The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1901-07-31

| have not frind in the World and a
| long ways from home so take my word
frinds and let Whiskey a lone | ask
the people Of the country to help me
| am poor man with out money or
frinds so good by to all
RoBT CARTER.
The above was brought to THE
LEADER office a few weeks ago by Dep
uty Sheriff J. ID. Blue, with verbal
request from the writer that it should
be published in these columns for the
good it might do others. 1t is pub
lished just as received, without the
change of a sentence, word or letter.
At the time it was received our space
was very much crowded, and it was
placed in a pigeon hole of the editors
desk to await "a more convenient sea
son." when we could accompany its
publication with statement of some
additional facts about the miserable
man who wrote it, and offer few warn
ing comments of our own on the awful
and degrading results of whisky sell
ing and strong drink.
Five or six years ago Robt. Carter
was weaver in the Mississippi Mills
at Wesson, receiving fair wages for his
services. He has been afflicted from
childhood with an inherited infrmity,
which causes him to walk with a shut
fling, unsteady gait and difficult to
get up when he lies down. This seems
rather to have increased with advanc-
ing age, and now, at the age of 30 or 30,
he is almost physically helpless, and
receives pauper's pension of 500
per month from Copiah county.
Four or five years ago he left the
Mills at Wesson with the little prop
erty he had accumulated by honest in
dustry, started small country store
or shop about 3 miles east of WeSson,
and, according to general repute and
his own admission, began the unlaw-
full sale of whisky, using his other bus
mess as blind for the carrying on of
this nefarious, soul and body destroy
ing traffic. The sad sequel is told by
Carter himself from his cell in the
Lincoln county jail
But Bob Carter, miserable, wretched
and penitent as he was when he pen
ciled i'll Jail the above pathetic warn
ing to those he would save from a like
| fate, does not more than hint at what
was probably the blacklist chapter in
his history as whisky seller, and TIE
LEADER will briefly recite it here
| On the afternoon of Nov. 2S, 1898, a
country youth named Will Rutland,
who had been to Wesson on horseback
for some purpose, stopped at Carriers
store on his way back home and
bought a bottle of blind tiger whisky
which soon set his brain on fire and
transformed him into a reckless des-
perado. Thus crazed and scarcely re-
sponsible for his conduct, in little
while he met Jim EllZey, an inoffen-
sive country boy, driving an OK team
along the public highway, and without
! provocatiOn or warming, drew a re
volver and shot the boy to death on
the roadside. Will Rutland was con
victed of murder at the May term of
the Lincoln county Circuit Court, 1899.
and is now serving life sentence in
the State Penitentiary, and we are told
| that, though he comedies that he re
ceived no more than what he deserved
and that his punishment is Just, he
contends to this day that his brain was
so fired and dazed by the whisky sold
him by Bob Carter, that he does not
remember anything connected with
the murder.
VIII Rutland told who he bought
the whisky from, and few days after
the murder, Bob Carter was arrested
and tried on the charge before Justice
f. M. Waddell, of this county. He was
found guilty and sentenced by Justice
Waddell to 6 months Imprisonment in
the county Jail and assessed with the
costs of court. He gave bond and
took an appeal from this Judgment to
the Circuit Court, which, at the No
vember term, 1899, affirmed the iudg
ment of Justice Waddell's court.
Meanwhile, Carter had forfeited his
bond and taken up his residence in
Copiah county. Last May his arrest
was effected in that county on capias
| prOfnem from this county aud he was
brought back to serve out his sentence.
This is how the wretched man came to
be in the Lincoln Jail when he wrote
the above lines aud sent them to THE
LEADER, and this is a part of his dark
record he had to look back upon and
contemplate as he lay there in mental
and physical agony, feeling, as he says.
that he did not have a friend in the
world.
On account of his physical condition,
an application was made at the last
June meeting of the Board of Super
visors for his release, signed by DR..
j. II. Butler, Sheriff Applewhite and
5. u. eagle. After the Board had
maturely considered the petition, it
was recorded on the minutes that be
cause Carter was suffering from in
firmities, permanent in their nature"
he should be released from custody,
''On the condition that he shall not here
after engage, either directly or indi-
rectly, in the sale or barter of liquors,
bitters or drinks Which, If drank to er-
cess, tciH produce intorication."
Carter is now living with his wife
and children, we are told, in the coun-
try few miles from Wesson. 1t is
earnestly hoped he will be true to the
nlAdOa that he has ,nl,1 IN LIZ, M 4 A.