I finally located the death certificate of William Lawrence Ross. Contrary to every assumption — including my own — he did not die in the 1920s or 1930s.
Ross lived until November 11, 1962, when he died of a heart attack at Rex Hospital in Raleigh. At the time of his death, he was living at the Raleigh Rescue Mission on Hargett Street.
He is buried in City Cemetery on Tarboro Road.
This means Ross was eventually released from state custody after decades in institutions. His final days were spent at a Mission only blocks from Central Prison, with Dorothea Dix Hospital up on the hill across Western Boulevard — the same institutions that had shaped most of his adult life.
Ross had been a religious man before he broke and murdered two of his friends. At the end of his trial, he got down on his knees and asked 15‑year‑old Sallie Bet to pray for him and forgive him. I trust he found people who would pray with him — and for him — at Raleigh Rescue Mission.
No comments:
Post a Comment