Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-25
THE TRINITY MURDER.
Confession of George +. Orr, One of the
Chilly partias


Guilty Parties.
Following is the confession of Orr, one
of the men arrested for the recent murder
of Erickson:
have resident in Humboldt and Trinity
counties for the past four years. l first met
George III. kuntz on the 22d day of Febru-
airy, 1886, at dance at Duncan's in Hetten
Chow valley. Kuntz invited me to visit
his place, and l met him there last June.
Kuntz was not at home when got there,
and waited three or four days until he re-
turned. We went out on a hunting trip,
and then Kuntz told me his hired man was
going to quit. l asked him for the job, and
he told me to come and try it awhile. l
brought my wife to the ranch after a time.
During this time Kuntz limited points to-
ward Erickson continually. About three
weeks after my arrival there, Kuntz said
| that man could get $500 or more to kill
Erickson. l asked him if man did kill
Erickson would he get the money. kuntz
answered yes. / said that if caught man
would have to spend $500 to clear himself.
Kuntz said he would spend $500 to keep
him out of jail. In July, during the trial
of Erickson, Kuntz talked more freely
| about disposing of Erickson. On July
4th 1 told him l would get away with
L
it nicely and mapped out every
thing clear to me- and said that
| there was party who would give me
| $500 or more. He would not tell me who
the party was. Kuntz was to stand by me.
/ told my wife about it. She was very de-
cisiye in her mo" About the middle of
August Kuntz went to Weayerville to at
| tend the Erickson trial. While he was alb
sent | went to Hettenchow 10 get a girl,
but did not get one. Ny wife told me
| Kuntz was mad because | took house.
| told her he could 60 to HI. l had the
blues and intended to quit. | told Kuntz |
was going to quit, and he told me he would
give me $50 per month for the time l was
with him if | could stay. Continuing, he
said if somebody got away with Erickson
he would get the $500 for me-that is, pro-
viding | did not blow on him. l said /
would stay. He enjoined me to say moth
ing to my wife. On Monday, September
| 9th, | went to Trogden's. While passing
Erickson's saw him and his men packing
up the train. / went inside the corral and
| spoke to the men, and went as far as frog
| den's with the train. When l returned l
| told Kuntz Erickson's pack train had gone
up Mad river. On Tuesday morning, the
| day Erickson was killed, Kuntz and | got
up early and started up the Van Duzen
| river hunting.
When we got to the first cabin Kuntz got
off his horse and asked me for my boots l
gave them to him and took his shoes. He
said he wanted to go up the mountain and
start something, ard told me to work on q
| fence until his return. If anybody comes
along, tell them Kuntz has started some
| thing" Kuntz returned at o'clock, and
we exchanged boots. He said he had done
we'll | asked him what. He did not an
swer my question, but asked me how he
| looked. ] said he looked as though he had
shot bear. then asked him if he shot
| bear. NO." he said, L shot Erickson"
Kuntz then said that when he fired the first
shot Erickson threw up his head and hal
! loaed, and went but a short distance.
! Kuntz and l went home. When we rode
up to the house Johnnie Cottie and my
wife were there. Cottie said Erickson was
dead over there in the gulch. Come over
as quick as you can" who said Erick-
son was shot? ?" | asked. Cottie said no
one said so, but that he thought so. Kuntz
ate big supper After supper we went to
where the body was. On Tuesday night,
while in bed, said to Kuntz: Well,
Kuntz, you did it" He replied; When
pulled the trigger the buck fell" On We'd
nesday night Kuntz told me that he fired
three or four shots as a blind, to make peo-
pie believe it was bad shot who did the
work. On Thursday Erickson was buried.
kuntz attended the funeral. While in the
barn that night Kunjz told me to get away
with my boots, as Brown had the nail
marks. threw them away in the brush.
| The rifle Kuntz used was Winchester,
| forty-four caliber.
After Orr made this statement detective
Lawson engaged him to write notes to
Kuntz, but the latter let nothing escape him
that was convicting. There was plot to
have several of the witnesses pledge them
selves by swearing that Orr did the shooting.