Pearl Bryan (V)

DESCRIPTION: Jackson and Walling agree to take Pearl Bryan for a ride. Pearl asks what she has done that Jackson would want to kill her. They murder Pearl; her head cannot be found. The two are hung despite Walling's mother's plea for her son
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Sharp collection, according to Cohen), but see NOTES
KEYWORDS: homicide trial execution punishment mother
HISTORICAL REFERENCES: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(Ap,MW,SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, p. 31, "(Pearl Bryan)" (1 short text, classified as "Pearl Bryan (I) [Laws F2] by Laws but as Pearl Bryan (V) by Anne B. Cohen)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 61, "Pearl Bryan" (3 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 3 more; 1 tune; Anne B. Cohen considers "A" to be a mix off Laws F2 and "Pearl Bryan (V)")
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. 60-67, "Pearl Bryan V" (2 texts)
Roud #500 and 2212
NOTES [248 words]: To tell this song from the other Pearl Bryan ballads, consider this first stanza (from Cohen, as sung by Bascom Lamar Lunsford):
'Twas late one winter's evening
The sorrowful tale was told
Scott Jackson said to Lonz Walling
Let's go out for a stroll.
Observe that several of the texts of this were known to Laws, but he included them with "Pearl Bryan (I)" or "Pearl Bryan (II)" because they share verses with this song. Laws's failure to separate out this song isn't surprising, because so few texts of this have been printed (Cohen on pp. 124-126 lists 15 pure versions of this text and six mixed versions, but it appears only two of the pure versions were printed in a relatively accessible book). Apparently two of the 15 pure versions are duplicates, because Cohen on p. 60 claims that nine of the full-length versions share verses with other Pearl Bryan songs; just four versions are free of such verses. Easy to see how someone could fail to realize this is a separate song!
Cohen, p. 61, thinks that this song predates the Pearl Bryan versions of "Pearl Bryan (I)" and contributed to the creation of the Pearl Bryan form of that song; Cohen's earliest version is from a songster she dates c. 1910 (Cohen, p. 62)..
On the grounds that Cohen has done a more detailed examination than Laws, I have followed Cohen's classifications, but also in some places listed them where Laws lists them.
For background on the Pearl Bryan murder see the notes to "Pearl Bryan (I)" [Laws F2]. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: PearBr5

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