Bascom Lamar Lunsford sang it this way, which is in many respects different from the DT and what has been quoted above:

Pearl Bryan

In Greencastle lived Pearl Bryan
Who is know this wide world o'er
Beheaded by Scott Jackson
Whom she really did adore.

In a cab one rainy evening
Just before the close of day
Up rode Walling and Jackson
And with Pearl they rode away.

Little did poor Pearl think
As she left her home so gay
That the suitcase that she carried
Would hide her head some day.

The driver tells the story
Of how poor Pearl did moan
All the way from Cincinnati
To where the cruel deed was done.

Next morning the people were excited
They looked around and they said,
"Here lies a woman's body
"But where, oh where is the head?"

In came Pearl's little sister
And she fell down on her knees
Pleading with Scott Jackson,
"Give me sister's head, oh please!"

Jackson, he was so stubborn
That this is what he said:
"If you meet your sister in heaven
"You will find the missing head."

You girls who fall in love
You still may be misled.
Don't take any hasty actions;
Oh, girls, don't lose your head!

DRO
From singing of Bascom Lamar Lunsford