PHILLIPS, Henry 1848-1911

PHILLIPS, MINSTER

Posted By: Theresa (email)
Date: 5/10/2002 at 22:04:13

Waterloo Courier 11-22-1911

FARMER IS SHOT TO DEATH

Murderer Is J. T. McCaskill, And Victim Henry Phillips

GAVE HIMSELF INTO CUSTODY

Fight And Killing Occurred Near Raymond, Iowa
This afternoon J. T. McCaskill, a sewing machine agent from Waterloo, shot and killed Henry Phillips, a farmer, residing two miles east of Raymond. He claims he shot in self-defense after Phillips had struck him over the head with a stove poker. The alleged assault and subsequent murder followed a dispute over the sale and delivery of a sewing machine in the Phillips home. McCaskill hurried to Waterloo as soon after the crime as possible and gave himself up to the sheriff. He entered the sheriff's office trembling with excitement and covered with blood, part of which came from his wound in the head.

Phillips Is Past 60
The tragedy occurred shortly after 2 o'clock at the Phillips home. McCaskill was talking to the members of the family when the father came into the house. A disagreement arose over the terms of settlement for the machine. It is said the agent wanted Phillips to sign a note for the price of the machine, and he objected to this. Angry words resulted, according to McCaskill's statement, and Phillips seized a stove poker, McCaskill says Phillips struck him a severe blow over the head. Then he drew from his pocket a .38 calibre Smith & Wesson revolver and shot Phillips twice. Phillips fell dead.

Agent Flees To Waterloo
Just as soon as possible McCaskill drove back to Waterloo. He immediately visited the office of the sheriff, saying, "I have killed a man in self-defense." He was covered with blood and blood was even then oozing from the wound in his head.
J. T. McCaskill and his brother, A. F. McCaskill, have been staying at the Hummel Hotel.
Coroner Waterbury has gone to the scene of the crime.
Phillips is an old resident of the county.

(the next day's paper,11-23-1911... on the front page, is a picture of Henry Phillips and his family with the caption: The above picture of the family of Henry Phillips, who was murdered at his country home near Raymond yesterday afternoon, was taken about ten years ago. In the foreground appear Susie, now 14, and Henry, Jr., now 16, who were the only eye-witnesses of the tragedy. They are the youngest of the family. The girl is now large for her age. She and her brother have described to the officers the incidents leading up to the shooting, and the struggle itself. According to their statements the sewing machine agent who armed himself with a revolver (?) his buggy, followed the father from the road to the house, and the two battled at the kitchen door--the father attempting to prevent the agent from entering.)

Waterloo Courier 11-23-1911

CHILDREN TELL ABOUT MURDER

Story Of Eye Witnesses Of Shooting of Henry Phillips

Children Say McCaskill Was Aggressor-Father Defended Self.
J. T. McCaskill, of the McCaskill brothers' agency for the Davis swing machine, who shot to death Henry Phillips, a wealthy farmer 63 years of age at 1:40 o'clock Wednesday afternoon in the kitchen of his home, one mile east of Raymond, will have his preliminary hearing before a committing magistrate within a few days on a charge of murder.
Confined behind closed bars in the county jail, the prisoner continues to reiterate his statements made immediately after the shooting, saying that he shot Phillips in self-defense and that he had been struck over the head and was down on his knees on the floor when he fired the shots that killed Phillips. When informed that the victim of the affray was dead, McCaskill showed considerable emotion and expressed his regret that he had fired the bullets.
The two cuts in the scalp over the forehead were dressed by the attending physician in the county jail and no one was allowed to talk with him except a brother, with whom he has been living at a local hotel.

Eye-Witnesses Give Damaging Evidence
From the evidence given in the statements of the two children, Henry and Susie, the only two eye-witnesses to the murder, the claim of self-defense made by McCaskill is not borne out in any respect.
Assistant County Attorney E. H. McCoy, Sheriff Frank Shores and a reporter for the Courier were present when the boy and girl were examined at 5 o'clock in the afternoon and also took measurements in the kitchen where the man was murdered and made measurements on the body showing where the bullets had entered.

Both Bullets Penetrated Body
The first bullet entered on the left side of the left leg, at a point four inches above the knee joint. It penetrated the thigh coming out near the groin and re-entering the bowels at the lower part of the abdomen. The second shot entered the breast one inch below and to the right of the breast bone and pierced the body coming out three inches to the left of the center of the back at a point five inches below the level of the shoulder.
the second bullet after passing through Phillips' body, entered the cupboard and came out on the east side of the door and struck a stove in the dining room. the cupboard is located directly back of where the murdered man fell.

Prisoner's Brother Coming
J. T. McCaskill has been connected with the Davis Sewing Machine Company, operating in the vicinity of Jesup, for several weeks. Their headquarters are located at East Dubuque and they came to this section from Sioux City, where they sold machines for the past year. He is 27 years of age and has seven brothers living at various points throughout the state. His native home is in Texas, where he lived for many years. A brother, H. E. McCaskill, from Sioux City, has been notified of the affair and is expected to arrive today. The preliminary hearing has been postponed until his arrival.

Statement Of John Youngblut
John Youngblut, justice of the peace for Fox Township, who lives on a farm two miles east of the scene of the murder, in his statement said:
"I had been notified over the telephone by one of the neighbors that Henry Phillips had been killed by a sewing machine man, at his farm, and that the man was driving in an easterly direction. I went out into the road and stopped him. He said, "Friend, I've killed a man, but for God's sake let me get away. I am afraid they'll mob me. I want to give myself up to an officer" I told him I was an officer of the law and would protect him and that he must go with me and deliver himself up to the sheriff at Waterloo for the crime was committed in Black Hawk County.

Youngblut Showed Great Nerve
"I got into his rig and we drove to my barn at Raymond and then he agreed to drive on to Waterloo. I did not search the man, but watched to see that he kept his hands on the reins so he could not use his revolver. I told him if anyone stopped us to mob him, I would see that he was protected. I said I could use his revolver in that event. This seamed to pacify him.
I asked him why he had killed Phillips, and he said that the old man had struck him over the head with a stove poker and that he had to shoot in self defense..asked him whether Phillips was dead and he said he did not stop to see, but that he thought he was, he told me he had always carried a revolver so as to protect himself.
"I did not see the gun until the sheriff searched him at the county jail, but knew he had it in his pocket all the time. The fellow seemed sorry for what he had done, and hoped the man was not dead."

Young Daughter Makes Statement
Susie Phillips, the 14 year-old daughter of the murdered man, who was an eye-witness to the shooting, and who stood in the window of the dining room of the house and watched the two men during the scuffle, which preceded the murder, in her statement to E. H. McCoy, assistant county attorney, said:
"Mr. McCaskill drove up to the house at 11 o'clock in the morning with a new Davis sewing machine. He brought it in and took out the old machine and placed it in his wagon. then he asked me where the folks were, and I told him they were over to my sister's home, Mrs. Mary Youngblut, who lives seven miles southeast of here. A baby was born to her Wednesday morning. He wanted me to sign a note for $42 in payment for the difference which we were to pay on the purchase of the new machine, when he made the deal three weeks ago.
"I told him to talk to father about that, and then he telephoned Youngblut's farm and talked to my father, and found out he would be home at noon and would see him then. He left the house and drove away. At about 1 o'clock he returned again and came in the house.

Didn't Want New Machine
"Father told him we didn't want the new machine and asked him to bring in the old one again. He refused to do this and an argument arose, during which father told him he would go out himself and bring in the machine. McCaskill walked out of the house about 10 feet ahead of father and around the back end of the buggy. When he reached a point near the horse's head, he pulled a revolver out of his handgrip and cursed at father, saying, 'Now, you old devil, if you want trouble, I'll give it to you."

Saw Her Father Murdered
"Father turned and started in towards the house. I stood in front of the dining room window and saw them both. McCaskill followed him in and when father reached the kitchen door he tried to close it, but McCaskill threw his weight against it and tried to force an entrance.
"Father had his left knee braced against the door and McCaskill pushed it open about a foot and stuck the gun around the corner of the door, and fired the first shot, which is the one that struck father in the knee. My father had picked up the stove poker, which lay under the kitchen range, when he first came in, and after the first bullet struck him, he hit McCaskill twice over the head with the poker. Just then McCaskill was standing partly inside the door and he shot my father again through the breast. Father fell over backwards against the kitchen cupboard and rolled to the floor. Henry, my 16 year old brother, and I ran out of the house when we saw father had been killed. I ran as fast as I could to John Ehr's house, 40 rods west of our place, and told him a man had shot father."

Boy Sees Shooting
Henry Phillips, Jr, the 16 year old boy who was the only other eye-witness to the murder, tells the following story:
"I did not see Mr. McCaskill and my father when they were arguing over the sewing machine. I saw the man's rig in the yard and had walked into the house about the time they came back to the kitchen door. McCaskill was pushing the door open and father had his knee braced against it, trying to hold it shut. McCaskill shoved the revolver around the side of the door from where he stood outside, about eight inches below the level of the kitchen floor, and shot father in the leg. Father then swung at him with the stove poker, which he had in his hand, and hit him on the head, I think, twice. By that time, McCaskill was almost inside the kitchen and fired the second time straight at father's breast, and he fell over on his back and dropped to the floor close to the doorway. I knew father was dead because he didn't move at all after he struck the floor.
"Susie and I ran out of the house and I went to one neighbor's and she went to another and told them that a man had murdered father."

First Man On The Scene
John Ehr, the nearest neighbor, who lives 40 rods west of the Phillips house, told the following story about the shooting:
"Susie ran into our house and told us her father had been shot by a sewing machine man. I ran over and rushed into the kitchen and found Mr. Phillips' body lying on the kitchen floor in the corner near the cupboard, with one foot extended, so that I had to move it back before I could close the kitchen door. He was dead when I reached him, and I was the first man there.

Neighbors Carried Body To Bed
"In a few minutes, Ed Carroll, Mr. Miller and Matthew and Tatter Phillips came in and we talked it over and then picked up his body and carried it into the bed in the front chamber. Susie and Henry told us the man had shot their father while he was standing just inside the kitchen door and then walked out of the kitchen and said, 'I've killed him.' They said he jumped into his buggy and drove down the east road. I never saw McCaskill and never heard about any trouble between him and the Phillips family before."

Dead Man's Trousers Burned.
"When I entered the kitchen, Phillips' trousers over the left knee were smoldering from the fire caused by the bullet when it entered. I smothered this so it would not burn his leg any more. The fire had already burned away a strip of his trousers about six inches square, and it looked as thought the shot had been fired at very close range."

Coroner Gives Version
Dr. C. A. Waterbury, who arrived at the house about 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon, made a thorough examination of the body and the premises surrounding the scene of the murder. He thinks that Phillips entered the house, followed by McCaskill, and that the latter reached in, after partially opening the door and fired at Phillips, as there was no hole in the door to indicate that the shot had been fired from without. The shot in the knee, says Dr. Waterbury, must have been the first one fired, for the second was more fatal and appeared to have been fired after McCaskill had entered the house, in speaking of the shot fired into the left breast of the murdered man, Dr. Waterbury said:
" The second bullet must have been fired while McCaskill was in the room, for the direction the bullet took and the range was such that it could not have been fired from just within the door, and it struck him in the right breast and ranged downward to the left and penetrated a cupboard, passing into the living room on the other side.
"The wound in the leg is the one that will take the bottom out of his plea of self-defense," said Dr. Waterbury.

Thirty-five Years A Resident
Henry Phillips was 63 years old at the time of his death. He was born at Luxemberg, Germany, and when 12 years of age, came to this country. Thirty-five years ago he moved to Fox Twp, where he lived for nine years, and then located on the farm of 196 acres, where the family now reside, one mile east of Raymond.

Leaves Large Family
The surviving relatives left to mourn his untimely death are his wife, who is 55 years of age, and 11 children, as follows: Frank, John, Nicholas, Matthew, Tatter, Henry, Elizabeth, Fannie, Mary, Celia, and Susie. Five of the children are living at home and the older ones are married and living on farms in Fox Township.
Henry Phillips was a devout member of the Catholic church and attended services at Rev. Father Rottler's church at Raymond, for over 25 years. The funeral arrangements have not yet been made, but interment will be in the Catholic cemetery at Raymond.

Sheriff Shores Has Evidence
In the possession of Sheriff Shores are the poker, revolver and clothing of the murdered man. These will be held as evidence at the trial.

Kitchen Door Marked
At the kitchen door at the Phillips home there are evidences of a fierce battle between the owner of the home and the sewing machine agent. There are indentations on the edge of the door, which must have been made by the blows of the poker, for the poker fitted into them perfectly. The door was also scratched, as if the end of the poker had been drawn across the paint, or had been thrust end first against the wood.

Phillips Peaceable Man
So far as known, Henry Phillips was always a man of peaceful disposition. His neighbors speak of him in the highest terms of praise, and all of them were shocked by the news of the tragedy.
News of the murder had an especially depressing effect upon the daughter who only yesterday morning gave birth to a child. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were at their daughter's home all the forenoon, and Mrs. Phillips was there when the murder was committed.

Officers Visit Home Today
This afternoon Sheriff Shores, Coroner Waterbury, Assistant Attorney McCoy, a stenographer and a photographer went to the Henry Phillips home near Raymond. The body of Mr. Phillips will be photographed, as also will the kitchen where the tragedy occurred. It is expected the stenographer will take down statements of the eye-witnesses. when the coroner's verdict is given, it will be to the effect that the deceased came to his death by shots fired from the revolver held by J. T. McCaskill. The crime charged will be murder, probably of the second degree. In order to be first degree, the murder must be premeditated and contemplated for some time before the actual commission of the act.

Waterloo Courier 11-24-1911
(Picture of Henry Phillip's Home, with the head line:" Henry Phillips' Home, Where He Was Murdered" and the caption said: The above is a reproduction of a photograph, taken yesterday afternoon, of the Henry Phillips home, one mile east of Raymond. the kitchen door, where the tragedy occurred that resulted in Mr. Phillips' death, is at the rear of the house at the left. J. F. McCaskill's horse was tied at the front gate. The horse was attached to rig in which was Mr. Phillips' sewing machine. McCaskill, who is a sewing machine agent, had called earlier in the day and left a new machine in the house. It was over a disagreement of the terms of the sale of the machine that the farmer and the agent became involved in a quarrel. Mr. Phillips was found shot to death by Mr. Ehr, a near neighbor, who was summoned by the young children after the shooting, and his body lay close to the kitchen door, in a pool of blood.