Welcome to the official website
of the new book,
The Meaning of our Tears...

It was a bitter, snowy Christmas Day. The year was 1929. In the cold of that Christmas afternoon, Charlie Lawson, a respected rural North Carolina tobacco farmer, committed one of the most brutal and mysterious crimes of mass family murder ever recorded in U.S. history. For sixty years, much information about these murders and the motive behind them was hidden. Finally a Lawson family member came forward to tell the world... "The meaning of our tears..."

Now, as the case reaches its 76 year mark, even more incredible details have come forward. The new book, The Meaning of our Tears is the long-awaited revision of the original classic 1990 book, White Christmas, Bloody Christmas, The True Story of the Lawson Family Murders of Christmas Day 1929. This new, revised version of the original book contains approximately 100 period photographs and is 376 pages in length.

The Meaning of Our Tears takes the reader from the year 1911 through the murders in 1929 and beyond. You will visit the depression years when the old cabin was open to the public as a tourist attraction.

You will also find more documents and interviews as well as the incredible new story of the nine-year-old neighborhood boy who actually witnessed the murders of two of the victims inside the Lawson house. There is also new information born of interviews from eye witnesses to the murder scene the morning after the murders. Amazingly there is also startling new information from the best friend of the murdered daughter, Marie Lawson.

This first printing is a beautiful and special collector's hard back edition. Only 5,000 copies have been produced in this binding, insuring this book will be even more collectible than its predecessor, White Christmas Bloody Christmas which has a history of bringing as much as $300 on eBay.com and Amazon.com. Don't miss your opportunity to own one of this collectible edition of only 5,000 copies! They are certain to gain value over the years.

A companion to The Meaning of Our Tears is the book of memoirs of Stella Lawson Boles. It is titled, A Child in the Midst. Bound in the same special persimmon and gold leaf design, it chronicles the life of the woman who had the courage to come forward and tell the world of a hidden secret behind the case. Not only is hers a story of hardship and multiple tragedies, it is also filled with the simple love, life, and humor of this amazing woman’s life. Stella Lawson Boles was the niece of the infamous murderer, Charlie Lawson.

News and Information

11/14/08
The Meaning of Our Tears priced at 29.99 for the holiday season.

10/31/08
Author Trudy Smith featured in Latitude Magazine.

4/25/08
A Child in the Midst sold out! Thank you to everyone who bought a copy.

2/18/08
Author Trudy Smith to appear on WBAG radio (Burlington, NC).

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The Ballad of Charlie Lawson
Original Artist: The Carolina Buddies'
March 1930

It was on last Christmas evening
The snow was on the ground
At his home in North Carolina
The miner he was found

His name was Charlie Lawson
He had a loving wife
But they never knew what caused
To take his family's life

They say he killed his wife at first
While the little ones did cry
"Please papa won' you spare our lives
For it's so hard to die"

But the raging man could not be stopped
He would not heed their call
He kept on firing fatal shots
Until he'd killed them all

They did not carry him to jail
No lawyer would he pay
They'll have his trial in another land
On the final judgment day

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

And now farewell kind friends and home
I'll see you here no more
But when we meet in another land
Our troubles will be o'er

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