The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-02-24

CINCINNATI, Feb. 23.-When the
headless body of Pearl Bryan was dis
covered near Fort Thomas on Feoru-
airy 1, the first feeling was chill OF
horror at the revolving, devilish IN
genuity of the crime.
-Four days later. when the confessed
mariners in it, Scott jackson and Alon-
20 Walling. not to mention the lad
William Wood, were arrested, the ex-
citement over this unspeakable afro
city became passionate, indeed almost
furious. 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
wav to that of vengeance. Pearl
Bryan's valise, stained crimson with
her own blood, shed by hands into
which she had confided herself, all too
trustingly, for relief and protection;
Jackson's blood-stained coat and Wall
ing's blood-bespattered pantaloons-
those intensified the horror and in
famed public Indignation. Nor did the
fact of the exceptional high standing
of the families of the victim and of the
inventors and perpetrators 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 a welcome shelter
from the ominous storm of human pas
sion gathering around them on the out
side.
A lapse of three weeks since the
preparation of the crime, together
with the undoubted discovery of the
participants. as well as the prospect of
speedily committing them in the hands
of the law, has had the effect of al
laying the
IMPULSIVE IMPATIENCE
of the public sentiment During
the past week. in the absence
of new and striking developments
the public interest in these accused
men, Jackson and Walling, has as
stunned a new phase. That fascination
which mystery has for the masses has
drawn visitors, not by the score and
hundreds, to the Jail, but by the
thousands every day. Beginning on
Monday of last week the flow to the
Jail of curious humanity was continu-
Gus 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 increased to 1900. The jailer and
his guards were absolutely worn out in
letting the people in and out. This
BECAME so BURDENSOME
that on and after Saturday all visitors
were excluded. In fact, this excite
ment was telling on the nerves of the
two leading prisoners, Scott Jackson
and Alonzo Walling. Not one visitor
in hundred cared to see William
Wood. A limit was placed upon the
time visitors were permitted to stay.
AT intervals of a very few minutes the
Jail was cleared and a new lot of sight
seers were admitted. In the CORR
doris of the Jail the visitors were ar
ranged in two lines, facing inward and
forming a lane through which the two
chief prisoners were led, slowly, one at
a time, for public inspection, like
horses at an auction, before a group
of buyers. Both Jackson and Walling
stood this ordeal while it lasted with
steady nerve and firm steps. Weari-
ness and depression came to both at
the close of the day after this was
over.
William Wood, the boy who is &C
cuSed with aiding and abetting these
criminals, was an interested spectator
of these exhibitions. From the balcony
of his corridor which is two stories
above Jackson's and Wallings, he
could command an excellent view of
the whole performance. Visitors usual
ly simply looked ait the prisoners much
after the manner of
VIEWING SAVAGE BEASTS
at a menagerie, without speaking a
word AS to the character of these
the singular fact is that at
least two-thirds are women. Of these
the greater number are blooming girls
with rosy cheeks and bright eyes. Once
In a while a group of matronly women
call but this is extremely rare. OF
course, the most of the callers have
been from Cincinnati and the neighbor-
hood. A highly respectable minority
are from Indiana and more distant
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
subjects, and meet a hearty reception
What inspires the desire to see the
prisoners is a problem. Mystery has
it's charms for men. That Jail has held
many man with a dark secret locked
n his breast. 1t never enclosed in it's
gloomy walls two men with a. blacker
Or more CHASTITY secret weighing on
their consciences, if they have amy,
;han that of Pearl Bryant's murder,
he secret of which one or the other,
)r both, of these men have in their
guilty. keeping. Their distinction as
in a crime that will go
INTO the calendar as one of the
MOST sINGULARLY ATROCIoUS
Vt the last decade greatly enhances
public interest in them and in meas
lro accounts for curiosity to see them /
There is also in the public mind a be-
ief that they are in great danger of dy-
ng by the sentence of Judge Lynchs I
court, which makes them objects of |
peculiar interest. This belief may not be |
veil grounded, but it exists
Interest in the present contents of |
hat Jail Is shown by the very passerby |
IN the street. Groups of men and boys I
,ause and stare at 1T. Market women J