Dorothy Lillian Poore:1954, The Claypool Hotel, Indianapolis

   In the Summer of 1954, the most popular song on the radio was “Little Things Mean a Lot” by Kitty Kallen. It’s a sweeping and sentimental romantic song. 

   Television was in its early days with “I Love Lucy” and Ed Sullivan entertaining viewers. 

   Indianapolis was a bustling place downtown then with hotels, restaurants, and plenty of stores for window shopping. Trolleys still helped people get around town up until 1953. But, they were all gone by 1954. Passenger trains, however, still came into Union Station all day and night. Buses also arrived at terminals at all hours. It was a busy and vibrant downtown. 

   On Sunday, July 18th, 1954 a watchman inspecting newly installed air conditioning equipment noticed an unusual foul odor. He began looking around Room 665 of the Claypool Hotel near Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. He looked under the bed and in the closet. Then he began opening the dresser drawers of an antique style oak dresser. The bottom drawer contained the body of a young woman. 

   The young woman was determined to be 5 feet six inches tall. Her body was folded and crammed into a drawer that appears to be about 36 inches wide by 24 by 8 inches deep. Later an autopsy it would be determined that the young woman had been strangled. She was later identified as 18 year old Dorothy Poore by her high school class ring. 

    Dorothy Lillian Poore was born on August 21st, 1935. She and her mother, Hazel, moved to Clinton, Indiana not long after and Dorothy grew up there. Clinton is north of Terre Haute and hosts a long running and popular Little Italy Festival. It’s not a very big town but it’s a nice place to grow up. In 1954 there probably weren’t many opportunities around Clinton. There aren’t many opportunities there now for that matter. 

    Dorothy Lillian Poore was a graduate of Clinton High School. She had studied hard and was determined to make something of herself. She had gone to Indianapolis seeking work as a stenographer. She was just 18 and just starting out in life. 

  Most working class 18 year old women in 1954 had just a couple of choices. They could get married or get a job. Dorothy was probably looking out for a job but also maybe a husband. Post war marketing was all about marriage and family. 

  Dorothy Lillian Poore checked into the Hotel Lorraine at 201 West Washington Street near Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana on July 14th, 1954. It was her second trip to Indianapolis to try to find work. She had worked nights at a barbecue restaurant for awhile but really wanted work as a stenographer or secretarial work. 

   Times were tough after the war. The 1950’s is often thought of as a wonderful time but the economy was still recovering from the Great Depression and from World War 2.  Indiana had quite a few factories during the war and business boomed. After the war it was a different story as factories switched into post war production. That wasn’t an easy process and economic recovery took time. 

   Dorothy Poore had been staying at the Hotel Lorraine but was attacked and strangled in Room 665 of the Claypool Hotel. How did she end up there? Had she met a young man or perhaps been invited there to a party? Who killed Dorothy Poore? 

  The Indianapolis Star newspaper had quite a bit to do with tracking down the suspect in this case. Their reporters tracked down witnesses. Their artist drew a sketch based on witness descriptions. They had two reporters covering crime and the police beat. They were busy making long distance phone calls and getting the story and the suspect sketch into other papers across the country. 

  The newspapers also made much of the fact that another young woman had been murdered only eleven years earlier in Room 729 of the Claypool Hotel. Corporal Maoma Little Ridings had been staying at the hotel on a weekend leave from the Women’s Army Corp. She was found with her throat cut with a broken bottle on August 23rd,1943 just a few hours after she checked in. Even though eleven years had passed her murder had not been forgotten. 

   Police had to issue a statement that the two murders were not linked. Employees of the hotel were rattled and said they wondered if the very recent renovation of room 729 had somehow caused bad luck. Corporal Maoma Little Ridings' murder is still unsolved. 

  Dorothy Lillian Poore’s murder would not go unsolved, however. Soon a suspect was arrested and in police custody. 

 

  Victor Hale Lively was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1929 to Sadie and Jack Lively. He grew up in Beaumont and later Nederland, Texas. He was only 25 in 1954 but already married and divorced. As a young adult he had been bouncing from job to job and ended up in St. Louis. He was hired as a salesman by a construction firm, Better Homes Incorporated at 2607 Gravois Street in St. Louis. Victor then traveled with his boss, Al Cohen, and a group of other employees of Better Homes Incorporated to Indianapolis. 

   He checked into the Kirkwood Hotel in Indianapolis early in the morning on July 15th, 1954 under his real name but using a fake New York address. The Kirkwood Hotel was about 6 blocks from The Claypool Hotel. About 1:30 p.m. he checked out of the Kirkwood and then checked into the Claypool Hotel as “Jack O’Shea” using that same phony New York address. Witnesses who knew him and became acquainted with him said he immediately began hunting for “girls”. He walked around downtown Indianapolis and even went to a show at the Fox Theater. He was keeping an eye out for his boss but ran into some guys that he knew. 

   In his confession he said he asked a cab driver where he could find a girl. The cab driver said he knew two girls but they would insist on coming to visit him together. He said that Dorothy and Ruth came to his room a little while later. He said they stayed and chatted awhile but that Ruth wanted to leave. Dorothy wanted to stay and the two girls argued a bit. Dorothy told Ruth to go ahead and go. Ruth left then, according to Victor Hale Lively. 

   Did police interview Ruth? What did she have to say? (They did manage to find her and she denied ever having been in the hotel room.)

   Lively then said that Dorothy stayed overnight. He said she told him that she would go anywhere with him if he made enough money. She said she had nowhere else to go. If that’s true then it paints a picture of a young woman who felt she had few options in life. It makes me sad for her and all the other young women of that generation. 

    Victor Hale Lively said Dorothy slept on the bed while he sat in a chair and drank gin. He said that around 2:30 a.m. July 16th, 1954 he strangled her to death. I imagine that he attempted to rape her and she fought back and he strangled her out of anger. We only have his side of the story. 

   He also said that he threw her clothes and handbag down an air shaft in the closet. I have a feeling he also took any money she had out of that handbag. She had just come to town to spend a couple of weeks looking for a job. She likely had her savings with her. 

   He said he then put her in the dresser drawer. He later left the hotel by the front entrance and went back to East St. Louis and attempted to get in touch with his boss, Al Cohen. 

   Victor Hale Lively was tried and in early December 1954 was sentenced to life in prison. 

Victor was found with a gun when apprehended. 

   Had Victor Hale Lively killed before? Was he always in the habit of checking into hotels under false names and using false addresses? Were there other murders in other cities and towns that he visited? It will be something that I will be looking into. 

   Victor Hale Lively did not serve out that life sentence though. Most white male murderers didn’t then,  I have found. 

   When he died in 1981 at age 52, Victor Hale Lively was living with his spouse in a trailer park in Ft. Wayne. He died a natural death of "arteriosclerosis heart disease". He was cremated and buried at Fairview Cemetery in Linton, Indiana. I have family near there. It’s south of Terre Haute. I wonder if his spouse was from Linton or if he had family there. It’s a few hours away from Ft. Wayne. It seems strange to me that he is buried there but there must have been some connection to Linton.

   Linton, Indiana is home to a large nature preserve for migrating birds called Goose Pond. Linton was the home town of actor, singer and bandleader Phil Harris. You might know him as the voice of Baloo in Disney’s animated film “The Jungle Book”. If you love old films you’ll remember his wife, Alice Faye. She was a big film star in the 1930’s. It’s funny how life works out. Some people become famous and live seemingly glamorous and glittering lives of ease. But, most people end up with far less. 

   Dorothy Lillian Poore was buried in her hometown of Clinton, Indiana at Walnut Grove Cemetery. Her mother, Hazel, died in 1979 and they are buried side by side. I can’t help but think of Hazel Poore having to live out those 25 years after burying her daughter. That must have been incredibly difficult. I hope she had friends and a community that helped her cope. 

   Dorothy Lillian Poore was only 18 when she was murdered. She had high hopes and ambitions. She had a whole lifetime to figure things out. But that was all stolen from her. 

   Rest in peace Dorothy.