Pearl Bryan
by Mellinger Edward Henry
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 56, No. 220 (Apr. - Jun., 1943), pp. 139-140
PEARL BRYAN:
-The statement of the events upon which this song is founded is quoted from Paul G. Brewster's Ballads and Songs of Indiana (Bloomington, Ind., 1940) 283. "The story told of the tragedy is this: Pearl Bryan, the daughter of a well-to-do farmer near Greencastle [Indiana], was seduced by a William Wood (Woods). Becoming pregnant, she left home, ostensibly for Indianapolis. Instead, however, she went to Cincinnati, where she appealed to an acquaintance, Scott Jackson, at the time a student in the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, to give her medical attention. On January 29 she left the Indiana House, where she had registered under an assumed name, in company with Jackson and a fellow-student of his, Alonzo Walling. She was never again seen alive.
On February I, 1896, her body, minus her head, was found near Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Her death was the result of a criminal operation. Identification was made through her shoes, purchased in Greencastle, and by her feet, Miss Bryan being webfooted. Jackson and Walling were tried in Newport, Kentucky, on a charge of first degree murder. Each accused the other of the murder, Walling denying acquaintance with the girl. They were found guilty, and were hanged on March 20, 1897."
For other texts see John Harrington Cox, Folk Songs of the South (Cambridge, Mass., 1935) 197, with a full account of the murder; Henry W. Shoemaker, North Pennsylvania Minstrelsy (Altoona, Pa., 1923) 201; Josiah Combs, Folk-Songs du Midi des Etats Unis (Paris, 1926) 203; Brewster, Ballads and Songs of Indiana, pp. 283-9; Mellinger E. Henry, Ballads and Songs of the Southern Highlands (JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLKLORE 42, 1929) 280, 301, Charles J. Finger, Frontier Ballads (New York, 1927) 8o-81; Mellinger E. Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands (New York, 1938) 209-14.
The following version of "Pearl Bryan" was communicated by Mrs. Frank Newell, Christie Street, Leonia, New Jersey, who received it from her daughter, Mrs. Marjorie White. She had it from the sister of Mrs. Maud Clark who "lived out that way where it happened and she sent me [her sister] this copy of the song in November, 1913."
Pearl Bryan
Since quoting the above statement Mrs. Marjorie Newell White has brought to my attention a complete story of the crime in the magazine, Master Detective (26: 2, 32-58. April, 1942). The title of the story is Whispering Wires. It is a full and detailed account of the tragedy and all the persons connected with it.
Young ladies, if you listen
To a story I relate
That happened near Fort Thomas
In old Kentucky state,
It was January the 31
This dreadful deed was done
By Jackson and Walen to Pearl Bryan.
How cold their blood must run!
Chorus: Poor Pearl! Poor girl,
She thought she was going right.
She had no dream of murder
On that dark stormy night.
She pled with her executioner;
Pleading was in vain;
It was the hand of Jackson
And that was all to blame.
It was Scott Jackson and Walen
That took Pearl Bryan's life
On that dark and stormy night
With a big detective knife.
Scott Jackson done the planning;
Walen followed on.
It made the whole world tremble
To see what they had done.
But little did Pearl Bryan think
On that dark and gloomy day
The grip she carried in her hand
Would hide her head away.
She thought it was a lover's hand;
She could trust it night and day;
But alas! it was a lover's hand
That hid her head away.
Scott Jackson wrote a letter
To Willis Wood one day;
Told him to write another
To Pearl Bryan's home and say,
"I am not in Indianapolis;
Sign her name, you may;
Stick to your old chum, Bill,
And I'll stick to you some day."
But little did Pearl's parents think
When she left their happy home,
Their darling, dear and sweet,
Would never more return.
The aged parents renew their will.
Their fortune they would give
If Pearly could return again
Another life to live.
Young ladies, now take warning
Since you find young men unjust.
It may be your own best lover's hand;
You know not whom to trust.
Pearl Bryan died away from home
And in that lonely spot.
My God, my God, believe it, girls,
Don't let this be your lot.
MELLINGER EDWARD HENRY.
Ridgefield, N. J.