LIVING HISTORY
34
his local standing much. As a newspaper later reported, it was widely known
that Rawlinson’s 100 acres were not acquired “through his own industry.” He
gained his real estate holdings by marrying Cora Chaffee, the county commissioner’s
widow, who was much older than Willie. And he didn’t work his land
very hard; he only maintained 30 acres of plantings. Until the shooting, the
future murderer’s peers considered him to be “a harmless man,” although it was
whispered that he had a drinking problem.
McCarty filled the last years of his life with more land acquisitions, successful
enterprises and lots of community service. Those were the biggest years of
the region’s pineapple production, but a fruit empire wasn’t enough to keep
the pineapple king busy. He served as president of the local Board of Trade; a
director and the largest shareholder in the Bank of Fort Pierce and a partner in
Dittmar & McCarty, a real estate and insurance company. He was also president
of the prestigious Florida Horticultural Society, which met in Jacksonville. He
organized its conventions and lectured secretaries of agriculture from across
the nation. On top of all of that, McCarty had a busy law practice. In a land of
melting-hot sun and merciless mosquitoes, in an era of long-sleeved finery, no
air conditioning and constant perspiration, where did the man find his boundless
energy? It seems he never slowed.
ELOQUENT ATTORNEY
Four months before his own shooting, McCarty used his oratorical skills to
argue self-defense in a murder trial with facts eerily similar to those surrounding
his own death. A local furniture dealer’s son shot another boy out on a busy
downtown street. The dead boy had no gun. At the outset of the trial the local
newspaper reported: “C.T. McCarty, of Fort Pierce, fired the opening gun for the
defense and all St. Lucie County readers know his ability to command language.”
McCarty and his co-counsel, Otis R. Parker, were successful that day. The
defendant went free and moved to Polk County with his parents. McCarty and
Parker also teamed up to win another case when they defended a county commissioner
who allegedly attempted to murder another local attorney.
Meanwhile, Rawlinson made a few appearances in the social news during the
ST. LUcIE cOUNTY REGIONAL HISTORY cENTER
The Atlantic Hotel in the background is where the killer, W.c. Rawlinson, waited outside to shoot P. P. cobb, but cobb didn’t arrive as planned. When he
saw Mccarty walking down the street, he pursued him instead.
>>
ST. LUcIE cOUNTY REGIONAL HISTORY cENTER
Mccarty defended a murder suspect at the St. Lucie
county courthouse right before his death. Months
later, Mccarty’s murderer’s trial was held at the
same courthouse.
ST. LUcIE cOUNTY REGIONAL HISTORY cENTER
Members of the St. Lucie Bar Association gather
for a photo shoot. charles Mccarty is behind Judge
Minor S. Jones, who is seated. Otis R. Parker, who
defended Mccarty’s killer, is at far right.