The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1907-07-05
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ORCHARDS STORY
Evidence introduced Tending
to Show VindicatOr Ex-
plOsiOn Was Accident
One of the Ncn-Union Miners EN-.
p'cyed at the Mine Tells Interest.
me Story Of the Tragedy
Further Testimony as to
Threats of Orchard.

Boise Idaho.-The attorneys for
William D. Haywood continue to cen.
ter their efforts on the discrcliting OF
Harry Orchard and the establishment
of their claim that Orchard killed
Frank Steunenberg in revenge for
the loss of his interests in the Her.
cules mine. On Friday they directly
attacked the Vindicator explosion
with the testimony of a witness that
made it appear accidental, rather
than criminal.
Thomas Wood, non-unionist, who
entered the indicator mine as a
timberman after the strike began
swore that the night before the ex
plosion he placed box containing
twenty-five pounds of giant powder at
the shaft of the eighth level. He saw
the powder the next morning shortly
after 10 o'clock, and a few minutes
later Superintendent Mccormick and
Foreman Beck came to the eighth
level. They remained but a short
time, and left to go to the sixth level
where they were killed. Wood swore
that when he reached the shaft,
twenty minutes later, the powder was
gone, and it is a reasonable inference
that Mccormick and Beck took it
with them
Wood testified that he had seen a
revolver Gin Beck's pocket, that the
fragments of only one revolver were
found on the sixth level, and that
the bodies of Mccormick and Beck
were blown apart, indicating that the
explosion had occurred between them.
Orchard had said that he fixed a re.
vOlver with wire attachment, SO
that when the safety-bar was raised
1t would send a bullet in the giant
powder he had placed One witness
for the state has sworn that he later
found wire attached to the safety
bar, but Wood, who was among the
first to reach the sixth level after the
explosion, said that he carefully ex-
amineds the safety-bar, and found
nothing attached to it. Wood gave
his testimony in a clear and forceful
manner, and told thrilling story of
the climb to safety of the men cut off
by the explosion below the sixth level.
William Easterly, who concluded
his testimony Friday morning, and D.
c. Copley who was called in the
afternoon. both swore that they heard
Orchard tell of the loss of the Her
cules mine and threaten to kill Steun.
enberg for it. On cross-examination
the state scored them both, and par.
ticularly Easterly, who received two
letters and one telephone message
from Orchard on the eve of the kill
ing of Steunenberg, for remaining
quiet when they knew crime might
be committed Easterly contended
that he did not know Steunenberg
lived in Caldwell, and explained that
although he knew Thomas Hogan
was Harry Orchard, he took no steps
after the crime, except
to consult counsel for the federation
because he was not an informer, and
Copley asserted that he did not take
Orchard seriously when they met in
San Francisco and he told him of the
Bradley crime.
There was further showing as to
the work of the bloodhounds at indie.
pendence station, which the defense
said went first to the house of a
deputy sheriff, and then down the
road that Orchard took on his flight
to Denver and on to Wyoming, and
denials and redenias from Easterly
and Copley of any form of miscon-
duct on the part of the members of
the Western Federation of Miners.