Classic Poem

Young girls, if you'll listen,
A story I'll relate
That happened near Fort Thomas
In the old Kentucky state.

On January the thirty-first
The dreadful deed was done
By Jackson and by Walling;
How cold Pearl's blood did run!

But little did her parents think
When she left her happy home,
Their darling girl just in her youth
Would never more return.

How sad it would have been to them
To have heard Pearl's lonely voice
At midnight in that lonely spot
Where those two boys rejoiced!

And little did Pearl Bryan think
When she left her home that day,
The grip she carried in her hand
Would hide her head away.

She thought it was her lover's hand
She could trust both night and day,
Although it was her lover's hand
That took her life away.

The driver in the seat is all
Who tells of Pearl's sad fate,
Of poor Pearl Bryan away from home
In the old Kentucky state.

Of her aged parents we all know well
What a fortune they would give
If Pearl could but to them return,
Her natural life to live.

In came Pearl Bryan's sister,
And falling to her knees,
Begging to Scott Jackson,
" My sister's head, O please! "

Scott Jackson he set stubborn;
Not a word would he proclaim.
" I'll meet my sister in heaven,
Where I'll find her missing head. "

In came Walling's mother,
Pleading for her son,
. . . . .
. . . . .

" Don't take my son, my only son;
From him I cannot part.
O please don't take him to prison;
It would break my poor old heart! "

The jury gave a verdict,
And to their feet they sprung:
" For the crime these boys committed
They surely must be hung. "