The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-07-23
wife" But already there was an array OF
circumstantial evidence hard TO reconcile
with this bold asScveration.
TIE CoNTENTa or A TRUNK.

TIE CoSTESTa or A TRUNK.
Arrested while In tho field Mt work, Phil
Inns waa taken nv the officers to tho resi-
lcncc Of Mr.. Turner. to which al9o the body
al tho murdered woman had been carried
Ia await the inquest. In his room trunk
was fo,md-his uwn--and It's contents were
such ~ nre seldom found In young man
wardrobe. A dark-colored chignon, bear
ing marks of having been tumbled In the
sand 4 lady's dress q basque several col
lars and cuts lady's handkerchief, re-
scmhlinG one found on the person OF The
murdered woman; 4 lady's belt; Bible,
and other books. On the tiy-lea! oil one nf
the books were written the words MISS
Emma," andit seemed Us il Il final name had
been erased while in others there were in
scriptipns written in schoolgirl hand. In
the same room there was found an Aliens
sX-shooter, belonging to young MIR. Turner:
Three barrels were loaded and three had
been discharged. Phillips sadhc had been
shooting ut dog.
now he CAME TO DE SUSPECTED.
For some time previous TO the discovery
of the murdered woman, and aitcrWard,
Phillips had been employed as an assistant
OH the farm Of Mr.. Turner, brother oil DIS
had married n Miss Tnrncr, and there were
unmarried daughters residing in the house
Some time during February, lSC1, a letter
hal come INTO the possession of MIR. furncr,
or., directed to Jctcr Phillips, and which,
having been opened under circumstances
not clearly explained, plirportcd to be from
u person claiming to be the wife OF Phillips.
Upon this a rumor arose, which extended
beyond The Turner Etmly, that Phillips was
really married man. But he Industrious
ly denied the imrutation, not only in that
nciShborhood but in Richmond and else
where, and always bore himself among ac-
quaintanccs, friends, and relatives, rs an
ilntrammelcd bachelor. If he were mar
ritd he had made no communication of that
important fact to any of his kith md kin.
Nevertheless, there was the rumor, and the
same party claiming to be his wife had
THREATENED TO VISIT nIA.
Beinc at Mr.. Turner's when the dead
body was found, he did not visit 1t, and did
| not 90 to the inquest, nor, express amy of tho
| interest or curiosity exhibited by every one
annarcnt calmncss and stolidity seemed to
niyc way before unexplained apprehensions
| of some dread kind. lie was so consplct-
ously distraught and excited by secret UNI
casilIcss as more than once to attract the
sIispicjous attention of Alr. Drinkcr. Mr.
Drinker avowed his suspicious to justice
Made and Constable Cole, and these latter
ut once began to institute inquiries i'll Caro-
line county, from which rhillps's putltlve
wife had lit was enormously supposcW
dated her letter of February. The speedy
result of this investigation was an
OVERWHELMING REVELATION.
Justice Wade, on the 4th of June, 1861,
received letter from the sheriff OF Caro-
line county informing him that Rev. l,r.
Baynllam, OF that county, had, in July,
1865, married n soldier by the name OF iinl'
Iips to a Miss Emily Pitts, OF Torctto, lGSse
comfy. Va. Next came a letter from Is. +
Pitts, brother OF the alleged Mrs. Phil
lips,W said in so many words: MIR. j. d
Phillips, who married my sister, Is son o.
| Mr.. Dabney Phillips, of Surry county, who
came TO Essex county, anl married, July H.
1865, Miss Mary Emily Pitts. She remained
| with us until this year. He then removed
TO llenrico. have received but two letters
from Mr.. Phillips since his removal"
| But tho arrest was not caused alone by
thc proof that Phillips was q married man
Other and more conclusive evidence OF his
guilt was brought opt oil the
,.E PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION,
which took place ut the county court -houso,
Phillips having in the mean time been
LODGED in Jail. 1t was then proved That the
parties were married in July, 1868 ; That
phillips soon left the Pitts residence and
came to the neighborhood Of Richmond ;
that SUSPICION WAS excited by his frequent
absences, and by his failure to Introduce his
wife to his family that nc finally brought
her from Essex to Richmond OIL the 10th OF
| February, 1867, promising to take her to
his fathers house that they We're seon to-
gcthcr ut the Virginia House, In this city, on
Sunday, February nth; that they were
seen on tho evening of that day on Frank
lin strect-and here the wife was lost. Her
husband failed to account for her, and
there is no evidence that from that day to
this she WAS seen by the eye Of mortal man
save that OF her husband.
| Nor was this Ill. Letters were produced
from Phillips TO his Wiie's filmily, written
weeks after her mysterious disappearance,
giving particulars rs to her health, and, ,
with ingenious villainy, giving details us to
their imaginary domestic affairs. The let
tcrs of latter date, however, represented
her as sick, and finally as afflicted with lock-
jaw, and her life despaired of. The iden.
tity, too, of the murdered woman with
Mary Emily Phillips was fully established
| by the evidence Of her sister and others.
. ..F COMMITTED For TRIAL.
It ia unnecessary to follow the case
through all its tortuous windings in the
courts OF law. BY the examining court he
WAS sent OH to the circuit court, and after
great difficulty In getting jury, he was
placed on trial. An enormous mass OF tes-
timony was elected, and on the seventeenth
day tho case was given to the jury. On the
nineteenth day the jury was discharged,
! having failed to agree. Ten We're for con-
yiction and twoior ucquittal. He was then
| tried ut Il special term of the court by q jury
summoned from Albemarle and Alexandria,
| 1t being impossible to procure one in Rich
mond This time conviction was assured, and
Judge Christian pronounced upon the pri-
Soner t... ..0 J.
THE SENTENCE OF DEATH.
We make the following extract from this
eloquent utterance as showing the effect OF
tho evidence upon the mind of the Court.
IIa said:
"In order that you might havo q per-
tectly fair and impartial trial, a jury has been
brought from distant county, composed OF
men without bins or prejudice against you.
That jury, after calm and deliberate con-
cedentcd length, after having heard all that
could be urged in your behalf by the able
and eloquent counsel who have stood by
you in your extremity with so much zeal
and tidelty-that jury has pronounced
you guilty OF murder-guilty OF mnr-
dor In tho first degree-guilty of tho
wiIful and malicious murder OF your own
wife. Against the crime Of murder the law
donounces the penalty Of death. The wiiful
and malicious destruction of the life OF any
human being in the peace of God, and
under the protection Of the law, is crime
ut which humanity shudders-a crime
which, everywhere, under all forms of 60
ciety, is regarded with the deepest abhor-
Il. ,,rI