Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1906-02-23
CONFESSION
OF ORCHARD
Head Officers Of the Western Fedora.
ton Of Miners Involved in Horri.
BILE Murder Of Steunenberg.
PRESIDENT MOVER ARRESTED
Secretary Haywood is Also Placed in
JaiI-Murders During Cripple
Crek Strike.

Denver Feb Capitalization was
made here today of the complaints on
which Governor Gooding, of Idaho,
based his requisition for Chas. p.
Meyer, president, and VIM. d. Hay
wood, secretary-treasurer of the West
ern Federation of Miners, and G. A.
Pettibone, former member of the
executive board of that labor organic
ton.
From these it appears that the men,
who were secretly arrested here Sat.
urday night and hurriedly removed to
Idaho, were charged directly with the
murder of former Governor Frank
Steunenberg, of Idaho, and not mere
ly With being accessories to the crime.
The complaints and acquisitions in the
three cases are identical and charge
the accused men with having discharg-
ed the bomb by means of which Steun-
enberg was killed at Caldwell, Idaho,
December 80, 1905.
The specific charge OF murder was
made, it is explained, in order to fore
stall habeas corpus proceedings on
behalf Of the accused men. but no at
tempt was made to prove that they
were in Idaho at the time of the COM
mission of the crime. 1t is alleged
however, that they conspired with 9th
ers to murder Steunenberg and fur.
nished funds to carry out the plot.
The atrocious murders committed
during the labor troubles in the Grip
rNn Nh. -
this state which have been shrouded
in mystery, the earlier Occur d'Alene
murders and the more recent Steun-
enbery assassination form chain of
crimes with which efforts are being
made to connect the officers of the
Western Federation of Miners on Il
confession said to have been made
by Harry Orchard, who is charged
with the Steunenberg murder
This confession, it is asserted, dis
closed plot to kill former Governor
James H Peabody of Colorado. Will
liam H. Colbert chief justice of the
Colorado supreme court, and John
Campbell, former chief Justice.
Orchard is said to have confessed
that wholesale assassinations We're
planned at the headquarters of the
Western Federation of Miners in Den
yer, chiefly by refugees from the
camps at Cripple Creek and Telluride
1t is also said that Orchards confes.
sion gievs a history of the explosion
at the Independence depot, near Grip
pie Creek, on June 6, 1904. which kill
ed IA men and injured many others
Governor Mcdonald. who issued the
necessary papers for the eXtradition
OF the federation officials to idaho
said today that he had read a COPY
of Orchards confession, but was not
at liberty to divulge its contents.
James MCFARLAND, head of a detec
tive agency which was employed by
the Idaho authorities in the Steunen
berg case, declared that the evidence
against the men who have so far been
arrested is very strong and that more
arrests are yet to be made. He would
not state the nature of his evidence
nor how it was obtained
The operations of the Mollie Ma.
CURES in Pennsylvania, whom | ran
to earth and disrupted, said Mr. Nc.
Parland. were chitdrens play com
pared with the work of the Mover.
Haywood crowd. They have existed
for eighteen years, but their days are
numbered"
Vincent ST. John, who was arrested
in Burke, Idaho, last night was presi-
dent OF the Miners union at Tellur-
ide, Colo, at the time of the assassi-
nation of Arthur Collins superintenl-
ent of the Smuggler- Union mine in
That camp. He was arrested and
charged with completely in that muir
der, but was never brought to trial.
1t developed that Orchards confess
sion, according to the best authority.
stated that bombs had been placed in
the Sateways of the residences of two
members of the Colorado supreme
court and that more than a dozen at
tempts had been made to assasinate
former Governor James II. Peabody
An investigation since the alleged
confession was made disclosed the
presence of bombs in exactly the spots
indicated.
The man who unearthed the bombs,
a prominent member of the Colorado
national guard, is now in Idaho, hav
ing accompanied the party that re
turned with Meyer. Haywood and Pet
tibone. He will appear as a witness
in the Orchard trial. it is said to prove
the truth of the alleged confession
The Confession of Orchard,