Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-06
ORCHARDS RECITAL
OF BLOODY CRIMES
Multi Murderer Admits Assassinations
and Declares He Was Paid
by Haywood

Amy union men In the mine?'
mo, sir. All the union men had been
called out. 1 asked Scholtz if he'd go with
me and blow up the powder. He said yes,
that we were justified"
Orchard went on to tell how he and
Scholtz tried to find the powder and set it
OFF, but they could not locate it and had
to come away without doing the trick
though they took couple Of shots at a
non-union man under the ground.
Story Of Two Murders.
"Was there any further trouble at the
Vindicator mine that year that you know
about?' insisted Mr.. Hawley.
Yes, Sir" said Orchard, and he went on
IN his even, celorless voice to tell the story
of the murder Of Mccormick and Beck
Davis and Sherman Parker he said,
asked me to fix up some scheme to set
bomb In the Vindicator or Findley mine so
that when the men went to work and
raised guard rail they would set it off,
We thought we were putting 1t on the
seventh level, SO the morning shift would
set 1t Off. We went home, expecting it
would go off that morning The next morn
ing w. F. Davis came to me and asked me
if we had fixed it. told him yes. He said
nothing unusual was going on at the mines
ana that the men were a work as usual
Did the explosion finally take place."
Yes. it did, but nobody was working on
the sixth level. where we placed it. so only
MccoTlnlck' the manager, and Beck, the
Shlft boss, got killed."
Did you inform Haywood and Meyer
about the killing of Mccormick and Beck p
Yes, SIR replied Orchard, simply, and
they said it was good job
Mr. Meyer gave me $50 and told me to
stay in Denver a few days. Mr. Haywood
asked me how much money I wanted and
l said / wanted $500 anyway 1 told him
Davis promised me $780, He said that was
all right, and not bit too much. and that
l could get more any time wanted it."
WAS an arrangement made for you to
do more work?" asked Mr.. Hawley.
yes, In general way" was the answer
told me that they might have something
else soon. They said they might need to
have some Of the soldiers killed or a mine
or power house blown up. They said 1t
couldn't come too fierce to suit them
Not Murder for Two Months.
Orchard said he made no further attempt
at violence for two months, as Haywood
told him to be quiet until after the trials
Of Davis and Parker, who had been ar
rested for, the Vindicator mine outrage.
Parker and Davis had told him that there
on the Florence and Cripple Creek railroad
on which the non-union miners usually
came to work in the mines. This was be-
fore the Vindicator outrage.
Parker told him they were going to wreck
the train that next morning. He said that
they had to kill some of the scabs before
the scabs killed them ran them out.
1t was planned to wreck the train on a
high curve near the Economic mill at 25O
am. 1t was hoped to kill many of the
non-union men who We're going to work in
the mines at Cripple Creek, but it began to
snow, and Parker said it was hard luck
but they would have to call it off, as they
could be tracked In the snow.
Wanted Peabody Murdered.
Orchard told how, after Meyer was ar
rested IN do l,a,
to the federation headquarters at Denver
and saw Haywood and Pettbone They
asked him If he could not make up some
scheme to assassinate Gov. Peabody.
who did the talking. Pettibone or Hay
wood, or both?"
They both did"
Was there any conversation held in re-
gard to the assassination of Gov. Peabody
at this timer"
Yes, sir They told me where he lived,
and they wanted me to go up around there
and see if I could not get acquainted with
chances would be to assassinate him"
LAS the result Of that conversation what,
if anything, did you do?'
Il went up around Peabodys residence
and the capitol building, and watched to
learn his habits for about week. He lived
on Grand avenue"
Killing Of Lyle Gregory.
Orchard then told Of the killing of Lyle
Gregory.
"Pettibone talked to me first about it.
He said he had been detective In the
mine owners employ and had been very
active at Idaho Springs with the troubles
there and had beer down to the southern
coal fields as a deputy during the United
Mine Workers strike and that he was in
a saloon there drunk then and that 1t
would be a good thing to make an exam
pie out of some of them deputies. He told
1t to me and to Steve Adams He said a
man by the name of Meldrum-as 1 UNDER
stand, he was man that belonged to the
federation from Idaho Springs, and he said
he had met Gregory that morning: that he
come up from the southern coal fields and
met Gregory and Gregory was drunk
They said 1t would be good thing to put
him out of the way, and Jem Murphy from
Butte spoke up and said 1t would be
good thing, and they agreed that it would
and | met him when he came back on the
street AMI Adams was with me and wanted
to know if I wanted to go out and help
him.
adams told us where he was in a saloon
over on Curtis street, and Pettibone,
Adams and / went over there. 1t was just
at night, before dark. We went into the
saloon and saw him and Gregory and Mel
know, talking in the back part of the
saloon. Meldrum and this other man and
Gregory came out of the saloon and got on
a car.
we went out can't tell the street 1t was,
but it was in south Denver, I think near
Santa Fee avenue, and we followed them to
a saloon. Presently Gregory came out of
the saloon and walked down the street fol-
lowed by Adams and Orchard.
He turned around and backed up to the
sidewalk and reached as If he was getting
a gun. and when he did SO l shot him
three times with the shotgun"
Did it kill him?' Yes, sir; 1 believe 1t
did"
The Bradley Affair.
In minute detail Orchard described the
manufacture of bombs which he used in
his work. similar to the one used in the
murder of Governor Steunenberg He told
how he set the bomb which wrecked the
home of Mr.. Bradley in San Francisco.
The court investigation in that case showed
the explosion was caused by escaping gas,
and damages We're paid to the owner of
the building
Before he set the bomb in the Bradley
residence Orchard declared he tried to ac-
complish his mission by the use Of poison.
He purchased strychnine in a drug store
and placed it in bottle of milk on the
back porch of his intended victims home.
When this plan failed to work Orchard