A shocking Southern true crime tale of racism, murder,
and taboo sex In early 1960, as John F. Kennedy
campaigned for the Presidency, as Elvis returned from his
stint in the army, Chester Burge - slumlord, liquor
runner, and the black sheep of the proud (and wealthy)
Dunlap family of Macon, Georgia - lay in a hospital bed,
recovering from surgery. He listened to the radio as the
news reported that his wife had just been murdered.
Chester was eventually charged, and when the trial
finally began, the sweet Southern town of Macon witnessed
a story of epic proportions; a tale of white-columned
mansions, an insane asylum, real people as "Southern
grotesque" as the characters of Flannery O'Connor, and a
volatile mix of taboo interracial relationships and
homosexuality. This was a story as fantastical as a
Greek tragedy, complete with a stunning conclusion. It is
told in riveting detail in Richard Jay Hutto's A Peculiar
Tribe of People.
