Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1907-07-12
{, R,MOYER on STAND
egpERArloN LEADER pGNlEs ALL
CRIME cHARoEo.
MAKES a GOOD WITNESS
Exo,a,n, Plauslbly How the Mlnsrs'
Organization Appeared % os-
fender Of Harry
Orchard.

Boise. Idaho. Charles II. Meyer
vent On the stand Wednesday, = Wit
ness for his fellow defendant, VIII.
liam D. Haywood. and, besides
making positive denial OF all the
crimes attributed to him and the other
federation leaders by Harry Orchard,
offered an explanation of the unsolic.
tied appearance Of the Western Fed
Grafton OF Miners as the defender of
Harry Orchard Immediately after his
arrest at Caldwell for the murder Of
Steunenberg
Mover swore that 1t was Jack simp-
kins who engaged Attorney Fred Mil
Ter at Spokane to go to Caldwell 70
represent Orchard. then known as
Thomas Hogan, and that 1t was at the
request Of Simpkins that the witness
and Haywood subsequently advanced
81 500 from the funds of the fedora
lion to meet the expense Of defending
Orchard. At various stages OF the re-
cital the defense offered In evidence
a number OF documents, including q
heretofore undisclosed cipher tele-
gram which simpkins sent to fedora
tion headquarters and the union at
Silver City, Idaho, covering the moves
to protect the federation. which was
charged with the crime within . few
days after 1t occurred.
simpkins' Cipher Message.
Meyer began by saying that he got
his first knowledge Of the crime from
the Denver newspapers and that on
the evening of January 4, five days
after the crime, telegram in the
Federation's cipher-a code In which
certain numerals represented the
alphabet and published In the ritual
OF the organization, was used to
transmit the password to local unions
came to Haywood from Spokane. II
was long and the translation was diff
ficult and uncertain, but he and Hay.
wood figured the next day that it was
signed by Simpkins and read: Can.
not get a lawyer to defend Hogan.
Answer"
Meyer testified that he was suspi,
cious about the message. the newspa
pers having already charged the crime
up to the Federation, and that he de.
cided to consult John Murphy, gen,
eral counsel for the Federation, before
he took any steps.
Correspondence 10 Produced.
Meyer said he left for Chicago that
afternoon, but that Haywood took the
matter up and opened communication
with the union at Silver City and
made arrangements to engage Attor
ney John Nugent to look after the in
terest of the Federation and defend
Orchard II necessary. The defense
produced copies OF this correspond
ence and all Of it was read into tbs
record. Is ass
No.Hostiiity TO stsunenbero.
Meyer denied that he had ever dis
cussed any Kind OF criminal act with
Orchard or anyone else. or that he
had ever given him cent for ex.
penses on the trip Orchard made to
Ouray as bodyguard for him. He
said that he had no personal feeling
of hostility for Steunenberg and there
were no circumstances that would
make him desire the life of John
Neville, whom Orchard testified Moy-
or wanted killed.
Meyer made a self-possessed wit
ness and at the end Of the long day
the defense expressed satisfaction
over both his testimony and the prob
able impression he made on the ;ur'
orL.