Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1892-01-19
THE PHILLIPS TRIAL.
a Verdict of Il urder in the First Degree
Rendered.

tee Vetch, of t 10 county. and the Wife of
the lat, Geo. 8. Smith 8eTs put on the
stand, but their tes,imony Was net OF an
important nature, save that Joeice Yeitcn
averred thst be had endeayored u d!sabuae
Philips's mind Of the motive that Smith
had him arrested. Mrs. Saith testified % o
the hour her busbsnd returned home ca tao
| day preceding tae night Of the shooting.
| John Bright testified that he heard the
| Croasman woman sag when summoned II
attend court that Smith was dead she
could do him no good, and abe would go TO
court and swear to all the ID lies she
could to c'esr "her J.ff !" she then threw
the summons in tie fire.
The evidence Dslpg all Ii the arguments
| for the prosecution snl defense began.
Ocmmonwea't this At orney Ma.bury, for
the proeecrt IN, then addressed the jury,
coDgratule!iDa ihem upon The fact hat the
cess had arrived at this advanced stage.
he then proceeded 10 recepitulate thu his
tory Of PhllIps's deed from his standpoint,
| Calming that his pic u'e of the casa had
been corroborated b. 10 witnesses who
had hesn placed on the ssand, also averr'rg
that ,e jary, from the prisoners statement
alone. would be Justified 10 bring 'ns In yer
dict of murder, and that the law would los
|
prosecution remained oDtfadi;tsd and
the Jury should judge whether or not it
should have eny weight In court. Ths eVi-
denee brought IL By the defense In order to
save the prisoner's neck bad been coutra-
dlo:ory and unsatisfactory aud In faCe OF
| tae fact t!at the lips of Phillip5'5 victim
we're cold and aileot 10 Tie grave AID
could not reply to hia traduosrs It would
have been no surprise to tie apeaker hsd
some of thoss who occupied tie 4ltness
t,nd for the defense bseu struck dumb or
pasled while they were eDssged Ia Willy
ing man laid low In death AID who could
not meet his DIX tractors. Mr.. Marbsry then
expatift much on Phiilips'a moral train
ing, which had been alluded to by q de-
Tense Ia mitigation cf bis fubseqnsi his.
tory He traced his tWenty-seyen years
existence without any legitimate means ct
livelihood living on gambling sn6 bis Tiss,
who fuslly shoois doxn In the streets 81
unsrmed man. Hard work, which pre-
duces moral training, was en- unknown ele-
iment 10 the prisoners make up; he bad
started wrong, had gone wong end now
turns up in The dock charged With shedding
q fellow creatures biood. What psilia.
tior for such an tff1use that his moral train
ling had been neglected Mr. Msr0ury then
coptrasted the characters OF the prisoner
end the deceased to the disparagement oil
the former, claiming that the vieim YVES g
man VINO had married ard who was we'll
kno@n merchant. He may have had hi5
faults, but his virtues we're far ahead OF
those OF the prisoner. He then went into
an extensive dssslcatioI ct the evidence
which had besn given for the defense,
calming that 1t Was contradictory ard uE.
satisfactory, aod alleged that the murdor
had been ooncooted at the E D5rado Gonse
in wbioh place Phiiip5 was partner, sod
that Phillips aud John Harti:on were evil
: IDENTIFY engaged 10 arranging fer the mar.
der which followed when the wiinesa Ksll
, saw thsm talking 80 excledly shortly be-
fore the killing OF George Smith. This
speaker then proceeded to aontro7erS the 81
tire evidence for the defense, alleging the
unlikihood OF ell the tfumped-up stories
and the bsselsss s.endpolnts assumed. The
spsaker said the se,zare of PnIlips's gaui-
J bling outfit at the Gen!lemen'd Diving
3 Pa,k was the real cause Of ths murder.
Mr. Cation followed Mr.. Marbury snd
. gave an exhaustive history OF the killing
from lis inception to the fatal Juls night
and read coDious extracts fIoC, legs
{ works tending t. show the prisoners crime
, to be tit lily uexousable, and one for which
| be should bs held t ictly accountable. The
pi 1er, he sid, had botl violated the LAYS
of God end society and the spssKer fead
, from various AUTHORS to chow the nature
and consequences OF his deed. He. too
sifted tbs testimony Of the defense in
merci esq manner claiming il was OF e flip
pant aud oontradft1gy nature; said &c
, prisoners Owl SIT lament ehoold convict
him, es he had shown tle entire procedure
| to have been deliberate and premedltsted
and tbs no testimony haa bas1 produced 'c
sshow hat he was not responsible Tor hit
desd SAD should be he'd to strict account
ability. The SPEAKER urged upon the jury
their responsibility In the face o. the grave
crime they had to consider, and said ss
twelve Intelligent men, having the welfare
of tie community q. heart. 'ey could not
let the alleged proyocetiop for such CRIME
stand or render Phlllips's deed exeISsu;s,
Men gisst be taught that human life ia pre-.
oloup, is sacred, and II zach cases as b jury
now have before ten were, ffom such
aimsy testimony, to go unpublished what
security Ia thrown around community?
At the couclos!on OF Mr. Cat ,n's argu
| ment, at 5:45 O'Clock. Ihs Court took re.
cess until Gas O'Clock.
Upon the opening of cour, O crowd OF
spectators larger thaa ever eurged into the
space without the bar, where 1t remained
but little diminished until o'clock this
morning. Throughout the seven long hours
the immense audience listened With e7iden.
interest to the speakers wbo followed Mr..
Cation. Occasionally scms CT the younger
generation, who meyer enter g public ball
out With the notion that !ha3 are Ia a con-
cert hall, appauded or yeilad. Tao cOust.
af er the Sergeant hsd tapped his knuckies
sore in hls effJrts to keep siencs, threatened
to clear the court room II there was repe
.ition CT the psbshayior.
Mr.. Burke soon sferward srose and ad
dressed the jury In the interests If The de-
Tense. Unlike the speakers who had pre-
! ceded him on the othsr side, he would sim.
ply address himself 10 the Jury and not un-
dertake to excite the sympathy y, the mnl
.ltude by appealing to them fer confirmation
Of wbat he should say. II was impossible to
! say what overt cot any man may not COM
mis under certain circumstances, and 1t will
| 5nu hk1ouo ba nUar rnatfor ~ unccrlotrfp