The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1914-04-11
WALTERS WANTS
/ TO ADDRESS CROWD
| ON EASTER SUNDAY
ALLEGED kIDNAPPER OF soBsie
DUNBAR TO MAKE SPEECH
FROM CELL WINDOW.
SAYS RE is CONFIDENT
He WILL Be ACQUITTED
Travelling Tinker Declares He WIN
Prove That Dunbar and Not HimseS,
Is the kidnapper-Expects Many
Witnesses to Testify For Him.

Opelousas, La, April 11.-From the
window of his cell William c. Walters,
the peddler who is alleged to have
kidnapped Bobbie Dunbar expects to
tell his story to an Easter-dyed Sunday
crowd on the public square.
Il want to tell them that am in
nocent!" Walters exclaimed vehement
ly. &C. P. Dunbar. who claims to be
the father of the boy, is the real kid
napper; and l want to tell the people
of Opelousas that | am charged with q
terrible crime, the punishment for
which is the gibbet. want the people
of Opelousas to hear that from my lips,
on Easter Sunday, when their hearts
should be clean.
Walters should have a large audi
ence If he is permitted to speak. a.
Opelousas is filling with visitors from
all over the parish drawn here by the
trial. The crowd will also be aug
mented by baseball enthusiasts who
come to OpeloLsas for the opening Of
the season. Several hundred are en-
| pected to come on an excursion from
New Orleans.
That the crowd will be large is evi-
denced from the large number Of let
ters received by the sheriff and other
public men here. People of every sec
tion of the state will be on hand to
hear evidence in the famous case,
which has already attracted nation
wide attention.
William c. Walters, whose fate will
soon rest in the IL jurymen who VIII
be impaneled next Monday, is thor
oughly confident that he will be 40
quilted. He believes he win prove that
he did not kidnap Bobbie Dunbar, who
disappeared August 2s, 1912. from the
fishing camp of his father at Swayze
lake.
Not Altogether Poor.
Walters claims that he is not alto
gether poor man, nor is he a vaga-
bond, tramp, itinerant tinker, a stove
mender or a robber. II he had been
as poor as he has been represented,
he states that he could never have
fought his case as hard and as long as
he has been doing.
During the week Walters received q
check from friend of his father who
is earnest in his conviction that the
alleged kidnapper Is innocent.
When asked whether OF not he was
satisfied with the treatment of the peo-
pie of opelousas Walters said: "Since
l have been in OpeloCsas have no
kick concerning the way have been
treated. The sheriff and the people Of
opelousas have treated me like gentle
men, for~all of which / am greatly
indebted to them. I have scores oI
friends here and expect that VIII
make many more before the end of In,
trial"
walters has invented what he teIrm.
moving picture of the case, which h,
takes great pride in showing toi III,
people who are daily standing in iron
OF his cell. This moving picture scor
sists Of every picture Of ~ interestes
parties In the famoss onooA which h,
collected from TIE neu1o11es b,
asks bystanders wh1<1,6r " ii the,
can depict any ressu> uk 1sHvee,
the picture which - y :,
Bobbie Dunbar. but on6f 4
Bruce Anderson. and & 4
OF the real Bobbie Duntkr, y ~
lpeared a short while befas No.
tsriously disappeared frop ~
lake. He also points out TIA
ct the boy now IN the possessid
Danbars resembles Julia AZ
nere than Mrs. Q. Percy DunSe{
el~srts Many Witnesses.
al(er1 has not been Informed III
1r1,11 - the witnesses who wlll s.
~ pm other states 70 &bot1n
Ian. but he is osrtaIn 4
ave larrS nunSu
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