ALF MOORE TELLS HIS SIDE OF IT.

THE NEGRO SAYS HE OUGHT TO BE PRAYING.

He says that Rawlings must tell the whole truth before prayer will do him any good. He sticks to the original story and declares that there is no blood on his hands.

Alf Moore, the negro convicted of being an accomplice in the murder of the Carter children and sentenced to hang with them, sent for a reporter from The Times this morning to come to the county jail, as he had something he wished to say.

When the reporter approached the cell where Moore was confined and called out his name, the negro walked up to the iron bars and looked through, wondering what was wanted. When the reporter explained that he had come in response to a message from him, Moore lowered his head a little and said:

“Oh, yes, but you got me when I wasn’t thinking. I’ll have to get my mind together so I can sort of specify what I wanted to say.”

“You wanted to say something about the Carter killing—do you want to change the statement you made some time ago?”

“Oh, no. I don’t want to change anything because there ain’t anything to change. I have told the truth, and of course, there is no reason why it should be changed. A man who is going to die hasn’t got time to be fixing up any tales but the truth.”

“You know Mr. Rawlings says that you will change when they put the rope around your neck.”

“I feel sorry for Mr. Rawlings and his boys,” continued Moore. “And I’m especially sorry for those boys. It won’t do that old man any good to sit up there and wait to see what is going to happen. What he ought to do is to get himself right. He ought to pray, but you know praying ain’t going to do him any good unless he tells the truth. He must first throw off the burden and get himself straight with God. Then he can look up and ask for forgiveness.”

“Have you done that?” the reporter asked.

“Why, I have, and haven’t wasted any time about it either. I threw off that burden some time ago. There is no blood on my hands and no guilty weights on my shoulders. I have nothing to fear. I like Rawlings and his boys and would like to help them out of this scrape, but death is too near for me to tell any lies for them. What they ought to do is to tell the truth and get themselves right.”

“Mr. Rawlings says that if he could get you and Joe Bentley together, he believes that you would tell the truth—that his boys had nothing to do with the killing.”

“Me and Joe Bentley?” Moore repeated, thinking for a moment. “Well, that’s a new one on me. This is the first time I’ve heard that Joe Bentley was involved. How come Mr. Rawlings didn’t tell this in the courthouse? How come he didn’t make a statement then when he had the chance? That won’t do. I’ve told the truth about that thing.”

“Mr. Rawlings says that you went to Carter’s to kill him that afternoon. Is that so?”

“If I went to kill him that afternoon, how come I took the shell out of that gun and left it down by the fence, away from the house? I could have killed Mr. Carter then. He was at home by himself, except for the little children who were in the yard. The older children were plowing in the field, and Mrs. Carter was away from home. I could have killed Mr. Carter then, and nobody would have known it. But I did not do it. I had decided to leave that place, but I went back to that little house in the field and dropped off to sleep. Soon after I woke up, the boys were there, ready to go to Carter’s house.”

WHAT THE NEGRO NEEDS

EDITOR TIMES:

Allow me to speak a few words through your paper. The shortness, misapprehension, dullness, stupidity, and incompetency of my people are due to the lack of proper training. I mean that they have not been taught or trained in books—not that they lack book learning. No! I mean industrial training. The negro needs educating—in his head, heart, and hands. A prepared brain will show how to think and what to think about. Prepared hands show how to perform necessary tasks; the heart must obey first, our Heavenly Father and His righteous laws; second, the laws of our country. This will establish peace, justice, honesty, and form the foundation of citizenship and the development of true Christianity and civilization.

Yours,

W. A. Allen.

A CHANCE FOR GEORGIA BOYS

It is being reported that “material men” who deal in lumber, lime, brick, stone, and other supplies should not overlook the demand for these materials by engineers working on the Panama Canal. Great cargoes are already being sent to Colon, but the exportation has only just begun, and it will take years to supply all the material needed. Georgia has much of what is required, and it will be in the interest of those who have or can obtain it to get involved in the bidding. The pine and forests of the Gulf states will play a key role in meeting these demands.

NOTICE TO BAPTISTS

The Baptist churches withdrawing from the Mercer, Homerville, and Hamilton Associations are urged to send messengers to Naylor, Georgia, on Tuesday, Oct 24, for the permanent organization of the new association. Ample arrangements will be made by the Naylor people for all who attend. Dr. S. Y. Jamison, secretary of the state board of missions, will preside and address the association, along with other visiting ministers. The meeting will be called to order promptly at nine o’clock.

W. L. Patten, Chairman Com.

A BRIEF PARABLE

A certain man, says the San Francisco Call, carried a sack containing a heavy burden.

“What dost thou carry?” the angel asked.

The man replied, “It is a heavy burden.”

“And of what does the burden consist?” the angel inquired.

“Of my worries,” the man answered.

The angel smiled pityingly upon the man and said, “Let us look into the bundle of thy worries.”

And as they looked, the angel saw that the contents of the sack were tiny and useless. As the man looked, too, he realized that his worries were nothing, and the burden grew inconceivably light.

MOORE’S FINAL WORDS

Moore then took up the story of the tragedy, telling it as he did during the trial in the courthouse. He expressed a desire to talk to Rawlings about the killing so as to “refresh his memory on some points.”

“I could talk to him all right, and I don’t believe he would get mad with me after I showed him where I was right,” Moore said. “But what Mr. Rawlings needs is to get himself right. He needs to take off his false face and tell the truth, or else there is no hope for him. It won’t do him any good to wait on me, because I’m going to stick to the truth.”