Evening star., 1922-07-17
HAMMER MURDER
INQUEST TO OPEN
Woman Charged With Crime
Laughs When Faced
by Accuser.
SMILES AT EVERYBODY
Fugitive Returned to Los Angeles
and Lodged in Cell Next to
Mrs. Obenchain.
BY the Associated Press


LOS ANGELES, Calf, July IL
Dramatic situations were forecast by
ofncials at the inquest here today
over the body of Mrs. Alberta Mead
ows. twenty-year-old widow, victim
OF the hammer murder"
omcial plans called for the pres
ence of Mrs. Clara Phillips. charged
with the crime; Mrs. Peggy Caffee.
chum OF Mrs. Phillips. who gave the
county grand jury the eyewitness
story of the Staying that resulted in
the indictment against Mrs. Phillips;
A. L. Phillips. oil promoter, husband
or the accused woman, who told the
snerlH OF her alleged confession OF
the CRIME to him. and DIR. A. F. Wag-
ner, county autopsy physician.
MRS. Philips, who was brought back
here yesterday from Tucson. Ariz..
where she was taken from an east
bound train. surprised officers and all
coming in contact with her by her
smiling demeanor. She smiled at
everything and everybody from the
time she left the train until she was
placed in a cell adjoining that OF
Mrs. Madalynne Obenchain. on trial
FOR the second time for the murder Of
j. Belton Kennedy.
Faces Accuser Calmly.
Mrs. Phillips reached Los Angeles
yesterday in custody of Sheriff Will
liam l. Traeger. She was taken to
the sheriff's office and examined by
alienists to determine her mental
condition. Mrs. Peggy Caffee. eye
witness to the Hammer Staying. after
being taken out of town secretly to
meet the train, also arrived with the
prisoner
The meeting of Mrs. Phillips and
her accusers aboard the train just
before 1t reached Los Angeles was
staged carefully. but the sudden en-
| ty of the woman charged with what
police described as the most brutal
| murder in the city's history.
/ Mrs. Caffee, whose story of the
Staying of Mrs. Meadows on an un-
| frequented road in the northeastern
| Mrs. Phillips indictment. boarded the
| train at a station on the outskirts
of the city in company with de-
tective and deputy sheriff. She was
! taken to where Mrs. Phillips sat. in
| custody of the sheriff and Mrs. Trae-
ger, a deputy, awaiting the end OF
her journey.
| rs this the woman with whom you
| went riding Wednesday," Mrs. Caffee
was asked as she faced the prisoner.
| yes. she 1aItereQ.
Alleged Slayer Laughs.
Mrs. Phillips laughed.
is this the woman who killed Mrs.
Meadows?"
Yes" quavered the young woman.
Mrs Phillips smiled, but said moth
ing.
AS she stepped off the train a
group of newspaper photographers
confronted her.
n
and her teeth flashed in a succession
of smiles. Then deputies hurried her
toward a waiting automobile to be
whisked away to the sherih's off1ce.
| where DR.. Louis Weber. alienist. was
prepared to examine her mental con-
dition.
AS she started to step into a car a
photographer asked her to pose. She
consented with alacrity. mounting the
running board. head and shoulders
above the crowd of spectators which
thronged the street Again she smiled
to the accompaniment of clicking
shutters
Doesn't See Husband.
A. l.. Phillips, husband of the al
legged slayer, who told the sheriff of
her fight from the city. was not at the
station to meet his wife. He was
in the custody of deputy sheriff. the
authorities desiring to keep the two
apart until they had questioned Mrs.
Phillips in greater detail.
At the sherifs office Mrs. Phillips
and DR.. Weber remained in confer
ence for about a half an hour. When
he left the room he did not state his
opinion as to her mental condition.
but said she had not evaded CONVEX
satton He added. however. that she
had declined to answer certain ques-
tons What these were he would not
say.
Chief Deputy District Attorney
Doran was in the room with Mrs.
Phillips for about forty-five minutes.
but declined to say what she had told
him, il anything.
When the questioning was COM
pleted che was taken to the county
JAIL There officers were required to
force a lane through the crowd which
had gathered to see her.
Just outside the jail door she again
posed for photographers. but instead
of smiling stuck out her tongue.