The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-03
ARRESTED FOR A MURDER
Sam Phillips Charged With the
Killing of Adolph Schwade.
RECOGNIZED BY SCARS
Miles Fuller Confident That the Prisoner
Is the Man Who Did the Brutal
Deed-The Murder Com
mitted IN May, 1897.

Adolph Schwade was brutally muir
dered in his tunnel in Whiskey gulcll,
near Butte, about the 18th of May, 1897,
and after thorough investigation a
coroner's jury rendered verdict which
placed the case among the many other
crimes which made UP the list Of un-
avenged murders in Silver Bow couE-
1 ty. There was little for the police to
work on, and after a week or two of
speculation the people gave up all hope
of ever hearing Of the arrest Of the
murderer.
Yesterday Miles Fuller, who lies near
Schwade's old cabin. espied a man
whom he had since the murder believed
to be the assassin, and forthwith caused
his arrest. Mr.. Fuller had seen him on
a couple Of previous visits to Butte, but
before he could enlist the services of
the police the man had disappeared. At
! o'clock yesterday afternoon Fuller
saw his man in the Com bination and
| Officer Schmidt nabbed him At the city
jail the prisoner gave his name as Sam
Phillips.
Mr. Fuller's conviction is based on
the following facts which he gave out
IN conversation yesterday with re-
II
| Along about the 10th Of May l won't
be positive as to dates, this fellow Phil
lips came to my house and wanted to
spend the night under my roof. His
| general appearance and demeanor We're
4 against him; I mistrusted that he was
| not all right and ordered him to move
on Now, right there and then I made
a critical survey of the man. I noted
| his dress and scar over his eye and
4 7 artin RI
a rend in his pants and the kind Of
cloth his suit was made of. The pants
| We're of dark doeskin material.
| IA few days later the came man
came again to my house and said that
he was lousy and asked me for some
clothes, I wouldn't allow him near the
1 place and warned him to keep away.
Later in the day thought heard
some one screaming and soon after
heard pistol shot, which sounds care
from the direction of Fritz's place.
| (Schwada was known by the sobriquet
of Fritz.) didn't pay particular atten-
ton to the sounds and forgot about
them in a few hours. 1t all came back
to me, though, when I heard of the
murder.
The day following the finding of the
body Detective Murphy discovered
some old clothing near Fritz's place.
When I saw this clothing, especially the
pants with the hole in them, l recog-
nized them as the ones worn by the
man who said he was lousy andswanted
me to give him some clothes.
Those PANTS We're the ones worn by
| this same Sam Phillips who is now in
EtheA city Jail could recognize that
| face among a crowd and will never
| forget it. 1t is strikingly repulsive and
| hard. The scars are there. Yes, sir,
Phillips Is the man who left my house
on the day of the murder, going in the
direction of Fritz's cabin"
As soon as Mr.. Fuller saw Phillips he
went to the city Jail, where he was told
by Day Jailer Boyle to tell the first po-
Hceman he saw to arrest Phillips. Off
Ger Schmidt was the first to come under
Mr.. Fuller's eye and that policeman ar
rested Phillips When the officer put
his hand on Phillips shoulder the fell
low shrank back as if attacked by
panther. His coat collar was turned
up, concealing the scar in his neck. lie
shrank again when the officer turned
down the collar and exposed to view
the scar which Mr.. Fuller declares Is
the one carried by the man who called
at his place nearly two years ago.
At the jail the prisoner displayed
much emotion and was very nervous.
He was not told of the charge under
which he was arrested, and he APP
peared to be very anxious to learn the
cause of his arrest. He was asked if
he ever wandered over Whiskey gulch
way, and he answered, swapping his
words off with a ring: No: never saw
it." He was very noticeably eager to
catch every word said by the men in
the jailer's office, holding his ear up to
the grating which separated him from
the corridor. His eyes, remarkable for
their popularity, flashed wildly all the
while.
Story of the Crime.
The body of Adolph Schwade was lis
covered in a tunnel opposite his cabin
in Whiskey gulch on Sunday May is,
1897. His cabin was about 200 yards
south of the point where the B.. A. & T.
crosses the Burlington wagon road. He
had been dead. evidently, for two or
three DAYS and it is supposed that he
was murdered for the money which the
assassin evidently believed that he pos
sessed. Charles Hicks, who was work.
ing stone quarry three-quarters of
mile from the place, discovered the
body. He had been in the habit of hav-
ing his bacfsmithing done by Fritz
About o'clock Saturday morning he
took down some picks to be sharpened
and found the door of the cabin open,
but the old man was nowhere in sight.
Hicks supposed that he was at work
IN the tunnel, and piled the picks up
against the door, as he had frequently
done before. He returned for them in
the afternoon and found things just IS
he had seen them in the morning. He
called down the tunnel for the old man,
but got no answer, and supposing that
ne was visiting one of the neighbors.
he went away again. He returned again |
on Sunday, the day following, and was
surprised to find the cabin door still
standing open and the picks untouched.
Fearing that SchWade had been injured |
or killed while at work in the tunnel, |
Hicks made an investigation and found |
the dead body about Is feet from the |
entrance. He ran to the quarry and Sc |
cured his brother and John Best ana |
together they examined the body, after
which he drove to the city and notified |
the coroner.
The tunnel in which Schwade was