Clarendon AR: Where We've Been: Orr Murder

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Orr's Burial

The next day, before the body of Mrs. Orr was taken from the courthouse to the cemetery, several women from the Methodist Church sang a few hymns over her and the Rev. Moorehead read from the Bible.

At 1 p.m. her body was taken by hearse to Shady Grove Cemetery where she was laid to rest beside her murdered husband. The Orr's four year old daughter stayed at the Faifer residence for a few weeks until John's brother, James E. Orr of Emporia, Kansas, took the child to live with relatives.

News of the Clarendon lynchings spread throughout the state. Newspaper editorials contained harsh criticism and strong denouncements aimed primarily at the lynch mob, though some did summarily place the blame on the entire city of Clarendon. Said one: "Beautiful Clarendon, with her model schools and white-steepled churches, may repent in sackcloth and ashes, but the stain of this blood and guilt will forever cling to her hitherto fair name."

The Arkansas Gazette called the incident "the darkest spot that ever beclouded our state."

Epilogue As Neva grew up, she received a good musical education. She played the piano and later taught music in the Emporia school district. She married Ralph Lambert, a Kansas farmer, in September 1916. They resided in Emporia, Kansas, and raised a daughter, Irene.

In her middle years Neva was involved in a train/automobile accident from which she never fully recovered. She spent the remainder of her life as a recluse in her Emporia home. She did continue teaching music to small classes of students in her home until she died on Feb. 6, 1978, at the age of 84.

She was survived by her daughter, three grandchildren, Richard, Randy and Pat Break, and two great-grandchildren, Kelly and David Break.

Written by Doug Holloway for The Brinkley Argus.

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