The evening world. Newspaper, August 2, 1922, Page 16

| pete \ THE EVENING WORLD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1922. Stories Linking Her Name With That of Another Woman’s Husband So Fiercely Aroused the Jealousy ot the Wife, Mrs. Clara Phillips, That She Beat Her to Death. And Now Investigation Is Proving the Gossip to Have Been Unfounded! WA MU) UL \ EB murter og Mrs, Alberta Ni Ni : Meadows, the pretty Los Angeles widow, ig the young Mrs. Clara Phillips, undoubtedly was the most startling as well as brutal crime confronting the authorities for many years. Bven those who are inclined to sympathy for the sew of the slayer are outspoken in their demand that ‘the murderer be punished, There seems to be no loophole through which she can escape, And yet—the astonishing fact rematna—the real slayer of the un fortunate Uttle widow never will Be hung! For it. wasn't Mra. Phillips who killed her after all. It was another person; a person not at all pretty, not at all young; not impulsive or emotional or misguided. This person will escape all punishment and will, doubtless, commit another murder within the year—perhaps half a score of them, Her name, instead of being “Olara Phillps,” 1s “Gossip.” her plight are not to be found, Slander vestigation. beems to have a multitude of places satisfied themselves that the state- in which to hide when danger comes, ment is true. and ‘they said’ is the only answer to the question ‘Who told you this’ Although Mrs. Phillips was con- The authorities have No part of the diary will be made public, Enough has been admitted by those who have seen it, however, hal Mrs. Clara Phillips, slayer of “the other woman” named by vincea her husband and Mrs. Mead- ¢o reveal that it is @ very, complete busybodies whose stories were apparently unfounded. Wonrright, 1922 (New York Evening World) ‘ by Press Publishing Company. VER since the beaten body of Mrs. Alberta Meadows was found fying in its blood on road, AS fact after fact has Krome to the attention of the investi- ators to more truth of the contention of the dead Iptri’s friends that there was no cause flor the Jealousy which prompted Mrs, Phillips to kill her with blows from a ‘hammer. “Gossip,” plying her customary ne- Yarlous trade, was the real murderer. Bteries proved to have had no foun- Gatien were filtered into the ears of a Jealous wife and filled her brain with the suburban fully establish the the uncontrolled desire to kill. Phillips did not trust her husband, it is sald their domestic life was marred by many arguments over his alleged association with other women. She told Mrs. Phillips her husband was spend- Then entered ‘Gossip."* ing hours in the company of Mrs. Meadows, She sald husband bought tires for the widow's automo- bile and that he had given her @ wrist watch the Somehow, a report came from the bank, where Mrs, Meadows was employed, that she had telephone con- versations with a man whom she called ‘dear daddy," and that the man was Mr, Phillips. Now that Mrs, PhilNps 1s in fail to be tried for first degre murder those who are responsible for ’ waiting ows were too friendly, the diary of the dead girl, now in possession of was no reason for the suspicion. The record has been subjected to careful scrutiny, It is an intimate and in- tensely interesting document. It 1s so plainly a record of Mrs. Meadows's girlhood and the happy days of ner all too brief married life which was cut short by the accidental death of her husband, ihat its pages would have been held inviolate but for the fact that it was thought they might contained somethlog bearing upon the dreadful tragedy of her death. It was said, when the existence of have the diary first became known shortly after Mrs. Meadows was siain, that there was nothing tn it that could be of value in connection with the in- record of the activities of Mrs, Mead- ows, and that there is not a singlo Mrs. tho authorities, indicates that there reference to A: L. Phillips, husband of Mrs. Clara Phillips. From end to end of the very human document there is but one man’s name—ths name of the map who won Mrs. Meadows as bride and whom she all but wor- shipped. The diary 1s filled with brief stories of many little parties and ot at- fairs Mre, Meadows attended, As a whole it provides such a closely con- nected narrative of her life it offers mute evidence that there was no other man who had won her affections, It tg pointed out that if there had been an affair of the heart between Mrs. Meadows and Phillips she would have been unable to have recorded her activities so minutely and avoided the Mrs. Alberta Meadows, victim of the jealousy flamed in the heart of Mrs. Phillips by malicious gossip. in- use of his name or some reference to him. Friends of the slain girl declare Mrs. Meudows's life was such an open book that it was impossible she could have devoted any time to Phillips or any other man without the fact be- coming known, The diary is one of the best proofs of the statement. Following closely the identification of the Mrs. Meadows, officials of the First Na- murder victim as tlonal Bank, where she was a trusted employee, made close investigation and furnished a confidental report to the District Attorney, Tho report completely cleared Mrs, Meadows of suspicion, Although the full report was not made public a summary was released “to protect the reputation of a de- ceased bank employee." The report announced that after @- thorough questioning of all fellow workers av- quainted with Mrs. Meadows officials of the bank had definitely established that: 1—She did not make any “Dear Daddy" telephone call on the day of the crime. for a casual 2—Except conversa- tion with Phillips in the presence of another girl, she was not with him at all the night before the murder. 8—Nelther her wrist watch nor the tires on her coupe (now called the death car) were gifts from Phillips. 4—Mrs, Clara Phillips was in @ room of the bank the Saturday pre- ceding the slaying as well as on the day before. The summary published adds that when a woman supposed to have been Mrs. Phillips appeared at the bank on the day of the murder and asked if Mrs. Meadows still was in the build- ing, she asked that nothing be said regarding the inquiry she had made, Mrs, Phillips left the bank about 4 o'clock, some fifteen minutes ahead of Mrs. Meadows, At that time she did not carry a package such as might have contained the hammer. Regarding the slain girl's coupe, bank officials found that the Pacific Hlectrie Kailway, Company paid Mrs, Mead-ws $8,000 in settlement of her cletm for damages for the accidental death of her husband while working This money was Less the company. bank May 6. .n a fortnight later she drew $870 sited In from her account for the purchase of the automobile, which was equipped with new tires, Therefore, the state y « A. L. Phillips, Husband of Mrs. Clara Phillips, and apex of the “triangle” that gossip constructed by whispering that he was spending hours in the company of Mrs. Meadows ment adds, the charge that Phillips bought tires for her founded, An employee of the bank was with Mrs. Meadows when she drew another sum from the bank and purchased the much-discussed wrist watch. car was un- Then the report comes to the last hours of the “hammer victim." These were checked over minutely down to the last telephone call. She was in company of an employee of the bank Tuesday night before the crime, mo- toring with her during the evening, sleeping with her and then break- fasting with her. The two girls ‘came to work together Wednesday, morning. * “At time from Tuesday, about 3.30 P. M. until about 8 A. M. no at ‘Wednesday were they out of sight of each other,"’ the report declares, and during that period Mrs, Meadows had with “casual conversation’ him only @& Phillips, on the automobile ride. As for a,‘'Dear Daddy" telephone call during the lunch hour Wednes- day, Mrs. Meadows dined with fellow when they met while employees and could not have had conversation She such @ without their knowing of it. was not out of their sight the entire time. Several intimate friends, including the minister who officiated at the fu- neral, are postitive in their statements that Mrs. nished Jealousy of Mrs. Phillips. at the funeral, Rev. George W. Hills Meadows could have tur- no real cause for the mad Speaking saifi before he began; ‘Mrs, Meadows "Real Murderer of Mrs/Meadows Mrs. Peggy Caffee (above) declared before the Grand Jury at Los Angeles that she saw Mrs. Phillips beat Mrs. Mead- ows with a hammer until she sickened and ran from the Upon this evidence Mrs. indicted for the scene. Phillips murder. was was pure. I never heard even a hint that she was unwomanly. ‘That is ° \ my opinion and that will remain my opinion, no matter what the papers or the lawyers try to prove. news- Her family are members of my con- sregation and I am in position to have »nd to express a well founded opin- fon." 1, iS Close observers who have studied Mrs Phillips since her arrest are con- fident she is posse d of those char- acter 3 which proyide a fertile field foe the cultivation of seeds of Her Je to scandal. nature could be fanned a flame by reports even though they were groundless rumors. It ts literally true that during her past life she has been given to believ- ing evil rather than good reports. And many times she has been moved to acts of violence by stories coming to her from tale-bearers. Her full-shaped lips betray that she 1s the victim, not the mistress of her emotions, ‘They are the lips of an emotional adventuress, one who en- Joys thrills. She appears to be the sort of woman who would love one ~ man so completely that tt would al- most be an obsession, and yet per- haps might be indiscreet, though not disregardful of her obligatiuns to her husband. Stubbornness rather than deter- mination marks the cleft ehin—stub- bornness and love of soft things, of good things to eat and plenty of showy things to wear, At the same time the indications are that her = outer garments would receive much more care and attention than those = nearer the skin and out ef sight. One can imagine a certain meed of kindness in the make-up of Clara Phil- lips—a careless of sort impersonal kindness. She might share her money and her pleasures with another girl, but only so long as it meant no real, = vital sacrifice to herself. One senses a secretiveness in her, Not in the sense that she would not ” confide in another, but it would be a superficial confidence in which she would tell only part of her real feeling. A girl who lives largely within her- - self, and yet is totally dependent upon others for her life. And so gossip found willing ears to hear, and impulsive hands to it Clara Phillips kttled act. a woman she § thought was a rival for her husband's love she may pay a penalty, but the real perpetrator of the crime cannot be brought to court, ,