The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-10-22
MANY SURPRISES SPRUNG AS
'HAANlNER CASE'' NEARS TRIAL.
BY JACK JUNGMEYER
NEA Staff CORRESPONDENT.

told on his wife to shield himself
! Now, to save his wife, he attempts tc
besmirch the girl she is charged will
killing.
! Pictured by the prosecution in thi
role, Armour l. Phillips. dapper younl
! Texan. waits to testify IN behalf Of hi.
| wife, Mrs. Clara Phillips after proclaim
ing himself a "Iove chameleon" on The
eve OF his wifes trial for the brutal
hammer Staying here Of Alberta Mead
! ows, attractive young widow.
Phillips, whose statement Of intfna cy
with the slain woman. Will bolster an
unwritten law defense for his wife. has
temporarily drawn the spotlight Of pub
! lie interest
First. he brought about his wife's ar
rest after he had helped her to flee,
telling the officers she had confessed
the crime to him. He said he feared she
might harm herself and insisted that
her fatal jealous fury. was without
foundation.
| Now, assuming moral share In the
/ tragedy. Phillips has confessed, through
! Clara's attorney, that he and Mrs.
Meadows were desperately infatuated,
that they were even planning a trip
abroad at the time Of the murder
| Girls Family Reused.
| BY these dramatic Inconsistencies. the
| onc-time soldier, garage man and oil
worker promises to share with Mrs.
| Peggy Caffee, chief state witness, the
| heaviest legal crossfire of the trial,
which is scheduled to start Oct. 90
The prosecution declares its belief
| THAT the confession Is shockingly false.
; 1t also has aroused the fighting bitter
| ness of the slain wonan's family, who
characterize 1t IAN unspeakabe at
! tempt to besmirch Alberta's untarnished
name to help Mrs, Phillips, and wholly
without foundation
! The killing of Alberta Meadows on
q lonely road, in the asserted presence
! of Peggy Caffee. former chorus girl
friend of Mrs. Phillips, shocked the
country with It's grlsly details. The
{ state will contend Mrs. Phillips adriotly'
lurcd her victim into the death trap,
charged her with undue interest in
! Phillips, and then smothered her terri
fled denials in a volley Of mutilating
hammer blows.
The state attorneys will declare Phil
| lips latest statement was concocted at
| his wife's tnstigatton in a desperate
delimma. It will call many witnesses
20 refute aspersions on the dead girls
character.
Wfe's Love Probed.
But the states original Intention
putting the domestic relations Of the
Phillips couple through pitiless analysis
will be carried on, The nature Of
Clara's love for her husband will be the
main issue, prosecutors say.
The state will challenge the genuine
ness Of her professed ardor for Phillips,
which it hitherto accepted as a matter
Of fact. Overwhelming love must be
shown as a basis for an ''unwritten
law" defense.
Miss frankie Lee, former chorus girl
associate Of Mrs. Phillips, the prosecu-
ton admits, will be called in an effort
to strike at the very underpinning Of
such an assumption of deep, unques-
toned devotion. Miss Lee is ready TO
testify that Mrs Phillips kissed the
stage manager Of q Loss Angeles theater
a week before the killing, the prosecu-
ton declares. At that time, the state
says Mrs. Phillips made disparaging re-
marks about her husband, according to
the expected testimony OF Miss Lee.
Many Surprises.
Into the trial the state will also try
TO introduce testimony to show the
couple had stormy domestic life.
Married at Houston, Tex, in 1915, they
were divorced and remarked IN 1918
according to state witnesses. The state
will also seek to delve into alleged
tempestuous scenes at the Philips home
for days preceding tho murder; to show
that Phillips told friends that life at
home was unbearable and that he fled
from Clara's alternate embraces and
rebuffs to more sympathetic company.
Final hours preceding the trial are
filled with many surprises. The de-
Tense maintains the state adriotly IN
famed public opinion by printing frag-
mentary evidence, that only part of the
Alberta Meadows diary has been di.
vuIged, that even Peggy Caffee, eye
witness, has failed to detail many OBJ
scure phases Of her account OF the
murder The state replies that Phil
lips confession Is untrue.
Through ali the last-minute surprises.
charges and counter charges, Clara
Phillips, 26, who pleaded not guilty, sits
tight-lipped but with reinsurance in her
cell, awaiting trial, her husbands al
legged vagrant affections now back to
her again, as he works for her acquit-
tai.