(1) MURDERER A SUICIDE
SURROUNDED BY POSSE J.H. PHILLIPS ENDS LIFE.
KILLED SISTER-IN-LAW
Because of Jealousy Kills Mrs. June Smith at Temple and Then Escapes, Ending His Life When His Capture is imminent.
Lawton, Okla., Aug. 3.-Surrounded by a large posse of officers and citizens, twenty miles northwest of Lawton, J.H. Phillips of Randlett, who yesterday at Temple murdered his sister-in-law, Mrs. June Smith, committed suicide early today.
When Phillips realized his capture was certain, rather than surrender, he killed himself.
The killing of Mrs. Smith at Temple is said to have been the result of jealousy on the part of Phillips.
Source: The Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, Oklahoma, Monday Evening, August 3, 1908; Pg. 1, Column 3
(2) NEWS FROM EVERYWHERE.
A Carefully Digested and Condensed
Compilation of Current News
Domestic and Foreign.
After standing off Sheriff Rufe Lefers and his large number of deputies who were hiding in the grass near the barricaded home of L. M. Phillips, near Tinney, Okla., J.M.A. Phillips blew his brains out with a rifle rather than to surrender and stand trial for the killing of Mrs. June Smith.
Source: The Alto Herald, Alto, Texas, Friday, August 7, 1908; Pg. 3, Column 1
(3) CONSPIRACY THE CHARGE
Special to Daily Leader.
Lawton, Okla., Aug. 19.-Charles E. Steele, charged with the murder of Mrs. June Smith, near Faxon, week before last, is having his preliminary trial here. A negro woman who is alleged to have overheard Steele and J.M. Phillips planning a conspiracy to kill June Smith. The negro woman was drunk when she was called to testify and her testimony was postponed until tomorrow.
Mrs. Phillips was the principal witness examined yesterday. She told of threats that Phillips had made against her life and of having learned that Steele was a brother of Phillips and that he is charged with murder in Columbia, Tenn.
Source: The Guthrie Daily Leader, Guthrie, Oklahoma, Wednesday, August 19, 1908; Pg. 3, Column 7
(4) Steele Admits Alias And Killing Man In Tennessee
Special to Daily Leader.
Lawton, Okla., August 20.-Taking the witness stand in his own behalf, Charles E. Steele, held on the charge of murdering Mrs. June Smith, admitted that his real name is W.T. Phillips and that he killed a man named Hightower at Mount Pleasant, Tenn. twelve years ago, but in self-defense. He denied any implication in the murder of Mrs. Smith, declaring that after the killing he attempted to persuade his brother to surrender.
The preliminary was concluded and Justice Armstrong announced that he would render a decision Saturday.
Hattie Holmes, the negro woman who was too drunk to testify yesterday, told today of hearing a plot between the Phillips brothers for the murder of both Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Phillips.
Source: The Guthrie Daily Leader, Guthrie, Oklahoma, Thursday Evening, August 20, 1908; Pg. 8, Column 3
(5) WANTED ON MURDER CHARGE
Special to Daily Leader.
Lawton, Okla., Aug. 22.-Deputies from the sheriff’s office at Columbia, Tenn., arrived here yesterday afternoon for the purpose of securing W.T. Phillips, alias Charles E. Steele, wanted in the Tennessee city on a charge of murder. Steele has just stood preliminary trial here for the murder, as accomplice, of Mrs. June Smith of Temple, and is awaiting decision of Justice of the Peace Armstrong as to whether or not he shall be held to await the action of the district court.
Requisition papers from the Tennessee governor are enroute to Lawton and if the justice court here fails to hold Steele on the Oklahoma charge, he will be returned to Columbia for trial. He admits the killing there, which occurred twelve years ago, but alleges self-defense and says he is ready for trial.
Source: The Guthrie Daily Leader, Guthrie, Oklahoma, Saturday Evening, August 22, 1908; Pg. 1, Column 6
(6) GOVERNOR TURNS DOWN REQUISITION
Governor Haskell this afternoon refused to honor the requisition of the governor of Tennessee for the return to that state of W.T. Phillips, alias Charles E. Steele, who is wanted at Columbia on the charge of murdering J.C. Hightower, a fireman in a Mount Pleasant mil, for the reason that Phillips is wanted in Comanche county on the charge of being an accessory to the murder of a woman recently committed there. County Attorney S.M. Cunningham represented Comanche county in the matter, and he stated that Steele would go back to Tennessee to stand trial voluntarily after he was first tried in the courts here. Phillips alleges self-defense in the Tennessee murder.
The position taken by County Attorney Cunningham is that Phillips has property interest in Comanche county, which would be lost if he were taken to Tennessee now; that in justice to Oklahoma the case against him here should be tried first, before he is forced to answer to the Tennessee charge. It was claimed that the Tennessee case is not strong and that therefore the Oklahoma cause should have preference right.
Source: The Guthrie Daily Leader, Guthrie, Oklahoma, Tuesday Evening, August 25, 1908; Pg. 1, Column 4
