Clarendon AR: Where We've Been: Orr Murder

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Morris Testifies

At the courthouse, Rachel Morris was told that Mrs. Orr had confessed to plotting her husband's murder, but the jury didn't tell her the details or extent of the confession. Probably out of fear that Mrs. Orr may have exaggerated her involvement in the plot, she decided to tell the jury all she knew. She told them that Mrs. Orr had been scheming to kill her husband for nearly a year. She said that Mrs. Orr offered the "hoodoo doctor," Record, $200 to cast a black magic spell over Mr. Orr. He exercised all of his black art, to no avail.

Record told Mrs. Orr that he had put a hex on John and that when the float John was riding on in the Independence Day parade on July 4 passed by her, he would fall dead. Mrs. Orr sat with Neva on the porch of a friend's house and watched for John to fall dead, but he just waved and blew a kiss to Neva.

Record then told Mrs. Orr that John's hide was too full of silver for his magic to harm him. He gave her a small pouch containing dead scorpions, lizards, and snake heads and told her to put them in boiling water and make her husband's coffee with it. Early that evening she did as Record instructed, and Orr drank the concoction. He promptly became ill and vomited, but felt well enough later to take his wife to a dance at the Opera House. At the dance, John told her that he still wasn't feeling well, and he went home. Mrs. Orr stayed until 3 a.m., then went home expecting to find her husband dead. Again, she was disappointed.

Rachel Morris' testimony added to the mounting evidence against Mrs. Orr and the others, including evidence based on statements made by Mause Castle and Dennis Record that Rilla Weaver acted as Mrs. Orr's agent in finding an assassin. What the jury needed now to render its verdict was a full confession from Mrs. Orr. They returned to the jail, and she was brought before them.

As the testimonies of Castle, Record, and Rachel Morris were read, Mrs. Orr's heart sank as she realized her best friend had betrayed her. With no one left to corroborate her alibi, she had no choice but to acknowledge her guilt. She told the jury that Rachel had tried to get her to give John ground glass, saying that it would kill a dog and she presumed it would kill a man. She said that she and Rachel had planned to form a theatrical company and travel to New York City with the insurance money reaped from her husband's death.

Orr Gives Full Confession

Mrs. Orr recounted the events of the night of her husband's murder.

On that night, Dennis Record, Mause Castle, and Will Sanders were concealed in the room adjoining the dining room, with the Winchester shotgun which Castle had borrowed. Record was supposed to shoot John as he ate his supper. The shot wasn't fired, however. After John finished eating he kissed his wife good-bye and told her he was going to choir practice and for her to go to bed and get a good sleep so she would be well enough to sing at Mrs. Thomas' funeral the next day.

After John left the house, she went into the room where the others were and asked Record why he hadn't done the deed. Record told her that he was unfamiliar with the gun and couldn't make it fire. Mrs. Orr then gave Record a gun that was her husband's and told him that it was John's custom to drink a lemonade at night before retiring. She showed him the spot in the dining room where John must be standing in order for Record to get a fair shot. To give him an unobstructed view of his target, she rolled up the curtain over the window and pinned it up with a hat pin. Then she went into the bedroom where Neva was sleeping, and lay down beside her, waiting for the report from the shotgun. When the fatal blast finally came, she jumped up and ran to John's side to minister to him. The jury had heard enough. They dismissed Mrs. Orr and went into another room in the jail to review all the evidence.

Mrs. Orr turned to Steve Boardman and said, "Mr. Steve, do you think they're going to do anything to us tonight?"

"I am sorry, Mrs. Orr, to say I believe all of you will be lynched," he replied.

"Do you think you can do nothing for me, Mr. Steve?"

"I regret very much, Mrs. Orr, to say I fear no earthly power can do you or them any good."

"Why don't they let the law take its course, Mr. Steve?" she asked.

"The whole matter is in the hands of the people, Mrs. Orr, and they will do what they believe is right," he said.

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