Classic Poem

A horrible crime was committed—
Soon was brought to light;
For parents to look on their headless girl,
What a sad and terrible sight.
The girl who was beheaded,—
Pearl Bryan was her name.
It was done by dental students a studying for fame.—

This is a horrible tragedy,
Its lines are sad to read;
Walling and Scott Jackson
Are the men who did the deed.
Scott Jackson has his sentence,
The deed he did deny;
On the thirtieth day of June,
On the scaffold he must die.

He tried to plead insanity,
An appeal to obtain,
His lawyers pleaded to the court,
But found their plea in vain.
Walling's case is not decided,
Though soon it will be tried;
The jury will make the verdict
His punishment to decide.

The worst crime ever committed,
So sad we can't forget;
To all such cruel wretches
Their lives should pay the debt.
The parents have the sympathy
Of all our human race.
How sad it was to find their child
And could not see her face.

It's true it's very sad to die,
And pay a debt this way;
“No sympathy for such a wretch,”
You hear the people say.
At last the case is left with God
To guide his wretched soul;
If he does not confess on earth
At the Judgment it will be told.

Poor troubled parents,
Your grief is hard to bear;
Your child may be in heaven,
You should try to meet her there.
We all must take the bitter cup
And be numbered with the dead;
If you meet your child in heaven,
You will find the missing head.