LIVING HISTORY
37
Rawlinson shot Mccarty when he stepped outside after getting a shave at
Edge’s barbershop on Pine Street, right.
contract. McCarty demanded
a survey to prove that Rawlinson’s
land was a big as he
ST. LUcIE cOUNTY REGIONAL HISTORY cENTER
said it was. Rawlinson became
unhinged.
He told witnesses that he
wanted to kill somebody,
and he set his sight on P. P.
Cobb. Early on the morning
of Wednesday, Jan. 30, 1907,
he loaded his pistol and went
to town. He expected Cobb to
be following his usual routine,
eating breakfast at the Atlantic
Edward Edge was Fort Pierce’s
politically active barber.
Hotel, but though Rawlinson
waited outside for him, the 49-year-old lienholder never
showed up. His parents had needed his help getting them to
the railroad station on time.
Eventually, the hard-luck assassin spotted McCarty walking
down the street. Rawlinson decided to make his buyer’s
attorney the substitute sacrifice to his rage. He wanted a
public execution, and the attorney who ruined his land deal
would do. If Cobb had showed up for breakfast at the usual
time, he probably would have been dead by this time, but the
hand of fate reached out for McCarty instead. The killer followed
his second choice into Edge’s barber shop. In and out
of the shop the murderer strolled, sizing up his prey. He then
walked outside and stood at the entrance to the drug store
next door.
FINAL SHAVE
Those would be the final moments of normalcy in Charles
McCarty’s life: enjoying an old-fashioned shave. Edward
Edge, the young barber from North Carolina, loved talking
politics. He had just won a seat on the Town Council with
McCarty’s oldest son, Dan, and presumably the topic was
bandied about.
Shave over, McCarty rose from the swivel chair and said
goodbye. Walking out the door into the brisk air, McCarty
found Florida at its best — it was a January morning at 9:15.
>>
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