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The Conversion of Harry Orchard

The Adventist connection to the country’s most infamous twentieth-century assassin

BY JAMES R. NIX

Note: This article is condensed from a talk James Nix presented to the Ellen G. White Estate board in Maryland on January 17, 2014. The author is solely responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references.—Editors.

This stranger-than-fiction story begins with Albert H. Edward Horsley,1 born March

18, 1866, on a rural farm east of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.2 According to Albert, his father

“ruled with an iron hand.”3 However, his mother,4 a Quaker,5 faithfully conducted daily family worships and sent her children to church each Sunday.6 Unfortunately, Albert was not converted.7

About 18888 Albert married Florence Fraser.9 The couple started a cheese business, and eventually had a daughter, Olive.10 Life spiraled downward, though, as Albert incurred debts and created difficulties for the cheese business. Then in 189611 he ran off with a married woman12 to British Columbia.13 The woman soon returned home, and Albert began moving from place to place, working jobs in British Columbia and various U.S. states.14 In time he became involved with the Western Federation of Miners, eventually becoming the union’s hired hit man.15

Albert used numerous aliases, but about 1896 he became known as Harry

Orchard16—the name by which he is most frequently remembered.

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In 1899 Orchard participated in the blowing up of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mill

Concentrator in Wardner, .17 In 1904 he helped bomb the train depot in

Independence, . This second bombing killed at least 13 men and badly injured 24 others.18 Estimates of the total number of people Orchard murdered range from 17 to 26.19

He also unsuccessfully attempted to kill the governor of Colorado, two Colorado Supreme

Court justices, an adjutant general of Colorado, and the president of a mining company—all at the behest of the top officers of the miners’ union.20 In addition to these crimes, Orchard became a bigamist in 1903 when he married a widow with three children.21, 22, 23, 24

The Assassination of

In late 1905 Orchard undertook another assignment for the officers of the Western

Federation of Miners—the killing of Frank Steunenberg, the 44-year-old former governor of Idaho who had served from 1897 to 1901.25 The Steunenbergs lived in Caldwell, Idaho.

During the 1899 miners’ strike in the Coeur d’Alene region of the state, Governor

Steunenberg, a Democrat who had been elected with the support of the miners’ unions, requested President William McKinley, a Republican, to send in federal troops to restore order. The leaders of the miners’ union never forgot or forgave him.26

On at least three occasions Orchard tried unsuccessfully to murder the former governor, but each time something intervened that prevented him from doing so.27

But on Saturday night, December 30, 1905, everything changed. Orchard rigged a bomb that exploded when Steunenberg opened the gate to his house.28, 29 The mortally injured man died within 20 minutes.30 Two days later, on January 1, 1906, Orchard was arrested for the murder.31

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Struggling With God

In his prison cell sleep eluded Orchard. He was certain that the powerful Western

Federation of Miners would back him in court and succeed in getting him off, but the guilt of his past deeds began to haunt him. He questioned whether God could forgive him for the horrendously despicable things he had done. In his heart Orchard believed that God might forgive him only if he made a full and complete confession.32

Orchard was moved to the Idaho State Penitentiary in Boise,33, 34, 35, 36 where

Detective James McParland interviewed him. Orchard eventually opened up to McParland, who assured him that according to the Bible, God most certainly forgives sinners. Orchard later agreed to tell the detective his entire story. He also wrote out his confession and gave it to the prosecuting attorney.37,38

On May 12, 1906, Orchard wrote to his first (and only legal) wife, Florence, and asked her to forgive him for deserting her and their daughter 11 years earlier.39 He also told her that he had accepted Christ.40 She soon responded, offering her complete forgiveness, and added, “I shall never cease praying for you.”41

The Gift of a Bible

Shortly after making his full confession, Orchard received a gift of a Bible from David

Paulson, founder of the Hinsdale Sanitarium near Chicago,42 who had read about Orchard in a newspaper. Orchard soon began studying the Bible with a fellow inmate,43 who also had been given a Bible by a friend who was a Seventh-day Adventist.44

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One of the topics the two men studied was the seventh-day Sabbath. Then through the intervention of an Episcopal speaker at the prison, Orchard also began Bible studies with John Edwin Froom from Boise,45 whose son, LeRoy E. Froom, later became a leading

Adventist editor and scholar.

Star Witness

Orchard was to be the star witness in two court cases that the State of Idaho brought against , secretary of the Western Miners Federation, and a second person who also was part of the union’s inner circle. For eight days during the first of the two trials, defense attorneys grilled Orchard. As many newspapers reported, however, the attorneys failed to break his story, including his claim that he had become a Christian.46

Attorney , another member of the defense team, had no use for Orchard’s conversion claim. During his summation to the jury Darrow said, “I want to say a few words for the benefit, not of this jury, but of those sickly, slobbering idiots who talk about Harry

Orchard’s religion. . . . The English language falls down on Orchard and likewise upon all those idiots who talk about Orchard’s regeneration.”47

No promise of leniency was given Orchard for testifying for the prosecution. Rather, it was Orchard’s hope that somehow the terrible trail of violence that for years had been part of the labor-management struggle in the mines could be broken. Knowing of others who were on the federation’s assassination hit list, Orchard hoped that his testifying would prevent their murders.48

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As Orchard had assumed would happen, both union leaders were acquitted, but by telling the truth, he had done his best to spare other lives, while also clearing his own conscience before God.49

In March 1908 it was Orchard’s turn in court, but obviously the labor union would no longer be there to defend him.50 Despite his initial “not guilty” plea, he now knew that as a Christian he could no longer make that claim. Consequently, he changed his plea to

“guilty.” He was then sentenced to die by hanging51 for the murder of former governor

Frank Steunenberg. His attorney applied for clemency,52 and Orchard’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.53

Amazing Forgiveness

Following Orchard’s sentencing, the former governor’s 21-year-old son, Julian

Steunenberg,54 came to see him. He gave Orchard a package that contained several pamphlets, including a copy of Ellen White’s book Steps to Christ.55 Julian also had a message for Orchard from his mother, Eveline Belle Steunenberg. She urged her husband’s now-convicted killer to read the tracts and to give his life fully to Christ. She and her children were Seventh-day Adventists.

Belle Steunenberg’s actions deeply moved Orchard. “Her forgiving attitude toward me convinced me that she surely must be a true Christian,”56 he said, calling it “the supreme factor in leading [him] to accept Christ fully and then to join the Adventist faith.”57

In 1922 Belle and her children were among those who wrote to the then-governor of Idaho, asking that Orchard be pardoned and set free.58

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Belle became a Seventh-day Adventist through reading the church periodical

American Sentinel. While Belle’s husband was governor of Idaho the church’s International

Religious Liberty Association sent him a copy of the American Sentinel, published by the

Pacific Press Publishing Association in Oakland, California. After reading the papers at the office, the governor would take them home, where his wife also read them. In that way she learned about the seventh-day Sabbath.59 Although Belle was one of the leading members of the Presbyterian church in Caldwell, she left the Presbyterians to become an Adventist.

There were only eight Adventists in Caldwell at the time the little group was organized the year before Belle joined.60 In 1909 she donated the property on which the first Seventh-day

Adventist church in Caldwell was built.

Her husband did not join any church. Occasionally Steunenberg attended the

Presbyterian church with his wife, but he never became a member.61 When his wife became an Adventist, he allowed their son, Julian, to attend Walla Walla College. He also welcomed

Seventh-day Adventist pastors to his home.62

Although Orchard had tried to kill the former governor at least three previous times,

Steunenberg’s widow and children believed God spared the governor’s life long enough for him to make his decision for the Lord. On the Sabbath morning of the day he was killed,

Steunenberg told his family for the first time that he had decided that he would no longer conduct business on Sabbath,63 and he joined his wife and children for family worship. This brought a measure of solace and comfort to the grieving widow and her children.64

Making the Decision for Baptism

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Harry Orchard was baptized in the Idaho State Penitentiary on January 1, 1909, by

Elder W. W. Steward,65 president of the Southern Idaho Conference.66 A short time afterward Orchard wrote to his wife: “About two months ago I was taken into the Seventh- day Adventist Church of Boise, as a full member, without a dissenting voice. . . . I feel greatly honored, and my earnest thought is to live worthy of their confidence.”67

During the years he was serving his life sentence, Orchard occasionally corresponded with his wife in Canada (she never remarried),68 organized and operated chicken- and turkey-raising businesses for the penitentiary,69 was allowed to live outside the walls of the prison for a number of years in his own small, self-built cabin,70 and made and sold furniture, combs, and shoes. He also studied his Bible and other religious literature, and shared his faith with others.71 At the time of Orchard’s death on April 13,

1954,72 he was the longest-serving prisoner in the Idaho State Penitentiary—some 46 years altogether. Orchard’s funeral service was conducted in the Boise Seventh-day

Adventist Church; he is buried in the Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise.

The Ellen White Connection

Ellen White and Harry Orchard did not correspond, nor did she ever even mention him in her writings. But there is one very significant link.

On November 3, 1890, in Salamanca, New York, 15 years before Steunenberg was assassinated, Ellen White received a vision. It wasn’t until the following March, during the

General Conference session held in Battle Creek, that she shared what the Lord had shown her in that vision. She then described a meeting in which the discussion revolved around removing any mention of the seventh-day Sabbath from the American Sentinel. Some in that

8 meeting stood and acknowledged that Ellen White’s description was accurate regarding what had taken place the night before. “Last night?” she is reported to have exclaimed. She thought the meeting had been held months earlier.

The vote to remove all discussion of the seventh-day Sabbath from the American

Sentinel was soon rescinded.

Had it not been for the Salamanca vision in 1890 and the subsequent series of events in March 1891, it’s likely that the issue of the Sabbath would not have been in copies of the American Sentinel sent to Frank Steunenberg during the years he was governor of

Idaho, and Belle would not have become a Seventh-day Adventist through reading the copies of the Sentinel her husband brought home. Without Belle Steunenberg, Harry

Orchard, by his own admission, probably would not have become a Seventh-day Adventist.

What Can We Learn?

The story of Harry Orchard raises many questions, but also teaches important lessons.

First, God does not always overrule our sinful plans. Although three times God prevented Harry Orchard from assassinating former Governor Steunenberg, in the end we live in a sinful world. When Christ returns and all wrongs are finally made right, will we learn why God did not continue to prevent Orchard from carrying out his murderous intentions against Steunenberg and others? Orchard had the same question. “I have often wondered,” he wrote, “why my poor life was spared when I had sent so many to an untimely death.”73

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The exploitation of the miners by the mine owners resulted in deaths on both sides of the dispute, but the killing and destruction had to be stopped. When Orchard became a converted Christian, his confession is credited with saving the lives of many already marked to be assassinated, plus an unknown number of others who would have been caught in future disputes. As tragic as was the death of former governor Steunenberg, undoubtedly it, along with Orchard’s full confession, resulted in the saving of many other lives. Although God does not undo the results of our sins, He does attempt to salvage something positive from the awful situations we sinners cause.

Second, when it comes to saving a soul, there is nothing that can compare to the love and forgiveness of a genuine Christian.

And last, God is eager to forgive us for whatever we have done, no matter how horrendous the actions.

While we are right to thank and praise God for Harry Orchard’s radical life transformation, we must also acknowledge that during his early years his demonic actions had a terrible impact on many people, including the wives and children of the murdered men. Although God is willing and eager to forgive us, the aftermath of our sinful actions may impact future generations for many years to come.

The Reclaimed Harry Orchard

There is probably no better end to the story of Harry Orchard than his own description of the change that occurred in him as a result of his conversion to Christ. “In

1931 Orchard told a reporter: ‘The Orchard that blew up mines and killed men as I did was another Harry Orchard who was steeped in sin. I am the reclaimed Orchard that is seeking

10 to atone for the sins of the old Harry Orchard. The Bible says it can be done, and I believe it.”74

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James R. Nix is director of the Ellen G. White Estate in Silver Spring, Maryland.

1 See various public family tree entries on Ancestry.com.

2Harry Orchard, The Confessions and Autobiography of Harry Orchard, 1907, 3; in Harry Orchard, Harry

Orchard: The Man God Made Again, 1952, 17, the county is mistakenly stated to be “North Cumberland

County” when in fact the correct name is “Northumberland County”; Northumberland Heritage, A Journal of

Local History, vol. 1, no. 1, undated, 23; Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 1956, 19.

3 Lyman Henry Horsley, birth given variously March 1841?, about 1841, and 1836-May 14, 1900, and unknown. See Jan Boles, “A Public Silence Broken: The Murderer Harry Orchard’s Forgotten Family,” The

College of Idaho, Caldwell, Idaho, June 2012, and various public family tree entries on Ancestry.com.

4 Margaret McKenna (or sometimes McKenny), June 29, 1839, or 1840, or 1843-July 28, 1896, or May 28,

1895; see Jan Boles, “A Public Silence Broken,” and various public family tree entries on Ancestry.com.

5Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 141: “My mother was a Quaker, and in my boyhood days I attended the

Quaker Church and Sunday school”; handwritten manuscript written by Harry Orchard, untitled, dated

December 26, 1948, Harry Orchard Collection (on page 3 Orchard states, “In the neighborhood there was a little Quaker Meeting House where I attended Sunday School regularly”); LeRoy E. Froom, “Harry Orchard,” typescript of “Funeral Sketch for Service at Boise, April 18, 1954”: “His mother was an earnest Christian. She was a Quaker whose godly life he revered, and whose prayers and entreaties kept him from leaving home.”

Interestingly, Robert G. Grimmett, in Cabal of Death, 1977, 275, inserts the following footnote: “An 1871 personal census of the Brighton Township [in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada] lists Henry Horsley

[Albert’s father], age 35, Church of England, English, servant, Margaret [Albert’s mother], age 29, Wesleyan

Methodist, Irish.”

6 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 18.

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7 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 22, 24, 29-30, 32-34.

8 No precise date for their marriage has been found, despite searching Ancestry.com; from Harry Orchard,

Autobiography, 5, the year appears to have been 1889; in Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 22, the year could have been 1888; Stewart Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 1956, 20-21, places the marriage in 1889; but Robert C. Grimmett, Cabal of Death, 1977, 16, places the marriage in June 1888. Another clue as to the marriage date is found in Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 35, where Orchard states that “after about eight years it was the old story of another wrecked home.” Since he left a few months after the birth of his only daughter, Olive (May 11, 1896), it would appear that his departure was in 1896, implying that he had married in 1888.

9 Florence Esther Ann Fraser-Horsley, full name given in Jan Boles,” A Public Silence Broken,” 4: July 3,

1867—November 5, 1939, according to information from Ancestry.com; death date given in Jan Boles, “A

Public Silence Broken,” [5].

10 Olive May Horsley, May 11, 1896—November 9, 1972, was born in Brighton, Ontario, Canada, and died

November 9, 1972 (information given in Jan Boles, “A Public Silence Broken”).

11 Harry Orchard, Autobiography, xii, states that Albert’s daughter was about 7 months old when he abandoned his wife and daughter (Olive May Horsley was born May 11, 1896).

12 Called “Mrs. S___” in Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 35-38; the woman is named “Hattie Simpson” in Robert

G. Grimmett, Cabal of Death, 19-21; “Mr. and Mrs. S” are the names used in Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky

Mountain Revolution, 22-23; in Saga, True Adventures for Men, June 1958, 16-17, the woman’s name is given as “Mrs. Styles.” Presumably this was a fictitious name created for the story.

13 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 36.

14 Stewart H. Holbrook, Murder Out Yonder, MacMillan Company, New York, 1941, 43-44, 48.

15 Ibid., 49-51.

16 Inmates of the Idaho Penitentiary, 1864-1947, 64, 73; J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 555; see also Lukas for the following aliases: “Thomas Hogan,” 66, 95, 558, 657; “Harry Orchard,” 95, 553-555, 657; “Albert Horsley,”

657; also: “John Little,” Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 23-24; Harry Orchard, Harry

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Orchard, 35-37; the 1897 date is given in Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 25; the 1896 date is implied in Orchard’s comments as a trial witness. See J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 553.

17 Harry Orchard, Autobiography, 30-38; Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 41-42.

18 Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 128; Robert G. Grimmett, Cabal of Death, 102-105.

19 J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 199, 498. According to Lukas, Orchard is said to have confessed to a total of

26 murders, though the prosecution in the trials at which he we was a witness generally used the number 18.

Orchard’s last murder was carried out on Saturday evening, December 30, 1905.

20 J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 199.

21 There is an Ida M. Toney listed in the 1900 and 1910 federal censuses as living in Teller, Colorado (close to

Cripple Creek). Her birth date is listed as February 1867 (1900 census) and 1866 (1910 census). She was stated to be a widow living with three children: Mark J. (age 11 and 21); Roy A. [or Albert R.] (age 7 and 16); and Roy A. [or Alvin R] (age 7 and 16), depending upon whether it is the 1900 or the 1910 census that is being viewed. In the 1900 Cripple Creek directory for all cities and towns of Teller County, Colorado, a Mrs.

Ida M. Toney is listed on page 110 as a housekeeper. She was living in Altman, which on page 89 of the directory states that Altman was an incorporated city of about 2,500 inhabitants, located at 10,700 feet elevation (claimed at the time to be the highest incorporated city in the world) and approximately two miles east of Cripple Creek, Colorado.

22 J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 562; Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 88 (no name given, just the date); see also Robert G. Grimmett, Cabal of Death, 253.

23 Irving Stone, Clarence Darrow for the Defense, Doubleday and Co., Inc., 1941, 199.

24 “Ida Toney,” Ancestry.com; Robert G. Grimmett, Cabal of Death, 55; Stewart L. Holbrook, The Rocky

Mountain Revolution, 88.

25 Wikipedia states that Frank Steunenberg was born August 8, 1861, in Keokuk, , and died by assassination on December 30, 1905, in Caldwell, Idaho.

26 James H. Hawley, “Address,” Steunenberg Memorial, Capital News Publishing Co., Boise, Idaho, 1929, 20-21;

Fremont Wood, The Introductory Chapter to the History of the Trials of Moyer, Haywood, and Pettibone, and

Harry Orchard, The Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho, 1931, 13-14; Frank W. Steunenberg, Greater Love,

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46; Frank Steunenberg, The Martyr of Idaho, 58-59, 67 in the 111-page edition, and 92-93, 110 in 174-page edition; Harry Orchard, Autobiography, 197-198; J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 98, 164. Others saw things differently. See J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 564-567; Joseph R. Conlin, Big Bill Haywood and the Radical

Union Movement, Syracuse University Press, 1969, 69; William D. Haywood, Bill Haywood’s Book: The

Autobiography of William D. Haywood, International Publishers, 1929, 1966, 213-214, 222; Arthur Weinberg, ed., Attorney for the Damned, Simon and Schuster, 1957, 446-447; Peter Carlson, Roughneck: The Life and

Times of Big Bill Haywood, W. W. Norton and Co., 1983, 122-123, 124-132, 140-141.

27 Harry Orchard, Autobiography, 208-211, 215-218; Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 76-79; J. Anthony Lukas,

Big Trouble, 557-559; Other sources state that Orchard also tried to kill Steunenberg while the former governor was staying at the Idanha Hotel in Boise, Idaho. See Dick d’Easum, The Idanha: Guests and Ghosts of an Historic Idaho Inn, Caxton Press, Caldwell, Idaho, 1984, 2001, 48; David H. Grover, Debaters and

Dynamiters, 60; J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 562; Frank W. Steunenberg, Greater Love, 47; Frank

Steunenberg, The Martyr of Idaho, 64 in 111-page edition, 103 in 174-page edition; Orchard in Confessions and

Autobiography of Harry Orchard, 201-204, admits to seriously considering assassinating Steunenberg in the

Idanha, but at least as Orchard later recalled events in his autobiography, he never actually planted a bomb in the governor’s room in the Idanha Hotel. Admittedly, this is at variance with Orchards sworn court testimony, just referenced, as quoted in Lukas, Big Trouble, 562.

28 Room 19, Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 206, 218.

29 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 79; Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 210.

30 Frank Steunenberg, The Martyr of Idaho, 67-69 (111-page edition), 109-113 (174-page edition).

31 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 76-82; Stewart H. Holbrook, the Rocky Mountain Revolution, 197, 217.

32 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 89-92; J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 173, 174.

33 Harry Orchard, Autobiography, 229; Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 219.

34 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 93; Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 220; David H.

Grover, Debaters and Dynamiters, 62.

35 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 93.

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36 Ibid., 92-98. This internal spiritual struggle began while Orchard was in the Canyon County Jail in Caldwell and continued for some time after he was transferred to the Idaho State Penitentiary in Boise, until he finally decided to write out his full confession.

37 Ibid., 94-99; J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 174-175, 195-200.

38 McClure’s, July 1907, 294-306; August 1907, 367-379; September 1907, 507-523; October 1907, 658-672;

November 1907, 113-129.

39 J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 593.

40 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 101.

41 J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 593.

42 The Life Boat, February 1911, 41.

43 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 138, 139, 159. Orchard consistently misspells Dufner’s name as “Duffner.”

44 Ibid., 139.

45 See Albert E. Horsley diary entries for 1/6/16; 2/5/16; 2/20/16; 3/10/16; 4/17/16; 5/5/16; 5/28/16;

7/16/16; 8/5/16; 8/20/16; 10/21/16; 12/2/16; 11/12/26; 12/27/26; 1/19/27; 2/27/27; 3/11/27;

6/26/27; 8/14/27; 8/16/27; 9/6/27; 10/12/27; 11/29/27; 1/4/28; 2/6/28; 3/17/28; 9/25/28; 11/19/28;

5/10/30; 6/19/30; 7/5/30; and 7/29; 30. Even after Froom and his wife moved to Florida, Froom and

Orchard continued to correspond by mail; see diary entries for 9/27/30; 10/5/30; and 11/2/30.

46 Admittedly, not all newspapers accepted Orchard’s version of things, or that his conversion to Christianity was why he was testifying, but many did.

47 J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 458.

48 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 109-111.

49 Ibid., 107-111, 116-120.

50 Dedicated April 4, 1906, it is no longer standing; the current Canyon County courthouse opened in 1975.

51 Fremont Wood, Introductory Chapter, 35; James H. Hawley, ed., : The Gem of the Mountains, vol. 1, 1920, 880, states the date was March 8, 1908; Robert G. Grimmett, Cabal of Death, 250, states the date was March 10, 1908. The confusion seems to be as simple as a typo in the case of Hawley, and the date of the first court hearing rather than the second one in the case of Grimmett. Orchard was in court on March 10 to

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enter his plea of guilty or not guilty. Earlier he had pleaded not guilty, but on the tenth he changed his plea to guilty. Judge Fremont Wood told Orchard that by changing his plea there would be no trial and the automatic penalty would be death. The judge sent Orchard back to prison to think over his changed plea. Orchard was back in court on the eighteenth, at which time he pleaded guilty and was therefore sentenced to death by hanging.

52 Robert G. Gimmett, Cabal of Death, 254.

53 James H. Hawley, ed., History of Idaho, vol. 1, 880. According to Robert G. Grimmett, Cabal of Death, 1977,

254, Orchard’s sentence was commuted by the State Board of Pardons on July 1, 1908.

54 Born July 1, 1886, according to records on Ancestry.com; J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 16.

55 Apparently among the things that Eveline Belle Steunenberg had her son take to Orchard that day was Steps to Christ. See LeRoy E. Froom, “Harry Orchard,” 3.

56 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 142.

57 Ibid., 143.

58 Robert G. Grimmett, Cabal of Death, 266, 267.

59 Central Union Outlook, August 11, 1914, 6; Review and Herald, August 13, 1914, 22; Southern Union Worker,

December 24, 1914, 408; Pacific Union Recorder, December 31, 1914, 7; Southwestern Union Record, January

5, 1915, [8]; North Pacific Union Gleaner, January 7, 1915, 5; Columbia Union Visitor, January 21, 1915, 7;

Eastern Canadian Messenger, February 2, 1915, 4.

60 J. Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 47.

61 Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 201.

62 Frank W. Steunenberg, Greater Love, 52-55; Frank Steunenberg, The Martyr of Idaho, June 1974, 62 in 111- page edition, and 98-99 in 174-page edition; Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 201-202; J.

Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 16-17.

63 Frank W. Steunenberg, Greater Love, 1952, 52-55; Frank Steunenberg, The Martyr of Idaho, June 1974, 65-

66 in 111-page edition and 106-108 in 174-page edition; Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 86-87; Central Union

Outlook, August 11, 1914, 6; Review and Herald, August 13, 1914, 22; Southern Union Worker, December 24,

1914, 408; Pacific Union Recorder, December 31, 1914, 7; Southwestern Union Record, January 5, 1915, [8];

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North Pacific Union Gleaner, January 7, 1915, 5; Columbia Union Visitor, January 21, 1915, 7; Eastern Canadian

Messenger, February 2, 1915, 4; Central Union Outlook, February 16, 1915, 3; Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky

Mountain Revolution, 201-202.

64 Frank W. Steunenberg, Greater Love, 53-58; Frank Steunenberg, The Martyr of Idaho, 65-69 in 111-page edition, and 106-113 in 174-page edition.

65 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 159-160; Steward H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 278. In

LeRoy Froom, “Harry Orchard,” 3, Froom mistakenly dates Orchard’s baptism to January 9, 1908.

66 LeRoy E. Froom, “Harry Orchard,” 3; Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia (1996), 10:739.

67 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 162.

68 See Albert E. Horsley’s diary entries for 2/14/16; 5/10/16; 9/30/16; 12/11/16; and 1/15/17. There are no other entries in Albert E. Horsley’s extant diaries for 1916, 1917, 1919, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, or 1930 that mention either receiving letters from or writing letters to Florence. Orchard records only two contacts with his daughter, Olive, in his diaries. He records receiving a letter from her on January 11, 1916, which he responded to on January 24, 1916; he sent her $100 on December 26, 1928, to which she replied on January

17, 1929. Unfortunately, when his small cabin burned, it is reported that his remaining letters were destroyed in the fire. See Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 148.

69 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 144, 148.

70 Ibid., 148.

71 Albert E. Horsley diary, May 26, 1929, “Started a Bible class.”

72 Harry Orchard Collection, funeral service folder; Stewart H. Holbrook, The Rocky Mountain Revolution, 303.

73 Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 105.

74 Post, October 18, 1931, 3, quoted in Harry Orchard, Harry Orchard, 162.