Eula Phillips
Believed to be the last victim of the 1885 attacks in Austin, we have the more documented information about Eula than anyone else involved. She is one of three victims with a surviving photo. 17-years-old at the time of her murder, she was asleep next to her husband and son in a room at her in-laws house near 8th & Lavaca when she was brutally attacked. This photo has been colorized with AI.
Eula Phillips Funeral
Eula’s body was found in the first hour of Christmas morning. It is customary to refer to this as the Christmas Eve attack. Since evidence suggests she (and Susan Hancock) were murdered after midnight, these were technically Christmas day attacks.
Her body was first laid in the parlor of her in-laws house and was then taken by undertaker Monroe Miller. Her funeral was on December 26th.
Her funeral most likely took place at the corner of Brazos & 7th. Across the street was a construction site for the nearly-finished Driskill Hotel, which stands there today.
Monroe Miller operated undertaker services and stables at the same location. In 1885, he advertised on the cover of the Austin directory, pictured here. “Preparing and shipping bodies a specialty.”
Eula’s House
Clipped from the 1889 Sanborn fire insurance map, this map gives us a diagram of the layout of the premises on which Eula was murdered. This especially comes in handy when reading the witness testimonies in the State v Jas Phillips documents (below).
The Phillips residence (302 Hickory) constitutes the three dwellings at the bottom left corner of the block. Two of the dwellings are connected by galleries. Eula’s body was found in the back yard near the alley, which you can see divides the block down the middle.
The assailant hopped the fence from the back yard and ran west up the alley (toward Guadalupe), leaving a footprint and two large globs of coagulated blood behind in the alley.
In the witness testimonies, there was mention of matching tracks being seen in the yard of Mortimer Summerow, two doors down. That yard does not adjoin the Phillips yard and it’s possible the witness made a mistake. Summerow lived at 308 Hickory.
The pink dwelling on the opposite side of the alley is the Hirshfeld house, and the blue one next to it was a cottage owned by the same family, the Hirshfelds. These two are the only houses remaining on the block today.
Transcript of the Trial of James Phillips
James Phillips, Eula’s husband, was tried for her murder in June, 1886. We have transcribed the 100 page document detailing his trial. The original document was written in short-hand, with very little punctuation and difficult script. Throughout the document, we have added some notes for clarity. Eula was murdered at the end of December, 1885, and the trial took place in June, 1886. Notes are in blue. The handwritten document can be found at www.traviscountyarchives.com.