The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1906-05-10

Ing ons through the bars at the peo-
pie passing by, or as they pace rest
lsssly up and down th0 narrow con.
lfnas, rejecting on the time Rhsn
they, too, were free to go and come as
! they, please, it is not hard to under.
stand that they have found jail life so
irksome.
The elder Rawlings maintains that
be has absolutely no hope Of his souls
salvation, and says he Is certainly
doomed to 60 to hell. He balieveS he
has committed the ''unpsrdonable
SIM" and has appeared to become In
censed with the spiritual advisers who
during his long Incarceration. have
gone to the jail to minister to him,
and have attempted to disabuse his
mind of the idea that he is doomed to
eternal punishment II he rspents OF
his sins. He was once q minister OF
the gospel, and says he has studied
the Bible closely for years, with the
result that he is convinced that NOR.
tails sometimes reach stag, where
they are beyond the pale Of Gods for.
giveneSS. ri>
The crime for which Rawlings and
his three ns-Milton, Jesss ans
Leonsrd-were convicted was commit
ed on the night Of June 13, 1905. On
that night Carrie and Willie Carter,
daughter and son Of w. L. Carter, q
farmer, living ten miles north Of Val
dosta, were shot down in tho yard Of
their fathers. home, and an attempt
made by the ASSESSING to klll the rest
of the Carter family. 80
The girl, aged fourteen and her
brother, sixteen years old, went out
of their father,s. house soon after the
evening meal to investigate the In
cessaDt barking Of their dog, and as
they reached q point near the garden
fence, q few yards from the house,
both OF them we're shot down, the
little girl being killed almost instant
lg apd the boy living to drag himself
back to the door of his home. For
sometime his parents were afraid to
open the door to take him in for fear
that another voley from the assassinS,
who were secreted In the shade Of
some trees nearby, would end the lives
of other members of the family.
The boy fingered until about sun
rise on the following morning, and
the girls body lay In the cotton field,
where she fell until after daylight.
In the trial Of Rawlings and his
sons, witnesses sw1re that the girls
head had been battered into the
ground by tbs heals of the murderers,
or BY the stocks Of their guos, as she
lay dead.
Suspicion at once fell on J. G. RIw
lings, as he and Garter had been
enemies for long time. It developed
that Rawlings spent the night at Val
dosta, and aU the Coroner's inquest
the next day Carter and his wife and
daughter swore that they had recog-
nized the Rawlings boys as the assas.
sins, as they walked around the Garter
homestead in the moonlight on the
night before.
The boys were arrested that day,
and on the following day, as the elder
Rawlings and his wife drove into town
and to the ] Ill with some clothing for
their sons, the father was taken into
custody and locked up with his boys.
ALI Moore, a negro was arrested a.
Slaunton, thirty miles north of ther s.,
two days later, charged with cVhnpli-
city in the crime, and mede q coufes
sion Of the whole affair. He sworf
that the elder R.wlings hired him to
90 and kill the Carter family. prom
tsiDg him el00 for the work, and
sending bis three sons to sec that the
murders were carried out as arranged
At the trial Moore claimed that
when they reached the Garter home,
steae, about a mile from the home Of,
Rawlngs, that his nerve failed him
and he refused to take any part in the
murders. He maintained that Milton
and Jesse Rawlings fired the shots
chat killed the two Garter childre, !
and that he (Moore) then becam 2
frightened and ran away. His testi-
:mony was corroborsted in many points
5by, the Testimony Of tha Garter fam
,tly. Ss t4.4
=, After the conviction of the men,
Rawlings acknowledged that he hireo
;Gbe negro Moore to kill the Carriers,
but that his boys were not present,
knew nothing of the arrangement be-
tween him and the negro, and had ab-
solutely nothing to do With the muir.
ders. He has stoutly maintained this
all the tins.
E1rthsrmore, Rawlings says he did
not intend to have any Of the Carriers
harmed except the old man, and that
it was not any part Of bis arrange
ment TO kill other members Of the
family. On the sther hand, Moore
swears that he had positive instruc
lions, as also had the boys, to kill the
entire Carter family and then burn
the house.
II Moore wss aotuated In turning
States evidence by o hope Of escaping
The full penalty Of the law for bis part
IN the tragedy, he was doomed to dis
appointment, as the Jury brought In
q verdict Of murder in the first degree,
and he, too, was sentenced to death.
, to,,, ,,,;th r q Porlfmup Milton and