Braggs was not only abusive and adulterous; he also came with his own domineering mother, who continued to live with him after the wedding. She was a controlling and oppressive woman, and to cope, both Doss and Braggs drank and cheated on each other, per ThoughtCo. Despite their troubles, they managed to have four children together in the years from 1923 to 1927. However, shortly after the birth of their last child, Florine, their two middle children mysteriously died, presumably from food poisoning.
Suspecting foul play, Braggs took his eldest child, Melvina, and fled the home, leaving their newborn behind with Doss. While Braggs was gone, his mother passed away. He returned with Melvina the following summer, filing for divorce and leaving both his daughters behind with the woman he claimed he had left because he was afraid of her, per Murderpedia.
Doss continued to go from husband to husband, searching lonely hearts columns to find husbands two and three. She wed number two, Robert Franklin Harrelson, in 1929, and though the marriage lasted 16 years, it wasn't a happy one. He was a violent, heavy drinker, and when he raped her after a particularly raucous night of drinking on the day that World War II ended, Doss had finally had enough. The next day, she put rat poison in his corn whiskey jar, killing him the next time he took a drink.
