Monday May 28, 1906
Report from Boise: Conclusion of Five Part Series by Jacob Waldeck

MINERS' OFFICIALS WERE
DECLARED GUILTY ON SIGHT
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ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, SAY THE DEFENSE, POINT
TO A CONSPIRACY TO RAILROAD MOYER,
HAYWOOD AND PETTIBONE TO THE GALLOWS-
CASE AGAINST THEM CHIEFLY BASED ON THE
WORD OF A GAMBLER, DEGENERATE AND
MURDERER-STRONG CLAIMS OF THE DEFENSE.
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(Note-This is the fifth and concluding article by Correspondent Waldeck, who investigated the great Idaho murder case for this newspaper [The Spokane Press].-Editor.)

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By Jacob Waldeck.

BOISE, Idaho. May 21.-The defense of the miners' union officials charged with the murder of ex-Gov. Steunenberg, is in strong hands. It is a cheerful, forceful defense.

Attorneys representing Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone are E. F. Richardson, of Denver, counsel for the Western Federation of Miners; J. H. [F.] Nugent, Silver City, Idaho, prosecuting attorney of Awyhee-co [Owyhee County]; Fred Miller, a prominent attorney of Spokane, Wash.; and Clarence Darrow, Chicago.

The prisoners are sustained by the 100,000 members of their organization, by the great mass of organized workingmen in the country, by the Socialists in a solid body and by a considerable public sentiment that feels that it is not a case of fair play.

The fact that all the evidence has been gathered by the very agencies employed by the mineowners in their war with the federation, has not contributed to popular confidence in the prosecution. The extraordinary activity of public officials of all grades in co-operating with these agencies has given rise to doubt as to whether the prisoners have been protected in their rights.

As soon as Steunenberg was killed Governor Gooding charged the crime to the "lawless forces" of the Coeur D'Alenes and it was at once crystalized into a charge against the miners' federation.

Jas. McParland, the Pinkerton detective in charge of the police work, is quoted as having declared that Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone would not leave Idaho alive.

They were declared guilty on sight. To clinch it they were classed with the Molly Maguires and there was charged to be in the miners' federation a murderous inner circle of which the prisoners were the chief conspirators. There was no presumption of innocence, no possibility of innocence, apparently, in the minds of the prosecution.

Two governors, an adjutant general, Pinkerton detectives and a railroad company combined to get them from Colorado to Idaho without an opportunity to appeal to a court. They were arrested at night, held in secrecy and transported in a special train. This train was run through at full speed.

Counsel for the prisoners sought to have the extradition set aside. Their contention was based on a clause in the United States constitution that only a person who "flees from justice" may be extradited. They argued that the prisoners had not fled and that, as a matter of fact, they had been in Denver all the time. They cited the Hyatt case wherein the United States supreme court held that a man could not be extradited unless he was in the demanding state at the time the offense was committed.

This presentation was to the prosecution and the Idaho supreme court a mere bagatelle. In effect the prosecution said: "No matter how you were brought here you are in Idaho now and you are going to stay."

The state supreme court observed that according to the records the extradition seemed to be "regular and in due form," and that the question of the legality of the extradition could be raised only in Colorado, not in Idaho.

So far as it has been made public the charge against the prisoners is based chiefly on a long confession made by Harry Orchard, who killed Steunenberg, to a Pinkerton detective. Orchard, according to his own statement, has since his young manhood been a wanderer, a gambler, a miner and a whole-sale murderer. One of the leading men of the prosecution says Orchard is a degenerate. He admits or claims to have killed 30 men as the hired killer of the miners' federation.

This confession by Orchard was made AFTER TWO MONTHS' SWEATING BY THE PINKERTONS. They say it was due to an awakened conscience, belief in God and solicitude for the welfare of his soul. They say no inducements or promises of immunity were held out to him.

It is a fact, however, that after making the statement Orchard dismissed Fred Miller, who had acted as his attorney. When the latter called to see him Orchard sent out word that he was satisfied with matters as they stood and so declined Miller's further services.

When Orchard was arraigned in court he was mute, declining to plead either guilty or not guilty. Judge Frank J. Smith entered a plea of not guilty.

Steve Adams, who was arrested in Oregon, has also confessed. He is held at the pen, as a sort of guest of the state, no charge having been entered against him. Adams says he was hired by the federation to throw Greek fire into a trainload of nonunion men und to commit other crimes.

Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone will first be placed on trial and Orchard and Adams will be used as witnesses against them.

It will probably be charged by the defense that much of the evidence alleged to be corroborative of the Orchard and Adams confessions was manufactured by the detectives,

The prosecution claims evidence that L. J. Simpkins, a member of the miners' federation, was in Caldwell with Orchard and took part in the murder Of Steunenberg a reward has been offered for his arrest.

The defense has letters from Washington saying he was in that state at the time of the murder, but that it would be risky for him or any union miner to surrender to the present fierce combination in Idaho.

Nugent and Miller have not heretofore acted as attorneys for the federation. The former, however, in addition to his duties as prosecuting attorney, has been the legal adviser of several mining companies.

Nugent is prosecuting attorney in a county where two-thirds of the population is composed of miners and their families. He has served eight years. In that time no member of the federation has been convicted of a felony. One arrested on such a charge could not be convicted.

This prosecution, according to the defense, is an attempt by the mineowners, through their employes and friends in office, to destroy the Western Federation of Miners and to revenge the death of one who had befriended them by hanging, without particular regard to the evidence, three of their enemies.

The defense holds that the evidence so far produced by the state is unworthy of credence. It avers that, as a matter of humanity, the three federation men would not have committed such a horrible crime. Their connection with it is declared to be impossible, if there were no other reasons, by the fact that, if proven, it would ruin the federation.

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SOURCE
The Spokane Press
(Spokane, Washington)
-May 21, 1906
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085947/1906-05-21/ed-1/seq-1/

IMAGES
Photos from source above:
-HMP, Court Room, Waldeck 5, Spokane Press, May 21, 1906
-HMP, Nugent, Waldeck 5, Spokane Press, May 21, 1906
-HMP, Miller, Waldeck 5, Spokane Press, May 21, 1906
-HMP, Darrow, Waldeck 5, Spokane Press, May 21, 1906
-HMP, Richardson, Waldeck 5, Spokane Press, May 21, 1906

See also:

John F. Nugent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Nugent

C99 Tag: Haywood-Moyer-Pettibone Case
http://caucus99percent.com/tags/haywood-moyer-pettibone-case

The Cripple Creek Strike
-by Emma Florence Langdon
Denver, 1904-05
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/wfmhall/langdon00.html
Appendix, April 1908
(Coverage of Haywood-Moyer-Pettibone Case)
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/wfmhall/langdon29.html#dedication

The Darrow Collection, Haywood Trial
http://darrow.law.umn.edu/trials.php?tid=3