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Joseph Harmon Phillips was one block away, at Lot 5, Block 99. These lots
are located on the south side of College Street, east of Walnut Street (ref.
Last Will and Testament of Marian Helen Phillips), twelve blocks east and
three blocks north of the train depot at Third and Peoria (ref. Official
State Atlas of Kansas, 1887, Page 172). College Street was not lighted
(the first gaslights in Paola having been installed in June 1887), and the
crescent moon was already below the horizon (it being only three days past
the new moon), so no one could have gotten a good look at the burglar.
I first heard of Will’s murder at the house of my grandmother Norma (wife
of May and Will’s son Frank Dewey Phillips) in Schenectady, New York. No one
explained to me that the murder took place in Kansas. For years I imagined a
burglar coming down her stairs.
May Dewey Phillips collected two insurance settlements following the murder
of her husband – $10,000 from a life insurance policy, and $6,000 from a one-
day travelers’ insurance policy (valid until midnight). With the $16,000
settlement, May moved to Lawrence, Kansas, hired a nanny, and enrolled at the
University of Kansas. She graduated from the University of Kansas Law School
on 5 June 1894, only the second woman to do so. What caused her to become a
lawyer is not known for certain. Her own scrapbook contains a newspaper
clipping which states that Mr. Charles E. Hochstetler, Kansas state agent for
the Old Traveler's Insurance Company, visited Paola within a few weeks of the
shooting “and paid the loss in full.” We do not know what transpired in the
interim. In order to collect on the traveler’s insurance policy, May would
have had to prove that the shooting occurred before midnight. Even if the
train arrived in Paola on schedule, her husband had but one hour to walk,
with luggage, fifteen blocks from the train depot to his house. As insurance
companies do not like to pay up, it is reasonable to imagine that she might
have learned some legal skills out of necessity during this experience.
Will Phillips, a former school teacher, owned a land, loan and insurance
business. After his murder, his sister Gertrude managed the business. In
the 1900 census for Paola, Miami, Kansas, Joseph H. Phillips (aged 68) was
living with his wife Marian H. Phillips (aged 59) and running the “Loan and
Insurance” business. Gertrude Phillips (aged 38) was living with her parents
and working as a stenographer. In 1910 she was living in Osawatomie, Miami,
Kansas; in 1920 she was living in Penn, Osborne, Kansas; in 1930 she was
living in Paola, Miami, Kansas. Gertrude Phillips died 10 August 1952, and
is buried at Paola Cemetery in the Phillips family plot.
PHILLIPS ANCESTRY
Joseph Harmon Phillips, as stated in his obituary, was born in Randolph
County, North Carolina. He and his brother, James A. Phillips, are found
on a web page called “No Leaf Unturned: Clues to the Identity of an Allred
Bride.” http://www.allredfamily.org/joseph.htm
Joseph Harmon Phillips’ maternal grandfather was Joseph Allred (born
15 September 1772, died 27 February 1856). This is established with certainty
in records provided by Tim Walls, in which Joseph H. Phillips of Lykins County,
Kansas Territory, on 31 March 1857, and John Phillips of Morgan County,
Indiana, on 4 April 1857, as heirs at law of Joseph Allred, late of Randolph
County, North Carolina, appoint John G. (?) Henry of Randolph County as their
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