Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1907 — ODD HUMAN MIXTURE. [ARTICLE]

ODD HUMAN MIXTURE.

Many Strange Character* at Harwood Trial In Boise. The world at large has had a somewhat nauseating peep Into the court room of Ada County, Idaho, whence emanated that awful story of crime which will make the name of Harry Orchard a synonym for skulking and assassination through generations to come, so writes a Boise correspondent It has become familiar with this human monstrosity. It has formed a slight acquaintance with the fairminded jurist, Fremont Wood, and with the gifted attorneys—Richardson, with his ponderous bludgeons of speech; the adroit Darrow, with his shining lances of wit and satire; Hawley, a veritable steam engine of thought and language; and Borah, whose penetrative mind and piercing tongue are a terror to the witnesses who must submit to cross-examination.

But there is a phase of the trial with which the public has not become acquainted. There is a strange conglomeration of humanity assembled here at the call of the State and the defense. The rough, uncouth life of the mines and the mining settlements touches elbows with the polished upper crust of society, and the contrasts which result are striking. We, find the educated, cultured daughter of an ex-Governor taking the seat but recently vacated by an areh-errmtual, and ■we not wonder that her surroundings confuse her testimony. An ex-Governor follows a negro servant In giving evidence and a former lieutenant governor exchanges seats with one of Orchard’s alleged confederates. The trial is a succession of contrasts such as coaid not be found anywhere -eve in this region of contrasts, where you cau enjoy all the comforts of civilization, while but a few miles beyond lies utter desolation. Scattered about the court room are other men who place little more value than did Orchard on human life other than tlieir own., They are town marshals, Pinkerton detectives and gun men who are regarded as guardians of the law in the mining communities. Some of these are the “unterrified” deputies who in the days of the bull pen helped to starve the miners. Others are former cowboys, fellows of the Rough Itider stripe, who assisted the State governments of the West to preserve order after the Spanish-American

war was ended. They show their importance on the streets, where they jostle unoffending citizens, and several scraps have been averted by a very narrow margin. There is another body of men here who represent the law after a fashion. They are the Pinkerton squad. They disguise themselves by wearing broadbrimmed, high-crowned slouch hats such as miners wear while off duty. They loaf around the street corners, in the hotel lobbies and at the railroad stations, and their eyes are always open, though they have had little occasion to use their hands. Some ’or these men were in the Homestead riots and some of them have seen service In South America and in Europe, tracing famous criminals. It la this strange mixture of humanity which gives additional flavor to a case already pretty well seasoned with human Interest.