George Pettibone

Released
Full name:George Arthur Pettibone
Date of birth:15. 06. 1862
Date of death:03. 08. 1908
Age:46† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1900s
State:Idaho
Time Imprisoned:
1 Year 10 Months 18 Days
Support
Labor Organizing Socialism
George Pettibone

Biography

Denver storekeeper and former Western Federation of Miners executive board member, blacklisted from the mines after the 1892 Coeur dAlene strike. On February 17, 1906, Pinkerton agents seized Pettibone along with WFM president Charles Moyer and WFM secretary-treasurer Bill Haywood in Denver and rendered them to Idaho without normal extradition proceedings, on charges of conspiring to murder former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. The prosecution case rested entirely on a confession by Harry Orchard, obtained by Pinkerton detective James McParland. Pettibone was tried separately beginning in late 1907 and acquitted by an Ada County jury on January 4, 1908, after nearly two years of pretrial detention without bail. He died of cancer seven months after his acquittal.

Case

Ada County Jail
Charges: Idaho state conspiracy to commit murder of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg, killed by a bomb at his Caldwell home December 30, 1905.
Arrested: Feb 16, 1906
Incarcerated: Feb 16, 1906
Released: Jan 3, 1908
Sentence: Held without bail in the Ada County Jail, Boise, Idaho from February 17, 1906 to January 4, 1908 (687 days pretrial). Tried separately after Haywood acquittal; defense by Clarence Darrow and Edmund Richardson. Jury acquitted on January 4, 1908. Pettibone died of cancer seven months later on August 4, 1908. Verdict as recorded: No - acquitted by jury, Ada County District Court, Boise, January 4, 1908. Charges as recorded: Idaho state conspiracy to commit murder of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg, killed by a bomb at his Caldwell home December 30, 1905. Prosecution case rested on the confession of Harry Orchard, obtained by Pinkerton detective James McParland, naming Pettibone, WFM president Charles Moyer, and WFM secretary-treasurer Bill Haywood as having ordered the assassination. Pinkerton agents seized all three in Denver on February 17, 1906 and rendered them to Idaho without normal extradition proceedings.
Prosecutor: James Hawley and Senator William Borah
Judge: Fremont Wood
Convicted: No — acquitted
Institution State: Idaho

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