Philip Thomas and Spencer Penrose

Well, here is the meat and reason for my book. I am fulfilling a promise my father made to my grandfather, to tell the truth and make things right. My dad didn't get to do it, so it is my place to fulfill this promise. I won't be giving a lot of details in this post that I'm saving for my book plus it would make this post super long.

In the early 1890's Spencer Penrose came to Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was a 1/3 partner in a mine called the Commenwealth located in AZ, his brother Richard and a German banker were the other partners, the mine pulled in 1 million dollars a year. So Spencer was not poor, he also recieved his share of the Penrose Trust each year. He went into several business ventures, mostly real estate with C.L. Tutt. Spencer knew C.L. from Philly, C.L. lived about 4 blocks away from the Penrose house, with his grandfather and mother. C.L. was a year younger then Spencer.

Spencer owned and lived in a house on Boulder St. that he shared with two other men, he also had an apartment on Bijou St., this is where his brother Philip lived.(C.L. Tutt also owned a house where his family lived and he also had an apartment for his love affairs) Spencer was having an affair with one Julie McMillan, among others. Philip would leave the apartment when Spencer needed the place. Philip was going to school at the Mining School in Colorado Springs, he also got his share of the Penrose Trust, this money needed to last him a whole year. He had a secert hiding place in the apartment where he kept his money, only Spencer and himself knew where he hid it or so he thought.

He came home one day and found his money gone, he was livid with anger. Spencer shows up, he needed the apt., Julie was coming over. Philip accuses Spencer of stealing and doesn't listen when Spencer tries to tell him he didn't steal it. Philip lunges at him and chokes him till Spencer passes out. Spencer doesn't try to defend himself. Philip checks and Spencer is still alive so he storms out the door, he walks around town wondering what he is going to do with no money.

Meanwhile, Julie shows up (she saw Spencer as her next husband but she found out before she came over that Spencer has had a sexual encounter with someone that she could not approve of). So, she poisons him and takes all the money he has on him. Philip comes home and Spencer is dead. He freaks, he believes that he has killed his brother. So, he comes up with a story that he was the intended victim and these people killed Spencer thinking they were killing Philip.

His family buys the story, the family agrees that Philip should take over Spencer's identity so the killers won't know that they made a mistake. Thus, Philip becomes Spencer and does a great many things in his brother's name. Also, making a promise to his father that he would make it known who he really was before he died.

Philip is enjoying his new life, he has stayed away from Colorado Springs for a year and a half. He returns keeping a low profile. He decides to take a trip to Europe with a male friend, on that boat
is Julie McMillan. She knows about the argument that Spencer and Philip had, she was the one who stole the money from Philip and murdered Spencer. During the cruise she finds out a few things but its not till they land and she spends time with Richard Penrose (who is in England) does she find out what the family has done.

She sees Philip again and basically blackmails him into marriage. Now she has what she wants, money. Philip thought he could buy her off but he couldn't. He did not find out that she murdered his brother till the 1950's, he had been married to her for over 40 years. At first a weight had been lifted off of him, discovering he did not murder his brother. Now, he could leave his marriage, Julie no longer had any hold on him. Don't get me wrong, they were comfortable with each other but they did not love each other. Julie really loved Spencer. And Philip, well he loved his mother and me (his daughter) but he had never met anyone that he could really give his heart to.

So, there you have it the family skeleton about Philip and Spencer Penrose.

I re read this post on Nov 2012 because my stats showed that someone else had read it. At the time I wrote this I thought that Julie had murdered my Uncle but that is not the case. Dorothy Palmer, daughter of General and Queenie Palmer, was the person who really murdered him. Also, Julie died in the late 1930's early 1940's. Dorothy Palmer took her idenitiy here in Colorado Springs and lived in the same house as my father. They had seperate bedrooms but they came from a generation where that was common, so it was no big deal. Why did Dorothy pretend to be Julie? I have no idea, my father told me how he came to be my Uncle Spencer but my mother never shared why she came to be Julie. Some things will never come to light.