James McParland was manager of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency's Denver, CO office. After the assassination of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg at Caldwell in December 1905, Governor Gooding called on the Pinkertons to direct the State of Idaho's investigation of the bombing. McParland went to Idaho in 1906 and interrogated Harry Orchard, who had been arrested soon after the murder. McParland obtained a confession that implicated most of the leadership of the Western Federation of Miners in the violence that had rocked the Coeur d'Alene Mining district in 1899. While Orchard was convicted, the case against the WFM leadership did not hold up in court.
The collection consists of a letter from McParland to Governor Frank Gooding, Boise, ID, 3 January 1906, and contains a transcript of the interrogation of Harry Orchard.
Collection is not restricted.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Eastern Washington State Historical Society. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Museum Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Eastern Washington State Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher
James McParland Letter (MsSC 62), Eastern Washington State Historical Society/Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane, WA.
Nolan, Edward W.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) WorldCat database. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search WorldCat using these headings.