Helen Massey

Helen Massey was born in 1918 to Lesley/Leslie "Less" (ca.1892-1968) and Arlena (Ruffin) Massey (ca.1892-1953). They lived at 312 Lindsay Street in Chapel Hill (which is now 314 Lindsay Street); Mr. Massey was a plasterer by trade, and Mrs. Massey worked at a laundry. Helen was a student at the Orange County Training School.

 

On May 6, 1935. Helen was leaving the Standard movie theater, when her former boyfriend George Alston accosted her with a [stolen] pistol. She ran across the street into a restaurant (operated by a Ruth Durham), where they locked the door, but Alston broke in and shot Helen three times, killing her. 

 

Alston, employed by the McClamroch family as their butler and gardener, was soon captured by the police and taken to the Hillsboro jail. He apparently admitted to the killing. He was later found guilty of murder in the first degree in court and sentenced to death, and was executed via electrocution September 4, 1936 at the Central Prison in Raleigh.

 

It is unknown where Helen Massey was buried, but it was likely in the old Chapel Hill Cemetery. (According to her 1953 obituary, Arlena Massey: "Burial was in the Chapel Hill Cemetery"; according to his 1968 obituary, Less Messey was "buried in Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery.") 

 

 

Excerpt from the May 10, 1935 Chapel Hill Herald