Fa-la-la-la-la….La-la-la-Lawson….The Christmas Family Murders
1929 was a rough year. The stock markets crashed and it was the genesis of the dreaded dirty thirties. Many people had their lives ripped apart, but on Christmas Day, the Lawson family had their lives ripped away…by their own father. Charlie Lawson (age 43) his wife, Fanny (age 37) and their seven children, Marie (age 17), Arthur (age 16), Carrie (age 12), Maybell (age 7) James (age 4) Raymond, (age 2) and Mary Lou (age 4 months) had a large family on a failing tobacco farm in North Carolina. A few days before Christmas, Charley took his family to town and and used what little funds they had to buy new clothes and get a, now famous, family portrait. This action has led many to believe that his actions were pre-meditated as opposed to a spur of the moment psychotic break. First on the familial hit list were daughters Carrie and Maybell. They were murdered with a shot gun
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