Pearl Bryan (IV)

DESCRIPTION: A girl of Greencastle, Indiana loves a young man. (She becomes pregnant?, and) begs him to make good the wrong he has done her. He refuses and plans to depart. She follows him. He kills her. Young girls are warned by the example of Pearl Bryan
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio)
KEYWORDS: love homicide abandonment
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Feb 1, 1896 - Discovery of the headless body of Pearl Bryan, killed along with her unborn child by Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling, near Fort Thomas, Kentucky
Mar 20, 1897 - Execution of Jackson and Walling
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 105, "A Fatal Acquaintance" (2 texts, but Laws assigns the B text to "Pearl Bryan III")
ADDITIONAL: Anne B. Cohen, _Poor Pearl, Poor Girl!: The Murdered-Girl Stereotype in Ballad and Newspaper_, Publications of the American Folklore Society, Memoir Series, Volume 58, University of Texas Press, 1973, pp. 59-60, "Pearl Bryan IV" (1 text)
ST E105 (Full)
Roud #2213
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jealous Lover (I), The (Florella, Floella) (Pearl Bryan II) (Nell Cropsey II) [Laws F1A, B, C]" [Laws F1], particularly the "B" subgroup of Pearl Bryan ballads
cf. "Pearl Bryan I" [Laws F2]
cf. "Pearl Bryan III" [Laws F3]
NOTES [259 words]: This song is item dF51 in Laws's Appendix II.
To tell this song from the other Peal Bryan ballads, consider this first stanza (from Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio):
In Greencastle, Indiana, a fair young maiden dwelled
Beneath a mother's loving care, a father's lavish wealth,
A mother's pride, a father's joy, by many friends esteemed,
From out her young handsome face the pure innocence gleamed.
Comparison with Eddy's other text (which also lacks a melody) would seem to imply that the two could be one -- but Laws separates them, so the Index does the same. Anne B. Cohen, Poor Pearl, Poor Girl!: The Murdered-Girl Stereotype in Ballad and Newspaper, Publications of the American Folklore Society, Memoir Series, Volume 58, University of Texas Press, 1973, p. 59, also splits them, and says that it is so rare that it may have barely gone into tradition; she found only two texts of this type plus one verse typical of it that had floated into another song. She notes that it is very difficult to sing -- not because of the tune, which seems to be unknown, but just because it's wordy and unmetrical.
Cohen, p. 88, believes this was written before the result of the court cases against Jackson and Walling (it just barely mentions Walling, and associated Jackson and Walling with Will Wood, who eventually was cleared).
Steve Roud seems to lump "Pearl Bryan (III)" and "Pearl Bryan (IV)," probably because both mention Greencastle, Indiana in the first line.
For background on the Pearl Bryan murder see the notes to "Pearl Bryan (I)" [Laws F2]. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: E105

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