I want to say to this jury that
before Harry Orchard got religion
he was bad enough,
but it remained to religion
to make him totally depraved.
-Clarence Darrow
Hellraisers Journal, Monday March 23, 1908
Caldwell, Idaho – Judge Wood “Positively Believes Orchard”
From the Boise Idaho Daily Statesman of March 19, 1908:
ORCHARD IS SENTENCED TO BE HANGED
ON FRIDAY, MAY 15“I am more than satisfied that the defendant now at the bar of this court awaiting final sentence has not only acted in good faith in making the disclosures that he did, but that he also testified fully and fairly to the whole truth, withholding nothing that was material, and declaring nothing which had not actually taken place.”-From Judge Wood’s Address.
JUDGE WOOD MAKES RECOMMENDATION
THAT SENTENCE BE COMMUTED
—–
TALK BY JUDGE WOOD CAUSES SENSATION
—–
Positively Believes Orchard Told the
Truth Fully, Unreservedly.
—–
ORCHARD STANDS THE ORDEAL BRAVELY
—–Prisoner Makes Short Statement When Given Opportunity-Divine Providence, He Says, Only Power That Made It Possible for Him to Testify-Thanks All Who Have Been Connected With Him-Under Death Watch Now.
—–
—–
Orchard Hears Sentence.
Standing erect in the center of the Canyon county court room, which was packed with curious humanity, in the midst of a stillness only broken by the monotonous tones of Judge Wood as he pronounced the words of the death sentence, Harry Orchard yesterday morning was notified of the penalty the court was obliged to pronounce as punishment for his crime in the assassination of former Governor Frank Steunenberg.
Orchard stood motionless during the ordeal. His hands were clasped behind his back and his eyes never for a second left the face of the judge who performed his solemn duty. Perhaps his face was paler than usual; once his lips twitched, but these were the only signs of emotion.
The date set for the execution is Friday, May 15.
In pronouncing sentence Judge Wood recommended that the pardon board commute the sentence to life imprisonment.
Court Proceedings.
The court convened at 10:10 o’clock and it was not until an hour later that the sentence was pronounced, and in the interim Judge Wood sprang upon the spectators, the prisoner, the attorneys, one of the biggest sensations that has ever occurred in an Idaho court room. In a lengthy address, which is published in full elsewhere, Judge Wood went into a concise review of the case of Harry Orchard. He spoke of the man’s testimony and declared that he had every reason to believe that when Orchard was on the stand in the two murder trials in which he sat as judge [Haywood’s and Pettibone’s], Orchard told the truth in every particular, that he held nothing back.
Judge Wood declared that he had made close investigations and was thoroughly convinced that Orchard had never been promised any concessions, any immunity, for the part he took in testifying in the trials of the men he claimed induced him to kill Frank Steunenberg and to carry out other crimes. Judge Wood announced that of his own motion he had reviewed the law and authorities for the purpose of determining what, if any, legal or moral obligations the state owed to the defendant in this case on account of the course he had taken, not only in disclosing his own crime, but at the same time making a full disclosure of his associates therein…..
SOURCE & IMAGES
The Idaho Daily Statesman
(Boise, Idaho)
-Mar 19, 1908 page 1
https://www.genealogybank.com/
See also:
The Confessions and Autobiography of Harry Orchard
McClure Company, 1907
https://books.google.com/books?id=ORxNAAAAIAAJ
For Clarence Darrow on Orchard:
Darrow’s Speech in the Haywood Case
+ God and the Good Man: a Fable by E. B. Suthers
-Wayland’s Monthly of October 1907
(search: orchard)
Note: Fable by Suthers is at end of pamphlet.
https://books.google.com/books?id=DQEiAQAAMAAJ
The Many Faces of Harry Orchard
-from arrest in 1906 to 1954
http://idahoptv.org/productions/specials/trial/resources/manyfaces.cfm
Which Side Are You On – Billy Bragg