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