Nancy was the lone daughter of Frankie and Charlie Silver, orphaned at 13 months by the death of her parents.
"Theresa Phillips of Legacy Films in Mars Hill suggested I write a companion book to her film, 'The Ballad of Frankie Silver,' to come out about the same time as the movie. She felt there was so much research done about the story, especially in connection to what happened to the baby of Frankie and Charlie, that it would be a shame to leave folks hanging," said Harbin, a 53-year-old Sylva resident.
"Leave them hanging" - right away you can tell Harbin has a sense of humor because Frankie was hanged for killing her husband, Charlie, with an ax.
As a young boy growing up in the Silver family, Harbin listened intently as family members told the famous legend.
"I was told the story by women who saw Frankie as an abused woman," he said. "In her diary, she's reported to have written, 'Charlie broke the rule of thumb.' In those days - the 1830s - a man could beat his wife as long as the rod he used was no bigger in girth than his thumb."
The story goes that on a cold, wintery night, Dec. 22, 1831, the young couple argued. Some, like the late John Parris, said Frankie was a jealous young wife and knew Charlie was sneaking out to see another woman, Nancy Wilson. Others, like Harbin, portray her as an abused wife protecting herself from Charlie, who shoved his shotgun in her belly and was ready to pull the trigger.
Later, in prison Frankie admitted to hitting Charlie over the head with the ax, but Harbin thinks the 4-foot, 8-inch-tall Frankie was too slight of a woman to have chopped the body to pieces and burned them in the fireplace. Harbin's book points blame to Frankie's parents and her brother Blackston.
As Frankie stood on the gallows, the preacher asked her if she wanted to say any last words or offer any confession. Her father, Harbin said, cried out from the gallery, "Frankie, die with it in ye!"
Not until the law changed in 1857 was a person allowed to testify for themselves. Harbin uncovered the court records of the Burke County June term 1832 in the State vs. Silver that stated, "No council appeared for the defendant."
"Had she been represented by counsel or allowed to testify in her own behalf to self-defense, she probably never would have hung," said Harbin, who has an interesting theory why she was not represented in court.
"I think Frankie may have been Melungeon - not white, Indian or black - and, as such, she would have had no legal rights in court then," he said. "This is the same time two other white women received pardons from the governor and they didn't hang."
Harbin said he knocked on doors of relatives in several states to confirm the authenticity of his account.
"Nobody's ever told the story from Nancy's point of view," he said, "and Nancy truly become the keeper of the family secret. Her own life unfolds a series of secrets and, interestingly enough, one of them led me to the Canada section of Jackson County."
Nancy is buried right across the county line at Mountain Grove Cemetery in Macon County. Harbin has his suspicions that Frankie is also buried nearby.
"Frankie's trial is the most famous antebellum murder trial, and I think that's why so many versions of her story are told. Even 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' had a version that she had to finish eating her cake before she was hung.
"But the fact is, only two people know for sure what happened that night of Dec. 22, 1831, and they are dead. I say, let them rest in truth."
Harbin will sign copies of his new book at the Medicine Man Craft Shop in Cherokee from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 11, and at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva on Saturday, Aug. 19, at 2 p.m.
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