Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-11-24
FEUD Will END
ON THE GALLOWS
METHODIST CONFERENCE AND
FOUR t.sNoIncs TOO MUCH
FOR GEORGIA TOWN
CHILDREN SHOT DOWN
Quarrel Between Tive Powerful Re-
v!ssi Preachers Started Between
Their Children on Trivial Cause.

'"N" ShHofch on Afastat AahAes
Valdosta. Ga, Nov, 2a.~~A Meahsp.
dist conference and four hangings,
all within a period Of q week IL b.
lieved TO be too much for an ordIn.
artIy quiet town. 30 at least the
people OF vaidosta believe. and they
would like 10 see one or the other OF
the attractions postponed. But the
way things looks at present II ap.
pears very probable that the whole
program may be carried out accord.
ing to schedule.
The scheduled executions are
those OF the Rawiins. father and
sons. whose case has attracted atten.
ton throughout the country. All.
Moore. the negro accomplice Of the
Rawlins. In to be hanged next Fri.
day. The elder Rawlins IN to 70 20
the gallows three days later and al
the end OF the same week the two
Rawlins boys are under sentence 10
You take the kldneys-overwark
seems 10 be some chance that the
Rawlins boys may obtain a respite
or commutation of sentence, but the
case of the father. already carried 10
the highest tribunal In the land. ap
pears hopeless.
The execution of the father. his
sons and their negro accomplice will
mark the end Of one Of the most
merciless and deadly feuds ever r.
corded In the annals Or this country.
Three men were convicted for the
murder of two little children, Bob
and Annie Carter. In an attempt 10
exterminate the family Of w. l.. Car.
ter.
Carter and Rawlins had been pow
erful revival preachers In the Meth.
odist church. About twenty years
ago they married into wealthy fami
lies and settled on adjoining pIanta.
tons. The Rawlins family comprises
three boys and two girls. Carter had
one son and three daughters.
The quarrel between the two FAINT.
lies originally started among the
children and was most trivial NJ.
fair. But the elders took Il up and
then began the feud.. Finally the
trouble reached the fighting stage
and II was mutually understood that
trouble must ensue whenever mem.
bers of the two families chanced to
meet
One evening the cattle In the Car.
ter barn made a great rumpus.. Bob
and Annie, two of the children, ran
out to learn the cause of the trouble.
Carter had reached the porch when
he saw the children shot down by
men armed with shotguns. Suspect
ing that 1t was but the forerunner ot
OF the murder of the entire family,
he ran into the house and barred the
doors. The children had been mur"
dered outright. To still their dying
cries the murderers had ground
their heels into the chiIdren's faces
and kicked them until their ribs
were broken. All night long the mur'
derers besieged the house, hoping
for an opportunity to kill the occn-
pants. Mrs. Carter's hair turned
white In the night and the rest Of the
family became nervous wrecks.
On the strength of q statement by
Moore, the negro. the crime was
charged against Rawlins and his
sons Moore and another nego named
Turner. Rawlins was in another
town on the night Of the murder, but
was arrested on Moore's claim that
he had plotted the crime. Moore said
the instructions were to kill every
of the family and burn the
house. He said he had been paid
s10G and that he and Turner were
given permission to keep all the
money that might be found In the
building. They were tried with the
result that the elder Rawlins, his
sons Milton and Jesse, and Moore
were sentenced to the gallows. and
Leonard Rawlins and the negro Tur.
ner to life Imprisonment. *.