The herald., 1896-02-24
MORB|DLY CURIOUS CROWDS
Gather to See the Men Accused
of Murder
THE DEMAND FOR LYNCH LAW
Grows Less Imperative as the Evidence
Accumnlates
Scott Jackson Publishes Gard Again Accus-
ing WaIIing Of Being tbs Murderer
OF Peari Bryan
Associated Press special Wire.

Associated Press Special Wire.
CINCINNATI, Ohio, Feb. 23.-When the
headless body Of Pearl Bryan was -discov-
cred near Fort Thomas on February 1, the
first feeling was chill of horror at the re-
voting and devilish ingenuity of the crime.
Four days later, when the confessed part
ners in it, Scott jackson and Alonzo WALL
ing, not to mention the lad William Wood,
were arrested, the excitement over this un-
speakable atrocity became passionate.
indeed, almost furio us. As one by one,
day by day, the dumb witnesses OF this
crime, matchless for cold-blooded cruelty,
came to light all other passions gave way
to that of vengeance. Pearl Bryan's valise,
stained crimson with her own blood, shed
by hands into which she had confided her.
self all too trustfully for relief and protec-
ton; Jackson's bloodstained coat and
Walling' sblood-bespattered pantaloons, all
intensified the horror and inhamed public
indignation. Nor did the fact of excep-
tional high standing of the families of the
victim and of the inventors and perpetra-
tors Of the crime tend to relieve the tension
of public indignation. They found the
strong walls, the barred doors and the iron
cells of the Jail welcome shelter from the
ominous storm of human passion gather
ing around them on the outside.
A lapse of three weeks since the perpe-
tration of the crime, together with tho
undoubted discovery of the participants as
we'll as the prospect of speedily commit
the effect of allaying the impulsive inn
patience of the public.
During the past week, in the absence of
new and striking Developments, the public
interest in these accused men, jackson and
Walling, has assumed a new phase. That
fascination which mystery has for the
masses has drawn visitors. not by scores
and hundreds, to the Jail, but by thousands.
Beginning on Monday of last week the
flow to the Jail of curious humanity was
continued from morning until night in fair
weather and in foul. In fact, as the
weather grew colder the stream of callers
grew larger in volume and steadier in flow.
On last Thursday the number had grown
to 1000; on Friday it had increased to
1900. The jailer and his guards
were absolutely worn out in
letting the people in and out.
This became SO burdensone that on and
after Saturday all visitors were excluded.
nerves of the two leading prisoners. Scott
Jackson and Alonzo Walling. Not one
visitor in q hundred cared to see William
Wood. A limit was placed on the time
visitors were permitted to stay. At inter-
walls of a very few minutes the Jail was
cleared and a new lot of sightseers were
admitted. In the corridors of the Jail the
visitors were arranged in two lines, facing
inward and forming lane, through which
the two chief prisoners were led, slowly,
one at a time, for public inspection, like
horses at an auction before group of
buyers. jackson and Walling stood this
ordeal while it lasted with steady nerve
and firm steps. WEAKNESS and depression
came to both at the close Of the day after
this was over.
William Wood, the boy who is charged
with aiding and abetting these criminals,
was an interested spectator of these exhib-
itions. From the balcony of his corridor,
which is two stories above Jackson's and
Walling's, he could command an excellent
view of the whole performance. Visitors
usually simply looked at the prisoners
much. after the manner of viewing savage
beasts at a menagerie, without speaking a
word. AS to the character of these vis-
itors, the singular fact is that at least two-)
thirds are women. OF these the greater
are blooming girls with rosy cheeks and
bright eyes. Once in while a group OF
matronly women call, but this is COM
paratively rare. or course most of the
callers have been from Cincinnati and the
neighborhood. A highly respectable
minority are from Indiana and more dis
tant states. Mothers take in their little
sons and daughters. Christian people
who are Sunday habitues of the jail seek
to talk to the prisoners on religious sub
jects, and meet hearty reception.
What inspires the desire to see these
prisoners is a problem. Mystery has it's
charms for men. The Jail has held many
a man with dark secret locked in his
breast, but it never enclosed within its
gloomy walls two men with blacker or
more ghastly secret weighing on their con-
sciences, if they have any, than that of
Pearl Bryan's murder, which these
men have in their guilty keeping. Their
distinction as participants in crime that
will GO into the calendar as one of the
most singuIarly atrocious of the last de-
cade greatly enhances public interest in
them and in measure accounts for curl
osity to see them. There is also in the
public mind belief that they are in great
danger of the sentence of Judge Lynch's
court, which makes them objects of pecu-
liar interest. This belief may not be we'll
grounded, but it exists. Interest in the
present contents of the Jail is shown by the
very passer.by on the street. Groups of
men and boys pause and stare at it. Mar
ket women and factory girls rivet their
eyes upon it as they trudge past.
William Wood, the mere boy entangled
in the beginning OF this enormous CRIME,
has no such public distinction as that Of
the two principal actors in it. An Indiana
visitor betrays the state from which he,
comes by inquring for Wood, and in the
peculiar indignation which he shows
against that lad for his share in the outset
of the crime. With the great mass of
people Wood is not taken into considera-
ton. The hideous monstrosity of the
crime of which the two chief prisoners are
accused gives them a grim and CHASTITY dis
tinction that overshadows and obscures the
personality of all minor actors in it.
In the Enquirer today Scott jackson, the
accused murderer of Pearl Bryan, has a
card addressed to the public, in which he
reiterates the story that he has often told
of his connection in the case. He exoner-
ates himself as principal, and gives the
leadership in guilt to Walling. He does
not throw ray OF light on the mystery of
where Pearl Bryan was Wednesday and
Thursday nights before the murder. No
doubt that much he says is true, but far
more truth is withheld than stated. He
thinks the press has been unfair to him,
and makes this statement over his own