Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1908 — A MURDER IN RENSSELAER. [ARTICLE]

A MURDER IN RENSSELAER.

“Dan” Day Shoots and Kills Daisy Phillips Thursday Night. WAS ARRESTED AFTER A STRUGGLE AND LODGED IN JAIL

Crime Committed About 11:30 Thursday Night. PRELIMINARY HEARING YESTERDAY . ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ And Prisoner Bound Over to Grand Jury—Is a Cripple, and Hopeless Love for the Girl Is His Excuse for the Crime. . ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ .¶ “Dan” Day, a cripple and partly irresponsible young man of Rensselaer, shot and instantly killed Miss Daisy Phillips, the 17-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Phillips at her home in the south part of town at midnight Thursday might. He was under the influence of liquor at the time and when arrested shortly after by City Marshal Parks and Nightwatch Thomas, had two big revolvers and a hunting knife on his person.

except newspaper man and the necessary witnesses. .¶ The 18-year-old sister of the murdered girl who was in the room when she was shot, and a 15-year-old sister who was asleep in a bedroom adjoining the kitchen and into which the girl ran and fell dying to the floor, were the only witnesses examined. The prisoner was represented by Geo. A. Williams and the State by the deputy prosecutor. Arraignment was waived and the prisoner remanded to jail to await action of grand jury.

.¶ The prisoner was not asked any questions whatever. He appeared rather scared and nervous when brought into the room, and seemed to pay slight attention to the evidence, pricking up somewhat when his arsenal of weapons were brought forth and identified by the two girls. It seems that he also had a shotgun when he came to the house, but this he left there in his hurry to get away. .¶ Yesterday morning the prisoner would not talk much of the crime, saying that he had enough to worry about without being talked to. The murdered girl had been employed as a domestic at the Rosenbaum hotel. Her home surroundings have not been of a very exalted character from all reports, although nothing special is heard against the girl herself. .¶ The boy is probably about 21 or 22 years of age, and has been crippled in body and speech since a child. His father and mother parted several years ago and the former married. Dan has been making his home with his mother. He has never gone to school, not being a fit pupil to enter the public schools, but has grown up on the streets, picking up junk and selling it, fishing and hunting along the river and occasionally getting loaded up with liquor. He has been known for years to carry a revolver and it has frequently been predicted that he would shoot some one. He should have been sent to some state institution years ago where he could have been looked after. .¶ The murder has stirred Rensselaer as it never has been stirred before, as crimes of this character are extremely rare in Jasper county. .¶ The funeral will be held Sunday, the exact hour not yet having been set, and burial will be made in Osborne cemetery in Hanging Grove township. .¶ The coroner’s inquest will not be finished up until Monday.

.¶ It has been nearly a quarter of a century since a murder has been committed in Jasper county, and when the citizens of Rensselaer arose yesterday morning and learned that a murder had been done in their midst while they slept—it was known to but few outside the officers of the law until morning— they were terribly shocked. The murderer was apprehended and in jail in a very short time after the crime was committed. The facts as learned by The Democrat are as follows: Dan had been going to Phillips’ for some three years, he told the officers when arrested; said that he loved the girl and that she would have nothing to do with him; that he realized that in his crippled condition he could never hope to win her and made up his mind that she should not smile on anyone else, as he said she had been doing. He went there Thursday night intending to end it all. He gave the girl’s mother money and told her to get some whisky and that she might have half of it for medicine. Of the quart of booze bought he poured out probably one-third in another bottle and had drank considerable of this and was under its influence when he committed the

crime. .¶ It was shortly before midnight that Dan and the murdered girl and her 10-year-old sister were in the kitchen of her home together. Daisy was standing up, and without a word of warning Dan pulled a revolver and shot her dead, the bullet piercing her heart. She fell over against the door and cried, “My God, mother, I’m shot,” and expired instantly. Dan then ran out the back door —the family live in Judge Thompson’s tenant house near the Kellner ice house—up around by the ice house and to his mother’s in the north part of town, with whom he lives. Finding no one at home there or for some other reason, he then came back to his brother Dolph’s in the east part of town, was let in and went to bed. .¶ Officers were at once notified and the nightwatch and marshal went to his father Hiram Day’s, where they got him up and told him of the crime and he went with them to apprehend the boy. They first went to his mother’s home and not finding him there came back to Dolph Day’s. Going to the window of Dolph’s bedroom they aroused him and asked if Dan was there. He replied in the affirmative and they went to Dan’s room. He had heard the conversation and jumped out of bed and pulled a revolver. Dolph sprang at him and held his arms and prevented his shooting or one or two more murders might have been placed at his door. The officers quickly sprang to Dolph’s aid and the young man was disarmed, two big Iver-Johnson revolvers, one a brand-new one with a six-inch barrel, and fully loaded — he had replaced the cartridge that killed the girl with a loaded one— and a big hunting knife with a blade six inches long were on his person. He told the officers that had Dolph not caught his arms he would not have been easily taken; that he had resolved to sell his life dearly. .¶ He was taken to jail and the preliminary examination was held yesterday afternoon at 1 o’clock, at the jail, no one being admitted