4
“

M: actean’ s “flash * feature
in its September issue written
by Stewart H. Holbrook.

J Tho ai
a, who a

r
n_ prison,

=

ed two years

tF Orcha
; i eonfessed . to

: FS

murdering 20 men. during his

| lifetime. The author. and
ao. Maclean’s editors, ignoring a
ee mountain of documented evi-
: to the contrary, des-
him as “a mine-union

for the
WwW ester n Federation of Miners.”
Frequently during
ticle, the author-refers to pay-
offs by mine union leaders to
Orchard for his crimes, and
without shred of proof, ex-
cept the say-so of Orchard him-
unsubstantiated in-
re mine union lead-
ers W illiam D. “Big Bill” Hay-
wood, ( — oyer and
tibone are supposed
of .v iol-

‘a murderer

the ar
the ar-

tes

self, cl
tanc

sta s wher

order ed acts

A
2. have
to nave

bos the true
rd was in
gent t of the mine
provocateur

p aid

i whose acts were planned to
bar unionization,

t Orchard saved his skin by

] testifying against the leaders

»f the union, who were acquit-
ted by a jury on July 29, 1907.

n labor rallied to

Oo

the defense of the framed
unionists. Defense attorneys
led by the Clarence
Darrow so to ake
Orchard’ w = rehea eel
story. They forced him to

that he had committed
in the court$ before
ne had confessed to
he had not in

c What is the real story of
1° Harry Orchard —* the one
t which Maclean’s editors are

blotting out?
3 Richard O Boyer
: Be, ia cual M. Morais in
oe oh ee ent book, Labor’s
} oe | RB Story, tell it, based
Se Pee” umentary —
vt obtained from an o
al government ice
pS port on Labor D
in the Sta te of Color ado. from
1880 to 1904 inclusive.”

It starts with a strike of
miners smeltermen at
Cripple Creek, Colorado, led
by the Western Federation of
Miners.

The men were seeking a
minimum of $3 for an eight-

~hour day. Frantic mine oper-
ee ‘ ators seeing the advance of
es unionization called for blood.

and Her-
their ere-

Untold
on doc-
part of it

and

unionis were imprisoned,
A scores of professional killers
: imported by the Mine Owners’
Associa

Armée

troops, 1,000 of them,
in town and 600
unionists were thrown into a

Frameups took place weekly,'

bosses: Gonrse Pettibone Geli with wife), Big BIN Haywood, Ch:

OMichils Gk the

~~ ,

Orchatd aiier ANS acre
Killer. farcry

tat ‘as 4 ey

Westerg federation at Miners. wich: pic

iwith wile!
murders
ninco

irtes: Moyer

to,

Orchard: for tus

fi oe gaye ALS
: ears
Be ype dick BNO ae

These pictures are reproduced from the Maclean’s article
purporting to prove that Harry Orchard was working

for the Western Federation of Miners:

The evidence proves

that he was a labor spy: and a murderer in the pay of the

companies.

The State
Labor was

military . bullpen.
Federation of

readying for a general strike,
and the United Mine Work-

ers came out. All Colorado

was in an uproar.
Almost a year later, June 4,
1904, the strike was still on

when a small railroad depot
at Independence, near Cripple
Creek was blown up, killing
14 scabs.

The Western Federation of
Miners was ‘instantly charged
with the crime, although the
blast had been set off by Harry
Orchard, “a fat informer with
a face like a red moon,” who
by his own later confession
was working for the Mine
Owners’ Association,

Posing as a loyal union
member, Orchard, according
to his own confession, had

been reporting union meetings
to detectives Scott and Sterl-

ing “throughout the strike.”

The, killing of the strike-
breakers set off mob
inspired by Clarence Hamlin,
secretary of the mine oper-
ators’ group. He publicly call-
ed for the shooting down of 59
union men and the same num-
to be hanged from tele-
graph poles.

A reign of terror was opened
against union halls and stores.
The miners fought back vali-
antly.and held a monster
parade on Labor Day. Finally
after 15 months, the Telluride

action,

ber

miners and smeltermen won
out — $3 a day minimum for
eight hours.

The Western Federation of
Miners came out of the strike
stronger than ever. By 1905
it had 40,000 members against
25,000 in 1901, But the Mine
Owners’ Association had not
given up. It was soon to evolve

pres:

@ Maclean's flashback falsifies history

The TRUE story of

_an anti-labor killer

FIRST OF TWO PARTS

another plan for the destruc-
tion of the miners’ union.

What follows is from Labor’s
Untold Story:

The fat spy who was Harry
Orchard, his round, red face
shining like a benevolent
harvest moon, decided that he
would pay a visit to Caldwell,
Idaho, late in November of
1905.

He didn’t quite know why,
but times were a little difficult
since the end of the Colorado
miners’ strike when he had
been on the payroll of the
Mine Owners’ Association and
had, in line of duty, killed 14
men by blowing up the Indep-
endence station.

Something might turn up in
Caldwell. His suitcase was
packed with burglars’ tools as
well as dynamite and plaster
of paris, for one never knew
when a bomb might be profit-
able again.

He had, moreover, a vague
feeling that something advan-
tageous might be worked out
in connection with former
Governor Frank Stuenenburg
who lived in Caldwell. and
was hated by many groups.

It was not necessary for him
to plan a crime. He could rely
on his instinct to lead him to
it. Corruption was so imbed-
ded in him that he could afford
to act spontaneously, to drift
with events, serene in the
knowledge that they would
lead him to a position where
he could sell out someone or
something.

He was a character so crook-
er, as he later spent months in
proving, that he himself some-
times didn’t know which side
he was on.

In the employ of the Mine
Owners’ Association, he pass-
ed as a loyal union man and
there were occasionally in-
stants when he apparently
momentarily thought he was
one.

Some Irish blood flowed
through his veins and he often
chose to pose as an honest
and convivial Irishman, a lit-
tle unworldly, a little overly

The boys in the back
liked to have him in
little game of cards.
liked him but didn’t take®™
seriously. This may have ::
fended the round little

sistent yearning to be ?
centre of events. One of
card players afterwards
“He was a sociable, 4
fellow — well liked, a
souled mick who
hurt anybody.”

weeks in the hotel, each
ning rocking back an ;
in a chair in the lobby,
cheery open sort of man Ya
one would never believ
in fact shot and killed e fl
in a dark alley, had PD if
down a factory for ie
surance, had wooed and
bed any number of

and had plotted to kidn@?
child of a partner. if

There was nothing ‘ut |
dicate that the honest
of sheep was in reality & a
fessional burglar an@ al
spy who. was a habitual |
of dynamite for profit.
he seemed the soul
nocent normalcy
squeaked back and forth
rocker, a kind of advem.
insantiy simmering
him. His inoffensive
speculatively are: pie
large and dignifie
former Governor stew! atl :
Caldwell’s leading cit of
another daily freque?
Saratoga’s lobby.

The governor Wa fil
man with a strong
a weak conscience. im
bination had brough
governorship in 18
also brought him “he yi
enemies who spout ait
been bribed to sell t oot

It was his simple
to drop in the 10}
ae time each eve!

ray home to suppet asic
Caldwell Bank, of W he
was president. Ther©™ och
read the newspapers 7
back and forth in
chair.

He was admired bY tty)
getting his while gove AR
making every eff” tof |
the Western Feder? efi.
Miners at Coeur ;
he had been brie
the largest mine

If the gover: i)
another persistent mich, Hp
“the whole-soule od: ys ‘
wouldn't hurt aBY"poub!
never mentioned et
he would have bee «00
ably surprised
Orchard, alias 6 e
gradually coming could
viction that if ne ght 4
the governor he m iit
it into something: gore
: There ought to
he. thought, 10
so many hatec ea x
ust had a 2 ind Pal |
aaa it into somelt! ot
Not that he had Beri:
thing out.

tender-hearted. He posed so ¢¢ never exami a
successfully that people fre- tpoughts too closet, He)
quently said of him, “Why, he ‘all he didn’t ware ne ae
wouldn’t hurt a flea. He’s got himself ana wis pla al
a heart as big as a barrel.” know of his of yet a
And so he rocked back and couldn’t tell. ma bh o =
forth in the lobby of the Cald- well have allows g "nee é
well’s Saratoga Hotel where quick and pass rs cost :
he had registered as Tom the mine ownt nue wii
Hogan and where he let it be Steune nberg § on the ‘
known he was a buyer of could be pe ext
sheep. (To be contint so

SEPTEMBER 21, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE —