Julius Richard ‘Dixie’ Davis
Parents
| Father | [unknown] |
| Mother | [unknown] |
Personal Information
| Record Created: 13 October 2020; Last Edited: 3 February 2022 |
| Person ID | 9884 |
| Name | Julius Richard ‘Dixie’ Davis |
| Gender | Male |
| Born | 29 November 1904 in New York, New York1 |
| Married | 1932 to Martha Delaney2 |
| Divorced | 10 December 1938 in Reno, Washoe County, Nevada from Martha Delaney3 |
| Married | 6 August 1939 in Nyack, Rockland County, New York to Hope Dare (born Rosie Luetzsinger)4, 5 |
| Died | 30 December 1969 in Los Angeles, California1 |
| Buried | in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Glendale, Los Angeles County, California1 |
Biography
A brief biography of Dixie Davis (born Julius Richard Davis) appears in WikiPedia.org (with corrections and additions as noted):6
Davis was born in New York City in 1905 [sic, actually 1904] and grew up in Tannersville, New York after his father, a tailor named Davidowitz, relocated the family to the Catskills. Davis attended Syracuse University Law School and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1927. He served a clerkship, and then started his own firm in New York City specializing in defending mobsters.
Many of Davis’ clients were African-Americans involved in the numbers game in Harlem. In 1932 he decided that he could take control and brought in Dutch Schultz [born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer] as enforcer only to lose control to Schultz.
With the murder of Schultz in 1935, Davis took over his numbers racket. On July 14, 1937 a grand jury indicted Davis for racketeering. In exchange for his cooperation, Davis was sentenced to one year in prison and was disbarred.
On December 31, 1969, Dixie Davis died of a heart attack in his home in Bel-Air, California during a break-in. Two masked gunmen had bound his wife [Hope Dare, born Rosie Luetzsinger] and grandson and had stolen jewels, furs and cash.
Davis was married twice. His first wife was Martha Delaney. While Davis was incarcerated for racketeering, he was permitted several times to leave prison and visit Hope Dare, whom he had met several years before, and lived with at least as early as 1935. Hope was the catalyst for persuading Dixie to turn states evidence on his mob associates. Davis’ wife Martha knew of his infidelity, and divorced him in 1938. Once out of prison, Davis married Hope and together they moved west, living in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and later Los Angeles, having two children together.7
Person/Family
| Spouse 1 |  Martha Delaney |
| Born | |
| Married | 1932 to Julius Richard ‘Dixie’ Davis |
| Spouse 2 | Hope Dare (born Rosie Luetzsinger) (daughter of William A. ‘Ignas’ Luetzsinger and Sarah ‘Dollie’ McCarty) |
| Born | 9 October 1908 in Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa |
| Married | ca. 1925 to David Swing Ricker |
| Married | 6 August 1939 in Nyack, Rockland County, New York to Julius Richard ‘Dixie’ Davis |
| Died | 31 March 1999 in Henderson, Clark County, Nevada |
| Children | of Julius Richard ‘Dixie’ Davis and Hope Dare (born Rosie Luetzsinger): |
| 1. | Michael Davis |
| Born |
| 2. | Barclay Davis |
| Born | |
| Married | to Loretta _____ |
Sources
- Find a Grave (website). Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Glendale, Los Angeles County, California, Julius Richard “Dixie” Davis, born: 29 November 1904 in New York; died: 30 December 1969 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California (from record, which includes newspaper clippings announcing his marriage to Hope Dare; making his home in New Mexico; and his brief death notice).
- Daily News, New York, New York, 5 March 1939, Hope Dare, Dixie Davis Will Wed, Then Separate, It Seems. The article provides detailed biographical information for both Hope and Dixie, and mentions some of Dixie’s mob associates and his first wife, and Hope’s parents and first husband.
- Divorce, The New York Times, New York, New York, 10 December 1938, Divorces ‘Dixie’ Davis; Former Martha Delaney in Reno Suit Charges Cruelty. The article indicates Mrs. Martha Delaney Davis obtained a divorce today from J. Richard Davis.
- Find a Grave (website). Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Glendale, Los Angeles County, California, Hope Dare Davis, born: 9 October 1909 [sic, her entry in the 1910 census shows her age 1 year 7 months, indicating she was born in 1908, believed to be the correct birth year] in Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa; died: 31 March 1999 in Henderson, Clark County, Nevada (from record, which includes two newspaper clippings of with her husband J. Richard Davis; and provides a brief synopsis of her life, indicating her birth name, naming her parents, supposed marriage to a man named Reichert [actually, Ricker], her name change to Hope Dare in 1930, work as a showgirl in Zeigfield Follies, marriage to J. Richard “Dixie” Davis, and several places where she lived; and the names and links for her mother and one spouse).
- Marriage Announcement, The New London Evening Day, New London, Connecticut, 7 August 1939, ‘Dixie’ Davis and Hope Dare on Honeymoon. The article indicates they married the previous day in Nyack [New York] after serving a prison sentence, and provides biographical information regarding his association with the Dutch Shultz mob as their attorney, and his testimony leading to the conviction of ex-Tammany district leader James J. Hines.
- wikipedia.org, Wikipedia contributors. “Dixie Davis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Oct. 2019. Web. 15 Oct. 2020.
- wikipedia.org, Wikipedia contributors. “Dixie Davis.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Oct. 2019. Web. 15 Oct. 2020. Life Magazine (available at books.google.com), 15 August 1939, page 42, The Strange Case of Hope Dare.