Moses "Clear Rock'' Platt

Moses "Clear Rock Platt was an old-time and folk musician recored by Alan Lomax in a prison. Moses Platt was his prison name. His real name, if different, is unknown. He was generally referred to by his nickname Clear Rock. He told the Lomaxes that he was given the name because he killed three people by throwing rocks at them. For that he was given a life sentence but he " got pardoned out". But then he " took up with" a young woman he described as " a li'l yeller gal''" ignorant, he claimed, that she was in fact only fourteen years old. Denounced by enemies, he was recalled to serve his life sentence. When first recorded in 1933 he was seventy-one years old, having spent forty-seven years in Texas prisons. Like Iron Head he proudly described himself as "a habitual".  Clear Rock was later pardoned by Governor Ferguson. According to John Lomax, this was after singing " Long John" to her when she visited his convict camp.