As I’m apt to remind readers, it’s a foolish thing to look at the past through rose-tinted glasses. Every sordid crime of passion or human cruelty you can think of has already been perpetrated before. You might look fondly on your childhood or some other time with a romantic wistfulness, but those days were not very different from the ones you are currently living in. People have always been people, and in addition to great kindness and goodness, they are also more than capable of great evils.
Webster Colonel “Hotshot” Lunsford was born in Union Grove, NC in 1911 to William and Ella Lunsford. He was not the youngest nor the oldest of the Lunsford children, of which there were quite a few.
I don’t have a lot I can tell you about his early life. He married Alda Hayes of Fairplains in June of 1933. At that time the couple were living in Statesville. I know he was signed up for the draft during WWII at 29 years old but I can’t find any records of his service.
For 25 years total before the story I’m about to tell you (with possibly a break during the war) he worked for Goforth Motor Company in Statesville on Shelton Avenue. And with a nickname like “Hotshot”, you have to imagine the kind of personality that made him a successful used car salesman. To his family though, he was just “Colonel.”
One of the few stories I have about Colonel was passed down through the family and was told to me by one of his nephews. It seems that one day as part of his job at Goforth, Hotshot had taken a prospective customer on a test drive of a car that was on the lot. With Hotshot in the driver seat, he took it upon himself to really show what the car could do, and so he was driving it in a “spirited” manner. It had rained earlier that day and the roads were still wet, so when Hotshot hydroplaned, the vehicle fishtailed considerably before he was able to get it back under control. When the car came to an abrupt halt with no damage and no injuries to either rider, Hotshot turned to the customer and said something to the effect of “Now don’t you try that on your own!”
Despite that story, his nephew and a niece also told me that the family really didn’t talk very much about Colonel. So much of whatever the family knew of his life and how it ended was probably taken to the grave with Colonel’s parents and siblings.
The crux of our story is really someone else though. A young woman named Claudia York from the Hamptonville area. At the time of these goings on, Mrs. York was estranged from her husband, the reverend Coyte York, a local freelance minister and evangelist of sorts. I don’t know all the details, but it seems Mrs. York had dated at least a couple people since they had split. Among these were “Hotshot”, and another man named George Orville Souther. Both Lunsford and Souther were also married at the time.
There’s no knowing what or when Souther or Lunsford knew of each other in relation to York, though Souther would later claim he and Lunsford were friends. But at some point Souther must have found out Lunsford was also catting around with York, and wasn’t happy about it even though York would say later that Souther had “not been visiting her recently” and she “hadn’t spoken to him in a long time.”
Sunday, May 1st, 1955
Spring that year had been unseasonably hot, with temps in the upper 80’s and lower 90’s. That first Sunday of the month it would just barely make 80, but no doubt after church most people were headed home to cool off and rest.
Lunsford had lunch that afternoon with Mrs York at her home which a newspaper identifies as being on “Holcomb Bridge Road.” There actually is no such road in Iredell county, and so I’m inclined to believe they really meant “Holcomb Road.” After the couple and Mrs York’s children were done eating, Lunsford engaged in that favorite southern Sunday afternoon past time: he took a nap.
While Lunsford was sleeping, Souther showed up at York’s home and demanded Mrs York come to the door. According to Mrs York’s testimony following all this, she never came to the door or made any answer and Souther eventually left, but came back a second and third time trying to get Mrs York to the door, no doubt becoming more angry each time. No reason was ever given for his persistence, and Mrs York was never asked what Souther had said during those three attempts to get her attention. I would assume when Lunsford woke up, Mrs York probably told him what had transpired, but no one can be sure.
At any rate, the couple decided to go for a Sunday drive. I don’t know and no one has ever said if they had an exact destination in mind, but also present in the car that afternoon were York’s two daughters, 12 year old Shirlene and 6 year old Cathy Mae. Mrs York was at the wheel.
Leaving York’s home, I’m not sure which direction they actually intended to go, but Souther was waiting a little ways down the road at “Gaither’s Store” and began following them.
Holcomb Road heading north runs into an awkward little intersection made up of Troy Mill, Union Grove, and Eagle Mills Road. I believe the aforementioned store sat at the intersection between Union Grove and Holcomb. Mrs York turned right down Troy Mill road.
Souther was fast and close after whipping out behind the couple, and followed them all the way to NC-901. No account is given of the exact route they drove, but I would imagine they went south on Troy Mill until it hit Houstonville Road West, took a right on Houstonville, and a left on Eagle Mills. They would have came out on NC-901 facing the lot where the North Iredell Rescue Squad building sits today. At 901, Souther also pulled up beside the couple and began cussing them both. During that brief stop Lunsford and Souther argued back and forth without exiting their vehicles before Mrs York finally pulled off again and began driving south towards Harmony.
Souther again followed close, this time speeding up until he was right up on the other car’s bumper and began ramming the couple from behind. Mrs York, frantic to get off the road and avoid crashing, drove up into the yard of a W.M. Snow (who I believe was Winfield McKinley Snow). Lunsford quickly exited the car, probably expecting more arguing or maybe a physical altercation involving fists.
Souther also exited his car, a 22 caliber rifle in his hands and took aim at Lunsford over the open car door. W.M. Snow testified that a brief exchange of words took place between Lunsford and Souther before Lunsford tried to get back in the car with Mrs York. As he did, Souther fired twice in quick succession hitting Lunsford from behind. Lunsford was able to sit back down beside Mrs York, but never said another word, and after a moment he slumped over on her lap, dead.
His last conscious act, Lunsford had managed to close the door and Mrs York was able to put the car in gear again and pull away heading south down 901. Souther fired a third shot at the vehicle as she sped off before hopping back in his own car and resumed the chase.
Mrs York made it another mile down the road to the home of W.A. Lowe. As she pulled in her two children were able to make a break for it and managed to get into Lowe’s house before Souther caught up with them.
As Souther pulled in behind Mrs York she started to run from the car but he was already on her and ended up chasing her in circles around the vehicle, firing another shot and managing to strike her in the side. By that time W.A. Lowe and his brother-in-law named Everette had likely gotten some sort of synopsis of events from the children bursting into the house. They had also heard the rifle crack, and went outside to sort out what was going on. Whether by way of surprise, violence of action, or maybe because Souther was now holding an empty rifle, they managed to overpower and hold the man down. They kept him there on the ground until the law could reach the scene.
Mrs York survived the shooting but required medical attention and time to recover at the hospital in Statesville. The coroner who examined Lunsford concluded there would have been no chance of surviving the attack. One bullet had lodged in his heart, the other had severed an artery leading to his heart.
Souther was arrested and charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. He was held without bond in the county jail. Despite all the evidence and the witnesses, Souther would claim the next day that he didn’t even “remember seeing Hotshot yesterday”, and “We were good friends.” He also claimed he had no idea Lunsford was dead until “some of the boys in jail” told him.
May 10th, Souther was in court for a preliminary hearing in Recorder’s court but waived his right to that part of the process and he was scheduled for trial. In the following days Souther would still claim ignorance when asked what had happened between him and Lunsford. He vehemently maintained his innocence.
But on May 24th, like a bolt out of the blue, Souther’s trial began and concluded. Shocking everyone present, he changed his tune and entered a plea of “guilty” to all counts in Iredell Superior court. Only two witnesses for the prosecution were called. Mrs York and Mr Snow.
Mrs York broke down in tears on the stand as she recalled the ordeal, describing how Souther had chased her and Lunsford, rammed the car, murdered Lunsford in cold blood, and attempted to murder her.
No mention is made of the defendant testifying or having any witnesses called in his defense. Souther’s plea was accepted by the state and he was automatically sentenced to life imprisonment for the capital offence.
May 26th, less than a month after the murder, Souther was handcuffed and marched from his cell to a waiting black sedan for the ride to Central Prison in Raleigh where he probably thought he would be spending the rest of his life.
But another bit of legal wrangling happened after that. On May 29th, Coyte York, the father of Mrs York’s children filed suit in civil court to take away custody of the 2 girls. Mr York believed that Mrs York had failed to provide a good “Christian home” for his children since the couple separated in 1933. He blamed her “association with other men” for the shooting that took place while his children were in the car. He also charged that she was guilty of of “misconduct” in the presence of his three children (a 17 year old son also lived with Mrs York but was considered old enough to make his own decisions.)
Mrs York, in return claimed that as husband and wife, they had never had good relations and claimed Mr York would “curse and abuse her in the presence of the children” and accuse her of being unfaithful. She admitted both Souther and Lunsford had been guests in the house while the children were present but nothing untoward had taken place and she claimed Lunsford had been a perfect gentleman. During this spat in court she also claimed she hadn’t even spoken to Souther since August of 1954 and he had only ever been in her home on two occasions, once with his wife.
June 3rd, the Yorks are back in court again, this time with other people filing affidavit. These included the widow of Colonel Lunsford and his killer’s wife. Both women claimed they knew Mrs York was carrying on extramarital affairs with their husbands and that she had a “bad reputation for being in the company of married men.” Another man from Hickory named Vernon Chester Tolley filed affidavit claiming his son Howard had “kept company” in 1953 with Mrs York as well. Howard Tolley filed an affidavit admitting that to be true.
Despite all this, the suit didn’t go anywhere. It was eventually “nonsuited” by judge Hubert E. Olive on September 9th when Mr York decided he “did not wish to pursue the matter further.”
Also in September, another odd legal development. The murder weapon, Souther’s 22 caliber rifle, was originally ordered to be sold off. Inexplicably, the Iredell Superior Court instead turned it over to “Eunice Southers“, the killer’s wife, with little fanfare on September 3rd.
You would be inclined to believe that’s pretty much the end of the story. I’m sure none of the participants wanted to think or talk about it in the following years. In the case of the Lunsfords, I know they didn’t.
Claudia York remarried once and maybe twice more before her death in 1982.
Colonel Lunsford’s widow Alda, who the family called “Duck”, never remarried and passed away in the year 2000.
George Souther didn’t spend his whole life in jail. His wife died in 1962 while he was still incarcerated, but Souther was actually paroled in 1966 after his sentence was commuted to just 40 years. Souther was released and moved in with his brother John in Pfafftown. He died not terribly long after in 1977.
Both Mrs York and the woman whose husband Souther murdered lived to see Souther leave jail a free man. One has to wonder what sort of emotions that must have produced.
It can be very hard to find first, second, or even third hand accounts of things that happened so long ago. I was able to hear the tiniest bit of the Lunsford family view of this whole tragedy, but even that is very vague due to the family’s (and especially Colonel’s sibling’s) desire to not talk about it. With no other oral history to rely on, the majority of what I have written has been pieced together from newspaper articles, genealogical records, and other historical sources. I try my best to form a coherent narrative using this information and attempt to not be biased, but it’s entirely possible I have made mistakes when putting this puzzle together. It’s also possible someone out there reading this has memories passed down from their own family. In the case of someone related to the Southers, it’s possible you might even have the rifle that was used to murder Colonel Lunsford. Whatever part of this puzzle you have, I’d love to hear from you.
In closing, researching this story I also came across several other shootings that took place in the county the same week, including an account of a man shooting his wife with a shotgun.
For all our nostalgia for the past, for all our tendencies to think of the post WWII years as some sort of perfect era of moral rightness and apple pie, that is simply not the case. Maybe there was a stronger and more polished veneer that covered society, but all the same ills were still there. Adultery, jealousy, anger, murder. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; because there is nothing new under the sun.
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