Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-04-08
GIRL RECALLS TRAGEDY
SUSIE PHlLliPs TELLs JURY
STORY or HER FATHERS
DEATH.
TESTIMONY uNshAkEN;
STORY CALMLY TOLD
Describes Details Of Tragedy ~ She
witnessed it-Widow Swoons When
Dauabtsr Relates Circumstances
Connected With Phillips Death -
Saw MeCsskili Firo First Shot.

Saw MecssI<ili Fire First Shot.
Waterloo, April S.-Before crowded
court room, while her mother sobbed.
Susie Phillips, Is years old, but large
for her age, exhibiting GOODNESS and
self possession that was unusual for
one of her years, unacquainted with
court procedure. told on the witness
! stand Saturday afternoon the story Of
| the tragedy which resulted in the
death Of her father, Henry Phillips,
| who was fatally shot at his home one
| mile east of Raymond on the after
| noon of the 22nd day of last Novem-
Der by j. T. McCaskill, who now is or
trial accused of murder in the first de-
gree.
AS the witness detailed the incidents
of that fateful afternoon. with SIM
ple but tragic story that the defense
could not materially shake on close
and searching crossexamination. tears
came to the eyes Of her sisters, and the
mother swooned. being led from the
room by two of her sons.
For the most part Miss Susies an
swers were yes" and mo-" in reply to
details suggested in the questions put
by her examiners. At no time was her
reply at any great length. When c. E.
Wheeler, assistant counsel for the de-
Tense, who conducted the cross exam
nation, asked her if she saw the Sec
ond, or fatal, shot fired. she said:
''No, l had seen enough"
She explained that she saw McCas-
kill. who had forced himself into the
kitchen, raise the revolver. Then she
fed to another part of the dining
room, which adjoins the kitchen and
thru the connecting door Of which
she had seen the struggle of her father.
in his attempt to keep the young man
on the outside. Shortly after turning
her face away, she said, she heard the
report Of the second shot. She told
about her fathers placing his left knee
and both hands against the kitchen
door, while trying to keep McCaskill
cut, and of how she had seen hand
emerge thru the space Of the par
TALLY open door. In the hand was
revolver. The first shot was fired In
that position, and the bullet entered
her fathers knee, plougked upward
thru the flesh, emerged and re-en-
tered the body in the lower part Of the
abdomen. She said her father had the
stove poker in his hand and struck
McCaskill two or three times-not
| moro than that many times. The
daughter said McCaskill. forcing his
| way into the room. raised his revolver
and fred the second shot, which passed
thru Phillips body. $
MecaskiII pleads Self Defense. I
The whole contention of the state
and the defense centers about the shots
in the kitchen. The defense admits
the shooting, but claims it was done
In self-defense. and only after McCas-
kill had been struck over the head with
the poker. 1t will endeavor to show
that Phillips struck the defendant sew
eral severe blows over the head before
a shot was fired; these blows were
severe enough to bring McCaskill to his
knees, or in a crouching position; that
the blows dazed him, bringing about
a state Of partial unconsciousness. and
that, while he was in that condition,
he fired the shots.
Especially will much be made Of the
exact position of the two men when
the second shot was fired. Miss Susie
admitted on cross examination that
she did not witness the second shot.
but saw the revolver lifted. Then she
turned away, not wishing to see any
thing more.
The state will attempt to show by
the course of the bullet thru the
dead mans body, by it's course thru
the cupboard door and the point of its
| Judgment in the woodwork Of the wall
on the farther side Of the adjoining
| room that the revolver was held at
considerable elevation Measurements
and photographs will be introduced in
the evidence on this point. The state
will claim that the course OF the bullet
| was downward and that its highest
point was where 1t left the revolver.
Small Variation in Testimony.
Apparently, Miss Phillips testimony
did not vary materially from that given
at the preliminary examination. Mr..
| Wheeler, assistant counsel for the de-
Tense, called attention to some discrep-
ancies in details by reading from her
| former examination that she had said,
substantially. that she saw the revolt
yer in McCaskills hands after he had
first taken it from the grip. at the
horses heads: that 1t was not pointed
at her ftaher. that it was not pointed
downward, but partly upward. Satur-
day afternoon she said that she did not
see how the revolver was held after
it was taken from the grip. Asked If
she did not testify so-an-so at the
former hearing. Susie said:
IT do not remember what 1 said
then"
The only other divergence was In the
testimony Of the girl relative to Nc
Caskilrs position when he fired the
| second shot. At the former hearing
she is said to have stated that McCas-
kill was entirely within the kitchen
door when he shot the second time.
Saturday she stated that she could
not say positively whether he was en-
tirely in the kitchen or partly outside
the door.
| @ ME0ORA b.