Iowa
Old Press
The Des Moines Register
Des Moines, Polk co. Iowa
Sunday, July 24, 1910
MAYOR TELLS OF HIS LIFE - COURT ROOM PACKED TO HEAR STORY
OF OTTUMWA OFFICIAL
It is Now Thought Case Hinges on How Much Evidence Court
Will Admit.
OTTUMA, Ia., July 23—Special: Mayor Phillips took the stand
in his own behalf this afternoon in the hearing of the ouster
proceedings against him. He told the court the story of his life.
The court room was packed and all listened with intense interest
to every detail of the life story of the man who in his 70th year
faces the situation of being cast out of the office after serving
the first half of his fourth term.
Following the evidence of bankers, wholesale and retail business
men, manufacturers and former alderman, City Engineer John T.
Brady and Street Commissioner Henry Adcock, testified to
conversing daily with the mayor, and never once finding any
indication of his being drunk.
The mayor, who was born in South Wales, arrived in America when
he was 6 years old. His life in the mines of Missouri was
referred to, and he related how he had risen from the humbler
superintendent of the Whitebreast Fuel Col, and he referred to
his political career later in life, which included his running
against the present junior senator of Iowa, A.R. Cummins, for the
office of governor, in 1904.
Court adjourned this afternoon to allow the court and attorneys
to go to their homes over Sunday and the testimony of Mayor
Phillips was only half finished. The defendant will use all of
Monday to complete the evidence.
Four street laborers with whom Mayor Phillips worked when they
were flushing the streets during which he is accused of being
intoxicated, swore they failed to notice any indications of the
mayor being drunk and G. Keefer, a former alderman, testified to
the sobriety of the defendant.
Officer L. Lightner told of raiding a disreputable house at the
mayor’s instigation. The case it is now thought, by those
who have been following the trial, hinges on the question of just
how much evidence the court will admit. The mayor’s
attorneys maintain that the Cosson law only applies to Mayor
Phillips’ actions since it became effective March 27, 1909,
while the state’s attorneys have introduced evidence which
has to do with Phillips’ term beginning in 1907 and later.
[transcribed by L.Z., September 2016]