 Orchard said that he had been paid to blow up the depot by the WFM leadership.Orchard signed a confession to a series of bombings and shootings which had killed at least seventeen men, including the explosions at the Independence Depot and the Vindicator mine.p.228

In a trial three years later, Harry Orchard would confess to having served as a paid informant for the Mine Owners Association.p.119 He reportedly told a companion, G.L.Brokaw, that he had been a Pinkerton employee for some time.p.228 Newspaper reporters were very impressed with his calm demeanor on the witness stand,p.116 even under cross-examination.