Clarendon AR: Where We've Been: Orr Murder

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Note to Clarendon Citizens

At 6 a.m. Tuesday the jailer found her unconscious on the couch with an envelope clutched in her hand with "Read to all Clarendon citizens" scrawled on the outside. Inside the envelope was the following message: "As you deal with them may God deal with you. My heart fails me. I want my father to have my baby, my pictures, rugs, trinkets, etc. and I ask you from the grave to let Rilla go and take care of my baby. I forgive you all, my enemies, everyone, as I hope God will forgive me. I am prepared to meet my God. I forgive Rachel, although she sent me to my doom. I forgive her. Kiss my darling baby. Let Mr. Graham attend to everything.. I want to be sent to Waupon. I want my baby to know her mother died with Jesus by her side. Tell papa to raise her to be a pure Christian woman. Tell him I loved him and Stattie next to my darling baby. I command you through the Lord Jesus Christ to set Rilla free. I want her to stay with my baby and father no matter where they may go. Tell Mr. Moorehead I died trusting in my blessed savior that he will forgive and bless those trusted me to the last. I may not die, but I feel as though I will."

The Lynching

When word got around that Mrs. Orr was still alive, the people were suspicious that the sheriff was just playing for time when he told them that she had taken poison.

Sheriff Jackson was by this time suffering from exhaustion brought about by several sleepless nights spent protecting the prisoners from the determined mob. He went to his home in Brinkley to convalesce. Jailer Scaife was worn down as well, and because the town seemed to be returning to normal, he too went home for an overdue rest. R.F. Milwee was the lone deputy left in charge of the prisoners. At 12 o'clock that evening, a crowd of 200 men gathered near the court square. In a long, orderly procession, they marched quietly down the middle of the street to the jailhouse. Deputy Milwee met them outside the door armed only with a sidearm and told them that he had deputies inside helping guard the prisoners. The crowd didn't believe him.

They easily overpowered him and took his pistol. At gunpoint, Milwee was forced to unlock the door and let the mob inside.

On a cot inside the second entrance lay Mrs. Orr, apparently dead. They thought it was a ruse, but Dr. West rolled back her eyelid and rubbed the eyeball with his finger, proving to them that she was under the influence of poison. Rilla Weaver was on a cot next to Mrs. Orr. She was immediately seized and her hands tied behind her back. As a rope was being tied around her neck, she was asked if she had killed John Orr.

"No. I don't know who killed him but I know Mrs. Orr wanted him killed." She was then asked how long Mrs. Orr had been trying to have him killed. "Over a year," she replied. She then told them that Orr was mean to his wife, and Mrs. Orr wanted him killed. She stood without fear and answered the questions promptly.

Next, Mause Castle was brought out of his cell. When he saw the mob he cried, "Hello boys! I'm glad you came. I want to die. I deserve to die. I borrowed the gun to kill Mr. Orr and I ought to die."

"Mause, what made you do that?" he was asked.

"Oh, Mrs. Orr made me drunk and then asked me to get a gun and kill Mr. Orr. She promised me $200 insurance money. I got the gun and put it in the servant house and told Mrs. Orr where to find it. I told her that I could not kill Mr. Orr as he was my friend. Yes, I ought to die. We all ought to die. Will Sanders killed John T. Orr. He told me he did the following morning."

Dennis Record admitted being involved in trying to help kill Orr. He claimed to have tried to hoodoo him and he procured snake heads for Mrs. Orr, but never put the mixture in Mr. Orr's coffee.

When Will Sanders was brought out, he denied killing Orr but said he had been trying to get someone to do the job for Mrs. Orr. He claimed that Mause Castle had volunteered, but backed out at the last moment. A noose was placed around the neck of each prisoner. The procession began the march toward the Halpern Mill, about two hundred yards away. Everything was orderly and quiet as they reached their destination. The crowd and their prisoners climbed the steps up to the second floor of the mill, where there was a tramway that extended out to the river for the purpose of dumping the sawdust. Here they came to a halt, and the ends of each of the four nooses were tied to the tramway.

The prisoners were given five minutes to pray. After the five minutes were up, Rilla Weaver began pleading for mercy for her son, Will Sanders. She was willing to die, she said, but Will knew nothing of the murder. Rilla's pleas were in vain, and Mause Castle remarked, "Come on you n******, you know you ain't gettin' nothin' but what you deserve. What's the use of lyin'. I'm ready to die and glad of it."

When the sun rose the following morning, the four stiff bodies were found swinging six feet above the ground, the dead men placarded with the inscription "For murder or rape this is your penalty."

Crowds of people, men, women and children, moved down the levee to view the bodies which were left dangling as an example for other would-be assassins and their accomplices. Between 8 and 9 a.m., the bodies were cut down by the sheriff and buried in the bottoms across the river.

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