She'd grown up hungry, she'd grown up poor She left her home in Arkansas She wanted to see the deep blue sea She traveled across Tennessee She met a man along the way He introduced himself as Richard Slade Poor Mary thought that she might die When she saw the ocean for the first time 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 Slade tipped his hat and winked his eye And turned away without goodbye She sat on her bed and thought of home With the sea breeze whistling all alone In hope and loneliness she crossed the floor And undid the latch on her front door 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