RAWLINGS DID NOT LIKE IT.
He Was Not Pleased With Lawyer Cooper’s Argument.
He Thinks That Mrs. Rawlings Should Have Spoken Up in His Behalf—He Says That She Knows That He Did Not Send the Boys With Alf Moore to Commit That Crime.
(From Thursday’s Daily)
“I know I am mean—maybe mean enough to be hanged—but I am not as mean as some folks think I am,” said J.G. Rawlings last night to some visitors at the county jail. “Before this thing is over, the public may find out that what I say is true,” he continued.
He was not pleased at all with the reference Lawyer Cooper made to him during his argument before the prison board on behalf of the boys. Lawyer Cooper stated that the boys were under his control and that if they committed a crime, it was because he put them up to it. Mrs. Rawlings was present and heard the argument.
“My wife has gone clear back on me,” he said. “She ought to have stood up at the moment Cooper said that and told him it was not so. She knows that I did not send those boys with Alf Moore to commit any crime. She knows that I was in town, and if the boys were sent by anybody, it was by—not by me.” He implied that if anyone sent them, it was her.
“I know that I am mean, but I am not that mean. I may be mean enough to be hanged, but I am not mean enough to get my boys into any such scrape as that. I cannot understand why my wife allowed that statement to stand when she knows it is not true.”
Rawlings was recently told that he was certain to be hanged, and while there might be hope for the boys, there was none for him.
“They can’t do it any sooner than I want it,” he replied.
His listener expressed doubt that he truly wanted to be hanged. Rawlings responded, “The Bible says men shall seek death, shall desire it, but shall not find it.”