Lowndes County GaArchives News.....Rawlings, Rev. J. G. (Preacher is Hanged) 1906
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Jackie King fammaw51@yahoo.com August 4, 2005, 1:30 pm

The Washington Post, Dec. 5 1906 1906
Preacher is Hanged

Rev. J. G. Rawlings (Rollins) Dies for Murder in Georgia

He Declares Sons Innocent

Valdosta, Ga.  Dec. 4 (1906)-With the declaration of the innocence of his sons, 
the Rev. J. G. Rawlings to-day stopped on the scaffold and paid the penalty of 
the crime of which he had been found guilty, and which decision had been 
affirmed in higher courts five times.  With him, Alf Moore, the negro, whose 
confession furnished the convicting evidence, was hanged.  Both fell through 
the drop at 10:55 a. m., and life was pronounced extinct twelve minutes later.
	The expectation that the negro would make a final confession 
exonerating Milton, Jesse, and Leonard Rawlings from participation in the 
murder of Willie and Carrie Carter, July 13, 1905, proved a disappointment.   
He reiterated his previous statement, and declared that Milton fired the fatal 
shots.
				Petition for Boys
	The Georgia prison commission will meet Thursday to consider the 
petition for commutation of sentence for Milton and Jesse.  Leonard has been 
sentenced to life imprisonment on the recommendation of clemency by the trial 
jury.
	Mrs. Rawlings and her two daughters visited the husband and father 
during the morning.  They remained in the jail, but did not witness the 
execution.
	J. G. Rawlings and W. L. Carter were neighbors, twelve miles from 
here.  Both were Baptist ministers.  Several years ago a dispute arose as to 
the line between their respective farms.  Litigation and bad blood resulted.  
Carter was wounded by a shot from ambush, and had Rawlings arrested on a charge 
of attempted murder.
				Children Assassinated
	A few days later, on June 23, 1905, a night attack was made on the 
Carter home.  Two of the children, Willie and Carrie Carter, were shot just 
outside the house, and shots were fired without effect at Carter and his wife 
and another daughter.  The wounded boy managed to drag himself to the house and 
inform his parents that Milton and Jesse Rawlings had shot him.  He died the 
next day.  After shooting the children the attacking party attempted to set 
fire to the house, but were fired upon and driven off without further 
casualties.
	A coroner’s jury found that the crime had been committed by Milton and 
Jesse Rawlings and Alf Moore, a negro.  The latter confessed telling of a plot 
which had been planned by the elder Rawlings for the murder of the entire 
Carter family and the burning of their house.  J. R. Rawlings, the elder, took 
no immediate part in the crime, having gone to Valdosta to divert suspicion.  
The trial, which lasted two weeks, resulted in a verdict of death for the elder 
Rawlings, his son Milton, and Jesse and Alf Moore.

The Washington Post, Dec. 5 1906



Additional Comments:
Note: The 1900 Lowndes County Census shows the following:
Lower Fork District
ROLLINS, Joseph, Head age  34
Angelina, Wife age 35
Milton, Son age 13
Leonard, Son age 12
Jesse, Son age 11
Lula, Daughter age 9
Lola, Daughter age 8

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/lowndes/newspapers/rawlings2265nw.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/

File size: 3.6 Kb