(1) Fort Smith’s Great Specialty.
FORT SMITH, Jan. 31.-Sentence of death was passed in the United States court to-day upon Fred Ray, William Meadows, William Phillips, Mason Halcomb, white men, and William Nixon, a negro, for murders committed in the Indian Territory. The condemned are to be executed at Fort Smith on April 17.
Source: The Dallas Daily Herald, Dallas, Texas, Sunday, February 1, 1885; Pg. 1, Column 4
(2) THE GALLOWS.
Execution of William Phillips at Fort Smith, for Murder.
FORT SMITH, ARK., April 17.-Wm. Phillips was hanged at 3 o’clock to-day, for the murder of Wm. Hill. Phillips was hopeful until just before the execution. The President had commuted the sentences of the other four men to be executed, which led Phillips to expect a commutation of sentence. At eleven o’clock this morning the United States Marshal received a telegram that the President declined to interfere in Phillips’ case. This news was immediately communicated to Phillips, who was so confident of reprieve that, for a while, he seemed unable to realize the situation. Phillips rested well last night, ate breakfast this morning, and at noon ate a hearty dinner sent him from a restaurant.
He strangely asserted his innocence to the last. He said Hill’s son, Bob, who was at first arrested with him for the murder, did the killing. “Although I am about to appear before Almighty God, I swear that I am as innocent of this crime as the unborn babe.”
At three o’clock the death warrant was read and immediately afterwards Phillips shook hands with his fellow-prisoners, bidding them an affectionate farewell. Then he marched to the gallows in the court-house yard, whereon sixty-four others have been executed for murders in the Indian Territory. After ascending the scaffold, the condemned man’s spiritual adviser offered up a prayer, and at 3:21 the drop was sprung, and he died without a struggle, with a prayer on his lips.
Source: Austin Weekly Statesman, Austin, Texas, Thursday, April 23, 1885; Pg. 1, Column 7
