Albert Horsley

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Albert Edward Horsley (b. 1867, Wooler, Ontario, Canada - d. 1954, Idaho) was a miner who was accused of the assassination of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg. Throughout his life he used many aliases including Harry Orchard, Thomas Hogan, Dempsey and Goglan.[1]

Orchard was a member of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). In 1897, Harry Orchard, along with August Paulsen, Harry Day, May Arkwright, butcher F. M. Rothrock, lawyer Henry F. Samuels and C. H. Reeves, invested in the Hercules Mine in Idaho. A decade later, Orchard's ownership of a share in the mine would be used in an effort to impeach his testimony in a murder trial.

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[edit] Steunenberg murder

In 1905, Frank Steunenberg, ex-governor of Idaho, was killed by a bomb placed at the gate of his home. After midnight on the evening of Steunenberg's murder, Harry Orchard (as Tom Hogan) walked with Clinton Wood, the desk clerk at the hotel in Caldwell, to the site of the murder, now hours past. Although he didn't seem to know the way to the murder scene, Orchard expressed the belief that the governor had been given a "big wad" of money by Idaho mine owners after he had left office.[2] Such a view was common among miners, and was publicized by Emma Langdon, a union supporter and author, who wrote of an 1899 confrontation between miners and mine owners,

Frank Steunenberg was then serving his second term as governor. His first term being satisfactory as far as the writer knows. In 1899 he proved a willing tool of the mine owners and allowed outrages perpetrated which were a disgrace to any civilized community. It is significant that within one week after the decisive step, which showed him to be subservient to the mine owners, it is said, he deposited in the bank $35,000, yet up to this time he was considered a poor man.[3]

Orchard was later arrested for the assassination. He raised suspicion when a detective for the Mine Owners' Association recognized him as Orchard; he responded that his name was Hogan; and, it was discovered that he was registered at his hotel under the name of Goglan. When his room was searched, evidence related to the murder was discovered.[4]

[edit] The Haywood trial

Orchard made a confession to Pinkerton detective James McParland. Orchard also confessed to murdering at least sixteen other people. [5] He agreed to testify that the murder of Steunenberg was ordered by Bill Haywood, Charles Moyer and George Pettibone, all leaders of the WFM. Labor Historian Melvyn Dubofsky observed,

Idaho had selected [Haywood] as the first of the three defendants to stand trial. Prosecutors thought him the most vulnerable. His physical appearance [he was blind in one eye], his increasing resort to hyperbolic language, his recalcitrant behavior in prison (compared to the more co-operative demeanor of Moyer and Pettibone) made Haywood more likely to be associated with conspiracy and murder in the minds of the jurors. This was especially important to the prosecution because McParland had been absolutely unable to find corroboration for Orchard's confession.[6]

The prosecution acted with significant support and direction from Agent McParland, and with assistance from Governor Gooding. Chief prosecuting attorneys were William Borah and James H. Hawley, who were paid in part by money secretly supplied by western mine operators and industrialists.[7] Orchard's testimony was persuasive, at least to reporters attending the trial.[8] Meanwhile, McParland arranged for Orchard's confession, which he had worked on for fifteen months, to be serialized in a magazine to "reach the largest possible public."[9]

The defense argued that Orchard had his own, personal motive for murdering Steunenberg. As the result of a violent incident during a labor struggle in Coeur d'Alene, Steunenberg had ordered severe measures against the unionized miners, including a declaration of martial law. Defense attorneys Clarence Darrow and Edmund F. Richardson argued that if Orchard hadn't been forced to sell his one-sixteenth share of the mine because of the martial law decree, he would have become wealthy. Orchard had denied the accusation. The Haywood defense team produced five witnesses from three states who testified that Orchard had told them about his anger at Steunenberg. Several of them stated that Orchard had vowed to seek revenge against the former Idaho governor.[10] However, the prosecution presented evidence that Orchard had sold his share of the mine before the labor troubles began.[11]

The defense presented evidence of extensive infiltration, spying, and sabotage of the WFM by the Pinkertons. One witness was Morris Friedman, James McParland's former stenographer. Haywood testified in his own defense, and he stood up well under five hours of cross-examination. Then the defense presented what they claimed was "startling new evidence" about insanity in Orchard's family, including a grandfather who needed to be "chained up" and an uncle who went insane. Orchard admitted that one of his uncles was "demented" over family problems and had hanged himself, but testified to knowing nothing about his maternal grandfather, who had died before Harry Orchard was born.[12]

[edit] Harry Orchard's history

Harry Orchard was a complex individual who apparently had sought opportunity working for both sides in labor disputes. Orchard confessed to playing a violent, and ultimately, decisive, role in the Colorado Labor Wars. During the Haywood trial Orchard confessed to serving as a paid informant for the Mine Owners Association.[13] He reportedly told a companion, G.L. Brokaw, that he had been a Pinkerton employee for some time.[14] He was also a bigamist, and admitted to abandoning wives in Canada and Cripple Creek. He had burned businesses for the insurance money in Cripple Creek and Canada.[15] Orchard had burglarized a railroad depot, rifled a cash register, stole sheep, and had made plans to kidnap children over a debt. He also sold fraudulent insurance policies.[16] Orchard's confession to McParland took responsibility for seventeen or more murders.[17]

Orchard also tried to help McParland build a case by implicating one of his fellow miners from the WFM, Steve Adams, as an accomplice. The effort failed, but it revealed interesting details about the methods McParland used to induce defendants to turn state's evidence.

[edit] Results of all the trials

In the Bill Haywood trial, labor historian Melvyn Dubofsky observed that,

Even before Darrow's closing argument, the prosecution was in trouble. Having relied totally on Orchard's testimony, the state found it too good by half. Orchard confessed to crimes that he could never have committed.[18]

The state of Idaho had provided Orchard with "a library of religious tracts,"[19] which may have influenced his announced conversion to religious belief. In The Pinkerton Story, a 1951 book that is very sympathetic to the Pinkerton Agency, the authors state their belief that the leaders of the WFM may have been guilty, but,

...the prosecution let Orchard get away from the facts and his testimony turned into a syrupy story of repentance, religion, and God's mercy to sinners, which had the effect of turning everyone's stomach.[20]

The Idaho jury found Haywood not guilty. One juror told a reporter,

There was nothing against the accused but inference and suspicion.[21]

Pettibone was found not guilty in a separate trial, after the defense declined to argue the case.[22] Charges against Moyer were dropped.

Steve Adams was tried in three separate trials, resulting in two hung juries in Idaho, and an acquittal in Colorado.[23] After all the others were acquitted or released, Orchard was tried alone. He received a death sentence in Idaho for the murder of Steunenberg. McParland invoked religious symbolism in a letter to Governor Gooding, arguing against executing Orchard:

I have seen many penitent sinners who were fully prepared to die, but all such would have much rather lived if that were possible. Even the Saviour of Mankind, as the Holy Writ informs us, requested of the Father in Heaven that if in His Wisdom He could do so the cup, the crucifixion, should be passed away...[24]

Orchard's sentence was commuted to life in prison.[25] When the question of pardon came up in 1920, William A. Pinkerton wrote,

I know McParland was in favor of Orchard being pardoned but I always regarded Orchard as a cold-blooded desperado and murderer and the only reason he gave information was to save his own worthless hide...[26]

Pardon was eventually granted, but Orchard chose to continue his life at the prison. Orchard died in prison in 1954.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Pinkerton Story, James D. Horan and Howard Swiggett, 1951, page 291.
  2. ^ J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 1997, page 67.
  3. ^ Emma F. Langdon, Labor's Greatest Conflicts, 1908, page 17.
  4. ^ The Pinkerton Story, James D. Horan and Howard Swiggett, 1951, page 294.
  5. ^ Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 90.
  6. ^ Melvyn Dubofsky, 'Big Bill' Haywood, 1987, page 47.
  7. ^ Big Trouble, J. Anthony Lukas, 1997, pages 350-372.
  8. ^ Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 116.
  9. ^ Big Trouble, J. Anthony Lukas, 1997, page 643.
  10. ^ Roughneck-- The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, page 125.
  11. ^ J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 1997, page 705.
  12. ^ J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 1997, pages 687-700.
  13. ^ Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 119.
  14. ^ All That Glitters — Class, Conflict, and Community in Cripple Creek, Elizabeth Jameson, 1998, page 228, from Dubofsky, We Shall Be All, page 98.
  15. ^ Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 118.
  16. ^ Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 119.
  17. ^ Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 92.
  18. ^ Melvyn Dubofsky, 'Big Bill' Haywood, 1987, page 48.
  19. ^ Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 92.
  20. ^ The Pinkerton Story, James D. Horan and Howard Swiggett, 1951, page 306.
  21. ^ Melvyn Dubofsky, 'Big Bill' Haywood, 1987, page 49.
  22. ^ The Pinkerton Story, James D. Horan and Howard Swiggett, 1951, page 306.
  23. ^ Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 141.
  24. ^ The Pinkerton Story, James D. Horan and Howard Swiggett, 1951, page 307-308.
  25. ^ Roughneck-- The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, page 140.
  26. ^ The Pinkerton Story, James D. Horan and Howard Swiggett, 1951, page 308.

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