They found Mary Bellows cuffed to the bed
  With a rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head
  O poor Mary Bellows
  She'd grown up hungry, she'd grown up poor
  She left her home in Arkansas
  O poor Mary Bellows
  She wanted to see the deep blue sea
  She travelled across Tennessee
  O poor Mary Bellows
  She met a man along the way
  He introduced himself as Richard Slade
  O poor Mary Bellows
  Poor Mary thought that she might die
  When she saw the ocean for the first time
  O poor Mary Bellows
  She checked into a cheap little place
  Richard Slade carried in her old suitcase
  O poor Mary Bellows
  "I'm a good girl, sir", she said to him
  I couldn't possibly permit you in
  O poor Mary Bellows
  Slade tipped his hat and winked his eye
  And turned away without goodbye
  O poor Mary Bellows
  She sat on her bed and thought of home
  With the sea breeze whistling all alone
  O poor Mary Bellows
  In hope and loneliness she crossed the floor
  And undid the latch on the front door
  O poor Mary Bellows
  They found her the next day cuffed to the bed
  A rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head
  O poor Mary Bellows
  So mothers keep your girls at home
  Don't let them journey all alone
  Tell them this world is full of danger
  And to shun the company of strangers
  O poor Mary Bellows
  O poor Mary Bellows