On April 28, 1911, Cancetto Farmica died in Laurinburg.
Farmica, a musician, was murdered by a fellow carnival worker after an argument when he was hit in the head with a tent stake.
The carnival and the attack took place in McColl, just over the border with South Carolina, but the injured man was taken to the hospital in nearby Laurinburg. Farmica was operated on, but died about 12 hours later. The body was removed to McDougald Funeral Home in that town.
The story becomes somewhat murky after that. Some say that a decision was made not to try the case due to the expense and the fact that both men were foreigners. Others say that the assailant was actually acquitted. Regardless, Farmica’s body was left at the funeral home where it had been embalmed.
A couple of weeks after his death, his father came to the funeral home and paid an installment to have his son buried and promised to send the rest. He was not heard from again, so Farmica’s body remained in the funeral home for 61 years until it was finally buried in 1972 in Hillside Cemetery in Laurinburg.
Images from findagrave.com.