[2] By 1868, he was working for the Western Union Telegraph office in Providence, where his skill caught the attention of Samuel Morse.

Phillips was the winner of several telegraphy contests; in one contest, he accurately transcribed more than 2,700 words in one hour, earning him a personal letter from Morse, along with a gift; the letter praised Phillips for his "dexterity" in the use of Morse code as well as his "faultless manner of recording" messages.

In the introduction to the 1907 edition of his book, "The Phillips Code: A Thoroughly Tested Method of Shorthand Arranged for Telegraphic Purposes.

And Contemplating the Rapid Transmission of Press Reports; Also Intended to be Used as an Easily Acquired Method for General Newspaper and Court Reporting," Phillips wrote, "Research suggests that at one time, commercial telegraphs and railroads had numerical codes that contained at least 100 groupings.

[8] Also during this time, in July 1876, Phillips released a work of humor and social commentary, under the pen name John Oakum.

[11] But during the early 1890s, what had been a business rivalry was deteriorating into charges and counter-charges, as the two wire services battled to keep or acquire clients.

The story of what ended up as a bitter legal battle is well told in the book The Nation's Newsbrokers: The Rush to Institution: From 1865 to 1920, by Richard Allen Schwarzlose (Northwestern University Press 1990) After working for the United Press, Phillips became president of the Columbia Graphophone Company, and resided in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

A controversy ensued after his death, when his relatives found he had left his secretary Frances Wood (who had also read to him and helped him stay up to date with the news) the sum of $100,000, making her the "sole legatee in his will".