The San Francisco call., 1907-06-22
Lmforth Strives to Aid
the Defense Of Haywood
Judgment Against Company
for $4,000 at Stake in
Deposition Taking

For the purpose of securing evidence
that might impeach the testimony OF
Harry Orchard. the confessed murderer
of Ex-Governor Steunenberg of Idaho,
who has been the states chief witness
in the. prosecution of William D. Hay
wood, dispositions of witnesses who
could tell of the blowing up of the
house of F. w. Bradley at 1404 Wash
ington street, in November, 1904, were
taken in the Office of Samuel M Short
ridge yesterday. Bradley, for whom
Orchard says he laid bomb at the
instigation of the inner circle" was
the chief witness, and his testimony
was substantially the same as that
given by him shortly after the wreck
ing of the house. when the owner,
Albert w. Linforth, sued the gas COM
pany, alleging that the gas pipes had
been defective. and recovered $4,000
for damages caused by the explosion.
Two other witnesses were called, Tracy
Cummings and ]. B. Reilly, neighbors-
of Bradley.
The dispositions are being taken at
the request of the defense in the Hay
wood trial, and it is represented here
by Attorney Fred Miller of Spokane.
The, examination, however, was con-
Quoted yesterday by Shortridge, VINO
is Linforth's attorney in the gas COM
pany suit. Linforth sat close by Short
ridge, prompting him in all his ques-
tions and showing the greatest famili-
arity with the facts. Linforth is great
ly interested in the outcome of the
present investigation, for If Orchards
testimony is not refuted the supreme
court may set aside the $4,000 Judg-
ment.
The owner of the house won his suit
before Harry Orchard had told of blow
ing it up. The gas company moved
for new trial after Orchard confessed,
but Judge Graham denied it, whereupon
the corporation appealed to the su-
preme court, where the case is still
pending.
GAS COMPANY AIDS STATE
The gas company is represented at
the taking of the depositions by w. S.
Burnett, and he is assisting O. M. Van
Duyn, prosecution attorney of Ada
county, Idaho.
Bradley retold graphically yesterday
the story of his terrible experience
when in the early morning he opened
the front door Of his home and the
next moment found himself blind and
helpless in the street. He followed the
testimony that he had given in the
gas company trial. and the trend of 1T
led to the conclusion that leak in
the pipes was to blame. On cross ex-
animation he varied only so far from
doubt.
The mining man said that he was
coming down from his third floor fiat
at 740 o'clock on the morning of Mo-
vember II, 1904, with lighted cigar
in his mouth and that as he pulled
open his front door a tremendous ex-
pIosion occurred, first throwing him to
the floor and then hurting him through
a window into the street 80 feet away.
The moment of the explosion, Bradley
testified, there was a fash of light at
the end of his cigar, which led him 70
believe even as he was felled, that it
was an explosion of gas. His wife
had made a complaint about a leakage.
Bradley testified yesterday for the
first time that he had not smelled gas
in the hall that morning, as he had
for several mornings previous. This
fact was not brought out in the gas
company suit. and was the most i'm
portant point gained by Van Duyn in
his cross examination. The witness
also added to his previous deposition
by saying that he believed that the
explosion might have been caused by
a bomb placed outside the door.
In answer to a question regarding
the milk which Orchard claims to have
poisoned, and which Bradley did not
allow his family to use on account of
it's bitter taste, the witness remarked
that if Orchard had made his confession
before the Linforth suit was tried he
might have qualified some of his former
expressions.
Shortridge brought out that Bradley
was in the habit of travelling in the
mountains, where he could readily have
been killed and where the murderer
could easily have escaped. The attor-
ney was following the course of<the
defense in Boise, the effort being to
show that Orchards story was not
plausible because of the unnecessary
risk he had taken in perpetrating such
a crime in a thickly settled community
Bradley explained that he was presi-
dent of the company which owned the
Bunker Hill mine in the Occur d'Alenes,