So Far from Home

Pearl Bryan, the daughter of a wealthy farmer, was the belle of Greencastle, Indiana. When Pearl’s body was found in the Highlands of Kentucky, the entire town grieved. Popular among her peers and admired by all who knew her, Pearl Bryan was a girl of the most amiable disposition. Too amiable in fact, said her friends, and inclined to yield to the requests of urgings of others. Pearls indiscretion led to the pregnancy that drove her so far from home.

Scott Jackson was arrested for the murder of Pearl Bryan in February 1896. He had known Pearl Bryan in Greencastle and was believed to be the father of her unborn child. At the time of Jackson’s arrest Dr. S. E. Hyndman, performed measurements on his head to assess his character. His conclusion closely matched public opinion::

"My analysis of Scott Jackson reveals a bold, fearless, intense organization, with a perverted amativeness, and unwise gratification of this faculty has changed his physical, intellectual and moral condition and debased his higher mental qualities. He readily and quickly reasons from cause to effect; is intensely selfish in whatever he does; would mislead anyone to assist himself and has strong perceptive powers. He is a good planner and a fearless executer; once his mind is made up to do a thing, neither God, nor man, nor the devil, would prevent the attempt, every faculty would be perverted."

Alonzo Walling, Scott Jackson’s roommate, was arrested in February 1896 as Jackson’s accomplice in the murder of Pearl Bryan. Cincinnati phrenologist Dr. S. E. Hyndman analyzed Walling’s character by measuring his head and came to this conclusion:

“Alonzo Walling is easily led in the direction of friendship and in this, he would often do things which his better nature would revolt against. He would not go back on a friend until the very last, and then only to save his own life if he had promised to stand by him. He likes the society of the viscous better than that of the higher order. He would plunge into danger and calculate the chances afterward. His standard of morals is not of a higher order, his perceptive powers are small and if he were to be influenced, he would have to be managed through flattery.”

Will Wood was Pearl’s second cousin and closest confidant, but he was not to be trusted. He was a rude braggart who boasted of his sexual relations with Pearl. The Cincinnati Enquirer summed up Will Wood’s Greencastle reputation saying, “The youth is generally recognized as a cigarette fiend of unbalanced mind and of a totally depraved nature.” Many in Greencastle believed that Will Wood was the father of Pearl’s unborn child and was ultimately responsible for her death. Her family stated without hesitation that even if Jackson wielded the knife, they held Will Wood equally responsible for Pearl’s murder.