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Post by Angela on Aug 15, 2009 14:17:02 GMT -5
Nancy Helsabeck Fowler, daughter of Dr. C.J. Helsabeck, told me during one of my conversations with her that although she was only five years old when Charlie Lawson murdered his family that she remembered that day so well. She told me that her family had all just sat down at the table to have christmas supper together when someone stated banging frantically. The man told her Father that Charlie Lawson, his wife, and all of their children were dead, murdered in their own home and that he was needed right away at the Lawson home. As we were talking about that day i asked her if she had been frightened when she heard that Charlie Lawson had killed his children. She said No. She said what she remembered feeling was sad and upset and that she cried all evening because her Father could no have supper with them. This is what I call THE HUMAN ELEMENT. She only knew and understood sadness at not having her Father eat supper with her. How pure. How honest. How innocent. THE HUMAN ELEMENT. Maria
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Post by Angela on Aug 15, 2009 14:30:03 GMT -5
I bet alot of people were just sitting down to supper when they heard about it, probably one of the reasons why we heard over and over that people thought about the Lawsons every Christmas over all these years and not like a ghost story either. I reckon Nancy was lucky that she was so young and although she lost her daddy for most of the rest of that Christmas season she wasn't as scared as most of the others we talked with were. Elsie Warren, and especially Raleigh Montgomery always gave me chills describing that day when they couldn't find Charlie Lawson. It's the pinnacle of getting as close to the Lawsons as I'll ever get, to be in the presence of the people who were there that day, and still clearly remember the fear, loss, and sadness. It's why when Dorothy Montgomery told us "I was there that day and I saw it all", it sent goose bumps up my neck. You're so right Maria, Nancy's reaction that day was so human and gives us a wider view as to how the Lawson Tragedy effected the whole community. Eric
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Post by Angela on Aug 15, 2009 14:37:13 GMT -5
There must be a big growth spurt between the ages of five and eight because Nancy Hampton Harrold said that when her Mother closed her up in the tobacco barn where carrie and Maybell had died she became so terrified and cried so hard that she got the snubs. She was 8 years old at the time. The memory and fear was so bad that every detail of it is still embedded in her memory, even down to the striped knee socks she was wearing. Maria
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Post by Angela on Aug 15, 2009 14:40:22 GMT -5
A lot of children lost their innocence that Christmas day. Their reactions were so different from scared to upset with their father not being there with them for Christmas supper. Sissy
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Post by Angela on Aug 15, 2009 14:48:37 GMT -5
I feel so sorry for the pain that everybody had to endure on that Christmas Day, especially the children. I'm sure that the Lawson children were as excited as most children were that Christmas day and to think of the terrible event that took place and stole away their special day, and worse still their very lives, makes me so sad. I often wonder what Arthur's Christmases were like after that horrible day, I'm sure he had to remember that horror, even though he had children and tried to make it a special day for them. I know he hd to recall that day over and over and over in his mind and how he missed his family. So sad. So terribly sad. LuvmyDog
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Post by Angela on Aug 15, 2009 15:14:30 GMT -5
What a sad but tender way of putting that Sissy..."Children lost their innocence that day". eally like that. When I think about the family, friends, neighbors and the community at large and how they were affected by the violence visited upon them that day, the phrase "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" commonly referred to as PTSD always comes to my mind. While working on the Scrapbook last night I looked at the photo again of Dr. Helsabeck and the words came to my mind " this man's eyes looked upon things that day that I hope mine never see". He looks so calm, so caring, and so professional in that photograph, but behind those eyes and in his mind lurked a memory of something so horrible that I shy completely away from imagining what that scene he entered upon that day looked like. There had to be a lot of people who suffered Post Traumatic Stree Disorder from those murders. As LuvMyDog pointed out...Arthur more than anyone else. But also Dr. Helsabeck, Sheriff Taylor, Elijah Lawson and his son Claude. They saw the aftermath of seven brutal and violent muders up close and personal. Maria
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Post by Angela on Aug 15, 2009 15:17:06 GMT -5
It is just so hard to imagine how really horrible it all was. We have seen the pictures and heard the stories but we will never really know how deeply it impacted their lives. Sissy
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Post by Brian on Aug 16, 2009 0:55:08 GMT -5
I imagine it effected many Christmases for years after, making people sad, scared and angry. It probably ruined many people's Christmases for quite some time.
I'm sure Arthur suffered greatly and most especially at Christmas. I hope his family gave him some comfort. I wonder if Arthur's was kind of the unofficial end of the tragedy. When he was alive the tragedy still alive in him. If that makes sense.
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Post by angel71242 on Aug 18, 2009 8:13:48 GMT -5
That's so sad, to have all your Christmas's "ruined" by such a tragic turn of events.
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