On the evening of May 30, 1923, people in Orange gathered around the Southern Pacific train depot to watch a train that was not scheduled to stop. They hoped to see a glimpse of a woman who had grabbed national and international headlines for months. The infamous “hammer murderess” dubbed by the press as “Tiger Woman” was going back to San Quentin Prison in California.
Clara Phillips, who was only 23 years of age, had beaten a 19-year-old widow to death with a hammer in July, 1922. She escaped from prison and later ended up in Honduras with a man, money and arms. The newspapers reported the two were going to start a revolution and make themselves dictators of the country.
The Orange Leader, along with hundreds of other papers throughout the country, ran dozens of stories about Clara and her capture in Honduras. Then, the news came she and the Los Angeles County law officers had arrived by ship in New Orleans. They would be taking the Sunset Limited passenger train from New Orleans back to LA. The train passed through Orange.
“Clara Phillips, Delayed in New Orleans, To Pass Through Orange at 7:30,” read the headline in the Leader. The subhead was “Tiger Woman Prepares for Last Lap of Trip Back to California Penitentiary.”
The newspaper reported she was on the Southern Pacific westbound No. 101, which was not scheduled to stop in Orange because it was “the fast train to the west.”
“However it is possible that Mrs. Phillips and the officers who have her in charge may occupy the observation platform,” the Leader wrote.
Maybe that was enough to draw the people to the depot. Or perhaps it was a slow spring evening. The people gathered around weren’t able to see them standing on the platform giving a homecoming-queen wave, but they left with something to talk about.
The Leader the next afternoon, May 31, reported “curiosity seekers waited 20 minutes” for the train to pass by. “Sure enough the engineer seemed to entertain a sympathy for those who waited to see Clara and he slowed down the train,” the paper reported. “We saw a pretty woman seated in a triangle, composed of two officers and herself, in a separate drawing room on the train and we know now that we have seen that hammer woman.”
Clara Phillips first captured the attention of people in July the year before. Her looks probably had something to do with her. She had once been a chorus girl and an extra in the movie business. Her mug shots from the Los Angeles jail listed her as 5-feet-4 ½ inches and weighing 122 pounds.
The news stories reported she had heard gossip that her husband, Armour, was having an affair with a young widow named Alberta Meadows. Clara had no proof, but she decided to get rid of Alberta.
According to trial testimony, on July 10, 1922, she went into a five-and-dime store and picked up a 15-cent hammer. She calmly weighed it in her hand and asked the clerk if it was heavy enough to kill a woman. The clerk, thinking she was joking, replied, “Yes, it is, if you hit her hard enough with it.”
The next day, Clara met a friend, Peggy Caffee, who was also a former chorus girl. They went and picked up Alberta and took her to a secluded place. Clara and Alberta got out of the car to talk. Instead, Clara beat her many times in the head with the hammer and then rolled a 50-pound boulder on her chest.
Reports said Peggy stayed in the car and was so scared she stayed quiet. Clara drove home soaked in blood and told her husband “I guess it’s murder.” The next day, Armour put Clara on a train to get away and he went to police.
Clara was arrested in Albuquerque and brought back to LA. At the station she was met by a crowd of reporters and photographers. She was convicted of second degree murder and sent to San Quentin.
She wasn’t through making headlines. In December that year she escaped from prison. The news stories first told of a dramatic escape by filing through bars, climbing to the roof and going down a drain pipe. Later reports came that she bribed guards to unlock her cell and turn their eyes away.
Next came an adventure through Mexico and on to Honduras. After her capture, she told reporters she could have been “queen” of the country. But California peace officers got her, brought her by boat to New Orleans and then on the train through Orange.
She was paroled from prison in 1935 at the age of 36. Stories say she became a dental assistant after learning the skill in prison. Eventually she changed her name. One report claims she was in Texas in 1961.
Clara Phillips, the cold-blooded Tiger Woman, ended up in obscurity, but once she was able to give a thrill to some people in Orange who ended up with a good story to tell while sitting on the front porch on a summer evening.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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