Murder on Lawson Street (1939)

The Shockoe Examiner tells the story of Pearl and Lacy Carter and their tragic end:

But on Lawson Street, during the last days of that tough decade, something went horribly wrong. Christmas was on a Monday in 1939. The following Thursday night, at exactly 12:20 AM, Earl Carter, his brother James and their families were all awoken by a series of gunshots coming from a nearby house – their parent’s house. The dreadful cadence continued to echo up and down the neighborhood as Pearl and Lacy’s sons hurriedly tumbled out of bed and out into Lawson Street.

Bursting into their parent’s home, the horrified sons discovered that Lacy had taken his service revolver and fired five shots into Pearl, killing her, then put the gun to his own head and shot himself. City coroner George Williams was quickly summoned and after one look at the two people sprawled in Lacy and Pearl’s bloody bedroom, he quickly ruled it a case of murder and suicide.