The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-21

waning duIIlSltu liltl. tdliS iu JdiQdigs
Jackson. after he had returned from a va
cation. spent at Greencastie, told him of
Pearl Bryan's condition. and asked him to
relieve her by a criminal operation. lie
said Jackson's plans varied soon after
wards. His first purpose was abortion, his
next to give the girl quick poison. so as TO
create the impression of suicide; his third
purpose was to poison her. cut her body to
pieces and hide the pieces in sewer catch
basins. These facts and admissions came
out on the night of the arrest and the two
or three days following. and were sufficient
TO hold the two prisoners without bail
a telegram from Greencastle from Sheriff
Piummer. who was there Feb. ,. first di-
rected tho arrest Of Jackson and Walling.
"A telegraph operator at Greencastle. Mr..
Early, an acquaintance of Scott Jackson
and OF Pearl Bryan. had learned from Will
Wood that Pearl Bryan had left home os-
tensibly TO visit relatives IN Indianapolis.
but had gone to Cincinnati at Jackson's re-
quest. MIR. Early told Sheriff Plummer and
the detectives this story Feb. ., the day of
VIII Wood, aged twenty years, and a sec
ond cousin of Pearl Bryan. was then
brought into the case. He was the son of
Rev. Delo5 NJ. Wood. presiding elder in the
Methodist Church. residing in Greencastle.
Ind. 1t was by VIII Wood that Scott jack
son was first introduced to Pearl Bryan.
1t was with Will Wood whom Jackson cor
responded about Pearl Bryan. and through
whom she was induced by jackson TO come
TO Cincinnati. 1t was Will Wood that saw
Pearl Bryan off for Cincinnati at the Green
castle depot.
JACKSON'S LETTER TO WOOD.
On Feb. . Win Wood was at South Bend,
lrd. The next day he was brought, under
arrest, TO Cincinnati. A most important
letter from Scott Jackson TO him, mailed
10 South Bend. Ind, was intercepted. In
this letter jackson asked Will Wood to
counterfeit Pearl Bryan's handwriting in d
letter to her parents and have it mailed
from Lafayette. Ind. He asked Wood to
make her say in the letter that she was
tired of living at home and had gone TO
Chicago. and that it would be some time
before they would hear from her. This let
ter of Feb. . from Jackson 10 Wood begun
with the words, II am afraid | have made
a big mistake" Then followed the direc-
tons how TO write the counterfeit letter.
Wood never received this letter. VIII
Wood was arrested, but was 1nally re-
leased. Whatever share he had in the crime
was committed III Indiana. There was no
evidence that he knew that murder was
ever contemplated as a part OF the crime.
lie did know that an abortion was to be
attempted. However, all indications that
an abortion had been attempted were en-
tirely absent from the body of the dead
gITi. Ii was a case or murder pure and SIM
| pie.
ON Saturday, Feb. u, two weeks after the
murder, George H.. jackson, a colored
coachman, cautiously tod a policeman that
ne had driven a cab with two men anc a
girl on the night OF Jan. 81 from Cincinnati
across the Ohio river TO the place where
Pearl Bryan's dead body was found. He oe-
scribed the route infinitely. After telling
his story again at the police station he was
taken before the mayor and chief of po-
lice the same night, where he told II over.
He was Immediately taken to Jail, where
he picked out Walling from a score of
young men and identified him as the
stranger who met him after midnight Jan.
81 at Elm and George streets and employed
him TO drive a carriage with a SICK LADY
10 Newport" and who: from Newport TO
the END OF the journey, sat on the seat
beside him and compelled him. with a re-
volver. to drive on beyond Newport. He
said the horse was a gray.
A cab with Pearl Bryan and Jackson in
it had been seen to drive away from
WallinSford'S saloon. at Longworth and
Elm streets, at 100 Friday evening, Jan.
81. during a rain shower. George jackson
in his description said that the horse had a
fashion of going by lunges and starts and
that sometimes he would take the bit in
his mouth and pull the carriage by, the
reins. He said he only saw Scott jackson
in the DARK, when he got out of the car
so did not undertake to identify him except
as To size.
THE CABMAN'S SECOND DRIVE
Immediately after the Identification Of
Walling. which was near midnight, George
H.. jackson was required TO drive out on
the route he had described. Sheriff Plum
mer and two detectives were in the carriage
with him and several carriages followed.
The night was cloudy and there was no
moon. There had been a full moon on the
night of the murder. George II. Jackson,
on that cloudy moonless night, followed
the unfrequented road with precision. The
route was about six miles from the New
port bridge. The distance by the AleXan-
dria pike from Newport bridge 10 the place
of the murder was only three miles. Ar
irving at Fort Thomas. within a hundred
yards OF the scene of the murder, Jackson
stopped in his test drive. but became De-
wildered and failed to discover the spot OF
the murder. Driving back to Newport the
carriage passed the tragic grounds. George
Jackson recognized 1t. jumped out and soon
found the big fiat rock by the roaosiue,
ing as near where the carriage stopped on
the @b fatal tbd f nifg6t; Saturday the detectives
learned from Chester Muller, a livery sta
BILE keeper. that a single seated rockaway
had been out ali night of Jan 81 until about
8 or 4 O'Clock on Saturday morning, rep;
l. and an unknown man returned II and PAID
for it. The man who hired 1t late trtday
afternoon. Jan. 81 was also unknown. ar
riage. horse and harness, when returned,
were covered with mud. George ii. jack
son was sent for when the cab was found.
He was put to driving it, with a gray horse
attached. He said that this was not the
horse. He was right. Another gray morse
was attached. which had Just came In IRON
q hard drive. This, he said, was more IKE
the horse. but it did not go by "lungeS ana
starts" Later that night, after the morse
had rested. he tried il again. 1t went by
hinges and starts and took the bit in its
mouth. Just as Jackson had described II.
II was the horse that went out on the MUIR
Goorge II. Jackson said that on the way
out the night of the murder he got scared
of hearing a woman moan in the carriage
and started to get cut. when waning drew
a revolver and compelled him To drive on.
He also said that when the two men got
out of the carriage with the woman they
told him to turn the carriage around and
wait till they come. While they were gone
he hoard a noise that frightened him. lie
left the horse and ran across fields and
farms back To Cincinnati, guided by the
sheen of the city lights on the clouds.
Meantime Pearl BryanS body had Deen
buried with great Solemnity at GreencaStle.
her schooimates acting as pallbearers. Bits
of evidence were picked up day by day. ON
Feb Q a woman turned over TO the police
\ black velvet hat she had found near the
crossing of the electric railway and the
Chesap cake & Ohio Railroad, just outside
of Newport. With this hat was a bloody
bandkerchief. which had been wrapped
around a stone and placed in the hat 10
keen it from being blown away. The NAT
was Pearl Bryan's and the ~handkerchief
was Scott JackSon'S. About this time the
night clerk at Heider's Hotel testified that
between l and 4 a. m. of Feb. /, the night
of the murder. AlonZo WallinS came INTO
the hotel. shook the water out OF his over
coat. paid for a room and went to bed with
out registering
A DRAMATIC INCIDENT.
From the discovery of the headless corpse
through all the search for the perpetrators
of the crime. and their subsequent trial
conviction and Imprisonment awaiting exc
cution. the history of the crime is full OF
thrilling incidents and dramatic situations
After all that has been revealed by scores