Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-08-13
A CHAPTER OF CRIME.
Murder, Suicide and Lynching-
"Guilty One Found"


"Guilty One Found"
Clarendon, Ark, Aug. 1.-Two hun
dred residents of this town visited the
county Jail, seized four negroes who were
implicated in the assassination of John
T. Orr on the night of July so, and
hanged them TO the tramway of the Hal
perm sawmill, which stands about LOO
yards in the rear of the Jail. The four
hanged were VIII Sanders the one who
fired the shot that killed Mr.. orr; Rilla
Weaver, the mother of Sanders and cook
In the Orr household; Dennis Record,
the "hoodoo" doctor and conjurer. who
tried to poison orr with boiled snake
heads. and Manse Castle. VINO Nolun-
toered to do the job and transferred it u
Sanders. Rachael Norris accused OF
being an accessory before the fact, and
Susie Jacobs. n colored woman, Access
sorry after the fact, have skipped out
and their Whereabouts are unknown t.
the officers. Had they been in Jail they
would have undoubtedly gone with the
rest.
Mrs. Orr, wife of the murdered man.
was in the corridor of the Jail when the
mob entered. She had taken poison
with suicidal intentions, and nr. l..
Il. Thomas. who was called to attend her
says she will die. The leaders of the
mob examined Mrs Orr critically, but
passed her. Many of the mob favored
taking her with the rest. Her death
seems to be but a matter of a few hours.
If she RECEIVERS it is stated that the mob
will hang her.
There is no doubt that the report that
Mrs. Orr would certainly die moved the
populace to the lynching. Three pre-
vious attempts had been made, and
each time the crowd dispersed on the
promise of the officers to rush the trial
without change of venue, or any de-
lay in the proceedings whatever. Only
the jailer and two deputies were at the
Jail, it being felt that the law would he
allowed to take its course. Mr.. MllWeG
made an earnest effort to prevent tha
mob from taking his prisoners, going So
far as to give out the statement that he
had % guards behind him and would
certainly order them to fire should an
attempt be made to enter the Jail. The
crowd hesitated a moment. parleyed IA
door Mr.. Milwec, seeing further re-
sistance would be useless, turned the
keys over and unlocked the combination
doors to the cells.
The cOlored citizens seemed to en-
dorse the lynchng, and many of them
are open in their expressions of salts
faction over the death Of Record, whose
arts of hoodoo and conjuring made him
an object of dread and fear to them.
After the arrest of Mrs. Orr and The
negroes, Mrs. Orr made confession
She admitted that she had said to her
cook that she wished her husband was
dead and that she would give 5000 To
anybody to kill him. But she 5. d
that this was uttered while in a fit of
anger and that she was innocent of
any criminal intention. Her husband
abused her, she said, and once he struck
her. and she being of high temper her
self, sometimes said things in anger
that she did not mean.
John Orr was several years ago Il
theatrical man. and in 1890 was manager
of a theatre in a small Wisconsin town.
There he met and married his wife.
The wedding was clandestine and the
brides parents were bitterly opposed to
it. They lived happily but a short time.
Both We're hot tempered and quarrcls
were frequent. A few years ago the
Orrs settled in Clarendon, where the
husband engaged in business. He pros
pered, and was considered wealthy at
the time of his death. A 3-year-old
do, hit tlo ice, <,ff l,o, ,pI
marriage, is left an orphan.
Mrs. Orr was admitted to the first
homes of the town, given a prominent
place in church work. and showed every
consideration generally accorded good
people. The people are sorry so fear
full a crime was enacted here and that
such violent measures We're adopted to
avenge it. but all are agreed that the
guilty have been found.
1t appears from letters received by
Mrs. Orr. in tho name of her cook, Rilla
Weaver, through whom all the CORE
spondcncc was conducted, that Mrs. Orr
and Rachel Morris We're to remain here
until Mr.. Orr's insurance money was
collected and then go to New York.
form theatrical company. Mrs. Orr
was also in correspondence with other
men. This letter came from Caldwell.
o.: Dear Lorlla: Enclosed you will
find Il picture of me as l was on the sec
ond day of August, 1898. Another mat
ter has been brought to my attention
since ! wrote you last, and that is that
our common pleas court convenes on
Sept ;, and hardly see how can get
away in the month of September. Per-
baps it would suit you to defer until
October. Let ne hear from you in the
matter. However, if you cannot de-
fer until October, / think can arrange
matters all right, but if it would be more
convenient for you to defer it until
October L could stay with you longer,
as ] would have all my court affairs at
tended to for the September term
Trusting that you will be pleased with
Ope's real kid mayor am. stIl yours,
Arthur q. Archer
This letter is accompanied by pho
tograph of the real kid mayor" en-
dorsed on the back, Arthur to I.orilla.'
1t must be understood that Lorlla is
the negro woman who cooked for the
Orrs. Apparently Mrs. Orr carried on
correspondence in Lorllas name.
Archer is the mayor of Caldwell and n
prominent member of the bar He is
about % years of age.
Struggle for First Place.
Cincinnati Auc 1--Thrcp ont nf fnIIr