FULL TEXT: Two mothers tried to figure out something this morning.
In this district
attorney’s office Mrs. Lydia Frisbee was discussing the plight of her
18-year-old daughter, Dorothy, who is charged with killing16-month old Johnnie
Scott. Dorothy was in jail., held without bond.
Across town in a
tourist court, Mrs. Homer Scott played with her 3-year-old daughter, Glenda,
who barely escaped death from rat poisoning – the same that took the life of
Johnnie Scott. She wondered, too, about her husband, who was held in jail
without bail on charges of statutory rape against Dorothy Frisbie, who is an
unwed expectant mother, Mrs. Scott said she was married when she was 15, and
Homer was nearly 17.
Mrs. Frisbie told
substantially the same story about the poisoning of the children that her
daughter had told in a signed confession last night. She said Dorothy and Homer
Scott had lived together, that they had told her they were married and had
lived in her home. She added, however, that she later had “pinned Dorothy down”
and made her admit she wasn’t married. Then, said the mother, “I didn’t know
what to do because they had already lived together.”
Dorothy Frisbie
told of borrowing rat poison from a neighbor and giving it to the children in
water because “they were all that stood between Homer and me.”
It is one of the
worst mixed death and domestic cases to come before investigating officers in
many a day.
Scott is a taxi
driver. He was living at the Frisbie home at 2105 Garfield Street. Sunday night
his wife and children came to Amarillo from Paducah. He took them to the
Frisbie home. According to the statements of Mrs. Frisbie and Dorothy, Mrs.
Scott went to look for an apartment. Homer was sleeping. Dorothy borrowed rat
poison. She told her mother to go see a neighbor. Then, she said in the
statement, she gave the poison to the children. Later in the statement she said
she took the rest of the poison herself in an attempt at suicide.
Soon after the
children drank the poison they became ill, Mrs. Scott returned; Homer was
awakened. Dorothy, the statement said, was awakened. Dorothy, the statement
said, was ill. This was before noon. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon the babies
were taken to a doctor. Within a short time 16-month-old Johnnie died. Glenda
has been released from the hospital. This morning she played with Johnnie’s
cowboy boots and wondered about little brother.
Mrs. Scott was
not satisfied after Johnnie died. The body was taken to Paducah. Mrs. Scott had
the viscera removed for analysis of content. It is in an Amarillo laboratory.
There were others
with doubts. A jar of salad, from which bread was prepared for the children,
was thrown away. The sheriff has the jar. This morning he hadn’t learned who
placed it in the trash. The rat poison container was found near the house;
Dorothy said her little brother disposed of it at her request.
The rape was
filed against Scott on the strength of statements made by Dorothy. She was 18
years old in September.
The 47th
district court is in session, and the murder charge and rape case likely will
be taken to the grand jury within a short time.
Sheriff Bill
Adams and District Attorney Jim Lumpkin are handling the cases.
[“Mother Tells
Story,” The Amarillo Globe (Tx.), Feb. 12, 1943, P. 1]
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FULL TEXT: Amarillo, March 26 – Ten years in prison Friday faced
18-year-old Dorothy Frisbie of Amarillo, convicted of poisoning her lover’s
infant son “to get him out of the way.”
Miss Frisbie, who
testified that she gave rat poison to 16-month-old Johnnie Scott because she
wanted to live with his father, Homer Scott, a taxi-driver, wept when the jury
returned its verdict.
Earlier she had
broken down when the dead child’s mother sat across a court room table from
her.
Motion for a
retrial was denied.
Miss Frisbie
testified she had administered poison to the infant and his three-year-old
sister, Glenda Scott, on Feb. 8, in an attempt to get them out of the way. She
said she believed the two children were keeping her and Scott apart.
Scott testified
he had lived at Miss Frisbie’s home, posing as her husband, before his wife and
children, who had been living at Paducah, moved to Amarillo.
The poisoning
occurred after Mrs. Scott and the children moved to Amarillo.
[“Baby Poisoner
Gets 10 Years,” Austin American Statesman (Tx.), Mar. 26, 1943, p. 15]
***
FULL TEXT:
Amarillo, March 26. – Monroe Turner, husky, 18-year-old farm lad from Olton,
Texas was busily trying to marry Dorothy Frisbie Friday so he could give a name
to the expected child of the girl who Thursday was sentenced to 10 years in
prison for poisoning 16-month-old Johnnie Scott.
Dorothy, 18,
testified at her trial that she poisoned the boy and his sister on Feb. 8 to
get them out of the way so she could have their father, Homer Scott.
She said she
needed a husband.
Turner was here
during the trial and conferred frequently with the girl’s mother, Mrs. Lida
Fisbie. He said he came here for the express purpose of marrying Dorothy
regardless of the outcome of the trial.
“At least, the
baby will have a name, and I can take care of the baby,” Turner said. He added
he had known Dorothy several years ago.
Sheriff Bill
Adams said she would allow the wedding if a marriage license was presented.
[“Farm Lad Wants
To Marry Young Convicted Girl: Dorothy Frisbie, 18, Found Guilty Of Poisoning
Youth, Tyler Morning Telegraph (Tx.), Mar. 27, 1943, p. 8]
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