Show I STORY OF THE CRIME It Occurred Saturday Morning February 1 1896 On Saturday morning Feb 1 1896 the headless body of 3 young woman j I was found on the farm of John BLock B-Lock near the end of the Fort Thomas electric car line south of Newport Ky No marks of Identification could be discovered and no cards letters or anything any-thing calculated to solve the mystery could be found The body was taken to undertakers undertak-ers in Newport and a further exam iration showed that the dead womans shoes were stamped Lewis Hays Greencastle Ind With this clew the detectives went to work with the result that the corpse was identified as Miss Pearl Bryan aged 22 daughter of Alexander Bryan a Greencastle welltodo farmer living south of On Jan 27 Pearl Bryan left her home I ostensibly to visit friends in Indianapo lis but instead came directly to this city to meet Scot Jackson a student at the Ohio college of dental surgery Jackson failed to keep his appointment with the girl and after wandering about the city she went to the Indiana house and registered under an assumed name The next day Jackson called at the hotel to see her On Jan 29 she left the Indiana house with Jackson and a fellow student named Alonzo Walling and from that day until the body was found at Fort Thomas nothing noth-ing is positively known as to the movements move-ments of the trio A Dost mortem examination of the I corpse revealed the fact that the dead I girl was about to become a mother Jackson and Walling were arrested I I at their boarding house and charged with the murder At the preliminary examInaton the prisoners each accused I ac-cused the other of having killed the girl Jackson admitted that he was acquainted ac-quainted with the girl but denied any knowledge of the murder Walling said he did not know her The students were taken to the undertakers un-dertakers where the head and body was exhibited in the presence of the fatherland sister of the murdered girl the chief of police asked Walling if he recognized the corpse He replied in a clear voice that it was Pearl Bryan Bry-an Upon being questioned a to how he knew that Walling said that he suspected it was Pearl Bran from what Jackson had told him about her Thesame question was asked Jackson Jack-son who said that it must JJe Pearl C > v = > Bryan because he saw her relatives in the room Turning to Walling the chief asked Walling did you kill this woman I did not Who did then I have every reason to believe that from what Jackson told me he did Then turning to the other prisoner Jackson did you murder this girl I did not sir J Can you look upon this corpse and deny that youcommitted the crime I can and I do most emphatically replied Jackson looking at the corpse as he soke Who did kill her I have every reason to Relieve that Walling did Mrs Stanley a sister of Pearl Bry an pleaded with Jackson to tell her where the head was hut TnMrsnn n J looked at her and said calmly and gravely Mrs Stanley I do not know At the coroners inquest a verdict was rendered that cocaine had been administered and that Pearl Bryan had been decapitated while she was still alive that she was seen in company with Scott Jackson and Alonzo Wall ing getting into a cab at the corner of Plum and Geprge streets in Cincinnati and that she came to her death on the premises of John B Lock neat Fort Thomas Campbell county Ky Jacksons trial opened April 31 I lasted until May 1 The testimony of George H Jackson the colored cabman cab-man who said he drove the party to Fort Thomas was collateral The main evidence was In reference to the relations rela-tions of Jackson and Pearl Bryan and the medical testimony as to whether I the girl had been decapitated before or f after death and whether it was in Kentucky or in Ohio The state had 113 witnesses and the defense S3 I is generally regarded that the two items that told most heavily against Jackson were his admission that he had been intimate with Pearl Bryan and the proof that two of hiswitnesses were perjurers Scott Jackson took the stand in his own behalf He was not crossexam ined His story was not shaken nor was it believed He took the death verdict ver-dict calmly The Walling trial began May 26 I ended June 18 The evidence in his case was practically the same as against Jackson The most damaging feature in the case against Walling probably was his admission that he knew Scott Jackson was going to kill the girl and would not warn her of impending danger In this trial the state examined 62 witnesses the defense de-fense 40 Not once in all the hundred severe examinations to which Jackson and Walling have been subjected have they blundered or revealed anything They have been selfpossessed keenly intelli gent and coldblooded through it all I The petition for a rehearing of the case of Jackson and Walling was overruled over-ruled by the Kentucky court of appeals I I I and the day of execution was fixed for I March 20 1897 J On March 6 Walling made a formal appeal to Governor Bradley for clemency clem-ency The condemned man reviewed his case in brief but the letter contained con-tained nothing more than developed at the trial On March 10 Hon L J Crawford attorney at-torney for Scott Jackson and Colonel George Washington counsel for Walling I for exec ing made formal applications behalf of the prison utive clemency on behal prson ers These appeals to the governor of Kentucky were the last legal steps taken by the defendants attorneys to avert the doom qf March 20 aver Walling also made another appeal to the governor claiming that he was innocent in-nocent of any crime Scott Jackson was 27 years old the only son of Mrs John Jackson a highly I respected widow of Greencastle Ind I His sister is married to Dr Edwin Post professor of Latin in De Pauy university univer-sity Indiana Alonzo Walling was 20 years old son of Mrs Sarah Walling of Oxford O J |