The Colorado statesman., 1908-03-21
HARRY ORCHARD SENTENCED.
Judge Believes His Testimony and
Recommends Clemency.


lieved that Harry Orchard, in his testi-
mony in the trials of William d. Hay
wood and George A. Pettibone for the
murder of ex-Gov. Frank Steunenberg,
told the exact truth, attempting to con-
ceal nothing, Judge Fremont Wood, in
the District Court Wednesday recon-
mended that the State Board of Par
dons commute Orchards sentence to
death to Imprisonment in the State
Penitentiary.
Judge Wood closed his remarkable
statement by saying that the prosecu-
tions were not ended and that even II
governors, judges and prosecutors were
murdered, others would take their
places and mete- out justice to the
guilty.
The sentence of death was pro-
nounced in accordance with the plea
of guilty entered by Orchard Tuesday
of last week, when arraigned. Judge
Wood presided at both the Haywood
and Pettibone trials.
Orchard thanked the judge for his
| kind words, declared anew that he had
not been promised immunity and burst
into tears.
In sentencing Orchard and recon-
mending the Communication of his SEN
tence, Judge Wood reviewed the case
from the time of the killing of Frank
Steunenberg to the present, including
the arrest of Orchard, his confession,
the arrest of Charles e. Meyer, presi-
dent of the Western Federation OF
Miners; William d. Haywood, secre-
| tary-treasurer of the federation, and
George A. Pettibone, the trials of Hay
wood and Pettibone and the plea OF
guilty entered by Orchard to the charge
of murder in the first degree, the pun
ishment for which, under the Idaho
statutes, is death.
In regard to the part of Orchard in
the trials, Judge Wood said:
81 am more than satisfied that the
defendant now at the bar of this
court awaiting final sentence has not
only acted in good faith in making the
disclosures that he did, but that he
also testified fully and fairly to the
whole truth, Withholding nothing that
was material, and declaring nothing
which had not actually taken place.
ut was the particular province of the
court to observe and follow this wit
ness upon the former trials, and | am
of the opinion that no man living could
conceive the stories of crime told by
the witness and maintain himself un-
der the merciless fire of the leading
cross-examination attorneys of the
country unless upon the theory that
he was testifying to facts and circum-
stances which had an actual existence
within his own experiences. A child
can testify truly and maintain itself
on cross-eXamination. A man may be
able to frame his story and testify to
brief statement of facts involving
short single transaction.
But | cannot conceive of case
where even the greatest intellect can
conceive a story of crime covering
years of duration, with constantly
shifting scenes and changing charac-
ters, and maintain that story with cir
cumstantial detail as to times, places,
persons and particular circumstances,
and under as merciless a cross-eXam-
ination as was ever given witness in
an American court, unless the witness
thus testifying was speaking truthfully
and without any attempt either to mis-
represent or conceal.
"The recommendation of the court to
the pardon board is that the sentence
of the court about to be imposed upon
this defendant be commuted and that
the death penalty be remitted.
Judge Wood referred to the crimes of
arson aE.d murder in 1899 which cul-
minated in the blowing up of the
Bunker Hill and Sullivan concentrator
and the death of two men and to the
fact that although 1000 men were in
volved, only one man was identified
and punished thereafter in the state
courts.
Orchard and Dewey, who at the
time was a miner in the Coeur
d'Alenes, are the only two men of the
large number concerned" said Judge
Wood, who have had the courage or
disposition to disclose the truth with
reference to the crimes then COM
mitted
This defendant" continued Judge
Wood "also testified to a long series
of most atrocous crimes committed
by himself and others in the state of
| Colorado, and he was corroborated in
| such details in relation thereto that
| there can be no doubt about his par
| ticipation therein.
while these offenses were commit
ted in the state of Colorado, this state,
/ think, under the circumstances, is
under some obligation to withhold the
execution of the only person who has
voluntarily and freely disclosed these
transactions.
''It is impossible to believe that
such n series of crimes can be COM
mitted. with many persons connected
Herewith, without one or more of said
parties sooner or later yielding to the
remorse of conscience and joining this
defendant in confirmation of the dis
closures which he has already made"
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