the same as you.

And Ruth,

and our whole family.

♪ Now that I'm all alone

♪ All I am livin' on

♪ Is every memory I've had

♪ Of you

♪ I know the love will never die

♪ While there's someone to cry

♪ When does the heart come home?

♪ I know the heart must have a home

♪ For going to and comin' from

♪ And someday I'll see

♪ Where my heart wants to be

♪ And I'll be glad and I'll be home

♪ I know the heart must have a home

♪ I know the heart must have a home

♪ We guess at who we are

♪ And what we're living for

♪ We hope our heart and soul will see us through

♪ I don't care how far I must go

♪ As long as I can know

♪ My heart will have a home

♪ I know the heart must have a home

♪ For going to and comin' from

♪ And someday I'll see

♪ Where my heart wants to be

♪ And I'll glad and I'll be home

♪ I know the heart must have a home

♪ I know my heart must have a home

♪ Mmm

♪ Mmm-hmm ♪