The Perry's Camp Murders

Two weeks after Labor Day, 1949, the most heinous crimes to occur in Sevier County, Tennessee in over 50 years shook the community. Charles J. Perry, 70, owner of Perry¿s Camp, a beer joint, eatery, and tourist court, located between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, was tortured, brutally murdered, and robbed. His live-in housekeeper, Josie Law, 43, was also stabbed to death. Arrested and charged during the ensuing week were Claude Robertson, 40, a career criminal who lived nearby; and two brothers, Hermie Lee Jones, 26, and Basil Jones, 20, both of Fall Branch in Washington County some 76 miles away.