In Myers Park, the butler said he did it

Monroe Medlin said he struggled over a shotgun with his former employer

Sensational courtroom cases have long seized public attention, and Charlotte’s halls of justice are no exception. This week, in a special series only for Ledger members, The Charlotte Ledger examines spectacular trials that captivated local audiences.

In 1949, the wife of a prominent businessman was found dead in her Queens Road home; suspicion fell on an ex-employee

By Mark Washburn

Monroe Medlin appeared to be one of those tragic figures who couldn’t keep out of his own way.

He was well known to Charlotte police even as a kid for a series of juvenile offenses, including a three-month jail term for bike theft. 

At 18, he was ordered to report to the draft board for examination. In 1944, he wrote them a letter saying he was killed in a car crash in Danville, Va., and signed his mother’s name. When federal Judge E. Yates Webb sentenced him to a year in prison for draft evasion, he told Medlin, “I don’t believe the Army would have you, Monroe.” Actually, the Army later did, though he was dishonorably discharged for slugging a sergeant.

In the summer of 1949, though, he had obtained a good job — butler to the family of Easley O. Anderson Sr., prominent business leader and owner of Pyramid Chevrolet. But Anderson fired him when he found a woman visiting Medlin in the servant’s quarters behind the garage of the family mansion at 1128 Queens Road (the house is still there). After Medlin left, it was discovered that a suitcase, $40 and a radio were missing from the house.

In a series of statements to police that would seal his fate, Medlin described his deadly deed: