view of an unidentified woman who sold a claw hammer to Clara Phillips. In an act of passion, Phillips used the hammer to brutally attack and kill Alberta Meadows, her husband’s mistress.
In 1922, Clara Phillips, a former chorus girl, learned the identity of her husband’s mistress, Alberta Meadows. Fueled by jealousy and rage, Phillips went on to purchase a claw hammer, then, in the company of her friend Peggy Caffee, sought out Meadows and assaulted her. The animal-like attack against Meadows, who was left disemboweled and with a severally mauled face, earned Phillips the name “Tiger Woman.” Phillips was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison for the crime of passion. She escaped from the Los Angeles County prison in 1922 and was found in Honduras in 1923. She was an inmate at San Quentin from 1923 until 1932, when she was transferred to the original California Institution for Women in Tehachapi. She was released on parole in 193