Charles Phillips

Elkhart Truth November 20, 1922, pg. 1

ELKHARTAN KILLED BY UNKNOWN CAR

CHAS. PHILLIPS IS RUN DOWN IN OAKLAND AVE.

Found Few Minutes Later by Harvey Wambaugh, Who Had Assisted Him in Starting Stalled Auto.

POLICE HAVE NO CLUES

Charles Phillips of 2639 South Main street, aged 48 years, a New York Central car repairer, was found dead by Harvey Wambaugh at 8:50 o'clock last evening lying on the pavement in Oakland avenue 100 feet north of the subway. His skull was fractured in two places and there were four scalp wounds.

Less than 10 minutes before the discovery of the body Mr. Phillips and Mr. Wambaugh had been working on Mr. Phillips' automobile endeavoring to start it, and the police believe that Phillips was struck by an unknown autoist after he had either fallen from his own car after helping push it into gear or was hit while standing in the avenue watching Mr. Wambaugh, who had jumped into the machine and was testing it out before restoring it to its owner.

The police and Coroner Eugene Holdeman's investigations of the tragedy last night and this morning discounted the first theory that Mr. Phillips might have been murdered by an unknown person and lends support to the accident theory.

MR. WAMBAUGH'S VERSION

"Mr. Phillips called at my home at 603 West Indiana avenue a little after 8 o'clock and told me his car, a Buick, for which I am agent, was in front of the Jacob Pontius residence at 1112 Garfield avenue and that he could not get the starter to work," Mr. Wambaugh said today. "He got into my car with me and we drove over to the Pontius home. I looked the car over and then decided to take advantage of the Oakland avenue hill leading into the subway which was just a few doors away. I pulled Phillips' car out onto the pavement with a tow line attached to my car. Phillips was standing in front watching and I asked him to get behind and push. I pushed along the side as we started down the hill and when the engine of the car started going I jumped in and drove north in Oakland avenue, to the fire station at Mason street and Oakland avenue. There I turned and drove back south in Oakland avenue to Garfield. I had expected to pick up Phillips along the way but drove all the way to Garfield without seeing him."

GOES BACK IN SEARCH

"I waited at Garfield and Oakland for a couple of minutes, thinking maybe he had gone back into the Pontius home after something. However, when he failed to put in an appearance I inquired for him at the Pontius home. Mr. Pontius seemed much surprised and said the last time he had seen Mr. Phillips was when he was pushing the car as it went down into the subway. Mr. Pontius said he then returned to his home a few doors away. I then drove slowly north in Oakland avenue, thinking I might have missed him coming up. As I passed out of the subway on the north side I beheld what I took to be the form of a man several feet away. There was no one about, and as I hurried nearer the place I saw a couple walking from the north. I jumped out of the car and I knew by the clothing it was Mr. Phillips. He was lying face downward close to the east curb with his feet near the curb and as I raised his head I asked him if he was hurt. A gurgling sound was all that came from his throat. I asked the couple and another man, none of whom I knew, to look after him while I ran to the Pontius residence, from where I telephoned for the police and an ambulance. Three officers and the Charles Walley ambulance were soon on the scene, as was Dr. Holdeman, who had been called by the police. He pronounced Mr. Phillips dead."

SHOVED ALONG PAVEMENT

At the Walley funeral home at 120 South Second street examinations of the man's body and personal effects was conducted by the coroner and the police last night and again this morning. The clothing was found to be greasy and torn. Some parts of the mackinaw which Mr. Phillips wore were shredded. The shirt, trousers and underwear and the soles and sides of the shoes scraped, which, Chief Northrop said, confirmed the theory of the police and coroner that he was caught underneath an automobile and possibly while not dragged any great distance was so badly hurt that death was almost instantaneous. Prosecuting Attorney G.R. Sawyer also said he believed that Mr. Phillips was killed when struck by an automobile, adding that the injuries to the head might have been inflicted by oil cups on the automobile.

"While Mr. Wambaugh said he did not see an automobile in Oakland avenue during the time he drove to the fire station and return yet such a thing was possible, as the unknown autoist who we think struck Mr. Phillips might have turned off on one of the side streets before Mr. Wambaugh saw him," Chief Northrop said today. "It was misting and it was difficult to see ahead very far."

NO KNOWN ENEMIES

"I will admit that the place where Mr. Phillips' body was found was what would be considered a choice place for a person intent on murder, yet in view of the condition of the man's clothing and the fact that he had no known enemies leads me to give credence to the accident theory.

Possibly the people who struck him do not yet know what they did. There are no houses within 200 feet from where the body was found. There is a big sign board just east of the sidewalk and curb, and when we at first thought he was murdered we made a complete search of the neighborhood. The fact the Phillips' hat with no evidence of dirt or blood on it was found only a few feet away from his body would seem to discount the auto accident theory, but this could be accounted for by the possibility that it was knocked from his head as the auto struck him."

CAME HERE 11 YEARS AGO

Mr. Phillips, who with his wife and three children came to Elkhart from Sunbury, Pa., 11 years ago, was born in Talmatia, Pa., on December 3, 1874. He had been employed by the Pennsylvania company as a car repairer and secured the same kind of work upon his arrival here. In addition to his wife, Mrs. Cora Duttry Phillips, there are two sons, Paul Phillips, aged 26 years, and Alfred, 15; and a daughter, Mrs. Victor Jackson, all of Elkhart. There also survive the father, Jacob Phililps, and four brothers, Frank and Monroe Phillips of Talmatia, Pa., John Phillips of Sunbury, Pa., and George Phillips of Philadelphia. The father makes his home with Monroe Philips. The dead man was a member of the English Lutheran church. He was also a member of the Sunbury lodge of Moose and the Elkhart local of the Carmen of America.

Mrs. Phillips was notified of the tragedy 20 minutes after the discovery of the body by members of the Pontius household.

Friends of Mr. Phillips today asked The Truth to emphasize the fact that Mr. Phillips was a loyal member of the Carmen's union.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Dec 10 2023, 0:55:23 UTC