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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1957)
'"frfaPCfraiattiafc elllWMyam - m.v SP8"1 vously, saw the officer, and broke into a run. Tipton raced after him, following him into an alley. But the fugitive had I vanished. Tipton took a quick look in other nearby alleys, then came out onto Bay Street. There at the coiner of Bay and Ocean stood the red haired man. Tipton gave chase and again lost his man in dark alleys. A second time, the officer re turned to Ocean and Bay and found the fugitive stand- ing there. Another chase en sued, and this time Tipton got his man, taking away his re volver after the trigger had clicked on an empty chamber. The prisoner gave his name as Frank Rawlins but refused to answer questions. His pack eta contained $800 in cur rency, neatly done up in Palace Theater wrappers. The officer marched Rawlins back to the theater, where there was a lot of excitement. After the fourth act, the treasurer, E. S. Harrison, had brought the - day's receipts, $800, to the office of the man ager, George Hickman. He Jaad hardly placed the money ,,, on the manager's desk when . o the door was pushed open and, man ytith , revolver announced; a, stlafcup. iA$BajYi34) turned around, i a; Wow pn t&e nifatf sent him (reeling frjc'fejrjari reached for fa::gUh) ir ffli) drawer, but the ) (bandl (stjf-utfk) him, too, and hcrjD the manager tried to (ftgfit back, a shot put an end qO to hSQtrugglc and his life. As Tipton entered with his prisoner, Harrison cried hysterically, "That's the man. That's the killer!" Rawlins was taken to the office of Duval County Sher iff R. E. Merritt. He was questioned for several hours, but all the officers learned was that he hadn't been in Jacksonville long; before that, he had lived in Atlanta. After Rawlins was led to a cell, Sheriff Merritt said, "He didn't think up this robbery by himself. Somebody else is back of it!" The sheriff explained: Raw lins was a comparative stran ger, yet he knew the exact time the. theater treasurer would bring the money into the manager's office. Some body, obviously, had told him. an extensive investigation revealed that Rawlins was a skid - row character. He lived in a cheap rooming house o and had no known friends. He had been tried for steal ing a suit of clothes only ao few days before, but a prom inent criminal lawyer, John H. Pope, had defended him and won an acquittal. The sheriff ordered an in vestigation of all employees and formefQi'mployees of the theater. The detectives quick ly cleared all except one Karl Fitzpatrick, a projec tionist who had quarreled bit terly with the manager and had been discharged. This was a motive, perhaps, tut it wasn't evidence. De tectives were detailed to Fitz patrick's home to watch his actions. But he did nothing suspicious and made no effort to visit Rawlins in jail. Tipton recalled seeing a brown touring car parked near Bay and Ocean the first time he spotted Rawlins. He had paid little attention to it but noticed that it pulled away as he approached. Touring cars were popular at the time, but very few were brown, so this one should be easy to find. It wasn't. Every officer was alerted, but no brown touring car was spotted on the streets of Jacksonville. Pope, the socially prominent attorney who had defended Rawlins, was questioned. He said he defended him simply because he had come to the office seeking a lawyer. "If he wants me," Pope added, "I'll defend him again. But I can't tell you anything about him. That comes under the heading of a privileged com munication between an at torney and his client." . Oheriff Merritt ordered a 'quiet investigation of Pope. Meanwhile, the brown tour ing car was found parked in Fitzpatrick's garage. The pro jectionist was questioned. "Only someone familiar with the routine at the theater would have known when the money was brought to the manager's office," the sheriff told him. "And somebody in a brown touring car like yours was waiting for Rawlins at Ocean and Bay!" "It wasn't me. I was at the theater, watching the show, and I can prove it!" Fitzpatrick did prove it. Re liable witnesses swore that Fitzpatrick was seated in the audience when Hickman was shot and that he remained in side the theater until after Rawiins had lcen brought in. He couldn't have been the driver of the brown car. Then the reports came in on Pope. He led a Jekyll and Hyde existence. Though so cially popular and presum ably wealthy, he was a hegvy gambler, a frequent visitor to speakeasies, and a philan derer who spent lavishly on many women. (If he needed money, he could have engi neered the theater robbery. But Pope, a brilliant lawyer, could easily refute the charge. Investigating officers then found a woman who had seen Tipton chasing Rawlins and had noticed the touring car. Had she recognized the driv er? Yes, he was John H. Pope. Fitzpatrick was picked up again. Yes, he said, Pope had borrowed his car. "But I never dreamed he was mixed up in a crime." Fitzpatrick convinced the officers he was an innocent dupe. Pope was arrested and in dicted. The hitherto silent Rawlins now was eager to talk. This was his story: The lawyer, who had heavy gambling losses, needed mon ey. When Rawlins was in trouble for stealing a suit, Pope offered to defend him. After the acquittal, the law yer forced him to join a rob bery ring. Pope would set up each case, provide the get away car, and if any member of the ring were caught, would defend him. There was just one stipulation: Pope's role must be kept secret. "Pope was a big lawyer, and I figured he would help me," Rawlins concluded. "That's why I wouldn't talk." The lawyer had heard of Fitzpatrick's argument with the theater manager, so he borrowed the projectionist's car, knowing it might be seen and recognized. But Pope hadn't counted on Fitzpatrick attending the theater that very evening, giving him an iron clad alibi! On October 8, 1921, Pope and Rawlins were convicted of first degree murder and given life sentences. Sheriff Merritt later was asked to explain why he had suspected Pope. "Pope was a society lawyer who worked for big fees," Merritt replied. "Why did he defend a bum like Rawlins who had no money? Because he wanted to use him later for something illegal." "But why were you so lure another man wit involved?" the sheriff tu inked. "You had the actual killer, and you could have convicted him without any trouble." "Suppose you were trying o run away from a police man," the sheriff said. "After you had outdistanced him, what would you do? You'd keep on going and get as far way as possible. But Raw lins didn't do that. 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