Fact #58834
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Having been found guilty of murder, labour activist Joe Hill is executed by firing squad in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. It was widely believed that Hill's conviction was wrong and in the years that followed, he became the subject of many songs by Phil Ochs, Josh Joplin, Frank Tovey, Chumbawamba and others. Perhaps the most famous is I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night [aka Joe Hill], which was written as a poem around 1930 by Alfred Hayes, and then turned into a song by in 1936 by Earl Robinson. This song has been sung and recorded by Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, The Dubliners and many others.
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