COOPER’S LATEST MOVE IN THE RAWLING’S CASE
The Lawyer Says He Has Some Startling Evidence in the Case in the Shape of a New Confession from Alf Moore
The Macon News of yesterday gives the following story of some alleged new developments in the Rawlings case:
“New evidence which, if true, will save the necks of Milton, Jesse, and Leonard Rawlings and turn them loose free men, has been presented to John R. Cooper, their attorney, and will be used by him in an appeal to the board of pardons.
“It is in the shape of another confession, this time from Alf Moore, who acknowledges having done the bloody work, and it implicates another negro and Tim McDonald, the brother-in-law of Sheriff Passmore.
“Armed with this confession and many arguments, Mr. Cooper will go before the board of pardons on behalf of the three sons of old man Rawlings, and if he fails there, will go to the United States Supreme Court to fight for the lives of the entire family.
“According to this new evidence, which was secured by J.J. Jowers, the father-in-law of old man Rawlings, Alf Moore confessed to a negro named Sam Freeman that old man Rawlings hired him to do the murders and that he was assisted in the terrible work of execution by Joe Bentley, a negro arrested for complicity some time ago and released, and by Tim MacDonald.
“At the time the alleged confession was made, Freeman occupied a cell with Moore, charged with a minor offense. It was then, he claims, Moore confessed to him and said that while satisfied he would hang at the end of a rope, he wanted to tell the truth before he left this world.
“Freeman is now at liberty and lives in Coffee County where Jowers found him and got his evidence.”