Philippa "Phil" Abruzzi | |
---|---|
Portrayed by | Angela Sarafyan |
Episode | Torn |
Status | Deceased |
Philippa "Phil" Abruzzi was a housemaid employed by Ambrose and Elizabeth Stone in 1919. She and the Stones' daughter, Frances Stone, would eventually become involved in the women's suffrage movement.
History[]
Phil was a close friend to Frances, something uncommon at the time for women of different classes. Frances had taught her how to read and Phil's seven-year-old daughter, Audrey Abruzzi, called Frances "Aunt Frannie".
Phil's marriage was not a happy one, however. Her husband was a violent man who beat her on numerous occasions, including once after catching her reading a pamphlet on votes for women. After Frances learned of this, the two imagined how things could change if women could vote. They resolved to attend one of the suffragist meetings at the home of Alice B. Harris, the local chapter president of the Women's Suffrage Association.
When they arrived, Alice was discussing how to influence undecided members of the Pennsylvania legislature to ratify the 19th Amendment, giving votes to women. Alice asked Frances what she thought and she started to open up, when Elizabeth interrupted the meeting. Elizabeth and her husband were vehemently opposed to the suffragettes as the women's movement supported Prohibition, which was a threat to Ambrose's brewing business. Elizabeth insisted that Frances and Phil leave at once, threatening to fire Phil when Frances objected.
Phil's association with the suffragettes would come to a quick end after this. Her husband threatened to divorce her and take her to court. Juries were all-male at the time and when they heard Phil was a suffragette, she would lose her daughter. With no other choice, Phil told the Stones what she knew. Frances, Alice, and the other suffragettes were arrested on trumped-up charges soon after.
After Ambrose bailed Frances out, she angrily confronted Phil over her betrayal. Phil explained why she had done what she'd done and the two friends reconciled. Frances resolved to go back to the jail and get Alice and the others released. Though Phil offered to join her, Frances insisted that Audrey needed her more. Unfortunately, Frances never got the chance; shortly thereafter, she was killed in a fall from the second story of the house. Her killer's identity would remain a mystery.
On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified and women gained the right to vote. As the Stones had feared, Prohibition laws were passed not long after, and their brewing business was ruined. Phil and the rest of the servants had to be laid off.
Decades later in 2007, Frances' great-great-niece Emma Stone convinced Detective Lilly Rush to reopen Frances' case after discovering a letter from Frances to Phil about their "secret passion" regarding the suffragette movement. Phil had long since passed away by this point, but her daughter Audrey was still living and told the detectives what she knew about her mother and Frances, eventually giving them the clue to solve Frances' murder.