Wants His Boys TO HANG TOO
J. G. Rawlings Says He Does Not Want Petition Signed for Them
His wife and daughters were at the jail with him until after ten o’clock last night. A sharp colloquy occurred between him and Sheriff Passmore. Objections were made to the story of the Carter killings.
There was another interesting scene in the county jail last night when Mrs. J. G. Rawlings and her daughters visited the jail for the last time before returning to their home in Coffee County. They left for home this morning but will likely return before the day of execution.
Discussing the petition being circulated—asking the pardon board to recommend the commutation of the boys’ sentences—the elder Rawlings stated he did not want anyone to sign the petition. He preferred for the boys to be hanged.
He said, if the truth were known, he thought he and Alf Moore deserved life sentences or lesser punishments, and the boys should be set free. However, he emphasized that if one had to hang, all of them should face the same punishment, rather than some being sentenced to life imprisonment.
The conversation between the condemned men, the mother, the sisters, and Sheriff Passmore lasted about four hours. Much was said on both sides. The elder Rawlings expressed complaints about the treatment of him and his boys.
“Why, they snatched Leonard up and sent him to the chain gang on a moment’s notice without even giving him time to say goodbye to his mother,” he said.
“Since you’re talking about that,” interrupted the sheriff, “there were other children snatched up without having a chance to say goodbye—the little Carter children who are now in their graves. They didn’t have the chance to say goodbye to anybody.
The little girl was left dead in the field with her face stamped into the dirt, and her mother wasn’t even allowed to gather her lifeless body and carry it back into the house. These children were on an errand of mercy to help a sick calf and didn’t dream of danger or death when they were shot in their own yard, and yet—”
“I wish you’d let up on that,” Jesse broke in. “I’m tired of hearing it.”
“For heaven’s sake, hush up, Sheriff,” said Mrs. Rawlings.
“I’m willing to hush,” replied the sheriff, “but you must not lose sight of these things when you talk about how your own children—accused of murder—are being treated.”
“Why don’t you quote something about the ‘faithful little dog’ the solicitor talked so much about in his argument?” sarcastically asked the elder Rawlings.
Later in the conversation, the elder Rawlings told his wife that he wasn’t the only one in need of praying. He advised her to pray for herself, saying, “If you had listened to me, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Before leaving the jail, both Rawlings and his wife thanked the sheriff for his patience and kind treatment. Mrs. Rawlings, deeply affected, could not say goodbye to the condemned men. When the hour for departure came, she and her daughters silently left the jail without a word of farewell to either the elder man or the boys.