There is a Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Lawson Murder, The (Charlie Lawson) [Laws F35]

DESCRIPTION: Charlie Lawson goes mad on a Christmas evening and shoots first his wife and then, despite their pleas, his six children. He prepares them for burial, bids goodbye, and kills himself also. The family is buried in a common grave
AUTHOR: Wiley Morris?
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: murder family burial suicide madness children
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 25, 1898 - 43-year-old Charles D. Lawson shoots his family and himself
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws F35, "The Lawson Murder (Charlie Lawson)"
Warner 114, "The Lawson Family Murder" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 298, "The Lawson Murder" (1 text plus mention of 2 more)
Darling-NAS, pp. 206-207, "The Lawson Murder" (1 text)
DT 729, LAWSNMRD
Roud #697
RECORDINGS:
Spencer Moore with Everett Blevins, "The Lawson Murder" (on LomaxCD1705)
The Morris Brothers, "The Story of Charlie Lawson" (Bluebird B-7903, c. 1938)
E. R. Nance Singers, "The Lawson Murder" (Brunswick 542, c. 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dark Knight" (plot)
cf. "William Beadle" (plot)
Notes: The Carolina Buddies recorded a song called "Murder of the Lawson Family" (Columbia 15537-D, 1930), but I have no way of learning if that is the same song. - RBW
File: LF35

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2004 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.