Assassination: Idaho's Trial of the Century

MAJOR FUNDING FOR ASSASSINATION: IDAHO'S TRIAL OF THE CENTURY WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE J.A.

AND KATHRYN ALBERTSON FOUNDATION, THE IDAHO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, THE LAW FIRM OF HAWLEY, TROXELL, ENNIS, AND HAWLEY, THE IDAHO LAW FOUNDATION, THROUGH A GRANT OF INTEREST ON THE LAWYERS TRUST ACCOUNT, WITH ADDITIONAL FUNDING FROM THE WHITTENBERGER FOUNDATION, THE IDAHO STATE AFL-CIO, THE IDAHO HUMANITIES COUNCIL, AND BY YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FRIENDS OF IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION.

A COMPLETE LIST OF FUNDERS IS AVAILABLE FROM IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION.

NARRATOR: IT'S A COLD DECEMBER EVENING IN 1905, AND FRANK STEUNENBERG IS RETURNING HOME.

SIX YEARS HAVE ELAPSED SINCE THEN-GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG DECLARED MARTIAL LAW IN NORTHERN IDAHO'S SILVER MINING REGION.

TONIGHT, THERE IS NOTHING TO SUGGEST THAT THIS EVENING WOULD BE HIS LAST, OR THAT THE EXPLOSION HEARD IN A SMALL FRONTIER TOWN WOULD AWAKEN AN ENTIRE NATION.

JAMES HAWLEY: MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT AND YOU GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY.

AT THIS TIME IT BECOMES MY DUTY AT THE REQUEST OF THE OTHER COUNSEL IN THE CASE.

NARRATOR: IT IS MAY OF 1907.

ALMOST A YEAR AND A HALF SINCE THE MURDER OF FORMER GOVERNOR FRANK STEUNENBERG.

AND BLUNT SPEAKING JAMES HAWLEY BEGINS HIS OPENING STATEMENT TO THE JURY.

JAMES HAWLEY: THE THEORIES UPON WHICH THIS PROSECUTION WAS FOUNDED AND THE EVIDENCE WE EXPECT TO GIVE YOU IN SUPPORT OF THESE THEORIES.

FRANK STEUNENBERG WAS PROBABLY AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH THE MOST WELL KNOWN CITIZEN OF THE STATE OF IDAHO.

NARRATOR: TOWNS PEOPLE AND REPORTERS FROM ACROSS THE NATION FILL THE COURT ROOM.

THIS TRIAL HAS ALL THE TRAPPINGS OF A GRAND THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE.

HAWLEY: THE PROSECUTION EXPECTS TO SHOW THAT THIS CRIME WAS THE RESULT OF A CONSPIRACY.

BY MUTUAL AGREEMENT AND UNDERSTANDING OF THESE LEADERS - THE INNER CIRCLE - WHEREIN THEY HAD CONTROL BY EMPLOYING, GENTLEMEN, DESPERATE CRIMINALS TO COMMIT MURDERS AND OTHER ATROCIOUS CRIMES... CLARENCE DARROW: WAIT A MINUTE, MR. HAWLEY.

YOUR HONOR, IF AN OPENING STATEMENT SERVES ANY FUNCTION, IT IS TO TELL THE JURY WH EVIDENCE THEY PROPOSE TO OFFER IN A CASE.

IT IS A PIECE OF PURE RHETORIC, IF IT IS RHETORIC.

JUDGE WOOD: THE COURT WILL PERMIT NOTHING HERE IN THE SHAPE OF AN ARGUMENT.

MR. HAWLEY, YOU MUST MAKE A STATEMENT OF WHAT YOU EXPECT TO PROVE.

HAWLEY: THAT IS WHAT I AM TRYING TO MAKE, YOUR HONOR, AND I THINK I UNDERSTAND MY RIGHTS AND MY DUTIES AS WELL IN THIS MATTER.

DARROW: IT DON'T LOOK AS THOUGH YOU DID HAWLEY: WELL, I DON'T CARE, SIR, WHAT IT LOOKS TO YOU... NARRATOR: IT WAS BEING HAILED AS A BATTLE AMONG GIANTS.

JAMES HAWLEY, THE RENOWNED WESTERN ATTORNEY, WITH SCORES OF MURDER TRIALS UNDER HIS BELT AGAINST A CHICAGO LAWYER NAMED CLARENCE DARROW FOR THE DEFENSE.

DAVID GROVER: DARROW COULD COME DOWN VERY HARD ON HIS VICTIM IN THIS CASE IT WAS MOSTLY HAWLEY THAT HE INVEIGHED AGAINST.

BUT INVECTIVE WAS PART OF DARROW'S COURT ROOM PROCEDURE AND HAWLEY JUST HAPPENED TO CATCH IT.

IT BOTHERED HAWLEY A GREAT DEAL.

IN HIS OWN WORDS AFTER THE TRIAL HE TALKS ABOUT HE WANTED TO GIVE THE MAN A THRASHING AND SETTLE IT SO OBVIOUSLY IT BOTHERED HAWLEY AND ANY TIME YOU CAN GET UNDER SOMEBODY'S SKIN, IT CAN BE OF BENEFIT TO YOU.

NARRATOR: WITHIN TWO DAYS OF STEUNENBERG'S MURDER, AUTHORITIES HAD APPREHENDED THE MAN WHOM THEY WERE CONVINCED HAD MURDERED THE GOVERNOR BUT THAT MAN WAS NOT THE ONE ON TRIAL.

THE MAN ON TRIAL WAS WILLIAM "BIG BILL" HAYWOOD, A LEADER OF A LABOR UNION WITH A REPUTATION FOR VIOLENCE.

A MAN EVERYONE AGREED HAD BEEN MORE THAN EIGHT HUNDRED MILES AWAY, IN COLORADO, WHEN THE DYNAMITE BLAST KILLED THE GOVERNOR.

THE TASK BEFORE JAMES HAWLEY AND HIS COLLEAGUE, WILLIAM BORAH, WAS TO CONNECT BIG BILL HAYWOOD TO THAT EXPLOSION.

AMERICA, AT THE DAWNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY, WAS A CAULDRON OF CONFLICTING FORCES.

A GILDED AGE FOR SOME.

BUT FOR MOST, A PAINFUL AND FRIGHTENING CYCLE OF BOOM AND BUST.

THIS WAS EVIDENT IN THE NUMBER OF LABOR STRIKES THAT ROSE TO 4,000 A YEAR BY THE EARLY 1900'S.

THOUSANDS OF LABORERS AND IMMIGRANTS TURNED WESTWARD, EAGER TO ESCAPE THE BITTER EFFECTS OF THE UNFOLDING INDUSTRIAL ORDER.

BUT THE WEST PROVED A POOR ESCAPE ROUTE.

A NEW STYLE OF MINING HAD REPLACED THE PICK AX AND THE GOLD PAN.

ONE THAT DEMANDED VAST CAPITAL TO BRING THE METALS FROM FAR BENEATH THE SURFACE.

ONE THAT INCORPORATED THE WORST ASPECTS OF THE MODERN CAPITALIST SYSTEM.

KATHERINE AIKEN: MINE OWNERS SAW WORKERS AS AN EXPENDABLE COMMODITY.

THEY WOULD WRITE THAT WE HAVE EVERY EXPECTATION THAT WE WILL LOSE A FEW WORKERS TO DEATH AND INJURY AND THAT'S THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS.

THEY WORKED IN CONDITIONS THAT WERE HOT AND WET AND UNCOMFORTABLE.

THE PHYSICAL AMOUNT OF LABOR WAS TREMENDOUS.

NARRATOR: MINERS WORKED 12 TO 14 HOURS A DAY UNDERGROUND AND RECEIVED THR DOLLARS A DAY FOR THEIR EFFORTS.

AIKEN: MINE OWNERS ARE CAPITALISTS.

THEY SAW THEIR ROLE AS BEING ESSENTIAL TO THE UNITED STATES BECOMING AN INDUSTRIAL POWER AND THEY BELIEVED THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO TELL WORKERS WHAT THEY SHOULD DO AND WHEN THEY SHOULD DO IT AND HOW THEY SHOULD DO IT.

THEY WERE PREPARED TO DO WHATEVER WAS NECESSARY TO KEEP CONTROL OF THEIR LABOR FORCE.

NARRATOR: THE FIERCE PASSIONS OF CLASS WARFARE CRACKLED THROUGH THE MINING CAMPS OF COLORADO, MONTANA, AND IDAHO.

DESPERATE MINE WORKERS JOINED UNIONS TO ADVANCE THEIR CAUSE.

THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND MOST VIOLENT, WAS THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS.

TENSIONS BETWEEN MINE OWNERS AND MINE WORKERS RAN AS DEEP AS THE VEINS OF SILVER THEY WERE CHASING.

WITHIN HOURS OF THE ASSASSINATION, THE LOCAL PAPERS HAD PINNED THE MURDER OF FRANK STEUNENBERG ON UNION SYMPATHIZERS.

SIX YEARS EARLIER, AS VIOLENCE ERUPTED IN THE MINE FIELDS IN NORTH IDAHO, THEN-GOVERNOR STUENENBERG HAD MOVED QUICKLY TO QUELL THE RIOTING.

UNABLE TO USE THE STATE'S NATIONAL GUARD BECAUSE THEY WERE FIGHTING IN THE PHILIPPINES, IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, STEUNENBERG TURNED TO PRESIDENT MCKINLEY FOR HELP.

MCKINLEY ORDERED FEDERAL TROOPS INTO THE REGION, INCLUDING THE 24TH REGIMENT, COMPRISED OF BLACK SOLDIERS.

THE TROOPS ROUNDED UP EVERY MAN THEY COULD FIND IN THE UNION CONTROLLED TOWNS OF IDAHO'S SILVER VALLEY.

MORE THAN A THSAND MEN ARRESTED WITHOUT TRIAL, THROWN INTO A CONCENTRATION CAMP THAT MINERS CALLED THE BULL PEN.

IT WAS THE LARGEST SINGLE ARREST IN AMERICA'S YOUNG HISTORY.

STEUNENBERG HAD WON THE GOVERNOR'S RACE WITH STRONG LABOR SUPPORT, BUT NOW HE WAS DENOUNCED AS A TRAITOR TO THE LABOR CAUSE.

HE TOLD HIS WIFE BELLE THAT HE WAS A MARKED MAN.

BUT WHO HAD PLANTED THE DYNAMITE THAT COLD DECEMBER EVENING IN 1905?

SUSPICIONS QUICKLY TURNED TO A STRANGER IN TOWN, A MAN WHO PROFESSED TO BE A SHEEP BUYER, WHO WENT BY THE NAME OF TOM HOGAN.

BYRON JOHNSON: THE PROBLEM WAS NOBODY EVER KNEW THAT HE BOUGHT ANY SHEEP AND HE'D BEEN THERE FOR SEVERAL WEEKS, AND THEN SOMEBODY SAID, YOU KNOW I SAW HIM ONE DAY LOOKING AT STEUNENBERG'S HOUSE THROUGH BINOCULARS AND I DIDN'T THINK ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

AND SO THEY BEGAN TO SUSPICION MAYBE HE HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT.

NARRATOR: A VISIT TO HIS ROOM IN THE SARATOGA HOTEL IN CALDWELL, IDAHO, PROVIDED AUTHORITIES WITH EVIDENCE OF BOMB MAKING.

TWO DAYS AFTER THE EXPLOSION, CALDWELL AUTHORITIES ARRESTED TOM HOGAN.

ONLY LATER DID THEY DISCOVER THAT HIS OTHER NAME WAS HARRY ORCHARD.

JOHN RICHARDS: THE ASSASSINATION WAS A HORRIBLY TRAGIC EVENT AS IT WOULD BE FOR ANY FAMILY NARRATOR: THE GREAT GRANDSON OF GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG KNOWS FIRST HAND THE EFFECTS OF THE ASSASSINATION ON HIS FAMILY.

JOHN RICHARDS: THAT PICTURE OF THIS LARGE SEEMINGLY INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN WITH THE FLESH PEELING FROM HIS BONES, HIS RIGHT ARM HANGING BY SHREDS, THE RIGHT SIDE OF HIS BODY BLOWN AWAY, BLOOD ALL OVER THE SNOW AND ALL OVER THE ROOM ONCE HE HAD BEEN CARRIED INTO THE HOUSE.

OUR FUTURE AS A FAMILY WAS FOREVER CHANGED AT THAT MOMENT ON DECEMBER 30, 1905.

NARRATOR: DETECTIVE JAMES MCPARLAND HAD MADE HIS REPUTATION IN THE COAL MINING REGION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

AS A YOUNG PINKERTON DETECTIVE, MCPARLAND HAD BROUGHT TO JUSTICE A SECRET GANG OF IRISH THUGS KNOWN AS THE MOLLY MAQUIRES.

NOW, THIRTY YEARS LATER, AT THE REQUEST OF GOVERNOR FRANK GOODING, THE NATION'S MOST FAMOUS DETECTIVE VISITED HARRY ORCHARD IN THE WARDEN'S OFFICE AT THE STATE PENITENTIARY.

JAMES MCPARLAND: HAVE A SEAT HERE, HARRY, I'VE GOT IT FROM HERE.

I WENT TO SEE ORCHARD, WITH A VIEW OF BREAKING HIM DOWN AND GETTING A CONFESSION FROM HIM.

BUT I DID NOT LET ON WHO I WAS.

I PRESENTED TO HIM THE CASE FOR COOPERATING WITH THE PROSECUTORS, AND THAT IF HE GAVE EVIDENCE ABOUT HIS COCONSPIRATORS, THAT HE MIGHT RECEIVE LENIENCY IN HIS SENTENCE.

HARRY ORCHARD: I HAVE COMMITTED NO CRIME.

I HAVE HEARD AND READ OVER FORTY TIMES JUST SUCH TALK AS YOU HAVE MADE, AND THERE ARE INSTANCES WHERE SUCH TALK HAS ONLY MADE INNOCENT MEN CONFESS TO CRIMES THAT THEY NEVER COMMITTED.

MCPARLAND: HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE MOLLIE MCGUIRES AND OF THE STATE WITNESSES WHO SAVED THEIR OWN NECKS BY TELLING THE TRUTH.

ORCHARD: THE DETECTIVE MCPARLAND HAD THAT ALL FIXED, AND HE SAW TO IT THAT WHATEVER PROMISES HE MADE WERE KEPT.

MCPARLAND: HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE DETECTIVE JAMES MCPARLAND?

ORCHARD: NO.

MCPARLAND: WELL, I AM THAT MCPARLAND.

NARRATOR: THREE DAYS LATER THE DETECTIVE AND THE PRISONER MET AGAIN.

IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT HARRY ORCHARD HAD BEEN PONDERING HIS PREDICAMENT.

MCPARLAND: HIS MANNER WAS ENTIRELY CHANGED.

I OPENED UP THE CONVERSATION BY ASKING HIM IF HE HAD THOROUGHLY STUDIED OVER THE CONVERSATION WE HAD ON MONDAY, AND MORE ESPECIALLY THE POINTS WHEREIN I SUGGESTED REGARDING THE MATTER OF STATE'S WITNESSES.

ORCHARD: I HAVE THOUGHT VERY LITTLE OF ANYTHING ELSE.

BUT I DO NOT SEE WHAT INTEREST YOU HAVE IN ME.

MCPARLAND: I HAVE AN INTEREST NOT ONLY IN THE WELFARE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO BUT EVERY STATE IN THE UNION THAT IS AFFECTED BY THE BLIGHT OF THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS.

ORCHARD: ARE WE SPEAKING CONFIDENTIALLY?

MCPARLAND: OF COURSE.

ORCHARD: THAT BEING THE CASE, LET US SUPPOSE A CASE FOR THE SAKE OF ARGUMENT.

I WILL NOW SAY I AM GUILTY OF THE CRIME AS CHARGED.

I HAVE COMMITTED THE CRIME.

NOW, YOU HAVE ALREADY STATED TO ME THAT YOU HAVE ABSOLUTE PROOF OF MY GUILT.

SUCH BEING THE CASE, WHY DO YOU COME TO ME AND TALK TO ME AS YOU HAVE DONE?

MCPARLAND: I DID NOT COME HERE TO FIND OUT IF YOU ARE GUILTY OF THE MURDER OF EX-GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG, AS WE HAVE POSITIVE PROOF OF YOUR GUILT... AND WILL HANG YOU UPON THE PROOF IN OUR POSSESSION, BUT AS YOU ARE BUT THE TOOL OF THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE, THE INNER CIRCLE, HANGING YOU WOULD GIVE VERY LITTLE SATISFACTION.

ACCORDING TO THE LAWS OF CONSPIRACY, A COCONSPIRATOR CAN BE GUILTY OF THE CRIME IF HE CONSPIRED WITH THE PERPETRATOR TO CAUSE HIM TO COMMIT THE CRIME.

ORCHARD: I THINK, MR. MCPARLAND, I NOW UNDERSTAND THE PROPOSITION THAT YOU TAKE.

BUT THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE WOULD NEVER BE SATISFIED TO ALLOW ME TO GO UNPUNISHED.

MCPARLAND: IF YOU BECAME A STATE'S WITNESS, THE PEOPLE OF IDAHO WILL NOT LOOK UPON YOU AS A COLD BLOODED MURDERER, BUT AS A SAVIOR.

IF YOU TAKE MY ADVICE YOU WILL NOT BE HUNG.

IF YOU DO NOT, YOU WILL BE HUNG AND IN VERY QUICK ORDER.

NARRATOR: OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT WEEK, HARRY ORCHARD CONFESSED TO A SERIES OF MURDERS THAT ACCOUNTED FOR MUCH OF THE UNSOLVED VIOLENCE IN THE MINE FIELDS OF THE WEST.

YES, HE HAD PLACED THE BOMB THAT KILLED GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG.

ORCHAR AND PLACED THIS AT HIS GATE, ATTACHED WITH A STRING SO THAT WHEN HE OPENED THE GATE AND STARTED TO GO IN THIS STRING WOULD PULL THE CORK FROM THE BOTTLE OF SULFURIC ACID AND CAUSE THE EXPLOSION.

NARRATOR: YES, HE HAD KILLED AT LEAST SEVENTEEN OTHER MEN.

ORCHARD: JUST BEFORE THE TRAIN GOT ABOUT TWO HUNDRED FEET FROM THE PLATFORM, WE PULLED THIS WIRE AND CAUSED THE EXPLOSION.

NARRATOR: YES, HE HAD TRIED TO KILL THE GOVERNOR OF COLORADO AND THE PRESIDENT OF BUNKER HILL MINING COMPANY.

AND YES, HIS COCONSPIRATORS WERE THE LEADERS OF THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS.

ORCHARD: CHARLES MOYER, BILL HAYWOOD, GEORGE PETTIBONE AND I HAD A CONFERENCE.

IT WAS DECIDED BY US THAT I COME DOWN TO IDAHO AND TRY TO ASSASSINATE EX-GOV.

STEUNENBERG.

MCPARLAND: ORCHARD BROKE DOWN AND CRIED SEVERAL TIMES WHILE MAKING HIS STATEMENTS, BUT SEEMED VERY MUCH RELIEVED AFTER HE GOT THROUGH.

IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY CONFESSIONS IN THE ANNALS OF AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

ORCHARD: I AWOKE, AS IT WERE, FROM A DREAM AND REALIZED THAT I HAD BEEN MADE A TOOL OF, AIDED AND ASSISTED BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS, AND ONCE THEY HAD LED ME TO COMMIT THE FIRST CRIME I HAD TO CONTINUE TO DO THEIR BIDDING OR OTHERWISE BE ASSASSINATED MYSELF, AND THEREFORE, NOT CARING WHAT WOULD BECOME OF ME, I RESOLVED AS FAR AS IN MY POWER TO BREAK UP THIS MURDEROUS ORGANIZATION AND TO PROTECT THE COMMUNITY FROM FURTHER ASSASSINATIONS AND OUTRAGES FROM THIS GANG.

THAT IS ALL I HAVE GOT TO SAY ON THE MATTER.

NARRATOR: OF COURSE IT WAS ONE THING TO ACCUSE THE INNER CIRCLE OF THE MURDER OF FRANK STEUNENBERG.

IT WAS QUITE ANOTHER TO GET THEM TO IDAHO TO STAND TRIAL.

THAT, MCPARLAND DECIDED, WOULD REQUIRE A GOOD OLD FASHIONED KIDNAPPING.

BYRON JOHNSON: SO HERE THEY WERE, GOING TO THE GOVERNOR OF COLORADO WITH DOCUMENTS THAT SAID, THESE THREE OFFICIALS OF THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS MURDERED A FORMER GOVERNOR OF IDAHO AND WE WANT THEM ARRESTED AND TAKEN BACK TO IDAHO.

WELL, THE GOVERNOR OF COLORADO WASN'T FRIENDLY TO THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS ANYWAY, AND HE DECIDED, SURE, ARREST THEM AND TAKE THEM BACK.

SO HE SIGNED THE NECESSARY PAPERS THAT HAD THEM ARRESTED... NARRATOR: WITH THE BLESSING OF THE IDAHO AND COLORADO GOVERNORS AND UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS, THE PRIVATE DETECTIVE HAD THE LABOR LEADERS ARRESTED AND PLACED ON A SPECIAL TRAIN, THE FASTEST ONE HE COULD FIND.

KATHERINE AIKEN: AND THEY WERE LITERALLY KIDNAPPED IN COLORADO, SPIRITED AWAY WITHOUT A CHANCE TO EVEN TELL THEIR FAMILIES WHAT WAS HAPPENING.

THERE WERE ORDERS THAT THAT TRAIN NOT STOP UNTIL IT HAD CROSSED THE IDAHO BORDER.

NARRATOR: THE TRAIN SPED THROUGH THE FEBRUARY SNOWS OF COLORADO AND WYOMING.

SHARP SHOOTERS, HIRED BY MCPARLAND, GUARDED THE PRISONERS, READY TO FIGHT OFF ANY ATTEMPTS BY UNION MEN TO FREE THEM.

THE SAGA OF THE "PIRATE SPECIAL" MADE FRONT PAGE NEWS, AS DID THE FAILED ATTEMPTS TO CHALLENGE THE KIDNAPPING IN COURT.

BYRON JOHNSON THE IDAHO SUPREME COURT SAID, ONCE YOU'RE HERE WE DON'T CARE HOW YOU GOT HERE, YOU'VE GOTO STAND TRIAL.

THE FEDERAL COURT IN IDAHO SAID THE SAME THING, AND THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT SAID THE SAME THING.

AND VERY SURPRISINGLY, THAT IS STILL THE LAW IN IDAHO, IN THE UNITED STATES GENERALLY TODAY IN THE STATE AND FEDERAL COURTS.

NARRATOR: AS FOR THE THREE LABOR UNION OFFICIALS, THEY WERE ALREADY LOCKED AWAY IN AN IDAHO JAIL, AWAITING SEPARATE TRIALS FOR THE MURDER OF FRANK STEUNENBERG.

WILLIAM BORAH: THE NEXT WITNESS WILL BE HERE IN A FEW MOMENTS.

JAMES HAWLEY: CALL HARRY ORCHARD.

NARRATOR: THE CROWDED COURT ROOM ON THE MORNING OF JUNE 5TH, 1907, WAS ELECTRIC.

FOR MANY TOWNSPEOPLE AND REPORTERS, THIS WAS THEIR FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE FAMOUS KILLER.

AND FOR JAMES HAWLEY, THIS WAS THE MOMENT HE HAD BEEN WAITING FOR.

THE TESTIMONY OF HIS STAR WITNESS WOULD HELP HANG BIG BILL HAYWOOD.

HAWLEY: WHERE DO YOU RESIDE AT THE PRESENT TIME?

ORCHARD: UP AT THE PENITENTIARY HERE IN BOISE CITY.

JUDGE: QUIET PLEASE.

QUIET IN THE COURTROOM.

HAWLEY: WHAT CHARGE, IF ANY, HAS BEEN MADE AGAINST YOU?

ORCHARD: I WAS CHARGED WITH THE MURDER OF EX-GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG.

HAWLEY: WHERE AND WHEN WERE YOU BORN?

ORCHARD: I WAS BORN IN NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, ONTARIO, CANADA IN 1866.

HAWLEY: IS HARRY ORCHARD YOUR TRUE NAME?

ORCHARD: NO, SIR.

HAWLEY: WHAT IS YOUR TRUE NAME?

ORCHARD: ALBERT E. HORSLEY.

HAWLEY: DID YOU HAVE A NUMBER OF CONVERSATIONS DURING 1905 WITH THE DEFENDANT AT THE BAR HAYWOOD, MOYER, PETTIBONE, JACK SIMPKINS AND OTHERS ABOUT WHAT THEY WANTED DONE IN IDAHO?

ORCHARD: YES, I DID.

NARRATOR: OVER A TWO DAY PERIOD, HAWLEY WALKED ORCHARD THROUGH A CONFESSION THAT PLACED HIM AT THE SCENE OF SOME OF THE WEST'S MOST GRUESOME MURDERS, INCLUDING THE DYNAMITING OF THE BUNKER HILL CONCENTRATOR IN 1899.

HAWLEY: WHO LIT THE FUSE?

ORCHARD: I LIT ONE OF THEM.

I DON'T KNOW WHO LIT THE REST.

HAWLEY: AFTER THE FUSES WERE LIT, WHAT WAS THE RESULT?

ORCHARD: THE MILL WAS ALL BLOWN UP - BLOWN TO PIECES.

NARRATOR: IN A CALM, STEADY VOICE, THE REPENTANT MASS MURDERER TIED BIG BILL HAYWOOD TO A SERIES OF KILLINGS IN COLORADO AND IDAHO, INCLUDING THE ASSASSINATION OF GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG.

ORCHARD: MR. HAYWOOD SAID, IF WE WOULD GET MR. STEUNENBERG AFTER LETTING HIM GO FOR SEVEN OR EIGHT YEARS AND THEN GO BACK TO PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, AND WRITE SOME LETTERS FROM THERE TO JUDGE GODDARD AND JUDGE GABBERT AND SOME OF THE MINE OWNERS AND TELL THEM THAT THEY WOULD GET WHAT MR. STEUNENBERG GOT, IT WOULD BE WORSE THAN DEATH ITSELF, IT WOULD BE LIKE A LIVING DEATH TO THINK SOMEBODY WAS AFTER THEM TO KILL THEM AND DIDN'T KNOW WHO IT WAS.

O.K.

DAVIS: BOISE, IDAHO, JUNE 5.

FOR THREE HOURS AND A HALF TODAY HARRY ORCHARD SAT IN THE WITNESS CHAIR AT THE HAYWOOD TRIAL AND RECITED A HISTORY OF CRIME AND BLOODSHED, THE LIKE OF WHICH NO PERSON IN THE CROWDED COURTROOM HAD EVER IMAGINED.

NOT IN THE WHOLE RANGE OF "BLOODY GULCH" LITERATURE WILL THERE BE FOUND ANYTHING THAT APPROACHES A PARALLEL TO THIS HORRIBLE STORY SO CALMLY AND SMOOTHLY TOLD BY THIS SELF-POSSESSED, IMPERTURBABLE MURDERER WITNESS.

NARRATOR: REPORTER OSCAR KING DAVIS WAS IN THE BOISE COURT ROOM DURING ORCHARD'S TESTIMONY AND HE FILED THIS REPORT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES.

DAVIS: IT WAS A HORRIBLE, REVOLTING, SICKENING STORY, BUT HE TOLD IT AS SIMPLY AS THE PLAINEST NARRATION OF THE MOST ORDINARY INCIDENT OF THE MOST HUMDRUM EXISTENCE.

HE WAS NEITHER A BRAGGART NOR A SYCOPHANT.

HE NEITHER BOASTED OF HIS FEARFUL CRIMES NOR SNIVELED IN MOCK REPENTANCE.

AND AS IT WENT ON, HOUR AFTER HOUR, WITH MULTITUDINOUS DETAIL, GRADUALLY IT FORCED HOME TO THE LISTENER THE CONVICTION THAT IT WAS THE UNMIXED TRUTH.

NARRATOR: HIS FRONT PAGE STORIES IN THE NEW YORK TIMES ENTHRALLED THE NATION.

BUT NOT EVERYONE WAS IMPRESSED WITH THE NARRATIVE OF HARRY ORCHARD.

IDA CROUCH HAZLETT: SIR,IR, I HAVE NEWSPAPER COPY.

I NEED TO SEND A WIRE IMMEDIATELY.

TELEGRAPHER: YES, MAAM.

TO WHOM?

HAZLETT: MONTANA IDA CROUCH HAZLETT WAS THE EDITOR AND ROVING CORRESPONDENT OF MONTANA'S TINY SOCIALIST PAPER, THE MONTANA NEWS.

IDA CROUCH HAZLETT: BUT HIS FACE IS THE FACE OF A MAN WITHOUT A SOUL NARRATOR: SHE WAS AN ARDENT SUPPORTER OF CLARENCE DARROW AND BIG BILL HAYWOOD, AND SAW HARRY ORCHARD AS A PAWN IN THE HANDS OF THE RULING CLASS.

HAZLETT: WHICH HE REPEATED AS ONE WHO HAD LEARNED A LESSON WELL.

WHEN HE CLAIMS HE MURDERED FOR MONEY, THE QUESTION ARISES, HOW MUCH IS HE BEING PAID TO RAILROAD MOYER, HAYWOOD AND PETTIBONE TO THE SCAFFOLD?

NARRATOR: HARRY ORCHARD HAD PAINTED A DAMMING PORTRAIT OF HAYWOOD AND THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS.

BUT COULD ORCHARD'S TESTIMONY HOLD UP UNDER A FIERCE CROSS EXAMINATION?

RICHARDSON: ALTHOUGH YOU HAVE GOT ANOTHER WIFE IN CRIPPLE CREEK, HAVEN'T YOU?

ORCHARD: I HAVE A RICHARDSON: YOU ARE A BIGAMIST, THEN ARE YOU?

ORCHARD: I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD CALL IT.

RICHARDSON: YOU MARRIED TWO OF THESE WIVES?

ORCHARD: YES SIR RICHARDSON: BOTH OF THEM ARE LIVING?

ORCHARD: YES SIR.

NARRATOR: FOR TWENTY SIX HOURS OVER FIVE DAYS, EDMUND RICHARDSON ATTEMPTED TO DESTROY ORCHARD'S WELL REHEARSED NARRATIVE.

RICHARDSON: NOW, MR. ORCHARD, A COUPLE OF MATTERS ON MY MIND.

THE VINDICATOR BOMBING.

YOU EXPECTED TO KILL FIFTY OR SIXTY MEN THAT NIGHT?

ORCHARD: I DID NOT KNOW HOW MANY WE WOULD KILL RICHARDSON: THE MORE THE MERRIER?

ORCHARD: I DID NOT THINK ABOUT THAT.

RICHARDSON: AND YOU DID NOT CARE?

ORCHARD: I DON'T KNOW AS I DID.

RICHARDSON: JUST AS SOON KILL A HUNDRED MEN AS ONE?

ORCHARD: I WAS NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT.

RICHARDSON: BEFORE YOU DYNAMITED TO DEATH EX-GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG, YOU HAD ANOTHER CDECEMBER 30, DIDN'T YOU?

ORCHARD: YES SIR, I DID.

RICHARDSON: YOU PLANTED A BOMB IN HIS ROOM AT THE IDANHA HOTEL?

ORCHARD: YES SIR, I DID.

RICHARDSON: THAT PARTICULAR BOMB WOULD HAVE BLOWN THE HOTEL ALL TO PIECES, WOULD IT NOT?

ORCHARD: YES RICHARDSON: AND YOU WERE WILLING TO DO THIS?

ORCHARD: YES RICHARDSON: DID YOU EXPECT TO STAY IN THE HOTEL THAT NIGHT?

ORCHARD: NO, SIR.

RICHARDSON: YOU WERE WILLING TO KILL EVERYBODY BUT YOURSELF?

ORCHARD: YES.

BYRON JOHNSON: HARRY ORCHARD IN SOME RESPECTS WAS THE EPITOME OF A WITNESS AND HIS TESTIMONY AS THE NEWSPAPER REPORTERS DESCRIBED IT WAS FLAWLESS.

EVEN AFTER TWENTY SIX HOURS OF CROSS EXAMINATION BY DEFENSE COUNSEL EDMUND RICHARDSON, HE COULDN'T BE TRIPPED UP.

ORCHARD: IT WAS AFTER I RECEIVED A BIBLE FROM A MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN CHICAGO THAT I CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT I WOULD BE FORGIVEN.

NARRATOR: O.K.

DAVIS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES WROTE THAT THE QUOTE 'MODERN MIRACLE' OF HARRY ORCHARD'S CONVERSION MADE HIM PERHAPS A STRONGER MORAL FORCE THAN RICHARDSON HIMSELF.

BYRON JOHNSON AS I'VE REFLECTED ON THAT FLAWLESSNESS, I'VE COME TO A DIFFERENT OPINION.

I THINK THAT HARRY ORCHARD'S MEMORY IS REALLY A SCRIPT.

HE HAD WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED HIS SO-CALLED CONFESSION.

THE FLAWLESSNESS OF HARRY ORCHARD'S TESTIMONY WAS ANOTHER CLEAR EVIDENCE OF HIS LACK OF CREDIBILITY.

THAT HE WAS PERHAPS NOT TELLING THE TRUTH ON ALL SCORES.

DARROW: WE WILL SHOW YOU THE REASON FOR THIS ORGANIZATION, ITS PURPOSE, THAT BEFORE THIS ORGANIZATION WAS BORN, THAT MEN WORKED SOMETIMES TWELVE TO FOURTEEN HOURS A DAY IN THE MINES.

NARRATOR: IN HIS OPENING STATEMENT TO THE JURY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY CLARENCE DARROW DESCRIBED THE PLIGHT OF THE MINERS AND DEFENDED THE NEED FOR A STRONG LABOR UNION.

JOHNSON: DARROW SAW HIMSELF AS THE CHAMPION OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE WHO WENT TO WORK EVERY DAY AND HE EVOKES THAT.

DARROW: THE SMELTERS VOMITED FORTH POISON AND DEATH AND THEY SET OUT TO WORK, THEY SET OUT TO WORK AS BEST THEY COULD AS A GREAT ORGANIZATION TO CORRECT THESE EVILS, TO CUT THE HOURS, TO INCREASE THE PAY, TO LENGTHEN THEIR LIVES, TO TAKE CARE OF THE MEN WHO WERE INJURED AND TO TAKE CARE OF THE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF THE DEAD.

WE WILL ALSO SHOW YOU THAT HARRY ORCHARD NEVER WENT TO THE BUNKER HILL AND SULLIVAN MINE; HE HAD NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH BLOWING THAT MINE UP.

NOW, I FEEL SOME GREAT REGRET TO TAKE AWAY ANY OF THE GLORY FROM HIS HARD EARNED FAME THAT HE MADE THROUGH SEVERAL DAYS OF TESTIFYING ON THIS WITNESS STAND.

I DON'T LIKE TO TAKE ANY OF THE BLOOM OFF A PEACH LIKE THAT, BUT STILL EVERYTHING HAS ITS COMPENSATION, AND WHILE WE MAY SHOW THAT HARRY ORCHARD IS NOT THE PHENOMENAL MURDERER THAT HE CLAIMS, WE WILL CONSOLE HIM SOME BY SHOWING HIM AS THE MOST MONUMENTAL LIAR WHO EVER WALKED ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH.

BYRON JOHNSON: HIS FORTE WAS HIS UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN NATURE, HIS ABILITY TO APPEAL TO THE SENTIMENTS OF JURORS.

THE CARDINAL RULE OF DARROW'S LEGAL REPRESENTATION WAS, GIVE THE JURY A REASON NOT TO CONVICT YOUR CLIENT.

AND I THINK THAT'S WHAT HE DID WITH BIG BILL HAYWOOD.

NARRATOR: HAYWOOD HAD BEEN EMPLOYED AS A MINER, IN SILVER CITY, IDAHO, LONG BEFORE HE BECAME THE SECRETARY/TREASURER OF THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS.

DARROW: DID YOU EVER KNOW GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG IN HIS LIFETIME?

HAYWOOD: I NEVER KNEW HIM PERSONALLY AND I NEVER SAW HIM.

DARROW: WERE YOU IN THE STATE WHEN HE WAS ELECTED?

HAYWOOD: YES, SIR.

DARROW: DID YOU MAKE CRITICAL COMMENTS ABOUT GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG?

HAYWOOD: HARDLY A MINER IN SILVER CITY BUT HAD SOME CRITICISM TO MAKE.

DARROW: DID YOU SAY, OR DO YOU THINK YOU SAID, ANY SUCH LANGUAGE AS THAT THE GOVERNOR OUGHT TO BE EXTERMINATED?

HAYWOOD: I THINK THE EXPRESSION I PROBABLY USED WAS THAT THE GOVERNOR SHOULD BE RELEGATED.

DARROW: YOU HELPED RELEGATE HIM?

HAYWOOD: YES, SIR.

I DID.

I TOOK AN ACTIVE PART.

FOR THE NEXT TERM THE DEMOCRATS NOMINATED FRANK W. HUNT AS GOVERNOR AND HUNT WAS ELECTED.

DARROW: MR. HAYWOOD, DID YOU EVER HAVE A HOSTILE FEELING FOR STEUNENBERG?

HAYWOOD: NO, SIR.

I REGARDED HIM THE SAME AS ANY POLITICIAN WHO COULD BE SWAYED BY CAPITALISTIC INFLUENCES.

DARROW: DID HARRY ORCHARD EVER COME TO TELL YOU THAT IT WAS HE WHO'D BLOWN UP THE VINDICATOR MINE AND ASK TO BE PAID FOR IT?

HAYWOOD: NO.

DARROW: YOU HEARD HIS TESTIMONY?

HAYWOOD: YES, SIR.

DARROW: AND IT WAS NOT THE TRUTH?

HAYWOOD: HE DID NOT TELL THE TRUTH.

NARRATOR: NOW, IT WAS BORAH'S TURN TO CROSS EXAMINE HAYWOOD.

THE SHARP, POPULAR TRIAL LAWYER AGAINST THE SHREWD, TOUGH MAN OF THE MINES.

HAYWOOD STRUCK FIRST.

HAYWOOD: IF IT PLEASE YOUR HONOR, MAY THE SHUTTERS BE CLOSED ON THAT WINDOW.

WHILE I WILL BE TALKING TO THE JURY MOST OF THE TIME, I CANNOT SEE THE SENATOR'S EYES WITH THE SHUTTERS OPEN.

NARRATOR: THE REQUEST STUNNED BORAH, WHO LATER TOLD AN ASSOCIATE, "IT DOUBLED ME UP LIKE A JACKKNIFE."

HAYWOOD HAD LOST AN EYE IN A YOUTHFUL ACCIDENT, AND LIKE ANY WESTERN GUNFIGHTER, HE WANTED TO FIX HIS OPPONENT WITH THE FIERCE GLARE OF HIS ONE GOOD EYE.

BUT BORAH RECOVERED QUICKLY.

BORAH: THE MINER'S MAGAZINE HAS CONTAINED A NUMBER OF ARTICLES THAT ATTACKED GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG.

DO THESE ATTACKS REPRESENT YOUR VIEWS?

HAYWOOD: IN SOME INSTANCES, YES, SIR.

I WAS OPPOSED TO THE BULLPEN AND I WAS OPPOSED TO THE PERMIT SYSTEM.

I WAS OPPOSED TO THE OUTRAGES THAT WERE PERPETRATED ON THE WOMEN THERE BY THE NEGRO SOLDIERS.

BORAH: AND YOU REGARDED THAT GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG AND THOSE THAT REPRESENTED HIM THERE WERE REALLY THE CAUSE OF ALL THOSE THINGS?

HAYWOOD: I DID NOT REGARD GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG IN ANY DIFFERENT LIGHT THAN I DID YOU, SENATOR, OR ANYBODY ELSE THAT WAS INVOLVED THERE.

BORAH: I READ YOU THE CLOSING OF AN ARTICLE IN THE MINERS MAGAZINE ON THE GOVERNOR'S DEPARTURE FROM OFFICE IN JANUARY 1901.

'HERE LIES A HIRELING AND A TRAITOR.'

NOW IS THAT THE WAY IN WHICH THE PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS, INCLUDING YOURSELF, LOOKED UPON GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG AT THE TIME HE RETIRED TO PRIVATE LIFE IN 1901?

HAYWOOD: AS TO THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICIAL ACTS IT DID.

KATHY AIKEN: HE REALLY IS A REMARKABLE INDIVIDUAL WHO RISES TO PROMINENCE FROM BEING A DAY TO DAY MINER TO THIS INCREDIBLY WELL KNOWN LABOR LEADER AND EVENTUALLY PLAYS A ROLE IN THE SOVIET UNION AND IS EMBRACED BY THE BOLSHEVIKS THERE AND HAS AN INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION AND JUST EVEN HIS NAME, BIG BILL HAYWOOD.

I MEAN, HE LOOKS LIKE A LABOR LEADER/MINER OUGHT TO LOOK IN MY ESTIMATION.

BYRON JOHNSON: THE DEFENSE WAS IN A DISADVANTAGEOUS POSITION BECAUSE BOISE IDAHO IN 1907 WAS NOT REALLY THE HOT BED OF UNIONISM AND PEOPLE WERE, SO TO SPEAK, LAW AND ORDER.

INDEED THE JURY WAS LAW AND ORDER.

NINE OF THEM WERE ADA COUNTY FARMERS, THREE OF THEM HAD BEEN FARMERS AT ONE TIME.

ALL BUT ONE OF THEM WAS OVER FIFTY YEARS OF AGE, AND NO WOMEN ON THIS JURY.

EVEN THOUGH WOMEN HAD BEEN GIVEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN 1896, AND THAT WAS A BIG PROBLEM AS THE DEFENSE VIEWED IT.

NARRATOR: THE PROSECUTION ALSO FACED A BIG PROBLEM.

THE ONE WITNESS WHO COULD HAVE CORROBORATED HARRY ORCHARD'S TESTIMONY, AN ITINERANT MINER NAMED STEVE ADAMS, RECANTED HIS CONFESSION BEFORE THE TRIAL.

PERHAPS HE WAS BRIBED BY DARROW AND THE DEFENSE TEAM.

PERHAPS HE FEARED THE WRATH OF THE LABOR UNION, BUT ADAMS' REFUSAL TO TESTIFY SEVERELY WEAKENED THE PROSECUTION'S CASE.

AND TRY AS THEY MIGHT, NEITHER SIDE COULD FIND JACK SIMPKINS, A UNION OFFICIAL WHO WAS LAST SEEN WITH HARRY ORCHARD IN CALDWELL JUST PRIOR TO THE ASSASSINATION.

JACK SIMPKINS HAD SIMPLY VANISHED.

ON JULY 19, 1907, AFTER LISTENING TO WEEKS OF CONFLICTING TESTIMONY, THE MEN OF THE JURY SETTLED IN FOR THE CLOSING ARGUMENTS OF THE FOUR ATTORNEYS.

JAMES HAWLEY SPOKE FIRST.

HAWLEY: WE HAVE FOR TEN WEEKS, GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY, BEEN IN CONTINUOUS SESSION IN THIS COURT GIVING OUR ATTENTION TO THIS QUESTION.

IT IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT CRIMINAL CASE THAT WAS EVER GIVEN TO A JURY FOR ITS ATTENTION AND CONSIDERATION IN THE HISTORY OF THESE UNITED STATES.

GROVER: HAWLEY HAD THE RESPONSIBILITY OF COVERING EVERYTHING THAT HAD BEEN IN THE EVIDENCE FOR THE PREVIOUS FIVE WEEKS.

THAT'S TOUGH, IT TAKES A LONG TIME, HE SEEMED TO BE KIND OF UNDER THE WEATHER AS HE MADE HIS PRESENTATION.

BUT HE DID A PRETTY THOROUGH JOB OF COVERING EVERYTHING THAT NEEDED TO BE COVERED BYRON JOHNSON: JAMES HAWLEY WAS A FANTASTIC TRIAL LAWYER.

HE HAD PARTICIPATED IN 300 MURDER CASES AND HE WAS REPUTED BY MANY TO BE THE BEST CRIMINAL LAWYER IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

HE WAS THE OLD 'SAGEBRUSH' LAWYER.

HE KNEW WHAT BUTTONS TO PUSH.

HE WAS NOT ELOQUENT BUT HE UNDERSTOOD WHO HE WAS DEALING WITH.

HAWLEY: THAT IS THE SEASON WHEN LOVE FOR MANKIND SHOULD RULE AND EXIST, IF AT ALL.

THAT IS THE SEASON WHEN MEN SHOULD FEEL MOST SAFE FROM FEAR.

JUST AS THE NEW YEAR IS BEGINNING TO MAKE ITS APPEARANCE, WHEN ALL SEEMS SAFE AND PEACEFUL, ORCHARD LAYS HIS BOMB AT STEUNENBERG'S GATE.

THAT NIGHT, AS THE GOVERNOR IS HASTENING HOME, THROUGH THE DUSK, TO HIS FAMILY, IN HIS MIND, THE HAPPY THOUGHTS OF THE LOVING GREETING THAT AWAITS HIM, HE IS SENT TO MEET HIS GOD WITHOUT A MOMENT'S WARNING AND WITHIN EYESIGHT OF HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN.

IT IS TIME THAT THIS STENCH IN THE NOSTRILS OF ALL DECENT PEOPLE LIVING IN THE WEST IS BURIED.

IT IS TIME TO FOREVER PUT AN END TO THIS HIGH HANDED METHOD OF WHOLESALE CRIME.

GENTLEMEN, IT IS TIME THAT THE STATE OF IDAHO SHOW THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT WITHIN HER BORDERS NO CRIME CAN BE COMMITTED AND THAT ANYONE WHO COMES WITHIN HER BORDERS MUST OBSERVE THE LAW.

NARRATOR: HAWLEY HAD SPOKEN FOR MORE THAN 8 HOURS.

THE NEXT DAY EDMUND RICHARDSON, THE DENVER ATTORNEY FOR THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS, ADDRESSED THE JURY.

HE REMINDED THEM OF THE ATROCITIES THE MINERS HAD SUFFERED IN THE COEUR D'ALENE SILVER MINES PRIOR TO THE ASSASSINATION.

EDMUND RICHARDSON: THEY ARRESTED THOSE UNION MINERS RIGHT AND LEFT WITHOUT WARRANT.

THEY DEPRIVED THEM OF THEIR LIBERTIES.

THEY THREW THEM IN THE DIRTY, VILE-KEPT BULLPENS WHERE THEY WERE SUBJECTED TO ALL SORTS OF INSULTS AND INDIGNITIES AT THE HANDS OF THOSE NEGRO SOLDIERS.

IF YOU HAD BEEN THERE, COVERED WITH VERMIN.

IF YOU'D BEEN THERE, GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY, IT IS CERTAIN THAT YOU WOULD HAVE ATTAINED IN YOUR BREAST A RIGHTEOUS HATRED FOR EVERY PERSON WHO HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR HUMILIATION AND SUFFERING.

NARRATOR: RICHARDSON SPOKE FOR MORE THAN TEN HOURS OVER SEVERAL DAYS, DURING THE HOTTEST TIME OF THE SUMMER.

HE SAVED HIS HARSHEST WORDS FOR THE PROSECUTION'S STAR WITNESS, HARRY ORCHARD.

RICHARDSON: I SAY THAT THIS MAN ORCHARD IS A CHEAP AND A TAWDRY AND A TINSEL HERO, SEATED UPON THIS WITNESS STAND LIKE A KING UPON HIS THRONE.

UNDER A PROMISE AS PLAIN AS NOONDAY THAT HIS WORTHLESS HEAD AND CARCASS SHALL BE SAVED IF ONLY THERE CAN BE SECURED A CONDEMNATION OF THE OFFICERS OF THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS.

WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER BELIEVE, THIS MAN ON THE STAND WEARING HIS CHEAP BRAVADO AND PUTTING OBLOQUY UPON THOSE WHO ARE INNOCENT, OR THIS HUSBAND AND THIS FATHER, AN EXEMPLARY CITIZEN ALL HIS LIFE, NURSING TENDERLY AND CARING PROPERLY FOR THIS CRIPPLED WOMAN WHO NOW SITS AND FOR LONG YEAR SAT BY HIS SIDE?

GROVER: THERE'S RICHARDSON GETTING INTO HIS TROUBLES AGAIN.

HE GETS INTO TAWDRY, HE GETS INTO OBLOQUY AND SOME OF THESE WORDS THAT SEND US TO THE DICTIONARY TO FIND OUT.

HE WAS SUCH A MASTER OF WORDS, THIS UNEDUCATED LAWYER THAT HE WAS PROBABLY TRYING TO PROVE SOMETHING TO HIMSELF OR TO THE LEGAL COMMUNITY THAT COMING UP THE HARD WAY AS HE HAD WITHOUT ANY COLLEGE EDUCATION, HE WAS THE EQUAL OF ANY FINE ATTORNEY - AND PERHAPS HE WAS IN SOME CASES - BUT THIS MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ONE OF THOSE.

NARRATOR: SINCE HIS ARRIVAL IN THE WEST, CLARENCE DARROW HAD GROWN FOND OF THE SMALL WESTERN TOWN OF BOISE, IDAHO, REFERRING TO IT AS THE ATHENS OF THE SAGEBRUSH.

LOOKING OUT OVER THE SCORES OF REPORTERS AND TOWNS PEOPLE WHO HAD COME TO HEAR HIS CLOSING ARGUMENTS, DARROW KNEW THAT HIS REAL AUDIENCE WAS THE LARGER JURY OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC.

CLARENCE DARROW: GENTLEMEN, I SOMETIMES THINK I AM DREAMING IN THIS CASE.

I SOMETIMES WONDER WHETHER THIS IS A CASE, WHETHER HERE IN IDAHO OR ANYWHERE IN THIS COUNTRY, BROAD AND FREE, A MAN CAN BE PLACED ON TRIAL AND LAWYERS SERIOUSLY ASK TO TAKE THE LIFE OF ANY HUMAN BEING BASED UPON THE TESTIMONY OF HARRY ORCHARD.

WE HAVE THE LAWYERS COME HERE AND ASK YOU FOR IT UPON THE WORD OF THAT SORT OF A MAN TO SEND THIS MAN TO THE GALLOWS, TO MAKE HIS WIFE A WIDOW, AND HIS CHILDREN ORPHANS--UPON HIS WORD.

FOR GOD'S SAKE, GENTLEMEN, WHAT SORT OF AN HONESTY EXISTS UP HERE IN THE STATE OF IDAHO THAT SANE MEN SHOULD ASK IT?

NEED I COME HERE FROM CHICAGO TO DEFEND THE HONOR OF YOUR STATE?

DAVE GROVER: IT IS VERY HARD TO IDENTIFY WHAT IT WAS THAT DARROW WAS ABLE TO DO IN THE HAYWOOD TRIAL BECAUSE HE SEEMED TO VIOLATE SO MANY OF HIS OWN PRECEPTS.

HE SAID, I WON'T EVER LET A SCOTCHMAN SIT ON A JURY.

WELL, HE LET TWO OF THEM AND THEY WERE BOTH FOR HIM ALL THE WAY THROUGH.

HE JUST HAD NO FAITH IN THE LEGAL PROCESSES MEANING ANYTHING TO THE JURORS AND YET APPARENTLY THEY DID.

HE INVEIGHED AGAINST CHRISTIANITY.

HE INVEIGHED AGAINST THE STUPIDITY OF FARMERS AND THIS WAS A FARMER JURY AND THAT'S THE KIND OF THING THAT HE DID AND GOT AWAY WITH.

DARROW: IF YOU SHOULD DECREE BILL HAYWOOD'S DEATH, IN EVERY RAILROAD OFFICES IN ALL THE GREAT CITIES OF OUR COUNTRY, MEN WILL SING YOUR PRAISES.

IF YOU SHOULD DECREE BILL HAYWOOD'S DEATH, AMONGST THE SPIDERS OF WALL STREET WILL GO UP PAEANS OF PRAISE FOR YOU TWELVE MEN GOOD AND TRUE WHO HAVE KILLED BILL HAYWOOD.

IN EVERY BANK, ALMOST, AROUND THE WORLD, MEN WHO HATE HAYWOOD BECAUSE HE FIGHTS FOR THE POOR AND AGAINST THE ACCURSED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE UPON WHICH THE FAVORED LIVE AND GROW FAT, FROM ALL THOSE YOU WILL RECEIVE BLESSINGS AND PRAISE, IF YOU HAVE KILLED BILL HAYWOOD.

BUT IF YOUR VERDICT SHOULD BE 'NOT GUILTY' IN THIS CASE, THERE ARE STILL THOSE WHO WILL REVERENTLY BOW THEIR HEADS AND THANK YOU TWELVE MEN FOR THE LIFE AND THE CHARACTER YOU'VE SAVED.

OUT ON OUR BROAD PRAIRIES WHERE MEN STILL TOIL WITH THEIR HANDS, OUT ACROSS THE WIDE OCEAN WHERE MEN SAIL THEIR SHIPS, THROUGH THE FACTORIES AND THE MILLS DOWN DEEP UNDER THE EARTH, GENTLEMEN, THOUSANDS OF MEN, AND OF WOMEN AND OF CHILDREN--MEN AND WOMEN WEARY WITH CARE AND TOIL,--THESE MEN AND THESE WOMEN AND THESE CHILDREN WILL KNEEL TONIGHT AND THEY WOULD ASK THEIR GOD TO GUIDE YOUR JUDGMENT,--THESE MEN AND THESE WOMEN AND THESE LITTLE CHILDREN, AND THE POOR AND THE SUFFERING OF THE WORLD, THEY WILL STRETCH OUT THEIR ARMS TO YOU GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY AND ASK YOU TO SAVE BILL HAYWOOD'S LIFE.

BYRON JOHNSON: HE'S MY HERO.

HE IS TO THIS DAY.

HE WAS ABLE TO HUMANIZE FOR THE JURY WHAT THEIR REAL DECISION WAS.

IT WAS NOT A TECHNICAL DECISION.

THEY SIMPLY HAD TO DECIDE WHETHER TO KILL BILL HAYWOOD OR NOT.

NARRATOR: DARROW HAD SPOKEN FOR MORE THAN ELEVEN HOURS.

NOW WILLIAM BORAH WOULD GET THE LAST WORD, TO CONVINCE THE JURY OF HAYWOOD'S GUILT.

WILLIAM BORAH: YOU HAVE NO DOUBT OFTEN IN THIS CASE BEEN MOVED BY E ELOQUENCE OF COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE.

THEY ARE MEN OF WONDERFUL POWER.

THEY WERE BROUGHT HERE BECAUSE OF THEIR POWER TO SWAY THE MINDS OF MEN.

BUT AS I LISTENED TO THE VOICE OF COUNSEL AND FELT FOR A TIME THEIR GREAT INFLUENCE, THERE CAME TO ME AFTER THE SPELL WAS BROKEN ANOTHER SCENE.

I REMEMBERED AGAIN THE AWFUL THING OF DECEMBER 30, 1905, A NIGHT WHICH HAS ADDED TEN YEARS TO THE LIFE OF SOME WHO ARE IN THIS COURTROOM NOW.

I FELT AGAIN ITS COLD AND ICY CHILL, FACED THE DRIFTING SNOW AND PEERED AT LAST INTO THE DARKNESS FOR THE SACRED SPOT WHERE LAST LAY THE BODY OF MY DEAD FRIEND, AND SAW TRUE, ONLY TOO TRUE, THE STAIN OF HIS LIFE'S BLOOD UPON THE WHITENED EARTH.

I SAW IDAHO DISHONORED AND DISGRACED.

I SAW MURDER.

NO, NOT MURDER, A THOUSAND TIMES WORSE THAN MURDER.

I SAW ANARCHY WAVE ITS FIRST BLOODY TRIUMPH IN IDAHO.

AND AS I THOUGHT AGAIN I SAID, 'THOU LIVING GOD, CAN THE TALENTS OR THE ARTS OF COUNSEL UNTEACH THE LESSONS OF THAT HOUR?'

NO, NO.

LET US BE BRAVE, LET US BE FAITHFUL IN THIS SUPREME TEST OF TRIAL AND DUTY.

NARRATOR: IT WAS AFTER 7 P.M.

WHEN WILLIAM BORAH FINALLY CONCLUDED HIS CLOSING ARGUMENTS.

HE HAD SPOKEN FOR MORE THAN FIVE HOURS.

THE NEXT MORNING JUDGE FREMONT WOOD DELIVERED HIS INSTRUCTIONS TO THE JURY.

THERE WERE 65 SEPARATE CHARGES, AND IT TOOK THE JUDGE ALMOST AN HOUR TO DELIVER HIS MARCHING ORDERS.

MOST OF THEM DEALING WITH REASONABLE DOUBT AND THE NEED FOR CORROBORATION.

JUDGE WOOD: CORROBORATED BY OTHER EVIDENCE WHICH OF ITSELF AND WITHOUT THE AID OF THE TESTIMONY OF THE ACCOMPLICE, TENDS TO CONNECT THE DEFENDANT WITH THE COMMISSION OF THE OFFENSE CHARGED.

BYRON JOHNSON: HE HAD AN ENORMOUS ROLE TO PLAY.

I THINK HE IS THE UNSUNG HERO OF THE CASE BECAUSE HE WAS CRITICIZED IMMENSELY FOR THE INSTRUCTIONS HE GAVE.

IT WAS SAID THAT HE GAVE TOO MANY INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE, OF REASONABLE DOUBT AND THAT HE EMPHASIZED TOO STRONGLY THE NEED FOR CORROBORATION.

JUDGE: GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY, HAVE YOU REACHED A VERDICT.

JUROR: WE HAVE.

DARROW: BILL, OLD MAN, YOU'D BETTER PREPARE FOR THE WORST.

I'M AFRAID IT IS AGAINST US, SO KEEP UP YOUR NERVE.

HAYWOOD: YES, I WILL JUDGE WOOD: THERE'S NOTHING HERE.

ANOTHER JUROR: IT'S IN YOUR COAT POCKET.

FOREMAN: I GOT EM MIXED.

NARRATOR: THE JURORS HAD DELIBERATED THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT WITHOUT SLEEP.

THE ASSOCTED PRESS HAD ALREADY DISPATCHED A STORY SAYING TEN OF THE JURORS FAVORED FIRST DEGREE MURDER.

COURT CLERK: STATE OF IDAHO VERSUS WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD: WE, THE JURY IN THE ABOVE ENTITLED CAUSE, FIND THE DEFENDANT, WILLIAM D HAYWOOD, NOT GUILTY.

JUDGE WOOD: THE DEFENDANT WILL BE DISCHARGED AND THE JURY DISMISSED FOR THE TERM.

DARROW: BILL, YOU'RE FREE.

YOU'RE FREE.

HAYWOOD: GOD BLESS YOU.

BYRON JOHNSON: IT WAS ELECTRIC.

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY ELECTRIC.

I THINK CLARENCE DARROW'S KNEES UNDOUBTEDLY BUCKLED AT THAT MOMENT BECAUSE I'M CONVINCED HE THOUGHT HAYWOOD WAS GOING TO BE CONVICTED.

OSCAR KING DAVIS: BOISE, IDAHO, JULY 28, 1907.

WILLIAM D. HAYWOOD IS FREE ON THE CHARGE OF CONSPIRING TO MURDER EX- GOVERNOR FRANK STEUNENBERG.

DARROW'S PLEA AND RICHARDSON'S ARGUMENT WON OVER THE MATCHLESS LOGIC OF SENATOR BORAH AND THE CAREFUL ANALYSIS OF HAWLEY.

THE VINDICATION CAME FROM TWELVE IDAHO FARMERS, PLAIN, BLUNT, UNCULTURED MEN, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STURDY STOCK THAT IS THE BACKBONE OF THIS COUNTRY.

NARRATOR: THE NEWS OF THE NOT GUILTY VERDICT SURPRISED NOT ONLY O.K.

DAVIS BUT NEARLY EVERYONE WHO HAD BEEN FOLLOWING THE TRIAL.

DAVID GROVER: THERE ARE A NUMBER OF THEORIES OF THE VERDICT.

SOME PEOPLE TOOK THE POSITION THAT THE JURORS WERE SIMPLY TERRORIZED.

OTHERS ARGUE, NO, THESE WERE INTELLIGENT MEN.

THEY HEARD THE JUDGES INSTRUCTIONS.

THEY HEARD THE CASES PRESENTED AND THE LACK OF CONNECTION BETWEEN HAYWOOD AND ORCHARD AND THEY SIMPLY MADE THE DECISION AS INTELLIGENT JURORS.

KATHERINE AIKEN: THIS GROUP OF IDAHO FARMERS WAS WILLING TO DELIVER A VERDICT OF NOT GUILTY, WHEN THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN AT HAY MARKET OR NUMBERS OF OTHER PLACES BYRON JOHNSON: MAYBE BIG BILL HAYWOOD HIRED HARRY ORCHARD TO KILL FRANK STEUNENBERG, BUT IF HE DID - AND I THINK THERE IS PLENTY OF EVIDENCE TO INDICATE THAT HE DID - IT WASN'T PROVED AS THE LAW REQUIRED IT TO BE PROVED AND IN MY VIEW THAT MAKES THE HAYWOOD TRIAL VERDICT PROBABLY THE BEST EXAMPLE OF THE RULE OF LAW THAT I KNOW OF IN AMERICAN HISTORY NARRATOR: BILL HAYWOOD'S LIFE WAS SPARED.

BUT RADICAL UNIONISM WOULD NEVER RECOVER FROM THE ATTENTION FOCUSED ON THE VIOLENCE OF THE WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS.

HAYWOOD CONTINUED HOWEVER TO BE AN OUTSPOKEN CRITIC OF CAPITALISM AND WAS CONVICTED OF SEDITION FOR ACTIVELY OPPOSING AMERICA'S ENTRY INTO THE FIRST WORLD WAR.

WHILE ON BAIL, HE FLED TO RUSSIA, WHERE HE DIED A FEW YEARS LATER.

BEING ON THE LOSING SIDE OF THE VERDICT HAD LITTLE IMPACT UPON THE FORTUNES OF THE TWO PROSECUTORS.

IN 1910, THE PEOPLE OF IDAHO REWARDED JAMES HAWLEY BY ELECTING HIM THEIR GOVERNOR.

HAWLEY HAD NOT SUCCEEDED IN CONVICTING HAYWOOD, BUT HIS BROADER GOAL, OF REHABILITATING THE MINERS UNION, HAD BEEN REALIZED.

HIS CO-COUNSEL, WILLIAM BORAH, WENT ON TO SERVE WITH DISTINCTION IN THE U.S. SENATE FOR MORE THAN THREE DECADES.

HE EVEN RAN, UNSUCCESSFULLY, FOR PRESIDENT.

ONE CLEAR LOSER IN THIS SAGA WAS THE PRESIDING JUDGE.

VILIFIED BY GOVERNOR GOODING AND OTHERS, WOOD WAS DEFEATED IN THE NEXT ELECTION.

AS FOR DEFENSE COUNSEL, EDMUND RICHARDSON'S LIFE WAS CUT SHORT IN AN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT SHORTLY AFTER THE TRIAL.

WHILE CLARENCE DARROW'S CAREER CONTINUED TO SHINE.

IN 1925 HE AGAIN GAINED NATIONAL ATTENTION IN THE SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL, A WATERSHED MOMENT IN THE TEACHING OF EVOLUTION IN THE CLASSROOM.

AND HARRY ORCHARD.

HE OUTLIVED THEM ALL.

HIS DEATH SENTENCE WAS COMMUTED TO LIFE IN PRISON.

ORCHARD SPENT THE NEXT 46 YEARS HERE AT THE IDAHO PENITENTIARY.

JOHN RICHARDS: I THINK WHAT IS SOMETIMES UPSETTING TO THE FAMILY IS THAT ORCHARD BECAME SOMEWHAT OF THE POSTER CHILD OF THE IDAHO PENITENTIARY, BECAME A TRUSTEE, HAD HIS OWN COTTAGE OUTSIDE THE PRISON WALLS, PRETTY MUCH FREE REIGN OF THE IDAHO PENITENTIARY.

AND THAT'S TROUBLING TO US.

HE WAS TRULY ONE OF THE FIRST AND MOST HORRIFIC TERRORISTS OF OUR TIME.

NARRATOR: BUT GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG'S WIDOW, BELLE, FORGAVE ORCHARD AND HELPED CONVERT HIM TO THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST FAITH.

IN 1939 THE GOVERNOR OF IDAHO RECEIVED A PUZZLING LETTER FROM A MONTANA MAN NAMED O'REILLY.

BYRON JOHNSON: AND WHAT THIS LETTER SAID IN EFFECT WAS, YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN INCARCERATED IN THE IDAHO STATE PENITENTIARY.

THAT'S NOT THE REAL HARRY ORCHARD.

THE REAL HARRY ORCHARD BOUGHT HIS FREEDOM FOR $200,000.00 MANY YEARS AGO AND YOU OUGHT TO FIND OUT WHO IS SERVING IN HIS PLACE.

NARRATOR: COULD O'REILLY HAVE STUMBLED ONTO THE REAL HARRY ORCHARD OR WAS IT PERHAPS HIS ACCOMPLICE, JACK SIMPKINS, THE MAN WHO HAD DISAPPEARED IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE DYNAMITE EXPLOSION?

BYRON I THINK THE STUDY OF THIS CASE WILL NEVER END.

AND SOME DAY I HOPE MAYBE SOMEBODY WILL GET TO THE BOTTOM OF WHAT MR. O'REILLY WAS TALKINGBOUT.

NARRATOR: WHEN ORCHARD DIED IN 1954, AT THE AGE OF 88, HIS SECRETS DIED WITH HIM.

BUT ORCHARD HAD SET IN MOTION A CHAIN OF EVENTS THAT EXPOSED THE TERRIBLE WORKING CONDITIONS OF AMERICA'S MINERS AND THE BLEAKNESS OF THE EMERGING INDUSTRIAL ORDER.

THE HAYWOOD TRIAL HAD ALSO SHOWN A SKEPTICAL NATION THAT A WORKING MAN COULD GET A FAIR SHAKE IN AMERICA.

THAT THE LAW OF THE LAND WAS THE SAME FOR EVERYONE.

DAVID GROVER: IT WAS BOISE'S FINEST HOUR AND CERTAINLY THE FINEST HOUR FOR THE STATE OF IDAHO.

I THINK IDAHO REALLY CAME OF AGE IN THE HAYWOOD TRIAL KATHERINE AIKEN: IT'S ONE OF THE GREAT QUESTIONS OF DEMOCRACY.

HOW DO WE FIND THAT BALANCE BETWEEN THE NEEDS OF THE OVERALL SOCIETY FOR SAFETY AND OUR RECOGNITION THAT WHAT MAKES THE UNITED STATES AND IDAHO THE UNITED STATES AND IDAHO IS THIS EMPHASIS ON INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS.

NARRATOR: AND ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, IN A DANGEROUS AGE RIFE WITH DOMESTIC TERRORISM, AN IDAHO JURY HAD ANSWERED DECISIVELY THAT GREAT QUESTION OF DEMOCRACY.

THEY HAD CHOSEN INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS.

MAJOR FUNDING FOR ASSASSINATION: IDAHO'S TRIAL OF THE CENTURY WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE J.A.

AND KATHRYN ALBERTSON FOUNDATION, THE IDAHO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, THE LAW FIRM OF HAWLEY, TROXELL, ENNIS, AND HAWLEY, THE IDAHO LAW FOUNDATION, THROUGH A GRANT OF INTEREST ON THE LAWYERS TRUST ACCOUNT, WITH ADDITIONAL FUNDING FROM THE WHITTENBERGER FOUNDATION, THE IDAHO STATE AFL-CIO, THE IDAHO HUMANITIES COUNCIL, AND BY YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FRIENDS OF IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EVENTS SURROUNDING IDAHO'S TRIAL OF THE CENTURY, INCLUDING VIDEO, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND A COMPLETE LIST OF FUNDERS, VISIT OUR WEB SITE.

PHOTOGRAPHS, AND A COMPLETE LIST OF FUNDERS, VISIT OUR WEB SITE.