Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1908 — TRIAL OF DAN DAY FOR DAISY PHILLIPS MURDER [ARTICLE]

TRIAL OF DAN DAY FOR DAISY PHILLIPS MURDER

Case Taken Up Tuesday Morning Occupies Court Until Wednesday Afternoon and Jury Still Out Thursday Afternoon. Six FORMS OF JURY FINDING Defense Made Plea of Insanity and Attorney Williams Makes Eloquent Appeal on Behalf of His Deformed Client.

The Dan Day murder trial was begun in the Jasper circuit court last Tuesday morning at 11 o’clock. The regular venire of jurymen was first examined and as one would be excused another of the special venire would be called. While most of the jurors had read of the case and while most of them knew Dan by sight, few of them had ever spoken to him. All seemed disposed to give the defendant a square trial and when Attorney G. A. Williams stated in the examination * of the witnesses that he had entered a plea of insanity he asked each if they were prejudiced against a plea of that kind when a charge of piurder was made and each said he was not At 2 o’clock the jury had been agreed upon and consisted of’the following persons: THE JURY. Martin Cain. Simon Cook. P. B. Downs. Fred Karch. Leslie Alter. . D. W. Meyers. John W. Marlatt. Ellis Jones. B. W. Eisworthr” — 4 James Jordan. George Potts. H. N. Moulds.

FIRST WITNESS. Amy Phillips, 13 years old, sister of the murdered girl, was the first witness called, and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Leopold conducted the prosecution for the state. Prosecutor Robert O. Graves sat by him and counseled with him. Amy is very small for her age. She said she did not go to school. Said she had three living sisters, and one sister, Daisy, dead. Said she knew Dan Day, and had known him for some time, but did not know how long. Said that on April 2nd he came to their house in the south part of town, near Keellner’s Ice house, at about 7:30 In the evening. Said he had a knife, a shot gun and two revolvers. Put shot gun behind the kitchen door. / Dan ate some supper there, although the family had had their supper. Daisy, Nora, Anna, Amy and Simon Phillips and Mrs. Phillips were home. Dan sat in the sitting room and they talked about everything. Said mother stayed there all evening until she went to bed. Daisy was writing letters. He took the revolver out of his pocket Sister begged him to take loads out of revolver but Dan would not He remained there about four hours and when he left the sitting room he went to the kitchen and Daisy went out with him. She opened the dor, and as Dan passed out she saw him stretch out bls arm but did ~ not see revolver in It, but she heard report of revolver and heard Daisy call out “Don’t, don’t.’’ She ran through the kitchen and the sitting room and as she ran against the bed room door, where her mother and Nora were, she called out, “Oh, my God, ma, Dan has shot me.” The hearing of the Dan Day murder case,which was begun Immediately after the jury was agreed upon Tuesday, continued throughout the afternoon, an adjournment being taken at 6 o’clock for supper. Court reconvened at 7:80 and continued until T o’clock. AMY PHILIPS’ TESTIMONY. Little Amy Phillips, the only member of the family that sat up with her sister and Dan until the murder was committed,'made a good witness. She was quite timid, and yet her ansers were audible and she seemed to recall the enacmtent of the crime as vividly as she did the day of the murder. Taking up the testimony where it

vas left off in Tuesday’s Daily Re- , publican, Amy testified that after the mu’der she went to the home of her sister, Mrs. Earl Ellis, and was gone for about an l our. , '' Attorney Williams was trying to get around ’u th? evidence that whiskey had played a part in the crime, and he asked the little witness if there was any one sick at their home, and she replied that they all had bad colds. | She said that Dan had been coming to their house at times for two or three years. They left here once and moved to Momence and returned here again last winter. Dan used to come to their house before they moved away and again after they came back. The night the murder was committed her father, Frank Phillips, was in Monon, so was her brother Floyd. There were no men there but Dan and she did not see a bottle of whiskey. She said that she usually went to bed at 8 o’clock, but this evening she had remained up just because she wanted to. She said Dan carried guns nearly i every time he came there. He brought the shot gun when he was going hunting. He usually carried only one re-i volver. She never saw Dan and Daisy in a room by themselves. She did not know how long her mother had been in bed when the murder occurred. Dan and Daisy had never had trouble and neither had Dan and other members of the family. Her brother Floyd and Dan were together a good deal of the time, going fishing together often. SAW HER SISTER SHOT. ProsecutlngAttorney Leopold showed a plot of the house, drawn by Surveyor Hugh Gamble. The little girl verified the plan and pointed out the positions of Dan and the girl when the shooting took place and showed where Daisy ran when she was shot. She held out her arm and said, “I saw Dan hold out his arm like that.” She saw Daisy’s dress on fire, and her mother put the fire out after Daisy had fallen against the bedroom door. She pointed to her left breast in indicating where the fire was on Daisy’s dress. I Civil Engineer Hugh L. Gamble was called and said he had drawn the plat of the house for Attorney Leopold and verified the one exhibited as the one he had drawn.

ANOTHER SISTERS’ TESTIMONY. Nora Phillips was next called. She is also a sister of the murdered girl. She is 15 years old. She had known Dan for several years. Dan came to the house that evening and talked to her and Daisy. She went to bed between 11 and 11:15, and Dan was still there. Did not hear report of revolver, but was awake when Daisy cried out, “Oh, my God, ma, Dan has shot me.” She got up and tried to help her mother get Daisy on the bed, but Daisy died on tbe floor.

DAN’S GOLD MINE. She had talked during the evening to Dan about a gold mine he said he had discovered up the river. He said It would be worth a million dollars and he promised to give her one-fourth. She did not know whether Dan was serious or not She saw the (wo loaded revolvers, the dirk and the shot gun. Dan took the revolvers In his hands and placed the muzzles against his temple and back of his neck. She asked him to remove the loads. He said they were his revolvers and he would do what he pleased with them. At other times he had taken the loads out of the revolvers when asked to do so, but he would not this time. Daisy did not talk to him much, she was writing letters. Dan had been there twice before that week.

After the shooting she ran to Mrs. Scott’s, a little more than a block away and called for help. She then went to her sister’s, Mrs. Earl Ellis, and when she got back George Antrim and Dr. Gwin were there. John Platt ; was not there that night but was the next morning. She and her sister had just before that time been working at Rosenbaum’s hotel. MOTHER MADE EGG NOG. Dan talked to her most of the time. She saw him have some whiskey but did not see him drink any. Her mother took some ojt the whiskey out of a quart bottle and made some egg nog, and she and the little girls and her mother had drank some, but Daisy had not. Said they had had egg nog some other times but not often. Said they did not have any the two other times that Dan was there that week.

She did not notice anything about Dan’s actions or talk different from other times. The whiskey and egg nog were for the children, who all had bad colds. The whiskey was in a large round bottle.

She asked Dan why he carried the revolver and he said because a dog ran after him. She recalled the conversation held the next morning with a reporter for the Republican and of having said that Dan did not exactly have the liquor stored there and when asked if her mother had given it to him, of saying, “Well, you’ll have to ask her about that.”

THE ARREST OF DAN. W. S. Parks, city marshal, was called. He related how the arrest of Dan was accomplished. He and Nightwatch Thomas went to Hiram Day’s house and got him to accompany them to Dan’s mother’s house in the northeast part of town and when they did not find him there they went to Dan’s brother, Dolph Day’s house, and his father tapped on the window and wakened Dolph, who came to the back door and said that Dan was there. Dolph went to the sitting room where Dan was and caught his around the waist, holding his arms close to his side. Dan had a revolver in his hand, which Thomas took away from him. Parks said “Dan, you’ve been drinking, havnt you?” He said that he had. He and Thomas took Dan to jaitTCHtf talked to him on the way. Dan told him he killed Daisy because he loved her, and that he wanted her to stop going with other boys and she would not, so he thought he would stop her. It was plain to be seen that he had been drinking. They talked about the liquor and he told them they would find a bottle with some liquor in it near Kellner’s ice house. They put Dan in jail and went to the place he indicated and found the bottle, a 16 oz. one, with some liquor in it They went to the Phillips house and asked Mrs. Phillips if she did not have a quart bottle of whiskey there, and she said she did not, and after they made a search and could not find it, they went away. They returned later and Mrs. Phillips produced the bottle from some place where it had been hid. It was a quart bottle of Lexington Club, a little more than half full. Mrs. Phillips admitted to the officers that she had purchased the whiskey.

WANTED TO SHOOT HIS STEPMOTHER. When the officers were taking Dan to the jail he told them that he would have shot them if it had not been that Dolph caught hold of him. He said he had Intended to die game. He also said he was sorry he did not get the one he was looking for, and said It was his step-mother he wanted to get The officers found the two revolvers and the dirk on his person when he was arrested. He had left the shot gun behind the kitchen door at the Phillips home. Parks had seen Dan with the shot gun but never knew that he carried revolvers,never saw him with them and never saw him when he had been drinking. E. M. Thomas, the city nlghwtatch, verified the Parks story of the arrest and tbe conversation they had with Dan on the way to the jail, and the story about the whiskey bottle. The two revolvers and the dirk were produced and he identified them as the ones he bad taken away from Dan. Also 20 or 21 cartridges. These he had turned over to the sheriff. Both revolvers were loaded full when he took them from Dan, there being no empty shell. He had frequently of late seen Dan out as late aa 12 or 1 o’clock, and more particularly had he seen him out late for a month before the murder. Dan loafed at Geo. Goffs restaurant frequently in the evenings.

TALKED WITH DAN. B. S. Fendig, the poultry and Junk dealer, was called and testflled that Daisy and Dan had both worked for him during the poultry picking season. He said Dan was friendly to

Daisy and they had joked with him about her being his girl. • CORONER TESTIFIES. W. J. Wright, county coroner, testified that he had been called to the house by Dr. Gwin shortly after one o’clock at night after the murder.He and Dr. Gwin examined the body that night and Dr. Gwin made a more thorough examination the next day.Thby found that the bullet had entered the left breast, pierced the heart and the left lung and.had come out of the back and he had a bullet that was picked up from the floor after it had struck the wall and that was thought to be the bullet that had passed through the body. He had been the custodian of the whiskey bottles since they were found by the officers. He had conducted a coroner’s inquest on April 6th. Dr. Gwin was called and stated the exact position that the bullet had entered .and the place it had emerged from. He said that the bullet had grazed the heart and lung and that it was necessarily fatal, and that the victim might die instantly or within two or three minutes. A recess of ten minutes was then taken. i

WHISKEY EXHIBITED. Coroner Wright was recalled. He had the bottles of whiskey that had played so conspicuous a part in the murder. He also told of having a conversation with Dan in jail the day after the murder and he had asked Dan why he had killed her and he had said he “Just went bug house.” Nelson Griggs was called and said that on the evening before the murder he and Goldie Woods were going to the Phillips home to make a call and that they were halted by Dan Day near the house, and that he demanded to know who they were. Dan showed Griggs his revolvers and dirk and the shot gun. He thought Dan was intoxicated and so they did not go on down to the Phillips house. He said Dan talked loud and more than he usually had before. Griggs took hold of the revolvers and the knife. The Woods girl was frightened and she shrank behind Griggs and asked Dan if he would shoot her and he said he wouldn’t. Griggs’ memory did not seem to be very clear and he did not know just what they had talked about. When Goldie Woods testified she said that Dan had said something about a fight and about somebody having it in for him. i

STATE CLOSES CASE. The state closed its case with the testimony of Miss Woods. Attorney Williams made a statement to the jury to the effect that he had filed an answer to the charge in two paragraphs, the first being a denial of the crime and the second that the defendant was insane when the crime was committed.

DAN BOUGHT NOVELS. The first witness he called was Floyd Phillips,brother of the murdered girl, also a cripple, and for some years a friend of Dan’s. Floyd told about them going hunting and fishing together and about them spending some time at each other’s homes, and that Dan could not read but that Dan would buy Buffalo Bill and other cheap novels and have him read them. He said that all of these stories were about men who carried guns and died with their boots on.

DAN AND WITNESS DRANK TOGETHER. He said that he was in Monon with his father when the murder occurred. He said he and Dan drank together frequently, and that Dan would get the liquor some place but he did not know where. Dan usually paid for It, but once he had gone in a quarter on a bottle. Dan bought it in both pints and quarts. They sometimes went to Dan’s bouse to drink it and sometimes went back in the alley, up town. They were always alone when they drank the whiskey. He had often seen Dan’s Iver-Johnson pistol, but Dan did not tell him why he had purchased it. He said Dan got the bowle knife of Jamie Willis to use in cleaning game. He had only had the knife about a month. • When Dan came to their house he usually stayed only until 8 o'clock. Dan seemed to understand everything that witness read to him and he would talk about the stories. E. M. Thomas was recalled and said that Dan had told them that the whiskey was at Mrs. Phillips’ and that Mrs. Phillips first said she did not know where It was but afterwards produced it. W. 8. Parks was recalled and said that Mrs. Phillips said after giving the whiskey to them that it was awful to think that she was the cause of her daughter’s death.

BROTHER OF DAN TESTIFIES. Dolph Day told of the arrest and said Dan was drunk when he came to the house. He said Dan frequent-

ly came there at night and that he would let him in or sometimes he would just stop late at night to get a match. Dolph had asked Dan what the trouble was when he came in that night and he had said that he had got drunk. After th& officers came Dolph went in and asked Dan what he had done and he said “Nothing.” He said Dan had been crippled since birth and was crippled all over. He told of the effect the deformity had over the muscles of the face.

DAN HAS HALLICUNATIONS. Dolph testified that Dan was afraid to sleep in one room in his mother’s house because he feared that there was a tall woman there with a big knife that would hurt him during the night. He said that this hallucination had followed Dan for years. He also said that Dan threatened to kill himself several years ago and had started toward the railroad to let the train run over him, but he went after him and brought him back.

He said, he had tried to find out where Dan got hid liquor but could not. He said that one time Harry Reed had got some alcohol and taken 'it to Fendig’s poultry house and that Dan had drank some of it and that they had become intoxicated. Dan had always had a quick temper, and would throw anything he could get hold of at his offender. He did not know that he had revolvers,or carried any weapons except when he went hunting.

DAN MAKES ADMISSION TO CORONER. Coroner Wright was recalled and he said that in his conversation with Dan the latter had said that he tried to pull Daisy out of the house the night of the murder and that she would not go out. Dan said he had been drinking before he went to the house.

MURDERER GIVES MONEY TO HIS MOTHER. Just before adjournment for supper George Goff, the restaurant keeper, came in and Dan was overjoyed at seeing him. Mr. Goff gave Dan sls he had been keeping for him and Dan gave the money to his mother. After supper Mr. Goff was called to the stand,and he related his friend ly feeling for Dan, and said Dan had asked him to keep his money, because some one had "taken $16.25 away from him. - He gave Mr. Goff two S2O bills and later gave him two $5 bills, making SSO in all. He said Dan began to draw the money out and always kept strict account of the amount he had left. He noticed that Dan was drinking a great deal and talked with him about it and Dan promised to quit. He tried to learn who was getting whiskey for Dan but Dan would not tell. He did not see Dan the day of the murder but the night before Dan was in the restaurant between 10 and 12 o’clock and was intoxicated. He thinks Dan had been drinking more for 4 or 5 weeks

before the shooting took place. Within that time he drew out $35 of the money he had left in trust with Mr. Goff. Sometimes he would draw out just $1.23> and Mr. Goff was certain it was for liquor. He had talked with witness about wanting to go to Canada to hunt and trap. Dan was more irritable after drinking.

DAN’S FATHER TESTIFIES. Hiram Day, father of Dan, was called, and said that at about 6:30 on the night of the shooting he had given Dan a dollar to buy copper with. He next saw him when he accompanied the officers to the home of his married son, Dolph Day. He said to Dan when he saw him,“Dan,you’ve got yourself In. a fix.” Dan said he didn’t care.

Said Dan never had any schooling. He made an attempt to send him to the public school but the teachers could not be bothered with him. He made two efforts to send him to the home for the feeble minded but that Institution was always full. He said Dan was Irritable If crossed, otherwise he was all right. He bad heard he carried guns,but had never seen them. Dan stayed with him 3 or 4 years after his second marriage. Dan had some trouble with his step-mother, but they were trivial. Dan frequently brought home rabbits, squirrels and ducks.

SHOT AT SOME BOYS. Vem Robinson testified that he and George Plunkett, Roy Stephenson and Will Woodworth were up the river some weeks before the murder and that Dan was about a hundred yards up the river from the bridge They were standing on the bridge and some one dared Dan to shoot He cracked away with his revolver several times and they all took shelter some getting behind rocks and others behind the dredge dipper. John Platt never saw Dan drink.

and never saw 'him! with guns. Job* went to the Phillips home the mon>» ing after the murder to offer hl* assistance to the family, he having been acquainted with them for son* time. < Court then adjourned until Wednesday morning at 8:30 o’clock. On Wednesday morning,■ Mrs. T.y—dia Phillips, mother of the murdered! girl, was called for, but she was side, and unable to appear in court. George H. Healey was called am* was asked who he saw at the home the morning after the murder. He enumerated the persons that wer* there. He was asked about the conversation he had with Mrs. Phillip* about the liquor but was from answering on objection ot th* prosecution, which the court sustate—ed. Other witnesses along the san* Une were not called. Frank Phillips, the father of th* murdered girl, was not at horn* when the murder was committed anA did not know much about it. He saiA Dan had always been on friendly terms with the family. MURDERER CALLED TO STANDS. The defendant, Dan Day, was cafledL He shambled from his chair within the railing to the witness stand anA held up his hand to be sworn. H* said he had known the Phillips family ever since he met them one ttm* at the Kankakee river. He and FloyA were chums. The day of the murder he was hunting up about the stock farm by himself. He did not go home in the evening, but went without hi* supper. He went to hlb father** house and borrowed a dollar, teUin* his father he wanted it to buy cojxper with. He said he had lied to hl* father, as he really wanted it to buywhiskey with. He spoke of his father as his daddy. He took the dollar t» Mrs. Phillips and asked her to go upk town and get the whiskey for him. She did,signing a statement at Larsh’* drug store that it was'needed for medical purposes. He said that they all drank some of the whiskey, but h» did not say anything about egg nog. He said he bad a pint beside,whießt he had drank before he went to th* Phillips home. He said he didn’t know how long he stayed there and did not know what he done whO* there. He couldn’t tell exactly when he left. He showed how he drew th* revolver with his left hand and ho*

he pointed It at Daisy, and be sal* It “just went off’’ He said he did. not know what he did then, except that he knew he fell down severe# times and that he did not know how he reached his brother’s house, that, is be did not know what route h* took, but he said he crawled half th® way. He said he never dreamed o£ killing Daisy. BOUGHT LIQUOR OF “SHORTT' ADAMS. He said he had been drinking liquor since he was 18 years of age, and. that for three months he had beea. drinking considerably more htan before. J He said he sometimes got bls llquer of “Shorty” Adams,and sometime*. Floyd Phillips would order it shipped here and he would pay for it. He warn asked where he got the pint that h* - had the night he went to the Phlllfpsf house and said, “I halnt goin’ to talk. I don’t want to and I halnt agolD' fo.'*' “Why won’t you tell?” was asked of him. fl He was quick to reply and did so with much determination. “Because he is a friend of mine, and I hatot agoin’ to tell on him.” He was asked why he wanted Mrtu Phillips to get a quart for him when he already had a pint, and he said that he wanted to get that mud*, drunker. Said he didn't care. He remembered meeting Nels Grigg*-, and Goldie Woods. He had drank * pint of liquor at that time, but notout of the bottle they bad found. So there was evidently another bottleu He then repeated “When I got a little ’drunk, I wanted to get drunker.” Undid not remember of Daisy opening, the door. He had spent a kX of money on Daisy and some qn other members of the family. Had bought candy and presents, and gave Daisap a dollar to help pay for a coat. Hadid not remember wanting Daisy to go out doors with him. Never had any trouble. Did not recall havin® had any conversation wi'h John Cribser about some girl getting his money and did not remember that he had told John that he was going to do something desperate. Did not seemember that he had showed John hl* revolver. DID NOT CONSIDER DAN INSANEL Geo. W. Goff was recalled and said that he would regard Dan as perfectly sana B. S. Fendig similarly testified, and said that when Dan sold him Junk, Dan would have the value figured out mentally after it wa*

weighed before he could figure it with a pencil. He also kept some of Dan's money and Dan always kept the account straight in his head. Dr. E. C. English had waited on Dan for colds and the like but had never examined his body. He considered his deformity due to infantile paralysis, and did not think it general that that disease affected the mind. Several questions were asked tending to bring out the exact nervous defect, the state aiming to show that he was sane and the defense aiming to prove that he was of unsound mind when the murder was committed. Dr. English said he did not know that he had been called upon as an expert witness, and that he had never treated a case of infantile paralysis and had in recent years made no special study of the disease, but he did not regard it as affecting the brain.

John Critser was called by the state and related a conversation held several months ago, the one Dan could not remember. He said Dan had told him that some girl was getting his money and he was going to put astop to it and he had showed his revolver, rather indicating that he was going to use that means, but he did not say who the girl was. Mayor Ellis and E. M. Thomas regarded Dan sane. The evidence was then all in and Prosecutor Graves made the opening argument for the state. He was followed by Attorney Willlmas for the defense and Moses Leopold closed for the state. He finished his statement at 1:23, and Judge Hanley took just 32 minutes in giving his instructions to the jury.

The jury went out at just 5 minutes before 3 o’clock, carrying with them six different kinds of verdicts, two for conviction of first degree murder, one for second degree murder, one for manslaughter and one for acquittal on the grounds of insanity, and one for not guilty.

The Day jury which retired at 2:55 o’clock Wednesday afternoon were out all night and at 3 o’clock today (Thursday) had arrived at no decision, and it looked very much as tho a disagreement might be the outcome.

At about 9 o’clock Wednesday evening Judge Hanley called the attorneys together and suggested that the jury be returned for more explicit instructions, but the jury at that time felt that they were going to arrive at a decision and they did not wish further instructions. So the attorneys left and Attorney Williams for the defendant made a professional trip to Hammond, and when the jury later wanted further advice they could not have it because the attorneys were not there. Attorney Williams returned at 2:01 o’clock, and at 3 o’clock the jury and the counsel wree called into the east court room and further Instructions given. There is nothing to substanfciatei the report of how the jury stood, but it is thought that in view of the clear instructions given by Judge Hanley they must arrive at a verdict of guilty and that it is apt to be in the second degree.