The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-11-16
ASK PARDON. FOR
HARRY ORCHARD
Noted Men Plead for
Murderer of Former
Governor

Governor
BOISE, Idaho.-Pleas for the par
don of Harry Orchard, confessed
murderer Of former Governor Frank
Steunenberg, were made recently be-
fore the board of pardons by James
H. Hawley, Senator Frank R. Good
ing, James N. Sullivan and F. A..
Jeter.
None appeared before the board
to speak against a pardon, while the
former governor, who was chief
prosecutor at the Haywood-Petti-
bone, Meyer trial, the United States
senator, who was governor of Idaho
at the time of the murder and prose-
cution, the former chief justice and
the newly elected secretary Of state
and pardon board member, pleaded
for It.
Governor D. w. Davis, at the con-
clusion Of the three talks in
Orchards favor, announced that the
board would recess again until Mo-
vember q, when hearings on other
application for pardon would be had.
Some time before that date, he said,
action for or against the pardoning
of Orchard would be definitely
taken. No one appeared as attorney
for or personal representative Of
Orchard. No prayers for mercy, of
the kind so often made, was offered.
Sympathy for Orchard the man, was
even disclaimed; but, on the ground
that the state owes him a debt, un-
discharged, while he remains in
generated, the pardon was asked.
Service to State
The gist Of the argument pre-
sented by Governor Hawley and
emphasized in his own way by Sena-
tor Gooding, was that Orchards
confession opened the only way to
prosecute the higher-ups in the fed
Grafton of miners for their unbridled
sweep OF lawlessness; that this
prosecution freed the federation
from criminal control and restored
peace and order; and that for this
inestimable service leniency and
freedom to Orchard is long overdue.
1--WE wouldn't have dared to
prosecute Haywood and the others.
and couldn't have done So" declared
Governor Hawley. Terrorism, MUIR
der and other crimes would have
continued undated in the name of
unionism, even unto this day-who
knows?
Orchard, by his confession,
rendered a greater service to Idaho
than was ever given by any man
within her borders, and to the en-
tire northwest.
ut prevented the Western Fed
Grafton OF Miners from ever again
being controlled by such unscrupul-
GUS men, ridded it Of that criminal
element. From that time on there
has never been in any mining COM
munity any trouble of the kind. |
There have been strikes and riots,
Of course, but never such system
affixed crimes"
Is Plain Duty
Senator Gooding confirmed Gov
ernor Hawley's recital of the history
of the Steunenberg murder, and
trial and of Orchards remarkable
testimony. He was unsparing in his
of the crimes to which
Orchard confessed, but declared that
the criminal himself was of little
in the question at hand.
II do not underestimate the i'm
portance of this" he said. II recog-
nize there is a duty to perform now.
l know that people will criticize a
pardon severely and harshly, but I
don't care. Orchards service to
society in his confession was of the
highest kind.
by pardoning him you will serve
notice to all criminals that those
who turn states evidence may live
again. This is the common law of
England and even of Germany,
whose people were responsible for
20 many awful crimes in the world
war. 1t is the written law in New
York.
"By pardoning Orchard you will
only be doing what ought to have
been done long ago, and doing
positive for law, for So
,iety and for every home in
America"
Harry Orchard, who was sent
snced by Judge Wood in the district
court at Caldwell, Idaho, on March
l8, 1908, to be hanged on May Is of
hat year for the murder of Cover
nor Frank Steunenberg of Idaho,
was granted Communication to life i'm
prisonment on July of that same
year and since that time has been
held a prisoner in the Idaho state
penal institution.
The Orchard trial and the events
1t, together with the
reign of terror that spread especi-
lilly thruout the mining localities Of
Idaho and Colorado from 1892 to
1905, have been characterized as the
most notorious in the gold and silver
mining districts Of the two states.
These crimes were nearly always
during the frequent
strikes, any many people who were
to the unions claimed
hat the union sympathizers were
for the outrages. The
friends Of the union men claimed |
hat the crimes were committed by
agents employed by the enemies of