View source for Nannie Hazle

'''Nannie Hazle''', (1905 - 1965) serial killer, who killed four of her five husbands, her mother, and probably several other people.

Copyright 2006, Will Johnson, [mailto:wjhonson@aol.com wjhonson@aol.com], Professional Genealogist, All Rights Reserved

Let me start right off by saying that her biography at the crimelibrary has been slightly altered in the names and dates given to certain things.  I'm not sure if this is an attempt at privacy, or if it's sloppy research.  I will start with that biography as a guideline and then show the actual documents of her life.

She was born Nancy Hazle in Blue Mountain, Alabama in 1905 to Louisa "Lou" Holden and James Hazle. The 1910 Census says her parents had been married for nine years and he is listed as a "Railroader".  The 1920 Census says he is a "Farmer". Louisa's maiden name comes from [http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=view&dbid=6767&iid=NEWS-KS-AT_DA_GL.1954_12_02_0007&r=an&rc=787,413,899,442;608,1042,700,1071;677,1579,764,1608&fn=&ln=Record+Nannie+Doss+from+1954-1956&st=d&ssrc=&pid=500566023 this article] in the Atchison Globe.

==First husband==
When she was 16, she married Charles "Charley" Braggs, who was living with and supporting his mother.  The new couple lived with Mrs. Braggs.  Nannie and Charles had four daughters starting with Melvina in 1923 and ending with Florine in 1927.

"Early in 1927, their two middle daughters died." says crimelibrary, but this appears to be a mistake.  Florine Bragg died Oct 1925 in Calhoun County per the Alabama Death Index.

Charley left and showed up a year later in 1928 with another woman.

==Second husband==
Nannie then married 23-year-old Robert H Harrelson in 1929 who lived in Jacksonville.  Again crimelibrary calls him "Frank" but the 1930 census shows the family (see sources below).  "This marriage lasted 16 years."  This is the most confused one of the stories.  [http://members.tripod.com/~sherby/index3.html This site] has them marrying also in 1937 and/or in 1945! Which is supposed to be the year of "Frank's" death.  An [http://content.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6767&path=1954.11.29.1&ln=Record%20Nannie%20Doss%20from%201954-1956&st=d&pid=500560897&rc=877,1654,974,1683;990,1654,1055,1683;1075,2221,1165,2250;1190,2963,1276,2992;1230,3334,1296,3363;909,3538,976,3567&zp=75 article] in the Atchison Daily Globe, 29 Nov 1954 confirms his death in Jacksonville in 1945.

"Her eldest daughter Melvina had married Mosie Haynes and had a son Robert in 1943 and a daughter Feb 1945."  Again this appears to be an error.  Mosie Haynes was born in 1910, so he was quite a bit older than Melvina when they married Jan 1947 in Morgan County (see below).  So their children could not have been born in the early 40s.  They divorced in 1952. Crimelibrary claims that Robert died while in Nannie's care after Mosie and Melvina had fought.  Could [http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&rank=0&gsfn=Robert&gsln=Haynes&sx=&f6Day=&f6Month=&f6Year=&f7=&gskw=&prox=1&f6=++&db=aldeath&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&fh=7&recid=1231060&recoff=1+3 this child in the Death Index] be Robert ?  If so, he died after Melvina had divorced Mosie.  She is then supposed to have murdered her husband Robert Harrelson.  I can't find a person in the Death Index who is a good match for this man.

This [http://content.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6767&path=1954.11.29.1&ln=Record%20Nannie%20Doss%20from%201954-1956&st=d&pid=500560897&rc=877,1654,974,1683;990,1654,1055,1683;1075,2221,1165,2250;1190,2963,1276,2992;1230,3334,1296,3363;909,3538,976,3567&zp=75 article] in the Atchison Daily Globe calls the boy a "STEP-grandson", the "2 1/2 year old grandson of Harralson".  It would then appear, that all researchers on this point have been wrong.  It's then imperative to find the marriage records for Calhoun and see what's up with all this confusion about when they married and who married whom.

==Third husband==
She is next supposed "...to have married in 1947 to Arlie Lanning, a resident of Lexington, North Carolina, but a former Alabaman.  Arlie's mother lived in a nearby town.  He died three years later."  Again the dates seem slightly off for some unknown reason.  The North Carolina Death Index had [http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=NCdeaths%2c&rank=0&gsfn=Arlie&gsln=Lanning&sx=&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&srchb=r&prox=1&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&o_iid=21416&o_lid=21416&o_it=21416&fh=1&recid=1883675&recoff=1+3 Arlie Jackson Lanning born 1900, dying in Lexington] 16 Feb 1952.  And [http://members.tripod.com/~sherby/index3.html this site] says this marriage lasted five years.  An article in the Atchison Daily Globe (cited above) confirms his death in Lexington in 1952.

His [http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=WW1draft&so=2&rank=0&gsfn=Arlie&gsln=Lanning&sx=&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&srchb=r&prox=1&db=&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-b&o_iid=21416&o_lid=21416&o_it=21416 World War I Draft Registration Card] says his mother's name was "Sarah E".  You can see Arlie's family tree [http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=familyhart&id=I65445 here].

Crimelibrary then states that the elder Mrs Lanning died in her sleep.  But Sarah (Leonard) Lanning died two years BEFORE her son Arlie.  See [http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=familyhart&id=I65820 here].

Supposedly Arlie's will left his house to his sister Ethel (Lanning) Swicegood, but the house burnt to the ground and the check was sent to, and cashed by Nannie.

==Fourth husband==
She next married Richard L Morton, a retired businessman who lived in Emporia, Kansas in Oct 1952 and she moved to Emporia.

So it would seem, that the death of her two grandchildren must have been in this 1952 time period,  (so she must have gone back to Alabama for a few months) and not five years earlier.

Crimelibrary says it was at this time that James Hazle her father, died in Blue Mountain, Alabama and her mother Lou moved in with her in Kansas.  But nobody by that name died in 1952 anywhere in Alabama, so again we have to consider crimelibrary's sources flawed on the dates.

Then according to crimelibrary, Lou died Jan 1953 and Richard Morton is supposed to have died "...three months later".  Kansas does not have a death index, so I cannot verify these dates at this time.  This [http://members.tripod.com/~sherby/index3.html site] is apparently the basis for part of crimelibrary's story.  And an article in the Atchison Daily Globe (cited above) confirms the death of "Richard L Morton, 64, Emporia, Kansas 19 May 1953."

==Fifth husband==
Her fifth and last husband was Samuel Luther "Sam" Doss (1898-1954), age 59, born in Carroll County, Arkansas, but then a resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and they married June 1954.  See his family tree [http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=popfraley&id=I26881 here].  She poisoned him a few months after their marriage.

==Arrest and death==
She was finally arrested, tried and imprisoned in 1955.  She died in prison in 1965 of leukemia

== Sources ==
*[http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/doss Her story on crimelibrary.com]
*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=ALDivorce%2c&rank=0&gsfn=Mosie&gsln=Haynes&sx=&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&srchb=r&prox=1&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&o_iid=21416&o_lid=21416&o_it=5910&fh=0&recid=81235&recoff=19+20 Alabama Divorce Index] showing Melvina B and Mosie Haynes divorcing in Etowah County, Mar 1952.  And Mosie's [http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=ssdi%2c&rank=0&gsfn=Mosie&gsln=Haynes&sx=&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&srchb=r&prox=1&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&o_iid=21416&o_lid=21416&o_it=21416&fh=1&recid=29744758&recoff=1+2 Social Security Death Index entry] showing his dates.  Their marriage, contrary to crimelibrary didn't happen under 25 Jan 1947 in Morgan County. See the[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&rank=0&f7=&f6=&sx=&f12=&f13=&f17=25&f16=Jan&rg_f18__date=1947&rs_f18__date=0&f19=Morgan&gskw=&prox=1&db=almarriages_ga&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&fh=1&recid=244535&recoff=13+14+15+17 Alabama Marriage Index here].

*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&rank=0&gsfn=&gsln=braggs&sx=y&f12=Alabama&f4=Calhoun&f7=&f15=&rg_81004011__date=1923&rs_81004011__date=5&f18=&f14=&_8000C002=&_80008002=&_80018002=&f10=&f16=&gskw=&prox=1&db=1930usfedcen&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&fh=0&recid=219885&recoff=2+15+19+20 1930 Census of Jacksonville showing Robt H Haralson 23 Truck driver, Nancy 24, with Malvina Bragg age 4 4/12 "stepdaughter"], and living next door to her mother Lou Hazle, age 51, James was perhaps already dead by this time.

*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&rank=0&gsfn=&gsln=Hazle&sx=y&f8=Alabama&f9=Calhoun&f10=&f20=&rg_81004011__date=&rs_81004011__date=0&f16=&rg_f19__date=&rs_f19__date=0&f18=&_8000C002=&f21=&_80008002=&f22=&_80018002=&gskw=&prox=1&db=1920usfedcen&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&fh=30&recid=262947&recoff=3+21+22 1920 Census of Peaceburg, Calhoun County] showing James F Hazel 43, Lou 40, Nancy 14 and three more children.

*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&rank=0&gsfn=&gsln=hazel&sx=y&f7=AL&f9=Calhoun&f10=&f18=&f20=&rg_81004011__date=&rs_81004011__date=0&f23=&f17=&f16=&rg_f19__date=&rs_f19__date=0&_8000C002=&f21=&_80008002=&f22=&_80018002=&gskw=&prox=1&db=1910uscenindex&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&fh=13&recid=197713&recoff=3+22+97 1910 Census of Anniston, Calhoun County] showing James F Hazel 36, Louisa 30, Nancy 4 and two other children.

*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=0&gsfn=&gsln=bragg&sx=&f6Day=&f6Month=&f6Year=&f7=calhoun&gskw=&prox=1&f6=++&db=aldeath&ti=0&ti.si=0&gl=&gss=rfs&gst=&so=3 Alabama Death Index 1908-59] for "Bragg" in Calhoun showing that Florine died Oct 1925.  Possibly Hazel Bragg is the other daughter who died, since one by this name died Apr 1924 Calhoun.

*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&rank=0&gsfn=&gsln=Hazel&sx=y&f19=Alabama&f20=Calhoun&f21=&f14=&rg_81004011__date=&rs_81004011__date=0&f16=&f9=&f10=&_8000C002=&_80008002=&_80018002=&f23=&f22=&gskw=&prox=1&db=1900usfedcen&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-d&fh=2&recid=186282&recoff=3+21+22 1900 Census of Anniston, Calhoun County] showing James F Hazel, 24 as son of John H, age 50 and Nancy J, age 50, married for 28 years