Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-10-06
fEUDS STILL EXIST
IN PARTS OF SOUTH
The Rawlins Family Make At
tempts to Exterminate
the Carriers.
w .CHiLDREN KILLED
Three of the Rawlings Clan Are Taken
and by Strictly Legal Proceedings,
Without a Lynchins, They
Pay Penalty for Crime.
From the Washington Times.
we sow. so shall We reap"

rom the " dSlll6 lOi lAICos
"As we SOW, SO shall We reap"
A little more than six weeks ago in
Georgia, a man-at least, he wears the
semblance of a man-plotted the exter-
mination of a family-planned one OF
the most fiendish murders ever con-
ceived by a human brain. To aid him
in the contamination OF this crime he
called upon his three sons-they ala
his bidding.
Today this man and his own family
at least the male part Of it-stand I'M
der the shadow OF the gallows. He
himself is sentenced to death along
with his two eldest sons, while the
son has been sent to a living
death. Retributive justice has been
swift-swift and also according to law.
When the decree of the courts go into
effect a Georgia family will legally
cease to exist.
j. G. Rawlings, aged fifty, will hang
for i~nstigating the murder of the Car
ter family.
Milton Rogers, his son, aged nineteen,
will hang tor the murder OF Carrie
Carter.
Jesse Rawlings aged seventeen, will
hang for the murder. of Willie Carter.
Leonard Rawlings, aged sixteen, Will
spend his life behind prison bars Tor
assisting his brothers in the murder OF
the Carter children.
Frequently brothers have been tried
and sentenced for taking part In the
same murder, but seldom has 1t ever
been the lot of a judge to sentence IA
Their n son at the same time for
murder.
Near Neighbors for Years.
For years the families of Rawlings
and Carter lived on plantations which
marched together in the Hahira dis
trict, Georgia. For years the bad blood
between the two had seethed and boiled.
AT last 1t boiled over, with the result
that two young Carter children We're
brutally murdered, and the Rawlings
are now to pay the penalty with their
lives.
Rawlings and w. L. Carter are both
former ministers, both have preached
the gospel; but it is not recorded that
either of them lived good lives for,
though Carter has not been sentenced
to death for murder and Rawlings has,
yet the former has long had an evil
reputation in LoWndes county.
Several months ago one Of Rawlings
sons was prosecuted in court for at
tempting to drown Willie Carter in the
small river which flows close to the
homes of both. Young Rawlings was
acquitted, but this did not appease Raw
lings, ST. He was spelling for a fight
when he met Mr.. Carter in the court
room, and he had it.
The men fought up and down the
iOIln IoOlil III liz v dldOold NOolI ONoN
fought like demons, while other men
who knew of the trouble between the
two looked on. Rawlings was armed
with a knife which he stroye to use.
Carter held his wrist in a vice like grip,
striving always to keep the glittering
blade from his heart. But Rawlings was
the more powerful man and slowly he
bent Carter backward, back until he
lost his balance and fell to the floor.
The grip on Rawlings wrist was broken.
Quick as a fash the stronger man
thrust with the long knife. Carter
was wounded on the hand and his
throat was cut. Thinking he had done
his work Rawlings fled.
Rawlings Hate Grows Apace.
But though Carter was badly wound
ed and was picked up covered with
his blood, the cut was not fatal. Since
that time he has grown slowly better
of his wounds.
While his enemy grew stronger day
by day, Rawlings became more n
more convinced that his only hope for
peace lay in the death Of Carter n
his whole family. For the Carriers
hated the Carriers with the deadly hate
Of the southern feudists, than which
there is no hate more deadly. 1t gen.
crates a spirit which does not consider
it a towards deed to shoot another
man from ambush, or even to assassin
- 80 III 1tte ~ ~ = II si4O =
pondered on his wrongs and bided his
time. That time was soon TO come as
ne thought.
About the 1st of June, when Carter
was on the high o to recovery, Raw
lings was bound over to keep the peace
under a $1,000 bond. The Rev. S. S.
Kemp, a clergyman who vas ac-
quainted with both men, went to them
separately and asked them to drop their
quarrel. He testified later that Carter
had signiied his willingness to keep his
hands off Rawlings, provided Rawlings
would agree to DO the same thing in
regard to himself. But Rawlings ripped
out an oath when Mr.. Kemp APP
preached him on the subject and swore
that he would never sign a peace COM
pact with the mar who had wronged
him. He declared that IL he were not
under a bono to keep the peace he
would steal up behind Carter and
shoot him in the back, or waylay him
on a dark night. XIII him he would
one way or another.
But as Rawlings nursed his hatred
~ dawned upon him that 1t would new
er do to kill Carter alone If he was to
be free forever from dread of Carter
he must wipe out the whole family.
root and branch. This course he deter
mined upon. AT first, perhaps, because
of the bono under which he had been
placed, perhaps he was afraid that his
crime might be found out too easily IL
he himself carried it through, Rawlings
endeayored to hire negroes to commit
the wholesale murder. He approached
several. offering them $1e0 If they would
undertake the job. First he tried a
negro by the name of fran Turner.
Turner e in turn to Mitch Johnson
and old him that Rawlings was will
ing to give him, Johnson, $125 If he
would undertake the murder of the
Carriers.
Finally, however, Rawlings found a
willing tool in a negro by the name of
All Moore. a laborer In one of the near
by mines. But ever then he was not
sure that the murder would be carried
out TO his satisfaction. Therefore, he
called upon his sons to help him.
They are mere boys. Milton, Jesse
and Leonard, the Oldest not quite 20.
ard the youngest about 10. But they
must be chips OF the old block, or their
father must have a wonderful control
over his sons for they fell in with the
plan, how readily no n knows. This
is the plan as unfolded by ALI Moore,
their accomplish. when he turned
states evidence recently.
Plan Of Murder.
The Rawlings boys. with ALI Moore.