Clarendon AR: Where We've Been: Orr Murder

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Coroner's Jury

Within hours, a coroner's jury consisting of some of Clarendon's leading citizens was formed, and the first inquest was held. Orr's funeral was held the next morning at 9 o'clock at his residence, with the Rev. R.C. Moorehead delivering the eulogy. Burial was at Shady Grove Cemetery. That evening at 7:30 the coroner's jury met to discuss the case, and because they were still lacking any physical evidence or a motive, they adjourned until the next day.

On Tuesday, they questioned some of Orr's friends and neighbors, asking them if he had mentioned anyone who he may have considered a threat to him. Among those queried were Mrs. Orr, her 17-year-old friend Rachel Morris, another young friend, and a black girl named Susie Jacobs. Everyone agreed Orr wasn't known to have an enemy.

Meanwhile, the people of Clarendon were growing anxious. They were shocked and angered by the murder, and frightened by the seemingly random nature of it. Rumors that Mrs. Orr may have known more about the killing than she professed began spreading quietly through town. The consensus was that swift punishment should be dealt to the guilty party when an arrest was made.

First Arrest

On Friday morning, Aug. 5, the coroner's jury had gathered enough evidence to direct the sheriff to make the first arrest. Will Sanders, a young black man who was the Orr's house boy and lived with his mother, Rilla Weaver, in a two-room servant's house in the Orrs' backyard, was arrested and charged with firing the fatal shot. Sanders denied the charge and made statements implicating another black, Mause Castle.

When Castle was arrested, he proclaimed his innocence. He was told Sanders' accusation was collaborated by the testimony given earlier by a witness named Parker. Parker told the jury Castle had just returned to him a Winchester shotgun he had borrowed two days before the murder and that Castle told him to let no one know he had borrowed the gun. Castle was then given a dose of quinine, and as the drug took effect, he confessed that he, along with Will Sanders, Rilla Weaver, and Dennis Record, had agreed to assist Mrs. Orr in the murder of her husband.

On Saturday morning, Aug. 6, the sheriff arrested Rilla Weaver, who worked as a cook at the Orr home, and Dennis Record, a so-called "hoodoo doctor."

Final Arrest

That afternoon, the final suspect was taken into custody: Ernze Mabel Orr. Deputies R.F. Milwee and John Davis were dispatched to arrest her. It was feared that Mrs. Orr might kill herself and her child before being apprehended. Family friend Steve W. Boardman volunteered to assist the officers in order to prevent this from happening. Boardman was sent ahead to the Orr house. When Mrs. Orr answered his knock on the door, Boardman greeted her with the ruse that coroner's jury wanted to see her again. She agreed without hesitation and taking baby Neva in her arms, she and Boardman headed for the courthouse.

When Neva saw the courthouse in the distance, she sensed something was wrong and cried, "I don't want you to take my mama away." She was consoled by Boardman, and the trio proceeded to an upper room of the courthouse. Wallace Graham, John Orr's business partner, was standing outside the door where Mrs. Orr believed the jury to be awaiting her.

"Wallace, when will the jury be ready for me?" she asked.

"Mrs. Orr," he replied, "I am pained to have to tell you that you are under arrest for plotting the death of your husband."

"Why, Mr. Graham?" she said in apparent surprise.

"Rachel has made such a confession," he continued.

"I don't see how she could tell anything like that on me," said Mrs. Orr. "Mr. Graham, before God I am innocent. Before my God, my only friend, he knows I am innocent."

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