Phillips - Robert L.
Source: Crawfordsville Journal Review, December 7, 1967
LADOGA – Robert L. Phillips, 59, Indianapolis automobile dealer, burned to death early Thursday morning when his log cabin on Haw Creek southwest of Ladoga was destroyed by fire. The state fire marshal’s office is aiding sheriff’s officers and Coroner Dr. Samuel Millis in investigating the cause of the blaze. When Dr. Millis and sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene, they found Phillips’ body near a couch in the living room, where it was presumed he had been sleeping. The four-room, modern log, cabin, owned by Phillips, was burned to the ground. The tragedy apparently occurred about 2 a.m., but was not discovered until seven hours later. Bill Long of Roachdale, who was to have gone hunting Thursday morning with Phillips, arrived at the scene about 9 a.m. and found the building a smouldering mass of ruins. He immediately notified county officers. Mr. and Mrs. Offie Scott, who live nearby, said they saw flames in the sky about 2 a.m. They said they had a party line telephone on the same circuit as the cabin’s and it was knocked out by the cabin blaze. They tried to call for help on it but couldn’t. “It surely made big fire,” Scott said. “There was just one big mass of flames in the air.” Long, one of the original owners of the cabin, frequently checked on the cabin for Phillips and the two often went hunting together. Billy Groves, first deputy of the sheriff’s department, said an autopsy performed Thursday night at Culver Hospital by a pathologist from Purdue University disclosed smoke in the victim’s lungs. The body later was taken to an Indianapolis mortuary. A large sum of money Phillips was reported to have had with him was destroyed in the flames that reduced the cabin to ashes. Groves said Long told him his friend had $765 in a roll with a rubber band around it. The deputy said it was believed Phillips might have dozed off while watching a late television show and while still at least partly clothed, for a portion of his belt and part of his pants were found under his badly burned body. Two investigators from the fire marshal’s office were here during the investigation. Groves said a report from that office will be sent to the coroner. The deputy sheriff said that so far there had appeared no indication how the fire started. Phillips, who, together with a son, Robert Jr., operated an automobile agency on West 30th Street in Indianapolis, spent weekends at the cabin, together with his wife, Florence. They live on Guion Road at Indianapolis. However, Mrs. Phillips, who has been ill, did not accompany her husband to the cabin this time. The cabin and another are located on Haw Creek just north of Putnam-Montgomery County Line Road. It is about five miles southwest of Ladoga. The cabin was built in 1946. There was a basement with an oil furnace as well as a fireplace in the living room. In addition to the wife and son, Phillips is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Marilyn Edwards of near Lebanon. – jlr
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Source: Obituary from a collection of Fauniel Hershbarger, a life-long Fountain County Indiana resident
Funeral services for Robert L. Phillips, 59, of Indianapolis, who died in an early Thursday morning fire that destroyed his cabin southwest of Ladoga, have been set for 10 a.m. Monday at Conkle Funeral Chapel, 4925 W. 10th St., in Speedway. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 p.m. Saturday. Burial will be in Bethel Cemetery at Indianapolis. Surviving Mr. Philips are his wife, Florence; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Phillips of Indianapolis; a son. Robert L. Jr., with whom he operated Westside Ford there until they opened a used car agency last year; a daughter, Mrs. Marilyn Edwards of Whitestown, and five grandchildren. – jlr