ORCHARD STALKED GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG FOR DAYS BEFORE HE KILLED HIM

Click on photo to utilize Footnote viewer for reading and enlarging.

Includes an interesting article based on an interview of Eveline "Belle" Steunenberg.

"Nevada Jane" Haywood, the grieving wife at the Boise trial, left Big Bill crying in the end.

--The Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1921

Click on picture for larger and clearer view.

Nevada Jane - Utah Phillips

"I thought the world of that man. But nothing mattered as much to him as the labor movement. For it, he gave up his God, his country, his wife and two children. . .everything!"
--Nevada Jane Haywood

WITH TEARS IN HIS EYES, ORCHARD TELLS OF HIS COLORADO WIFE

Click on image to enlarge and use Footnote viewer.



Don't you cry now!

Diamondfield Jack innocent, says today's Cassia prosecutor

Jack was saved from the gallows when his death sentence was stayed by the parole board and Governor Steunenberg. He was later pardoned by the parole board and Steunenberg's successor, Governor James Hunt.

Another short article of interest from Steve Crump over at the Times-News Magic Valley.com.
Click on link below.

Diamondfield Jack innocent, says today's Cassia prosecutor

More: Click on the article below to see how Jack makes out after being pardoned and released from prison.


JACKSON LEE DAVIS AKA DIAMONDFIELD JACK,
INMATE #820

Diamondfield Jack: A Study in Frontier Justice by David Grover

And you might remember David Grover as also the author of Debaters and Dynamiters and a special guest at premiere night (see below).

Monday, June 29, 2009
More of Premiere Night - Assassination: Idaho's Trial of the Century

DiamondField Jack, Cattleman's Association

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Bad, bad Harry Orchard became a turkey enforcer

The above article is referencing the recent blog post:
A Lot of Turkeys at the Old Idaho Penitentiary

1880 Census - Knoxville, Iowa-Steunenberg Family

Click on the image and be taken to my Footnote Spotlight for enlarging and better viewing.



Bernardus and the ten Steunenberg Children are entered on lines 4 through 14 of this 1880 Census document. 4.Bernardus, 5.Delia, 6.William (Will), 7.John, 8.Frank (future Governor), 9.Albert (AK), 10.Charles (sometimes known as Pete), 11.George ("The Major"), 12.Elizabeth (Lizzie), 13.Josephine, and 14.Jennie "Grace."

Under "Profession, Occupation...", Bernardus, William and John are listed as Shoemakers, Delia as a Housekeeper ("Keep House") and Frank as a Typesetter ("Sets Type").

Mother died leaving her family of ten (Cornelia Keppel Steunenberg died 6/5/1876 jr.). Grace, myself, the baby was then nine months old. The brunt of the care of the family and household fell upon the shoulders of Delia, a girl of twenty-two, and the oldest of the children. She used a forty-eight pound sack of flour a week to keep this growing family supplied with excellent homemade bread. She at once assumed the role of mother to the baby. My brothers say she spoiled me and maybe she did, but she made a wonderful substitute for a mother. With the help of the older children, she and my father kept the family together. Father never remarried.
--Grace Steunenberg Crookham, 1945, Keppel Family History

KJ6DOV

Officially today KJ6DOV

Kilo Juliet Six Delta Oscar Victor (NATO Phonetic Alphabet)

Shopping for radio equipment and you know what is on my Christmas list now.




W6WFV
Silent Key
Cal Steunenberg

Click below:
CQ, CQ, CQ

Veteran's Day & Update on my Mother, Brenda Steunenberg Richards

I have been neglecting the blog a bit in recent weeks. As some of the family already know, my ninety-one year old mother, Brenda Steunenberg Richards, has been quite ill and in a local hospital for about a month. The time and energy usually devoted to writing and research has given way to emotional stress and the need to focus on her recovery. Mother/Brenda has progressed through surgery, intensive care and the direct observation unit at a local hospital. As of yesterday, she has moved to a skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility. We continue to see returning flashes of spirit and feistiness as she battles on through a very challenging ordeal. As I speak today, mom is doing as well as one can expect, but with a long ways yet to go before hopefully regaining a reasonable level of strength and independence. At ninety-one, we are always mindful that each day of quality time is a gift that can slip from our grasp in the flash of a moment. Please feel free to email me if you are a family member or friend and wish to have more specific information.

Today is of course Veterans Day. I had planned to review the history of another Steunenberg family Veteran but just haven't gotten there. As always, we must remind ourselves of their many past and present sacrifices. I continue to witness the still evident struggles of some of our Vietnam era vets that trickle in through my office door seeking rehabilitation services. No family is left untouched in some way by the consequences of war and conflict.

I am also reminded again of my Uncle Cal, Sargent Cal Steunenberg, U.S. Army Signal Corp., who served in the Pacific during WWII. You might recall that I had written about his military service and some sixty years as a Ham Radio Operator, W6WFV. At the time of that blog post, the memory of Uncle Cal had rekindled childhood interests in radio that he had sparked in me as a kid. Well, Uncle, perhaps a little late, but I finally made it. I past both the Technician and General class exams last week and currently await the Federal Communication Commission's assignment of my call letters. I am shopping for radios and will hopefully be on the air soon. W6WFV, please stand-by.

IDAHO PANORAMAS

If you haven't visited the Library of Congress website, among the many great items to see are a large collection of panoramic photographs. Above is the famous intersection of Seventh and Main in Caldwell, ID that we have talked about elsewhere on this blog. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Go to the Library of Congress American Memory website and Panoramic Photographs. You can search for many other Idaho locations or any place of your liking. I tried posting the links but they were set by the Library of Congress to be temporary only. You will have to go to the website and do your own search.

Independence Depot Blown-up June 6, 1904

I love it when I find these old cards with a written account of an event on the very day that it happened. Click on the picture to enlarge.

C.C.C. (Cripple Creek Colorado) 6-6-"04 (1904)
Dear Mother:
Think of this dastardly deed. Stella has just written you. Our neighbors are all in here this A.M. and we could not hear how Len was and it was terribly agonizing at last at 8 o'clock John telephoned he was all right. I would help hang such fiends they ought to be tied to a stake and tortured for weeks and I would help do it.
Mary

On June 6, 1904, there was a horrific explosion at the Independence Depot. Thirteen non-union men were killed — some of them mutilated — and six more were injured. Sheriff Robertson rushed to the scene, roped off the area, and began an investigation.
--Wikipedia - Colorado Labor Wars

Harry Orchard Blows Up the Independence Colorado Train Depot

Who Blew Up the Independence Depot?

Orchard Tells of his Crimes


Address, stamp and postmark from the same postcard.
Mailed from Cripple Creek CO. on June 7, 1904 and arrived Ann Arbor Mich. June 9, 1904.

A Lot of Turkeys at the Old Idaho Penitentiary

The penitentiary prisoners, as seen in the photograph from an original 1924 Nature Magazine, raised and tended a large flock of turkeys destined for Thanksgiving tables. Click on the picture to enlarge for better viewing.

My understanding is that Harry Orchard assisted with the turkeys although was generally more associated with chickens. A turkey or a chicken, either one seems to fit for Harry.

The men seen in the photograph are not identified. I don't think that is Harry in the foreground but I do see a stripe down the side of the prison issue britches. Let me know if you recognize this person. The faces of the others are not visible. I imagine most of the men are prisoners. The one on the horse doesn't appear to be a guard, but perhaps the man standing in the middle of the road, and seemingly not involved in the work, is one. Hard to tell. I see some good herding dogs out there too.

That looks to be the current "Old Penitentiary Road" that comes off of Warm Springs Avenue leading back to the pen.

More Idaho Penitentiary

The Weiser Wonder

I am continuing to pull out a few older blog articles, revising as may be needed, and publishing them on Examiner.com. Check it out by clicking on the post title or below.

Click here for John's latest article on Examiner .com, The Weiser Wonder - Walter Johnson

Gateway to the Old Idaho Penitentiary

Click here for John's latest article on Examiner .com - Boise History-Gateway to the Old Idaho Penitentiary.

A Harry Orchard Sighting?

We have now been researching and debating for over a hundred years the conspiracy theory implicating (or not depending upon your view) Bill Haywood, George Pettibone and Charles Moyer in the murder of Governor Steunenberg. Most everyone, regardless of their view on the above matter, accepts that Harry Orchard/Albert Horsley was the actual bomb maker and murderer. However, another conspiracy theory has floated around from time to time regarding Harry Orchard's true identity. Did Orchard actually spend the rest of his life in the Idaho Penitentiary or was that someone else? Was he given freedom in exchange for his testimony and secretly released and relocated to another part of the country? Such a theory is certainly an intriguing one, right up there with the second shooter on the grassy knoll (Kennedy), but I have yet to come across any evidence to substantiate it--just hearsay. You may or may not be aware that this matter was actually given at least cursory attention by the Bureau of Investigations (today known as the FBI) back in 1918-1921. The documents posted here comprise six letters in an FBI file related to Harry Orchard.

A letter from a S.P.D. Long (top right) dated March 29, 1918 and sent to Sharp & Irvine Co., references and quotes an enclosed letter (but that actual letter is not in the file I obtained). Click on the letters to enlarge for reading. To quote S.P.D. Long:

"Writer requests addressee to forward the enclosed letter to the Governor of Idaho, stating that his reason for asking this favor is 'I don't want any police officer or detective to get wise to where I am at, if they did they may work a trick on me and get the man and the reward too.'

In letter enclosed to Governor of Idaho, writer requests information if there is a reward offered for HARRY ORCHARD, who assassinated Governor Studenburger (sic) and if there is such and the Governor will arrange to pay the reward to me' he can give very definite information about the man Orchard that will lead to his arrest and identification. Writer request the Governor to send him, pictures of the man referenced to, full description mentioning marks and scars if any, all of which will help in the arrest.

Writer informs addressee that he knows this man ORCHARD well stating that 'the Dirty Black hearted cur' is employed by the German Ambassador as a spy, an all around 'bad man' to do England and the United States up and that he is going to do him (ORCHARD) and get the reward of $20,000 (or maybe it is $50,000 j.r.) and 'whack up' with addressees---signed himself 'Your old friend and client-S.P.D. Long.'"

If I am looking at and understanding correctly (no guarantee), this S.P.D. Long is the person that alleges he knows Orchard, wrote the referenced letter to the governor of Idaho and the letter shown and quoted above to Sharp & Irvine Co. Brokers.

Moses Alexander would have been governor of Idaho at the time the letters were written. The other two letters above from 1918 show the follow-up correspondence that took place.

Also included in the FBI file is a letter dated August 16th, 1921 from someone by the name of "Harry Orchard", written on the persons business letterhead and regarding a request for a passport. Two other agency followup letters from 1921 are included. It would seem very unlikely that a notorious killer would go out and establish a business, advertise on letterhead under the name of Harry Orchard and request a passport if in fact he was the person convicted for the murder of Governor Steunenberg and a score of others. In addition, the signature on the letter does not match the signature of "our" Harry Orchard. I have seen a similar letter with the same business name and address before.

The series of reports/letters shown in this post were sent during the years of 1918 and 1921. The issue of Harry Orchard's identify would crop up again in 1939. It is a topic in which Justice Byron Johnson had taken a great interest and first brought it to my attention. See: Was that Harry Orchard in the Idaho Pen?

Although I have seen no substantiating evidence, I try to remain open-minded, follow the trails wherever they might lead and welcome any evidence that might shed new light on these events.

The documents above were all found on Footnote.com where I have an account. You can get limited access to the items I have saved but have to be a paying member to fully navigate the site.