{"id":100582,"date":"2024-09-24T11:46:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T15:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=100582"},"modified":"2024-09-30T12:07:07","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T16:07:07","slug":"man-of-tragedy-charlie-dorris-and-his-familys-misfortunes-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/man-of-tragedy-charlie-dorris-and-his-familys-misfortunes-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Man of Tragedy\u2019: Charlie Dorris and His Family\u2019s Misfortunes (part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, James Pylant looks into the \u201cwhodunnit\u201d case of Charlie Dorris, and finds a family hounded by misfortune. James is an editor at GenealogyMagazine.com and author for JacobusBooks.com, is an award-winning historical true-crime writer, and authorized celebrity biographer.<\/em><\/p>\n

On a quiet summer morning in 1924, gunfire erupting in an exclusive Long Beach, California, apartment left two people dead and a lone survivor to tell what happened. At the center of this story was Charles \u201cCharlie\u201d W. Dorris, whom newspapers dubbed the \u201cMan of Tragedy.\u201d The Los Angeles Examiner<\/em> published his photo.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Los Angeles Examiner (Los Angeles, California), 3 July 1924, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> are a rich source of information about the headline-making Dorris family, with many reports detailing the family\u2019s long history of misfortune.<\/p>\n

The saga of Charlie Dorris began with his indomitable mother. The daughter of Irish immigrants, 20-year-old Jane Coyne married Ervin Morgan in her native Cleveland, Ohio, in 1858. The couple had three daughters, but after nearly a decade of marriage, Jane sued her husband for divorce in 1867 for \u201cwillful absence and gross neglect.\u201d She sought the children\u2019s custody and \u201csuitable alimony.\u201d Their divorce notice appeared in the Cleveland Leader<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Cleveland Leader (Cleveland, Ohio), 19 March 1867, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With three small daughters in tow, Jane headed for the Golden State, following one of California\u2019s trail paths for \u201cforty-niners\u201d: traveling by sea before crossing the Isthmus of Panama on muleback.<\/p>\n

Jane settled with her family in Monterey, California. There, she remarried on 24 April 1869 to farmer William A. Dorris. She gave birth to four more children including their only son, Charles W. Dorris, born on 4 November 1878.<\/p>\n

He was a three-year-old when the first tragedy struck his family. On 18 April 1882, Jane Dorris returned home from visiting a neighbor and found Charlie\u2019s teenage sister, Maggie, dead, lying face down on the floor.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Evening Bulletin (San Francisco, California), 19 April 1882, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports that \u201cAll sorts of wild rumors\u201d spawned from the unusual death, with neighbors and curiosity seekers flocking to the family home. A coroner\u2019s inquest concluded with the jurors\u2019 verdict: Maggie Dorris\u2019s violent death came \u201cat the hands of some person or persons unknown.\u201d The lone dissenter, the foreman, believed the teen died of natural causes. The coroner, examining the brain, came to the same conclusion. They theorized Maggie had a stroke and fell forward, causing a bruise on her face and hands as she fell against a sewing machine. \u201cThe deceased was of abnormal growth,\u201d the article reports. \u201cShe was less than fourteen years of age, and weighed over 180 pounds, which would seem to support the apoplexy theory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, two other doctors made a subsequent post-mortem examination, and they concluded with the majority verdict: foul play. Two Chinese farm laborers who worked on a neighboring farm were arrested and held on suspicion. \u201cBut no evidence has been developed to justify any criminal charge against them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie Dorris grew up in hotels. In 1885, his mother secured a lease to a sanitarium in San Diego, California, which she converted into a hotel. Located in the heart of the city, the New Carleton Hotel offered \u201cspecial rates to families and troupes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Diego Union (San Diego, California), 17 April 1889, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the hotel brought problems for its owners, as detailed in a series of newspaper reports. Two guests went on a room-to-room burglary spree, and another who ingratiated herself with the owners as an \u201cextremely proper\u201d young lady was exposed as a \u201cwicked\u201d con artist. An older woman staying there stripped and announced to Jane that she would streak in the streets so \u201cshe could atone for her sin.\u201d A young blonde guest was declared insane after awakening fellow guests in the wee hours breaking windows, pitching furniture into the hall, and saying someone wanted to \u201ctake her away.\u201d William Dorris was allegedly battered by Mrs. S. Kahn, a competing hotel owner, and one of the New Carleton\u2019s employees \u201cwent crazy\u201d and chased an imaginary enemy with a butcher knife.<\/p>\n

While running the New Carleton Hotel, Jane fell victim to a land development scam for a proposed resort in Mexico, investing $14,000 (the equivalent of $464,000 today). She attended a legal hearing investigating the matter along with several other investors \u2013 most of them women.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Diego Union (San Diego, California), 10 October 1888, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In November of 1892, Jane filed an insolvency petition, declaring that her liabilities would climb to $7,699 and that she \u201chas no assets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Diego Union (San Diego, California), 24 November 1892, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On 28 June 1899, a San Diego newspaper reported that Jane sued her husband for divorce, \u201ca surprise to their many friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Evening Tribune (San Diego, California), 28 June 1899, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The divorce was finalized in August, and days later, she moved to Jerome, Arizona, to manage a hotel. William died on 18 October 1899 in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

More misfortune struck the family. Jean \u201cJennie\u201d Dorris, 13 months younger than brother Charlie, married James H. Robbins in 1897, and they had one son. She filed for divorce in July 1906 for desertion. The divorce was granted in March of the following year, with Jennie receiving custody and alimony. In April 1908, while their son attended a convent school at Sisters of Mercy in Red Bluff, California, he was kidnapped by his father.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 20 April 1908, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next afternoon, father and son were spotted with a mysterious \u201cheavily veiled\u201d woman in Ashland, Oregon, where Robbins was arrested.*<\/p>\n

Two years later a San Jose, California, newspaper linked Jennie\u2019s name to a scandal.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Evening News (San Jose, California), 16 August 1910, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As reported in an Oakland newspaper, Jane Dorris maintained her daughter\u2019s innocence.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California), 25 August 1910, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As for Charlie Dorris, he moved to Berkeley in 1900. There, he lived with his sister\u2019s family and worked as a hotelkeeper, following in his parents\u2019 professional footsteps.<\/p>\n

Unlike other family members, Charlie had managed to keep his name out of the newspapers \u2013 but that would change. His name would make headlines, eclipsing their misfortunes, and earning him his moniker as \u201cMan of Tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be continued\u2026<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cInvestigating a Mystery.\u201d Designed by Freepik (www.freepik.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

(*) \u201cRobbins Is Charged with Child Stealing,\u201d Weekly People\u2019s Cause (Red Bluff, California), 25 April 1908, p. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article, James Pylant looks into the \u201cwhodunnit\u201d case of Charlie Dorris, and finds a family hounded by misfortune.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":100398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12557],"tags":[58909,23641,58910,58911],"class_list":["post-100582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-stories","tag-charles-charlie-w-dorris","tag-crime-and-criminals","tag-jane-dorris","tag-jean-jennie-dorris"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0904-2024-featured-graphic-crime-investigation.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100582"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100597,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100582\/revisions\/100597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}