Sharp County record., 1879-11-13
HORRIBLE MURDER.
S. D. PHILLIPS, OF BAXTER COUNTY,
MURDERED BY BIS WIFE.

On last Sunday morning, at an
early hour, our town was startled
and shocked by. the intelligence
brought by young Mr.. Tony and
his friend who came with him, that
the old man Phillips had been bru-
tally murdered. They came to in
form the coroner, Jacob II. Wolf,
who in great haste got ready, and
accompanied by B. r. Brewer and
Deputy Sheriff Hogan, started to
the scene of horror.
Atthe house of the murdered man,
near Buffalo City, they found the
dead body, mangled and mutilated
in the most frightful manner. The
spectacle is one which, to describe
it, is impossible. There lay the re-
mains of the husband, whose own
wife had literally butchered him
a most horrible sight to behold
with his head chopped 80 that a
great part of the brain protruded
several inches from the skull. There
were three or four deep and ghastly
wounds in the forehead and side of
the head, the principal wounds be-
ing cut to the depth of four inches
and the breadth of the blade Of a
heavy chopping ak; several other
cuts about the head and neck-the
head perfect mass of gore. The
breast was chopped and haggled by
repeated strokes, some of them
reaching four or five inches deep,
and doubtless into the heart; the
right thumb cut off and gone, and
another wound in the abdomen so
great that portion of the bowels
had fallen out. These were the
wounds found on the body.
The coroner summoned q jury,
which proceeded to hold an inqui-
Esitioil They found tdat uhe body
had been dragged out of the house
and left in the yard IN front of the
door, where it was first seen after
the awful deeds with an old coat
thrown over the breast. They found
blood on the floor, part of which
had been washed off, and making
further investigation, they found
blood on some clothing hanging just
over the head of the bed. The
woman at this time was lying on
the bed, where she had been for
some time, and when she was re.
quested to get up, refused to do SO,
saying that she was sick; but, when
she saw that the jury intended to
examine the bed, she rose up and
confessed that she had done the
hellish deed. On inspection Of the
bed, pieces of skull were found, and
the pillows had been stripped and
fresh clips put on over the blood on
the pillows, and some bloody cloth
ing was found secreted under the
bed. One sheet was found fresh
washed, with some blood stains re-
naming on it.
It was about 10 o'clock at night
when the news reached Buffalo that
the murder had been committed.
After she had done the deed, she
went to Shelf Earl's, a short dis
tance, and told him that some men
had come and murdered Phillips,
when he Immediately carried the
news to Buffalo and brought back
several citizens,
On her confession and the facts
before them, the jury returned in
the inquisition that rs. D. Phillips
came to his death at the hands of
Sarah j. Phillips, on the night of the
25th of October, 1879; that the said
Sarah J. Phillips did kill and MUIR
der the said S. D. Phillips; that said
killing was done with premeditation
aud malice aforethought." Where
upon the coroner issued his writ for
her arrest, and she was Immediately
taken into custody by the deputy
sheriff, and is now safely lodged in
jail, to await the action Of the grand
jury.
She states that the weapon used
was an ak, which was found con-
eealed with blood on it, which had
been attempted to be covered up
with ashes. She said that the old
man was lying on the bed when she
first struck him, and she did not
know whether he was asleep or not;
that she did not intend to kill him
when she struck the first blow, but
only intended to wound him, but