I’ve been holding on to this file out of respect for the ‘crank’ in the file. The crank was Rita Raymond, also known as Carolyn Phillips, aka Mary Dorn, aka Carolyn Mullen. I’m going to guess she’s dead by now. In 1948 she was arrested and released to the custody of her father. The next year, 1949 she was charged with petit larceny, so I’ll assume she was an adult. It’s 2021, she should be dead by now.
At one point in time Rita lived at 1514 5th St NW and going by the name Mrs. Carolyn Phillips. She wrote a letter in 1963 from this address complaining about other people, including a woman who lived in her building. It seems that in 1963, this house (now worth over a million) was a rooming house.
When I first read this I thought she was a busybody neighbor. But as I read her file and saw her rap sheet (above), I realized she was suffering from mental illness.
She wrote a few letters to DC Commissioner Walter Tobriner between 1963 and 1965.
Rita Raymond Crank File by Mm Inshaw on Scribd
A note, on plain paper, read: Girls 7/15 Just thought you’d like to know how our “friend” is making out these days. Note Judge Howard’s remarks. Confirms our opinion also.
Rita, appeared before Judge Andrew Howard (Andrew Jackson Howard Jr?) as Carolyn Mullen in 1965. He committed her to D.C. General Hospital for mental observations. For a month.