The state herald., 1907-06-21
WHAT IS PROVEN?.
ONE CORRESPONDENT SAYS Or
cHARp PROVED NOTHING.
wARRING FOR A HUMAN SOUL
The Vivid colorino Of Saul in Awful
Travail Shown in Orchards
Confession.


Orchard has gone, and now we know
that we have not been dreaming.
Orchard has come and Orchard has
gone, and since his going we have
been building in grain by grain. atom
by atom, as coral insects build in the
southern seas, the white walls OF fact
which are to fill in the steel frame OF
evidence his incredible story riveted
beam to beam to breastwork.
Orchard has come and Orchard has
gone, and he went as he came that
breathless morning week ago,
small, short, thick.set, inscrutable man
In a gray tweed suit, looking right be-
fore him with fathomless, fearless,
wide.set eyes, believing, as he said, in
the Everlasting God, and thinking. also
as he said, that life here might be sold
well and cheaply If 1t brought indem-
nifty throughout eternity.
He told his tale to Hawley, briefly
and without gestures. and 1t drained
into our ears as dream might; a
dream of prodigious inhuman impossi-
bility. He told his tale again to Rich
ardson, the ponderous and patient and
particular Richardson, and 10! 1t was
a dream no more, but biting. vivid,
poignant story of fathomless sin and
black murder; and we knew that We,
were watching the first fires of hell.
Defense Was skeptieal.
Before Orchard came the defense
told us that he never would say on the
stand what he had said to Mcfarland.
He was mad, they said, or half mad.
or diseased. They doubted whether he
had ever killed Steunenberg. They de-
MED that he has ever even tried to kill
Bradley in San Francisco. They went
further and said that he had never
even been in San Francisco.
They laughed at the story that he
had ever blown up the Independence
depot.
They did not know he was going to
charge himself with the murder Of
Lyte Gregory. They sneered at the
attempted assassination OF Goddard
and Gabbert and Peabody and Sherman
Bell.
They said he was degenerate. a
craven, covering fugitive. with no
heart for any fight and no faith in any
God.
They predicted immediate and final
annihilation Of Mcfarland. They said
Mcfarland had grown old and foolish.
gibbering OF vain things. mouthing OF
his past.
They were prepared to sweep away
the whole case Of the state in less than
twenty-four hours. They were pre-
pared to prove that the whole thing
was n foolish and vain and wicked con-
spiracy. They were prepared for any
thing. They were prepared for every
thing.
But they were not prepared for Or.
chard, the man who said he believed
in " life alter death and wanted to
make his peace with God and wanted
TO tell the truth. He was for them n
problem In the fourth dimension, and
they left him quite unsolved. And so
did we.
He admitted arson: he admitted big
amy: he admitted murder: he admitted
burglary. he admitted assassinhtions
attempted and assassinations accom-
plished: he admitted lying; he admit
ted poisoning. he was vague as to thc>
mere dates Of his offending. but scrupu-
lous to point as to the yerblage OF his
confession. He eyaded no crime
charged against him. He charged him
He made not one solitary statement in
his evidence In chief that was smirched
In the least by the labored cross-exam-
ination OF Richardson. and the story OF
his last wanderlngs before he did his
last killing had some touch OF final
human tragedy In Il: the passing cry
OF a human soul.
Richardson drew II from him -clums.
lily. drip by drip. word by word. episode
by episode. But II seemed somehow
to eclipse the court room and darken
the world. and left only the vague.
moving picture Of two shadows trail.
ing each other OBVIOUSLY through the
night. until In the end one smote and
the other fell and was left writhing.
and Orchard sat In that chair again
answering monoionousiy, Yes, SIR"
or mo. sir. ! did not say that exactly.
What said WAS" II was all out OF
focus. unbelievable. And the man had
admitted again and again that he was
u liar.
II was wonderfully graphic. dra.
matte. blood freezing. n story 10 listen
10 with parted lips. breathlcss.
And yet II wasn't evidence.
Il proved nothing: II did not even
prove that Orchard killed Stouncnborp.
Not even that There has been evi.
dcncc that n bomb killed him. but
thorc has been no oyidoncc-not at all
that Orchard even placed that bomb:
no evidence other than Orchards own
statement.
II has been the same with the blow.
Ing mp of the vindien,or mine. and the
blowin. up Of the Independence depot.
, and the killing Of Lytc Gregory. and
the attempt ON the life Of Bradley. So
Tar We have come nearer TO bringing
the Bradley ahnir home TO Orchard
than amy OF the others. II IL n prcg.
nHnt situation. And II must be- remom.
bercd that Orchard ID not ON trial here.
II II william d, Haywood. And against
Haywood 80 far no evidence has been
produced that amy System OF juriapru.
dence VIII accept m connecting him
with the Stcunenbef. murder. II would
be taken ~ eyidenc. 81 no Law. fto.