In my previous post, I introduced Dorothy Estelle Randall, a young woman coming of age in Depression Era Albemarle, North Carolina, living in the nebulous and disreputable neighborhood known as 'Sibleytown'. Dorothy had lost her father, Abram Puett Randall, as an infant. She had been raised near the railroad tracks of the Yadkin Railway, along with her brother Ernest. She had an older half brother and sister, Virgil and Bertha, who were adults most of her life, and there were two sisters who passed away as children before her birth.
Due to its embrace of mills and small business, the small town of Albemarle was not hit quite as hard as most northern and midwest areas during the depression. Most people managed to eke out a living. Dorothy was a good student, achieving Honor Roll every year, and recieving accolades for perfect attendance at school. That is, until adolescence.
Fatherless, with a working mother, and being the youngest child, Dorothy may have become a bit wanton, and unbridled. She went to work in a hosiery mill at the insolent age of 15, and bore a son at the age of 16, marrying twice before the age of 20. Her first husband, one Clarence Frank Burris, was a local young man, 5 years her elder, and the father of her son. They lived together as husband and wife very briefly, a divorce coming less than a year later, and a separation after two weeks of marriage. A document was filed with the Register of Deeds of Stanly County, protecting the property of Frank and Dorothy, as individuals, owned prior to marriage, from any claim by the other. The articles of separation also freed Frank of any and all responsibilities to his wife and son, those duties taken on duly by his bride, and her mother, Emma, as Dorothy was still a child herself.
Two years after her divorce, Dorothy visited the yearly County Fair, where she met David Henry Belcher. Mr. Belcher was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and had most recently worked as an Automotic Instructor at an institution called Sweeney Automotive School. At the present, he was working as a master mechanic with Krause Greater Shows, in connection with the Stanly County Fair. This was a fancy way of saying she fell for a Carnie. For a young Southern girl, who may not have been far from home in life, the young man from Milwaukee, who had traveled more than she, must have been a very intriguingly different and new bauble.They wed, having known each other a week, and lived, at the time of their marriage in November of 1934, with her mother in Sibleytown on the south side of Albemarle.
During the course of 1935, 20 year old Dorothy was in and out of the hospital three times for unknown reasons. There were also a number of land transfers between she and her mother, and her mother and Dorothy and her new husband, David Belcher, who was also five years her senior. And that is where we left off with Dorothy, in my last post, "The Belle of Sibleytown"
We pick up with Dorothy 3 years later, in January of 1938.
"Shotgun, Lysol and Two Women", the headlines scandalously proclaimed. One of those two women was Dorothy. The story implied that early in January of 1938, the now 23 year old Dorothy, referred to a "Mrs. Randall", and not by her married name of Belcher, of the notorious Sibleytown, paid a visit to a Mrs. Alvin F. Burris, carrying a shotgun and a bottle of Lysol. The paper incorrectly reported that Alvin F. Burris was Dorothys' first husband. Dorothy was accused of forcing the other woman, for unknown reasons, to drink the Lysol, at gunpoint. Mrs. Burris was rushed for medical treatment, and thankfully survived.
Dorothy left town, but at some point, returned. After her return, she was arrested and released on bond. The charges were dropped after Dorothy promised to pay the medical bills.
A retraction to the previous story was soon printed, stating Dorothy denied all charges, that she had not forced anyone to drink Lysol at the end of any type of firearm. This later article also reported that Mr. Alvin Burris advised that his poor wife was recovering from the effects of Lysol poisoning and was able to return to her wifely duties. If it had not been Dorothy, what were the facts of Mrs. Burris's Lysol poisoning? And who were the Burris's? Mr. Burris also refuted the claim that he had ever married Dorothy, and Dorothy seconded that claim.
Of course, Dorothy's first husband was one Clarence Frank Burris, and there was no more mention of her second, David Henry Belcher.
The Burris Couple
The question remained, who was this unfortunate Burris lady and her husband, who had a newsworthy conflict with the volatile Dorothy Randall? The best fit is one Alva Flave Burris, and his first wife, Ruby Carter Burris.
Alva (not Alvin as incorrectly reported in paper), born in 1904, grew up in Big Lick, Stanly County, a son of Daniel McCoy "Coy" Burris and wife, Eva Cooper Burris. Alva's mother passed away when he was 5 and he was the only child of that marriage. Coy went on to marry Rotha Eudy and have more children, but his oldest son was raised by his parents. In the 1910 and 1920 census, Alva is shown living with his paternal grandparents, Zachariah Ephraim Burris and wife, Margaret Victoria Burris Burris. Ephraim was a grandson of Solomon Burris Jr., one of my ancestors, and yes, he and his wife were cousins. When there is a Burris involved in either Stanly, or Cabarrus County, I'm fairly sure I can tie them back into my own family tree. I know that Zachariah Ephraim Burris was a son of David Green Burris and grandson of Solomon Burris Jr., my 4th Great Grandfather. His wife, Margaret Victoria Burris was the daughter of James Allen Burris and Lucinda Hinson Burris, and the granddaughter of Joshua Christian Burris and Sally Springer Burris, the brother of Solomon Jr, both sons of Solomon Burris Sr., family patriarch, and a Revolutionary War soldier.
The poor woman ill-fated to have drank Lysol, would have been Ruby M. Carter Burris, first wife of Alva. Ruby was born in Stanly County in 1911, and her family were found in Furr Township in 1910, however, her parents, Noah Jerome Carter and wife, Carrie Teeter, were from Rowan County. They would end up in Cabarrus. Alva F. Burris and Sarah Carter Burris would have one son, John Alva Burris, and the marriage would be brief, but not as brief as that of Frank Burris and Dorothy Randall. There's no tale that remains of the cause of animosity between the capricious and temperamental Dorothy and Ruby Burris.
Dorothy was on a streak. Sometimes, in the lives of people involved in criminal activities, they seem to come in like a storm, and you will see their names in the paper time after time, for awhile, until the law stops it, or they emerge from whatever fit or self-destructive catharsis they are in.
The case attracted a mentionable amount of attention, as the local busybodies came to see the the dramadey of the trial of the young chicken theives. Marvin recieved 150 days on the roads, or chain gang. Dorothy was sentenced to a total of 90 days in jail, but the sentence was suspended for 12 months if she could avoid trouble and stay out of court. Did she wise up?
And who was Marvin Calloway? Was Dorothy grooming him to be her next brief marital conquest?
In 1938, Marvin Calloway was a 37 year old divorced man. Born August 5, 1901, he was the son of John Pinkney Calloway and Elizabeth "Lizzie Bell" Clayton Calloway, the third of 8 children. He grew up in Albemarle, or near it, his family being listed as "near Pennington Ferry Road" in 1920. His father, John Pinkney, a son of old Agrippa Galamiel "A. G." Calloway, passed away in 1917, and divisions of property, and dispursements of shares between siblings, of his fathers property, and also that of a few siblings who died young, show that Marvin was married to a girl named "Ruby" by as early as 1924. This Ruby was born in 1903 and was not the same Ruby who drank the Lysol, as that one was born in 1911. I don't know Ruby Calloway's maiden name, but she was a different Ruby, as she is living with Marvin in 1930.
| Name | Marvin Calaway |
|---|---|
| Birth Year | abt 1900 |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | White |
| Age in 1930 | 30 |
| Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Relation to Head of House | Head |
| Home in 1930 | Harris, Stanly, North Carolina, USA |
| Map of Home | Harris,Stanly,North Carolina |
| Dwelling Number | 165 |
| Family Number | 169 |
| Home Owned or Rented | Owned |
| Home Value | 700 |
| Radio Set | No |
| Lives on Farm | No |
| Age at First Marriage | 21 |
| Attended School | No |
| Able to Read and Write | Yes |
| Father's Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Mother's Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Able to Speak English | Yes |
| Occupation | Painter |
| Industry | g |
| Class of Worker | Wage or salary worker |
| Employment | Yes |
| Neighbors | View others on page |
| Name | Age |
|---|---|
| Marvin Calaway | 30 |
| Ruby Calaway | 27 |
Marvin and Ruby were divorced in 1937.
In 1940, Marvin was listed as 'Divorced' in the census and living with his brother, Raymond.
| Name | Marvin Callaway |
|---|---|
| Age | 38 |
| Estimated Birth Year | abt 1902 |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | White |
| Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Marital Status | Divorced |
| Relation to Head of House | Brother |
| Home in 1940 | West and North Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina |
| Map of Home in 1940 | West and North Albemarle,Stanly,North Carolina |
| Inferred Residence in 1935 | Rural, Stanly, North Carolina |
| Residence in 1935 | Rural, Stanly, North Carolina |
| Sheet Number | 18B |
| Occupation | Painter |
| Attended School or College | No |
| Highest Grade Completed | Elementary school, 8th grade |
| Hours Worked Week Prior to Census | 36 |
| Class of Worker | Wage or salary worker in private work |
| Weeks Worked in 1939 | 36 |
| Income | 600 |
| Income Other Sources | No |
| Neighbors | View others on page |
| Name | Age |
|---|---|
| Raymond L Callaway | 28 |
| Louise Callaway | 24 |
| Carol Gwendolyn Callaway | 6/12 |
| Mary Lee Clayton | 49 |
| Marvin Callaway | 38 |
The relationship between Marvin and Dorothy must have been an entente, they don't seem to have married or carried on further. Marvin would remarry, however,on June 8, 1940, not long after the above census, to a Miss Odessa Freeman. They would remain married until his passing in Candor in 1978 at the age of 77. There were no children from either marriage.