Individual Details

Death

"Young Montana Ranch Mother and Children Perish in Heavy Rain; Bodies are Seven Miles from Home Geraldine--Residents of this small central Montana community Monday combined Memorial Day services with a special prayer for a young mother and her four children who perished in a nearby coulee. Men on horseback found the bodies Sunday morning, climaxing a grim search. Dead are Mrs. Alice Phillips and her four children, Mary 4, Cary 3, Clifford 18 months, and William 5 months. It is believed that they died of exposure and fatigue during a heavy rainstorm Thursday evening. The bodies were found in rugged, rolling country about seven miles from the small Phillips ranch. Mrs. Phillips is the former Alice Hardenbrook, daughter of Ralph and Mary Hardenbrook of Geraldine. Mrs. Phillips body and the bodies of her two youngest children were found at the head of the coulee about two miles northwest of the ranch owned by Al Moline. A hundred feet behind were the bodies of the two oldest children and the wagon in which she had been pulling them. Sheriff Bradley quotes Mrs. Phillips husband, Howard, 24, as saying he could not find his family when he returned home from Geraldine on Thursday. Phillips said he started searching for them on horseback. He reported the disappearance to the autorities on Saturday afternoon. Bradley estimated a hundred men aided in the search Saturday afternoon and Sunday. He said Mrs. Phillips knew the country well. Searchers spotted tiny wagon tracks near the Moline ranch Saturday afternoon. It was their only clue. Bradley said they could find no explanation why Mrs. Phillips bundled up her four children and set out on foot from her small ranch home."