White Christmas, bloody Christmas (8 page)

In Fannie's kitchen, there was one long table to accommodate her very large family at meal times. On both sides of the table were two long benches. In the corner, beside the stove, was a wooden barrel which served as her "meal chest." In this barrel, Fannie kept all of her flour and cornmeal safely stored away from any pests that might try to get it. Also inside with the flour and cornmeal, Fannie kept her "dough bowl" which she would bring out to use when making bread.

In another corner, there was an old "safe." Safes were used for storing food away from flies and sticky little fingers until they were to be served at the next meal. Along the wall beside the back entrance, there was a set of shelves on which a bucket of fresh water was kept for drinking and other uses.

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Also on these shelves was an empty bucket and various pans for washing dishes and bathing. The house did not have the luxury of running water. Water was brought by hand to the house from a well that was located directly behind the house or from a nearby "spring." For those not familiar with springs, they are locations where cold, underground water has broken through and found an escape to the surface. In the absence of ice, many perishables such as milk and butter could be submerged in the cold water and temporarily stored. Another way perishables were kept was in a "milk well." This was a hole, around eight to ten feet deep that was dug on a hillside to insure it stayed dry. They usually had the appearance of a regular well. A platform was rigged inside of it to raise and lower containers of milk or butter. The temperature this far down in the ground stayed cool enough to help preserve foods. The temperature was approximately sixty-eight degrees.

The Lawsons also owned a coffee grinder in which Fannie ground the beans herself for their coffee. Of course, the wood cookstove that little Raymond would often play behind on cold days was also located in the kitchen. Since this lean-to kitchen was almost as large as the main part of the house, the stove was instrumental in helping to warm that part of the house on those cold, windswept days of winter.

The Murder Of The Lawson Family

Twas on last Christmas evening; The snow was on the ground. In a home in North Carolina, Where the murderer he was found.

His name was Charlie Lawson; He had a loving wife. They'll never know what caused him To take his family's life.

They said he killed his wife at first And the little ones did cry, "Please Papa, won't you spare our lives For it is so hard to die."

But the raging man could not be stopped; He would not heed their cries He killed six children and his wife And then he closed their eyes.

"And now farewell to friends at home; I'll see you all no more, Into my breast I'll fire one shot And my troubles will be o'er."

They did not carry him to jail; No lawyer did he pay. He'll have his trial in another world On the final judgement day.

They were all buried in a crowded grave. While the angels watched above. "Come home, come home, my wandering ones To the land of peace and love."

The Murder of The Lawson Family by Walter "Kid" Smith. Copyright 1931 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright renewed. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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Murder of the Lawson Family. A North Carolina musician and recording artist, Posey Rorer, took an interest in Smith's song and decided to take it on as a project.

Ballads were tremendously popular during this era. With the growth of sales of phonographs and the records that went with them, recording companies had become big moneymakers in the large cities.

According to Kinney Rorrer in his 1982 book entitled, Ramblin Blues: The Life and Songs of Charlie Poole, Posey Rorer believed that since news of the Lawson murders had gone as far as the New York Times (and eventually all over the world), that a larger recording company such as Columbia Records in New York City might be interested.

Rorer sent clippings of the news reports about the murders to Columbia and inquired of their possible interest in recording the song. Columbia responded to his inquiry by inviting him to New York to audition the song.

Certain that Columbia would be interested in his project, Rorer organized a new group called the Carolina Buddies. Along with Rorer on violin, the members consisted of: Walter Smith as vocalist, Lewis McDaniel of Virginia on guitar and Robert Carter of Mayodan, North Carolina, on tenor vocal and five-string banjo.

Rorer's new band practiced at the home of Rorer's sister, Satira Rorer Massey, in secret. The group had some fear that an old associate, Charlie Poole, might somehow beat them to New York to record a version of the song before them.

The group was well received in New York and recorded Smith's song on the Columbia label on March 25,1930, as The Murder of the Lawson Family. The melody of the song was the same as that of a previous one done by Rorer called Pearl Bryant, This original recording was coupled with a song called In a Cottage by the Sea.

Other songs were recorded in this session for Columbia, but The Murder of the Lawson Family was by far the most successful in total sales. This success encouraged still

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another group called the Red Fox Chasers to record a cover version on the Champion label. This recording was called, Murder of the Lawson Family.

Along with other circumstances, the desperation of the great depression took its toll on most all of the musicians of the era. It certainly was a bleak time for Posey Rorer. By 1933, Rorer was rarely playing at all anymore. Eventually, he gave up his music altogether and he even pawned his fiddle to a local taxi driver. He managed to earn a modest living cutting wood.

In June of 1936, at the age of 44, Rorer was found dead of a heart attack in a local park.

For more information about the music and the musicians of this era, we suggest you read the book Ramblin Blues: The Life and Songs of Charlie Poole. It can be obtained by writing the author, Kinney Rorrer, at 913 Vicar Road, Danville, VA 24540.

(Above) Walter "Kid" Smith

as he appeared when he wrote The Murder of the Lawson Family. (Right) Buster Carter in 1928. (Photoscourtesy

of Kinney Rorrer)

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(Left) Lewis McDaniel (below) Posey Rorer, the person responsible for forming the group called, The Carolina Buddies. (Photos courtesy of Kinney Rorrer)

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looking over the upstairs bedroom when they heard the sound of a car coming up the drive. They felt a little awkward about being there in the cabin and didn't quite know what they should do. Hill went back down thestairs and peeked out of the sooty front window. He saw that the visitors were a young couple-a teenage boy and his girlfriend. While the two were getting out of their car, Hill and his friend decided they might as well have a little fun with the boy and girl. They agreed between themselves that just as the couple entered the cabin they would begin to make erie, scary sounds and make them think there were ghosts in the house. This should be good for quite a laugh, they thought.

They expected the boy and girl to walk up to the house and enter together. For some reason, the boy hesitated and the girl reached the house first. She stood waiting in the doorway, not quite willing to enter without company.

Hearing the sounds of footsteps on the front porch, Hill's friend believed the couple had entered the house. He drew a long breath and emitted one of the saddest, most horrible sounding moans imaginable. The young boy had come just close enough to the house to hear the sounds. He wheeled around and sprinted back to the car as fast as he could. He cranked it and had it in gear before his girlfriend could even reach it. She barely made it in the car before he had his wheels spinning and spitting out dust and gravel behind him. He whipped the car around and spun down the old bumpy drive and was gone.

This wasn't exactly how Hill and his friend had imagined their joke would come off! As fast a they could, they ran out on the front porch and tried desperately to wave the couple down. They boy and girl never took even one glance back at the old Lawson cabin.

Hill and his friend had no way of knowing who the two teenagers were or from where they had come. People still traveled great distances to see the Lawson home and Hill

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had no way of knowing if these were local teens or if they had driven some distance.

After it was all over, they really felt bad about what had happened. Obviously, they had terrified the couple. Even though it was a very funny sight to see the two of them ripping away from the Lawson house in horror, they realized that they could have literally caused one of them to die of fright or a heart attack. They could have wrecked their car in their haste to leave the area. Hill had expected that they would have the opportunity to let the couple know that a joke had been played on them, but he never saw either of them again.