Murderess on the Loose

The 1922 Hammer Wrath of Clara Phillips (A Historical True Crime Short)

By: R. Barri Flowers

Narrated by: Lauren Billingsley

From award-winning criminologist R. Barri Flowers and best-selling author of Murder During the Chicago World's Fair, Murder of the Doctor's Wife, Murder at the Pencil Factory, and The Pickaxe Killers comes the gripping historical true-crime short, Murderess on the Loose: The 1922 Hammer Wrath of Clara Phillips.

On the evening of Wednesday, July 12, 1922, Los Angeles, California, was the scene of a shocking and deadly assault. The victim was an attractive 21-year-old widow named Alberta Meadows. Her death came as the result of a vicious hammer and boulder attack on a twisting dirt road at the bottom of a hill in the subdivision of Montecito Heights on the city's northeast side.

The violent act was perpetrated by a romantic rival named Clara Phillips, who lured the unsuspecting victim to the unlikely crime scene. The 23-year-old murderess' actions were spurred by jealous rage, as Mrs. Meadows was the mistress of Clara's husband, Armour Phillips, an oil-stock salesman who was three years her senior.

Clara Phillips was given the moniker “Tiger Woman” by the overzealous LA press of the day after a police detective on the case suggested that Alberta Meadows looked like “[S]he had been mauled by a tiger”. But Clara didn't go away quietly, proving to be not only a coldhearted killer, but a fabricator and masterful escape artist before justice for the victim finally had a chance to be served in what proved to be one the 20th century's most disturbing acts of homicidal violence.

Included are bonus excerpts of R. Barri Flowers' best-selling historical true crime book, The Dreadful Acts of Jack the Ripper and Other True Tales of Serial Murder and Prostitutes, and the historical true-crime shorts The Pickaxe Killers, Murder at the Pencil Factory, Murder of the Doctor's Wife, and Murder During the Chicago World's Fair.

©2018 R. Barri Flowers (P)2018 R. Barri Flowers