OUTSIDERS WORKING FOR BOYS
Prominent Citizen of Irwin County Take Up Rawlings’ Case.
An unofficial Request Made to Prison Commission to Save the Rawlings Boys from the Gallows
Atlanta, Dec. 20—The prison commission has been asked to recommend commutation to life imprisonment for the two Rawlings boys, Milton and Jesse, who are sentenced to be hanged in Valdosta next month along with their father, J.G. Rawlings, and a Black man, all convicted of the murder of the Carter children and denied a new trial by the Supreme Court.
The request, as received by the commission, is somewhat irregular in form and will need to be submitted as a formal application for commutation before it can be considered.
The letter received today is from J.A.J. Henderson of Ocilla, Irwin County, president of the Ocilla and Valdosta Railroad Company. He asks that the commission recommend commutation to life imprisonment for the two boys, citing their age and the influence their father had over them in committing the crime. Mr. Henderson states that the matter was discussed in the church he attended last Sunday, and he has found widespread sentiment against the hanging of the boys for the reasons stated.
However, no appeal is being made on behalf of the elder Rawlings or the Black man involved in the crime.
This marks the first time the Rawlings case has been brought to the attention of the prison commission since the Supreme Court’s decision to deny a new trial. While the current request is informal, there is no doubt that a formal application will be made, and strong efforts will follow to save the boys’ lives.
Attorney John R. Cooper, who represented the defendants during the trial, has announced his intention to take the case to the Supreme Court of the United States on the grounds that the defendants were denied due process of law in the jury selection process. Should he pursue this course, it could delay the executions.
The prison commission will not take up the cases for consideration as long as they remain pending in any court.