The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-10-06

and daughters as they met them. When
the last had been killed. the bodies We're
TO be thrown into one room and the
house set on fire. Once it had burned
TO the ground the Rawlings hoped that
every evidence of their crime would
have vanished.
This was the scheme as conceived by
Rawlings, ST. Fortunately. is succeed
ed only in part. He was wise enough
TO know that suspicion of foul play. II
there were any in the. minds OF the
netghbors would naturally fall upon
him, for his threats against the Carriers
had been spread on all sides. He, there
fore. determined TO have no direct part
IN the murder, but TO have Il thoroughly
substantiated alibi If he We're called
upon to give an account of himself the
night the Carriers died. SO II happened
that he was not with the boys When
they made their attack upon the Car
ters, but was seen in the town of Val
dosta, a. few miles south of the Carter
and Rawlings plantations.
During the afternoon of June 13, the
Rawlings boys ook ALI Moore, their
atcomplice. to a cabin on their planta-
ton and shut him up there, telling him
to keep out of sight and that they
would bring him his supper later. They
We're taking no chances of his losing
his nerve and crawling the last mo-
ment.
When the shadows had grown long
the Rawlings met at this cabin as pre-
arranged. The last directions were
given, probably by Milton. who, as
oldest. had charge of the party. Then
all four. including Moore. went care
fully through the brush. where it was
necessary through the open fields. to
the Carter plantation. After the sun
had sunk and there was little danger
of their being seen the murderers
rJ~,lI to 1850, ,lNz l,,,.- ,,,l ,.,stol
Imagine the suspense of those boys
waiting there With murder in their
hearts. No matter how much they may
have been murderers by instinct, pro-
Vided that such a thing is possible,
they had youth and inexperience to
overcome. Perhaps they wished many
times that the whole affair was only a
dream, that they would wake up from
the nightmare just as they were killing
the Carriers. ALT Moore frankly cols~
fesSed on the witness stand that he lost
his nerve and had he not been kept
where he was by a stronger will of his
boy confederates he would nave thrown
up the job. But his was the weaker
mind and theirs the stronger will.
About S O'Clock the Carriers vera dis
turhed by the barking of n of their
dogs. Then every dog on the place
took it up. Thinking that it might be
Il friend, or possibly a stranger seeking
Information about the roads. Willie
Carter. year old, and Carrie.
his sister, who was only a year young
er, and their baby sister, went out to
see what had caused the umpus.
First Attack.
Mr.. and Mrs. Carter, with their two
older daughters, Lola and Leila, We're
sitting inside the house. Suddenly they
heard three shots fired in quick success
sion. Rushing 10 the door, Carter saw
his son, Willie Carter. crawling pain
fully toward him OF the ground. his
baby girl lay but u few feet away from
the do0r. Carrie was nowhere In sight.
Quickly he sna,ched up the little girl,
and grasping the boy. dragged him to
the house. Quickly, because he knew
that there We're other bullets whence
these that had wounded his children
had come. Once inside the house he
barricaded the door and locked the
shutters. Then the siege began.
inside the house Carter, still unable
To handle mis- u OH account of the
wounds Rawlings had given him sew
eial weeks before, waited a~nXiouSly ior
the attack, which he knew must come
soon. Beside him crouched his two
girls, fearing. they knew no what.
In another corner was the mother.
bending over the little girl and wound
ed boy. The baby girl soon came to
herself. The bullet only graZed her.
But the boy vas desperately hurt. Fart
of the time he was unconscious, Dut
when he was himself he noaneu PIT
eously for water, water which ms
father could not bring him, for the well
Was in range of the cnemy's bullets.
And Carter knew that those bullets
were from the guns of the RAWLINGS,
for the little girl had recognized one OF
the boys.
Tried to Burn the House.
Outside lowered the Rawlings and ALI
Moore. fearing to approach the house
lest they be shot down by Carter. They
waited an hour in quiet. thinking that
daughter. They could hear the means
of the dying boy in the house. and
again ALI Moore lost his nerve and
would have gone away had the Raw
lings not compelled him to stay.
Losing hope that Carter would come
into the yard, the Rawlings determined
to set the house on fire and either burn
the rest Of the family to death or smoke
them out. They collected bundles OF
corn shucks lying near, and began Pill
ing them against the side OF the mousse
in which there were no windows. Lola
Carter. peeping through a crack IN the
chimney. saw one Of the boys with his
arms full Of dry shucks. She, loo, rec
ognized Il Rawlings.
She called to her father, and he, as
we'll as he could, fitted his gun into the
crack in the chimney. When he heard
the thud of falling corn shucks he
fired.
Immediately there was the sound OF
hurrying feet. Then quiet, although Lola
watched for another hour to see If more
shucks be piled against the house. she
could see nothing. Apparently the muir
derers had been frightened away bS
one shot. They had, but Carter was
not sure of this. All through the long
night the terrified family waited anc
watched. Before dawn the wounde
boy died.
Murdered Girl in Cornfield.
When at last the night of horror was
ended, Carter went out with his wife
to look for the missing daughter. They
found her In a nearby cornfield. hel
face mashed beyond recognition by tn
boots of the tiends who had killed her
The neighborhood was aroused
There were talk of a lynching If thu
murderers could be found. Old maj
Rawlings declared that neither he no
any of his family had been near tn
Carriers house that night. He proved
his alibi. But the evidence given b!
the Carter girls was sufficient to caus'
the arrest first of the Rawlings boy
and then of their father. Then Al
Moore was AIKEN.
An extra session of the cour wa
held in order tina people should no