Christmas, 1929, Charles Lawson murdered his wife and six of his seven children.
Charles Davis Lawson married Fannie Manring in 1911. The couple proceeded to have eight children. Their third child, William, was born in 1914, and died in 1920.
Charles moved his family to Germanton, North Carolina in 1918, when his younger two brothers moved there. They worked as tenant tobacco farmers and saved their money to purchase their own farm in 1927.
A few months before Christmas, 1929, Charles sustained a head injury. Family and friends believed his mental state had been altered, but were never truly concerned. Fast forward to a week or so before Christmas, Charles, now 43, took his wife, Fannie, 37 and their seven children, Marie, 17, arthur, 16, Carrie, 12, Maybell, 7, James, 4, Raymond, 2, and Mary Lou, 4 months, into town to buy new clothes and have a family portrait taken. This was a rather unusual occurrence for a working-class, rural family, in that era.
Stella Lawson, a relative of the family, overheard her mother and aunts discussing a secret Fannie Lawson had confided in them. She was concerned about an incestuous relationship between Charles and their oldest daughter, Marie. Ella May, a close friend of Marie Lawson had also been confided in. A few weeks before Christmas, Marie told her she was pregnant with her father’s baby, and that both her parents knew about this.
On the afternoon of December 25, 1929, Charles sent his son, Arthur, into town on an errand. Once Arthur was gone, Charles took his 12-gauge shotgun and waited by the tobacco barn. His daughters, Carrie and Maybell, were leaving to go to their uncle and aunt’s house. When they were in range, Charles shot them, then bludgeoned them, placing their bodies in the tobacco barn.
He returned to the house and shot his wife Fannie, who was on the porch. Hearing the gunshot, his daughter Marie, who was inside the house, screamed. The two youngest boys, James and Raymond ran and hid. Charles went inside, shot Marie, then found the two boys and shot them as well. He then took the baby and bludgeoned her to death.
He took the bodies of his family and carefully set them out. He rested their heads on rocks and folded their arms across their bodies.
Charles left the house and went off into the woods on his own. Several hours later, he shot himself, the gunshot heard by the numerous people who had gathered at his home, learning of the massacre from Arthur and the police.
Now, have you heard of the Christmas Eve Wholaver Murders? Ernest Wholaver also killed his family.
