Legends of the Old West - PINKERTONS Ep. 3 | “James McParland: A Murder in Idaho”

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

After 20 years as a supervisor, James McParland yearns to get back into the field as a detective. He finds his chance in 1906 when the Pinkerton agency is hired to handle the assassination of Frank Steunenberg, the former governor of Idaho. During the case, McParland matches wits with famed attorney, Clarence Darrow. Thanks to our sponsor, HelloFresh! To get started, check out our plan: HelloFresh.com/legends10fm Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial. For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frales with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC optimum points on your first five orders. Shop now at nofrills.ca. pulled into the station in Boise, Idaho. A man stepped onto the platform with a cane tucked under his arm. He was heavy set, middle-aged, and had a thick mustache. Though he was no longer the lean, physically fit Irishmen who were participated in brawls and riots with the Molly Maguire, James McParland's mind was as sharp as ever. It had been 30 years since McParland infiltrated the Molly Maguire. Since then, McParland's career had skyrocketed, and he was now one of the

most famous private detectives in the United States. But for the past two decades, McParland's role with the Pinkerton Detective Agency was more management than investigation. In 1888, he was put in charge of the Denver office, and he helped make it into one of the most prolific detective offices in the West. But after years of spending the majority of his time sitting behind a desk or networking with influential people, McParland craved action. He wanted to get back in the field. He wanted to get back in the field to do some real detective work. That was why he ventured to Boise, Idaho, to help crack a high-profile murder. Eleven days earlier on December 30, 1905, a man named Frank Stunenberg went about his business in Caldwell, Idaho. Stunenberg was the former governor of Idaho,

the fourth in the state's history. He had left office in 1900, but friends and neighbors still referred to him as governor. And at a towering six foot two, Stunenberg walked around like a man who still commanded authority. December 30th was a cold day, with temperatures hovering around zero degrees Fahrenheit. But that didn't stop Stunenberg from finishing up some year-end tasks, such as renewing his life insurance policy before the new year. By nightfall, Stunenberg had finished his errands and was walking home. At around 6 p.m., Stunenberg reached the gate to his house at 1602 Dearborn Street. He drew back the latch and pulled open the gate door. An explosion shattered the gate and threw Stunenberg ten feet in the air. He landed in a charred

heap, gasping for breath. His ears were ringing as blood ran down the sides of his head. Both of his legs were broken, his chest was crushed, and he was covered in burns. Shortly after the explosion, three doctors were by Stunnenberg's side and attending to his injuries. Unfortunately, Stunenberg's condition was fatal. Within 20 minutes of the explosion, 44-year-old Frank Stunenberg passed away. The assassination of Frank Stunenberg was a local sensation. Everyone wanted to know who had committed such a brazen act of violence

against a former governor. Within hours, current governor, Frank Gooding, shut down Caldwell to prevent the killer from escape. and issued a $25,000 reward for anyone who could catch the culprit. A sheriff's posse rounded up anyone who seemed like a suspicious out-of-towner. Among those arrested was a man who introduced himself as Tom Hogan. Hogan claimed that he wasn't a total stranger. He'd come to Caldwell on a number of occasions for business.

But subsequent questioning revealed inconsistencies in his story. He couldn't keep straight whether he was in town to buy livestock or land, or boat. And when the sheriff searched his hotel room, the sheriff found traces of gunpowder and plaster of Paris. On New Year's Day, 1906, Hogan was formally charged with murder. As it turned out, Tom Hogan was not the man's real name. He was known around the region as Harry Orchard and was wanted for bombings in Colorado. It seemed to be an open and shut case. But as the days went by, some in the Idaho government were convinced that Orchard didn't act alone. Idaho authorities needed help cracking the conspiracy. They needed James McParlin.

From BlackBarrill Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. In this season, we're focusing on the famous Pinkerton detective agent. and two of its most famous operatives, James McParland and Charlie Seringo. This is episode three, James McParland Part 3, a murder in Idaho. James McParland greeted Idaho's chief justice at the train station, and they went to a meeting with Governor Frank Gooding to discuss the investigation. It was in a messy state. Agents from the Teal Detective Agency

handled the initial investigation, but McParland didn't want to share the case with a competitor. Governor Gooding agreed. They'd pass everything to McParland and the Pinkertons, but they needed to move fast. Harry Orchard wasn't going away without a fight. There was a lawyer coming to Idaho to represent him, paid for by the Western Federation of Miners.

The WFM was founded in 1893, from the remains of a failed labor strike in the Idaho panhandle. Over the past 13 years, the union earned a reputation for militant actions. And the fact that the WFM was sending a lawyer to defend Harry Orchard seemed to confirm something that many already suspected. Frank Stunenberg's assassination was a plot by the WFM. In 1890, Stunenberg had made an enemy of organized labor when he mobilized the National Guard against union members to resolve a dispute.

The wave of unlawful arrests was seen as a betrayal by his working-class supporters. James McParland's team needed to get to Harry Orchard before the WFM did. They wanted to build a conspiracy case, but all they had was one man. That was James McParland's challenge. He needed to get Orchard to cooperate. McParlane suggested they move Orchard to an isolated cell on death row. The pretense was to prevent any allies from springing Orchard from prison, but the real reason was psychological.

McParlane believed that if Orchard were isolated for long enough and contemplating a walk to the gallows, he'd be much easier to convince to cooperate. It seemed like a smart idea to Governor Gooding and the Chief Justice. However, McParland's proposal was irregular and maybe even illegal. Orchard had yet to be tried or convicted of a crime. In order to make the transfer happen, they needed the cooperation of the presiding judge. McParland, having learned from his time glad-handing politicians in Denver, had a plan for that as well.

On January 12th, McParland met with Governor Gooding and Judge Frank Smith at McParland's hotel suite, and they discussed what to do that. do with Orchard. McParland laid out his reasons for wanting to isolate and intimidate orchard. Judge Smith seemed swayed by McParland's argument, but still balked at the illegality of the maneuver. The judge pointed out that if someone issued a writ of habeas corpus, there'd be no way to justify the treatment of Orchard. At a pause in the conversation, Governor Gooding excused himself from the room. During the brief break, Judge Smith noticed a lapel pin that McParland was wearing. The pin indicated that McParland was a member of the

benevolent and protective order of the Elks, a fraternal club that McParland had joined years ago in Denver. McParland wasn't wearing the pin just to wear it. It was a purposeful tactic. McParland knew that Smith was also an elk, and McParland chose the pin specifically for the meeting. From that point on, Judge Smith became much friendlier to McParland, and and he agreed to all of McParlane's requests. McParlane had his way. Now all he had to do was wait for Harry Orchard to get scared enough to tell him everything.

The first phase of James McParlane's plan went into action on January 19, 1906. The accused bomber, Harry Orchard, was taken to a federal penitentiary in Boise and thrown into a cell on death row. Orchard received no explanation for the sudden transfer. He was simply locked in a cell next to two convicted murderers, both of whom were waiting to hang.

The next two days were rough for Harry Orchard. He was not allowed to leave his cell, and he sat in the filth waiting for something, anything, to happen. Finally, on the third day, a man escorted by police officers paid Orchard a visit. Orchard didn't think much of the man. To Orchard, he looked like just a little. another bureaucrat or a lawyer. James McParland looked down at Orchard

through his steel-rimmed spectacles and told Orchard that if he confessed to his crimes and named his co-conspirators, the judge would show him mercy. Orchard refused to talk, and he insisted he had committed no crime. So McParland opted for a different approach. McParland asked Orchard

if he had ever heard of the Molly Maguire's. and how 20 of them had gone to the rope for killing the enemies of a labor movement. McParlane also added that some of the Mollies had turned state's evidence, even those guilty of severe crimes, and were allowed to go free. Orchard scoffed. He said the downfall of the Mollies was due to the dastardly detective James McParlane. McParlane asked Orchard if he had ever seen the famous detective, either in the papers or in real life.

When Orchard said he hadn't, McParlane revealed his identity. Orchard was shocked to learn that he was talking to the dastardly detective himself. McParlane began weaving an elaborate metaphor for Orchard. He said that men who committed violence on behalf of a conspiracy were merely tools of criminal actors, not necessarily criminal actors themselves. According to McParland, the tools deserved mercy compared to those who masterminded the plot. The masterminds were the true villains. McParland never made an explicit promise to Harry Orchard.

He never said immunity was on the table because he couldn't make that promise. Instead, he let Orchard come to his own conclusions and didn't correct any assumptions which might be overly generous. He gave Orchard three days to reflect on their conversation, during which time Orchard was allowed to bathe, shave, and exercise. McParlane returned. turned to Orchard on January 25th, and he found Orchard in much higher spirits. Orchard had given McParland's offer some thought and agreed to help the prosecution,

provided he was treated in good faith. McParland's one-man, good cop, bad cop routine paid off. He was able to pull together an elaborate confession from Harry Orchard, which stated that Orchard had been hired by the Western Federation's of minors to kill Frank Stunenberg. According to Orchard, the principal actors were Charles Moyer, president of the WFM, Big Bill Haywood, General Secretary, and George Pettybone, a labor activist. McParland's allies, including Governor Frank Gooding, were delighted to have the confession and the names of the conspirators. But as with any good conspiracy, the men at the top

were nowhere near the assassination when it happened. They were in Denver. far out of Governor Gooding's reach, but not out of McParlin's reach. McParland sent word to his men in Colorado to keep watch for Haywood, Moyer, and Pettybone, while he tried to figure out how to successfully apprehend them. McParland began leaking a false story to the Idaho Daily Statesman newspaper, which claimed detectives were hot on the trail of additional assassins who had been in Idaho during the murder of Stunenberg. The purpose of the article was to get done,

WFM leadership to relax their guard and to ensure the men wouldn't flee. While the story spread, McParlin carefully constructed a scheme to get the suspects from Colorado to Idaho. He'd have to act quick. The last thing he wanted was for his targets to get spooked. Around 8 p.m. on February 17, 1906, WF.M. President Charles Moyer, left his home in Denver and headed for the train station. He planned to catch a train to Deadwood, South Dakota. But on his way to the station, he was greeted by a couple sheriff's deputies and a Pinkerton agent. The authorities promptly put shackles around Moyer's wrists

and took him into custody. Law enforcement found a 44-caliber revolver, a hundred rounds of ammunition, and $520 in cash on Moyer. McParland's operation was in motion. They'd moved fast in order to catch Moyer before he fled all the way to Canada. But now they had to catch Haywood and Pettibone before they realized what was happening. At 9.30 p.m., armed deputies kicked down the door of a boarding house and found Big Bill Haywood in bed with his mistress. Less than three hours later, deputies arrested George Pettybone. When all three suspects were detained, the deputies dragged them to the train station and threw them onto a train bound for Boise. When the men arrived in Boise, McParland intended to treat them like he'd treated Harry Orchard.

Throw them in a death row cell to rattle their nerves. Word of the arrests reached the press almost immediately, and the media's response was not in McParlane's favor. Colorado newspapers were outraged. They labeled the arrests, kidnappings. They also called the train that McParlane. used, quote, pirate special. They were quick to point out that it was illegal to treat people like fugitives when they weren't even in the state where the crime was committed. Frustrated by the negative publicity, McParland held meetings with reporters in an attempt to control the narrative.

During the meetings, he said his actions were necessary, as authorities had an abundance of evidence of the men's guilt. He also took the time to respond to criticisms he'd been facing from his opponents among the WFM and other organizations. He mocked his enemies for thinking he was no longer someone to be feared, and he also insisted that he was not waging war against organized labor. He was waging war against anarchy and dynamite. But no matter what he claimed, organized labor fought back. While McParland was attempting to manage his image,

the WFM was actively moving to protect its members. Attorney Edmund Richardson was already building a case for the defense, and he had two easy points of attack. First, McParland was holding all the prisoners illegally on death row. Second, three of the men had been taken from Colorado, which was a direct violation of their rights. On February 26, Richardson held a meeting with labor leaders in Denver to discuss the preliminary aspects of the case. At one point during the meeting, Richardson introduced a man whom he wished to hire as a co-counsel, a lawyer named Clarence Darrow. Darrow was 50 years old, and he was a new face to the world of labor rights,

but his reputation was already strong. He had shown he was willing to play hardball if it meant getting his clients free. James McParlin didn't know it yet, but if he wanted his conspiracy case to stick, he'd have to outthink Clarence Darrow. The Roses, only in theaters, August 29th. From the director of Meet the Parents and the writer of Poor Things, comes The Roses, starring Academy Award winner Olivia Coleman, Academy Award nominee Benedict Cumberbatch,

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We were safer in space. FX is Alien Earth, an original series streaming August 12 on Disney Plus. Sign up today. 18 plus subscription required TNCs apply. By late February, James McParlane had added five new faces to the jails in Boise. One of the men was a minor named Steve Adams. Against McParlane's wishes, Adams was thrown into the same cell as Harry Orchard.

When McParlane found out, he demanded the deputies move Adams to a solitary cell. For days, McParlane's orders went unanswered. Even at his most meticulous, it was difficult for McParlane to maintain control of situation. He had a confession that outlined the conspiracy, but they were going to have to try every suspect separately. He tried to find any infraction no matter how small which he might be able to connect to the defendants. McParland was constantly on the move, traveling between towns to verify elements of the confessions he'd acquired. Eventually, McParland managed to separate Steve Adams from the rest of the prisoners. With Adams now alone, McParland went to work on him.

Before long, McParland got Adams to produce a written confession which matched Harry Orchard's confession. Feeling freshly confident in the case, McParland left to pursue other leads. And that was when defense attorney Clarence Darrow pounced. Only a few people were able to visit the prisoners, and Darrow arranged for Mrs. Adams to see her husband. But Darrow wasn't just being supportive of his client, Mrs. Adams. Adams had an assignment. While visiting her husband, Mrs. Adams smuggled out a document that Adams had written on behalf of the defense. In the document, Adams completely recanted his confession, claiming that McParland and Orchard had written the original. He said that he only signed

it because he was threatened by Governor Gooding. Within hours of receiving Adam's new document, the defense wrote a petition for the man's release, which a local judge granted. Not long, After Adam's release, McParland received a phone call which informed him that he had just lost one of his key witnesses. Rather than panic, McParland countered Darrow's maneuver with one of his own. He had a warrant issued for the arrest of Steve Adams. The warrant claimed that Adams murdered a sheriff's deputy in Colorado. Almost immediately after Adams was released, he was captured again and thrown back into jail. In reality, the warrant was a fabrication.

The murder was real, but there was no evidence that Adams was involved. McParland was gambling that there was a legitimate crime somewhere in Adams' torrid past. McParland just needed to buy himself time to find it. Luckily, McParland quickly found evidence which linked Adams to a different murder. With new cards in his hand, McParland visited Adams in jail and redoubled his efforts to get Adams to recant his second statement. But Adams refused. Adams eventually went to trial for the legitimate murder charge, which resulted in a hung jury.

It was a major setback and disappointment for McParland. He had hoped that Adams would, at the very least, serve prison time. And then McParland could use the sentence as leverage to force Adams to cooperate on the big conspiracy case. Now, Steve Adams would face a new trial, and there was a real chance he could be acquitted. McParlane desperately needed to find a way to get Steve Adams to support Harry Orchard's confession, especially as the most important defendant was about to go to trial. In the lead-up to Big Bill Haywood's trial, McParland decided he needed to get his hands a little more dirty. He was able to plant undercover Pinkerton agents as witnesses in the defense's case.

When defense attorneys called the agents to the stand, the agents would lie in order to discredit the defense's case. Lying on the witness stand was a serious crime, but that was the plan. To McParland's shock, the defense lawyers ignored his agents and never called them to testify or the lawyers discovered the agent's true identities and ran them out of town. The sneaky and illegal plan had failed, but fortunately for McParland and the prosecution, the defense seemed to be rethinking its case after the deadlock in the Adams trial.

Since Clarence Darrow had been unable to secure Steve Adams' freedom, Edmund Richardson, the WFM's lead council, chose to take point for the big trials of Bill Haywood, George Pettibone, and Charles Moyer. With the defense's best attorney, now in a supporting role, McParland and the prosecutors thought they might still be able to secure a conviction against the men who mattered. As May in 1907 began,

it was time for the first accused conspirator to face a jury of his peers. Big Bill Haywood's trial began on May 7, 1907. James McParland deliberately did not attend. The prosecution determined that his presence and his fame were too distracting. Instead, McParland stayed nearby as an advisor. Behind the scenes, he continued to try to gain confession from Bill Haywood, Charles Moyer, and George Pettybone, or to get them to turn on each other.

He was determined to tip the case in favor of the prosecution, but the men held firm. They would never turn. Meanwhile, defense attorneys opted to go after McParland. As with the Molly McGuire trials back in the 1870s, McParlane's integrity became a point of attack. They went so far as to call one of McParland's brothers, Edward, as a character witness.

James and Edward hadn't spoken in years, and Edward had quietly become friends with the Western Federation of Miners. Edward described James as a cold, heartless mercenary, an enemy to hardworking minors, and the accusation may have helped the defense's case. Big Bill Haywood's trial lasted more than two months, and in the end, the jury was moved by the defense. At the end of July, they acquitted Bill Haywood. Much to the chagrin of McParland and the prosecutors, the subsequent cases also ended in defeat. George Pettibone was found not guilty in January 1908,

and Charles Moyers' charges were dismissed. The only man who saw any jail time for the assassination of Frank Stunenberg was the assassin himself, Harry Orchard. After two and a half years of work, the case was right back to where it started. Orcher pleaded guilty and received the death penalty, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison.

Harry Orchard stood by his confession, saying that he told the truth about the men who had ordered the assassination. Not that it mattered anymore. James McParland was disheartened by the Stunnenberg case. The losses in court were bad, but he was just as concerned about his failure to plant undercover agents as witnesses in the defense's case. McParland knew he had been careful in his effort to sabotage the defense, and yet every

single agent had been discovered. He knew there had to have been a logical explanation, and he came to an inevitable conclusion. Clarence Darrow must have had a spy in McParland's office. McParland started looking into his agent's financial records to see if any received large sums of money while he was in Idaho. By December 4th, 1908, McParland believed he had found the traitor. If true, the betrayal was deep.

McParlane believed the traitor was the superintendent of the Denver office, H. Frank Carey. During the Big Bill Haywood trial, Carrie had received several payments he couldn't account for, and which were suspiciously close to the time that McParland's operatives were discovered by the defense. McParland called Carrie into his office and demanded to see Carrie's account books. Carrie's books would be able to confirm what McParland already knew. Carrie had received direct payments from someone outside of the Pinkerton agency during the trial. Carrie attempted to defend himself, claiming that he never received a dime from the WFM, but he refused to explain where the money came from.

Outraged, McParland fired Carrie on the spot. coldly telling him that he was a traitor, and he deserved worse than just a dismissal. When Kerry returned a few days later to request unpaid wages, McParland slammed the door in his face. In the years following the Stunnenberg case, McParland tried to work as hard as ever, but he was growing older and his health was declining. By the mid-1910s, William Pinkerton was gently england. encouraging his most lauded agent to retire. McParland ultimately accepted a sort of part-time retirement. He still had an office in Denver and consulted with younger agents on cases,

but he wasn't an investigator or a manager. Meanwhile, McParland's legend quickly outpaced the man himself. His work with the Molly Maguire's was now the stuff of detective lore, not just among the Pinkertons, but in wider popular culture. famed British novelist Arthur Conan Doyle used the Molly McGuire case as inspiration for his novel, The Valley of Fear, in which Sherlock Holmes helps protect a Pinkerton detective who infiltrated a corrupt labor union. In spite of McParland's failure to convict any of the leadership of the WFM, McParlane's reputation as one of America's greatest private detectives remained secure.

Even when his former colleague and friend Charlie Seringo wrote critically of McParlane's dubious tactics, it never fully fractured McParlane's image or reputation. McParlane's poor health eventually caught up to him in May 1919, and he died of a stroke at around the age of 75. In an ironic twist, it seemed that the man who had spent much of his career subverting organized labor had ultimately worked himself to death. Next time on Legends of the Old West, we begin our dive into the life of McParland's best agent, Charlie Seringo. The Texas-born Syringo spends as early years as a cowboy, but when a riot in Chicago result in a bombing,

Seringo decides to change careers. He becomes a Pinkerton detective and heads west to infiltrate political battles in Colorado, and outlaw gangs in Wyoming. That's next week on Legends of the Old West. Members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week to receive new episodes. They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials, and they also receive exclusive bonus episodes. up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. This episode was researched and written by Robert Teamstroke. It was produced by Joe Garrow.

Original music by Rob Valier. I'm Chris Wimmer. Thanks for listening.