Part Five
The trial was filled with media fanfare. Judge Charles H. Donnelly chastised two Chicago newspapers for reporting “Fake News.” A headline in the May 26, 1916, “Adless Newspaper,
Daily Except Sunday” paper read: FAKERS IN ORPET CASE JOLTED BY JUDGE. The lead-in heading read:
Loop Papers Are Aimed At by Threat of Judge ––– Some Live Correspondents
May Be Thrown Into Jail ––– Fakes Must be Replaced by Straight News.
The specific papers the Judge was targeting were “The Hurst papers” and the “Tribune,” which, according to The Day Book, had everyone from the copy boys to reporters writing “sob on the case.” The Day Book reported, The first big fake pulled since the start of the trial was the Trib’s famous story of the “midnight visit of Celeste Youker to the cell of Will Orpet.”
Another fake story, is turns out, that riled the ire of the Judge Donnelly was the report that the Coroner discovered poison crystals on the hands and cheek of Marion Lambert. The Judge called in the Coroner who denied giving such an interview to the Tribune reporter.
The other storyline pushed by the newspaper was Orpet’s lover letters not showing his true love for Marion Lambert. The Day Book writer, Jane Whitaker, wrote: Oh, the sorry tawdriness of the wooing of Marion Lambert by Will Orpet.”
Whitaker reported that Orpet declared, “I never loved her,” when he was arrested in connection with the murder. He then closed his lips. Whitaker opined that there was not “a single holy thought that love inspires penned in one of those [love] letters.”
Despite the attacks on Orpet character, It appears the investment in the Defense’s legal team paid off. The jury AQUITTED Will Orpet on the charge of murdering Marion Lambert, much to the shock of the prosecution’s attorney, Mr. Ralph P. Dady, and Marion’s parents.
Will disappeared from Lake Forest after the trial, never to be seen again in that city. There were reports he changed his name and moved far from Lake Forest. Will’s life after his trial is that of a man trying to find his way in life. For certain Will moved to California. There is no document or evidence that Will Orpet completed his college education.
old spirituals 
Another brilliant story from Nicola Di Crescenzo! The image of the girl standing in the rain and smiling with a black-stained mouth is very creepy!
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I am humbled by the compliment and very appreciative.
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Will definitely murdered Marion. If she lied about being pregnant, she was probably desperate to stop his new relationship. Who knows what else she would do? That was probably Will’s thinking anyway. Great story, Nicola!
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Thanks you, Ruby.
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What a sad story! Both Will and Marion seemed to be troubled young people. Possibly faking a pregnancy to win a boyfriend back isn’t the portrayal of a stable person. Will’s changing story of the meeting with Marion is troubling. Whatever happened, both families lives were destroyed. Will also lived a very unstable life after the tragedy. I’m not sure what really took place in those woods that day, but the jury must not have been convinced of murder beyond a reasonable doubt.
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You’re right about Will. He exemplifies the consequences of a bad life decision. He wanted to become a journalist to write stories, instead he became the story for other journalists to write about his entire life.
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Great research on this, Nicola! I’m always interested in what becomes of people after the story.
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That’s a great point. He escaped prison but there was some bit of justice. What a life he could have had!
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It’s a little creepy to think that Marion can still be seen off the side of the road. It’s hard to say what truly happened since we only know Will’s side of the story, although it’s odd his story kept changing and the case changed the trajectory of his entire life. I believe it was an accident whether it was him that gave her too much poison or her that took to much. She wanted love, not death. Will didn’t want her dead, he just wanted someone else. It seems like whatever she had planned to do, she would have told Josephine.
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Those are very good points! There was no malice between them. And Will told many versions of what happened but he certainly never told the truth. Curious what the author will say.
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I believe we have a meeting of the minds.
While researching this story, by pure coincidence, I spent a week in and around the Lake Forest area. I even drove Sheridan Road. I wasn’t aware of Marion’s apparition until later, so I didn’t try to experience it for myself. Suffice it to say, Will was Marion’s first true love which made him irresistible. I believe she would have done anything to continue a relationship with him. However, I do not believe she would have INTENTIONALLY committed suicide.
Conversely, I do not believe Will would have INTENTIONALLY poisoned Marion. Whatever the sequence of events, I believe the consumption of cyanide was intended for a reason other than murder. For me the case is a confluence of actions that resulted in an unintended consequence.
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just seems odd that Marion went into the woods by herself with an angry ex and didn’t ask her best friend to come with. Also seems odd that she actually did have a letter to send and still had it in her hand. It seems odd that Will only remembers walking off and then something happening to Marion after he turned around, it also seems odd that Josephine Davis her best friend didn’t go with her and also changed her story halfway through the trial and devastated the family. Weird
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I think so too! This is a Nicola post, I’m curious what he thinks!
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