Clarendon AR: Where We've Been: Orr Murder

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Mother's Final Farewell

Mrs. Orr turned wearily toward her cell. She then turned back to Boardman and told him she wanted to see her daughter one last time. The coroner's jury agreed and sent Boardman to fetch the child. After he left, someone remembered that Rachel Morris had warned them that Mrs. Orr had told her on one occasion when the probability of her detection was under discussion, that if it came to the worst she would kill herself and her baby. They delegated Wallace Graham to accompany Boardman and Neva to the jail to insure that no violence was attempted.

Boardman went to the Faifer home, where Neva was staying. As he carried her through the streets toward the jail, women came out of their houses and seeing the pitiful child clinging to Boardman's neck turned weeping back inside their homes. As Boardman and Graham entered the corridor of the jail, Mrs. Orr arose from the couch and bowed gracefully toward her child.

"How do you do, Miss Neva?" she said.

"Howdy Mama," said Neva cheerfully.

When Mrs. Orr stepped toward Neva to embrace her, Boardman drew the child back.

"Why do you do that?" asked Mrs. Orr, and Boardman told her that the jury was afraid she may harm her daughter.

"I could not," she said, indignantly. She sat back down and Boardman placed the child in her lap, and sat on the opposite side of the couch. "Mama is going away, darling, and wants to tell you good-bye. Mama wants you to be a good girl while she is away," she said while Neva slowly nodded her head. "And you will love Papa and Mama, won't you darling, when Mama is away?" The child again nodded.

There was a knock on the door. The coroner's jury was impatient and feared for the safety of Neva.

"Oh, can't they wait?" she moaned. "Can't they grant me a few minutes with my baby?"

Members of the jury crowded the door and many a strong man wept and turned away from the sad scene unfolding before them. She continued her farewell.

"And say your prayers every night?" she asked the child. "Kiss Mama good-bye." After Neva embraced her mother with great affection, Boardman stood and lifted the girl from her mother's arms.

"Let me kiss her once more," pleaded Mrs. Orr. He handed the child back to her and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"There never was such a kiss before," Boardman later recalled. "Mother and child clung together as if they would defy death. A lifetime of suffering was compressed into it for Mrs. Orr. Yet, she did not shed a tear nor betray her feelings in any way which the child could comprehend. I took the child gently from her arms and she silently kept her eyes on little Neva's face until I carried her through the door."

Verdict

Monday evening the coroner's jury returned with their final verdict. They determined that Will Sanders fired the shot that killed John T. Orr, and charged the following parties with being accessories before the fact: Mrs. Ernze Orr, Rilla Weaver, Mause Castle and Dennis Record. Susie Jacobs and Rachel Morris were charged with being accessories after the fact.

Shortly after the verdict was announced, Jacobs and Morris fled town, and though warrants were issued, the pair was never seen again in Clarendon. Morris was reportedly spotted on a train at Fair Oaks, sobbing remorsefully. It was believed that she was enroute to Augusta or Newport, where her father stated she had relatives. She may have eventually ended up in Nashville, Tenn., where her grandfather lived.

At the jail, Mrs. Orr responded to the verdict by taking an overdose of morphine.

Now that all of the facts of the case were known and the four conspirators were in custody, the people of Clarendon, obviously unaware of Mrs. Orr's suicide attempt, were concerned that because Mrs. Orr was a young, well educated, and handsome actress and the mother of a small child, she might be able to use those attributes to eventually bring about her release.

The day following her arrest, Mrs. Orr sent for Clarendon's most prominent lawyer, an attorney well known for his ability to manipulate the court and juries in favor of his clients. When the lawyer emerged from a lengthy meeting with Mrs. Orr, he was met by a contingency of local citizens who informed him in no uncertain terms that they would allow him to handle the case if he wanted to, but that if he attempted to manufacture sentiment for Mrs. Orr, there would be "unpleasant results." The lawyer considered his options and declined the case.

They also argued that it was dangerous for Clarendon to have among its populace men who would take an innocent life for a price. But they couldn't justify lynching the Negroes without including the instigator of the whole affair, so when Sheriff Jackson told the mob that Mrs. Orr had taken poison and would very soon be dead, they were relieved. They told the sheriff that when she died, they'd be back for the others. The would-be lynch mob then dispersed.

Inside the jail, Boardman paid Mrs. Orr another visit. She appeared drowsy and dazed. She had begun composing a final statement, but complaining of drowsiness, lay down to rest. At 9:30 when Boardman went up again he found her reading her Bible. Mrs. Orr told him she was feeling better. "Is there nothing you can do for me, Steve?" she said.

"Nothing," replied Boardman. He told her the sheriff had just prevented her from being lynched that evening.

"Well Rilla," she said with despair, "we may as well lay down and go to praying." Closing her Bible, she returned to the couch.

"Good-bye, Mrs. Orr," said Boardman sadly.

"Good-bye Steve and God bless you," she said.

Mrs. Orr sat up until midnight reading her Bible and writing.

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