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 From a Photograph taken just before the Murder.
 
 OB, 
 
 The Assassination of Dr, Patrick Henry Croniu, 
 
 A COMPLETE AND AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF THE 
 GREATEST OF MODERN CONSPIRACIES. 
 
 HENRY M. HUNT, 
 
 THE NOTED JOURNALIST. 
 
 PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH ORIGINAL ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 APART FROM ITS VALUE AS A HISTORY OF A CELEBRATED CASE, 
 
 THE STORY ITSELF IS OF THRILLING AND 
 
 FASCINATING INTEREST.
 
 COPYRIGHT 1889, 
 
 BY 
 H. L. & D. H. KOCHERSPERGER.
 
 f-/Y" 
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 This volume is not intended as an addition to 
 thfe criminal literature of the country. It has 
 not been published solely for the pleasure of 
 those who delight in devouring morbid tales 
 of crime and criminals. It rather owes 
 its existence to a general demand from all 
 parts of the United States, from the Canadas, 
 from Great Britain, and from many points 
 on the continent of Europe, for a complete, 
 concise, and accurate story of one of the 
 greatest of modern crimes and the events con- 
 nected therewith. The reports of the public 
 press, while of the most searching and elaborate 
 character, have nevertheless been of necessity so 
 disjointed, fragmentary and confusing, covering a 
 period of over seven months, each day and 
 week replete with new discoveries and new 
 sensations, as to make it well-nigh impossible 
 for even the most careful reader, with unlim- 
 ited time at his disposal, to grasp or compre- 
 hend anything more than the barest outline of this 
 remarkable case. The object of this volume 
 therefore, is to present in consecutive form and
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 as a complete narrative- all the facts which have 
 been brought to light from the day of the disappear- 
 ance of Dr. Cronin, to the close of the trial of 
 those accused of his murder. Many circumstances 
 have combined to make the task a difficult and 
 laborious one, but the results are submitted in 
 the belief that as the only effort of its kind, it 
 will prove not only a story of thrilling interest 
 to the general reader, but also valuable, by its 
 accuracy and continuity, as an historical work. 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 A Crime That Shocked the Civilized World The Mysterious 
 Stranger A Sudden Summons The Instincts of Humanity 
 Triumph over Personal Considerations Last Moments at 
 Home Parting Words with a Friend Dr. Cronin's Event- 
 ful Life How He Worked His Way Upward on the Ladder 
 of Honor and Fame, ........ 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Dr. Cronin Fails to Return Home Anxiety of His Friends 
 The Early Morning Ride to the Ice House O'Sullivan's 
 Surprise and Ignorance The Mysterious Wagon and Its 
 Occupants A Bloody Trunk is Found The Search Com- 
 menced "<t is His Hair," . . . . . .27 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 An Accidental Clue Frank Woodruff's Arrest How He Was 
 Hired to Get a Wagon to Carry the Mysterious Trunk to 
 Lake View A Corpse is Dumped Out He Thinks It was 
 That of a Woman His Sensational Confession The 
 Police on a Wild-Goose Chase, . . . . 46 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " It is a Conspiracy" Dr. Cronin's Friends Claim the Murder 
 was a Political Assassination The Public Skeptical until 
 Startling Developments Are Made The Physician in 
 Danger of His Life for Years Previous Attempts to 
 Remove Him The Trouble in the Clan-na-Gael Charges 
 and Counter Charges The Buffalo Convention Why His 
 " Removal " became a Necessity to Certain People, . 57 
 
 vii
 
 CONTENTS. 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Strange Influences at Work Miss Anna Murphy Thinks She 
 Saw the Doctor on a Street Car His Long and Mysterious 
 Ride with Conductor Dwyer Reporter Long also Encoun- 
 ters Him, This Time in Toronto The Police and Public 
 Satisfied, but His Friends Still Anxious Efforts to Prove 
 Him a British Spy A Big Reward Offered, . . . 101 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Hoping against Hope The Stench in the Sewer " Murder 
 Will Out" A Ghastly Discovery Where the Body was 
 Found The Recognition by Captain Wing Its Horrible 
 Appearance Evidences of a Foul Crime The Corpse at 
 the Morgue Pitiable Scenes of Grief The Official Autopsy 
 The Brutal Way in Which the Physician had been Done 
 to Death, 126 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Crime Creates An International Sensation Discovery of 
 the Lonely Cottage Where the Irish Nationalist Met His 
 Death Evidences of a Terrible Struggle The Tell-Tale 
 Blood Stains and Broken Furniture The Mysterious 
 Tenants and Their Movements The Furniture Bought 
 and Carted to the Assassins' Den What Milkman Mertes 
 Saw The Plot as Outlined by the Surroundings Iceman 
 O'Sullivan Under Surveillance, . .' . . 154 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The White Horse and Buggy Detective Coughlin Hires It 
 for a "Friend" The Trouble in the Stable Dinan Goes 
 to Schaack The Captain's Peculiar Movements Scanlan 
 Identifies the Horse The Detective and O'Sullivan are 
 Jailed The Grand Jury Indicts Them with Woodruff 
 The Accused Arraigned in Court, . f . . . . 195 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Lying in State An Impressive Scene The Imposing 
 Procession At the Cathedral An Eloquent Voice from 
 the Pulpit Clerical Denunciation of the Crime Laid to 
 Rest in Calvary Cemetery, ..... 220
 
 CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The Coroner's Inquest Opens A Model Jury Visiting the 
 Scene of the Tragedy Taking the Evidence Captain 
 Schaack's Compromising Admissions Prominent Clan-na- 
 Gael Men put on the Stand Alexander Sullivan's Threats 
 Luke Dillon Tells What He Knows The Documents 
 Left by the Murdered Man Read by the Coroner A Sensa- 
 tional Inquiry, . . . ..... 236 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Closing Scenes of the Inquest The Verdict Alexander Sul- 
 livan's Arrest Ordered Midnight Visit to His Residence 
 His Cool Demeanor and Cheerful Acquiescence Taken to 
 the County Jail Incidents of the Arrest. . . . 259 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 At the Toronto End of the Conspiracy Investigating Long's 
 Circumstantial Stories, and His Interviews with Dr. Cronin 
 A Chicago Fugitive Concerned His Suspicious Move- 
 ments A Chapter of Startling Coincidences Long on the 
 Rack Makes Damaging Admissions but will not Retract 
 The Object to Distract Attention from the Scene of the 
 Crime Another Confession from Woodruff, . . 275 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Sullivan's Arrest Creates a Sensation His Friends Stand by 
 Him The Noted ex-Irish Leader in Court Efforts to Secure 
 His Release Judge Tuley Gives Him His Liberty Arrest 
 of Maroney and McDonald in New York Their Extradition 
 Refused 292 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Officer Collin's Suspicions Martin Burke and His Record For- 
 tunate Discovery of the Photograph of a Clan-na-Gael 
 Group The Carlsons and Others Identify Burke His 
 Peculiar Movements and His Flight An Indictment against 
 Him The Capture in Winnipeg, when En Route to Eng- 
 landStubborn Fight to Prevent His Extradition to Ameri- 
 can Soil The Law Triumphant A Memorable Journey 
 Home Preliminaries of the Trial A Separate Trial 
 Granted Woodruff, 303
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Theories Regarding the Disappearance of the Murdered Man's 
 Clothing The Hand of Providence Manifests Itself For- 
 tunate Discovery of the Last Bloody Evidences of the Crime 
 Dr. Cronin's Apparel is Found It had been Secreted, 
 with His Case of Surgical Instruments, in a Catch-basin, 
 Adjacent to the One in Which the Body was Discovered 
 Shoes, Jewelry and Purse Missing Complete Identification 
 by His Friends The Search Continued A Piece of Carpet 
 Found The Conspirators' Plans Thwarted, . . . 333 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Special Grand Jury Summoned Personnel of Its Members 
 Judge Shepard's Vigorous Charge The Testimony Taken 
 Seventeen Days' Investigation Results in the Indictment of 
 Seven Men Full Text of the Indictment Arrest of Beggs 
 and Kunze The Alleged Trial of Dr. Cronin in Camp 20, 351 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Public Abhorrence at the Crime. A Great Out-pouring of the 
 People Cosmopolitan Assemblage at Central Music Hall 
 A Judge's Vigorous Speech Congressmen Denounce the 
 Crime The Rival Demonstrations at Cheltenham Beach 
 and Ogden's Grove srr^G v.^^->^7 "^ ^o; ?: . . . 369 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 In Court at Last The State's Attorney Points Out the Accused, 
 Man by Man A Formidable Array of Legal Talent Objec- 
 tions to Luther Laflin Mills and his Associates Over-ruled 
 by the Court Weeks consumed in the Wearisome Task of 
 Securing a Jury Scenes and Incidents .... 384 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Startling Interruption to the Trial Villainous Attempt to Frus- 
 trate the Ends of Justice Bold Efforts to Bribe the Special 
 Veniresmen in the Interest of the Prisoners A "Hung" 
 Jury Wanted Fortunate Discovery of the Plot The "Wheels 
 Within Wheels " of the Conspiracy Prompt Action of the 
 Prosecuting Authorities Speedy Arrest and Indictment of 
 the Guilty Parties Crime Added to Crime .... 399
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 A Jury Secured at Last Names and Sketches of the Twelve 
 Men Selected to Determine the Guilt of the Accused The 
 Trial Under Way Opening Speeches for the State Scenes 
 in the Court Room 414 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Evidence for the State The Story of the Crime Retold A Long 
 Line of Witnesses Sensational Disclosures and Missing 
 Links Supplied Mrs. Hoertel's Graphic Story Dr. Cronin's 
 Knives are Found and Produced in Court A Masterly 
 Grouping of the Testimony Against the Prisoners . . 430 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The Defense Takes its Turn Unsuccessful Efforts to Exclude the 
 Bulk of the Evidence Given for the State Alibis for the 
 Prisoners and the White Horse A General Denial of Com- 
 plicity in the Tragedy Rebuttal Evidence for the Prosecu- 
 tion .......... 457 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Opening for the State The Evidence Reviewed A Masterly 
 Argument by State's Attorney Longenecker Tracing the 
 Plot from its Inception to the Murder An Appeal for Jus- 
 tice Arguments for the Defense Donahoe, Wing, Foster 
 and Forrest make Their Final Pleas for the Prisoners, and 
 Ingham, Hynes and Longenecker Close for the State . 470 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 All the Testimony Before the Jury Judge McConnelPs Lucid 
 Charge The Jury Retires A Period of Anxiety Popular 
 Excitement at its Height Demeanor ef the Prisoners 
 Suspense at Last Ended The Verdict . . . ;63
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF DR. PATRICK HENRY CRONIN, THE MURDERED 
 
 PHYSICIAN ,,, '., '.'':' -V ' Frontispiece. 
 PORTRAIT OF PATRICK O'SULLIVAN, THE ICE MAN, ONE OF THE 
 
 DEFENDANTS . ,.-,'' . 2 ^ 
 
 PORTRAIT OF DANIEL COUGHLIN, THE DETECTIVE, ONE OF THE 
 
 DEFENDANTS * . 197 
 
 PORTRAIT OF MARTIN BURKE, ONE OF THE DEFENDANTS . . 315 
 PORTRAIT OF JOHN F. BEGGS, ONE OF THE DEFENDANTS . . 360 
 PORTRAIT OF JOHN KUNZE, ONE OF THE DEFENDANTS . . 367 
 O'SULLIVAN AND KUNZE, FROM PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN DURING 
 
 TRIAL . . " . . "- .- .' ' r '" . . . 392 
 PORTRAIT OF PATRICK COONEY, "THE Fox" . . . 452 
 
 PORTRAIT OF SUPT. OF POLICE HUBBARD : .-' ff . . . 210 
 PORTAIT OF OFFICER DANIEL BROWN ..... 354 
 PORTRAITS OF MR. AND MRS. T. T. CONKLIN . . . -39 
 PORTRAIT OF ALEXANDER SULLIVAN "'. " >; I j . . 263 
 PORTRAITOF MERTES, THE MlLKMAN . . ' ' .' . . 187 
 PORTRAITS OF FIVE DEFENDANTS ON TRIAL .... 429 
 PORTRAITS OF THE Six PRISONERS IN COURT .... 332 
 PORTRAITS OF THE TWELVE JURYMEN -i ." . . . 416-417 
 PORTRAIT OF JUDGE MCCONNELL, PRESIDING AT THE MEMORABLE 
 
 TRIAL . . ' 456 
 
 PORTRAITOF JOEL M. LONGENECKER, THE STATE'S ATTORNEY . 469 
 PORTRAIT OF LUTHER LAFLIN MILLS (THE NOTED CRIMINAL 
 
 LAWYER), FOR THE PROSECUTION 550 
 
 PORTRAIT OF GEORGE C. INGHAM, ATTORNEY FOR THE PROSECU- 
 TION . . . . ; . ' . . . . . 514 
 PORTRAIT OF W. J HYNES, ATTORNEY FOR THE PROSECUTION . 521 
 PORTRAIT OF W. S. FORREST, LEADING ATTORNEY FOR THE 
 
 DEFENSE . .'''-. '- ; - . ... . . ^ 53 6 
 PORTRAIT OF JUDGE WING, ATTORNEY FOR THE DEFENSE . 512 
 
 xii
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. Xlll 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 PORTRAITS OF THREE OF THE CARLSON FAMILY . . . 168 
 PORTRAITS OF PRINCIPAL WITNESSES BEFORE THE CORONER'S 
 
 INQUEST . . 254 
 
 PORTRAIT OF DETECTIVE MICHAEL WHALEN . . . 206 
 
 PORTRAIT OF DETECTIVE BARNEY FLYNN .... 464 
 
 PORTRAIT OF LAWRENCE R. BUCKLEY 242 
 
 PORTRAIT OF T. P. O'CONNOR 244 
 
 PORTRAIT OF P. M'GEHAN 247 
 
 THE COURT ROOM, SHOWING THE GREAT TRIAL IN PROGRESS . 413 
 THE CARD OF SULLIVAN ICE Co., THAT LURED DR. CRONIN 
 
 FROM HIS HOME ON THE NlGHT OF THE MUR'DER . . 2O 
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS WAGON 31 
 
 DETECTIVES INSPECTING THE SPOT WHERE THE TRUNK WAS 
 
 FOUND 42 
 
 THE BLOODY TRUNK AND ITS CONTENTS . . . -35 
 PICTURE OF DR. CRONIN TAKEN AFTER HE WAS FOUND IN 
 
 THE CATCH-BASIN WITH THE " AGNUS DEI " ON BREAST . 135 
 SCENE AT THE MORGUE, SHOWING THE BODY LYING ON SLAB 
 
 AND BEING IDENTIFED BY SCANLAN AND CONKLIN . 140 
 THE SPOT WHERE THE TRUNK WAS FOUND . . .33 
 THE SKULL OF DR. CRONIN, SHOWING THE WOUNDS . . 143 
 THE BROKEN ROCKER ON WHICH DR. CRONIN PROBABLY SAT 
 
 WHEN KILLED 161 
 
 BLOOD-STAINED PIECE OF BRASS 161 
 
 THE SOLITARY LAMP 161 
 
 THE CATCH-BASIN SOUTH VIEW . . . . . 127 
 
 THE CATCH-BASIN, SHOWING FIRE-PLUG AND DITCH . .129 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE BODY IN THE CATCH-BASIN . . 131 
 ALEXANDER SULLIVAN'S RESIDENCE ..... 264 
 
 THE ASSASSINS' DEN, SHOWING THE CARLSON COTTAGE IN 
 
 REAR 157 
 
 DIAGRAM OF THE LOCALITY OF THE MURDER . . .156 
 
 FOOTPRINT FOUND IN HOUSE 160 
 
 THE CORONER'S JURY 239 
 
 JURORS EXAMINING FINGER MARKS IN PAINT ON WINDOW 
 
 BLIND 245 
 
 JUHORS EXAMINING BLOOD STAINS IN PARLOR OF COTTAGE . 238 
 THE WHITE HORSE AND BUGGY THAT TOOK DR. CRONIN 
 
 AWAY FROM His HOME . , . . f . .199
 
 XIV ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 LIVERYMAN DINAN'S STABLE . . ... . . .198 
 
 THE FUNERAL PROCESSION . . . . ' . . . 223 
 
 DR. CRONIN'S APARTMENTS IN WINDSOR THEATRE BUILDING . 18 
 DR. CRONIN'S RECEPTION ROOM IN CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE 
 
 BUILDING . . j 184 
 
 DR. CRONIN'S OFFICE IN CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE BUILDING . 181 
 DR. CRONIN'S MAIN OFFICE IN CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE BUILD- 
 ING . . 1'" }** 3 ; fl f*' J 'V ."' . * . . 183 
 STATE'S ATTORNEY LONGENECKER ADDRESSING THE COURT . 296 
 DR. CRONIN'S Box AND ITS CONTENTS . ,? M IA_ 337 
 THE LOAD ON THE STRETCHER . . 338 
 
 SOME OF DR. CRONIN'S CLOTHES 340 
 
 Two VIEWS OF DR. CRONIN'S HAT 341 
 
 DR. CRONIN'S POCKET INSTRUMENT CASE .... 342 
 DR. CRONIN'S SLEEVE BUTTON, COMB, R. A. BUTTON, CASE, 
 
 ETC. . . 'U'/ C. ! >J "//O>---M.'-i:.T. . . 343 
 
 DR. CRONIN'S POCKET CASE . ( . . ( . ., ... ^ ,.,. , . . 345 
 
 REMAINS OF THE MURDERER'S VALISE* 346 
 
 THE SILVER HYPODERMIC SYRINGE CASE .... 347 
 DR. CRONIN'S SURGICAL INSTRUMENT CASE .... 348 
 
 THE ENGLISH PRESCRIPTION BOOK 349 
 
 THE JUDGE HEARS. OF THE JURY-BRIBING PLOT . . 401 
 
 THE KNIVES . . . < <n vH! ' i -'- . < 4^6
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A CRIME THAT SHOCKED THE CIVILIZED WORL\ 
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER A SUDDEN 
 
 SUMMONS THE INSTINCTS OF HUMANITY 
 
 TRIUMPH OVER PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS 
 
 LAST MOMENTS AT HOME PARTING 
 
 WORDS WITH A FRIEND DR. CRONIN'S 
 
 EVENTFUL LIFE HOW HE WORKED HIS WAY 
 
 UPWARD ON THE LADDER OF HONOR AND 
 FAME. 
 
 Little introduction to this volume is needed. 
 It is the story told in plain unvarnished words, 
 so that everyone who reads may understand- 
 of a crime that has shocked the people of the 
 United States, and astounded the civilized 
 world. Back of that crime was a conspiracy so 
 wide in its ramifications, so cunningly contrived, 
 so successfully executed, as to rival the diaboli- 
 cal plots and outgrowing tragedies that have 
 been placed at the 'doors of the secret societies 
 of France, Italy and Spain, by the historians of 
 the Dark Ages. In the United States, as an 
 event of national importance, the crime may be 
 said to rank with the assassinations of Presi- 
 
 15
 
 l6 THE CRIME OP THE CENTURY. 
 
 dents Lincoln and Garfield. In the case of the 
 former, as of the latter, the perpetrator of the 
 crime was a half crazed enthusiast, who imag- 
 ined that he had a mission to perform in tak- 
 ing the life of the Chief Magistrate of the Re- 
 public. An effort was made, it is true, to de- 
 monstrate the fact that the assassin of Abraham 
 Lincoln was but the tool of a band of conspir- 
 ators, but, despite the fact that fiv; o. c his al- 
 leged accomplices suffered an ignominious death 
 upon the scaffold upon conviction for complicity 
 in the appalling crime, the question as to the 
 actual existence of a conspiracy has remained 
 to this day a mooted one. In the case of 
 President Garfield there was not even a sugges- 
 tion that the assassin acted upon other than his 
 own insane impulse. So far as concerns the 
 Haymarket horror in Chicago, the point as to 
 whether the throwing of the bomb that echoed 
 around the world was the outcome of a con- 
 spiracy, or the act of an individual who had 
 inbibed anarchistic principles and doctrines un- 
 til reason had been dethroned, and a desire for 
 vengeance upon the supposed enemies of the 
 proletaire had generated into an uncontrollable 
 determination, is still unsettled in the minds of 
 many people eminently well versed in the law; 
 as well as in those of a goodly proportion of the 
 masses. So far, however, as the tragic fate of
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 17 
 
 *">r. Cronin is concerned, no such doubt may be 
 iarid to exist. That he fell a victim to a plot, 
 remarkable in its conception and execution; 
 conceived in shrewdness and forthought, and 
 executed by the aid of far-reaching and elabor- 
 ate machinery; and with remorseless precision, is 
 beyond peradventure. But it serves no pur- 
 pose to anticipate. The following chapters 
 tell their own story of the manner and methods 
 by which the murder of a law-abiding American 
 citizen, prominent in his profession and of na- 
 tional reputation, was decreed and carried out. 
 It was the first crime of its character in the 
 history of the United States. It will probably 
 be the last. 
 
 THE DISAPPEARANCE. 
 
 The locality was Chicago. The date Satur- 
 day, May 4th, in the year of our Lord one 
 thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine. The 
 time eight o'clock of the evening. Philip Pat- 
 rick Henry Cronin for this was the full name 
 of the physician was closeted with a patient 
 in the most spacious of the front suite of rooms 
 attached to a handsomely furnished flat directly 
 over the Windsor Theatre on North Clark 
 Street. The tenants of the flat, T. T. Conklin, 
 a, well-known saloon keeper, and his wife, were 
 among his most intimate and confidental friends,
 
 i8 
 
 nni 
 
 DR. CRONIN'S APARTMENTS IN WINDSOR THEATRE BUILDING.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 19 
 
 and with them the physician, who was a con- 
 firmed bachelor, had resided so long that he was 
 regarded, to all intents and purposes, as one of 
 the family. They nursed him in sickness, 
 studied his every requirement when in health, 
 and in a great measure, shared with him his 
 personal and political knowledge. It was a 
 happy, congenial family in every sense of 
 the term. Dr. Cronin was on the point of dis- 
 missing the patient, for an important meeting of 
 the Celto-American Society, which published a 
 paper of which he was the political editor, ne- 
 cessitated his hurrying away to the other side 
 of the city, when the door-bell rang violently. 
 Mrs. Conklin responded. A man pale and 
 breathless, stood on the landing. 
 
 "Is Dr. Cronin in?" he demanded, in a hur- 
 ried, nervous manner. 
 
 "Yes," was the reply, "but he is busy with 
 a patient." 
 
 "Well," responded the stranger with increasing 
 nervousness. "I want to see him. It is a 
 matter of life or death." 
 
 Some fragments of the conversation had pene- 
 trated to the office where the physician was 
 giving a final injunction to his patient. He 
 threw open the door and came out into the 
 vestibule. 
 
 "What is the matter?" he asked.
 
 20 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 "Doctor" said the strange visitor as he pre- 
 sented a card, "one of the workmen at P. O 'Sulli- 
 van's ice house at Lake View, has met with an 
 accident and been terribly injured about here " 
 (indicating the abdomen by a wave of his hand). 
 "Unless a doctor sees him at once," he went on 
 in his hurried, nervous, manner, "he will die. 
 O'Sullivan is out of town, but he has spoken 
 so often of you and said that you should be 
 called in case of an accident that I thought 
 I'd better come to you." 
 
 Dr. Cronin glanced at the card. It was a 
 fac-simile of tms. 
 
 SULLIVAN ICE COMPANY, 
 
 Private Families and Others supplied with the best Table 
 
 <-e> 
 
 ICE HOUSES AT SILVER LAKE, WIS. 
 
 TELEPHONE
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 21 
 
 For a moment he twirled it between his 
 finger and thumb. Then he looked at his 
 watch. It was near the hour for the meeting, 
 in the proceedings of which he was liable to 
 take a prominent part. But the humane in- 
 stincts of the profession quickly overcame all 
 other considerations. 
 
 "One moment" he ejaculated, "and I will 
 be with you." 
 
 "I have a buggy and fast horse down stairs" 
 called out the stranger. 
 
 Dr. Cronin darted into his office. Hastily 
 gathering up his surgical instruments, he packed 
 them into their case. A package of lint and 
 absorbent cotton was pushed down into his 
 pocket. Then he reappeared and with the 
 remark "I am ready," made for the stairs. 
 The unknown went down in advance and the 
 doctor followed. At the curb, with a white 
 horse in the shafts, was the buggy that was to 
 take the physician on his supposed errand of 
 mercy. As he reached the street, he came 
 vis-a-vis with Frank T. Scanlan, Jr., a prominent 
 young Irish-American, who had previously ar- 
 ranged to call for and accompany him to the 
 meeting. 
 
 "Are you ready" the latter asked. 
 
 "No," was Dr. Cronin's reply. "I'm called 
 away on an accident case."
 
 22 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 The stranger was already in the buggy. 
 "There's* no time to lose," he called out, and 
 the ejaculation caused Scanlan to turn his head 
 in that direction. He was startled for a mo- 
 ment by the look of fiendish rage with which 
 the fellow was regarding him. Before he could 
 say a word, however, Dr. Cronin had taken his 
 seat in the vehicle. A whip cut through the 
 air and descended on the animal's back, and as 
 it started off the physician called out to his 
 friend, who still stood on the sidewalk: 
 
 "I may get down town in an hour, but don't 
 wait for me. I really don't know how long 
 this case may occupy me." 
 
 Man proposes, but God disposes. It was the 
 physican's last farewell to his home and his 
 friends. The white horse sped into the dark- 
 ness and each revolution of the wheels of the 
 vehicle carried one of its occupants nearer his 
 doom. 
 
 THE STORY OF HIS } LIFE. 
 
 It is necessary to digress a moment at this 
 point in order that something may be said re- 
 garding the previous history of the man whose 
 name was soon to be on millions of tongues. 
 Born on August yth, 1846, on Erin's soil, near 
 the town of Mallow, in the famed county of 
 Cork, he was brought to the United States
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 23 
 
 when yet a babe in his mother's arms. For five 
 years thereafter he was numbered among the popu- 
 lation of New York City. Thence the family 
 moved to Baltimore r and thence again ' to the 
 province of Ontario, When ten years of age he 
 was placed in the care of the Christian Brothers 
 at the Academy of St. Catherines. He graduated 
 with honors in 1863, and, a boy of seventeen, 
 started out to battle with the world. His first 
 wages were earned at Petroleum City, Pa., where 
 he taught school. From here he went to Titus- 
 ville and thence to Clearfield, in the same state, 
 where in 1866 he held a good position in a store. 
 But he was restless and ambitious. 
 
 There was no charm from his point of view 
 in the plodding life of- a country school teacher or 
 store keeper. He wanted to make his way in the 
 world and he realized that in order to accomplish 
 this it would be necessary to take the historic ad- 
 vice of Horace Greeley and " go west." Accord- 
 ingly, late in the fall of 1867 he bade farewell to 
 the many friends and acquaintances he had made 
 in the oil regions and departed for Missouri. He 
 first located in a country town, but after a short 
 stay removed again to St. Louis. Here he secured 
 a position in the store of Michael Dougherty, a 
 grocer. Those who came in contact with him at 
 that time remembered him in after years as a 
 young man of pleasing presence, fine attainments
 
 24 THE CRIME OP THE CENTURY. 
 
 and a remarkably good musician. He was es- 
 pecially a fine tenor singer, and soon after his ar- 
 rival he became a member of the choir of the 
 Catholic'Church of St. John 7 s. The numerous ser- 
 vices and consequent rehearsals, however, con- 
 flicted materially with his work at the store, and 
 as a result he secured another position as super- 
 intendent of omnibuses for a local transfer con- 
 cern. Meanwhile he had been industriously en- 
 gaged in the study of pharmacy, and so well did 
 he combine this craving after knowledge with com- 
 mendable prudence and economy, that after awhile 
 he was enabled to become a full fledged druggist 
 with a store of his own on Garrison street, ad- 
 jacent to Easton avenue. Even then, however,' 
 he was not satisfied. He aimed still higher, 
 and immediately begun the study of medicine 
 at the Missouri College. From this institution 
 he graduated in 1878, and, relinquishing the drug 
 business, entered upon the practice of his newly 
 chosen profession. Meanwhile he had identified 
 himself with the local militia, and held the rank 
 of captain at the time of the strike in 1877. 
 Shortly after his graduation he was appointed a 
 commissioner to the Paris exposition. The next 
 twelvemonths were passed abroad, a goodly por- 
 tion of that period being spent in Dublin and 
 other parts of Ireland. Returning home, he ac- 
 cepted the professorship of materia medica and
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 25 
 
 therapeutics in the St. Louis College of Physi- 
 cians and Surgeons. Even with the onerous 
 duties of this responsible position he found time 
 and opportunity to study for two years '80 
 and '8 1, at the Jesuit University, and received 
 as his reward the degrees of A. M., and Ph. 
 D. In 1882, by the advice of friends, he left St. 
 Louis for Chicago, and almost immediately upon 
 his arrival in the Garden City was appointed one 
 of the staff of physicians at the Cook County 
 Hospital. From this he drifted into private 
 practice, and gradually became identified with 
 a large, number of political and secret societies. 
 Among the latter were the Royal League, the 
 Legion of Honor, Ancient Order of Hibernians, 
 Ancient Order of United Workmen, and Inde- 
 pendent Order of Foresters. He was at one 
 time or another a Deputy Grand Regent of 
 the Royal Arcanum, Past Commander of the 
 Knights of Pythias and Chief Ranger of the 
 Catholic Order of Foresters. Of many of these 
 societies, as well as of the Plasterers' Union, he 
 was the medical examiner. His practice neces- 
 sarily was a lucrative one. He took an active 
 interest in various Irish movements calculated to 
 elevate his race and to promote the cause of Irish 
 independence, and, at the time of his taking off, he 
 was president of the Celto-American Club of 
 Chicago.
 
 26 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Dr. Cronin never married. When rallied on 
 one occasion on his apparent determination to 
 live and die a bachelor, he tersely rejoined that 
 " he had no desire to make widows." His only 
 surviving immediate relatives were a sister, Mrs. 
 Carroll, living at St. Catherines, Ont., and a 
 brother John, who, just before the tragedy, had 
 removed from Pawnee Rock, Kan., to Arkan- 
 sas. He also had two nieces who were Mother 
 Superiors in Canadian convents. In appearance 
 he was a fine looking man, five feet ten and one- 
 half inches tall, weighing 180 pounds and well 
 proportioned. His hair was black and- his lux- 
 uriant mustache was generally worn long and 
 wavy at the ends. Personally he was courteous 
 and warm-hearted. At the same time his im- 
 pulses were quick and strong, and, while he would 
 go to any extreme to serve a friend, he would fol- 
 low up an enemy with relentless determination 
 and vindictiveness. Wherever he went he en- 
 joyed great popularity, and he could always boast 
 of an extensive acquaintance and a host of close 
 friends. He always retained the fine tenor voice 
 of his youth and almost his last public appearance 
 in Chicago was at the Washington centennial cele- 
 bration at the Cavalry Armory, on which occasion 
 he sang a specially composed "Hymn to Washing- 
 ton," with such telling effect as not only to elicit 
 an encore but to rouse the vast audience to un- 
 wonted enthusiasm.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DR. CRONIN FAILS TO RETURN HOME ANXIETY 
 
 OF HIS FRIENDS THE EARLY MORNING RIDE 
 
 TO THE ICE HOUSE O 'SULLIVAN'S SURPRISE 
 AND IGNORANCE THE MYSTERIOUS WAGON 
 
 AND ITS OCCUPANTS A BLOODY TRUNK IS 
 
 FOUND THE SEARCH COMMENCED " IT IS 
 
 HIS HAIR." 
 
 Dr. Cronin did not join his friends at the 
 meeting of the Celto-American Society that 
 memorable Saturday night. Nor, although the 
 Conklins waited for him until long past mid- 
 night, were the familiar footsteps heard upon the 
 stairs. The Sabbath dawned, and the first 
 streaks of grey penetrated through the curtains 
 into his apartments, but he was still absent. 
 Naturally the Conklins became alarmed. Dur- 
 ing all the years that the physician had lived 
 with them he had been a model of punctuality in 
 his habits. It was the first occasion that he had 
 remained so long from home without reason. 
 If his business affairs happened to keep him 
 
 away even an hour longer than usual it was his 
 
 V
 
 28 
 
 THh CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 invariable practice to in some way contrive to 
 advise his friends, so that they might notify 
 any patients that came in his absence. More- 
 over, he was not a drinking man and such 
 a thing as staying out all night with boon com- 
 panions was foreign to his practice. Yet, 
 eight hours had sped by, the morning had 
 broken, and he had not returned. No wonder, 
 then, that the fam- 
 ily was alarmed, or 
 that Mr. Conklin, 
 without waiting for 
 breakfast, deter- 
 mined to procure a 
 buggy and drive to 
 P. O 'Sullivan's res- 
 idence, which ad- 
 joined his icehouse, 
 at the corner of 
 Seminary Avenue 
 and Lake View. A 
 startling surprise 
 awaited him at the 
 end of his six mile ride. O 'Sullivan, when 
 aroused from bed, was, to all appearances, con- 
 siderably surprised when asked if the doctor 
 was in the house. 
 
 "This is all news to me," he said, with an 
 apparent air of frankness. "I have not been 
 
 P. O, SULLIVAN, THE ICE MAN.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 2c> 
 
 out of town and I know nothing of the man in 
 a buggy." 
 
 "Was there not an accident in your ice 
 house?" he was asked. "No," was the reply. 
 "I have only four men in my employ and none 
 of them have been injured." 
 
 "Then you did not call on Dr. Cronin, or 
 send for him?" 
 
 "No, the man who did call used my name 
 without authority. You say he used one of 
 my cards, leaving it at the office. Well, I 
 can understand how that happened. My cards 
 are scattered all over Lake View and the city, 
 and anybody could have used one in the same 
 way." 
 
 "Do you know Dr. Cronin?" the ice man was 
 asked. 
 
 "Yes," was his reply, "I have met him 
 several times, and we were quite friendly." 
 
 "How did you come to engage him as phy- 
 sician to your family and workmen, when you 
 live six miles from his office?" 
 
 This pointed query seeme'd to stagger the 
 ice man for a moment, but at last he replied: 
 
 "He was recommended to me by Justice 
 Mahoney." The latter, who had been elected 
 a Lake View Magistrate but a few weeks be- 
 fore, had been regarded as one of Dr. Cronin's 
 friends.
 
 30 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 "Then you do not know how it happened 
 that he was summoned to your ice house?" was 
 the final query. 
 
 "I do not," emphatically replied O'Sullivan, 
 "I cannot understand what were the motives of 
 the man who went for him." 
 
 This was all that the ice man had to say. In 
 the light of subsequent events, however, it was 
 of importance. Mr. Conklin's worst fears were 
 intensified. Driving rapidly home, he learned 
 from his wife that the physician had not taken 
 his revolver, as was his practice when going on 
 a long trip; that he had only a small amount 
 of monev with him, and that he wore no 
 
 / / 
 
 jewelry of value except a watch. Without de- 
 lay, Conklin proceeded to notify Frank J. Scan- 
 Ian, his brother John, and two or three other 
 Irish- Americans of prominence. 
 
 "This is the work of political enemies," they 
 said without hesitation, " it has been skill- 
 fully planned and executed. It will take time 
 and money to find him, if it is not intended to 
 murder him." 
 
 Significant words. At that very hour the 
 blood of the murdered man was calling aloud for 
 vengeance. 
 
 A hue and cry was at once raised. The 
 Chicago police were notified, and the most ex- 
 perienced detectives of the department started
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 31 
 
 out on the case. Pinkerton's Detective Agency 
 was retained, and Detective Frank Murray 
 went out to Lake View as fast as a swift horse 
 could take him. Captains Schaack of the Chi- 
 cago Avenue Station, and officers of the Lake 
 View police, were waited on and urged to turn 
 loose all the officers they could spare to solve 
 the mystery. Last, but not least, the news- 
 paper offices were advised of the disappearance, 
 and a score or more of sleuth reporters were 
 soon in the suburb. By sundown of Sunday 
 nearly sixty people were engaged in the search. 
 
 A STARTLING DISCOVERY. 
 
 Meanwhile there had been startling develop- 
 ments in another direction. Somewhere in the 
 neighborhood of two o'clock on the morning of 
 the same day (Sunday) and about six hours 
 after the physician had been decoyed from his 
 residence, Officers Smith and Hayden, of 'the 
 Lake View police force, were on duty at the 
 corner of Clark and Diversey Streets, when 
 
 they saw a carpen- 
 ter's wagon, drawn 
 by a bay horse, 
 rumbling at a furi- 
 'ous rate toward the 
 north. The Lake 
 View police were 
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS WAGON.
 
 32 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 under instructions to hail passing vehicles and 
 pedestrians after midnight, and accordingly, Offi- 
 cer Smith stepped out on the pavement to look 
 at the two men who sat upon the driver's seat. 
 The wagon was driven at such speed, how- 
 ever, that the officer did not have time to look 
 into the faces of the two mysterious men or 
 command them to stop. There was a large 
 trunk in the wagon. Both officers saw this 
 receptacle. When the wagon had disappeared 
 Officer Smith became suspicious of the two 
 drivers, and told Officer Hayden so. The two 
 policemen patrolled their beats until about 3:30 
 o'clock when they again met at Clark and 
 Diversey Streets. They had been there but 
 a few moments when they again heard a vehi- 
 cle rumbling over the pavement. It proved 
 to be the same old carpenter's wagon with il:s 
 mysterious occupants and its old bay horse. 
 But the trunk was no longer in the wagon. 
 This time Hayden walked out upon the pave- 
 ment to look at the men in the driver's seat. 
 One of them wore a black derby hat. His 
 companion wore a soft hat. Both were young 
 and muscular. There was no name on the 
 wagon. Officer Hayden saw all this, but he 
 could not get a good view of the men on the 
 seat. He did not hail them because he thought 
 the movement of a trunk at that time of year
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 33 
 
 was not extraordinary. The wagon rolled back 
 toward Chicago and Officer Hayden dismissed 
 the incident from his mind; but Officer Smith 
 was greatly disturbed, and told his companion 
 so several times during the early morning hours. 
 
 FINDING THE BLOODY TRUNK. 
 
 The officers returned to the station at the 
 usual hour, but neither made any report of the 
 
 mysterious wag- 
 on or its still 
 more mysterious 
 occupants. At 
 half past seven 
 o'clock, Alder- 
 man Chapman, 
 
 f of Lake View, 
 was driving 
 along Evanston 
 Avenue, between 
 Graceland and 
 the Roman Cath- 
 olic Cemetery. 
 He had reached 
 a point five hun- 
 dred yards from 
 Sultzer Street, 
 when he saw three men standing around a 
 trunk which stood back of a bush, with one 
 
 THE SPOT WHEEE THE TRUNK WAS FOUND.
 
 34 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 end thrust into the ditch which runs near the 
 thoroughfare. Alderman Chapman alighted 
 and went to the spot. The cover of the trunk 
 had been forced open. The interior was 
 bespattered with blood and partially filled 
 with absorbent cotton which was saturated 
 with gore. Chapman drove hurriedly to the 
 Lake View Police Station and gave the alarm. 
 Captain Villiers and a detachment of officers 
 leaped into the patrol wagon and made a furi- 
 ous run to the lonely spot. When they 
 got there they found a large crowd of gaping 
 men and boys who had trampled the grass in 
 every direction. The trunk was taken to the 
 station house. The first thing Captain Villiers 
 did after he cleared his private room of the curi- 
 osity seekers who had swarmed into the station 
 house, was to make a careful examination of the 
 trunk. He found enough evidence to satisfy him 
 that a grown person had been murdered, thrust 
 into it, and then carted to the spot between 
 the two cemeteries. The trunk was new 
 and large. A man six feet tall could be 
 cramped into it. A trunk dealer who was 
 summoned to the station house by Captain Vil- 
 liers, said at once that it had been made either 
 in Racine or Milwaukee. It was of cheap pat- 
 tern and had evidently been purchased for the 
 purpose for which it was used. The trunk had
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 35 
 
 been locked after the body had been placed in 
 it and the cotton had been packed about the 
 wounds in order to stanch the flow of blood 
 and thus insure greater safety in its transmission 
 from place to place. Before the body was re- 
 moved the lock of the trunk had been broken 
 by two sharp blows with a blunt instrument. 
 The marks of these blows were on both sides 
 of the lock. In their haste to remove the 
 the body the murderers had thrown the cover 
 back with such force that one of the sheet-iron 
 hinges was broken. Captain Villiers picked the 
 cotton out and 
 placed it upon his 
 table. He had 
 formerly been a 
 doctor and his ex- 
 amination of the 
 cotton led him to 
 the belief that the 
 murder must have 
 been committed 
 some time after midnight. Some of the ab- 
 sorbent material was still soft with blood and 
 there was a pool of fresh blood in one corner 
 of the trunk. Careful examination of the cot- 
 ton revealed other things to the officer. He 
 found a lock of dark -brown hair, which was 
 almost as fine as a woman's but not so glossy. 
 
 THE BLOODY TRUNK AND ITS CONTENTS.
 
 36 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 This was the only possible tangible clue 
 to the identity of the victim. The lock of hair 
 was placed under a miscroscppe. It was found 
 to be filled with blood and particles of cotton. 
 
 More closely examined; it looked as though 
 it had been chopped off with a blunt instru- 
 ment. It had not been pulled out of the scalp 
 but the hairs were all of uneven length and 
 looked as though they might have come off the 
 cranium near the forehead. The inside of the 
 cover of the trunk was bespattered with blood. 
 Some of the life fluid had trickled down the 
 exterior; presumably when the body was 
 dragged out upon the ground. There were 
 no marks on the trunk and aside from the 
 lock of hair there was absolutely nothing left 
 for the officers to hold for identification. 
 
 SEARCHING FOR CLUES. 
 
 Captain Villiers had not yet heard of the dis- 
 appearance of Dr. Cronin. He was quickly sat- 
 isfied, however, that a diabolical murder had 
 been committed and at once issued orders to 
 his subordinates to institute a thorough search 
 for the body, wfcich he believed to be some- 
 where in the neighborhood of the spot where the 
 trunk was found. A patrol wagon filled with 
 officers was out the entire afternoon. The men 
 searched all the brush, prairie and vacant houses
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 37 
 
 for a mile around, but could find no trace of the 
 corpse. So many persons had trampled the 
 grass at the spot where the trunk was found 
 that the officers could not discover tracks 
 of any vehicle. Evanston Avenue is so 
 well paved that search along this much travelled 
 highway would have been useless. The 
 officers scoured the grass, examined the fences 
 and went even so far as to invade the cemeter- 
 ies. Not a drop of blood nor a particle of 
 cotton could be found anywhere. Three boards 
 of a fence were down at Argyle Street, but there 
 was no evidence that they had been removed 
 for the purpose of assisting men in the removal 
 of a body. Efforts were made to find the men 
 who first discovered the trunk but without re- 
 sult. One man that drove along the Evanston 
 road an hour ahead of Alderman Chapman was 
 positive that it was not there at that time, while 
 on the other hand the alderman insisted that 
 there were men at the spot for some time be- 
 fore he happened along in his buggy. 
 
 It was six o'clock on Sunday evening when 
 Officers Smith and Hayden entered the station 
 to report for their night's work. The instant 
 Smith entered the Captain's private room he 
 declared that the bloody truuk lying before him 
 was the one he had seen in the carpenter's wag-
 
 38 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 on when he stood with his brother-officer at 
 Clark and Diversey Streets in the early morning. 
 Officer Hayden, when called in, was equal- 
 ly positive. At this moment the news of Dr. 
 Cronin's disappearance was received, and Cap- 
 tain Villiers became intensely excited. The re- 
 port that Dr. Cronin was missing under the 
 most alarming circumstances and the gory ev- 
 idences of a murder lying before him seemed to 
 inspire the Captain with the belief that perhaps 
 the mystery surrounding the well-known doctor's 
 disappearance had been solved. He at once is- 
 sued orders for a search for the mysterious wag- 
 on and its occupants. He hurriedly drove 
 over to O 'Sullivan's and put the ice man through 
 a sharp examination. The latter, however, 
 stuck to the story he had told earlier in 
 the day. He knew nothing but what lie had 
 been told, he said ; and his manner was 
 so earnest, and his distress of mind to out- 
 ward appearances so intense, that the official 
 took him at his word. 
 
 "JUST LIKE HIS HAIR." 
 
 From the icehouse Captain Villiers drove to 
 the home of the missing physician. For hours 
 the apartments had been thronged with visitors, 
 some waiting hour after hour, others coming and 
 going, to hear the latest intelligence of the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 39 
 
 search. Without apprising them of his conjec- 
 tures regarding the trunk the captain enquired 
 as to the length of Dr. Cronin's hair. 
 
 " He wore his hair much longer than men 
 usually do," said Mrs. Conklin, "and lately it 
 had been quite long." 
 
 "Had he plenty 
 of hair on the top 
 of his head" the 
 captain went on. 
 
 MB. AND MBS. CONKLIN. 
 
 "Yes" replied 
 some one in the 
 room "and it was 
 quite long." 
 The Chief then took from his pocket the 
 scrap of paper containing the lock of hair he 
 had found in the trunk, and those present crowd- 
 ed around and examined it closely. Some 
 were inclined to believe that it resembled that 
 of the missing man, but were fearful of expres- 
 sing a positive opinion. At this juncture F. 
 T. Scanlan, Jr., came into the room. He took 
 the lock of hair and fingered it for a moment, 
 his face blanched, and as he laid it down upon 
 the table he ejaculated : 
 
 "That is just like his hair, yes, just like it." 
 There was a scream and a fall. One of the 
 ladies present had fainted away.
 
 40 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 By this time Captain Villiers was fully con- 
 vinced that the lock of hair was destined to play 
 an important part in the solution of the mystery. 
 At the same time he was desirous that the iden- 
 tification should be more complete, or that the 
 resemblance between the lock and the hair of the 
 missing man should be established by the testi- 
 mony of those best qualified to speak on the sub- 
 ject. Accordingly, bright and early on the 
 following morning he visited the tonsorial estab- 
 lishment one door north of the Windsor theatre, 
 where for years the physician had been in the 
 habit of getting shaved three or four times weekly. 
 Here, however, his theory encountered a set back. 
 The proprietor, H. F. Wisch, was positive that 
 the hair had come from some other head than that 
 of Dr. Cronin. In this opinion he was supported 
 by two of his employes. They had cut his hair 
 time and again, and they insisted that there could 
 be no possibility of their being mistaken when they 
 said that the hair could not have come from Dr. 
 Cronin's head. The lock that they were asked 
 to identify was fully four inches long, and fine, 
 while, so they contended, the physician's hair was 
 exceptionally coarse. Moreover and this ap- 
 peared to be conclusive his hair had been cut 
 three days prior to his disappearance and it would 
 have been impossible that a lock four inches in 
 length could have been left on his head. So far
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 41 
 
 as could be remembered his head was trimmed to 
 an average length of two inches. As to color, 
 there was something of a resemblance, although 
 there was enough apparent difference in shade to 
 be noticeable when compared with a few hairs 
 taken from a hair brush that was kept for the 
 doctor's exclusive use. Mr. and Mrs. Conklin, 
 however, took issue with Barber Wisch on almost 
 every point. The hair of their friend and tenant 
 they asserted, was long, soft and remarkably silky, 
 while, moreover, it was precisely of the same 
 shade as the lock held by Captain Villiers. In the 
 face of these conflicting statements the latter very 
 wisely concluded that it would be useless to push 
 this particular branch of the investigation at that 
 time, and the clue was consigned to a drawer of 
 the safe in the Lake View Station. 
 
 WAGON TRACKS LEAD TO THE WATER'S EDGE. 
 
 Meanwhile every available officer of the police 
 force of the suburb, reinforced by Captain Schaack 
 and a number of city detectives and officers, were 
 searching high and low to discover the where- 
 abouts of the physician and to solve the mystery 
 surrounding the bloody trunk. Captain Schaack 
 and his associates, after examining the locality of 
 the find, tramped over the ground for a mile 
 around. 
 
 While thus engaged a discovery was made that
 
 4 2 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 in the light of subsequent events was of consider- 
 able importance. It was the tracks of a wagon 
 in the sandy road leading to the lake. Commenc- 
 ing at a point but a few yards from the place where 
 
 DETECTIVES INSPECTING THE SPOT WHERE THE TEUNK WAS FOUND. 
 
 the trunk was dumped, the trail went northwardly 
 some three hundred yards, then turned to the side 
 road and went east to the water's edge. Here in 
 the wet sand the indications of a halt were quite 
 plain. Thence, after following the beach about a 
 hundred yards, the tracks turned into what was
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 43 
 
 known as the Wilson road, and apparently pro- 
 ceeded southward to the city. It was impossible to 
 determine from appearances whether the ruts were 
 a day or a week old, for the high wind had blown 
 the fine sand across the level beach in great clouds. 
 At this juncture, however, a special officer of the 
 village of Edgewater, and a watchman at the sta- 
 tion, Wade by name, and who had learned that the 
 officers were inclined to connect the wagon tracks 
 with the trunk, told an interesting story. 
 
 "Early on Sunday morning," he said, "I was 
 standing on Hollywood avenue, just north of 
 Bryn Mawr avenue, when I saw a team standing 
 near the edge of the lake. It was about 1 105, and 
 I went to the team and asked a fellow who stood 
 near what he was doing there at that hour of the 
 night." 
 
 " We're looking for " the Lake Shore drive," 
 said he, "we want to get back to town." 
 
 " The Lake Shore drive, man, is two miles from 
 here," I said, " can't you see there is no roadway 
 here?" 
 
 "While I was talking a couple of fellows who 
 had been walking along the beach came up." 
 
 "Boys," said the first man, "this officer says 
 we're away off the road." 
 
 "At this they all got into the wagon and drove 
 west on Bryn Mawr avenue until they reached 
 the Evanston road. Then they started down
 
 44 VHE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Evanston avenue at a rapid gait and I lost sight 
 of them. I noticed a long square box in the 
 wagon, but it was very dark and I could not see 
 plainly what it was. The fellow I talked to, how- 
 ever, Pll recognize and identify anywhere." 
 
 From a study of the surroundings, taken in con- 
 nection with this story, the conclusion was arrived 
 at by the police authorities that the trunk had 
 been first taken to the lake, its contents thrown 
 into the surf, and that it was then brought back 
 into the road and dumped into the ditch. This, 
 as was developed later, was the original inten- 
 tion of the murderers. The point on the beach 
 where the tracks showed that the vehicle had 
 made a halt was about as dreary and desolate a 
 spot as could be found in the country. Sandy, 
 covered with heavy timber, and remo.ved nearly 
 half a mile from a house or a shelter of 'any kind, 
 it was just the place that a man or a party of men 
 with a murderous job on their hands would have 
 naturally selected. 
 
 To empty a trunk into the lake, or to dig a hole 
 in the sand and drop a human body in it, would 
 have been the work of but a few minutes, and all 
 traces of the bloody crime might thus have been 
 obliterated forever. 
 
 THE SEARCH REVEALS NOTHING. 
 
 For the next forty-eight hours the efforts of 
 the authorities were re-doubled. All the livery
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 45 
 
 stables on the north side of the city were visited 
 for the purpose of ascertaining if a white horse 
 and vehicle, as described by Mrs. Conklin and 
 Frank Scanlan, had been rented out on the previ- 
 ous Saturday. Several white horses were owned 
 by the liverymen in that section, but all, apparently, 
 were -satisfactorily accounted for. The one man, 
 who, had he so chosen, could, by answering the 
 question in the affirmative, have solved at least 
 this portion of the mystery, preferred to hold 
 his peace for the time being. Scores of men and 
 boys waded through the pond in the German 
 Catholic Cemetery, the river in the vicinity was 
 dragged, nearly every sewer and sluice box in the 
 city of Lake View was examined, and even the 
 clay holes which were as plentiful thereabouts 
 as reefs in Lake Michigan were hunted from end 
 to end. As a last resort, and at the earnest solici- 
 tation of friends of Dr. Cronin, the Chicago River 
 was dredged for a distance of six hundred feet at 
 Fullerton avenue bridge, over which the wagon 
 with the trunk was supposed to have crossed. 
 This task, conducted by Captain Schaack and 
 eight officers, occupied two days. Like the search 
 in every other direction, however, it was utterly 
 without result. The physician had disappeared 
 as completely as though the earth had opened and 
 swallowed him up, and the mystery of the trunk 
 and its gory contents remained a mystery still.
 
 CHAPTER TIL 
 
 AN ACCIDENTAL CLUE FRANK WOODRUFF'S 
 
 ARREST HOW HE WAS HIRED TO GE*T A 
 
 WAGON TO CARRY THE MYSTERIOUS TRUNK 
 
 TO LAKE VIEW A CORPSE IS DUMPED OUT 
 
 HE THINKS IT WAS THAT OF A WOMAN 
 HIS SENSATIONAL CONFESSION THE POLICE 
 ON A WILD GOOSE' CHASE. 
 
 Despite the small army of professional and 
 amateur detectives at work on the case and 
 the untiring labors of the missing man's friends, 
 it was an accident rather than a clue that 
 brought about the first important development 
 of this sensational tragedy. On Thursday 
 morning, May 9th, five days after the physician 
 had disappeared as completely as though the 
 ground had opened and swallowed him up, a 
 stable owner named Foley, having barns on 
 Fifteenth Street near Centre Avenue, entered 
 the Twelfth Street Police Court while the 
 hearing of a case was in progress, and informed 
 Lieutenant Beck that a young man had been 
 trying to sell him a horse and wagon and that
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 47 
 
 he had agreed to purchase the rig for $10, in 
 order that he might detain the supposed horse- 
 thief until the police could be notified. Two 
 officers, O'Malley and Halle, were at once sent 
 to the barn. The man, upon being placed under 
 arrest, at once fainted. Upon regaining con- 
 sciousress, he was started for the station. 
 His pecular agitation was noticed by the offi- 
 cers, and one of them, in joking about a horse- 
 thief having such a nervous temperament, made 
 a slight remark in which he mentioned the 
 name of Dr. Cronin. The prisoner evinced a 
 strong tendency to faint again, and gasped: 
 " I'll tell you all when I get to the station.'"' 
 The officers laughed. Their dull comprehen- 
 sions failed to connect the remark with the 
 trunk mystery. When the station was reached, 
 however, and the attention of Lieutenant Beck 
 had been called to what the man had said, he 
 at once jumped to the conclusion that 'the horse 
 was the one attached to the wagon that had 
 hauled the mysterious trunk. He ordered the 
 man into his private office and at once began to 
 put him in what is known in police parlance as 
 " the sweat box," or in other words, to put him 
 through a rapid course of questioning. At 
 first the man a mild mannered young fellow, 
 attired in clothes of cheap material, with bad 
 complexion, square features, heavy jaws, and a
 
 48 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 pronounced squint in one eye gave his name 
 as Frank J. Black, although he afterwards ad- 
 mitted that it was Woodruff. He was, he said, 26 
 years of age, a Canadian by birth, and a rail- 
 road laborer by occupation. 
 
 " I want to make a confession," he remarked, 
 after the preliminaries had been completed. 
 He was warned that it would have to be en 
 tirely voluntary, and that no immunity could 
 be promised. To this understanding he gave 
 his assent, and Sergeant Cosgrove, having been 
 called in as a witness, the prisoner commenced 
 his story : 
 
 "A week ago last Wednesday," (May i) he 
 said, " I was in Sol Van Praag's gambling 
 house, at 392 South State Street, playing poker. 
 I lost $8, and, just before n o'clock, I got up 
 from the table saying: I ought not to gamble, 
 I can't afford to lose any money. Just then 
 William H. King, an old friend of mine, who 
 was standing by, said to me: 'I'll put you on 
 the road to make a few dollars if you want to.' 
 I told him I was willing," went on Wood- 
 ruff, " and that I could be found at D. G. 
 Dean's livery stable, at 406 Webster Avenue, 
 where I was working. We had several drinks, 
 and then went down State Street to Madison, 
 where King left me. He did not say how I 
 was to make the money. But last Sunday he
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 49 
 
 came up to the stable in the afternoon, and 
 called me out. We went into a saloon near 
 by, and King said to me: 'I want you to get 
 a horse and some light rig in which to carry 
 a trunk, about 2 o'clock to-morrow morning, if 
 you can. I want you to do it quietly, and be 
 sure to come out before three or four o'clock. 
 If you can't get out as early as that, I don't 
 want you at all.' " 
 
 Woodruff had been talking rapidly. He 
 paused a moment for breath, and then went on. 
 
 WOODRUFF'S LURID STORY. 
 "The wagon was to be brought to a corner 
 a few blocks from our stable, where King was 
 to be in waiting. At three o'clock in the morn- 
 ing I hitched a white horse to a light wagon 
 and drove to the corner, where I found King. 
 He told me it was all right, and that there was 
 $25 in it for me. King got into the wagon 
 and told me to drive to the rear of 528 North 
 State Street. When we got there, we met a* 
 man, that I supposed was Dr. Cronin, also a 
 sporting man named Dick Fairburn, who I 
 knew to be a desperate character. They went 
 into the barn and hauled out a trunk. The 
 man I supposed was Cronin was extremely im- 
 patient and nervous, and urged the others to 
 hurry up. They called him 'Doc.' and when
 
 50 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 he was inclined to get mad, Fairburn said, 'all 
 right. Doc., we'll hurry.' When the trunk was 
 put into the wagon, King and Fairburn got 
 in and the rig started north, 'Doc.' being left 
 behind. The horse was guided up the Lake 
 Shore drive to the north end of Lincoln Park. 
 Here a strange man in a high cart, driving a 
 buckskin-colored horse, approached the wagon 
 from behind, and the men told me to hurry out 
 of the way. I turned off the road into a 
 parallel driveway and went up about a quarter 
 of a mile. Then King told me to stop. 
 While going up the driveway, King gave me 
 $25, and I heard him say : 
 
 'If we'd have let Tom alone, we'd have had 
 the Doc. in here too. 7 
 
 When the wagon stopped, King remarked as 
 he jumped off: 
 
 "Here's where we drop Alice." 
 
 " Then the trunk was opened and a stench 
 came out. The horse became restless and I 
 had to get out and attend to him. What I 
 saw led me to believe that the body removed 
 from the box was that of a woman in a muti- 
 lated condition. I saw a leg that had been cut 
 off at the thigh. The corpse was wrapped in 
 cotton batting. After the remains had been 
 dumped near a clump of bushes, the batting 
 was placed in the trunk, which was then thrown
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 5 1 
 
 into the wagon. Then King said : " Leave us 
 here. You drive on a piece and hide the trunk 
 some way or another, and then go home." 
 
 " I drove on for about fifteen minutes," the fel- 
 low resumed, " and then I stopped at a hole and 
 threw the trunk into it. Then I made straight 
 for the barn, driving as fast as I could. I reached 
 there at five o'clock, and managed to get in with- 
 out any one seeing me." 
 
 " How was it possible for you to get the rig 
 out without being detected," Woodruff was 
 asked. 
 
 "O, that's easy enough," he replied, with a 
 laugh. "You could go there yourself, almost 
 any night, and do the same thing. Howard (one 
 of the employes) is usually out, seeing his girl, 
 and as for Charlie (another employe), you might 
 fire a sixteen-pound cannon under his ears, and 
 he'd never wake up. I went to bed as usual 
 that night, just about eleven o'clock, in the room 
 near the stable. I lay quiet until I knew that 
 the boys were asleep, and then I slipped out 
 and went down the stairway to the floor where 
 the horses were, carrying my shoes in my hand. 
 I had left the wagon in the alley outside, so as 
 to be sure of it." 
 
 "What kind of a rig was it," asked the Lieu- 
 tenant. 
 
 " It was a red gear wagon, with a black box
 
 CJ2 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 and a high dashboard in front. The doors lead- 
 ing to the barn are folding doors, which open 
 easily, and the floor is sprinkled with sawdust. 
 I got the horse out all right, after muffling its 
 hoofs, and led it to the wagon in the alley, 
 where I hitched it up. I am sure nobody saw 
 me when I got back. Somebody used the mare 
 later in the day (Sunday), and said when she 
 came out, 'It doesn't seem to me she's fresh, 
 to-day.* I heard it all, but I didn't say a word." 
 Woodruff was sharply questioned, with the 
 view of testing his veracity, but he stuck closely 
 to his statements. He admitted that he had 
 taken the horse and wagon that he was charged 
 with stealing from Dean's stable two days 
 before, and inquiry by telephone developed the 
 fact that Dean had reported his loss at the near- 
 est police station. The prisoner admitted that 
 he had made up his mind to leave the city just 
 before being arrested, because he was afraid of 
 Fairburn, who had told him to say nothing about 
 the midnight ride, and had warned him that if 
 he "peached" he would kill him (Woodruff), if 
 he had to wait twenty years to do it. Fairburn, 
 he described as being short, heavy-set, with gray 
 hair and moustache. He was a desperate man, 
 and one not afraid to commit murder. King 
 was about thirty-two, six feet tall, stout, dark- 
 complexioned, and of gentlemanly appearance.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 53 
 
 No time was lost by Lieutenant Beck in com- 
 municating the developments of the day to his 
 superiors, and Captains Schaack and O'Donnell 
 were at the station as fast as horseflesh could 
 bring them. The records of the two men men- 
 tioned by the horse-thief were first looked up, 
 and both turned out to be hard cases. Fairburn 
 was recognized from the description as a desperate 
 thief, and who, under the alias of Neil White, 
 had " done time " in the penitentiary. At one 
 time he was a resident of Minneapolis. 
 
 WOODRUFF GOES OVER THE ROUTE. 
 
 As a result of the conference of the two police 
 officials it was decided that, in order to test the 
 truthfulness of the prisoner, he should be taken 
 out and allowed to drive over the route that he 
 claimed to have taken on that memorable Satur- 
 day night. Just as soon as darkness had set in 
 this idea was carried into effect. Starting from 
 Webster and Lincoln avenues, he proceeded di- 
 rectly to North State and Schiller streets, turned 
 into the alley between State and Dearborn, and 
 stopped in front of the barn in the rear of 528 
 North State street. This, he claimed, was the 
 place from which the trunk was taken. From 
 here the drive was north to North avenue, 
 where he turned to the right, and struck the 
 Lake Shore drive. Woodruff stopped the horse
 
 54 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 directly opposite the artesian well, and, pointing 
 to a clump of bushes, told the officers that that 
 was the place where the trunk had been emptied 
 and the mutilated body taken out and left with 
 Fairburn and King. This spot was directly below 
 the sand-hills, and a little while before had been 
 planted with evergreens and shrubbery. Resum- 
 ing the trip, Woodruff drove straight and with- 
 out prompting or hesitation to the spot where the 
 empty trunk was found, on the Evanston road, 
 north of Sulzer street. His course was along 
 the Lake Shore drive to Belmont avenue, thence 
 to Evanston avenue, and from thence north until 
 the spot was reached. At the ditch he stopped 
 long enough to explain how the trunk fell side- 
 ways on the ground, and in doing so burst open, 
 the lid breaking off at one end. His description 
 of the trunk corresponded in every detail with 
 the one that at that time was locked away in the 
 Lake View Station. 
 
 What between the story and the trip, the po- 
 lice were considerably mystified. It seemed im- 
 possible that, even with the newspaper accounts 
 of the disappearance and the details as material 
 to work upon, a man of only average intelli- 
 gence could invent such a story and strike the 
 localities with such accuracy, At the same 
 time outside investigation failed to substantiate 
 what he had said. The keeper of the gambling
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 55 
 
 house denied that any men answering to the de- 
 scription of King and Fairburn had ever frequented 
 his place, or been seen in conversation with Wood- 
 ruff, although he recognized the latter as an oc- 
 casional visitor to the den. Liveryman Dean and 
 his employes were equally positive that it would 
 have been impossible for the horse and wagon to 
 have been taken from the stable and returned 
 without detection. Finally, the occupier of the 
 barn scouted the idea that the trunk had been 
 taken from that place as ridiculous, in view of 
 the fact that it was always kept well locked and 
 provided in addition with burglar alarms commu- 
 nicating with the house. Diligent inquiry in a 
 dozen different directions failed to locate either 
 of the two men named by the prisoner, or to cor- 
 roborate any other portion of the story. But 
 Woodruff, when confronted with these contra- 
 dictions, held his ground well, even in the face of 
 a vigorous cross-examination. His description of 
 the mysterious "Doc" tallied with that of Dr. 
 Cronin to the life. He was positive, moreover, 
 that the corpse was that of a woman, not only 
 because the men had referred to "Alice," or 
 " Allie," but also because the hand that was ex- 
 posed was soft and white and slender. This af- 
 forded ground for the theory that the remains 
 might have been those of a woman who had fallen 
 a victim to a criminal operation, but a little rea-
 
 56 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 soning showed that this was untenable. It was 
 hardly likely that King would have arranged with 
 Woodruff to haul the trunk three days before the 
 nefarious job was to be done, for he could not very 
 well have known that the operation would result in 
 the death of the victim and that, consequently, there 
 would be a corpse to dispose of. Nor could the 
 crime have been committed on the Wednesday, 
 the day upon which Woodruff claimed to have 
 been first approached, without the decomposing 
 body attracting suspicion. The only effect, there- 
 fore, of Woodruff's first confession for several 
 more were to follow at later stages of the case 
 was to deepen the mystery and, incidentally, to 
 start the authorities and friends of Dr. Cronin on 
 another wild goose chase. The ponds and river 
 were dragged a second time, sand hills and prairie 
 trudged over for miles, until the weary and dis- 
 pirited men were ready to drop the work as well 
 as the idea that any connection existed between 
 the blood-stained trunk and the disappearance of 
 the physician. Twenty-four hours later, as an 
 outcome of sinister influences that emanated from 
 Canada, and which are dealt with at length in 
 another chapter, the search was practically aban- 
 doned by almost every one concerned.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 "IT is A CONSPIRACY" DR. CRONIN'S FRIENDS 
 
 CLAIM THE MURDER WAS A POLITICAL AS- 
 SASSINATION THE PUBLIC SCEPTICAL UNTIL 
 
 STARTLING DEVELOPMENTS ARE MADE 
 THE PHYSICAN IN DANGER OF HIS LIFE FOR 
 
 YEARS PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO "REMOVE" 
 
 HIM THE TROUBLE IN THE CLAN-NA-GAEL 
 
 CHARGES AND COUNTER CHARGES THE 
 
 BUFFALO CONVENTION WHY HIS "RE- 
 MOVAL" BECAME A NECESSITY TO CERTAIN 
 PEOPLE. 
 
 " He is dead I feel sure of it." So said 
 Mrs. Conklin, when the news of the finding of 
 the bloody trunk, the cotton batting, and the 
 locks of matted hair, had been brought to her. 
 
 " This is the work of political enemies" echoed 
 Frank T. Scanlan. 
 
 "Dr. Cronin has been the victim of a politi- 
 cal assassination" was the immediate verdict of a 
 number of prominent Irishmen of New York, 
 Philadelphia and other places. And the devel- 
 opments soon to come showed that they knew 
 whereof they spoke. 
 
 57
 
 58 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 But the general public, while it listened and 
 eagerly discussed the mystery, was inclined to 
 be sceptical. 
 
 A political murder in the free, liberty loving 
 United States. It could not be! Two Pres- 
 dents had, it was true, been shot in cold blood 
 by madmen; and in different parts of the coun- 
 try and on divers occasions men had been killed 
 in scrimmages at the polls as a result of troub- 
 les growing out of election affairs. But these 
 were not political murders in the general accepta- 
 tion of the term, not the deliberate well planned 
 taking of life; not the outgrowth of a conspir- 
 acy to "remove" some one whose particular 
 political predelictions or position had rendered 
 him obnoxious to those politically associated 
 with him. " Such things might happen abroad 
 it is true" said the sceptics, "but on American 
 soil it would be an impossibility." 
 
 DR. CRONIN AS A PROPHET. 
 
 Dr. Cronin's friends were not among the scep- 
 tics. Very well they knew that there was more 
 than ordinary ground for the fears they had 
 expressed. There was abundant evidence that 
 long before his death the physician had known 
 that his life was threatened, and that any day 
 might be his last. This knowledge, or belief, 
 it may be. rv,t m either way was clearly
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 59 
 
 outlined in a pamphlet which, under the title of 
 "Is it a conspiracy," he caused to be printed 
 and circulated among his friends a year before 
 his taking off. In this document which, at the 
 time was summed up by most of those that 
 read it, as a mass of words and phrases with- 
 out meaning to any one but the writer, Dr. 
 Cronin clearly outlined the fact that he would 
 meet his end by violent means. There was 
 a key to the story which, when read between 
 the lines after his disappearance, made its mean- 
 ing clear to many of those to whom it had pre- 
 viously seemed but a jumble of incoherences. 
 
 The closing paragraph, in particular, was an 
 extraordinary indication of the prophetic spirit 
 that had been generated in the physician by 
 the dangers that he knew assailed him. 
 
 "It strikes me that your funeral would be a 
 largely attended one," was the question that he 
 put into the mouth of the mythical reporter 
 who was supposed to be interviewing him. 
 
 "Yes," was the reply that followed "and the 
 cause of .death extensively inquired into." 
 
 Prophetic words. How largely his funeral 
 was attended; how extensively the cause of 
 death was investigated; this volume itself is a 
 record. 
 
 The fact that his life was in danger had been 
 the burden of Dr. Cronin's confidences to his
 
 60 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 friends for a year prior to that memorable night 
 in May. 
 
 More than once attempts had been made to 
 lure him to isolated and unfrequented spots on 
 the pretense that his professional services were 
 required. On one of these occasions, so it is said, 
 although the doctor was always uncommuni- 
 cative on this point he barely escaped with 
 his life from a house whither he had been sum- 
 moned to attend a woman who was, in reality, 
 feigning sickness. At another, time he pub- 
 licly denounced a man whom he believed had 
 been sent from a distant city in the east to 
 encompass his death. Still another time a 
 local sport who had been hired by his enemies 
 to "do him up" as the expression was used; 
 inspired by feelings of gratitude from some in- 
 direct favor, had made a clean breast of the 
 matter. Little wonder then that Dr. Cronin 
 felt that^he lived the life of a marked man, and 
 that sooner or later, he would fall a victim to 
 the machinations of those that were bent upon 
 his removal. But why had he enemies? and 
 why moreover was his death so greatly de* 
 sired? 
 
 CRONIN AND THE CLAN-NA-GAEL. 
 
 The answer to these questions is given in the 
 theory adopted by the officers of the law im-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 6 1 
 
 mediately upon the discovery of the body; which 
 was subsequently endorsed by the coroner's 
 jury, re-indorsed by the Grand jury; and in pur- 
 suance of which seven men were soon to be 
 placed upon trial for actual participation or com- 
 plicity in the crime. This theory was that 
 the physician had fallen a victim of a conspir- 
 acy, covering two continents, its ramifications ex- 
 tending in numerous directions and involving 
 people of high as well as low repute, and that 
 this conspiracy had for its object his deliberate 
 removal in order that certain secrets and in- 
 formation that he possessed, and which virtually 
 affected the reputation, honor, and credit of cer- 
 tain Irishmen of international reputation, might 
 not be given to the world. In order, however, 
 that this theory may be made clear, it is nec- 
 essary to go back to the beginning of the 
 trouble. Almost from his boyhood days Dr. 
 Cronin had taken an active interest in organiza- 
 tions that had for their object the liberation of 
 Ireland from British 'domination. One of these 
 organizations was the Clan-na-Gael. This 
 was probably the most closely oath-bound of 
 all the Irish Societies of this co*untry or abroad. 
 Its strength, moreover, was phenomenal. Al- 
 though, owing to the secrecy which surrounded 
 its annual conventions, no public reports of its 
 total membership had ever appeared of record,
 
 62 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 * 
 
 it was generally believed and understood that it 
 ran into many scores of thousands, and pene- 
 trated into almost, if not quite, every section of 
 the North American continent. In age it dated 
 back to 1869, its cardinal object being to estab- 
 lish in Ireland an Irish republic, to bring about 
 fraternal feelings among Irishmen in the United 
 States, and generally assist in the elevation of 
 the Irish race. It affiliated with the old revolu- 
 tionary organizations in Ireland, and moved on 
 lines so nearly masonic in their secrecy, that in 
 many parts of the country the clergy of the Cath- 
 olic church either discouraged or .altogether for- 
 bade the members of their flocks from becoming 
 identified with it. Despite this fact, however, the 
 order, almost from its inception, grew in strength, 
 in wealth, and in influence. There was nothing 
 in the obligation which would-be members were 
 compelled to take, before being entrusted with 
 the pass-words and other secret work that con- 
 flicted with their duties as citizens of the United 
 States, exept that the occasion might arise when 
 it would be necessary for them to violate the 
 neutrality laws. Every man, however, that joined 
 the Clan-na-Gael, or, as it was more generally 
 known to the outside world, the "United Broth- 
 erhood^' knew that, as an Irishman or a man of 
 Irish' descent, his sworn duty was loyalty to Ire- 
 land, and that, were he called upon to take up
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 63 
 
 arms in aid of any movement for the independ- 
 ence of Erin's Isle, it would be his duty to com- 
 ply without question or demur. The member- 
 ship of the organization was divided into districts, 
 which again were subdivided into local lodges 
 or " Camps." Each district had its general of- 
 ficer, to whose authority each local camp was 
 subject, and the district officers in turn made 
 up an Executive Board. This body possessed 
 absolute and complete control of the organiza- 
 tion in every particular. 
 
 THE "TRIANGLE" IN POWER. 
 
 It was not until 1 88 1, when it had passed its first 
 decade of existence, that the United Brotherhood 
 first came prominently to the attention of people 
 of all nationalities in the United States. In that 
 year it held a national convention in Chicago. 
 At this time its membership was at its height. 
 Tens of thousands of men of Irish blood had be- 
 come affiliated with it for motives of the purest 
 patriotism, many others on account of the secret 
 political influence which it was enabled to wield; 
 and not a few because they thought they saw in 
 it a source of livelihood and profit to themselves. 
 Its treasury had swollen to large proportions, as 
 a natural result of that section of the constitution 
 which required every local camp to remit ten per 
 cent of its gross receipts to the Executive Board,
 
 64 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 and to faithfully keep the balance, save and ex- 
 cept so much as might be required for running 
 expenses, in its treasury for an emergency. It 
 was from this convention that the troubles which 
 afterward overwhelmed the order first dated. 
 One of its actions was to so change the system 
 of government as to confide the supreme control 
 to an Executive Board of five men, of which num- 
 ber three formed a quorum. Alexander Sullivan 
 of Chicago, Michael Boland of Louisville, and D. 
 C. Feeley of Rochester, New York, were elected 
 members of this Executive Board, and, working 
 together, became both the majority and neces- 
 sary quorum. This was the trio which was des- 
 tined to become famous in after years as the 
 " Triangle." 
 
 Almost from the day and hour that the con- 
 vention adjourned, the " Triangle " commenced to 
 rule the order with a rod of iron. Despite the 
 fact that when it came into power there was in 
 the treasury funds, according to the best data 
 that has been obtainable, aggregating a quarter 
 million of dollars, a new rule was promulgated 
 which required nearly the entire receipts of each 
 Camp, instead of the former ten per cent., to be 
 forwarded to the National Executive Commit- 
 tee. In justification of this remarkable step, it 
 was quietly given out that matters connected with 
 the objects of the organization indicated that an
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 65 
 
 imperative demand was very shortly expected, 
 which would allow of no delay, and in which 
 much money would be required. As the funds 
 had been raised for the sole purpose of assisting 
 in revolutionary efforts, which, from their very 
 nature had necessarily to be conducted with the 
 utmost secrecy, no great objection came from any 
 quarter to the transfer of the funds. The amount 
 thus placed in the control of Alexander Sullivan, 
 as chief of the Executive Committee, and of 
 Feeley and Boland, his aids, was subsequently 
 stated by men who knew, men of honor and in- 
 tegrity, men whose word in commercial trans- 
 actions was considered as good as their bond, as 
 being in the immediate neighborhood of the enor- 
 mous total of one hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 VICTIMS OF A " PHYSICAL FORCE " POLICY. 
 
 What followed in the next few years is a mat- 
 ter of history. At irregular intervals the news 
 of dynamite explosions in different parts of Eng- 
 land, was flashed over the wires that spanned the 
 two continents beneath the broad waters of the 
 great Atlantic. So, too, was the news of the death, 
 or capture and subsequent imprisonment, of those 
 supposed to have been primarily concerned in 
 these affairs. Oftentimes the arrests were made 
 under circumstances which could lead to no other 
 belief than that the victim had been deliberately
 
 66 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 betrayed. Between 1881 and 1885 twenty-nine 
 Irish revolutionists were sent from America 
 into English prisons, and in almost every instance 
 the suspicion was so strong as to almost amount 
 to a certainty that these victims were betrayed 
 to the government, against which their attack was 
 to be directed, before they had left the vessel 
 which had carried them across the ocean. This 
 is the record: 
 
 Date of 
 Sentence. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Crime. 
 
 Sentence. 
 
 1881. 
 
 j James McGrath 
 
 Attempt to blow up Liver- 
 
 Life. 
 
 May 
 
 ( James McKevitt 
 
 pool Town Hall. 
 
 20 years. 
 
 1882. 
 
 John Tobin 
 
 Illegal possession of nitro- 
 
 
 Jan. 81 
 July 81 
 
 Thomas Walsh 
 
 glycerine. 
 Illegal possession of nitro- 
 
 7 years. 
 
 1883. 
 May 28 .... 
 
 ( Thomas Gallagher. .. 
 ) A. G. Whitehead 
 1 H. H. Wilson ' 
 
 glycerine. 
 Illegal manufacture of ^it- 
 
 Life. 
 Life. 
 Life. 
 
 
 
 
 Life 
 
 July 
 
 ( William Tansey 
 j Pat Noughton 
 
 London Exposition at 
 Weston House in Gal- 
 
 14yrs. 
 
 8yrs. 
 
 
 1 Pat Rogerson 
 V. James Kelly 
 
 way. 
 
 12 > TS. 
 
 2 yrs. H. L. 
 
 
 i Timothy Featherstone ' 
 Dennis Deasy 
 
 Illegal possession of infer- 
 
 Life. 
 Life. 
 
 July 30 
 
 Pat Flannigan 
 
 nal machines. 
 
 Life. 
 
 
 Henry Dal ton 
 
 
 Life. 
 
 
 f James McCullough.. " 
 Thomas De wan ney ... 
 Peter Callahan 
 
 
 Life. 
 Life. 
 Life. 
 
 
 1 Henry McCann 
 
 
 Life. 
 
 Dec. 21 
 
 j Terrance McDermott. 
 ~{ Dennis Casey f 
 
 Outrages at Glasgow in 
 January, 1883. 
 
 Life. 
 7 yrs. 
 
 
 1 Pat McCabe 1 
 
 
 7 yrs. 
 
 
 James Kelly 
 
 
 7 yrs. 
 
 
 I James Donnelly 
 1 Patrick Drum J 
 
 
 7 yrs. 
 5 yrs. 
 
 1884. 
 
 \ John Daly 
 
 Illegal possession of infer- 
 
 Life. 
 
 July 29 
 
 1885. 
 
 {J.F.Egan f 
 Patrick Levy 
 
 nal machines. 
 Explosion at Mill street 
 
 20 yrs. 
 1 yr. H. L. 
 
 May 18 
 
 j J. G. Cunningham . . . . ) 
 < H. Burton y 
 
 barracks. 
 Explosion at Tower of Lon- 
 don, etc. 
 
 Life. 
 Life. 
 
 Nov. 18 
 
 J. Wallace, alias Duff 
 
 Murder at Solihall. 
 
 20 yrs. 
 
 This was a total of thirty-two men convicted 
 of participation in dynamite explosions. The
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 67 
 
 conviction of Wallace for murder grew out of his 
 arrest on the charge of conspiracy. Two of the 
 unfortunates died shortly after their conviction, 
 one was pardoned, and of the remainder there 
 were on October the ist, 1889, twenty-two still 
 confined in British convict prisons. Besides 
 these, two other delegates from the United 
 States, Captain Mackey Lomasney and a mys- 
 terious man, known only as Peter Malone, 
 were supposed to have been killed in the explo- 
 sion on London Bridge on the evening of 
 December the i3th, 1884, while one more of 
 the number, James Moorehead, better known as 
 Thomas J. Mooney, who, with others, managed 
 the explosion in Whitehall in 1883, was suc- 
 cessful in escaping to New York. Some time 
 after his return to the United State he made a full 
 statement of the manner in which he was sent 
 abroad for dynamite work, and furnished with 
 money and methods of introduction to the agents 
 of destruction on the other side of the Atlantic. 
 
 CRONIN TO THE FRONT. 
 
 For a time Irish fealty proved equal to the 
 situation, and no outcry was raised because the 
 treasure was wasted, the lives of brothers lost, 
 and the sentiment of the whole world turned 
 against the cause of the freedom of Ireland. 
 Presently, however, a demand was made by
 
 68 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 the Executive Board upon the local Camps for 
 more money, and dissatisfaction began to mani 
 fest itself. It seemed incredible that the im- 
 mense sum which but a few years before had 
 been at the disposal of the Triangle could have 
 been absorbed, and that, as was claimed the order 
 was thousands of dollars in debt. An investigation 
 was demanded, and the Ti iangle responded with its 
 rod of iron. It declared that opposition should 
 be crushed out. Member after member, and 
 then Camp after Camp was expelled. It was 
 at this time that Dr. Cronin came to the front. 
 He was a collossus. He insisted that the mem- 
 bers of the organization had a right to know 
 what was being done with their money, whe- 
 ther the immense amounts levied and wrung 
 from patriotic Irishmen in America, had been 
 well used, or whether it had found its way 
 through other channels into the pockets of 
 financial conspirators. The Triangle did not 
 deign to notice him for a while, but his follow- 
 ing increased from scores to hundreds and from 
 hundreds to thousands, and it became evident 
 that the bold, intrepid Irishman who had forged 
 his way from poverty to an honorable position 
 in the metropolis of the West was the man of 
 all men of whom to be feared. The fiat went 
 out that Cronin's expulsion from ,the order was 
 necessary to the future safety of the organiza-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 69 
 
 tion. An opportunity was soon found. In his 
 own Camp, Dr. Cronin had read a circular from 
 one of the Camps that had been expelled, pro- 
 testing against the action of the Executive 
 Board. For doing this he was charged with 
 treason. This was in 1885. He was brought 
 to trial in Chicago before a committee consist- 
 ing of Lawrence Buckley, Frank Murray, John 
 O'Malley, Daniel Coughlin, the detective, who 
 later was to be charged with participation in his mur- 
 der, and Henry LeCar on, alias Beach, afterward a 
 British spy, and who had been introduced into the 
 order by Alexander Sullivan. The latter acted as 
 prosecutor. With such a trial committee it was 
 little wonder but that the physician should have 
 been pronounced guilty of treason, and that his 
 expulsion from the order should have been 
 decreed. 
 
 The "treasonable" letter was as follows: 
 
 THE "TREASONABLE" LETTER. 
 
 The initials used throughout represent the titles 
 in this order: 
 
 "V. C.," United Brotherhood; " F. C.," Ex- 
 ecutive Body; "U.S.," United Sons; "D.," Camps; 
 " I. R. B.," Irish Republican Brotherhood ; " R. D.," 
 Revolutionary Directorate; " S. C., v Supreme 
 Council,
 
 70 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS F. C. OF V. C., 
 
 Sep. 15, 1885. 
 To the Officers and Members of the V. C. and of the U. S. : 
 
 BROTHERS: In accordance with the call of the Committee 
 of Safety a general convention of the V.C. was held in New York 
 City, Aug. 3 and 4, for the purpose of taking the necessary measures 
 to save the organization from the ruin which threatens it. A full 
 account of its proceedings will be found in the printed report, to 
 which we invite your attention. 
 
 Having been chosen by the convention to fill a position of great 
 difficulty and responsibility in the organization during this, the 
 supreme crisis of its existence, we feel it to be our duty to lay be- 
 fore you the plain facts of the present situation, and to ask the 
 assistance of every honest man in bringing about a remedy. We 
 make this appeal without regard to the side you may have taken 
 in the recent and present troubles, knowing full well that nine-tenths 
 of the orginization are in a state of utter ignorance as to the 
 actual facts, and that honest men have been led to sustain wrong. 
 We make it more particularly to those who are supporting and 
 yielding blind obedience to men who have turned their backs on 
 the I. R. B, thereby ignoring the fundamental principal which is 
 the cause and object of our organization. If that support is with- 
 drawn an effective remedy can be at once applied. That there is 
 trouble you will not now deny, and that it is serious enough to 
 menace the existence of a once powerful organization, and to threa- 
 ten the ruin of the hopes that have hitherto stimulated our efforts 
 for Ireland, every day will make more clear to your understanding. 
 The efforts at concealment made by the men who created this 
 trouble, the withholding of information as to the wholesale sus- 
 pension of D's, and the mendacious assertions made in recent circu- 
 lars, have all failed of the desired effect; and in every D in the 
 organization, to-day, there is gloom and discouragement and mem- 
 bers are fast falling away. No official denials, a thousand times 
 repeated, can any longer conceal this fact. Every member from 
 Main to California can see it for himself. The truth is beginning 
 to filter through the barriers set u p against its entrance to the D's, by 
 desperate men, whose characters depend on its suppression. The 
 frantic efforts and reckless statements of the army of paid organiz- 
 ers, sent around to counteract the progress of truth and avert the 
 exposure of wrong doing, are useless and unavailing. Many of 
 these are the men under accusation of complicity in the fraud, and 
 they now use your money to deceive you and prolong the reign of 
 dishonesty. Their prevarications, contradictions, and shuffling 
 evasions are doing more to establish the truth of the charges, 
 against which they are vainly struggling, than the strongest state- 
 ment made in the interest of right and justice, and a spirit is gradu- 
 ally growing up in the organization which will produce one of two 
 results reform and punishment of the evildoers, or disruption of 
 the organization and escape of the prisoners,
 
 THE CRIME OF* THE CENTURY. 7! 
 
 One or other of these results is inevitable. And whichever it 
 is, it will be the clear and logical result of your action. Your with- 
 drawal from the organization, in despair or disgust, will no more 
 enable you to shake off your responsibility than if you give an 
 active support to the criminals. Which result shall it be? The 
 decision rests with you. If the men responsible for this wretched 
 state of things cannot succeed in stifling all investigation into their 
 misdeeds, they would prefer to see the organization smashed. 
 "Dead men tell no tales." They know that an honest investi- 
 gation would overwhelm them, and they are fighting for existence. 
 Therefore they are determined there shall be none, and every D 
 that demands one is susoended or left without communication. 
 This conduct is capable of but one explanation. They cannot stand 
 investigation The question with them is, shall their personal reputa- 
 tions be destroyed, or the organization be ruined? and they have 
 chosen the latter. Men with true instincts, and whose records were 
 clean, would scorn to force themselves on any organization, to handle 
 its funds and direct its policy, while under such accusations as have 
 been leveled against the Triangle. Men with the real good of Ireland 
 and of the V. C. at heart, would refuse to hold office at the expense 
 of the unity and the efficiency of the organization. Looked at from 
 any stand-point their conduct is indefensible and unpatriotic. No 
 man fit for the duties of the high office, these men hold, would 
 acquire it by such means or hold on to it when acquired. No men 
 who honestly intended to aid the men at home to free Ireland 
 which is the fundamental principle of the V. C. would begin their 
 official careers by deceiving their colleagues in Ireland and persis- 
 ting in carrying on any policy against their protest. 
 
 Since the disastrous gathering, miscalled a convention, which 
 met in Boston twelve months ago, the organization has been going 
 from bad to worse. The deceit and trickery by which three mem- 
 bers of the F. C. were enabled to continue themselves in power, 
 and so to change the whole form and object of the order, as to 
 make it a convenient instrument for the furtherance of personal 
 ambition, at the expense of the sacred cause of Ireland, have con- 
 tinued to play havoc in our ranks. The strength and vitality of 
 the national movement have been shattered. The oldest and 
 strongest D's are being driven out one by one, and a system of 
 repression of free speech and sham trials, copied from the worst 
 features of British tyranny in Ireland, is brought into requisition 
 for the purpose of crushing all independence of thought, and 
 stifling the voice of patriotism. No honest man in the V. C., who 
 sees and hears what is going on around him, can fail to recognize 
 that ruin and disintegration must speedily make shipwreck of our 
 hopes, if a strong and vigorous remedy be not soon applied. No 
 intelligent man can fail to see that every effort of the three men 
 who have usurped the governing authority of the V. C., every dol- 
 lar intrusted to them for the advancement of the cause is being 
 devoted to the maintenance of their power, and to the work of 
 driving from the organization every man who charges them with
 
 7-2 THE CRIME 01^ THE CENTURY. 
 
 wrong-doing, or who advocates an investigation of the charges 
 made. 
 
 That the aims and objects of the organ'zation, and also its 
 money, are being sacrificed to the necessities of the war of self- 
 defense, waged by three desperate men, must be plain to every in- 
 telligent man, and it must be equally plain that an honest, impar- 
 tial investigation of the serious charges, made against these men, 
 would put a speedy end to all this trouble, by either convicting 
 them of wrong-doing or their accusers of falsehood. In either 
 case the organization would be freed from evil-doers and restored 
 to harmony. Why, then, is such an investigation refused? The 
 men who make the charges are ready to substantiate them and 
 take the consequences. The accused men shirk an investigation, 
 drive their accusers out of the organization, so that their evidence 
 may not be available, and hold on with the grip of desperation to 
 the positions they are accused of disgracing. 
 
 Can any organization of intelligent, self-respecting men toler- 
 ate such a state of affairs? You who submit to the scandalous 
 methods by which it is kept up are making yourselves responsible 
 for irreparable injury to the cause you are sworn to serve. 
 
 Let us recapitulate the work of the Boston "Convention," the 
 charges made against the Triangle, the disruptive po'icy they have 
 since pursued, and the remedy we propose. We charge that the 
 three members of the last F. C., who now constitute the Triangle, 
 are solely responsible for the evils of the present situation, and 
 that deceit and trickery have characterized their action at every 
 step. There is no statement of theirs, now promulgated, that is not 
 made for the purpose of misleading the organ zation in regard to 
 vital facts. These facts cover the postponement and change of 
 form of the convention, the proceedings of that body, the relations 
 with the I. R. B., the disbursement of the largest sum of money 
 ever handled by any F. C., the authority and responsibility of the 
 R. D., and the policy pursued. In short, they embrace every 
 question of vital importance to the organization and to their char- 
 acters as officers and members of the V. C. 
 
 First The Postponement of the Convention It is claimed that 
 these men had nothing to do with it that it was entirely the work 
 of the organization. Here are the facts: 
 
 Those who were delegates to the Philadelphia National Con- 
 vention will remember, that the subject was first mooted there at 
 the request of the three members of the F. C. in question, in a cau- 
 cus of members of the V. C. It was proposed by a member of D. 
 il, and seconded by a member of D. I, and passed as a recom- 
 mendation to the D's that they favor a change in the constitution 
 by which each district should elect delegates in proportion to 
 membership to the National Convention. It was recommended in 
 that form to the F. C. for promulgation to the D's. When pro- 
 mulgated it had undergone a remarkable change, by which each 
 district was allowed two delegates, irrespective of membership. 
 This would give a district, having then less than 100 members in
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 73 
 
 good standing, the same representation as others having 1,500 
 members. 
 
 The proposition of the F. C. was passed in some D's, with an 
 amendment providing for representation according to member- 
 ship, and a request that the amendment be submitted to all D's. 
 The reply of the F. C. was that there was no time to do so, and 
 yet about a year elapsed before the convention was held. Thus 
 they secured a postponement of the convention under pretense of 
 submitting a constitutional question to the D's, but so altered the 
 question itself as to deprive large districts of representation in 
 proportion to their membership, reducing the number of delegates 
 to the convention, thereby making the work of manipulation 
 easier. Thus, you see, the proposition originated with the F. C. 
 was supported by them in caucus, and they voted and worked for 
 its passage, and yet they tell you they had nothing to do with it, 
 <! that it was the work of the organization." 
 
 This was the first part of the program by which they sought 
 to deceive and hoodwink the organization, escape a proper 
 accounting of their trusts, and secure a continuance in office. Let 
 us now examine the second part of the program, or farce, played 
 at Boston. 
 
 The Convention Notwithstanding the long delay and the 
 evidence of elaborate preparation for the convention on the part of 
 the F. C., the notice to the delegates was only given at the last 
 moment. Both the first circular after the convention, and the 
 so-called " report " of its proceedings, issued by the Triangle in the 
 name of the delegates from each district, contained deliberate 
 misstatements of facts. There was no Committee on Credentials, 
 and the word of the Secretary of the F. C. was the only voucher for 
 the genuineness of the delegate-. There were three persons present 
 who were not delegates, and one of the three presided. The com- 
 position of the committees appointed by the chairman, after dining 
 with the men who controlled the F. C., and disbursed its funds, 
 left every consideration of decency and bona fide investigation 
 out of account. To investigate the work of these men, a Com- 
 mittee on Foreign Relations, consisting of two of them, and a man 
 who was entirely dependent on them for information, was ap- 
 pointed. The Financial Committee consisted of three district 
 members, two of whom were the agents of the F. C., in the "active 
 policy," and notoriously their partizans. These committees, sit- 
 ting jointly, and having out of the six members only two who were 
 not previously concerned in the work of governing and spending 
 the funds, had the coolness to report that " The Finance Commit- 
 tee are fully satisfied with the economy and prudence with which 
 the expenditures have been made, and the Foreign Relations Com- 
 mittee find complete exactitude in the financial acknowledgments 
 of the R. D., etc." That is, two members of the American part 
 of the R. D., who had been receiving and spending, in the name of 
 that body, vast sums of money, of which the three home members 
 knew nothing, aided by two accommodating district members
 
 74 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 who had been helping them to spend the money, find " complete 
 exactitude " in their own accounts. And then, on the plea that 
 " lives of faithful and devoted men are in the keeping of each of 
 us who have served on either of these committees," they appeal 
 to be allowed to keep the knowledge to themselves, and assure the 
 organization that they " individually and collectively agree that 
 it is a misfortune that so many of us should have this knowl- 
 edge." They describe their anxiety to " see in the flesh the officer 
 in charge of the new policy" a staunch confederate of theirs 
 whom they appointed and who merely carried out their orders so 
 that they might, forsooth, determine whether economy character- 
 ized his work and their own. But the crowning hypocrisy of all 
 was their desire to ascertain if the receipts "acknowledged by the 
 Home Branch of the R. D., corresponded with those reported by 
 the F. C., as having been paid out." That is, they wanted to see if 
 moneys received and spent by the American Branch of the R. D., 
 without the knowledge or consent of the Home Branch, were prop- 
 erly accounted for by men who knew nothing about them, and 
 whose representative was kept away from the convention lest the 
 truth should become known. And the men guilty of this shame- 
 less deceit and hypocrisy are running the U. S. to-day. 
 
 Third The Relations with the I. R. B. Without the presence 
 of an envoy from the I. R. B. the convention was dependent on 
 the word of men, who admitted the receipt and expenditure of 
 $266,000, and who are positively known to have received a much 
 larger sum, for the genuineness of the account They place 
 $128,000 to the credit of the R. D., and $75,000 to that of the S. C. 
 of the I. R. B., and they make it impossible for an envoy from 
 Ireland to confirm or contradict the statement, by withholding in- 
 formation from him as to the time and place of the convention. 
 
 They aver that they sent the information both by cable and 
 mail, and yet there are letters at our disposal, dating from June 
 to October, from a member of the S. C., complaining that they 
 could not get the information they sought, and the last one affirm- 
 ing that the old address was still good for either cable or mail. 
 No letter passing between the two organizations ever miscarried 
 before that time, and others have reached the same address since. 
 The F. C. were made aware of the non-receipt of the information, 
 and if it was intended to reach the S. C. it would have been re- 
 ceived. The true explanation for all this is found in the admission 
 in the " report " of the convention of a radical difference of opinion 
 between the F. C. and S. C., and of a determination to dictate to 
 the latter body. There is not a shadow of doubt that three mem- 
 bers of the F. C. who represent the V. C. or the R. D. usurped the 
 functions of the whole body, and spent the money voted to it by 
 the F.C., without the knowledge of the home members. By keep- 
 ing away the one envoy of the P. R. B., and auditing their own ac- 
 counts, and speaking in generel terms of the R. D. as if they spoke 
 for the whole body, they hoped to conceal this fact and secure a 
 continuance of the fraud, We now begin to see why it became
 
 nil. rimiK OF THE CENTURY. 75 
 
 necessary to impose silence, by oath on the delegates, for the first 
 time in the history of the conventions of the V. C. The report of 
 the convention issued by the Triangle, and the tone of circulars 
 since issued, show a deliberate purpose to prepare the minds of 
 the members of the V. C. for a break with our brothers at home. 
 Are such men worthy of your confidence? 
 
 Fourth The R. D. The R. D. is a fundamental law of the 
 V. C., protected and ratified by international treaty with the I. R. 
 B. It cannot be altered or abolished without the consent of the 
 I. R. B., and the consent of the D's. It was adopted by the Phila- 
 delphia convention of the V. C., by a unanimous vote in 1876, with 
 the proviso, that it should become a law only when approved by a 
 two-thirds majority of the D's. It was submitted to the D's, and 
 after being discussed at special meetings in every D, was approved 
 by much more than the necessary majority. It was then submitted 
 to the S. C., and having been agreed to by them the R. D. was elect- 
 ed, and by a solemn treaty invested with the supreme authority in 
 all revolutionary matters. 
 
 The R. D. could not be abolished without the consent of both 
 the contracting parties, nor its functions assumed by a minority of 
 that body, or their confederate " in flesh," without the consent of 
 the S. C. or consulting the D's, who created it, and that most ac- 
 commodating body called the Boston convention, has empowered 
 the Triangle to elect an R. D. or not, as they see fit. That is, to 
 elect the whole body and run a boat of their own, as did the Flan- 
 nigans at the Flood, with the assistance of their confederate " in 
 the flesh." 
 
 The R. D. provided the means of adjusting all differences be- 
 tween the two organizations, of adopting a common policy, of aud- 
 iting all expenditures, and made out of previously disjointed frag* 
 ments, one united Irish revolutionary body throughout the world. 
 Every intelligent man will now perceive that the assumption of 
 power by the V. C. members of the R. D. and their " officer in the 
 flesh," as well as the action taken at Boston, means broken faith 
 with the I. R. B., means secession, disruption, divided counsels, is 
 a direct blow at the integrity of the national movement. We can- 
 not believe that you will continue to condone this offense on the 
 part of the present Triangle, or indorse this breach of faith with 
 the I. R. B. 
 
 Fifth The other work of the convention The mode of electing 
 the Triangle is inconsistent with honest intentions and gives the 
 organization no protection against wrong doing. The oath of se- 
 crecy, as to the whole proceedings, is absolutely without justifica- 
 tion or valid reason. Its evident intention was to cover up the 
 farce enacted by the committees. 
 
 No reasonable member of the V. C. wants information, involv- 
 ing danger to men, within the enemies reach. But every man 
 should know, who audits accounts covering hundreds of thousands 
 of dollars, and insist on having some guarantee that an honest in- 
 quiry is made into the most important work of the F. C., viz: their
 
 7 6 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 relations with the men at home. The change in the oath bodes 
 evil to the cause. What intelligent man will bind himself to pro- 
 mote all measures adopted by the Triangle, " whether known or 
 unknown?" Are we to follow these men blindly in every enter- 
 prise to which fancy or ambition leads them, including schemes 
 of American politics? 
 
 This, brothers, is the true situation of the Irish National move- 
 ment in America to-day. 
 
 The only possible remedy is in a general convention, which 
 will pronounce final judgment, and calmly and impartially set aside 
 all men who stand in the way of union. We have appealed to the 
 triumvirate for such a convention, as have many of you, in vain. 
 
 They will never call it, for the simple reason that they dare 
 not. The only possible means of securing it, and thereby ending 
 this trouble once for all, is by your shaking off the lethargy that has 
 overtaken you and joining hands with us. Your appeals and protests 
 to your leaders will be met by hollow pretenses and subterfuges, 
 such as have met all such efforts for the last year. 
 
 Waiting for the " regular " convention means submitting to 
 another farce and allowing the work of disruption to go on with 
 accelerated speed. Come, frankly and openly to our side, and the 
 settlement of the trouble will be in your own hands. We are em- 
 powered to call a convention at any time, when we see the necessity 
 for it, without waiting for the period fixed, and it shall be called as 
 soon as you say the word, Then let the culprit suffer, whether it 
 be accused or accuser, and the unfaithful, incompetent, and fac- 
 tious step to the rear. .The cause of truth, justice and patriotism 
 will triumph, the confidence now broken be restored, the gloom 
 now hovering over the organization dispelled, and with brighten- 
 ing hopes we will march on to the accomplishment of our object 
 the restoration of national independence under a republican form 
 of government to our native land. 
 
 Fraternally yours, 
 
 THE F. C. OF THE V.C. 
 
 X. F. G. (W. E. F.), Chairman. 
 
 Y. F. C. (X. E. B.), Sec. 
 
 All communications should be addressed to John C. Phillips 
 care of P. O. Box 2049, New York City. 
 
 CHARGES AGAINST THE TRIANGLE. 
 
 But these vigorous measures, instead of crush- 
 ing the opposition, served only to give it new life 
 and energy. An organization, antagonistic to the 
 Triangle, composed of men bitterly hostile to 
 Sullivan,Boland,Feeley and others high in power,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 77 
 
 wasbrought into existence, and rapidly grew until it 
 was equal in strength to the original Clan-na-Gael. 
 It had trusty spies and avowed adherents in the 
 older organization, and the bitter quarrel was also 
 brought into other Irish movements. Sullivan 
 and his aids gradually dropped out of control, 
 first seeing to it, however, that they were to be 
 replaced by men to whom their word would be 
 as law. Still Cronin and those with him kept 
 up their warfare. Numerous efforts were made 
 to silence him, and twice in 1887 he was called 
 as an expert witness in trumped up cases before 
 two Chicago police justices, in the hope that his 
 persecutors, by putting him on the rack of cross 
 examination, might find some flaw in his life that 
 could be made use of in lessening his influence, 
 or some disgraceful scrape which might be held 
 over his head, to make him heed the behests of the 
 man into whose possession the secrets had come. 
 This effort failed of its object, and the physician 
 returned to the charge with two new allegations. 
 One was that the Triangle had allowed the fam- 
 ily of Lomasney to suffer for the necessaries of 
 life, while funds that had been appropriated by a 
 local committee of the Clan-na-Gael, which labored 
 under the belief that the missing brother was in 
 an English dungeon, had been withheld, and an- 
 other, that Sullivan had gone to Paris, while Pat- 
 rick Egan was an exile in the French capital, and
 
 78 THE CRIME OK THE CENTURY. 
 
 demanded the sum of $100,000 of Land League 
 funds to carry out the aims of the physical force 
 men in America. According to this charge, the 
 money was demanded to meet certain expendi- 
 tures that had been planned in a convention oi 
 represenative members of the Clan. Mr. Egan, 
 so it was claimed, after a good deal of considera 
 tion, refused to turn over the money, and the* 
 Sullivan threatened to disrupt every Irish society 
 in America unless his demand was speedily com- 
 plied with. He pointed to the fact that there was 
 a large and growing element among Irish- Amer- 
 icans that was dissatisfied with the management 
 of national affairs, and was ready to revolt as 
 soon as a leader turned up to direct them. A 
 whole week was consumed in discussing the de- 
 mand of the American emissary, and in the end 
 Mr. Egan was convinced that it would be wiser to 
 take counsel with some of his confreres before ren- 
 dering a final decision. He told Mr. Sullivan 
 plainly that he was opposed to granting so large 
 a sum of money for any purpose whatever, 
 but he was willing to abide by the decision of 
 other men who had as close a knowledge as him- 
 self of the needs of the order at home and abroad. 
 He offered to submit Sullivan's proposition to 
 Sheridan, the famous No. i of the Phoenix Park 
 Invincibles, and the leader of the physical force 
 men in Ireland. Mr. Sullivan agreed to this of-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 79 
 
 fer, and Sheridan was called to Paris from Ire- 
 land by telegraph. Within a week after all the 
 facts had been laid before him, he decided that 
 the money demanded by Sullivan had better be 
 paid than withheld to conciliate all factions of 
 the Clan-na-Gael in America. In result it was 
 claimed that Egan paid Sullivan $100,000 in cash, 
 from the funds of the Irish National League, of 
 which he was treasurer, and that the then chief 
 of the Triangle brought the full amount with 
 him when he returned home. Instead, however, 
 of turning it into the treasury of the Clan-na-Gael, 
 it was contended that only $18,000 was accounted 
 for, and the balance of $82,000 was deposited 
 in the Traders' Bank, to the credit of "Alexan- 
 der Sullivan, agent," the full amount being sub- 
 sequently withdrawn on account of certain spec- 
 ulations by Sullivan on the Chicago Board of 
 Trade. That such a deposit had been made was con. 
 firmed some time later, when the bank in question 
 failed and its records, as the outcome of legal 
 proceedings, became public property. 
 
 SULLIVAN ON TRIAL. 
 
 But the troubles of the warring factions could 
 not last for ever. There were influential men 
 on both sides who wanted harmony, and were 
 determined to secure it. Finally, the two sides 
 came together at a convention held in Chicago
 
 80 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 in 1888. Peace was restored, and the Camps 
 and individuals that had been expelled by the 
 Triangle were declared to be again in good 
 standing. It was decided that the accounts and 
 acts of the Clan-na-Gael society from 1881 should 
 be investigated, and three men were chosen from 
 each faction as a trial committee. They were 
 as follows: 
 
 Dr. P. H. Cronin, of Chicago. 
 Dr. P. McCahey, of Philadelphia. 
 John D. McMahon, of Rome, N. Y. 
 P. A. O'Boyle, of Pittston, Pa. 
 Christopher F. Byrne, of Saxonville, Mass. 
 James J. Rogers, of Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 The sessions of the committee commenced at 
 Buffalo, in 1888, but the fact that there were a 
 large number of witnesses from points adjacent 
 to New York City, induced the body to make a 
 change of base to that city, and the inquiry was 
 resumed at the Westminster Hotel during the 
 heat of the Harrison-Cleveland presidential cam- 
 paign. It was soon found that the hotel was 
 altogether too public a place for the inquiry and 
 a hall was hired in another locality. Alexander 
 Sullivan, who, with Boland and Feeley, was pres- 
 ent in person, entered a formal protest against 
 the participation of Dr. Cronin, couched in the 
 most vituperative language. It read as follows:
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 8 1 
 
 SULLIVAN'S CELEBRATED PROTEST. 
 
 NEW YORK, SEPT. 15, 1888. 
 P. O. BOYLE, Secretary. 
 
 DEAR SIR: At the opening of this investigation in Buffalo 
 I protested against the presence of P. H. Cronin as a member of 
 the committee to investigate any charges against me. The com- 
 mittee decided that it had no power to act in the matter, but, through 
 its chairman, said that I could file my protest in writing. There- 
 fore I formally and in writing renew said protest. My grounds 
 are 
 
 First, he is a personal enemy; second, he has expressed opin- 
 ions in this case; third, he is a purjurer and scoundrel, unfit to be 
 placed on any jury. 
 
 To the first objection I cite the men of the United Brotherhood 
 organization in Chicago, from which he was expelled in a case 
 where I conducted the prosecution. There is no question in Chi- 
 cago of his personal hostility. Before the Nationel League con- 
 vention in 1886, his was one of the signatures to a circular assail- 
 ing me, and he was a regular attendant at meetings hostile to me. 
 This is so notorious to me from all parts of the country that it is 
 not necessary to enlaree upon it, but if substantiation is required it 
 can be furnished to an overwhelming degree. 
 
 In the support of the second objection it is only necessary to 
 recite the now notorious fact that Cronin was a member of the ex- 
 ecutive body of the United Brotherhood, and as such he was one 
 of those who circulated charges against my former associates and 
 myself. He therefore not only expressed opinions, but in his offi- 
 cial capacity caused those opinions to be published and circulated. 
 
 Your committee is chosen from two bodies, whose members 
 differ on many points, but who all agree, or profess to agree, in 
 denouncing unfair trials, biased juries and prejudiced jurors in Ire- 
 land, and yet I am asked, after a period of four years has elapsed 
 since I was a member or the organization, to come for trial before 
 a committee chosen in my absence at a place where I was given 
 no opportunity to be heard, although I was within a few hundred 
 feet of the place. 
 
 While you ask the world to believe that you want a fair trial on 
 one side of the Atlantic, you ask me to accept as a juror one who 
 would be excluded in any civil court from a jury in a trial of a 
 case in which I had an interest however trivial. 
 
 I am told that it has been declared that if I do not appear be- 
 fore this committee I shall be denounced as one unable to defend 
 himself against the accusations filed. So I was left with the alter- 
 native of being tried before a jury, with at least one perjured mem- 
 ber, or being abused and villified for my non-appearance. And 
 this is what the men who selected Cronin were led to believe was 
 fairness. They should never again be so indecently inconsistent 
 as to criticise the position of juries or courts chosen to try men in 
 England and Ireland. Had he as much decency as an ordinary 
 dog he would not sit in a case in which I was interested.
 
 82 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 As to the third objection to Cronin, I charge that the brand of 
 perjury is so burned into the scoundrel's brow that all the waters 
 of the earth would not remove the brand. He was a delegate at 
 the district convention held in Chicago, March 23, 1884, that being 
 the first one held in this district. After the constitution was so 
 amended as to provide for the elevation of two delegates from each 
 district, two delegates were elected at the very same session, one 
 being chosen immediately after the other. Yet Cronin, after first 
 officially reporting to his club that two delegates were elected, cir- 
 culated a report that only one was elected, and stated that he would 
 not be permitted to speak or to present any suggestions from his 
 camp. Every such delegate at the convention has been sworn, 
 and every one, including those who were with Cronin in the U. B. 
 organization, testified that two delegates were chosen, that Cronin 
 was present when they were chosen, that every delegate not 
 only could speak, but was actually called upon to speak, and that 
 every delegate, including Cronin, did speak. 
 
 Cronin was expelled, a convicted liar, who added perjury to his 
 slander. I have further investigated his record, and I find that in 
 several matters outside of this organization he is also a perjurer. 
 A record obtained from Ireland by William J. Fitzgerald says that 
 Cronin was born at Buttevante, "April 13, 1844. Cronin swears that 
 he lived at St. Catherines, Canada, until after the assassination of 
 President Lincoln, April 14, 1865. Captain McDonald, of No. 2 
 Company. Nineteenth Battalion of the Canadian militia, of which 
 P. H. Cronin was a member, says that at its formation in 1862 or 
 1863 he had P. H. Cronin in his company, or shortly after its forma- 
 tion. He was known as the " Singer Cronin," and at the time of 
 joining he took theoath^jf allegiance as follows: " I swear that I 
 will bear true and faithful allegiance to her majesty, the queen, 
 her heirs and successors." 
 
 About 1863 positive orders were sent by the government that 
 every man had to take the oath of allegiance, and that there were 
 none under his command who did not take it. The record shows 
 that Dr. Cronin's father, J. G. Cronin, was a British subject and 
 continued in Canada up to the time of his death, so that P. H. 
 Cronin until 1865 or 1866, when he left Canada, was a British sub- 
 ject, and if, as he claims, his father was naturalized in the United 
 States before going to Canada, he voluntarily abandoned his Amer- 
 ican citizenship and resumed the position of a British subject. 
 
 This P. H. Cronin voluntarily swore allegiance to her British 
 majesty. Yet this creature swore in his name as a voter in St. 
 Louis and voted in that city. He thought best not to come to Chi- 
 cago and reside one year, but sneaked down to a county in Illinois, 
 doubtless being afraid of attracting attention in Chicago, and swore 
 that he arrived in the United States a minor, under the age of 
 twenty-one years; that he resided in the United States three years 
 preceding his arrival at the age of twenty-one years. He claimed 
 to have been home in 1856, and not in 1844, and even if that were 
 true, he was only nineteen years old when be left Canada, because
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 3 
 
 he swore he was in Canada when President Lincoln was assassin- 
 ated; that he came to the United States in 1865 or 1866, and yet he 
 swore he resided in the United States three years previous to ar- 
 living at the age of nineteen, and thus secured his papers on this 
 minor petition falsely sworn to. 
 
 This side of Cronin's character, I submit, should be con- 
 sidered in connection with any report his malice and prejudice 
 may dictate. I have not made any formal protest against the 
 presence of Dr. McCahey on the trial committee, but it is well 
 known that he has been active in publishing documents and inter- 
 views hostile to me, and it is at least strange that one who has 
 been so engaged should be willing to serve on such a committee. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 ALEXANDER SULLIVAN. 
 
 The protest was overruled. The charges, five 
 in number, filed by John Devoy, of New York, 
 and Luke Dillon, of Philadelphia, set forth that no 
 active work had been performed by the "Tri- 
 angle" or its agents; that there was nothing to 
 substantiate its claim that it had expended over 
 $87,000 in active work; that it had basely neg- 
 lected the families of men sent on errands of the 
 Brotherhood; that bogus transfers had been issued 
 to members of the organization as coming from 
 Ireland, and that a district convention had illeg- 
 ally instituted. The trial was a heated one. 
 Each side went to the hall every night backed 
 by desperate followers. Letters threatening them 
 death if a verdict of guilty was rendered were 
 received by Cronin and McCahey. Suspecting 
 treachery; the former took the precaution of 
 making full notes of the testimony for his private 
 information. When the evidence was all in a 
 vote was taken on a motion to acquit. It stood
 
 lS I THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 three to three. Next a vote was taken to find 
 Sullivan, Boland and Feeley guilty. This time 
 it stood four to two, one of Cronin's colleagues 
 deserting to the other side, and leaving the Chica- 
 go and Philadelphia physicians alone in their op- 
 position to the Triangle. The question then arose 
 as to the disposition of the evidence and a reso- 
 lution was adopted that every record of the trial 
 should be destroyed. Dr. Cronin demanded that 
 the evidence should be published with the report, 
 and sent to every Camp, but again the majority 
 was against him. Thereupon he refused to sur- 
 render his private notes, and after returning to 
 Chicago and consulting his friends, he determined 
 that every man in the Clan-na-Gael should hear 
 the story, and that a statement on the subject 
 should be made at the meeting of the Irish Nat- 
 ional League of America, which had been called 
 to assemble in Philadelphia in 1889. From this 
 time on to his death, the matter was uppermost 
 in his mind. A minority report, signed by the 
 physician and Dr. McCahey, was filed with the 
 executive, and a demand was made that it should 
 be made public ip the order. This was not done, 
 however, simply because the majority of the 
 Executive was attached to the u Triangle ele- 
 ment," and, this avenue closed against him, Dr. 
 Cronin contented himself with reading the report 
 in his own Camp. It was this act, according to
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 85 
 
 the subsequent theory of the prosecution, that, 
 more than any thing else, cost him his life. 
 Meanwhile he was industriously engaged upon 
 the preparation of his papers for the prospective 
 conventions of the Clan-na-Gael and Irish National 
 League, his report of the New York trial 
 proving invaluable to him in this connection; while 
 he continued at the same time to periodically in 
 sist upon the publication of the minority report of 
 the trial. On the very day upon which he was 
 decoyed from home, the Executive Board was 
 called together; and on the following day, (Sun- 
 day) an order was issued that Alexander Sulli- 
 van's protest, which branded the physician as a 
 perjurer and a traitor, should be sent to every 
 Camp. 
 
 It was hardly to be expected that the adhe- 
 rents and allies of the ex-head-centre of the 
 Triangte would contemplate the vigorous as- 
 saults of Dr. Cronin upon the reputation and 
 official conduct of their erstwhile leader with 
 equanimity. The temporary calm that had 
 settled over the organization with the close of 
 the Chicago convention and its treaty of peace, 
 vanished like a fog before the noon-day sun; 
 and strife and bitterness once more reigned 
 supreme. Every camp had its faction that 
 championed the one side or the other. Under 
 the banner of the physician, as well as under
 
 86 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 the colors of his adversary, were ranged scores 
 and hundreds of men who had left their imprint 
 upon the Irish-American history of the decade. 
 The physician had his Rends, Dillons, Devoys, 
 Hynes, Scanlans, McCaheys; the lawyer his 
 Egans and Fitzgeralds, O'Briens and Bolands. 
 Effort after effort was made to induce Dr. Cronin 
 to abandon his policy. Arguments, pleading, 
 cajolery, threats all were employed in vain. 
 To one and all he had but one reply: "That he 
 had put his hand to the plow, and that, God 
 helping him, he would never turn back." For 
 months before his disappearance, he believed 
 that he was a marked man, and that, at the first 
 opportunity, he would pay forfeit with his life for 
 what he regarded as his unselfish devotion to the 
 cause of his native land. 
 
 Little wonder then, that those of his intimate 
 friends who were familiar with these facts de- 
 clared, as with one voice, that he had met his 
 death at the hands of his enemies. 
 
 Dr. Cronin's report of the trial, and which for 
 weeks prior to the night of his disappearance, he 
 had carried with him for safe keeping, were found 
 in one of his garments in his residence after his 
 failure to return home. The record in full is as 
 follows : 
 
 TELEGRAM. 
 
 MARCH 13, 1889. Dr. P. H. Cronin, No. 4.68 N. Clark Street: 
 Meet me at Westminster Hotel, New York, Tuesday evening,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 87 
 
 1 5th, 8 o'clock. Peremptorily required on account report of com- 
 mittee to read. J. D. McMAHON. 
 
 Telegram dated Jan. IQ or 18, 1889, New York: 
 
 Dr. P. H. Cronin, Opera House, Chicago, III. : Ordered by the 
 proper board that you send to me without delay your report on the 
 trial. 'RoNAiNE. 
 
 Dr. Cronin's reply as follows: 
 
 CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 1889. 
 T. H. Ronaine, Esq., New York. 
 
 DEAR SIR AND BROTHER: I am in receipt of telegram, and in 
 reply would say that I vote as I did at last meeting of committee 
 in New York; with the recommendation that vote be published 
 and read to the clubs. McCahey has correct record of my vote. 
 Or, if not, please inform me. Fraternally, 
 
 P. H. CRONIN. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA., Jan. 15, 1889. 
 To the F. C. of the U. S.~ 
 
 DEAR SIRS AND BROTHERS: The Trial Committee appointed 
 at Chicago was unable to elicit all the facts connected with the 
 charges placed before it, because of the refusal of several of the 
 witnesses to answer many of the questions asked, and because ot 
 the inability of others to remember events and figures that might 
 be supposed to be indelibly impressed on their memories. From 
 the evidence presented I am obliged to report: 
 
 1. That the family of one who lost his life in the service of the 
 order was scandalously and shamefully neglected, and continued 
 to be neglected for two years after their destitute condition was 
 known, and that Alexander Sullivan, Michael Boland, and D. C. 
 Feeley are responsible and censurable for that neglect. 
 
 2. That Gen. C. H. McCarthy, of St. Paul, Minn., was unjustly 
 and deliberately excluded from the Boston convention, and subse- 
 quently shamefully persecuted and driven from the order, and 
 that Alexander Sullivan, Michael Boland, and D. C. Feeley art 
 responsible and censurable for that series of reprehensibl acts. 
 
 3. That delegate from home organization was excluded from 
 the Boston convention, and that the same three defendants are 
 responsible and censurable for that exclusion. 
 
 4. That the same defendants issued a deceptive report to the 
 Boston convention, leading the order to believe that its affairs had 
 been examined by independent committees, and that the order was 
 $13,000 in debt; that, in fact, Alexander Sullivan and Michael Bo- 
 land were on the committee ol foreign affairs, and the Treasurer 
 states that there was a balance in the treasury and not a debt. 
 
 5. That prior to the Boston convention one hundred and eleven 
 thousand ($111,000) dollars was expended without any direct or 
 indirect benefit to the order, and most of it in a manner that could 
 not in any way have benefited the order, and that the same three 
 defendants are censurable and responsible for this enormous and 
 wasteful expenditure,
 
 88 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 6. That this enormous sum was spent without the sanction or 
 knowledge of the home portion of the R. D. 
 
 7. That various persons sent abroad were not supplied with 
 sufficient funds, and that the agent of the Triangle is responsible 
 and censurable for that criminal neglect, and not the three de- 
 fendants. 
 
 8. That Michael Boland and the late Secretary of the I. N. B. 
 issued fraudulent transfers, for the purpose of deceiving the order 
 in Philadelphia into believing that the union with the home order 
 had not been broken. 
 
 9. That Michael Boland and p. C. Feeley, the former by acts 
 and the latter by assent, are guilty of attempting to pack the 
 Pittsburg convention by, first, excluding the delegate from the 
 Pacific Slope; second, excluding Mr. McLaughlin, delegate from 
 Dakota; third, excluding O'Sullivan and Delaney, rightful dele- 
 gates from New York; fourth, admitting the Rev. Dr. Betts and 
 John J. Marpney, on bogus credentials from the bogus districts; 
 fifth, admitting Boland and Malone, illegal delegates from New 
 York; sixth, admitting proxies from Iowa, Brooklyn, and Illinois; 
 seventh, sitting as delegates themselves in direct vio ation of the 
 constitution. 
 
 10. That the $80,491, reported to the district convention as hav- 
 ing been spent in active work was not spent for any such \vork, no 
 such work having been done or contemplated during the eleven 
 months within which this large amount was drawn from the treas- 
 ury. The active work done between the Boston and other district 
 conventions, was paid for out of the surplus held by the agent of 
 the Triangle at the time of the Boston convention, and not out of 
 the $87,491 drawn from the treasury months after such active work 
 had ceased. 
 
 11. That Michael Boland and D. C. Feeley. the former by acts 
 and the latter by silence, are responsible for the expenditure of 
 this large amount of money, and censurable for deceiving the dis- 
 trict convention as to the purpose for which it was spent. 
 
 12. That Michael Boland, Alexander Sullivan, and D. C. 
 Feeley, the former by acts and the two latter by ass nt, illegally 
 suspended D's in January, 1885, and that Michael Boland and D. 
 C. Feeley, the former by acts and the latter by assent, illegally 
 suspended U. D.'s in New York, in January, 1886. 
 
 Yours, respectfully, P. McCAHEY. 
 
 I concur in the within and foregoing report, and would recom- 
 mend, in strict fairness to all concerned, and in justice to the entire 
 organization, that the evidence, from which were deducted the 
 foregoing, be printed by F. C. and sent to each D. O. and by him 
 read at the general meeting or district over which he presides. 
 
 P. H. CRONIN. 
 Signed Jan. 19, 1889. 
 
 NOTES OF TESTIMONY. 
 
 First meeting, Westminster Hotel, New York, July 30.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 89 
 
 J. D. McMahon, of Rome, N. Y., in the chair. 
 
 Committee met, and after some discussion as to choice of 
 chairman and secretary the matter was arranged by electing anew 
 J. D. McMahon as chairman, and P. A. O'Boyle as secretary 
 Members present: McMahon, O'Boyle, McCahey, Rogers, Burns 
 and Cronin. 
 
 Letters and telegrams were read showing that none of the de- 
 fendants were ready, owing to brief notice. Accusers on hand. 
 
 On motion, committee adjourned to meet at Buff alo, M , Y., 
 Aug. 20, 1888. 
 
 Genesee House, Buffalo, N. Y., Aug. 20, 1888. Committee called 
 to order. J. D. McMahon, President; P. A. O'Boyle, Secretary. 
 
 Present: J. D. McMahon, P. A. O'Boyle, P. McCahey, J. J. 
 Rogers, P. H. Cronin, C. F. Burns, Sullivan, Feeley, Boland, Ryan, 
 Devoy, Trude, O'Neill, McCahey. 
 
 On announcement by the Chair that the committee was ready 
 for business, Mr. Sullivan stated that he had an objection to offer 
 to the constitution of the committee. The chairman asked if it 
 was to the committee as a whole, or to any particular person. 
 
 Sullivan answered that it was to the personnel of the commit- 
 tee; that ore of the committee was a malignant enemy of his (Sul- 
 livan's); that the same party was forever pursuing him with a de- 
 sign to injure him; that as an expelled member o Ae order, that 
 party referred to ought not to sit in any committee. Continuing, 
 Mr. Sullivan said that the party referred to was Dr. Cronin, who 
 recently had made statements through a newspaper in regard to him 
 that he knew to be false; that the newspaper editor (giving name 
 of paper and editor) had jCnt him (Sullivan) a letter of explana- 
 tion, and that for this and many other reasons he objected to being 
 tried by the committee as constL '.ted. 
 
 Messrs. Feeley and Boland followed, both strongly objecting 
 to Dr. Cronin. Boland said that though personally he had some 
 objections to Dr. McCahey v e would waive those objections and 
 join with Messrs. Sullivan and Feeley in asking that Dr. Cronin. 
 retire from the committee, they being willing to accept any one in 
 the loom in preference. 
 
 Dr. Cronin replied to this; said he thought it strange that Mr. 
 Sullivan should speak of him as a malignant enemy. He (Cronin) 
 tad never characterized Sullivan personally as an enemy; any- 
 thing said by him (Cronin) was directed toward the men whom he 
 was given to understand had wrecked the organization. Sullivan 
 was one of them, he understood, and only in connection with cer- 
 tain developments pertaining to the order did he say anything of 
 Sullivan. If Mr. Sullivan believed everything told him by gossips 
 he (the doctor) could not help it. " Indeed," the doctor continued, 
 "why should I be the enemy of Mr. Sullivan? What has he done 
 to me that I should, as he says, single him out for personal en- 
 mity? As to the newspaper editor matter, the doctor said, that 
 while not believing in introducing what savored of American pol- 
 itics, he could explain the newspaper affair by referring to the
 
 90 Tit 1C CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 paper itself. Mr. Sullivan would certainly not make an affidavit 
 to the statement that the paper had done what he said, for he (Dr. 
 Cronin) had evidence that would readily disprove it. 
 
 To this Mr. Sullivan replied that he did not want to make affi- 
 davits, but would say that the creature (referring to the doctor) 
 should not sit as one of his judges; that he (Sullivan) could prove 
 by a dozen men, who would not believe the doctor under oath, that 
 he (the doctor) was an expelled member of the organization. 
 [Then the paper mentions the names of three men.] 
 
 Mr. Cronin said, interrupting Mr. Sullivan, that the gentleman 
 evidently meant to irritate him or intimidate the committee. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan said that he did not wish to intimidate the com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Dr. Cronin then said: "Then you probably mean to intimidate 
 me. That you cannot do, sir, and you ought to know it by this 
 time. All the objections you urge were made at the convention, 
 and by an almost unanimous vote, as the selection of that conven- 
 tion, I am the peer of any one here and doing my duty by the body 
 that created me. I would not, if I could." 
 
 Mr. Sullivan took his seat, overruled by that body. 
 
 The Chairman asked all but the committee to retire, and, upon 
 a vote being taken, the objections of the defendants to Dr. Cronin 
 were overruled by the votes of the Chairman, Messrs. Burns, Rog- 
 ers, McCahey, and Cronin, the Secretary not voting. This was 
 announced to those making the objections, and the trial proceeded. 
 Before the trial proceeded, Col. Boland said he had a witness 
 whose expenses he wished to have guaranteed; that the witness 
 resided at Leadville. On motion it was ordered that the expenses 
 of witness be guaranteed. 
 
 Col. Boland called attention to the fact that many persons 
 present who were witnesses, etc., should not know what was going 
 on. The Colonel said that matters of grave importance might 
 come before the committee, and as it was common report that one 
 witness had given information to the British Government, that 
 John Devoy had given informotion to the British Government, he 
 requested that none but the attorneys for prosecution and the de- 
 fendants remain before the committee, each witness to be exam- 
 ined separately. 
 
 Dr. Cronin objected to this, saying, that as Devoy had been 
 singled out for animadversion by Col. Boland, it was not fair for 
 the committee to extend support to Boland's unjust attack. 
 
 On motion all but the committee retired. The committee then 
 decided that each prosecutor should remain with the attorney 
 and that witnesses be intrpduced separately; the defendants re- 
 maining also; the committee admitting all those entitled to be 
 present, the charges were presented and specifications as follows: 
 
 1. That no active work had been performed by F. C. that had 
 been claimed by that body and its agents. 
 
 2. The men on errands of the brotherhood had been basely 
 neglected and their families left without support.
 
 THE CRIME OF Till-: CENTURY. 9! 
 
 3. That bogus transfers to members of the organization had 
 been issued as coming from Ireland. 
 
 4. That the district convention was falsely instituted, etc. 
 
 5. That F. C. members sat as delegates m that convention in 
 direct violation of the constitution. 
 
 The proof of charges had shown: 
 
 1. That they had claimed that $87,467 had been expended in 
 active work. No vouchers were presented, no contracts, and no 
 money, no account explained about. 
 
 2. Proof that such explanation was never made. 
 
 3. But little .money given Mrs. McCahey; small sums given 
 to men abroad; bogus transfers fabricated by X Y and others. 
 
 4. Convention illegally constituted at Pittsburg; proxies pres- 
 ent, Boland and Feeley sitting there. Boland offered position as 
 R. D. and money sent him that he might make statement that 
 active work was engaged in. 
 
 A witness testifies : Witness called to stand, after being duly 
 obligated, testified as follows : 
 
 Some time previous to the Boston convention I was called on 
 by certain members of the order in reference to an offer of services 
 made by me some time previously. After conference in relation 
 to details I agreed to go to the other side. I went by steerage 
 on ticket procured for me and received ,20. After an absence 
 of seven weeks I returned by steerage passage out of the amount 
 received. Upon my arrival in America 1 met Donovan, who 
 acted as agent for the body, and who paid me $50. Donovan 
 was then in the employ of Gen. Kerwin. I complained of the 
 small amount given me, but did not ask for more. Not enough 
 was given me for the work expected to be done. Later in the 
 same year I was again called on by Donovan, who asked me if in 
 addition to myself I could furnish enough men to accomplish a 
 certain amount of active work. He asked me would I go again 
 I said yes. Looked up the men. It was almost impossible to find 
 any. Got two men on steamer and one to accompany me to do 
 work abroad. Everything being ready, I met Donovan at Green's 
 Hotel, Philadelphia, in company with John J. Maroney. Donovan 
 told me that Maroney would buy tickets for me by steerage. 
 They cost $18 apiece and $100 was given me to carry on work. I 
 told Donovan that on former occasions I had to.go on vessel three 
 days after work was done ; that the sum now offered me was too 
 little for the work looked for. I insisted on getting money enough 
 for the purpose of safety, else I would not go. Donovan told me 
 that sufficint funds would be furnished on the other side. He 
 stated his reason for not giving me more before leaving was that 
 men engaged in similar work had been arrested on landing on the 
 other side ; that my carrying a large sum might excite suspicion. 
 That was satisfactory to me, especially as I was given the name r f 
 the agent on the other side who was to furnish funds as needed. 
 
 I left the room and sent in (another man), the one that was 
 
 \o accompany me. Maroney left the room with me, This other
 
 92 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 rfian told me he received the same amount that I did. Maroney 
 then told me he was glad I refused to accept the sum offered me 
 as total compensation for the work. He also said he did not believe 
 it was the wish of the F. C. to do as the S. had said. He promised 
 to see the F. C. and demand money from them, and should they 
 not give it he would send me help on the next steamer by a trusty 
 man. On the way over I had to pay over 2 for certain accommo- 
 dations on steamer. After being on the other side nine days, 
 taking care not to excite suspicion, I had but 10 left. I then 
 went to Capital City, and met the man who I was told was the 
 agent and would give me money, and I told him I wanted some 
 help, as I was short of funds. I asked him for 10. He denied 
 having any money for any such purpose ; he had no more than he 
 required for actual expenses, and hardly that. He said all he had 
 received upon leaving was $200. 
 
 Objected to by Boland, who asked to know how witness knew 
 the man was agent. 
 
 Witness I was told by Donovan in the presence of Maroney 
 that upon my arrival on the other side I would get funds from the 
 man mentioned. The man then went on to say, that owing to 
 the circumstances he might be obliged to stay for a year. He 
 had worked at his business for some time, but was doing nothing 
 now. I then said I would return at once to America. He said he 
 would at once ask something for me from Ex. I replied that if he 
 did not get funds I would go back. Before leaving I asked him 
 where would it be necessary to do the \vork. He said he did not 
 know ; things were looking queer ; that he was sure he had been 
 betrayed by some one. 
 
 Question by Mr. Ryan What became of this man ? 
 
 Witness He is now in prison. His reason for thinking he 
 was betrayed was that two men had called at his lodging asking 
 for him under his assumed name. I told him to change his lodg- 
 ing. But soon after I was told he had been followed up by the 
 same individuals, whom he had suspected were detectives. This 
 alarmed him much. At his request work was delayed six weeks. 
 I at last told him I would do the work. There were four of us. 
 At various times I asked him if he had received any money from 
 Ex. He said no. He seemed so careful that my men deemed it 
 cowardice. I called his attention to this before the men, saying we 
 looked for courage at this time. He repeated before us that he 
 believed he had been betrayed, for, though he had changed his 
 lodgings several times, the party he suspected as being a detective 
 had called upon him at each place. 
 
 Exception by defendant. To which was "said : 
 
 I finally induced him to give orders to do the work. This was 
 Thursday. Saturday we did it. After the work was done I met 
 him that same evening. He remained in Capital City seven days 
 afterward. I was so reduced for funds that I prevailed upon him 
 to give me 4 of the^i6he had left. On landing in this country 
 ^3'/^. H 
 
 ad no bed nor bedding on the ship ; slept on th? top 
 side of a plank.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURA 93 
 
 This in answer to a question by Dr Cronin : 
 
 I at once complainea to Donovan and Maroney, and through 
 them to the executive, or Gen. Kerwin, of the treatment I had re- 
 ceived and the culpable neglect of the F C. About the last o* 
 February, 1885, Donovan furnished me $ 10 with which to read, 
 home. The man in charge for the order made me take an oath 
 before leaving to bring the matter before the order. 
 
 I always supposed^ Kerwin was a member of the executive. 
 Before leaving America I told Maroney I would take an alias 
 known to me ; my alias was the proper name of a man. The im- 
 prisoned one bore the alias given to me. This was the agent. He 
 was four miles from the place we worked at. Only three of us did 
 the work. 
 
 Question by Mr. Ryan How much money in all did you receive ? 
 
 A. Four persons in all. $500 ; of this the agent got $200. We 
 were two months in the country. 
 
 Then the witness makes a statement that the other man who 
 went with him, whose name I did not read the last time this man 
 came back six months after. At an expense for material, I 
 should think, of $7,400 in all to cover the enterprise. 
 
 Q. How many operations did you perform? A. Three. We 
 always bade each other good by after each meeting, thinking it 
 might be our last meeting on earth. I have learned that in order 
 to get back, the other man who went over with me had to sell his 
 clothes to get passage money. He came with a sprained ankle. 
 In July or August, 1885, he received $7 from Maroney. I took up 
 Rossa's paper one day and in it I saw an announcement of a 
 subscription to keep the mother of Cunningham. I weni to, 
 Maroney, and after telling him it was shameful that she should 
 be allowed to suffer so he said he would see to the matter. 
 Spoke of Gen. Kerwin as being asked to send some help ; 
 said he would not. I said if they didn't I would. Kerwin then 
 came to my home and said I ought to be expelled; I told him he 
 ought to send help to the woman; he said he ought not as the 
 man himself had abundant means; I finally induced Mr. Ryan to 
 get F. C. to send something. One hundred dollars was sent 
 through D. 18, who sent it through F. C., and I was informed of 
 S. G. of 1 8. A few months after I met a lady of Detroit who told 
 me that Capt. Mackey's wife was in want; he was killed in Lon- 
 don and was assured, I am told, that his family would never want. 
 Lomasney, and his brother, accompanied by Fleming, went over 
 in 1884. I wrote to Cochrane, and both assured me that Mrs. 
 Mackey was in want. At once $1,025 was raised and sent to De- 
 troit, where matters were found to be even worse than they had 
 been represented. 
 
 In the case of Dr. Gallagher, his people were in want. Mr. 
 Delaney had recovered the money on the doctor's person, but that 
 was only a small sum, and most of it was being used in his defense. 
 
 On consultation, met D. in New York. One hundred dollars 
 was raised and sent to Mrs. Gallagher. I requested that the men
 
 94 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 on trial on the other side should be defended. Gen. Kerwin said 
 that friendless men were better off in such cases. I raised ^50 to 
 send to Jack Delaney's sister. 
 
 Witness produced five forms of transfer, purporting to be in 
 accordance with the rules of the combined order, but which were 
 shown to be bogus. Witness said: I wrote in the early part of 
 June, 1886, for transfers for certain persons in Philadel- 
 phia, who had been clamoring for admission into D. I said it 
 would do a great deal of good to be able to show that we were in 
 opinion with the folks at home. Within four days I received six, 
 or which those five are a part. McMahon, Burns, Henry, Galla- 
 gher, Henry, the witness testifying. Leonard stated to me 
 
 Objected to by the defendants. 
 
 Some time before the Pittsburg convention, witness was called 
 upon by P. O. Sullivan and J. J. Delaney, who had learned that he 
 was a delegate to the convention. They said they represented 
 eleven D's, and that in order to seat Boland and Miller, Sullivan 
 and Delaney had been thrown out by the suspension of D. 
 
 Mr. Boland objects to this. 
 
 Mr. Ryan and I protested at the convention and asked that 
 Delaney and Sullivan be seated. We stated that a good member 
 of the executive should sit as a delegate in the convention; for the 
 same objection, we objected to Mr. Feeley and Mr. Gleason. 
 Each of these men voted to seat the other. We objected to the 
 proxies from Chicago, Messrs. Tim Crane and Florence Sullivan, 
 the latter proxy for Father Dorney. The other said he represented 
 Alexander Sullivan. 
 
 It having been stated that district S. represented or had been 
 represented by virtue of a cablegram sent to Gleason and Sulli- 
 van, Boland requests them to act for Australia, and that John J. 
 Maroney and Dr. Betts were admitted as proxies. We asked the 
 secretary if any money had been sent by this district in any 
 communication had before the receipt of this cablegram. Secre- 
 tary said he hadn't had any communication with S. at all. The 
 communication was with Alexander Sullivan and Michael 
 Boland. 
 
 We then asked how the Australian cablegram came here, by 
 which route. The secretary didn't seem to know. Mr. Ryan then 
 informed the convention that all cablegrams reaching here from 
 Australia were recorded in the London post office. For this rea- 
 son he thought it highly improbable that any such message came 
 to the gentleman mentioned, 
 
 Here Mr. Sullivan denied having been appointed delegate to 
 the convention, or that his brother Florence represented him 
 there. 
 
 The Witness I was R. D. at that time in place of Gen, Ker- 
 win. Before my election as delegate I never acted as R. D. 
 There was no connection with the home body. I received $500 
 from Mr. Ryan, which it was said I was to use as my judgment 
 dictated, I asked Boland if I should do anv active work outside
 
 'IIHC CRIME OP THE CENTURY. 9$ 
 
 and kept a lookout for it. I spent money afterwards in trying to 
 right the order. 
 
 CROSS-EXAMINED BY ALEXANDER SULLIVAN. 
 
 Q When and to whom did you complain on your return to 
 this country? A To Donovan. 
 
 Q You made no complaint to the executive directly. A No- 
 
 By Mr. Boland How did you get the money, the $500. A-- 
 cash. This was three months before the convention. 
 
 Q Did I ask you to get the amount right as representing * 
 D.? A. I told you I had them on the ship. 
 
 Q. Has any difficulty since that made you say why you were 
 on R. D.? A. No. 
 
 Q. Were you a delegate at the time you got the money? 
 A. No. 
 
 Q. Were you appointed on foreign relations or finance com- 
 mittee? A. No. 
 
 Q. Pending the discusson of the report you left the conven- 
 tion? A. I left, claiming it was not a convention of the order. 
 
 Q. You don't know who I appointed? A. No; I was not in 
 on permanent organization. 
 
 Q. You don't know of operation 1 ; oi^side of your own? 
 A. No. 
 
 To Mr. Rogers I voted at the convention under a vote taken 
 on various motions. 
 
 By Mr. Ryan Do you know of any work having been done 
 between Jan. 20, 1885, an( i tne district convention. A. No. 
 
 Q. How much did it cost for Mackey's work? Objected to 
 by Feeley. 
 
 Q. When did you get that $500. A. The check sent by 
 Boland and Ryan will show I got the money from Ryan, but he 
 received it by check. 
 
 Constitution of the order offered in evidence. 
 
 Examination of another witness. Obligated, name, etc. 
 
 My knowledge when I was elected D. M. to fill vacancy, caused 
 by resignation of John T, Marony. lit July, 1885, his resignation 
 was demanded by the district. In October I went out as an or- 
 ganizeV for the National League through the west. Nov. 23, I 
 spoke at Philadelphia. Several seniors mentioned that Dillon was 
 in straightened circumstances. I promised to see the executive. 
 I saw Gen. Kerwin, D. M., of New York. He said when I men- 
 tioned the matter to him, that he had no power; that this was not 
 an order to grant pensions. He would see Boland. I met Boland 
 by arrangement. He listened to what I had to say, and at .first re- 
 fused to assist Dillon. Finally he said he would consider the mat- 
 ter. Then he authorized me to pay $200 o f obligations maturing. 
 I advanced this myself, and got it back in December, 1885, an d I 
 saw Gen. Kerwin, and told him he should send money to Mrs. 
 Cunningham; that the lady was hurt on the subject of her being 
 neglected by us. He said he would send it. In December, 1885,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 it was rumored that our convention would be held in January, 1886. 
 I was told by Kerwin and Boland that Egan wanted to retire from 
 the Presidency of the league. I was asked by them to accept the 
 Secretaryship of the league. This I refused. It was said consid- 
 erable trouble might be looked for in any case; about the last of 
 December I was sent for to go to New York. I saw Boland and 
 Kerwin together at this time, as well as in January and February. 
 Had interviews with Kerwin and Boland on the subject of the 
 convention and like matters. Mr. Boland asked me why I would 
 not take the Secretaryship. He said the plan for holding a con- 
 vention of the order had been abandoned, as the L. R. then did 
 not take place. Men would get out and I would not be selected 
 as President of the league. 
 
 Some time after this I received the following letter from Ker- 
 win: 
 
 ' My Dear Sir : (Giving the name.) The Chicago people have 
 asked for you for the 4th of March. If you will take my advice 
 you will take no office in the league." 
 
 I was led to believe about this time that the organization in- 
 tended opposing Parnell, owing to his recognition of others. Bo- 
 land and Kerwin both said this. 
 
 (Interrupted by Boland.) Is that your recollection of what took 
 place ? A. Yes. 
 
 Various letters were shown. (Exhibit B.) 
 
 These exhibits were not found among the physician's papers. 
 
 Q. By Mr. Rogers What did you give the money to Dillon 
 for? A. The money had been given me as a general resource. 
 I did not want to go into active work, and suggested Dillon. I 
 gave him the money. Boland authorized this by a letter to me. 
 [Letter read.] Dillon had convinced me that the F. C. hadn't 
 done fair; in fact, I felt that Boland was trying to play me, and I 
 wished to return the compliment. 
 
 Q. Did you want to accept the Presidency of the league ? A. 
 The slate was Baldwin, Minton and Carroll for F. C., and my- 
 self as President of the league. I knew that my age was a bar to 
 my acceptance. Then I was going to attack the ones in authority. 
 I attended the convention. Carroll was temporary Chairman; 
 Reynolds was elected permanent Chairman. 
 
 Convention went into Committee of the Whole. It was re- 
 ported that Father Dorney could not come because he had trouble 
 with the Bishop, and that Alexander Sullivan was absent because 
 British detectives were shadowing him. I held that no member of 
 the executive could sit as a delegate; quoted the constitution; no 
 exception to my doing so; the fact was as stated by me. The last 
 district called was Q. For R. we were directed to apply to the 
 Secretary. District S. was named. I objected to this as no men- 
 tion had been made of it in our report. I asked "Where is it?" 
 I was answered, "Australia." Its representatives here are Ma
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 97 
 
 roney and Betts. They said they represented Boland and Sulli- 
 van. I asked if there was any organization in Australia? I was 
 answered there is one in contemplation. The Secretary said Betts 
 and Maroney were there by order of the executive and by order of 
 a cablegram sent to Sullivan and Boland. 
 
 Sullivan is said to be not a member of the order and Boland 
 represents New York. They had earlier said that Sullivan was 
 shadowed by detectives. 
 
 I then showtd how the cablegram had come from England. 
 Letters had been left with the President by Bcland. Districts H. 
 and B. declared they would leave the convention. We refused to 
 take any part. Did not return. Motion to expel seceding mem- 
 bers carried by a vote of 20 to 5. 
 
 Q. By Mr. Boland The conversations were in the presence 
 of Kerwin, were they not? A. Yes, many of them. 
 
 Q. Did the matter come up in relation to your treatment at 
 Chicago? Some of it took place before you were elected? A. 
 Yes. At district meeting of S. J. Kerwin was present as the rep- 
 resentative of F. C. The district requested me to accept. Had 
 no conversation with you untir months after. 
 
 Q. By Mr. Feeley Did you present any objection at district 
 convention as to your statement as to district? A. No. Because 
 I knew nothing of any other district. 
 
 Q. Did you present any evidence, other than your statement, 
 in relation to any of the acts mentioned? A. No. Because I 
 was r>nt aware of any man elected. 
 
 Q. Do you recollect that a vote was taken in regard to District 
 A.? A. Yes; if you have any doubt I can refer you to mem. 
 
 Q. Do you recollect my opposing the representation of Austra- 
 lia by any person in that body? A. No; you spoke to me, how- 
 ever, and said to me that I should not oppose it; that you were as 
 anxious as I, for you had been ignored or not consulted for eigh- 
 teen months. You voted to seat Australia. 
 
 Q. You charged that the executive used the funds of the orga- 
 nization to pay Maroney's debts, did you? A. No. In August, 
 1884, Maroney was a porter in a store on Market street. Soon 
 after he was D. M. of three counties surrounding Philadelphia. 
 He went into the gents' furnishing goods at No. 2400 Kensington 
 avenue. He got $400 from the executive; check on the Continen- 
 tal Bank, exchanged to his credit. Afterwards he went into debt 
 $600 to McDermott (Black 'Jim). This amount the executive paid 
 to McDermott. I saw the $600 paid him. I made the fact known 
 to the convention. [Mr. O'Boyle interrupts.] 
 
 Q. What was the relation between Maroney and the executive? 
 A. I don't know. 
 
 Mr. Rogers What did Maroney say when you gave him the 
 ' money? [There is no answer to that question.] 
 
 Mr. O'Boyle Upon whom was the check drawn? A. All 
 checks were signed by Kerwin for the executive.
 
 9 8 
 
 THE CRIME OP THE CENTURY. 
 
 Mr. Rogers Had this not been a prior date? A. No. 
 
 Mr. Feeley Was your charge denied by Maroney? A. No, 
 he said the money was furnished by the executive for work until 
 he should earn enough to pay it back. 
 
 Mr. Feeley When was Maroney's debt paid? A. Some time 
 in December. 
 
 Q. Did Maroney do any work after that? A. He acted as 
 detective in Iowa. He went with Sullivan and Boland to St. Paul. 
 
 Dr. Cronin Did the term report show any loss to Maroney? 
 A. I could not say; the time was from August, 1885, to August, 
 1886. 
 
 Examination of another witness, a member since the beginning 
 of the old organization. 
 
 Q. Did you know Capt. Lomasney? A. Yes. 
 
 Q. Do you know of his having left on a certain motive? A. 
 Yes7three or four times since his imprisonment as Mr. O'Sullivan 
 in 1867. 
 
 Q. Do you remember the last time he went? A. Yes; in 
 August, 1884. 
 
 Q. What did he say to you on the subject of his work? A. 
 I was closer than a brother to him. Our families had constant 
 intercourse. I offered him my hand the day he told me of his 
 project; had little help. Wife saved a bed. 
 
 Q. What family had he? A. A wife and four children and 
 an aged father. 
 
 Q. Who were with him? A. His brother Jim and Mr. 
 So-and-so. 
 
 Q. Have they been seen since? [No answer to this.] 
 
 Q. What was Mrs. Lomasney's cond:tion before his going? 
 A. A most outrageous case of neglect. Flemming's mother died 
 in the poorhouse. 
 
 Q. Did you ask for help? A. Yes; in 1885 I went to New 
 Haven. We had no directors. I called upon Dr. Wallace. He 
 was D. Saw Mulvaney and Condon. The latter went with me to 
 Carroll. He professed utter ignorance of the whole affair. I said: 
 " By God, you must see her;" her, Mrs. L. He decided to. Mul- 
 vaney said: " Why don't you see Boland?" Found him on Fifth 
 avenue. He denied all responsibility. He would have nothing to 
 do with it. Finally he claimed she had received much money. I 
 said she did not. He was non-committal. His acknowledgment 
 made him responsible. 
 
 Q. Did you see Carroll at New Y6rk? A. Yes. We met him 
 at Vesey street. He left me to go into the Herald building and 
 brought me $100. I refused this. I told him I didn't come for 
 money. I said: "You know how to send this, as you have the 
 others; if you respect the memory of the dead and the widow and 
 the orphan, made so by your act, do your duty by all." 
 
 Q. Until August, 1886, what was her condition? A. Poverty- 
 stricken; no coal, no clothing; nothing left her but misery and her 
 pride. Our S. G. would not give the channel of communication.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 99 
 
 He read our resolutions; whether he ever forwarded them or not 
 I did never know. He is dead. He told the committee of D. that 
 the organization was not responsible. 
 
 Mr. Rogers You swear you called the attention of Boland and 
 Carroll to her condition? A. Yes; and not until somebody came 
 to us with $1,025 did the poor woman have any adequate support. 
 
 By Dr. Cronin Did Lomasney attend the district convention 
 held in Chicago in 1884? A. No; he was not elected. 
 
 Q. Was any one elected from your D.? A. No; we noticed 
 it much. We could not account for our D. having no representa- 
 tion. 
 
 Q. Would Lomasney tell you if he had been selected a dele- 
 gate by any one outside of D.? A. Yes, and we would have been 
 aware of his absence. 
 
 Q. Would he have gone there, if not elected a delegate? 
 
 A. No; he was the soul of honor, and despised trickery; he 
 did not care for office; never held any in his life except in danger. 
 
 Mr. Boland Did you see him at Boston? A. Walsh told me 
 he had no control. S. G. contended that the organization had no 
 responsibility. In 1885 John Maroney called; said he had been 
 especially sent. They had come for a little money; gave $10; 
 Lomasney had nothing. N. Y. D. S. raised and sent $150. More 
 was raised and suppressed. In 1887 the sheriff put Mrs. L. out on 
 the street. No home was ever bought for her. 
 
 Question by Mr. Dillon Do you know that Mrs. L. is an eco- 
 nomical woman? A. Yes. People began to talk of her and sent 
 an organization to me to say that she was extravagant; talked of 
 her husband's taking off, which prejudiced many, and her rent 
 was raised. She had been paying $30 a month; no general in- 
 crease; the landlord wanted her put out. 
 
 Mrs. Lomasney examined. [Upon Alexander Sullivan's re- 
 quest not sworn.] Husband went away in August, 1884. 
 
 Q. How much money have you received from the organiza- 
 tion since? A. A thousand dollars altogether. 
 
 Q. How much since? A. In the summer of 1885 I visited 
 Alexander Sullivan. I went to inquire after my husband, as I 
 was led to believe he was in possession of certain funds; he did 
 not know my condition, nor did he relieve me. He did send for 
 a ticket to Detroit with which I returned home. 
 
 Q. When again did you call upon Mr. Sullivan? A. In 
 August, 1886, I made known my condition, and after advising me 
 to sell my little store, he asked me a schedule of my liabilities: 
 $200; he would attend to the matter. He gave me no money, 
 nor offered me any. He seemed anxious that I should not com- 
 municate with any one in the city. He asked me if I was ac- 
 quainted with any one. I told him of James Q. Mr. S. said I 
 should not mention his (Sullivan's) name to any one, etc. Called 
 on Q. He talked to me about Father Dorney. No help. 
 
 Met Col. Richard Burke, and he, with some friends, assisted 
 me. I know that Mr. Sullivan was the one that had a right to at
 
 100 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 tend to this. Was afterward amazed that he did not. The dress 
 I wore was a borrowed one. John Hickey was S. G. Several 
 weeks after I went to Mr. Sullivan and asked him a loan of $100; 
 this he sent me; nothing since. I could not give up the store, as 
 that would confirm the belief that husband was dead or in the bus- 
 ines. Thomas Tuttle was the first to relieve my necessities. 
 
 CROSS-EXAMINED BY ALEXANDER SULLIVAN. 
 
 Q. You saw me in 1886, was it not? A. Yes, certain. An* 
 other $500 came from Brooklyn. I had a letter sent by my 
 husband when he was in Europe, inclosing one from Mr. Alexan- 
 der Sullivan, in which he said, in my letter, he asked for money. 
 I afterwards received a note from my husband saying he had re- 
 ceived money from Mr. Sullivan; I don't know the amount; 
 
 Here Mr. S. admitted that Lomansey was sent by the organi- 
 zation. 
 
 The last letter from husband was in 1884; anxious to go home. 
 His age 44. 
 
 Examination of another witness. Evidence corroborates that 
 of the first witness taken. Received 20 and one steerage pas- 
 sage six weeks after the first witness. No shoes. Sold clothes 
 and trunk to get home. No bed. 
 
 Here the notes abruptly ended.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 STRANGE INFLUENCES AT WORK MISS ANNIE 
 MURPHY THINKS SHE SAW THE DOCTOR ON 
 
 A STREET CAR HIS LONG AND MYSTERIOUS 
 
 RIDE WITH CONDUCTOR DWYER REPORTER 
 
 LONG ALSO ENCOUNTERS HIM, THIS TIME IN 
 TORONTO THE POLICE AND PUBLIC SATIS- 
 FIED BUT HIS FRIENDS STILL ANXIOUS- 
 EFFORTS TO PROVE HIM A BRITISH SPY A 
 
 BIG REWARD OFFERED. 
 
 Less than a week had elapsed from the 
 events narrated in the first chapter when sinister 
 rumors commenced to gain circulation. It was 
 whispered about that the alleged "mysterious dis- 
 appearance " was in reality no mystery at all, 
 that the physician had not been decoyed from 
 home; that he was alive; that he had left the 
 city of his own free will, and that the whole 
 affair had been concocted for sensational pur- 
 poses, the motive for which would be brought to 
 light so soon as the cardinal objects had been 
 attained. It was further hinted that the phy- 
 sician was inclined to be extremely erratic at 
 
 times, that his love of sensationalism bordered 
 
 101
 
 102 THE CRIME UF THE CENTURY. 
 
 on a mania, and that such a performance as 
 that of May 4 was entirely in a line with his 
 methods. 
 
 A STREET CAR " CLUE." 
 
 On the* heels of these rumors came positive 
 statements of alleged facts. It was first 
 claimed that Dr. Cronin was seen on a street 
 car two hours after he had parted with Frank 
 Scanlan outside of the Windsor Theatre Build- 
 ing. Miss. Annie Murphy, an employe of the 
 City Recorder's Office, was responsible for this 
 story which was made public a few hours af- 
 ter the arrest and " confession " of Woodruff. 
 A comely and talented young lady, with a 
 reputation as an elocutionist of no mean ability, 
 she had frequently figured on the programme 
 with the physician at Irish demonstrations and 
 Catholic entertainments. Consequently she knew 
 him well, and what she had to say commanded 
 general attention, and a large degree of con- 
 fidence. It was not known at this time, how- 
 ever, that her father, Thomas Murphy, was a 
 prominent member of the Clan-na-Gael, and an 
 officer in one of the local camps to boot. Miss 
 Murphy's statement made on May 9th, when the 
 popular excitement was at its height, was to 
 the effect that she had seen Dr. Cronin on a 
 Clark Street car shortly after nine o'clock on 
 the night of his disappearance.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 103 
 
 " I had been paying a visit to friends on 
 Garfield Avenue," she said, " and left at nine 
 o'clock, taking a Garfield Avenue car. At the 
 corner of Clark Street this was attached to a 
 cable train. When we reached Division Street, 
 1 looked into the cable car, and I am positive 
 that I saw Dr. Cronin sitting in it, his arms 
 folded and his head bowed as if in deep thought. 
 He did not look at me, nor could he have re- 
 cognized me if he had, as it was dark outside, 
 while the car in which he rode was well lighted. 
 He had an oblong bundle of some kind resting 
 upon his knees, over which his arms were fold- 
 ed. When I read in the papers on Monday 
 morning that Dr. Cronin had disappeared, I 
 told father that I had seen him, and we both 
 laughed at the idea that the doctor had been 
 murdered. When I reached the office, I told 
 the same story." 
 
 "You are sure that the man was Dr. Cronin? 1 ' 
 "Just as sure as I am about my own identity," 
 was the reply. 
 
 CONDUCTOR DWYER ADDS A "LINK." 
 
 Equally positive was the statement of Wil- 
 liam Dwyer, the conductor that had charge of 
 car 415, and it convinced a good many people 
 who had been inclined to the belief that Miss 
 Murphy had been mistaken. Two weeks later.
 
 104 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 t 
 
 when the body of the murdered physician had 
 been brought to light, Dwyer suddenly became 
 an invalid, resigned his position and went to 
 Canada " for his health." This fact gives ad 
 ditional significance to the circumstantial story 
 that he told at the time. 
 
 "My regular run," he said, "is on the State 
 Street horse line, but I was called up to the 
 limits barn Saturday night to take the place of 
 Conductor Humphrey who got suddenly sick. 
 I was put aboard of car No. 415, one of th 
 big, long ones. It was just 9:18 o'clock to a 
 second when we left the barn. There was not 
 a passenger aboard. When we reached Fred- 
 erick Street a tall, good-looking man with a 
 heavy mustache, and I think a plug hat, got 
 on. I took particular notice of him, because 
 he was a striking looking man." 
 "Where did he sit down?" 
 " In the middle of the car. He faced east.' 1 
 "Did he have any parcels?" 
 " Yes. I remember that he carried a little 
 box or case. I think it was black. It was 
 made of highly polished wood." 
 
 "What did he do with it when he sat down?" 
 "Put it in his lap and leaned his arm on it." 
 "Did you notice how he was dressed?" 
 " No, not particularly, except that he was 
 well dressed. I saw he had a kind of a round
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 105 
 
 bundle in his lap, too. It was a queer color 
 a kind of light red or pink." 
 
 "Are you sure about that?" 
 
 " Yes, because I noticed it particularly as I 
 passed through the car. My attention was first 
 attracted to it by a kind of white stuff that 
 stuck out of the ends. It looked' like white 
 cotton, and when I passed through the car I 
 brushed against it and a small particle of cot- 
 ton clung to my coat." 
 
 " Do you think your solitary passenger was 
 under the influence of liquor?" 
 
 " No, I don't. He walked straight and 
 seemed to be sober. He was only abstracted 
 and preoccupied. I noticed when we were 
 passing the Windsor Theatre that he looked 
 through the open windows of the car at the 
 building with more interest than he had shown 
 i: anything else." 
 
 "How was it that you noticed him then?" 
 
 "Because he leaned forward as far as he 
 could, and I guess I hadn't much else to look 
 at just then." 
 
 "Did he get up as if he intended to leave the 
 car?" 
 
 "No, he didn't; he kept his seat." 
 
 "How far did he ride?" 
 
 " To Madison Street. He started to get off 
 at Washington Street, though. He had been
 
 106 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 more preoccupied than ever going through the 
 tunnel, and when he got up at Washington 
 Street he seemed kind of dazed. He asked 
 me if we were at Madison Street, saying that 
 he wanted to go to the Union Depot. I told him 
 we were a block from Madison Street, and he 
 returned to" his seat. When we got to Madi- 
 son I stopped the car and he jumped off. He 
 started toward the river at a fast gait, as if he 
 had an important appointment to keep." 
 
 "Do you know Dr. Cronin?" 
 
 "No, sir; I think not." 
 
 " Then you do not know, of your own knowl- 
 edge, that your solitary passenger was Dr. 
 Cronin?" 
 
 "No. But now that you speak of Dr. Cronin," 
 he said after a long interval, "I remember that 
 I thought he was a doctor, and I got an im- 
 pression somehow from his grave aspect that he 
 had been attending to a very serious case." 
 
 " Did you notice whether anybody was with 
 him when he stepped out at Frederick Street 
 to board your car?" 
 
 " I didn't notice, but I don't think there was." 
 
 " Did you see an undersized man with a 
 heavy mustache and a slouch hat?" 
 
 "No; I didn't but hold on a minute. I 
 did see a man on the sidewalk, standing in the 
 shadow of tfee building, who I think wore a soft
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 107 
 
 hat, but as I had only a fleeting glimpse at him 
 I couldn't attempt to describe him." 
 
 These two stories, the first so clear and di- 
 rect, and the other so corroborative obtained 
 general credence except among the immediate 
 friends of the physician. .These still insisted 
 upon their theory of foul play. Numerous 
 contradictions in the statements made by 
 Dwyer to different people were pointed out. 
 An inspection of the sheet upon which he had 
 made out his report of the trip when he 
 turned in his receipts showed that instead of 
 one passenger on the nine o'clock car he had 
 carried thirty-six. The story told by Miss 
 Murphy was directly challenged, many- of the 
 physican's friends declared that it was manufact- 
 ured for ulterior motives. It was also charged 
 that her father and Dr. Cronin were bitter 
 enemies. This was denied at the time, and it 
 was added that Murphy, who resided on Oak 
 Street near by Alexander Sullivan, had never 
 taken an active part in Irish affairs. Subse- 
 quently, during the Coroner's investigation, it 
 was developed that at that very time he was 
 the financial secretary of a Clan-na-Gael camp 
 hostile in its composition to the missing man. 
 
 BOGUS "INTERVIEWS" FROM CANADA. 
 But still more astounding developments in
 
 I08 THE CRIMK OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 this phase of the case were soon to come. 
 There resided in Toronto, Canada, at tliis time, 
 one Charles T. Long, a young man whose father 
 was the publisher and part proprietor of an influ- 
 ential newspaper. Some time before this Long 
 had been employed as a reporter on one or two 
 Chicago morning papers, and in the performance 
 of his duties he had met Dr. Cronin on numerous 
 occasions. He had, moreover, for a short period 
 been a member of a seciet beneficial society with 
 which the physician was identified, and hence 
 could claim something more than a passing 
 acquaintance with him. When therefore on the 
 night of Friday, May loth, the morning papers 
 of Chicago and several other cities received dis- 
 patches the majority over the ex-reporter's own 
 signature to the effect that the physician was 
 alive and in that city, and had actually been 
 spoken to, it was taken for granted that the 
 major portion of the mystery had been solved. 
 No mere resume could do justice to what might 
 well be termed the devilish ingenuity with which 
 these dispatches were framed, and it is necessary 
 to quote them at length. The one received by 
 the Chicago Herald, and which was a fair type 
 of all, ran in this wise: 
 
 Dr. P. H. Cronin is in Canada. He was seen, recognized and 
 spoken to here to-day by a former Chicagoan, and in return told 
 of his troubles, bitterly denouncing a number of Garden City 
 people, Alexander Sullivan particularly. The missing and sup-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 109 
 
 posed-to-be-murdered physician seemed to be slightly deranged. 
 C. T. Long, who for three years was intimately acquainted with 
 Dr. Cronin in Chicago, was walking down Yonge street shortly 
 after 1 1 o'clock this morning, and when opposite the Arcade came 
 face to face with the missing Irish nationalist. He was accom- 
 panied by a man of shorter stature. " Hello, Doc; what are you 
 doing here?" was Long's greeting. To this the doctor answered 
 "Hello," and then pausing and drawing himself up in an injured 
 manner : continued: "You have me at a disadvantage, sir. What 
 do you want?" 
 
 "Why, Cronin, is it possible that you don't remember me?" 
 
 "I do not know you, sir, and shall have you handed over to the 
 police in case you bother me further." 
 
 Having delivered himself of this the doctor turned the corner 
 of the Arcade and quickly followed the retreating footsteps of his 
 friend, who turned down Victoria street, and together they were 
 soon lost in the crowd. Long informed the Herald correspondent 
 that for three years he had been intimately acquainted with Cro- 
 nin while living in Chicago in fact, employed him as his family 
 physician and belonged to several organizations with him. He 
 was completely dumbfounded, first at sight of him and then at 
 his mode of treatment. Cronin was dressed in a black coat and 
 vest, light colored pants, black silk hat, and carried a small black 
 hand-bag in one hand and a light spring overcoat thrown over his 
 arm. The person with him appeared to be twenty-seven or thirty 
 years of age, and while Long cannot place him, his face seem;d 
 quite familiar. At first sight he was taken for Jack Lynch, bailiff 
 in Judge Clifford's court, and very strongly resembled him, but as 
 far as Long knew Lynch was unknown to Cr^nin. Cronin's com- 
 panion was dressed in a dark suit of clothes and slouch hat. lie 
 carried nothing but a newspaper, which was afterward picked up 
 on Victoria street and proved to be a Chicago evening newspaper 
 of the 7th inst. 
 
 Long at once made for the Union Station in the hope that he 
 might there run across the pair, but after waiting some thirty 
 minutes concluded to notify the police and have them keep a 
 sharp lookout for Cronin-. While on the way to the Court street 
 Station, police headquarters, and at the corner of King and 
 Toronto streets, Long again caught sight of the pair walking 
 rapidly down Toronto street. Slipping into a doorway at the
 
 110 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 receiver general's office he waited until they had passed, and then 
 noticed that Cronin had adjusted a pair of goggles, but otherwise 
 was attired precisely the same as on Yonge street. Stepping up 
 to the doctor the point-blank question was put: "Cronin, what are 
 you doing in Toronto when your friends in Chicago are hunting 
 the earth for you?" 
 
 "Now, look here, Long," he replied, "for God's sake let up on 
 me. I have already had enough notoriety and don't want to be 
 bothered. Why can't you let me go ? You know I have always 
 been your friend, and I shall expect that you will say nothing 
 about having seen me." 
 
 "Come in and let us talk the matter over," said Long, leading 
 the pair into a convenient saloon. Cronin appeared to be a very 
 sick man; in fact, the first impression conveyed was that he was 
 out of his mind. He Kambled away, talking about the Royal 
 League and Mr. Warren, the secretary, and then, apparently get- 
 ting frenzied, denounced in strong terms a number of St. Louis 
 and Chicago gentlemen, among them Alexander Sullivan, John F. 
 Scanlan, Dr. O'Reilly, M. F. Madden, Lawyer Berry, Harry Bal- 
 lard, Judge Prendergast and Lawyer Wade. He mentioned seve- 
 ral other names, but they were unknown to Long. Cronin went 
 on to state that he had unearthed a great crime in Chicago during 
 the past few months, but would give no details, and stated that his 
 life had been settled as the penalty. "You know what kind of a 
 man Sullivan is, don't you?" he said. " Well, he will never let up 
 on me for what I haye done, but I have a host of friends yes, 
 sir, a host of friends in this country, and if harm comes to me 
 all will not be well for him, I can assure you." All during the 
 conversation his companion never opened his lips, and when he 
 began talking of Sullivan he took him by the arm and whispered 
 in his ear, after which Cronin refused to speak further. 
 
 " Where are you stopping in town?" was met with a point-blank 
 refusal to say more and an entreaty not to follow him. He was 
 allowed to leave the saloon, and at once Cronin and his companion 
 entered a cab and were driven rapidly west on King street. Long, 
 too, summoned a cab, but through a mistake of the driver the 
 wrong hack was followed. This brought up at the Union Station 
 shortly after 12 o'clock. Long glanced at the time tables and 
 found that the first train leaving the depot would be at 12:20 and 
 concluded to wait and see if the case would further develop. At
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. Ill 
 
 exactly 12:18 a two-horse covered cab dashed up to the station 
 and from it sprang Cronin, the unknown man, and a lady appar- 
 ently about twenty-three years of age. They all three hurrfed into 
 the train for Hamilton, not waiting to purchase tickets. Long 
 boarded the train and asked Cronin for what point they were 
 bound, and being refused a civil answer stated that he would stay 
 with him and inform the police at the first station in case he 
 refused to give up. He thereupon stated that they intended going 
 to Niagara Falls. The lady was probably twenty to twenty-three 
 or four years of age and wore a dark gray traveling dress and a 
 turban hat. She carried a shawl-strap and a brown paper parcel. 
 Cronin had nothing but his small bag and overcoat, while the 
 stranger carried a large brown leather valise. 
 
 Long has known Cronin for the past three years and intimately 
 for the past two, belonged to a number of societies with him and 
 had frequently visited his office on Clark street and received in 
 return calls from the doctor at the house he used to live in, 271 
 Huron street, and could not possibly be mistaken in the man. 
 The only time Cronin ever made any remark to Long while in 
 Chicago which would lead to the idea that he anticipated violence 
 was one night while walking together up Clark street about n :3o 
 o'clock, and at Huron street the doctor requested Long- to accom- 
 pany him as far as Division street on a car, as he did not know 
 what might happen to him. Passing Dillon's book store Frank 
 Scanlan was met, and he went on home with the doctor. 
 
 A CHAPTER OF INFAMY. 
 
 Dr. Cronin's friends were dumbfounded when 
 they opened their morning papers and found 
 themselves confronted by these dispatches. His 
 opponents, on the other hand, were in high glee, 
 and quoted the news as vindicating their own 
 acuteness of perception. But the Toronto end of 
 the conspiracy had scarcely got into active opera- 
 tion. The initial dispatch of Friday was in- 
 tended simply as a feeler. Long returned to the
 
 112 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 charge on Saturday with a second circumstan- 
 tial story that completely eclipsed his first effort. 
 It was as follows : 
 
 After Cronin and his party a man and woman left Toronto 
 yesterday on the Grand Trunk train moving west, your corre- 
 spondent telegraphed a friend at Hamilton a description of the 
 trio and requested- that he should keep a sharp look-out for them; 
 also that he should wire regarding a 1 their movements and follow 
 them, no matter where they went. In case they separated he was 
 to put men on the track of the woman and strange man and to 
 follow Cronin. This afternoon at 4:10 o'clock a message arrived 
 stating that Cronin had left Hamilton alone, and was on the train 
 schedu'ed to arrive at Toronto about 5:30 this evening, 
 
 Dr. Cronin was not on that train. 
 
 Shortly after 7 o'clo k a telephone message announced that the 
 Doctor was in this city at the Rossin House, King street, West. 
 
 The correspondent sought out the fugitive and greatly surprised 
 him when he answered his knock at the door 
 
 " Well, Doctor, back again ?" was the greeting, to which the Doc- 
 tor answered: " Well, ," calling the correspondent by name, " it 
 
 is really too bad that you should dog me round in this shape. 
 What is your object in doing it? I have committed no crime and 
 cannot see why you should thrust my name before the public as 
 you did this morning in the Empire (a Toronto paper). You lied 
 when you stated that Jim Lynch accompanied me. I don't even 
 know the man." 
 
 " Well, Cronin, you must certainly know that the people gener- 
 ally, and your Chicago friends particularly, are anxious to know 
 where you are, why you left Chicago, and where you intend going." 
 
 " I don't intend making statements," said the Doctor, " I guess I 
 have some rights. Make a statement? I guess not ! Now, please 
 get out of my room, or I will kick you out." 
 
 The correspondent mentioned that a number of detectives were 
 searching for the missing man. This announcement appeared to 
 annoy the Doctor, and he appeared willing to do anything rather 
 than have detectives take him in charge. He seemed anxious to 
 know all about the detectives, who they were, and what they were 
 doing, and was especially desirous of knowing positively whether
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 113 
 
 any of them were here. He was told that a rumor to that effect 
 had gone the rounds to-day. 
 
 Finally, Cronin requested that questions should be put to him, 
 and the following conversation took place: 
 
 "When did you leave Chicago?" 
 
 "Just a week ago to-night.". 
 
 " Whe.e did you go?" 
 
 " I went to Montreal." 
 
 " How did you leave Chicago?" 
 
 " I refuse to answer."_ 
 
 " Come, now, Cronin, remember the detectives." 
 
 " Now, for God's sake, don't push that question ! I can't answer 
 it!" 
 
 " When did you get to Montreal?" 
 
 " I got there last Monday evening." 
 
 "Where did you put up?" 
 
 After considerable bickering the Doctor said he had taken a 
 room at the St. Lawrence Hotel, got his meals at the house of a 
 friend, whose name he would not give. 
 
 " Why did you leave Montreal, and when did you do so?" 
 
 " I received word that it was known in Chicago, or at least sup- 
 posed, that I was down there, and got out so I could not be 
 found." 
 
 " Where did you then go ? " 
 
 " I came up to Ottawa." 
 
 'When did you leave Montreal?" 
 
 " I left there Thursday night." 
 
 " Where did you put up in Ottawa?" 
 
 "At the Russell Hotel." 
 
 " Under your own name?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " What name did you give?" 
 
 " I don't remember." 
 
 "Was it Parkhurst?" 
 
 " No, that was not the name." 
 
 " What address did you give?" 
 
 " I think it was New York." 
 
 "Don't you knov?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, why did you leave Ottawa?"
 
 114 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 " Because the town was so small that I was afraid some one 
 might know me." 
 
 " When you got to Montreal where did you intend going?' 
 
 " I intended taking a steamer for France, but found that no 
 ship left that port which would take me there." 
 
 " Why did you not then go on to New York?" 
 
 " Because I am well known there and did not care to risk it." 
 
 "After you left Ottawa where did you go?" 
 
 " I took the Canadian Pacific train for Toronto and arrived 
 here Friday morning at about 9 o'clock." 
 
 "Where were you from 9 o'clock till the Empire reporter met 
 you on Yonge street?" 
 
 " I had been trying to find Starkey, the lawyer, who left Chi- 
 cago last winter." 
 
 "Why did you wish to see him?" 
 
 " Simply to get the run of the town." 
 
 " Did you not suspect that he might expose you?" 
 
 "O, no! I am sure he would not do that. It would not be to 
 his interest." 
 
 " I thought Starkey was not friendly to you. Did he not at 
 one time try to hurt your reputation?" 
 
 " I don't know that he did. In any case he would not do so 
 now." 
 
 "Well, now, as to why you left Chicago?" 
 
 " I have been declining in health for some time and thought it 
 would do me good to take a trip." 
 
 " Why should you have left Chicago without letting your 
 friends know?" 
 
 "Well, now, that is a long story -and the telling of it would 
 implicate a great number of my friends who are in no way respon- 
 sible for any of my actions. I trust you will not press me on that 
 point." 
 
 Cronin was pressed, however, and told the following story: 
 
 " While I lived in St. Louis I promptly identified myself with 
 the Irish cause, then disturbing the public. I soon found that the 
 great Irish movement was to be centered either at Chicago or 
 New York, and after consulting my intimate friends, among whom 
 was Dr. O'Reilly, I made up my mind to go to Chicago. I did so, 
 armed with letters of introduction, and soon found myself promi- 
 nent in Irish as well as other circles."
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 115 
 
 He then went on to say that he soon discovered that the large 
 quantities of money being received by certain persons for the Irish 
 cause were not handled properly, and that not more than three- 
 fourths of it ever reached Ireland. 
 
 " I know," he stated, '* that at least $85,000 was gobbled up by 
 certain persons in Chicago, and when I began to ' call the turn ' 
 on them they tried to scare me off. Failing in this, they tried to 
 bribe me. That would not work." 
 
 " Their next move," said Dr. Cronin, " was to introduce me to 
 Le Caron under the name of Beach, in order that he might pump 
 me and damage me in any way that he could. Beach was intro- 
 duced to me by a reporter named Conwell, a man whom I had 
 always considered my friend, but since the recent developments 
 in the London Times case I know he was against me and that Le 
 Caron was introduced to me for no good purpose. He got little 
 out of me, however, and that means failed. I have been warned 
 several times to get out of the country, and assured that my life 
 was in danger. But up to last Saturday I felt that I could hold 
 my own. Last Saturday, however, I was put in possession of 
 unquestionable proof that the Clan-na-Gael Society had decided 
 that my life should be taken. A man was appointed as my execu- 
 tioner and preparations were in active progress to accomplish the 
 deed. Enough to say I made up my mind at once to fly. You 
 know the rest. The lady who accompanied me yesterday to 
 Hamilton was quite unknown to me, as was also the gentleman, 
 until I met them on the train between Ottawa and Toronto. 
 Neither of them knew who I was until you met me on Yonge 
 street Friday morning. They happened to be going to Buffalo on 
 the train I took out of Toronto, and I left them at Hamilton." 
 
 This part of the story proved to be true. 
 
 " Did you plan for a man to call at your office and request you 
 to go out to the ice-house and attend a patient?" he was asked. 
 
 " That I will not answer." 
 
 When asked what move he intended making next the Doctor 
 stated that he would go to France as soon as possible. " I left 
 some important documents behind in Chicago," he said, "and 
 only hope that I can get to a country where I will be safe; then I 
 will make some disclosures which will open the eyes of the public 
 generally and make the hair stand on the heads of several Chi- 
 cago and New York gentlemen. This talk about my having been
 
 Il6 THE CRIME O!<^ 'PHI': CENTURY. 
 
 seen in a cable-car Saturday night is entirely false. The Conklins 
 have made fools of themselves over the whole matter. According 
 to the instructions I left with them they should not have opened 
 their mouths until I was safely out of the country; but it is the 
 same old story tell a woman anything and you are sure to get 
 the worst of it." 
 
 The Doctor intimated that a certain Methodist minister had 
 caused all his trouble, but would not disclose his name. 
 
 The woman who accompanied the Doctor from Toronto to 
 Hamilton proved to be from Buffalo^.nd had no knowledge of the 
 company she was keeping until she read the paper. The Doctor 
 says that the man who walked up Yonge street with him Friday 
 afternoon was also unknown to him until Thursday night and that 
 he was on his way to Winnipeg. This man has been located at 
 Collingwood, a small town about loo miles north of Toronto. He 
 is unknown there, and may be waiting a steamer which would 
 take him to Winnipeg. 
 
 Cronin is still in town and a close watch is being kept on all his 
 movements. 
 
 CRONIN 'S ENEMIES IN HIGH GLEE. 
 
 In another dispatch it was stated that Dr. 
 Cronin had, on Saturday night, accepted the 
 hospitalities of W. J. Starkey, an ex-Chicago 
 lawyer. On the following morning, so the same 
 dispatch went on to say, the physician had 
 actually been entertained by Long at his resi- 
 dence. To ninety-nine out of a hundred people, 
 this was conclusive. Everything pointed to 
 the fact that the hitherto missing man was 
 alive and in the flesh. No chain of evidence 
 could have been more complete. Had not Miss 
 Murphy seen him on the car? Had he not rid- 
 den down town with Conductor Dwyer, to whom 
 he said that he was on his way to the Union De-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 117 
 
 
 
 pot, and had he not appeared in Toronto, broken 
 bread with Starkey and Long, and admitted that 
 he was on his way to cross the ocean ? What 
 more was wanted ? At this point, too, his ene- 
 mies in Chicago began to add leaven to the 
 lump. The story told by Woodruff was re- 
 called, and it was insidiously suggested in one 
 quarter that the physician was the mysterious 
 "Doc," and that having performed a criminal oper- 
 ation upon the equally mysterious "Alice," whose 
 remains had been taken to the park in the trunk, 
 he had fled the country to avoid the legal con- 
 sequences of his crime. In another direction it 
 was boldly charged that before many days the 
 physician would turn up in London in the role of 
 a second Le Caron. Said one of his most invet- 
 erate opponents : 
 
 " Dr. Cronin is not dead; at least he wasn't assassinated at the 
 end of his buggy ride with a strange man last Saturday night. 
 Neither is he likely to be found in this city or State, and perhaps 
 not in the United States. And there is much reason to suspect 
 that he went at the beck and call of the English Government in 
 short, that he was a British spy, and has gone to join Le Caron, 
 his friend and companion and near neighbor both here and in St. 
 Louis. A startling communication in cipher has been received 
 from the other side, and the information comes from a source 
 whose accuracy cannot be doubted. It is to the effect that agents 
 of the English Government have been arranging to place another 
 American informer on the stand in the Parnell inquiry. It seems 
 that the informer has offered to testify for a stated sum, which is 
 said to be $100,000, and that the Government is only awaiting the 
 report of its experts, who are inspecting his documentary proof 
 before accepting his proposition. That is the way the matter 
 stands now. I have been asked to find out who this new informer
 
 Il8 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 
 
 is. I have tried my best to do so, but I can't say I have been en- 
 tirely successful. Dr. Cronin's mysterious disappearance has left 
 a deep suspicion on my mind. I never liked that fellow, anyway, 
 for I always considered him a contemptible rascal. I don't be- 
 lieve, either, that he has been assassinated, because I don't know 
 of any good reason for killing him. I wouldn't be surprised if he 
 turned up in London shortly. It wouldn't be at all strange. He 
 was Le Caron's friend, as nearly as I can ascertain from Chica- 
 goans, who knew them both, and what would be more natural 
 than for him to cross the Atlantic to pay the druggist a friendly 
 visit?" 
 
 On the heels of this came an alleged dispatch 
 from London : 
 
 " Le Caron, the man who acted as a spy for 
 the British Government on the movements of 
 the Irish leaders in America, and who testified 
 for the Times before the Parnell Commission, 
 declares that he and Dr. Cronin were the clos- 
 est friends. Le Caron believes that Dr. Cronin 
 has been killed, and that the friendship of the 
 murdered man may account for his removal." 
 
 Naturally enough, these diabolical insinua- 
 tions had their full effect on the public mind. 
 The search for the 'body was practically aban- 
 doned by the police, and the theory that the 
 physician had left the town of his own free will 
 was generally accepted by the public. 
 
 Even some of those who had been closely 
 associated with him were inclined to the same 
 view, except that they ascribed his possible trip 
 to London to different purposes to those ad- 
 vanced by his enemies.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 119 
 
 " I believe Dr. Cronin is in New York on 
 his way to London for the purpose of testifying 
 before the Parnell Commission." said one of his 
 friends. 
 
 "Why do you think so?" he was asked 
 
 "Apart from certain things I cannot divulge," 
 was the response, " Dr. Cronin has for several 
 years been prepared to prove that not one-tenth 
 of the amount of funds published in the Ameri- 
 can papers as having been collected for the 
 Land League ever went across the water." 
 
 " How would testimony to that effect benefit 
 Parnell?" 
 
 " It would show that his connection with 
 certain extensive movements among the Irish 
 factions in America has not been as close as 
 was supposed. If, as a matter of fact, he has 
 received no financial help from these factions, 
 he cannot be held responsible for their state- 
 ments of his advocacy of their advocacy." 
 
 "Do any other persons entertain this theory?" 
 
 "Yes, a number of Irish- Americans, who 
 know of Dr. Cronin's possession of the inform- 
 ation I speak of, have expressed the opinion I 
 hold." 
 
 And, as if to demonstrate the fact that the 
 speaker was on the right track, a dispatch was 
 received in Chicago, through the agency of The 
 United Press, within the hour, that said:
 
 120 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 "New York: It is reported to-night that Dr. 
 Cronin is in this city." 
 
 STAUNCH FRIENDS TO THE FRONT. 
 
 But, to their eternal honor and credit, be it 
 said, there were many staunch friends of the 
 missing man, who, undeterred by slander and 
 suspicion on the one hand, and questionable 
 reports on the other, were determined that the 
 mystery should be probed to the bottom, and 
 that, dead or alive, the physician should be 
 found. Among them were John F. Scanlan, 
 W. P. Rend, Frank Scanlan, P. McGarry, and 
 T. T. Conklin. These and others came together 
 and decided to send one of their number to 
 Toronto to investigate the reports that had 
 emanated from that city. An unlimited supply 
 of money was pledged, and Pat McGarry was 
 selected for the mission. Information regarding 
 this action was telegraphed to Toronto and 
 took the Canadian conspirators who had not 
 contemplated any such move somewhat by 
 surprise. Prompt action became necessary, and 
 the only thing to be done was to make it 
 appear that Dr. Cronin had disappeared from 
 the city as suddenly as he entered it. Accord- 
 ingly, dispatches to that effect were prepared 
 and transmitted to the various papers that had
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 121 
 
 received the previous reports. One of these was 
 worded as follows: 
 
 Dr. Cronin is a fugitive. He has not been seen in Toronto since 
 10 o'clock this morning, when Long, his former Chicago friend, 
 left him under the surveillance of 'an amateur detective, paid for 
 the purpose. Cronin then was in a state bordering on terror, and 
 begged frequently that detectives should not be put upon his 
 track, and offered to give any additional particulars he knew about 
 affairs generally. Dispatches from Chicago newspapers had given 
 the story of suspicion against Cronin in respect to the truuk mys- 
 tery. When asked about this mystery he denied that he knew 
 anything. This morning, when the news contained in Chicago 
 dispatches was communicated to him, he stuck to that statement, 
 though once or twice threatened with exposure and the allegation 
 that detectives were waiting in the vestibule of the hotel and had 
 a warrant for his arrest on the charge of malpractice. He was 
 next asked if there was any truth in the other story about his 
 going to London to communicate with the British Government. 
 His manner and evasive replies tended to create this impression 
 rather than that he made his escape from Chicago over the trunk 
 mystery. He said he intended in a day or two to return to Mon- 
 treal, where he had been to get one of the Canada-French line 
 boats to Paris. Then he said he might go to England. 
 
 Cronin promised he did not intend to leave Toronto for a few 
 days. He was not registered at the hotel, and the scores of 
 reporters who called were informed that he was not staying there, 
 and had not been there. This was arranged by Cronin's occupying 
 a room engaged by another party, so the hotel clerk had no idea 
 that the man was in the house. The information contained in the 
 interview was no doubt intended by Cronin to mislead, and the 
 interviewer was well aware of the fact at the time. He got his 
 ama'teur 'detective at the end of the corridor and told him to keep 
 his eyes open, and when Cronin was left alone in his apartment to 
 see that he did not leave it. Some few minutes after, Cronin made 
 a dash from his room and went toward the stairs. He had evi- 
 dently seen the man who was watching him, and his action must 
 have been taken after a great deal of deliberation. When the 
 detective saw him on the stairs he walked to the staircase leading 
 to the ladies' entrance to intercept Cronin there. Cronin, how- 
 ever, had only gone half w^y down the staircase. Then he re-
 
 122 THE CRIME -OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 turned and took the elevator, descending to the ladies' entrance, 
 where the detective, not finding him, thought he had been fooled, 
 and again returned to the head of the stairs. Cronin had disap- 
 peared. At 1 1 o'clock a second detective was at the hotel to renew 
 the watch over Cronin. 
 
 There is no trace whatever of Cronin since 11 o'clock. The 
 people at the Rossin House knew nothing about Cronin getting 
 out. The theory is that Cronin, fearing arrest on the charge of 
 murder, has gone to Montreal again. The only trains leaving the 
 city to-day were the morning and evening express and the noon 
 train for Hamilton. Cronin was seen after the morning express 
 had left. The evening express was watched, and few people went 
 on the noon train, no one of them answering to Cronin's descrip- 
 tion. The livery stables did not hire out any rig that could have 
 carried the man a great distance out of the city. His disappear- 
 ance is a perfect mystery. Dispatches from St. Catherines to- 
 night say that Cronin is believed to be stopping there with friends. 
 It would be outside the range of possibility that he could have 
 reached there except by driving from Hamilton. Several dis- 
 patches have been received by Mr. Axworthy, of Cleveland, and 
 at the Rossin House, making inquiries after Cronin. 
 
 In this, as in the previous reports, the one 
 thing which it was endeavored to bring into 
 bold relief was the fact that the physician was 
 about to cross the Atlantic, and, while McGarry 
 was en route from Chicago, Chief of Police 
 Hubbard telegraphed to Chief Constable Gros- 
 sett, of Toronto, asking for definite information 
 regarding Cronin's alleged presence in that city. 
 Instead of conducting an independent investiga- 
 tion, the Canadian official went to Long, and 
 on the strength of the latter's statements, a 
 reply in the affirmative was wired back to 
 Chicago. Even this, however, was not accepted 
 as final, and Detectives Reed and Reybtirn
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTL KY. \2] 
 
 were wired to follow up the supposed clue. 
 Starkey was interviewed as to the truth of 
 Long's story. He replied that he had seen 
 Cronin, that the latter had been at his (Star- 
 key's) house, but that he had no knowledge of 
 his subsequent whereabouts. W. Axworthy, 
 an ex-Chicagoan, when telegraphed by W. P. 
 Rend to learn whether the physician had actu- 
 ally been there, went to Long, heard his 
 story, and answered, t4 Yes." A ''prominent rail- 
 road official " was next quoted as having recog- 
 nized the physician, and on the morning subse- 
 quent to his alleged disappearance from Toronto, 
 the Chief of Police of St. Catherines, Ontario, 
 positively recognized him in Sherwood, New 
 York! But with the arrival of McGarry the 
 falsity of one and all of these stories "became 
 apparent, and the infamous prostitution of the 
 liberty and license of a journalist, of which Long 
 had been guilty, was fully demonstrated. It 
 took the young Irishman but a few hours of 
 investigation to convince himself of the fact that 
 the missing physician had not been seen in 
 Toronto since the day of his disappearance. 
 The same conclusion was arrived at by Detec- 
 tive Dennis Simmons, of Chicago, who had 
 been despatched to the scene by Chief Hub- 
 bard, and had, unknown to McGarry, conducted 
 an independent investigation. Simmons wired
 
 124 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 his superior briefly and to the point: "No 
 truth in it, Cronin has not been here, ;> while 
 the same wires carried this message from Mo 
 Garry to Frank J. Scanlan : 
 
 " Proprietor and clerk on duty do not recognise Cronin's picture 
 as stopping at Rossin House last week. Name not registered at 
 all. No signature resembles Cronin's. Sure interview did not 
 take place with their knowledge." 
 
 And, to make the repudiation th more com- 
 plete, Chief Constable Grossett, who, earlier in 
 the week,, had endorsed the statements of Long 
 in hap-hazard fashion, retracted his statements 
 in a letter to the Chicago authorities, in which he 
 said : 
 
 " I have caused particular and exhaustive inquiry to be made 
 into the statements that have appeared in the Empire newspaper 
 of this city, and have caused the party who gave the information 
 which was telegraphed you to be questioned closely on the subject. 
 It would now appear that the identification of Dr. Cronin by the 
 party who stated he saw him in Toronto last Saturday was by no 
 means complete; in fact, I think there are the best of reasons for 
 supposing it to have been a case of mistaken identity. It is quite 
 true that the party here thought he met Cronin in the street, stopped 
 him, and afterward saw the man leave the city by train with a 
 woman. So far as I can learn this is the foundation for the sensa- 
 tional reports that have been transmitted from here and published 
 in your papers. I regret that in sending you my telegram on 
 Monday last more care was not taken to verify the correctness of 
 my informant's statements." 
 
 A BIG REWARD OFFERED. 
 
 Public interest in the mystery was renewed by 
 these developments. The theory of foul play was 
 again revived, and this time it found numerous
 
 THE CHIME OK THE CENTt KY. 125 
 
 supporters, where incredulity had previously ex- 
 isted. Again the friends of the physician were 
 equal to the situation. Another conference was 
 held and it was decided to persevere in the search 
 until the mystery had been solved. Funds to any 
 extent were pledged on the spot. " We will find 
 our friend, if alive ; we will avenge him, if dead " 
 was the key note. That night the following ad- 
 dress was flashed over the electric wires to every 
 quarter of the continent. 
 
 To THE PUBLIC: On the night of May 4, 1889, Dr. P. H. Cronin, 
 a prominent and respectable physician of this city, was decoyed 
 from his home to attend an alleged case' of injury to an employe of 
 an ice dealer in the town of Lake View. Since that time no trace 
 of him has been found, and it is believed that he was made the 
 victim of foul play, and that he is murdered. 
 
 On behalf of his friends and fellow-citizens, who think that his 
 disappearance is due to a conspiracy, I hereby offer a reward of 
 $5,000 for any information that may lead to the arrest and convic- 
 tion of any of the principals in, accessories to, or instigators of 
 this crime. 
 
 A studied attempt seems to have been made, by* false dis- 
 patches, and other agencies in the public press, to create the 
 impression that he is still alive, and that his disappearance is vol- 
 untary. 
 
 I am also authorized to offer a further reward of $2,000 for any 
 satisfactory evidence that will prove that he is not dead, and that 
 would lead to the discovery of his whereabouts. 
 
 The public is asked to discredit any and all charges, reports, 
 or insinuations reflecting in any manner upon his professional or 
 personal character. He was a man of temperate habits and lived 
 a pure and unblemished life. 
 
 The above rewards are offered by his friends and fellow-citi- 
 zens with the full conviction that a terrible crime has been com- 
 mitted, and with the view that law and order may be vindicated. 
 
 JAMES F. BOLAND, 
 Chairman of Com. from Societies and Friends.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOPING AGAINST HOPE THE STENCH IN THE 
 
 SEWER "MURDER WILL OUT" A GHASTLY 
 
 DISCOVERY WHERE THE BODY WAS FOUND 
 
 THE RECOGNITION BY CAPTAIN WING 
 
 ITS HORRIBLE APPEARANCE EVIDENCES OF 
 
 A FOUL CRIME THE CORPSE AT THE 
 
 MORGUE PITIABLE SCENES OF GRIEF THE 
 
 OFFICIAL AUTOPSY THE BRUTAL WAY IN 
 
 WHICH THE PHYSICIAN HAD BEEN DONE TO 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 It is always the unexpected that happens. 
 
 Even the closest friends of the missing man, 
 earnest "as they apparently were in the declara- 
 tion of their belief that he had been the victim 
 of foul play, still hoped against hope that their 
 fears would not be realized. As a drowning 
 man clings to a straw, so they clung to the 
 hope that they would again see him alive and 
 in the flesh. 
 
 But it was not to be. 
 
 Dr. Cronin did not leave Chicago on the 
 night of his disappearance.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 He was not seen on a street car apparently 
 en route to the depot. 
 
 He was not recognized on Canadian soil; nor 
 did he unbosom himself to reporter Long. 
 
 He was not en route to London to betray 
 the cause to which he had devoted so large a 
 portion of his active life; or to re-enforce the 
 spy Le Caron in his work of infamy. 
 Dr. Cronin was murdered. 
 
 While these re- 
 ports and rumors 
 .were confounding 
 his friends and 
 making his ene- 
 mies exultant; his 
 body, hacked and 
 marred and bat- 
 tered, was rapidly 
 decomposing in 
 one of the sewer 
 catch-basins in 
 the town of Lake 
 
 THE OATOfl-BASIN SOUTH VIEW. 
 
 View. 
 
 WHERE THE BODY WAS FOUND. 
 
 Ten days after the physician's disappearance 
 the board of public works of Lake View re- 
 ceived a complaint that the sewer at the 
 corner of Evanston Avenue and North Fifty-
 
 128 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Ninth vStreet was apparently choked up, and 
 that the foul air in the neighborhood was be- 
 ginning to be a nuisance. No immediate 
 action was taken. Another complaint came in, 
 and another, and very soon they were counted 
 by the score. 
 
 Finally, realizing that the complaints de- 
 manded attention, Otto Failmerzger, chief 
 clerk of the department, hung on the hook an 
 order to the foreman of the gang charged 
 with the care of gutters and sewers, to re- 
 move the supposed obstruction in the sewer 
 without delay. On the following morning 
 Tuesday, May 22nd the foreman in question, 
 Nicholas Rosch, accompanied by two of his 
 assistants, John Finegan and William Michaels, 
 went to the locality indicated. They found 
 that the ditch on the east side of Evanston 
 Avenue was partially filled with water, which 
 was constantly creeping from a damaged fire- 
 plug. The fall of water here was to the north. 
 About twenty feet north of the fire plug was a 
 catch-basin into which the water from the 
 ditch was supposed to flow, just as it flows 
 into them in sections of the city that are 
 paved. At this point, however, the sand had 
 rolled down from the roadway into the open 
 ditch, damming up the water so that it could 
 not escape into the basin. One glance at the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 129 
 
 ditch convinced Foreman Rosch that this was 
 the source of the trouble, and procuring their 
 shovels, the three men went to ^work with a 
 will to throw out the moist sand. It was a 
 slow and laborious job, and it was well on 
 towards four o'clock when they reached the 
 immediate vicinity of the catch-basin. The 
 latter, as will be seen in the illustration, was 
 
 circular in form, 
 built of brick, and 
 with a heavy wood- 
 en top on a level 
 with the street. 
 About two feet be- 
 jlow the top was an 
 opening in the side 
 the brick wall to 
 southwest. In 
 a barred iron 
 grating was set, 
 through which the 
 water from the 
 ditch was supposed to flow. With the exception 
 of this side, which was open to the bottom of the 
 grating, the circular brick basin was surrounded 
 by dirt almost to the street level. The locality 
 was precisely one mile north of the spot where 
 the bloody trunk had been found, the same 
 roadway leading directly to the catch-basin and 
 
 THE CATCH-BASIN, SHOWING FIRE-PLUQ 
 AND DITCH.
 
 130 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 almost directly to the neighborhood of O 'Sulli- 
 van's ice-house whither Dr. Cronin had been sum- 
 moned by the % mysterious messenger. 
 
 "MURDER WILL OUT." 
 
 The laborers wondered, as they shoveled the 
 sand out of the ditch, what it was that 
 caused the terrible stench that pervaded the 
 atmosphere. It was indescribably strong and. 
 noisome, and more than once they were almost 
 compelled to cease their work. Yet, although 
 they searched around and examined the ground 
 for a square block, they could find nothing to 
 which it could be attributed. At last the ditch 
 was cleaned out, and the foreman concluded to 
 take a look into the catch-basin before quitting 
 for the night. Accordingly, getting down on 
 his hands and knees, he peered through the 
 iron grating. In the darkness he could discern 
 something white apparently floating in the 
 water. 
 
 " There's a dog in here " he called out " and 
 that's what has been making this stench." 
 
 " That's strange " replied Finegan, coming up 
 " how the deuce could a dog get in there?" 
 
 Finegan pressed his face close to the bars 
 for a moment. 
 
 " Great heavens," he ejaculated, " it's a 
 corpse! "
 
 i ! HM r .'X: 
 
 yHfS' 
 
 "* i i ypp ; wtssHliHs 
 
 ' ''^miMs-i 
 
 .^Jl?' ; 'W^n^ 41 \ ^\ V, *VW( W/ '' 
 
 '!Oiw^lik $Wt 
 
 v#--{g^|f;W*^ i l ( f |
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 To tear off a portion of the heavy plank top 
 of the basin was to the three strong men but 
 the work of a moment. The foul air and stench 
 that escaped caused their heads to swim and 
 their faces to turn pale; but, quivering with 
 excitement, they- bent over the edge and peered 
 down into its depths. What they saw filled 
 them with horror. The basin contained the nude 
 body of a man. A large quantity of cotton 
 
 batting had been 
 thrown over the 
 corpse partly con- 
 cealing it. A towel 
 was tightly tied a- 
 round the neck. The 
 head was bent for- 
 ward upon -the 
 breast and was en- 
 tirely submerged. 
 
 The feet and legs 
 were deep into the 
 four feet of water. 
 
 The body was floating, the back and hips 
 alone being above the surface. The three 
 men looked . at each other. Strange to say, 
 not one oi them thought of connecting the ghast- 
 ly discovery with the missing doctor. It was 
 tvide. t that it would be no easy matter to 
 bring the body to the top of the basin, and
 
 THE CRIME OF Til 12 CKNTUKY. 133 
 
 * 
 
 Rosch, hurrying to the grocery store of C. H. 
 Noyes, a little distance away, sent a telephone 
 message to the police headquarters of Lake View. 
 In a little while the patrol wagon, with Captain 
 Wing and Officers Phillips and Malia, was on the 
 scene. At first sight it seemed as though it would 
 be impossible to bring the corpse to the top of the 
 basin without being compelled to mutilate it, but 
 finally one of the party suggested that a horse 
 blanket might be passed under the stomach and 
 the remains thus drawn up. This suggestion 
 proved practicable, and the blanket, having been 
 pushed under the body with the aid of the handle 
 of a hoe, the men took the two ends and com- 
 menced to lift it to the surface, Owing to the 
 stiff and bent condition of the body, however, it 
 was found necessary at this point to remove the 
 the entire top of the basin. A knot was then tied 
 in the blanket, during which operation the arms, 
 released from their pressure, flew apart, and with 
 a little more exertion the ghastly load was entirely 
 removed from its prison ,of brick and laid upon 
 the ground. As this was being done the face, 
 bloated and discolored, turned up toward the men. 
 "My God," exclaimed Captain Wing, "it is Dr. 
 Cronin." 
 
 THE BODY AT THE MORGUE. 
 
 The little group 'stood dumbfounded as the 
 ejaculation burst from the officer's lips, and, for the
 
 134 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 first time, they realized the terrible significance of 
 their discovery. Quickly arousing themselves to 
 action, however, they gently laid the body upon 
 the stretcher and lifted it into the wagon. Little 
 time was lost in making the return trip to the 
 police station. Here the body was conveyed to 
 the basement, which served the purpose of a 
 morgue, and placed upon a low table. A cursory 
 examination developed the fact that the cotton 
 batting, as well as the towel around the neck, 
 were heavily saturated with blood. Upon remov- 
 ing the towel, which had been tied in a knot, there 
 was disclosed to view an 
 
 "AGNUS DEI," 
 
 or scapular, a 'heart-shaped religious emblem 
 very generally worn by adherents of the Roman 
 Catholic faith as a safeguard against injury. 
 Attached to a ribbon around the neck, it rested 
 just below the collar bone. It was the only thing 
 that the physician had worn in life that had been 
 left to him in death, and, brutal and bloodthirsty as 
 had been the assassins in the perpetration of their 
 dastardly crime, they had evidently even after 
 stripping the corpse of their victim of every shred 
 of clothing, in the hope that all means of identifi- 
 cation would thus be destroyed stood appalled 
 at the idea of molesting the holy emblem of the 
 church with their bloody hands. Even in that
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 135 
 
 terrible moment, and in the presence of the naked 
 and reeking corpse of the man they had lured to 
 destruction, the "Agnus Dei," resting mute upon 
 his breast, had possessed an influence that com- 
 pelled them to pause. Thus far they had gone, 
 but they could go no farther. It had spoken to 
 their affrighted souls in trumpet tones: "Touch 
 me not." 
 
 THE COBPSE WITH " AGNUS DEI " ON BEKAST. 
 
 Considering the fact that the body had in 
 all probability, been in the place where it was 
 found for nearly three weeks, it was not by 
 any means in the condition that would have 
 been expected under the circumstances. It had 
 swollen, however, to about one-third of the 
 natural size. As it appeared under the gas 
 light it was that of a stout, well-nourished man 
 of about forty-five years of age. The skin was 
 white, although the body and chest was consid-
 
 136 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 erably bloated. The feet, which had been the 
 most exposed, were hardly cracked. The hair 
 had peeled from the skin both of face and body. 
 One side of the mustache, with the skin 
 attached, was turned over onto the lip. Only 
 a few straggling hairs were left on the other 
 side, but, just under the lower lip, a small but 
 well-defined goatee of dark bristling hairs was 
 apparent. The forehead was bald, while the 
 thick dark hair lay in matted clots on the back 
 of the head. The chin the towel not having 
 been replaced was sunk well into the neck. 
 The mouth was tightly closed, and for a time 
 resisted all efforts to force it open. About the 
 ears and hands the skin hung in shreds, and 
 the eyelids had swollen to such an extent that 
 they had forced each other partly open. But it 
 was the head that attracted the greatest atten- 
 tion, and brought exclamations of horror from 
 the few spectators. It was a mass of wounds. 
 In the forehead at the roots of the hair there 
 were three horrible cuts, each over an inch in 
 length, and attended with a slight discoloration 
 that indicated decay. These had evidently been 
 made with a sharp instrument. Over the right 
 eye there was a wound that looked as though it 
 might have been made with the cutting edge of a 
 blunt axe. Others on the back of the head were 
 evidently the work of a blunter instrument, but
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 137 
 
 the worst one of all, on the top of the head, sug- 
 gested the use of the back of a heavy axe. There 
 was no -need to look elsewhere for horrible expla- 
 nations of the cause of death. The head told its 
 own story. The unfortunate physician had been 
 hacked to death with a brutality beyond con- 
 ception. 
 
 FRIENDS IDENTIFY THE REMAINS. 
 
 With amazing rapidity the news had spread 
 throughout the suburb, and by this time the 
 station was besieged by an excited crowd, while 
 hundreds of voices clamored loudly but vainly 
 for admission. Down in the city, too, where the 
 information had been telephoned as soon as the- 
 remains had reached the morgue, the excitement 
 was equally intense. It was just at the hour 
 when the mercantile establishments, business 
 houses, and manufactories, were emptying their 
 army of toilers at the conclusion of the work 
 of the day, and the bulletins that were displayed 
 at the newspaper offices and a score of other 
 places in the most frequented thoroughfares, 
 were surrounded by thousands of people, who 
 read and commented upon the startling informa- 
 tion that was thus conveyed. Many gave vent 
 to shouts of horror, others loudly breathed im- 
 precations upon the murderers. Extra editions 
 of the evening papers, giving the facts so far as
 
 138 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 known up to the hour of publication, were suc- 
 cessively issued, and added to the popular 
 excitement. Before midnight the fact that the 
 body of the missing physician had been discov- 
 ered under such revolting circumstances was 
 known under almost every roof in the great 
 western metropolis, and was being discussed by 
 Irishmen in scores of towns throughout the coun- 
 try, to which it had been flashed over the elec- 
 tric wires. 
 
 Among the earlier arrivals at the morgue were 
 several citizens of Lake View, who had known 
 the physician when in the flesh, and with one or 
 two exceptions, their identification of the remains 
 was instantaneous and complete* They were 
 soon joined by John F. Scanlan, Mortimer Scan- 
 Ian, Pat McGarry, James Boland, and John E. 
 Scanlan, all intimate friends of Dr. Cronin and 
 members of the committee which had the case in 
 charge. They made a careful examination of the 
 remains and pointed out the resemblances. The 
 Doctor had large hands, as had the corpse ; he 
 was a hairy man, and there was lots of loose body 
 hair on the corpse. The water had rotted this 
 off, but it lay in masses and tufts on the body. 
 The height of the man and his build agreed with 
 that of the physician. Next to this they relied 
 upon the "Agnus Dei." Cronin had worn one of 
 these reliquaries, and had never taken it off even
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 139 
 
 while bathing. Then some one remembered that 
 the Doctor had an extravasion of blood under the 
 finger nail of the right thumb ; and this, too, was 
 found upon the corpse. A mark upon the side 
 was also declared to be identical with one upon 
 the body. Cronin had a superfluity of hair about 
 the wrists, and this point of resemblance was 
 found on the corpse. There was also a peculi- 
 arity of the second finger of the right hand, 
 which might be described as a base-ball finger, 
 with which Dr. Cronin had been afflicted. This 
 malformation was apparent on the same hand of 
 the dead man. But the most convincing and con- 
 clusive identification of all was that of Dr. T. W. 
 Lewis, a dental surgeon, who had done consider- 
 able work for the Doctor. Upon his arrival at 
 the morgue, John F. Scanlan pried open the mouth 
 of the corpse with a pencil, and Dr. Lewis imme- 
 diately recognized his handiwork in the gold fill- 
 ing of some of the upper teeth. It was a re- 
 markable fact, moreover, that in a lower jaw 
 plate that he had made for the physician he had 
 placed several teeth peculiar to themselves, and 
 known to the profession as u crown sunk." He 
 had done this something in the line of an experi- 
 ment. This identical plate was taken from the 
 mouth of- the dead man, while, to make the proof 
 still more positive, the cast of Dr. Cronin's 
 mouth, taken for the purpose of making the
 
 140 
 
 THE CU1MI-: OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 place, was found to fit the mouth of the corpse 
 to a fraction. 
 
 SCANLAN AND OONKLIN IDENTIFYING THE BODY. 
 
 After Dr. Lewis came 'Cronin's tailor, Joseph 
 J. O'Keefe, and who, upon making tests, found 
 that the measurements of those portions of the 
 body that had not perceptibly increased in size 
 were identical with the figures in the order book 
 kept by his cutter. John Buck, the barber who 
 had counted Dr. Cronin among his customers 
 for over a year, recognized the shape of the head 
 and the texture of the hair ; and immediately 
 after, Dr. John R. Brandt, President of the 
 staff of the Cook County Hospital, and who 
 had been comparing the dead man's -hair with 
 the lock of hair found in the trunk three weeks 
 before, declared that they had come from
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 14! 
 
 the same head. In this he was corroborated 
 by Dr. Ruthford. T. T. Conklin arrived at the 
 station at 8 o'clock. He was taken down-stairs 
 and looked long and earnestly at the bloated 
 corpse. " It is the body of Dr. Cronin," said 
 Conklin, his eyes filling with tears. " I have 
 known him for twenty years and cannot be mis- 
 taken. I have been in swimming with him and 
 know him better than any man living. There 
 is no chance for a mistake. I don't like to say 
 ' I told you so,' but this substantiates what I 
 have said from the start. Dr. Cronin was mur- 
 dered, and if the police had done their duty, 
 instead of believing the lies invented by Dr. 
 Cronin's enemies, the murderers would have 
 been captured before this time." 
 
 And so for hours the friends of the murdered 
 man came in singly, and in twos and threes, and 
 added their testimony to what had already been 
 given. Many of them were profoundly affected, 
 and there were many pitiable scenes of grief as one 
 man after another turned away from the bloated 
 corpse that was all that remained of the man 
 with whom they had been so closely associated 
 for years. Captain Wing, when interrogated, 
 said that the place where the body was found 
 was a particularly lonely one, the nearest house 
 being over a block away. A hundred yards 
 to the east was the depot of the Chicago &
 
 142 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 v 
 
 Evanston railroad. The spot was a little over 
 three-quarters of a mile beyond the point where 
 the trunk was found on the morning after the 
 physician's disappearance, and four miles north of 
 Fullerton avenue. It was surrounded with 
 swampy land, the few trees growing to the north 
 serving to shut off the view from the residences 
 that were located in the neighborhood. 
 
 All this time the excitement outside was at 
 fever heat. For hours the streets in the neigh- 
 borhood were crowded with vehicles, and thous- 
 ands of people blocked the approaches to the 
 morgue until the police were compelled to use 
 their clubs again and again. The station was 
 filled with Chicago officers, who consulted with 
 those of the suburb upon the best method to be 
 adopted with the view of running down the assas- 
 sins. The tumult continued until midnight, and 
 then the morgue was cleared in order that a more 
 careful examination of the head might be made 
 by Dr. Gray. It was first placed in an upright 
 position and photographed, and when he had fin- 
 ished his examination, Dr. Gray said: 
 
 " There are five wounds. No. i is on the 
 front parietal suture, just here," and he took a 
 skull which he had brought with him and used 
 it in the demonstration. " That could easily 
 have been fatal in itself. No. 2 is on the vertex, 
 to the right of the sagittal suture," and he
 
 THE CRIME OF THIS CENTURY. 
 
 touched a point on the skull before him squarely 
 on the- top, but a little forward of the crown. 
 " The skull is not strong there, and a heavy 
 blow would be fatal. The third wound is one- 
 half inch posterior to No. 2 just here," and he 
 
 THE SKULL SHOWING LOCATION OF WOUNDS THAT CAUSED DEATH. 
 
 again illustrated by laying his finger almost on 
 the crown of his object lesson. " The fourth is 
 on the left temple, and is only one inch long. 
 The rest are about an inch and a half in length. 
 The fifth is a crushing wound, immediately be- 
 low the external angle of the left eye. This 
 one fractured the cheek bone, and must have 
 been delivered with great force." 
 
 " The absence of wounds on the hands," said 
 Walter V. Hayt, a city health inspector ? 
 " would indicate that the first blow, whichever 
 one of these five it was, was delivered unawares;
 
 144 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 otherwise there would have been a struggle 
 which would have left its mark on the hands 
 or arms, either in striking or warding off blows 
 "He must have been surprised and stunned at 
 the first blow." 
 
 Dr. Brandt, who also assisted in the exami- 
 nation of the wounds, said the blows must have 
 been made by some sharp instrument, perhaps 
 an ice-pick. He said if the instrument had not 
 been sharp the skull would have been fractured, 
 whereas it was only indented, or marked by the 
 blows. 
 
 To many of the dead man's friends it seemed 
 remarkable that the body had not sooner been 
 discovered, more especially as the Lake View 
 police had started out to search the catch basin 
 on the day after the trunk was found, and con- 
 tinued at the work for nearly a week. This 
 was satisfactorily explained, however, by Alder- 
 man Maxwell, of the city council, who was 
 one of the searching committee. It appeared 
 that there were four catch basins at the inter- 
 section of Evanston avenue and Fifty-Ninth 
 street, the body being discovered in the one 
 on the south-east corner. The committee, aided 
 by fifteen police officers and six volunteers, had 
 commenced their operations at Evanston avenue 
 and Sulzer street, where the trunk was found, 
 and went east and west from that corner. From
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 145 
 
 here the} 7 had gone through the basins north 
 and south along Evanston avenue, but no clues 
 being discovered, they arrived at the conclusion 
 that the trunk had been left for a blind, and 
 that, in all probability, the body had been hid- 
 den some distance away. They had conse- 
 quently gone to Graceland and looked through 
 the basins up and down the avenue and on the 
 cross streets for a distance of several miles. 
 This occupied an entire week, until, tired and 
 disgusted, they had stopped, by sheer bad luck, 
 two blocks north of Fifty-Ninth street. Hence 
 it was that the catch-basin in which the bod} 7 
 had been hidden was missed. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE AUTOPSY. 
 
 All that night the body rested on the little 
 table in the morgue, with an automatic sprink- 
 ler pouring water upon the face and breast. 
 Decomposition advanced with such terrible swift- 
 ness, however, that by morning it was apparent 
 that unless -the process of embalming was resort- 
 ed to without delay it would soon be unrecogniz- 
 able. One of the earliest arrivals was John T. 
 Cronin, of Bradford, Kansas, the only brother of 
 the dead man. He wept bitterly, and sobbed and 
 moaned when taken into the morgue, and at 
 once recognized the corpse, not only from its 
 facial characteristics, but also from a malforma-
 
 146 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 tion of a portion of the body that the physician 
 had kept secret from even his most intimate 
 friends. He was with difficulty persuaded to 
 leave the bier, and, prostrated with grief, was half 
 carried from the room. The county authorities 
 now took charge of the case. From the police 
 department the following proclamation, over the 
 signature of Chief Hubbard, went to every station 
 in the city and was read to the men at the morn- 
 ing muster: 
 
 "To CAPTAINS: In view of the fact that the 
 mutilated body of Dr. Cronin has been found 
 in a catch-basin in the town of Lake View, and 
 that much public comment will be aroused, you 
 will instruct your officers to note the nature of 
 any such comment that they may overhear, and 
 follow up all clues which may be thus obtained. 
 The order is sent out merely because some person 
 having some criminal knowledge of how Dr. Cronin 
 met his death may be indiscreet enough to make 
 some statement when excited that would lead to 
 the solving of the mystery. In such a case we 
 want our officers to be on the alert and ready 
 to take advantage of any such admission." 
 
 Following this action, the county coroner, H. 
 L. Hertz, decided to proceed with the official 
 autopsy without delay. A jury was first em- 
 panelled, and, a view of the body having been 
 taken, and an adjournment for several days de-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 147 
 
 cided upon, the physicians commenced the post- 
 mortem examination. It was conducted with 
 great care and deliberation and occupied over 
 five hours. Drs. James F. Todd and Egbert, re- 
 spectively county physician and assistant county 
 physician, were materially aided by Drs. Bell, 
 Porter, Miles, Kuhn and D. G. Moore, while 
 Deputy Coroner Barrett, Captain Wing and 
 Lieutenant Spengler watched the proceedings 
 as the representatives of the authorities. The 
 skull was cut open and the brains removed. 
 When the scalp had been taken off it was dis- 
 covered that the bones composing the skull had 
 scarcely been marked by the blows of the in- 
 struments. There were no signs of congestion 
 about the brain, but the lungs and pulmonary 
 cavity were filled with blood, a condition 
 which was explained by the fact that 
 the head had been placed head downward in 
 the catch-basin. A cut one-half inch deep was 
 found upon the head and numerous bruises on 
 the lower limbs. There were no signs of suffo- 
 cation or any bruises about the neck such as 
 would result from the choking of a man with a 
 towel or rope. The passage through the wind- 
 pipe was unobstructed. The surgeons were con- 
 siderably .puzzled by the fact that there was no 
 fracture of any of the skull bones or of the small 
 bones about the face, even the inner table of
 
 148 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 the skull being unfractured. In technical Ian 
 guage the injuries to the head included a deep 
 wound over the left temple four inches long, 
 through the scalp and into the skull, a cut one 
 and a half inches long over the left parietal 
 bone, this one also marking the skull, a cut one 
 and a half inches long over the frontal bone at 
 the junction of the left parietal; a cut three 
 inches long through the scalp marking the oc- 
 cipital bone, and two cuts each an inch long, to- 
 gether with a bruise, back of the forehead on the 
 right parietal bone. There was also a severe 
 contusion apparently made by a bludgeon on the 
 forehead, as well as a lineal incision on the neck 
 that had been made by some sharp instrument. 
 It was the opinion of the medical men conduct- 
 ing the autopsy that more than one instrument 
 must have been used to produce the apparent 
 wounds, and that their direction indicated that 
 they must have been inflicted from behind and 
 were struck downward from above. 
 
 After the autopsy had been completed the 
 friends of the deceased were permitted to take 
 charge of the remains, and they were removed 
 to an undertaker's establishment within a short 
 distance of his former residence. The process 
 of embalming was successfully carried, out, the 
 features being reasonably life-like, and their na- 
 tural character well preserved; and the body?
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 149 
 
 having been clothed in a suit of broadcloth, 
 was placed in the elegant casket that had been 
 prepared for it. This was of metal, overlaid 
 with French walnut, and heavily mounted in 
 gold, ornamented with silver flowers. Upon 
 each end of the surface filling the two spaces 
 beside the plate, were two large wreaths of gold 
 wheat, intertwined with roses and set off with 
 silver pansies. At close intervals around the 
 top of the casket were heavy gold knobs, and 
 along each side of it a continuous heavy rail of 
 silver was mounted in lieu of handles. The 
 ends of this were decked with heavy gold and 
 silver tassels, the whole effect being very rich. 
 On the massive and elaborately chased silver 
 plate, in the center, were the simple words in 
 English text: 
 
 PHILIP PATRICK HENRY CRONIN, 
 BORN: 
 
 August yth, 1846. 
 
 
 DIED: 
 
 May 4th, 1889. 
 
 A SISTER'S GRIEF. 
 
 The first stage of the journey to the tomb 
 was now commenced. Under escort of a num- 
 ber of friends the casket was taken to the Ar- 
 mory of the First Cavalry, on Michigan avenue.
 
 150 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Here it was placed upon a catafalque, which 
 had been erected in the center of the vast hall. 
 It had no more than been placed in position, 
 however, when a gray-bearded man, dressed in 
 a gray overcoat and low-crowned hat, stepped 
 to the front and demanded the opening of the 
 casket. 
 
 "Why? " asked the attendant. 
 
 " I am his brother-in-law, and his sister here 
 desires to see him. 1 ' He pointed, as he said this, 
 to a lady of above middle age, gray haired, 
 and wearing a black bonnet and sober, gray 
 shawl, who stood at his side. She was weeping 
 freely, and pressed a handkerchief to her face. 
 
 The casket was partially opened when a 
 number of the committee of arrangements ap- 
 peared and ordered the attendants to screw it 
 up again. 
 
 "Why should the casket be opened?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " This lady is a sister of the deceased and 
 desires to view the remains," replied the stranger. 
 
 "Well, I don't know you and don't know 
 whether you are his brother-in-law or not. 
 Where is Mr. Conklin?" 
 
 At this protest the attendants again commenced 
 to screw up the casket. 
 
 "I am John Carroll," said the stranger, with 
 dignity. " I came here to-day with my wife
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 151 
 
 from St. Catharines, Ont. I don't know Mr. 
 Conklin or anything about him. If I wanted to 
 insist, I could take charge of the remains and 
 conduct the funeral myself, but all I ask is to 
 let his sister see the body.'' 
 
 The committeeman relented at this, and by a 
 gesture indicated that the attendants might open 
 the coffin. When they had exposed the face, cov- 
 ered as it was by the glass, the sister stepped for- 
 ward, and gazing long and intently at the features 
 beneath, burst into a passion of tears. Bending her 
 gray head to the glass of the casket, she lifted her veil 
 and pressed her lips convulsively against the glass 
 again and again as she said: " Good-by, good-by, 
 asthoreP She turned away in a burst of passion- 
 ate weeping. Her husband could not control his 
 feelings as he silently gazed at the remains of the 
 brother they had loved, and he, too, burst into 
 tears. Mrs. Carroll was an elder sister of the de- 
 ceased, residing at St. Catherines, Ont., and 
 neither she nor her husband had seen him for 
 fourteen years, but her heart warmed to him as it 
 had in childhood when they played together in 
 the years gone by. 
 
 Between this occurrence and midnight, a per- 
 iod of nearly eight hours, many thousands of 
 people were admitted to the building. Four 
 Knights of St. Patrick, in plumed bonnets, long 
 gloves and drawn swords, guarded the casket, one
 
 152 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 being stationed at each corner of the catafalque. 
 The latter was imposing enough for the obsequies 
 of a monarch. At the four corners there were 
 standards supporting cross pieces above at a height 
 of fifteen feet, and which, together with the sup- 
 ports, were draped in black over-wound with 
 white. Above, depending horizontally from the 
 beams of .the great roof, were draped three im- 
 mense flags, their, centres reaching down to the 
 roof of black below. At the head of the casket 
 was a massive floral cross, nearly six feet in 
 height, and composed of marguerites, carnations, 
 cape jasmines, roses, and lilies-of-the-valley, all in 
 white. At the foot, upon a black-robed pedestal, 
 stood a four-foot candelabra of brass, bearing 
 seven lighted wax candles. Upon the top of the 
 coffin was a large bunch of white roses attached tc 
 a pair of palms by satin ribbons, while the side and 
 base of the bier were covered with smilax and palms 
 overstrewn with a profusion of loose roses. To 
 complete the effect the four corners of the cata- 
 falque were banked with pink hydrangeas, and 
 over all looked down, from a frame of crape, a 
 lifelike portrait of the murdered man. Only the 
 casket and catafalque were to be seen, the coffin 
 lid being closed until the formal lying in state on 
 the following morning, but all who came were 
 admitted, and hour after hour a steady stream of 
 people filed before the sentries, and when, at mid-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 153 
 
 night, the big doors were closed, it was estimated 
 that fully twelve thousand people had, by their 
 presence, by bowed heads and by tear-dimmed 
 eyes, paid a simple token of respect to the mem- 
 ory of the murdered man.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE CRIME CREATES AN INTERNATIONAL SEN- 
 SATION DISCOVERY OF THE LONELY COT- 
 TAGE WHERE THE IRISH NATIONALIST MET 
 
 HIS DEATH EVIDENCES OF A TERRIBLE 
 
 STRUGGLE THE TELLTALE BLOOD STAINS 
 
 AND BROKEN FURNITURE THE MYSTERIOUS 
 
 TENANTS AND THEIR MOVEMENTS THE 
 
 FURNITURE BOUGHT AND CARTED TO THE 
 ASSASSINS' DEN WHAT MILKMAN MERTES 
 
 SAW THE PLOT AS OUTLINED BY THE 
 
 SURROUNDINGS ICEMAN o'SULLIVAN UNDER 
 
 SURVEILLANCE. 
 
 The discovery of the body of the missing 
 physician under such appalling' circumstances, 
 and with the surrounding evidences that a 
 crime of the foulest character had been com- 
 mitted, created a most profound sensation, not 
 only among all classes and nationalities in cos- 
 mopolitan Chicago, but also in Irish-American 
 circles throughout the United States, and 
 among the countrymen of the murdered man 
 across the Atlantic. Telegrams and letters, 
 breathing indignation and horror, and urging 
 
 154
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 155 
 
 that no stone be left unturned to the end that 
 the assassins might be run to earth and brought 
 to justice, poured in on the dead man's friends 
 from the four quarters of the continent, as well 
 as from abroad. The scoffers those who all 
 along had scouted the theory of foul play, and 
 had voiced the stories so artfully concocted by 
 the plotters that the physician had left Chi- 
 cago of his own free will, and with objects and 
 motives that would, sooner or later, be revealed 
 were, in a figurative sense, deprived of the 
 power of speech. In the presence of the hacked 
 and decomposing body of the man they had 
 maligned they had not a word to say. 
 
 THE LONELY SCENE OF THE MURDER. 
 
 Startling developments were destined from 
 this time on to follow each other in rapid suc- 
 cession. Less than twenty-four hours after all 
 that was mortal of Dr. Cronin had been taken 
 from the Lake View man-hole, the place where 
 his life's blood had been shed was discovered, 
 and the officers of the law were in possession of 
 important clues which promised to lead to the 
 capture of the murderers. 
 
 It was a lonely place that the assassins of the Irish 
 Nationalist had chosen toperformtheirbloody work. 
 
 Patrick O'Sullivan, rhe ice man, resided in a 
 comfortable house on the corner of Bosworth
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 and Roscoe Streets, in Lake View, less than two 
 miles from the man-hole that had been converted 
 by the murderers into a temporary tomb. Ample 
 grounds surrounded the residence, while barns, 
 sheds and out-houses filled up most of the ground 
 in the rear. The corner lot back of these struc- 
 tures was vacant, but immediately next, facing 
 Ashland Avenue almost in a straight line with 
 O'Sullivan's house, and less than 150 feet away, 
 stood a vacant cottage. It was a one-story and 
 basement, with an unfinished attic, weather- 
 beaten and worn. The street entrance led up a 
 flight of wood stairs, while access to the rear 
 could only be obtained by another flight. The' 
 cottage stood fenced in in a narrow lot, crowded 
 into which, not fifty feet away, in the rear, was a 
 still smaller house. 
 
 This was occupied 
 
 [?OSwOrTr^ ^ f rpp f > 
 
 by an aged Swedish 
 couple, Jonas Carl- 
 son and his wife and 
 their son John, a 
 strapping, well-built 
 fellow of some twen- 
 ty-five years. His 
 parents owned the 
 _ property, and about 
 their only means of 
 
 ' 'livelihood was the 
 
 Tdf 
 
 (affair 
 
 Koscoe 
 
 Avenue 
 
 SCENE OF THE TIUGEDY,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 '57 
 
 rent derived from the larger cottage, when they 
 were fortunate enough to secure a tenant. Good 
 luck, however, had failed to attend them. Early 
 in the year, the man, who, with his family, had 
 occupied it for some time, was convicted of em- 
 bezzlement and sent to the penitentiary, and his 
 wife and children, lacking the wherewithal to pay 
 the rent, were forced to vacate. At the best, it 
 was not a particularly desirable locality, for, bar- 
 ring O'Sullivan's house, the two buildings stood 
 alone in an area as large as a city square, while 
 the prairie, dotted here and there with one-story 
 cottages, stretched far aw r ay in every direction. 
 
 THE ASSASSIN'S DEN, WITH THE CABLSON COTTAGE IN THE BEAR.
 
 158 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 This was the lonely spot, and this the vacant 
 house that the assassins chose for their den, 
 and within these walls Dr. Cronin came to his 
 death. 
 
 On the day following the finding of the bod} 
 State's Attorney Longenecker, Captain Schuettlei 
 of the City Police, and Captain Wing of the Lake 
 View Police, met in consultation. It was de- 
 cided to send for O'Sullivan, the ice-man. 
 While no direct suspicions were at that time 
 entertained that he was concerned in the trag- 
 edy, there was an indefinable feeling that he 
 knew something or other that might prove of 
 importance in relation to the affair. O'Sullivan 
 promptly responded to the summons. Pressed 
 by the State's Attorney to tell them anything 
 he might know, O'Sullivan said that he believed 
 there had been something mysterious going on 
 in the Carlson cottage. Two suspicious look- 
 ing men, he went on to say, had appeared in 
 the neighborhood about March and rented the 
 place, paying a month's rent. Since that time 
 they had occupied it very little, if at all. To 
 the landlord they had pretended that they were 
 going to work for him (O'Sullivan), but this 
 was not true, for he knew nothing about them, 
 and certainly had never hired them. The mat- 
 ter looked suspicious, he thought, and ought to 
 be investigated, especially as it was possible
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 159 
 
 that these were the men who had used his 
 name to Dr. Cronin. Beyond this he knew 
 absolutely nothing. 
 
 "BLOOD, BLOOD, EVERYWHERE ! " 
 
 To the ordinary listener O'Sullivan's story 
 would have seemed of little or no importance. 
 Not so, however, with Schuettler and Wing. 
 These experienced officials, who knew of old 
 that important results often follow in the wake 
 of the most unpromising trail, saw in it a pos- 
 sible clue. Together they drove with all haste 
 to the Carlson cottage. It was broad daylight, 
 and even before they had alighted from their 
 buggy, they saw enough to convince them that 
 they were on the right track at last. There 
 were big blood stains on the boards, that crossed 
 the ditch in front of the gate. There were 
 larger ones on the sidewalk in front of the 
 house ; and they led, in two dark-red parallel 
 streams right up the wooden steps to the front 
 door. It was the work of a couple of seconds 
 to force the lock. The usually cool, imperturb- 
 able officials were too excited to go after keys, 
 while, moreover, it was desirable that what was 
 to be done should be done quietly. The lock 
 gave way to the pressure with a crash, and the
 
 i6o 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 two men en- 
 tered. Spots of 
 blood again con- 
 fronted them on 
 the floor of the 
 hall. An attempt 
 had been made to 
 cover some of 
 them up with a 
 coat of yellow 
 paint. The indi- x 
 vidual who per- 
 formed this task 
 had divested him- 
 self of his boots 
 and hose, for the 
 print of a naked foot stood out clear and dis- 
 tinct in a splotch of the red paint. 
 
 A couple of steps and the captains were in the 
 parlor, and then for the first time they realized 
 the full and terrible import of their discovery. 
 There were abundant evidences that a fright- 
 ful struggle for life had taken place within the 
 four walls, and that it was here that the unfor- 
 tunate physician had met his doom. It was a 
 small room, only 16 by 20 feet, with three 
 windows, two facing west on Ashland Avenue 
 and a third looking out south on a vacant lot. 
 Near the southwest corner was a bloody stain nearly 
 
 A FOOTPRINT IN THE HALL.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 161 
 
 appeared in the hallway 
 but in such a bungling 
 no doubt that it had been 
 haste. The stains of blood 
 
 a foot in diameter 
 and about four feet 
 away from the wall. 
 Almost in the cen- 
 f- er o f t ne room W as 
 
 another blood-stain 
 almost as large. It 
 looked as though a 
 body had been roll- 
 
 ed from one place 
 
 * A 
 
 to the other, the 
 changes of position 
 leaving a small pool 
 wherever the head 
 had rested. Over 
 these stains the 
 same r*e d d i s h 
 brown paint that 
 had been applied, 
 way as to leave 
 done with great 
 were not heavy, 
 
 and it was apparent that the life-fluid had soaked 
 through a carpet before reaching the wood. In 
 the northeast corner was a bedstead, in the north- 
 west a dressing-case, in the southeast a wash- 
 stand with a pitcher and bowl. In the center 
 of the room was a rocking-chair. The right arm 
 was broken off and lay on the floor, and the off}-
 
 1 62 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 cials came quickly to the conclusion that the 
 physician was sitting in this chair when he was 
 first attacked. 
 
 On the floor in other parts of the room were 
 a lamp and the oil can from which it had been 
 filled. But these articles attracted little atten- 
 tion for the moment. The attention of the 
 officials was riveted on the blood stains that 
 met their eyes in whatever direction they 
 looked. As Captain Wing remarked later in 
 the day, it was "blood, blood, everywhere." 
 The center of the floor was dotted with drops 
 about the size of a pea. There were half a 
 dozen stains on the front of the dressing case, 
 and some of it had congealed thickly on the 
 brass facing of the lock. This Captain Wing 
 plied off,* in order that an analysis might be 
 made. There were more spots on the key 
 plate of the washstand, and this also was forced 
 off. On the south wall was a score or more 
 of stains, large and small, to several of which 
 long black hairs were adhering, just as if the 
 blood that spurted out when the head was struck 
 with some blunt instrument had carried the hair 
 with it. The wall was white, and the mute 
 evidences of the awful crime stood out with 
 terrible distinctness. On the bedstead was a 
 mattress and a pair of uncovered pillows, but 
 this part of the room had escaped the strug-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 163 
 
 gles of the victim to save his life. The pamter 
 had left his mark on the inside blind or shutter 
 
 of the window looking 
 
 
 r * 
 
 ;y> 
 
 / / ^ 
 ',,'/'"' 
 
 " ^. 
 
 %> 
 
 htftf 
 
 for eleven ringer prints 
 were plainly visible. 
 
 ,n4 f< 
 
 / / 
 
 toJTtr Apparently the blind 
 prr>* had been closed in a 
 hurry while the paint 
 was still wet. 
 
 Passing through the 
 communicating door 
 x into the dining-room, 
 another spot of blood 
 appeared in the 
 Strange to say, no effort 
 cover this over. There 
 about the room to at- 
 
 middle of the floor. 
 had been made to 
 was nothing else aout e room 
 tract attention. The basement was next visited. 
 Here the pot of red paint and the paint brush 
 had been thrown down under the stairs. A 
 broom with a broken handle stood against the 
 wall, and a hurried inspection showed that it 
 also was stained with blood and particles of 
 wool. This had evidently been used to sweep 
 the carpets while yet wet with gore. The 
 paint pot bore the name of a well-known Chi- 
 cago firm. Returning up stairs, the officials 
 commenced a more minute inspection. On the
 
 164 THE CRIME OP THE CENTURY. 
 
 floor beside the bed they found a key, which 
 was subsequently tried in the lock of the bloody 
 trunk found on the previous day, and proved 
 to be the one wanted. A bill for curtains was 
 also brought to light. The dressing case and 
 wash stand were turned around, and the officials 
 were considerably elated at rinding them branded 
 with the letters "A. IT. R. & Co.," the trade 
 mark of Alexander H. Revell & Co., an exten- 
 sive local furniture house of national reputation. 
 This of itself was a valuable and as it subse- 
 quently turned out a vital clue. The kero- 
 sene lamp was found to be almost full. If it 
 was filled the night of the murder, it did not 
 burn more than an hour. There were, how- 
 ever, no signs of a single article of the mur- 
 dered man's clothing, of the implements in 
 the surgeon's case that he had taken with him, or 
 of the cotton batting. It was surmised that the 
 murderers might have buried their tell-tale evi- 
 dences of their bloody work in the cellar, and 
 later in the day a half-dozen detectives from the 
 Chicago Avenue station dug the place over to a 
 depth of several feet. Nothing, however, was 
 brought to light. 
 
 FORMING A. THEORY. 
 
 In the light of the surroundings a theory of 
 the circumstances under which the crime was
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 165 
 
 committed was easily formed. Than the place 
 itself a better one for such a purpose could not 
 have been found. The street was absolutely dark 
 after midnight, and even during the early even- 
 ing the only outside light was that given by two 
 kerosene lamps, one at each of the street inter- 
 sections. Hence it was in comparative darkness 
 all the evening. The house, moreover, was so 
 near that of Sullivan's that it was probably an 
 easy matter to decoy Dr. Cronin to it without 
 arousing his suspicions. He had been struck the 
 moment he entered the parlor, and fell in the 
 corner of the room where the largest of the 
 blood-stains appeared. The blow, however, had 
 not deprived him of consciousness, and, gaining 
 his feet he had engaged in a hand-to-hand strug- 
 gle with his assailants. This was apparent from 
 the manner in which the blood was spattered over 
 the articles of furniture that were several feet dis- 
 tant from each other. It had evidently been in this 
 struggle that the arm of the rocking-chair was 
 broken. Another terrific blow had been dealt his 
 head while he retreated backward, as was evi- 
 denced by the hair and blood upon the wall. The 
 last foul blow having been struck, the unfortu- 
 nate man, perhaps still breathing, was stripped 
 naked and the body packed into the trunk, which 
 was already in the house. Having thus disposed 
 of the corpse the trunk was borne out of the build-
 
 l66 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 ing to the wagon, which stood on the roadside. 
 As it was being carried down the steps the blood 
 that gathered at one end seeped through the cor- 
 ners and left the two gory trails on the boards of 
 the sidewalk and the plank crossing the ditch. 
 Then there was the hurried drive to the catch- 
 basin, the dumping of the body, still warm, into 
 its recesses, and the disposal of the trunk. The 
 murder having thus been accomplished and the 
 body disposed of, the conspirators, with strange 
 assurance of their safety, had returned to the cot- 
 tage and endeavored to efface the evidence of 
 their crime by taking up the carpet and then 
 plastering the blood-stains with the paint a 
 mixture of yellow and brown ochre. Either they 
 were in a hurry or there had been some inter- 
 ruption, for the job was not half done and the 
 murderers, leaving behind all the evidences of 
 their atrocious deed, vacated the cottage for 
 good and all. 
 
 THE BLOOD EXAMINED BY EXPERTS. 
 
 One of the first things to be determined was 
 whether the blood on the floor of the cottage 
 and that found in the trunk was identical. Dr. 
 Brandt and Dr. Hectone were sent for, and for 
 the balance of the day they were busily 
 engaged in making examinations and microscopic 
 comparisons. By night they were in a position 
 to declare that two things had been definitely
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 167 
 
 established. First, that the blood found in the 
 Carlson cottage was that of a human being, and 
 second, that, so far as an expert examination by 
 the most approved methods had gone, it went 
 to prove that the blood taken from the trunk 
 and that taken from the house came from one 
 and the same body. This feature of the tragedy 
 created the greatest interest in medical circles, 
 from the fact that it was the first case on record 
 in which such a comparison had been attempted. 
 
 " I examined the blood found in the trunk," said Dr. Brandt 
 on the evening of the day in question, " soon after it was found' 
 and determined that it was human. The first thing to do was to 
 determine whether the spots in the house were also human blood." 
 
 " How can you tell whether certain blood is that of a human 
 being, or of some animal?" he was asked. 
 
 "Only by the size of the corpuscles. They are large and com- 
 pressed on either side. It can be done only by means of a power- 
 ful microscope, and even with this aid none but an expert can 
 tell. By submitting the blood to this test it was found to be human 
 blood. This settled, the next thing of importance was to find out 
 if the two specimens of blood bore any resemblance." 
 
 " Can you tell to a certainty whether two drops of blood come 
 from the same body?" 
 
 "You cannot; but if they .bear certain marks of resemblance 
 the inference is pretty strong. You must bear in mind that the 
 blood in both cases was taken from wood. That found in the 
 trunk was diluted with water. After diluting the blood taken 
 from the floor of the house sufficiently to make it of the same con- 
 sistency, or as near as may be, with that from the trunk, we sub- 
 mitted them both to the microscopic test " 
 
 "And found?" 
 
 " That the points of resemblance were marked. The pigment 
 crystals were exactly alike." 
 
 " From which you inferred "
 
 1 68 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 " That the blood found in the trunk and that taken from the 
 
 floor of the house came from the same person." 
 
 " Do you think, Doctor, that it is the blood of Dr. Cronin?" 
 " There is not the least doubt of it in my mind. It is almost 
 
 certain that the doctor's body was in that trunk. If this is so, there 
 
 can be little doubt that he met his death in the house on Ashland 
 
 avenue." 
 
 THE CARLSONS TELL THEIR STORY. 
 
 After sending for Dr. Brandt and his colleague, 
 the two police captains lost no time in putting 
 
 the Carlsons on the 
 rack. It was evi- 
 dent from the start 
 'that the family had 
 known all about 
 the condition of the 
 interior of the cot- 
 tage for days, if 
 not weeks. They 
 had hesitated about 
 notifying the po- 
 lice, however, for 
 fear that difficulty 
 would be experi- 
 enced in renting 
 the cottage if the facts became known; while, 
 .t the same time, they were afraid to destroy 
 and efface the evidences of the crime that they 
 realized had been committed. Mrs. Carlson did 
 not need any pressing to tell what she knew. 
 
 THREE OF THE CABLSON FAMILY.
 
 THE CRIME^OF THE CENTURY. 169 
 
 From her story it was developed that on March 
 20th a talt, slender, pale-faced young man called 
 at her house to learn the rent of the cottage. 
 He was told he could have it for $12 monthly. 
 The amount suited him, and he paid a month's 
 rent in advance, without being requested to do 
 so, and received the key. He went on to say 
 that his name was Frank Williams, that he had 
 two brothers and a sister, who would live with 
 him, and that the sister would keep house. 
 They were coming from Baltimore, and would 
 join him in a day or two. He took the keys and 
 went away, but the sister never came. 
 
 For a month there were no outward signs 
 that the mysterious Frank Williams intended to 
 occupy the building he had rented. Mrs. Carl- 
 son became very uneasy. 
 
 Nearly seven weeks prior to the disappearance 
 of the physician, or to be precise, on Wednes- 
 day, March 2oth ; just about the noon hoar, a 
 man of medium size, with dark hair and eyes, 
 a full mustache, a derby hat, pulled well down 
 over his forehead, and a heavy overcoat but- 
 toned up around him, had knocked at the door 
 of the little cottage occupied by the Carlsons. 
 Mrs. Carlson herself was absent at the time, 
 but her husband, Jonas, Charles, their son, and 
 the latter's wife, Annie, were at home at the 
 time. The latter was a domestic servant in the
 
 170 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 employ of a prominent family on Michigan av- 
 enue; but by another peculiar coincidence this 
 happened. to be her "day off," the first she had 
 taken for several weeks. Jonas Carlson answered 
 the door, and the stranger inquired if he (Carl- 
 son) was the owner of the cottage on the front 
 lot. Receiving an answer in the affirmative, he 
 expressed a desire to rent it. Carlson secured the 
 keys, and the two men went down to the cot- 
 tage, entering by the rear door. The would-be 
 tenant gave a cursory glance over the interior, 
 and, remarking that there were six rooms, just 
 the number that he required, asked what the 
 rent would be. Carlson named the sum of 
 twelve dollars monthly, to be paid in advance, 
 but the stranger demurred and expressed the 
 opinion that eleven dollars was quite enough. 
 Finding, however, that Carlson was unwilling to 
 lower his figure a single dime, the man at last 
 remarked: "All right, I'll take it and give you 
 the money now. v The landlord and his new ten- 
 ant then returned to the former's cottage, when 
 the latter paid over the first month's rent. Charles 
 Carlson wrote the receipt, and while this was 
 being done the man remarked that he worked in 
 the city, that he was one of three brothers, that 
 his sister was coming from Baltimore to keep 
 house for them, and that it might be several days 
 and perhaps a week before they could move in.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 171 
 
 He also added that he had ordered some furniture, 
 and that it would arrive in a few days. When 
 asked his name he replied "Frank Williams," 
 and the receipt was made out accordingly. Mean- 
 while, the three Carlsons had ample opportunity 
 to "size up" the individual who was soon to be 
 their neighbor, and his features were impressed 
 on their memories. Annie Carlson and her hus- 
 band especially noticed a peculiar way he had of 
 glancing around, as well as a kind of sinister ex- 
 pression of his mouth. Having secured the re- 
 ceipt and the keys the man went away. On the 
 third day following, about seven o'clock in the 
 evening, a few articles of furniture were delivered 
 at the cottage. Yonng Carlson strolled over to 
 the place, and saw "Frank Williams, "assisted by 
 a man he described as dark, short and slender, to- 
 gether with the expressman, carrying in the goods. 
 He passed the time of day with the expressman 
 and found that the latter was a Swede. Weeks 
 passed without any sign of activity on the part of 
 the new tenant and nothing was seen of him until 
 April 20, when he again called upon the Carlson's 
 to pay the second month's rent. At this time 
 young Carlson remembered that there was a trunk 
 and a lounge in the cottage belonging to a former 
 occupant, and " Williams " consented to help him 
 move the articles out. While doing this an op- 
 portunity was afforded him of looking around the
 
 172 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 house, and he was particularly struck with the 
 meagre character of the furniture. There was 
 nothing on the bedstead but a spring mattress 
 and comforter, the carpet was cheap and the 
 chairs, washstand and other articles were of 
 the most common kind. The elder Mrs. 
 Carlson received the rent this time, and 
 with a woman's natural inquisitiveness, she asked 
 the man what was the matter that his people did 
 not move in. He replied that his sister had been 
 taken "awfully sick," and was in the Sister's Hos- 
 pital. Mrs. Carlson replied that she liked to see 
 people move in when the house was rented, as it 
 did not look well to have it rented. To this 
 "Williams" responded that it might be a week 
 and perhaps a little more before his people were 
 finally settled. Before leaving the three had a 
 pitcher of beer together. After this the Carlsons 
 were on the qui vive for their new neighbors, but 
 the week passed, and two more, and still the cot- 
 tage was unoccupied. On Monday, May 13 Dr. 
 Cronin had then been missing for eleven days 
 the Carlsons had another visitor. He was a short 
 stout man, full chested, with light hair and com- 
 plexion. To Mrs. Carlson he said that Frank 
 Williams had sent him to pay the rent, that his 
 sister was still so sick that they could not take 
 possession. But by this time the old lady had 
 made up her mind that if the people couldn't begin
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 173 
 
 housekeeping she couldn't take the rent, and she 
 said so. The visitor tried to argue her out of 
 her determination, but in vain. She knew that 
 the little frame building was eyed with suspicion 
 by the keen-witted Germans that lived in the 
 neighborhood, and that it had become current 
 gossip that there were queer tenants in the appar- 
 ently vacant house. The few pieces of furniture 
 was all that any one had seen carried into the 
 place, and yet it was, to all appearances, the home 
 of somebody. No woman had been seen around, 
 although once in a while a light could be seen 
 burning at night through the closed blinds, and a 
 piece of bed quilt had been stretched over one of 
 the street windows. All these things had tended 
 to make Mrs. Carlson suspicious, and although 
 she said nothing about them, she gave her visitor 
 to understand that she did not propose to have 
 the place apparently unoccupied any longer, and 
 that moreover she wanted to put it in the market. 
 Upon this the man suggested that she could do 
 this and still let them have the use of the rooms; 
 but Mrs. Carlson could not be shaken from her 
 position, because, as she sagely remarked, people 
 who thought of buying it would want to get into 
 it to see what it was like. Moreover, she added 
 it would be another week before the rent was due. 
 The man admitted this but said that " Frank 
 Williams wanted to be sure of the place as he did
 
 174 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 not want to lose it." All his arguments, how- 
 ever, were of no avail, the old lady would not take 
 the money under the circumstances, and the man 
 departed. 
 
 Matters went on in this way until May i8th, 
 when a letter, addressed in a scrawling hand, and 
 bearing the postmark of Hammond, Indiana, was 
 delivered at the Carlson cottage. Its contents, 
 written on a half sheet of note paper, were as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Mr. Carlson DEAR SIR: My sister is low at present and my 
 business calls me out of town. If you will please put the furniture 
 in your cellar for a few days I will pay you for your trouble. I am 
 sorry that I lost the key to the cottage door, but I will pay you for 
 all trouble. My sis-ter told me to paint the floor for her so that it 
 would not be so hard to keep clean. I am now sorry I gave the 
 front room one coat. F. W. 
 
 That afternoon, Charles Carlson went over 
 to the cottage for the purpose of disposing of 
 the furniture as requested in the letter. The front 
 window next to the cellar was found to be open, 
 and through this he secured an entrance. One 
 glance at the inside filled him with alarm, and he 
 went back to the house after his father and mother. 
 The condition in which they found the place has 
 already been described in the earlier portion of 
 this chapter. Their first impulse was to notify 
 the police, but after talking over the matter, they 
 decided to allow the cottage to remain as it was, 
 moving neither stick nor stone until " Williams "
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 175 
 
 came for his furniture or an opportunity was af- 
 forded for renting the cottage to another tenant. 
 This determination was adhered to until the find- 
 ing of Dr. Cronin's body. 
 
 O'SULLIVAN AND " FRANK WILLIAMS." 
 
 This was the story as told by Mrs. Carlson 
 and supplemented by her husband, son and daugh- 
 ter-in-law. When, however, their memories were 
 refreshed by the numerous questions which were 
 propounded by the officers, and which served to 
 bring back scenes and incidents that they had 
 almost forgotten, many facts of essential impor- 
 tance were added to the initial narrative. Old 
 man Carlson remembered that after the man had 
 rented the cottage and received the keys, he 
 walked across the prairie toward O'Sullivan's 
 house. The iceman was standing near his buggy, 
 and Carlson plainly heard "Williams 1 ' remark: 
 " Well, the cottage is rented." Just before the 
 second month's rent was due Carlson had gone to 
 O 'Sullivan and asked him if he knew the man. 
 
 "Yes," the iceman had responded, "I know 
 one of the men. He is all right. 
 
 Again, upon receipt of the letter from Ham. 
 mond, Carlson had taken it to O'Sullivan and 
 asked him what he thought about it. His 
 reply was that the cottage seemed to be an 
 unlucky one, and that it would have to be
 
 176 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 rented again. O'Sullivan had also intimated 
 that he would be responsible for a month's rent 
 if "Williams" failed to appear; thus holding out 
 an inducement to the Carlsons not to disturb the 
 place for the time being. The old man also re- 
 membered that on the night of May 4th he saw 
 Williams standing on the front steps of the house 
 for several minutes, after which he went indoors. 
 This was about five o'clock. Two hours or so 
 later he heard two men talking loudly in the front 
 room of the cottage. He could not distinguish 
 what was said, and the blinds were drawn so 
 closely that nothing could be seen. He gave the 
 matter no thought, and at eight o'clock about 
 the time that the physician must have reached 
 the scene himself and his family were abed. On 
 the following morning, while prowling about his 
 lot, he saw strange stains on the front door steps, 
 which he thought were made by the breaking of 
 a jar of preserves. In the soft mud in the side- 
 walk fronting the house were the footprints of 
 men who had worn heavy shoes, and near the ' 
 curb were fresh wagon tracks that seemed to lead 
 to the southward. Charles Carlson also remem- 
 bered that a few nights after May 4th he had 
 noticed a man skulking about the cottage. It was 
 extremely dark, but he could see that he was 
 light-complexioned and wore a black slouch hat 
 and an overcoat. Carlson asked him what he
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 177 
 
 wanted, and he replied that he was out of work 
 and wanted to find the nearest police station. The 
 information was given him and he went away. 
 Young Carlson also said that about the first of 
 May he noticed that one of the slats of the front 
 blinds had been cut out, so that any one approach- 
 ing the house could be seen from the front room 
 the one in which the death-struggle had taken 
 place. 
 
 THE FURNITURE TRACED. 
 
 To say that the authorities and the friends 
 of the murdered man were elated by these de- 
 velopments is to put it mildly. It was next 
 in order to ascertain where the furniture 
 had been purchased, and by whom. The 
 first question was practically answered by the 
 trade-mark of A. H. Revell & Co. on the back 
 of the dressing-case and wash-stand. The sec- 
 ond seemed a more difficult one, as the firm in 
 question sold tens of thousands of such articles 
 of furniture every few months. Here, again, 
 good fortune favored the investigation. It hap- 
 pened that in the establishment in question a 
 careful and systematic record of all sales was 
 kept, comprising a description of the goods sold, 
 their price, the name and address of the pur- 
 chaser, together with any attendant circumstanc- 
 es that might serve to make the record the
 
 178 THE CRIMR OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 more complete. On an examination of this rec- 
 ord the fact was elicited that the furniture of 
 the description found in the Carlson cottage had 
 been purchased at the store on February lyth. 
 The salesman was W. T. Hatfield, an old em- 
 ploye of the firm, and the purchaser a man who 
 gave his name as J. B. Simonds. This individu- 
 al Mr. Hatfield described as about twenty-five 
 years of age, t)ne hundred and fifty pounds in 
 weight, complexion a cross between dark and 
 fair, a rather heavy, reddish-brown moustache, 
 high forehead, and thin drab hair. He wore a 
 dark cut-away-coat, dark trousers, a brown, 
 heavy over-coat, and a derby hat. Upon enter- 
 ing the store he said that he wanted to fix up 
 a room or two very cheaply, with goods as 
 cheap as they had in the house, as they were 
 only for temporary use. He was taken up 
 stairs, and, after selecting what he wanted, 
 asked to be shown a large trunk. This neces- 
 sitated a trip down-stairs, and, after looking at 
 several sizes, he chose one known to the trade 
 as a "Becker 40 No. 2." When all his pur- 
 chases had been completed the bill footed up in 
 this order: 
 
 32 yards of ingrain carpet at 35 cents i $ 1 2.80 
 
 i trunk 3.50 
 
 i outdoor mat i .00 
 
 i small hand sachel i.oo 
 
 i chamber suit 14.50
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 179 
 
 i " solid comfort " spring $i .50 
 
 i mattress, excelsior top 2.75 
 
 i pair of pillows 2.00 
 
 i bowl, pitcher, etc 1.35 
 
 i lamp 50 
 
 i comforter i.oo 
 
 i cane chair 65 
 
 i cane rocker 1.95 
 
 i trunk strap i.oo 
 
 Total $45.50 
 
 It was noticed as curious by Mr. Hatfield 
 that the man could not tell how large his room 
 was, but guessed that thirty -two yards would 
 be plenty. 
 
 4 'Where shall I have the goods delivered?" 
 asked the salesman when the bill had been 
 made out. 
 
 "I don't know," replied S-imonds. "You keep 
 them here and I'll take a memorandum of 
 them." This he did. " I will come back," he 
 went on, " to-morrow or next day, and give you 
 my address." 
 
 True to his word, the man put in an appear- 
 ance at ten o'clock the following morning, greet- 
 ing Salesman Hatfield with the remark: "Well, 
 I will take those goods." The bill was pre- 
 sented, and Simonds, stepping to the cashier's 
 desk, pulled out a big roll of bills of large de- 
 nominations, tens and twenties predominating. 
 
 " Now I will give you the address," he added, 
 as he pocketed the change. " You can send those
 
 l8o THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 things to J. B. Simonds, 117 South Clark street, 
 rooms 12 and 15, and send a man to put the car- 
 pet down." 
 
 * 
 
 IN THE CLARK STREET FLAT. 
 
 About noon of the same day the carpet-layer 
 accompanied the furniture to the address that had 
 been given. This building was directly opposite 
 the ten-story Chicago Opera-House structure, in 
 which the offices of both Dr. Cronin and Alex- 
 ander Sullivan were located. There were two 
 rooms bearing 12 as their number in the building. 
 One. room, the door of which was covered with 
 Turkish characters, was on the second floor. 
 This was not the room occupied by Simonds, and 
 another flight of stairs brought the furniture 
 men to a sort of lodging-house arrangement of 
 rooms. No. 12 was a front room, and 15 adjoined 
 it in the back. In the front room the carpet-layer 
 found a short, rather stout man of dark com- 
 plexion, and wearing a closely cropped black 
 moustache, who told him to go ahead with his 
 work. He had no noticeable accent in his speech, 
 and seemed to be an American. He superintended 
 the laying of the carpet, and talked a good deal 
 in a friendly way. The carpet proved to be too 
 long by several yards for the room, and the car- 
 pet man wanted to cut it off. 
 
 " Oh, no," the other protested as he handed the
 
 DB. CRONIN'S OFFICE IN CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE BUILDING.
 
 l8-> THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 workman a cigar. " Turn it under. I'd much 
 rather have it that way. You see, this is only 
 temporary anyway. I may move at any time. 11 
 
 The man did as requested, and the packing 
 trunk and a portion of the furniture was taken 
 into the room. The remainder was unloaded into 
 No. 15. Simonds, had called at the furniture 
 house on the following day and exchanged the 
 trunk-strap for a larger one. 
 
 After making this statement Hatfield accom- 
 panied the officers to the Carlson cottage. Here, 
 as had been expected, he immediately declared 
 that the furniture and carpets were fac similes of 
 the articles he had sold to Simonds. The bloody 
 trunk that had been found on the Lake View 
 prairie corresponded also in every detail with the 
 one that figured in his bill of goods. 
 
 WHEN THE FLAT WAS RENTED. 
 
 The rooms that had been occupied by Simonds 
 and his confederates looked almost direct into 
 the offices of Alexander Sullivan across the street. 
 Those of Dr. Cronin's, being in the rear of the 
 opposite building, were not within sight, although 
 the goings and comings of the physician on the 
 street could be seen from the window of No. 12. 
 Salesman Hatfield's disclosures had forged another 
 link in the chain, and the authorities turned their 
 attention to the renting of the rooms. The agents
 
 DR. CRONIN S MAIN OFFICE IN CHICAGO OPERA 
 HOUSE BUILDING.
 
 184 
 
 DR. CRONIN S RECEPTION ROOM IN CHICAGO 
 OPERA HOUSE BUILDING.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 185 
 
 of the building were Knight & Marshall, a lead- 
 ing real estate firm and of which Edward C. 
 Throckmorton was cashier and renting agent. 
 It was found that Simonds had called at 117 
 Clark street on February i9th, the same day 
 that the furniture was picked out, and inquired 
 what rooms could be had. The janitor showed 
 him all the rooms on the upper floor. He asked 
 several questions and then went over to the of- 
 fice of the agents. Here he first saw Throck- 
 morton, to whom he expressed a wish to lease 
 the flat he had looked at. He gave no references, 
 but said that he was a stranger in the city and 
 wanted the place for a brother who was coming 
 from the East for treatment for his eyes. The 
 cashier suggested that he take two rooms on the 
 lower floor, but Simonds was not willing. The 
 upper floor was preferable, he said, because it had 
 no other tenants. Throckmorton turned the 
 matter over to Mr. Marshall, who named the 
 figure of $42 monthly as the rent of the flat. 
 Simonds made no quibble about the price, signed 
 the lease to April 3oth, and paid the first month's 
 rent. Nothing more was thought of the matter 
 until March 2oth, when Collector Herman Gold- 
 man went to the flat to obtain the next month's 
 rent. Nobody responded to his knocking, but 
 on peeping through a hole in the front door he 
 saw the furniture and carpet within. When he
 
 l86 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 went back twenty-four hours later every vestige 
 of the furniture had been removed and not a trace 
 of the mysterious J. B. Simonds was to be found. 
 
 MILKMAN MERTES' STORY. 
 
 While these facts were being brought to light 
 in one direction, information of the greatest value 
 had been secured in another, and which confirmed, 
 almost beyond question, the general belief that Dr. 
 Cronin had been murdered in the Carlson cottage. 
 It came from William Mertes, a milk dealer of 
 reputation and good standing in the community, 
 and who lived on Woodside avenue in Lake 
 View. On the night of May 4th, somewhere 
 between 8:30 and 9 o'clock, Mertes left his house 
 to visit the grocery at the corner of Ashland avenue 
 and Otto street, which was only a short block 
 south of the cottage. He walked east on Addison 
 avenue to Ashland, and then turned south on the 
 east sidewalk. As he neared the Carlson cottage 
 at Roscoe street a buggy containing two men 
 rolled up to the edge of the ditch. One of the 
 men, whom Mertes described as a tall and appar- 
 ently athletic man, sprang from the buggy and 
 ran up the front stairs of the cottage, the door of 
 which was thrown open before he even knocked 
 for admission. Scarcely had the door closed 
 again when the sound of loud and angry voices 
 within the cottage startled the milk dealer. He
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 187 
 
 looked searchingly at the man in the buggy, won- 
 dering what had brought him to that lonely 
 neighborhood at such an hour of the night, but 
 the stranger's face was shrouded by the brim of a 
 soft hat, and Mertes was unable to tell whether 
 he was stout or slender, or fair or dark. The 
 fellow whipped his horse into a gallop, drove to 
 Addison avenue and then turned in the direction 
 of the lake. 
 
 Mertes thought at the time that a fight was in 
 progress, but as he heard only words he paid but 
 little attention. 
 
 MILKMAN MEETES. 
 
 "Were there any lights in the house?" he was 
 asked. 
 
 "Yes, there was a light, a small one, in the 
 front room of the first floor. I could see it 
 through the blinds."
 
 1 88 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 " Could you distinguish the loud words you 
 heard?" 
 
 " No, I could not. I tried to, but as they were 
 spoken in the house they did not reach me." 
 
 "Did you hear any sounds that would indicate 
 that a scuffle was in progress?" 
 
 "No; I listened for them because I thought 
 there was a fight." 
 
 " Did you hear any loud words before the man 
 from the buggy entered?" 
 
 "No, I didn't; but I was a long way from the 
 house then." 
 
 "Did you see the man's face?" 
 
 " He ran up the stairs in too much of a hurry 
 for me to get a glimpse of him. He appeared to 
 be in a terrible hurry." 
 
 " Did he speak to the man in the buggy before 
 the latter drove away?" 
 
 "I think not." 
 
 "Do you remember whether he knocked for 
 admission?" 
 
 " I don't believe he did. He had scarcely 
 reached the landing when I heard the bolt of the 
 door fly back and then it opened, and he went 
 in." 
 
 " And you heard the loud words directly 
 afterward? 7 ' 
 
 "Yes; just as soon as the door closed." 
 
 "How was the man dressed?"
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 189 
 
 " My impression is that he had on a long 
 overcoat, which was of a brown color, but I 
 wouldn't be sure of it." 
 
 "Did he have a box or parcel in his hand?" 
 
 " I am not sure. He went up-stairs so fast 
 that I couldn't see much of him." 
 
 "Was he tall?" 
 
 "Yes; and I think quite straight and well 
 built." 
 
 "What sort of a horse was attached to the 
 buggy?" ^ 
 
 "I think it was a light sorrel with a white 
 face. I am sure about the white face." 
 
 "Was it a top buggy?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Did you notice the man in it?" 
 
 " Not very much, because he went away so 
 fast." 
 
 "Did you see how he was dressed?" 
 
 " I could only see that he had on a slouch 
 hat. I thought it was a little funny that they 
 should be going up to the front door, because 
 I had always noticed that the people who lived 
 around there went in the back way." 
 
 Mertes had said nothing of this experience 
 until he fell in with a party of friends who were 
 discussing the discovery in the cottage. Then 
 he added the startling incident of his night trip 
 to the corner grocers, when he was probably
 
 190 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 the only man besides the murderers who heard 
 the physician's death struggles. The authorities 
 arrived at the conclusion that the loud voices that 
 had startled him were made by the murderers 
 as they fell on their victim, and that the doctor 
 had been attacked the instant that he entered 
 the door, being given no chance to defend him- 
 self. Taken in connection with the blows on 
 the body, there was good ground for the theory 
 that he was first struck over the left eye with 
 a billy or sand-bag, and then hacked about the 
 head with a hatchet or ice-pick. The towel 
 that was found about the head might have been 
 used at the start, to stifle any out-cry, and then 
 to strangle the victim when it became apparent 
 that horrible butchery would have to be resorted 
 to to complete the job as it was begun. At the 
 same time it was acknowledged that this theory 
 was hardly compatible with the broken furniture, 
 the blood be-spattered walls, and the other ap- 
 parent evidence in the room that the physician 
 had made a terrible struggle for life. 
 
 THE EXPRESSMAN IS FOUND. 
 
 There now remained but a single link to 
 establish the connection between the furniture 
 left in the cottage and that sold by Hatfield. 
 The expressman who hauled the goods from the 
 Clark street flat was still to be found. But there
 
 -iHE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 191 
 
 were several hundred men in the city engaged 
 in that line of business, and although the police 
 and detectives worked like beavers, it looked 
 for a while as though their labor would be 
 thrown away. Success came at last, however, 
 although it was nearly two week's .before the 
 much wanted man was run to earth. He proved 
 to be a Swede named Hukon Mortensen, a 
 simple, unsuspicious young fellow, not possessed 
 of more than the average intelligence of men 
 'of his occupation. From him it was learned 
 that one day in the latter part of March, while 
 at his stand, at the corner of Chicago avenue 
 and Market street, he was approached by a 
 man who asked him his terms for hauling a 
 load of furniture from 117 Clark street to the 
 corner of Lincoln and Belmont avenues. He 
 offered to do the job for $2, but the man was 
 not willing to pay more than $1.50, and this 
 he accepted. This man, whose description tal- 
 lied exactly with that given by the Carlsons of 
 "Frank Williams, 1 ' was assisted by another 
 man in carrying the furniture down-stairs. 
 When the wagon had been loaded Mortensen 
 was told to go out to Lincoln and Belmont 
 avenues and wait, his customer saying that he 
 would take a cable car. The expressman was 
 first on the ground; but the man did not put 
 in an appearance for over an hour, when, with
 
 192 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 a companion, he drove up in a buggy, explain- 
 ing the delay by saying that the cable had 
 broken down. After the pair had carried the 
 furniture into the cottage, young Cailson, 
 meanwhile looking on, they took the ex- 
 pressman to a tobacco store two blocks away, 
 where, after securing change for ? five 
 dollar bill, he was paid the amount agreed upon. 
 After this he drove back to the city. It was 
 after eight o'clock, and consequently pitch dark 
 when his wagon was unloaded. Three or four 
 times during the next few days the same man 
 passed the stand, and then he was not seen 
 again in the neighborhood. 
 
 The plot, according to the surroundings, could 
 now be outlined. Preparations for the " removal ' ; 
 of the unfortunate physician had been commenced 
 ag early as February, when the flat was hired 
 and the furniture purchased. Apparently it was 
 the original intention to lure him into the third 
 story of the Clark street building, where isolated, 
 and, as "Simonds" remarked, "with no tenants 
 on the same floor," he could be summoned from 
 his office on the other side of the street and 
 speedily done to death. For some reason or 
 other, however, possibly because a' single out- 
 cry might have alarmed the people on the floor 
 below, this idea was abandoned, and the lonely 
 cottage was hired. For over six weeks the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 193 
 
 assassins must have plotted and planned the car- 
 rying-out of their murderous intentions. Then 
 came the summons of the night of May 4th, the 
 crime, the efforts to dispose of the body in the 
 lake, its concealment in the catch-basin, the throw- 
 ing away of the bloody trunk, the endeavor 
 to efface the blood-stains in the cottage with 
 paint, and finally the strenuous effort to con- 
 tinue its occupancy, in order that its condition 
 might not be seen by other eyes. So far the 
 authorities were satisfied with the results ac- 
 complished. 
 
 ICEMAN O'SULLIVAN SUSPECTED. 
 
 The opinion was now almost general that Ice- 
 man O'Sullivan knew more concerning the trag- 
 edy than he was willing to admit. No one was 
 yet bold 'enough to accuse him of actual com- 
 plicity in the crime, while at the same time it 
 was apparent that his statements to the police, as 
 well as to the friends of Dr. Cronin, were widely 
 at variance with the discoveries that had been 
 made. The peculiar nature of the contract he 
 was said to have made with the physician, to 
 attend any man in his employ who might meet 
 with an accident, his denial of any acquaintance 
 with the men who had rented the cottage, in 
 the face of the fact that he had been seen in 
 conversation with "Frank Williams," and had
 
 THK CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 guaranteed the payment of the rent by the lat- 
 ter, and numerous other circumstances, some 
 more or less trivial, were sufficient to raise the 
 question as to whether, even had he taken no 
 actual part in the terrible crime, he, in legal 
 phraseology was not "possessed of a guilty 
 knowledge." Hence it was the police decided 
 to place the iceman under surveillance. There- 
 after his house, as well as his every movement, 
 when out of doors, was watched both night and 
 day, and any attempt to leave the city would 
 have resulted in his immediate arrest.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE WHITE HORSE AND BUGGY DETECTIVE 
 
 COUGHLIN HIRES IT FOR A " FRIEND " THE 
 
 TROUBLE IN THE STABLE DINAN GOES TO 
 
 SCHAACK THE CAPTAIN'S PECULIAR MOVE- 
 MENTS SCANLAN IDENTIFIES THE HORSE 
 THE DETECTIVE AND O'SULLIVAN ARE JAILED 
 .THE GRAND JURY INDICTS THEM WITH 
 WOODRUFF FULL ON THE TRACK OF THE 
 CONSPIRATORS. 
 
 "Who owned the rig in which Dr. Cronin 
 was driven to the assassin's den? 1 ' 
 
 " Who hired the white horse and buggy if it 
 was hired that Frank Scanlan saw standing 
 outside of the Windsor Theatre building on that 
 memorable May night?" 
 
 These were the questions to which the friends 
 of the murdered physician now directed them- 
 selves. The body had been found; the cottage 
 in which the crime had been committed with 
 all its mute but gory testimony had been lo- 
 cated. But even now the wheels of the mill of 
 justice had scarce begun to revolve. Dr. Cronin 
 
 195
 
 K/) THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 had left his home alive; he had reached the 
 cottage alive. Whose rig was it that took him 
 to it? 
 
 The question that was uppermost in the 
 minds of thousands of people was soon to be 
 answered answered, too, in a manner that 
 furnished a still more startling episode to the 
 already startling tragedy. For the man that 
 hired the horse and vehicle that carried the 
 Irish Nationalist to his doom was a trusted 
 officer in the employ of the city of Chicago; 
 a man who, from the day of the disappearance, 
 had, enjoying the full confidence of his superi- 
 ors, been apparently working with might and 
 main to bring about a solution of the mystery. 
 It was Daniel Coughlin, detective. 
 
 COUGHLIN HIRES THE RIG. 
 
 Coughlin was attached to the East Chicago 
 Avenue Police Station, which at that time was 
 under the direction of Captain Michael J. 
 Schaack, who had gained an international reput- 
 ation for his brilliant work in connection with the 
 celebrated Anarchist cases. The station house 
 was located within a few doors of the south- 
 west corner of Clark Street and Chicago 
 Avenue. Little more than half a block north, 
 on the former street, was a livery stable kept
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 197 
 
 by Patrick Dinan. Naturally enough, as a result 
 of his close proximity to the 
 station, Dinan knew about all 
 the officers and they knew 
 him. Moreover, if any of 
 them wanted a rig at any 
 time to take their family or 
 friends for a drive, they al- 
 most invariably went to No. 
 
 DANIEL OOUGHLIN, DETEO- f -TVT ^T /"<1 1 
 
 TIVE< 260 JNortn Clark street to get 
 
 it. So far as Dinan was concerned, therefore, 
 there was nothing remarkable in the fact when, 
 early on the morning of the day that the physi- 
 cian disappeared, Coughlin called at the stable. 
 
 " I want you to keep a rig in readiness for a 
 friend of mine to-night," he said, " and I don't 
 want you to say a word about it. When he 
 calls for it give it to him, and I'll be responsi- 
 ble for it." 
 
 " All right," was Dinan's response. " I will have 
 one on hand." The liveryman said afterward that 
 he did not pay much attention to the remark 
 that he was to "keep still about it," from the 
 fact that Coughlin was often in the habit of hir- 
 ing cabs and rigs to do detective work. In 
 fact, he did not pay any attention to it at all, as 
 there was nothing out of the common in his 
 manner or conversation.
 
 iy8 
 
 
 LIVERYMAN DINAN'S STABLE WHERE THE WHITE HORSE AND 
 BUGGY WEBB HIRED.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 I 99 
 
 The detective's "friend" was on hand at the 
 livery stable a few minutes after seven that 
 evening. Seen under the dim gas-light, he was 
 a man about thirty-five years old, of dark com- 
 plexion, with a black mustache and a four weeks' 
 growth of beard. He was rather undersized, 
 and weighed in the neighborhood of 125 pounds. 
 A small, soft felt hat, with the front pulled down 
 
 THE WHITE HOESE AND BUGGY. 
 
 well over his eyes, covered his head, and a 
 seedy, faded gray or yellow overcoat was but- 
 toned up close around him. A few moments 
 before, Dinan's blacksmith had ordered a high- 
 strung bay horse to be hitched up, and while this 
 was being done, the two men strolled up the 
 street to an adjacent cigar store. While they 
 were absent, the stranger entered, and going to
 
 20O THE CRIME OP THE CENTURY. 
 
 the back of the stable, told the hostler that he 
 had come for the rig that " Dan Cqughlin had 
 ordered for him." Dinan returned at this junc- 
 ture, and in reply to a question, ordered his 
 employe to hitch up the white horse. When the 
 stranger saw the color of the animal, he objected 
 violently. He did not want it, and expressed a 
 preference for a carriage horse that stood in its 
 stall. He was told that if the animal were put 
 in single harness it would kill him. Next he 
 wanted the horse that was being put into harness 
 for the blacksmith. The latter was willing 
 enough, in his good nature, to give way, but 
 Dinan was stubborn. He knew, he said, how 
 much * the black horse had done that day, 
 but he did not know how much was before the 
 white one after it had gone out. Failing to get 
 the white horse the man proceeded to find fault 
 with the buggy. He wanted a better one, but 
 was told that he would have to take it or noth- 
 ing. At this he scowled. Then he wanted to 
 know why the side-curtains had not been attached. 
 By this time Dinan, who was in an independent 
 mood, not attaching much importance to the fel- 
 low or caring for his trade, was on his mettle, 
 and in a pointed manner he replied that he could 
 not give any curtains, that he did not know where 
 they were, and that it would take too long to 
 look for them. It was dark anyway, he added,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 2OI 
 
 and nobody could see him, but if he wished to 
 shield himself from view he could put up the top. 
 Growling something that could not be under- 
 stood, the stranger adopted the suggestion, and, 
 getting into the vehicle, drove out into the street. 
 He turned north on Clark Street, heading direct 
 for the Windsor Theatre building. It was then 
 about 8:15. The horse had not been out before 
 that day, and as Dinan was anxious to see how 
 it would act he went out into the street, two of 
 his employes going with him. They watched 
 it until it had crossed Chestnut Street, about a 
 block and a half distant, when it was lost in the 
 darkness. The horse, however, seemed to be- 
 have admirably. Dinan was absent when the 
 same man brought back the rig between 9:15 
 and 9:30 the same evening. Napier Moreland, 
 the hostler, was in the rear barn at the time, 
 and the man, driving in the rig to the carriage- 
 walk, hurried out of the door without stopping 
 to find any one to care for it. Moreland barely 
 caught sight of him as he turned the corner of 
 the door. The horse was found to be extremely 
 warm, as if it had been driven fast and a good 
 distance. Its description at the time, as it will 
 live in the history of the case, was as follows: 
 
 "A white horse, standing about fifteen and a 
 half hands high, rather long limbed, long body, 
 little, slim and long, rangy neck. Not a mark
 
 202 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 by which he could be identified. Clean as a 
 whistle, neither spavin-boned nor collar-boned 
 nor ring-boned. Buggy three, quarter-seat, 
 Columbus, Ohio, manufacture; side bar rather 
 low, not much higher than some phaetons; old, 
 trimmed with blue cloth, and provided with a 
 cotton whip." 
 
 DINAN GOES TO SCHAACK. 
 
 The livery-man thought nothing further of 
 the circumstance until early the following Mon- 
 day morning, when the excitement over the dis- 
 appearance of the physician had commenced to 
 manifest itself. The description of the white 
 horse and buggy which Frank Scanlan and, as 
 it subsequently proved, Mrs. Conklin had seen 
 driven up, and which carried the doctor away, 
 arrested his attention, and recalling the event of 
 Saturday night, he determined to go to Captain 
 Schaack and acquaint him with the facts. 
 At the same time he had little idea that 
 it was his own white horse that had 
 been mixed up in the affair. Only 
 a coincidence, he reasoned, especially in view of 
 to the fact that it was Detective Coughlin that had 
 hired it; while yet at the same time, it might prove 
 be the best policy to tell what he knew. In the 
 meantime, several police officers in uniform had 
 called at the stable to learn if a white horse had
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 203 
 
 been hired on the Saturday night, and the hostler, 
 acting under instructions that they were never to 
 tell who took out horses ordered by the Captain or 
 his detectives, answered each inquiry in the nega- 
 tive. It was between nine and ten o'clock 
 when Dinan went up to the station to see 
 Captain Schaack. On the steps he met Coughlin. 
 
 "Hello!" said the detective. "Who are you 
 looking for? " 
 
 u Captain Schaack," replied the liveryman. 
 
 "What for?" demanded Coughlin. "What 
 are you so excited about?" 
 
 " Well," was the reply, " there have been so 
 many inquiries made about the white horse 
 that was out on Saturday night the one that 
 I let your friend have that I want to tell him 
 all about it." 
 
 Coughlin 's face paled perceptibly. The mus- 
 cles twitched, and he nervously chewed his 
 mustache. For a few moments he stood deep 
 in thought, and then, turning to Dinan, he said: 
 
 "Look here, there is no use making a fuss 
 about this thing. You keep quiet about it. Me 
 and Cronin have not been good friends, and it 
 might get me into difficulty or trouble. Every- 
 body knows he and I were enemies." 
 
 Although the livery-man appeared to acqui- 
 esce in the detective's suggestion, and went 
 away for the time being, he was more than ever
 
 204 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 determined in his mind to see the captain. He 
 did not propose to " keep quiet about it." Ac- 
 cordingly, an hour later he went again to the sta- 
 tion. He was told that the official was home 
 at dinner, and he made a bee-line for the house. 
 Schaack was there, and into his attentive ear 
 Dinan poured his tale of the white horse, the 
 buggy and the peculiar customer. 
 
 SCHAACK'S PECULIAR MOVEMENTS. 
 
 What possessed the doughty " burgomaster " 
 (as Capt. Schaack was familiarly called by the 
 residents of the North Division) to follow the 
 course that he did at this juncture, passes all 
 comprehension. On the witness-stand before the 
 coroner's jury, some days later, he could only 
 justify himself by the lame statement that, at 
 the time, he did not believe that Cronin had 
 been killed. He might also have admitted, and 
 with truth, that he had placed absolute and im- 
 plicit confidence in his subordinates, only as 
 had been the fate of many as good a man be- 
 fore him to be -deceived and betrayed. At any 
 rate his treatment of the information, placed at 
 his disposal by Dinan, was of such a character 
 as to demonstrate so great a neglect of duty, 
 both toward the chief of police and his subor- 
 dinates and the public, that, when its full extent 
 became known he was, notwithstanding his
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 205 
 
 previous record, first suspended from duty and 
 subsequently dismissed from the force. 
 
 What Capt. Schaack should have done 
 what any other official of his own, or subor- 
 dinate rank in the city would have done was 
 to have gone without unnecessary delay to the 
 chief of police and acquainted him with the dis- 
 closures that the liveryman had made. Instead 
 of this, however, upon returning to the station, 
 he sent for Coughlin himself, the last man of all 
 men, who should have been informed of what 
 had transpired. When the detective responded, 
 he was asked if Dinan's story was true, and re- 
 plied that it was. Pressed for further particulars, 
 he said that he had hired the rig for a man 
 named Thomas Smith. Of this individual he 
 knew very little, except that he had come to 
 the station and introduced himself as a friend of 
 Coughlin's brother, who lived in Hancock, Michi- 
 gan. He had met this man Smith several times; 
 and on the Saturday morning the visitor had 
 asked him to procure him a horse and buggy 
 for that evening, as he (Smith), not being known 
 to the livery-men thereabouts, might experience 
 some difficulty in securing one. This the de- 
 tective protested, was the entire extent of his 
 connection with the affair. He did not know 
 what use the man had made of the rig, where 
 he had gone, or what time he returned. In
 
 206 
 
 THIS CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 fact he had not set eyes on him since the day 
 in question. Extraordinary as it may seem, 
 Capt. Schaack accepted this story without ques- 
 tion, and contented himself with ordering the 
 detective to go out and find the man, and bring 
 him in for examination. Coughlin promised to 
 do so. Two days went by, and he failed to 
 report. Schaack then sent for him again, and 
 asked him if he had found his friend. Coughlin 
 answered in the negative, and said that he did 
 not know where to lay his hands on him, unless 
 he happened to run across him in a saloon. 
 This was not satisfactory. 
 
 DETECTIVE MICHAEL WHALEN. 
 
 "You go and find that man," said Schaack, 
 "or it may be bad for you."
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Detective Michael Whalen was also assigned 
 to assist his brother officer in the search, and 
 day after day, they tramped the streets in sun- 
 shine and rain; and scoured the saloons for the 
 mythical "Smith." 
 
 While this hunt was going on, Capt. Schaack 
 had gone one evening to the livery stable, pro- 
 cured the white horse and buggy, and, having 
 driven to the residence of the Conklins, asked 
 the lady of the house whether she identified the 
 animal and vehicle as the same that had taken 
 the physician away. Later on there was a wide 
 difference in the reports of this proceeding. 
 The captain insisted that Mrs. Conklin declared 
 that she utterly failed to recognize the rig, and 
 that she said positively that it was not the same 
 horse, as the one driven by the mysterious 
 stranger was better looking, and a faster trav- 
 eler. On the other hand Mrs. Conklin was em- 
 pathic in the declaration that she had said noth- 
 ing of the kind, but had told the official that 
 there was a close resemblance between the two 
 rigs. Schaack also went to Dinan and obtained 
 a description of the supposed Smith, and again 
 this description, as taken from Schaack V notes, 
 was as different from what the livery-man had 
 told everybody else as light is from darkness, 
 and tallied in no particular with that narrated 
 by Mrs. Conklin and Frank Scanlan. That
 
 208 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 night, when Coughlin and Whalen presented 
 themselves with the usual report that Smith 
 had not been found, the captain acquainted them 
 with the result of his enquiries, expressed him- 
 self as satisfied that there was no connection 
 between the two rigs, and ordered them to drop 
 the Cronin case and report for general duty. 
 
 "Its lucky for you," he said to Coughlin, 
 u that it wasn't the same rig that your friend 
 took out that carried off the doctor. It might 
 have been a serious affair." 
 
 Coughlin smiled grimly, but said nothing. A 
 couple of nights later, while the detective and 
 Whalen were walking down Clark street, 
 Coughlin met a man who appeared to know 
 him. He did not offer to introduce him to his 
 fellow officer, and the latter strolled on, while 
 the two men engaged in conversation. When 
 Coughlin rejoined Whalen he said that the man 
 he had talked with was the mysterious "Smith," 
 and that he was on the point of leaving for New 
 Mexico. Whalen turned round to look at him, 
 but he had disappeared. That night Coughlin 
 told the same story to Capt. Schaack, and the 
 latter dismissed the matter, with the remark, 
 "all right," never even so much as thinking to 
 ask his subordinate whether he had asked the 
 man where he went with the rig that night, or 
 why he had not brought him to the station.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 209 
 
 To Dinan the detective repeated the same story, 
 mentioning Prescott as the point in New Mexico 
 to which the man was going. He also said that 
 he had collected three dollars from him to pay 
 for the use of the rig, but that he had spent it, 
 and would settle on the first of the month. 
 
 COUGHLIN. UNDER ARREST. 
 
 But, although he held his peace until Coughlin 
 had left, the livery-man was anything but satis- 
 fied in his own mind, and the more he thought 
 of it the stronger he was convinced that the 
 matter had not been properly investigated. 
 Finally he went to Horace Elliott, chief of de- 
 tectives, with his story Elliott took him to Chief 
 of Police Hubbard. The head of the force list- 
 ened attentively, and shrewd and experienced 
 as he was, recognized the importance of the 
 disclosure. Dinan 's description of Coughlin's 
 friend was compared with that of the supposed 
 messenger from O 'Sullivan's ice house, and found 
 to correspond in almost every particular. With 
 the chief to think was to act. Instructions were 
 sent to the Chicago avenue station that Coughlin 
 was to remain indoors, and all that day he was 
 so closely watched that if he had attempted to 
 escape he could not have left the station with- 
 out being placed under arrest. In the afternoon 
 there was a conference at police headquarters,
 
 2IO 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 in which Mayor Cregier, Chief Hubbard, Cor- 
 poration Council Hutchinson, Lawyer W. J. 
 Hynes, Col. W. P. Rend, and others interested 
 in the prosecution participated. Coughlin was 
 
 CHIEF OF POLICE HUBBARD. 
 
 sent for, and for two hours he was subjected 
 to a rigid and merciless examination. His re- 
 plies were evasive and unsatisfactory. Several 
 times when hard pressed he refused to answer 
 at all, and he frequently contradicted himself 
 and became so confused that it was evident that 
 he was endeavouring to conceal the truth. When 
 he left the room the conference was resumed, 
 and a general opinion was expressed that the 
 detective had a guilty knowledge of the mur-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 21 1 
 
 derous plot by which Dr. Cronin had lost his 
 life, and that he should be treated as an ordin- 
 ary criminal. He was taken from the place in 
 the same patrol wagon that had carried so many 
 of his own prisoners, and that night he slept in 
 " Criminals Row " of the armory station. Be- 
 fore the conference had ended, orders were also 
 issued suspending Detective Michael Whalen, 
 who was a first cousin to iceman O'Sullivan, for 
 neglect of duty. 
 
 THE SMITH STORY DISPROVED. 
 
 Coughlin's friend, Smith, put in an appearance 
 at police headquarters of his own volition, the 
 following day, only, however, to give a flat 
 refutation of the story told by the detective. 
 " Willard F." instead of "Thomas" Smith was 
 his name. He had come to Chicago from Michi- 
 gan four years before ; had traveled thence pretty 
 well all over the west and south, and eventually 
 had returned to the city. When a boy in 
 Houghton, half a mile from Hancock, he had 
 lived next door to Coughlin, and after coming 
 to Chicago the second time, he had called upon 
 him at the station. On the last occasion he had 
 said something about having been in New 
 Mexico. He volunteered the statement that he 
 was the man that Coughlin had met on Clark 
 street when the latter was in company with
 
 212 THR CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Whalen, but strongly denied that he had ever 
 asked his friend to hire a rig; that he had never 
 used one in Chicago, or that he was identified 
 in any way with Irish secret societies. In fact, 
 although born in Michigan, his parents were 
 native born Germans. 
 
 THE CASE AGAINST O'SULLIVAN. 
 
 No doubt could any longer exist but that the 
 suspicions that had been entertained that Detec- 
 tive Coughlin was, to a greater or lesser degree, 
 connected with the crime, was well founded. It 
 was equally certain that, by the same process of 
 reasoning, O'Sullivan was largely in the toils. 
 Many a man and woman in foreign countries had 
 been sent to the gallows on evidence far less cir- 
 cumstantial than that with which the iceman was 
 confronted at this stage of the case. It was be- 
 yond all question, that about the middle of April, 
 more than a month prior to the disappearance of 
 Dr. tronin, he had asked John A. Mahoney, a 
 Lake View Justice of the Peace, to introduce him 
 to the physician, giving as a reason that he wanted 
 to make a contract with some good surgeon to 
 take care of the men who were employed on his 
 ice wagons, during the hot season. The Justice, 
 either not knowing or not remembering that 
 O'Sullivan employed but three or four men, read- 
 ily consented, and the two men went to the Phy-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 213 
 
 sician's office in the Chicago Opera House block. 
 Here after considerable conversation, a contract 
 was agreed upon, by which O'Sullivan undertook 
 to pay Dr. Cronin $8.00 per month, the latter 
 agreeing to attend the iceman's employees when 
 injured, as well as any children that might be hurt 
 by his wagons. In this agreement however, there 
 was one remarkable and significant stipulation. 
 It was to the effect that the Physician should re- 
 spond to any call that might be made, by any per- 
 son presenting one of O 'Sullivan's cards, and, in 
 order that there should be no mistake on this 
 point, the ice dealer after the interview in question 
 handed one of his cards to the Physician. The 
 latter placed it in the frame of the mirror of his 
 private office, and there, a silent witness, yet ready 
 to testify in trumpet tones, it was found on the 
 day succeeding the night that he was decoyed to 
 his death. 
 
 It was commented upon at the time as remark 
 able that Dr. Cronin should not have made some 
 inquiries when the matter of the contract was 
 broached. So far as was known by his friends no 
 arrangement of this kind had ever before been 
 suggested to him in the course of his many years 
 of practice. At this very time, moreover, he was 
 in constant dread, or at least anticipation, of being 
 murdered. Yet, although the financial considera- 
 tion mentioned was purely nominal, he went into
 
 214 THE CRIME O F THE CENTURY. 
 
 the matter as a speculator goes into a blind pool. 
 Apparently it never suggested itself to him, to in- 
 quire why O 'Sullivan should desire to make such 
 a contract. He had no ice houses, his business 
 consisting in retailing ice which he purchased at 
 wholesale rates from various shippers. He em- 
 ployed but a very few men and there was no evi- 
 dence that any of his wagons had created havoc 
 among the little ones on the North Side of the 
 city. His business was almost exclusively with 
 private families who purchased their ice in small 
 quantities, rarely over 100 pounds at a time. His 
 men ran little or no risk of getting hurt, and even 
 if they did, the iceman would in no way have been 
 responsible. Assuming, however, that he was more 
 than ordinary solicitous about his employees, and 
 willing to assume the responsibility for their care 
 in sickness, why should he have selected the Irish 
 physician? Why should he have picked out a 
 man whose office was nearly six miles from his 
 barns, when fully two score of experienced 
 surgeons were to be found all over the town of 
 Lake View, to say nothing of those who resided 
 at short distances along the route from the suburb 
 to the residence of the Conklins? There were 
 other pertinent questions. Why did O'Sullivan 
 need an introduction to Dr. Cronin? He had met 
 him before, in fact had participated in a meeting 
 of a Camp of the Clan-na-Gael when the physician
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 215 
 
 had assisted in the initiation of several new mem- 
 bers. He had no favor to ask, and even offered 
 to make the first month's payment on the contract 
 in advance and to always pay in advance. Why 
 then should hehaveinducedJusticeMahoney to ride 
 five miles in order that the justice might introduce 
 a man already known to Dr. Cronin, who had no 
 favor to ask and who simply desired to make a 
 contract decidedly unfavorable to himself? 
 
 Again, why was the use of a card necessary? 
 Was there any danger that outside parties would 
 take advantage of a contract that they knew noth- 
 ing about, and have their broken limbs or internal 
 injuries attended to free of charge on O'Sullivan's 
 account? What protection could a card guaran- 
 tee? Would not the word of a caller have an- 
 swered just as well? 
 
 Right here additional facts were woven into the 
 web. Two days prior to the date on which the 
 contract was made, O'Sullivan had called at the 
 office of the Lake View Record, a weekly news- 
 paper published in the town, and obtained some 
 three thousand business cards which he had or- 
 dered to be printed about the middle of April. 
 They differed slightly from the old card which he 
 had used, but had the same general appearance. 
 The same cut of an ice wagon was in the center, 
 printed in red ink. The heading however, was 
 "Sullivan Ice Company," instead of "P. O'Sulli-
 
 2l6 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 van & Co.," the heading of the old card. This 
 was May 2nd. Why did O 'Sullivan need these 
 cards. He must have had full a thousand of the 
 old stock on hand. What did O'Sullivan do with 
 these cards? Who did he give them to? 
 
 On Saturday, May the 4th, at 7 130 in the even- 
 ing, a man -had driven to the residence of Dr. 
 Cronin and presented one of O'Sullivan's business 
 cards, of the kind printed less than a week before. 
 This man said that one of O'Sullivan 's men was 
 dangerously hurt. The physician was hurried out of 
 the house, was driven rapidly north and was nev- 
 er again seen alive by his friends. This was but 
 three days after the remarkable contract had been 
 made, and five days after the cards left by the 
 stranger had been placed in O 'Sullivan's hands by 
 the bookkeeper at the office of the Lake View 
 newspaper. Who was this strange man? How 
 did he get one of O 'Sullivan's new cards? How 
 did he know of the contract? If he had learned 
 of it through one of the three men who were pres- 
 ent at the time, how did he happen to get one of 
 the new cards? Would he not, if he had been in- 
 terested in the removal of Dr. Cronin, have 
 hunted for and found one of the old cards on the 
 same day or following forenoon? 
 
 Little wonder was it that this remarkable com- 
 bination of circumstances directed suspicion 
 against O'Sullivan, especially when it was further
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 21 7 
 
 remembered that he was seen in conversation 
 with the mysterious tenants of the Carlson cot- 
 tage. Analyzed once more the case against him 
 was considered quite as strong, even if not strong- 
 er than that against the detective. Accordingly 
 it was decided to place both men under arrest. 
 Early on the morning of May zyth O'Sullivan was 
 notified that his presence was desired at the Lake 
 View Police Station. When he responded he 
 found himself a prisoner. During the day an in- 
 formation was sworn out by John Joseph Cronin, 
 the brother of the physician, charging Coughlin 
 and O 'Sullivan, together with a number of persons 
 whose names were unknown, with the murder of 
 Dr. Cronin. Upon this information warrants were 
 issued, and shortly before midnight Coughlin was 
 arraigned before Justice Kersten at the Chicago 
 Avenue Station, to the bar of which the detective, 
 during his four years of service, had brought many 
 scores of prisoners. Yet, even in this critical hour, 
 he did not seem to feel his position, but smiled 
 and chatted pleasantly and in a light hearted man- 
 ner, with his former companions on the force. 
 No evidence was submitted, the prosecution re- 
 questing a postponement, and by agreement the 
 case was adjourned for a week, an application for 
 the admittance of Coughlin to bail being peremp- 
 torially refused. A patrol wagon conveyed the 
 detective to the County jail and here he was as-
 
 2l8 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 signed to Cell 25, in what was known as " Mur- 
 derers' Row." While these proceedings were be- 
 ing taken, O'Sullivan, at the Lake View Station, 
 was being closely interrogated by Captains Wing 
 and Schaak, Lieutenant Schieuttler and Squire 
 Boldenbeck, who at that time was mayor of the 
 little town. The latter, who had considerable in- 
 fluence over the iceman, urged him to tell all that 
 he knew, but the prisoner was stubborn, and it 
 was only by dint of persistent questioning that he 
 was led to confess that he had known Coughlin 
 for years, that, although he had persuaded Justice 
 Mahoney to introduce him to Dr. Cronin, he had 
 met the physician before, that he (O'Sullivan) 
 was a member of the Clan-na-gael in good stand- 
 ing ; and that he had talked with the Frank Wil- 
 liams who had rented the assassin's den. More 
 than this he would not say, and, much to his own 
 surprise, he found himself within an hour the oc- 
 cupant of a cell adjoining that of Detective Cough- 
 lin in the County Jail. 
 
 INDICTED BY THE GRAND JURY. 
 
 At this time the Grand Jury for the May term 
 of court was in regular session, and on the follow- 
 ing morning that of May 28th the murder of 
 Dr. Cronin was brought to its attention. Very 
 few witnesses were examined, although the in- 
 
 ' O 
 
 quiry lasted nearly ten hours. The Carlsons told
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 219 
 
 their story, and Mertes the milkman, Justice Ma- 
 hone}' and several others, added testimony which 
 bore heavily against the imprisioned men. Noth- 
 ing was adduced against Woodruff but his own 
 confession, which was considered sufficient for ex- 
 isting purposes. The outcome of jthe investiga- 
 tion was an indictment against O'Sullivan, Cough- 
 lin and Woodruff, on three counts, (ist) of a con- 
 spiracy to commit murder with a sharp instru- 
 ment; (2nd) of a conspiracy to commit murder 
 with a blunt instrument; (3rd) of a conspiracy to 
 commit murder with some instrument to the jury 
 unknown. On May 3ist the three accused men 
 were formally arraigned before Judge Williamson, 
 and, after being furnished with copies of the in- 
 dictments returned against them were remanded 
 to jail to await the outcome of the coroner's in- 
 quiry.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE LYING "iN STATE AN IMPRESSIVE SCENE 
 THE IMPOSING PROCESSION AT THE CA- 
 THEDRAL AN ELOQUENT VOICE FROM THE 
 
 PULPIT CLERICAL DENUNCIATION OF THE 
 CRIME LAID TO REST IN CALVARY CEME- 
 TERY. 
 
 Four days after the discovery of the body, 
 all that was mortal of the murdered physician 
 was laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery. To the 
 old residents that witnessed the procession there 
 came back memories of the imposing obsequies 
 of Stephen A. Douglas. It was a greater demon- 
 stration of the kind than the city had seen since 
 the remains of the " Little Grant" were consigned 
 to the tomb. Many a hero whose name is hon- 
 ored for victories won in hard-fought battles had 
 gone to the city of the dead with less show of 
 honor and respect. It was not that Dr. Cronin 
 had more noble attributes than many other men 
 that the people in tens of thousands turned out to 
 witness the funeral march. It was the involun- 
 tary sympathy that went out to one whose death 
 was so tragic, and at that time shrouded in so 
 
 220
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 221 
 
 deep a mystery. There was, of course, the 
 crowd that is always to be found at every pub- 
 lic demonstration, be it what it may. But there 
 were thousands upon thousands that had been 
 drawn to the scene by a desire to testify, in 
 their humble way, their sorrow and indigna- 
 tion that such a crime had befouled the fair name 
 of the city, and there was not one face in the 
 vast concourse that lined the streets through 
 which the procession passed that did not wear a 
 look of solemnity. 
 
 LYING IN STATE. 
 
 All through the night of May 25th the casket 
 containing the body of the victim reposed on the 
 catafalque in the First Cavalry Armory. At 
 each corner of the catafalque a sentry, in" the 
 uniform of the Hibernian Rifles, stood immovable 
 as a statue. It was a lonely vigil, and it was 
 not broken until six o'clock of the Sabbath morn- 
 ing. Even at that early hour, while the church 
 bells were ringing out their summons to those 
 accustomed to attend the first or daylight mass, a 
 large crowd had gathered outside of the Ar- 
 mory. Half an hour later a squad of the Cen- 
 tral Police detail, under command of Lieutenant 
 Wilson, arrived at the building. The officers 
 were drawn up in two lines on either side of 
 the entrance, the doors were thrown open, and
 
 222 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 the people in waiting commenced to enter. 
 And so for hours a living stream poured into the 
 building, and past the catafalque, with its drap- 
 ing of American flags, its burning candles and 
 golden crucifix, and its tributes of ferns and 
 roses, hyacinths and daisies which reposed at 
 the head and feet of the casket. They came 
 in se rapidly that the attempt to keep a count 
 was soon abandoned. There were old men and 
 young; girls and white-haired matrons. Children 
 hardly able to toddle led the aged men, walk- 
 ing with faltering, uncertain steps. Parents took 
 their little ones, and the little ones their grand- 
 parents. Laborers walked beside bankers, 
 mechanics ascended the platform elbow to elbow 
 with citizens of national eminence, and together 
 they looked down on the face of the victim of 
 a murder that was without parallel in the his- 
 tory of the country. There were many rough 
 and tough looking men in the throng, but their 
 heads were bowed and their footsteps light as 
 they passed by the coffin. There was no need 
 to caution any one to be quiet. The air of 
 solemnity and quiet hushed the least respectful, 
 and those possessed of the least feeling. It was a 
 memorable scene. 
 
 A GREAT PROCESSION. 
 
 Ten o'clock came and the doors were closed
 
 223
 
 224 THE CRIME OF T HE CENTURY. 
 
 on the multitude that still craved admittance, 
 The honorary pall bearers, their heads bared, 
 marched out of the officer's room and took 
 their stations beside the catafalque, in the fol- 
 lowing order: J. P. South, High Council of 
 Illinois Catholic Order of Foresters; Leopold 
 Rohrer, Cathedral Court of Illinois Catholic- 
 Order of Foresters; Dr. D. G. Moore, High 
 Court of Independent Order of Foresters; E. 
 E. Connery, Court Friendship, Independent 
 Order of Foresters; C. S. Commour, Alcyone 
 Council, Royal Arcanum; John F. Begg, Han- 
 cock Lodge, Ancient Order of United Work- 
 men; C. D. Shoemaker, yEtna Lodge, Ancient 
 Order of United Workmen; J. C. Brayden, 
 Royal League; John O'Callaghan and P. M. 
 Carmody, Ancient Order of Hibernians. Next 
 came the active pall bearers, Captain O'Meagher 
 Condon, New York; Luke Dillon, Philadel- 
 phia; O. McGarry, Thomas P. Tinte, Detroit; 
 Frank T. Scanlan, Dan Sullivan, Charles Barry, 
 and M. J. Kelly. A moment later the doors 
 were thrown open, the police cleared a passage 
 way through the multitude, and the casket was 
 borne out and placed in the hearse. The latter 
 was drawn by four black horses. Ten thousand 
 men were already in line, Grand -Marshal P. J. 
 Cahill gave the signal, and the procession, eight 
 thousand strong, moved north on Michigan 
 Avenue in the following order:
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 225 
 
 Grand Marshall, P. J. Cahill Chief of Staff, Col. M. C. Hickey. 
 Platoon of Police, Twenty-five Men, Sergt. Gibbons 
 
 Commanding. 
 Reed's Drum Corps. 
 
 Hibernian Rifles, 100 Men, Capt. Ford Commanding. 
 
 Hearse, with Guard of Honor of Hibernian Rifles, Consisting of 
 
 Lieuts. Sullivan, O'Neil, Monohan, Sullivan, Kennedy 
 
 Monohan. 
 Uniform Order Royal Arcanum, no Men. 
 
 Royal Arcanum, 315 Men. 
 
 Ancient Order Hibernians, 1,000 Men, State Delegate P. M. Cor- 
 mody Commanding ; County Delegate M. Dowling, 
 
 Aide. 
 
 Mourners in Carriages. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Carroll (Dr. Cronin's Sister), of St. Catherine's, Ont., 
 Mr. Cronin of Arkansas, Mr. and Mrs. T. T. Conklin, 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Scanlan. 
 Clan-na-Gael Guards, 175 Men, Capt. Buckley Commanding. 
 
 Lake Side Cornet Band. 
 I. O. Foresters, Uniformed Rank, Fifty Men, High Marshal Frank 
 
 Boden Commanding. 
 I. O. Foresters, 1,200 Men, Wm. Kilpatrick Commanding. 
 
 Drum Corps. 
 Royal League, 250 Men. 
 Catholic Benevolent Legion, 200 men. 
 The Illinois Catholic Order Foresters, 2,700 Men, representing the 
 
 following Courts : 
 
 St. Bernard, St. John, Me Mullen, St. Nicholas, Sheridan, 
 Conway, St. Leo, St. Charles, St. Agnes, All Saints, 
 
 Pius, St. Francis, St. Patrick, 
 
 St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, Immaculate Conception 
 St. Joseph, St. Henry, St. Alphonsus, 
 
 Blessed Virgin, 
 
 Holy Name, St. Cornelius, St. Vincent, St. Benedict, 
 
 Sacred Heart, Ascension, St. Michael, St. Aloysius, American, 
 
 Dearborn, Excelsior, Columbia, Sedgwick, Superior, 
 
 Independence, Industry, Jefferson, 
 
 Amity, 
 
 Cavour, Paterson, Fidelity, Unity. 
 Cornet Band.
 
 226 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Ancient Order United Workmen, representing the following 
 
 Lodges, J. F. Walter, Commanding : 
 
 Light Guard, Peter Cooper, Troy, Lakeside, yEtna. 
 
 Carriages. 
 
 Civilians. 
 
 A.11 along the line of march Michigan Av- 
 enue to Rush Street, to Chicago Avenue, to 
 State Street, to the cathedral the streets were 
 packed with people. It was a solid line of 
 humanity, on pavements, in windows, on lamp 
 posts, even the tops of the houses were a 
 sea of heads. To the solemn music of the 
 bands the men marched with slow and meas- 
 ured step. The muffled drums, the draped 
 flags, the drooping banners, the tens of thou- 
 sands of solemn faces, made the sight an im- 
 pressive one. Every man in the multitude 
 bared -his head as the hearse passed by. 
 
 A SOLEMN CATHEDRAL SCENE. 
 
 It was nearly noon when the cortege arrived 
 at the cathedral. Save that reserved for the 
 mourners every foot of space in the sacred edi- 
 fice was already occupied, and the thousands that 
 had followed the hearse were unable to gain 
 admission. High above the mass of humanity 
 tolled the deep-toned funeral bell as the casket, 
 preceded by a guard of honor of officers of the 
 Hibernian Rifles, was borne into the church. 
 Gently it was deposited between six lighted can-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 227 
 
 dies upon a catafalque in the center aisle. Then, 
 with the rendering of Schmidt's Mass in D minor 
 by the choir, the service was commenced. An 
 atmosphere of grief was prevalent. The sobbing 
 of women mingled with the impressive notes of 
 the funeral mass. Strong men, to whom tears had 
 been a half forgotten memory, wept as the thu- 
 rible was waved over the casket and the wreaths 
 of incense smoke ascended toward the dome. 
 Men, brought face to face with a great crime, 
 stood in the presence of their God, while the 
 priests around the altar, clothed in mourning vest- 
 ments, offered supplication for the soul of the 
 deceased, and prayed for pardon for his murder- 
 ers. As celebrant of the requiem mass Father 
 Agnew, in cape and stole, chanted the versicles 
 and gave the absolutions. At times his voice 
 trembled perceptibly and his eyes were filled with 
 tears. Rev. Father Mooney assisted in the cele- 
 bration as deacon and Father Perry as sub-deacon. 
 When the venerable Chancellor Muldoon ascend- 
 ed the pulpit, the "Librera Me Domine" was sung 
 by the choir. The reverend Chancellor took as 
 his text Ecclesiastics, chapter 9, verse 120: "Man 
 knoweth not his own end; as the fishes are taken 
 with hook, and as the fishes are caught with 
 the snare, so men will be taken in the evil time, 
 and it shall come upon them suddenly."
 
 JjS THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 A VOICE FROM THE PULPIT. 
 
 In eloquent language the speaker impressed 
 upon his hearers the uncertainty of life as illus- 
 trated in the case of the murdered man. He 
 spoke as follows: 
 
 " In the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost, amen." 
 
 These words I have just recited to you from the inspired 
 writer, my beloved friends, tell us by example and analogy that 
 death comes upon us suddenly that it shall come, as we are told 
 elsewhere, "as a thief in the night." As the birds in the air have 
 their being in the air, and drink it in and live their life mainly in 
 the air, and as the fishes have their life in the sea, they shall find 
 their death in that element in which they have their life. And so, 
 too, we who are here living upon the earth, having our life, as it 
 were, in the social world round about us finding our being there 
 we, too, frequently find our death there, unawares and suddenly. 
 In fact, we carry death in and around and about us, even, I may 
 say, in our very being, for from the moment of our birth until the 
 moment of our death, death is ever with us, death is ever working 
 in our members. It is death that is forever bearing us down; it is 
 death that is ever causing the ailments of humanity, which are a 
 premonition of what is to come; and, as the sacred writers have 
 told us, no matter when death comes, it will always come suddenly 
 to us. We can never be enough prepared for it. We can never 
 take it unawares, but it will too frequently take us unawares. 
 
 The lesson, then, taught us to-day by this text is that we should 
 be prepared to meet this death whenever and wherever it shall 
 come, and passing from the text of to-day to him whose memory 
 we serve, it teaches us the lesson that death often comes as sudden 
 as a thief in the night. It comes to snatch us away from all social 
 relations, to take us away from home, to take us away from friends, 
 family and all that is dear to us; to take us from earth to heaven, 
 to take us from time to eternity. Death points this out to us, and 
 his death should teach us a strong and emphatic lesson. If he 
 (pointing to the bier) were here to-day to talk to you, he would not 
 ask for a eulogy on his life, but he would ask you to take a lesson 
 home to yourselves from his life to make you purer, richer and
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 22y 
 
 better. He would say: "By my life so guide your own. If there 
 is anything else in my death to teach you to value life, to teach 
 you to value Christ, and Almighty God, and the Holy Church, and 
 the sacraments oh, take it home to your own hearts, and make it 
 part of yourselves. If I have suffered, let my suffering be a lesson 
 to you; let it come home to your hearts and make you better and 
 holier." His life and his death, dear friends, teach us to make our- 
 selves better, teach us to make ourselves holier, and to prepare our- 
 selves for our last moment. 
 
 What a change is here from a couple of weeks ago! To-day 
 friends near and dear to him bore all that is mortal of him up this 
 aisle to receive the last rites of the Church; and only two weeks 
 ago that same person walked this floor and came up these aisles in 
 all the vigor of his manhood. He came here with all the charity 
 of his faith and nature to worship at the same altar before which 
 and on which to-day his obsequies are said. O! this is a strong 
 lesson to us. Who would think when he led that body of men here 
 to the sacrament of the altar to make himself purer and better 
 who would think that in the short term of two weeks that health 
 and vigor and manhood would be snatched ruthlessly from him? 
 But such was the fact, and this death, so sudden and awful, may 
 be ours if not in the same manner, in other manners equally 
 sudden, if not as atrocious. 
 
 Therefore the lesson is brought home to us to be always pre- 
 pared lest God should strike us, for His angel is always 1 coming 
 from Him to touch the young and the old, the deformed and the 
 beautiful, and His touch is enough to call them from this earth to 
 the land above. 
 
 And now, my dear friends, have we reason to be sorry to-day? 
 Have we reason to mourn that our friend has gone from us? No, 
 my friends; there is no reason for mourning the death of a person 
 who has lived a religious life. As the epistle tells us, the religious 
 man, and one pleasing to God the Father, is he who visits the 
 orphans and widows in their tribulation, and he is one, too, who 
 preserves himself undefiled from the world. I shall not pronounce 
 his eulogy, but examine his life in the light of this text, and see 
 whether or not he was religious; and if his life was a religious 
 life, and if it was, we must inevitably come to the conclusion that 
 he was pleasing to Almighty God, and now enjoys the repose prom- 
 ised by Almighty God to those who serve Him while on earth.
 
 230 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Religion pure and undefiled is to visit the widow and orphan. Did 
 he do that? What was his avocation and mission in life? It was 
 the grandest and noblest after the avocation of priest. It was to 
 deal out charity a charity of word and charity of example, to 
 minister to the unfortunate, to heal the ailments of human life. 
 This was his mission and this his vocation. Did he fulfil his voca- 
 tion; I ask you here in the presence of his mortal remains, d d 
 he carry out his vocation? Most assuredly, my friends, he did so t 
 And why did he do so? The very manner in which he met his 
 death will tell you in more emphatic terms than I can possibly 
 utter. A call comes that a fellow being is in suffering. Other 
 things are crowded upon him other business demands were call- 
 ing for him. But he hearkened to the call of humanity. He was 
 told that a fellow-man was sick, and instantly, without hesitation, 
 with his heart full of charity, and in his hands the very instru- 
 ments to bring relief and mercy to a fellow being, he goes forth 
 with mercy, charity and good will to his fellow-man and meets 
 what? An atrocious death! In the fulfilment of his mission, in 
 the very carrying out of his avocation, he met his own death. 
 Must we not say, then, that meeting his death, thus fulfilling his 
 mission and performing his duty, whatever there may have been 
 against him, if there was sin upon his soul of any kind whatever, he 
 shall be remembered before the throne of Almighty God? Yes, 
 he did visit the widows and orphans; and as the anecdotes and 
 sayings a.bbut him pass away, coming to us as straggling rivulets 
 to swell the stream of his worth, and to show that him who we 
 mourn had a noble Christian heart, and that is what we cannot say 
 of many to-day. He had a good heart, a Christian heart, a 
 Catholic heart, and that heart was full of love and charity toward 
 his fellow-man. Was he ever a man opposite or opposed to the 
 good of his fellow -man? Was he not ever anxious to improve the 
 lot and well-being of his fellow-men? Look at the associations 
 to which he belonged. Every one of those associations has its 
 being and life in those things which are for the betterment of 
 man. 
 
 I have often heard him urge those who are poor and of little 
 means to join those associations, in order to make them- 
 selves thrifty and better, and to build up for themselves 
 a home here, and provide for their children a means to 
 live decently afterward. Was not this patriotic? Was not
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 231 
 
 Ihis the best thing a human being can do on earth, to 
 strive with all his power to better his fellow-man, to make 
 his home more agreeable, and leave an inheritance to posterity? 
 Most assuredly it was; and most assuredly we must conclude that 
 his life was righteous, good and holy. And did he preserve him- 
 self unspotted from the world? He lived a public life, a life with 
 the people and among the people. He was in every sense of the 
 word a public man, known of thousands, as the thousands here to- 
 day testify; and if there was anything wrong or sinful in his life, 
 long ere this it would have been brought forward in triumph. But 
 now no single finger of scorn or imputation can be pointed toward 
 him. After his life has been laid before you we know that he had 
 a good, Christian, Catholic heart, and that his heart went out to his 
 fellow-men, and that in all his dealings with his fellow-men he was 
 never in any sense greatly sinful that he was not small or mean 
 toward or in his dealings with his fellow-men. 
 
 What better eulogy can we pronounce upon him than this? 
 None. We have forgotten half our duty to-day if in our presence 
 here whilst the priest has offered up for him the holy sacrament of 
 the mass, we have not let our own hearts go out in charity, holi- 
 ness and love toward him that is gone. 
 
 Now he is powerless; his days are past, and the church has done 
 what she possibly can for him through her prayers and sacrifices. 
 
 It remains for you to do something for him. We believe that 
 there is a hereafter, and that there is a probation for the small 
 defects and defilements of sin that may be upon the soul after 
 death. 
 
 It remains for us, his friends for there is a communion of saints 
 to offer up our alms, to offer our prayers and the holy sacrifice 
 of the mass that his soul may quickly and surely find rest and 
 peace with God eternal. That is your duty, my friends, to-day. 
 As Catholics and Christians this is imposed upon you, and if you 
 forget it or neglect it you are not truly his friends. 
 
 Any more words of praise will be useless for him. But your 
 prayers, the prayers of the poor and defenseless that he helped, 
 will go as a sacred cry to the throne of God and will not be 
 resisted, for God will hear it and take him to the bosom of his 
 fathers. Let us then not forget to promise that we will as friends 
 and Christians do something for him, and in the purity of our faith 
 let us imitate the purity of his faith, the faith that he drank in with
 
 232 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 his mother's milk and that lasted him through life. There never 
 was a time in the associations or organizations to which he be- 
 longed, or anywhere else, that he denied that faith, that he ever 
 was ashamed to acknowledge that he was a Catholic and held to 
 the tenets and belief of the church. He could say: "After my title 
 of Catholic my title of patriot is prominent, and I am not ashdmed 
 to confess it to the world. I am willing to sacrifice anything in 
 order to defend my term of Catholicity, and I am willing to do all 
 in my power to help along the poor men of our country." 
 
 Therefore, my friends, pray for him who is gone. Let your 
 prayers be that his soul may find rest. Remember him in your 
 daily prayers. Remember him in the places you used to meet 
 him. Remember him when on your knees before the throne of 
 God. He was snatched from the earth without the sacraments of 
 the church; he had not even the soothing words of the priest to 
 bring him more quietly to his end, to help him on the perilous 
 journey toward another life; but, as I said, he met his death in the 
 performance of his duty, and that supplied in part the place of the 
 sacrament. 
 
 Pray for him. Breathe his name with love; and as his body 
 moulders in the earth, he may say to you: "Have pity upon me, 
 you, my friends. Have pity on me, for I am now helpless and 
 defenseless. I have no power in my own hands, but your hands 
 are full of alms, deeds and of blessings and prayers, and let them 
 ascend before the throne of Almighty God that I may have rest 
 and peace. Treat all with kindness as my life has been one of 
 kindness treat them with charity, as my life has been one of 
 charity. If any one say eught against me let it pass forgiven. 
 The words of man are nothing, and pass away as the wind from 
 the mouth. Receive them, then, and mind them not, and those 
 who have injured me most, in the name of mercy have pity on 
 them." 
 
 Receive, then, O God, his soul. Be merciful to him for his 
 faith and his hope and his love. 
 
 Every head was bowed while the Chancellor 
 gave the benediction. The strains of the organ 
 as it rendered the dead march in Saul filled the 
 edifice, the congregation rose to its feet, the 
 casket was borne out, and the service was at 
 an end.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 233 
 
 AT REST IN CALVARY. 
 
 While the services were in progress the throng 
 in the street had been swollen by thousands of 
 new comers, until it extended in an unbroken 
 mass along State street, from Chicago Avenue 
 to Huron street. The people waited patiently 
 for the conclusion of the church ceremony. 
 Considerable difficulty was experienced in re- 
 forming the procession in consequence of the 
 crush, 'and many old men and women, barely 
 able to walk without assistance, were pressed 
 against the hearse and carriages, and with dif- 
 ficulty rescued from under the wheels. One 
 hour was occupied in reaching the depot of the 
 Milwaukee and St. Paul road the streets, as 
 before, being packed with spectators. Three 
 special trains, aggregating thirty-six cars, were 
 in waiting. On the first of these the casket 
 was placed, the others following at intervals of 
 a few minutes. At the stations along the route, 
 as well as on house-tops, street crossings and 
 vacant lots, crowds of people had congregated 
 to see the funeral train go by. Five thousand 
 people had gathered at the cemetery. The 
 Hibernian Rifles formed in double column, and 
 presented arms as the casket, and its small fol- 
 lowing of mourners passed within the gates. 
 This was the most solemn part of the days' 
 proceedings. In the city the uniforms and regalia
 
 234 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 of the various organizations, the dirges of the 
 numerous bands, and the great concourse of 
 people had somewhat dissipated the sad thoughts 
 and sentiments of those who had been near and 
 dear to the dead man; but now these acces- 
 sories no longer exercised their effect. Slowly 
 the small procession, consisting only of the pall- 
 bearers with the casket, and the few chief 
 mourners, moved toward the vault. There was 
 not a sound save sobs, not even the mournful 
 strains of a funeral march were heard to relieve 
 the intensity of the silence. At the door the rifles 
 had formed an arch with their swords, and the 
 air was laden with the perfume of floral tributes 
 from far and near. One of these, a magnificent 
 lyre of roses, bore the inscription in immortelles: 
 
 THE PHILADELHHIA 
 
 CLAN-NA-GAEL 
 
 MOURN THEIR PATRIOT BROTHER. 
 
 and on the base in blue violets the single word 
 
 MARTYR. 
 
 There were no speeches, no requiem songs, no 
 final benediction. Amid profound darkness the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 235 
 
 casket and mourners disappeared within the 
 darkness of the receiving vault, and for a mom- 
 ent all was still. Then the mourners re-appeared, 
 the gates swung to on their hinges, the key 
 was turned in the lock, and all that was mortal 
 of the patriot Irishman was at rest in the house 
 of the dead. A sudden gust of wind shook the 
 trees, large drops of rain began to fall, and the 
 weeping of the dead man's sister was drowned 
 by the wail of nature.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE CORONER'S INQUEST OPENS A MODEL 
 JURY VISITING THE SCENE OF THE TRAG- 
 EDY TAKING THE EVIDENCE CAPTAIN 
 
 SCHAACK'S COMPROMISING ADMISSIONS PRO- 
 MINENT CLAN-NA-GAEL MEN PUT ON THE 
 
 STAND ALEXANDER SULLIVAN'S THREATS 
 
 LUKE DILLON TELLS WHAT HE KNOWS THE 
 
 DOCUMENTS LEFT BY THE MURDERED MAN 
 READ BY THE CORONER A SENSATIONAL, 
 INQUIRY. 
 
 The Coroner's investigation followed close on 
 the action of the grand jury. It was probably 
 one of the most sensational inquests on record in 
 this country. It occupied eight days, and the 
 spacious court room in the county building, 
 which was placed at the disposal of Coroner 
 Henry L. Hertz, was crowded to suffocation at 
 every session. Six men, all well-known citizens, 
 and of a high grade of intelligence, were sworn 
 in on May 28 to determine as to the cause of the 
 physician's death. Their names were: R. S. 
 Critchell, Victor U. Sutter, Justus Killian, 
 John H. Van Husen, H. H. Haughan and 
 
 236
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 2 37 
 
 Rudolph Seifert. On the first day, May 
 
 28, the jurors visited 
 the Carlson cottage, 
 the catch-basin, and 
 the spot where the 
 trunk was discov- 
 ered. They also 
 examined the furni- 
 ture left in the cot- 
 tage, the trunk, cot- 
 ton batting, and other 
 links in the chain of 
 circumstantial e v i - 
 dence. Several ad- 
 journments were then 
 taken at the instance of State's Attorney Longe- 
 necker, who held to the wise opinion that in a case 
 of so much national importance it was best to "make 
 haste slowly," and it was not until June 3d that 
 the taking of evidence commenced in earnest. 
 Mrs. Conklin, Frank T. Scanlan, Patrick Din an 
 (the liveryman), Jonas Carlson, Justice Mahoney, 
 John T. Cronin (brother of the dead man), and 
 the employes of A. H. Revell & Co., were among 
 the first witnesses examined. They gave their 
 evidence clearly and without reserve and pro- 
 duced a favorable impression upon the jury. A 
 profound sensation was created when the blood- 
 stained trunk was brought into the room. Police
 
 2 3 8 
 
 JURORS EXAMINING BLOOD-STAINS IN THE 
 PARLOR OF COTTAGE.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 239 
 
 Captain Schaack was upon the stand, and his 
 testimony developed so strongly the fact, that, 
 through willful disobedience of instructions and 
 gross mismanagement, the murderers had been 
 enabled to escape, that before the close of the 
 day an order was issued by Chief of Police 
 Hubbard suspending him from the service for 
 an indefinite period for " apparent wilful neglect 
 of duty." Frorrf his own evidence, it was 
 clear that he had failed to obey the Chief's 
 instructions to ascertain the livery stable from 
 which the white horse had been hired, that he 
 had failed to call upon several witnesses whose 
 names had been given him, and that he had 
 allowed Detective Coughlin to pull the wool 
 over his eyes in the most extraordinary fashion. 
 The examination of the officer who had made him- 
 self famous by his work in the Anarchist case, 
 was thorough, searching and merciless. He 
 reluctantly admitted, that for ten days following 
 Dr. Cronin's disappearance he did little or noth- 
 ing on the case, because he did not believe that 
 the doctor was dead. He had also allowed wil- 
 ful disobedience to his orders by Detective 
 Coughlin to pass unrebuked. After the jury had 
 gotten through with the Captain, John Sampson, 
 an individual not unknown to the police, swore 
 that Coughlin had tried to hire him over a 
 year before to waylay the physician as he was
 
 240 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 returning from a meeting at McCoy's Hotel, and 
 " do him up." This evidence was corroborated, 
 and it was further shown that Sampson, actu- 
 ated by a sense of gratitude Dr. Cronin having 
 at one time refused to accept compensation for 
 medical attendance upon one of his (Sampson's) 
 relatives had informed the physician of his 
 peril. 
 
 But the most sensational features of the 
 inquiry were yet to come. 
 
 ALEXANDER SULLIVAN AND DR. CRONIN. 
 
 Witness, after witness, many of them men of 
 high standing in the community, as well as of 
 unimpeachable veracity, went upon the witness 
 stand and swore, that upon scores of occasions, 
 the physician had expressed the opinion that 
 Alexander Sullivan was his mortal enemy, and 
 that he stood in eternal dread of the ex-Irish 
 leader. Patrick McGarry for instance, an honest 
 homespun Irishman, who, by industry, had ac- 
 cumulated considerable property, and who was 
 one of the warmest friends of the murdered man, 
 testified that on numerous occasions the physi- 
 cian had said to him, that Alexander Sullivan 
 would be the instigator of his death. Less than 
 three weeks before his disappearance, referring 
 to the fact, that he had asked for an investi- 
 gation of Sullivan's accounts, he had said, "I
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 241 
 
 am taking my life in my hands. That may 
 prove to have been a fatal night for me, but 1 
 am determined to show up Alexander Sullivan's 
 thievery and treachery to the Irish people, even 
 if my life is taken for it." 
 
 The buzz which invariably denotes the pres- 
 ence of suppressed excitement went through the 
 court-room when the witness made this statement, 
 and, catching the prevalent feeling, McGarry 
 exclaimed with fervor:" 
 
 " Thank God I don't belong to any organiz- 
 ation of which that man is a member. For I 
 consider Alexander Sullivan to be the man who 
 has brought shame and disgrace on the Irish 
 name in America." 
 
 To Joseph O 'Byrne, the Senior guardian of 
 Camp 234, of the Clan-na-Gael, Dr. Cronin had 
 said that he knew. that he was to be sacrificed. 
 To Michael McNulty, another member of camp 
 234, he had insisted upon more than one occas- 
 ion, that he knew that Alexander Sullivan and 
 Lawrence R. Buckley, (the latter being a promi- 
 nent member of the Clan-na-Gael) " were going 
 to kill him. 7 ' That the latter had made many 
 violent speeches against the physician, was sworn 
 to by Thomas J. Conway, an insurance agent. 
 A previous witness, by the way, had testified 
 that it was generally understood among the mem- 
 bers of the organization, that Lawrence Buckley
 
 242 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 had given to the spy Le Caron, the credentials 
 upon which the latter had attended a secret con- 
 vention of the Clan-na-Gael. 
 
 Testimony was given by a 
 large number of witnesses, to the 
 effect that both Alexander Sul- 
 livan and numerous members of 
 the organization, had denounced 
 the physician in the most vigor- 
 ous terms, questioning his loyalty 
 LAWRENCE B. BUCKLEY, to the Irish cause, and expressing 
 sentiments, which generally analyzed, seemed to 
 indicate that they would be glad to see him out 
 of the way. 
 
 SELECTED FOR A FOREIGN MISSION. 
 
 One of the most sensational episodes of the 
 enquiry, was the examination of Capt. Thomas 
 F. O'Connor. He had been intimately acquainted 
 with Dr. Cronin for several years, and firmly 
 believing that the physician's life was in danger, 
 had advised him to go armed at all times. 
 O'Connor had been present at a meeting of camp 
 20, when charges had been made against Dr. 
 Cronin, and a committee consisting of Buckley, 
 Coughlin, Frank Murray, John F. O'Malley, and 
 another man had been appointed to investigate 
 them. These charges were to the effect that 
 he had read, before another camp, a circular
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 243 
 
 which was antagonistic to the spirit of the order. 
 After the physician's disappearance, he had seen 
 Coughlin, who had expressed the opinion, that 
 he had gone to London to follow in the foot-steps 
 of Le Caron, as a witness before the Parnell 
 commission. 
 
 " Have you ever been requested as a member 
 of this order," asked Coroner Hertz, "to do some 
 secret work." 
 
 " Yes, I have," said the witness, after consider- 
 able hesitation. 
 
 " Can you tell me who asked you to do this 
 work. 7 ' 
 
 "I can not." 
 
 " Did you consult any one about doing this 
 work." 
 
 "I did sir." 
 
 "Whom." 
 
 " I consulted Dr. Cronin. 7 ' 
 
 "What did he say." 
 
 " He said, after talking the matter over, that 
 there was enough good, honest men behind prison 
 bars now, and that I had better keep out of it." 
 He did not believe in the policy of dynamite. 
 
 " Did you take the doctor ; s advice." 
 
 " I guess I did," answered Capt. O'Connor in a 
 tone full of suggestiveness. 
 
 " How was the request brought to you. 7 '
 
 244 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 OAPT. THOMAS F. O'CONNOB. 
 
 " A man walked into my office about ten o'clock 
 one morning, presented his card, and introduced 
 
 himself. He said 
 that there were some 
 men going across the 
 water, and that the 
 chances were that I 
 would be called on. 
 This was on a Mon- 
 day, and we talked 
 the matter over pretty 
 fully. The Wednes- 
 day following I was to meet him again. That 
 morning I walked down town with Dr. Cronin. 
 The man was standing on the steps of the Sher- 
 man House. I stopped and spoke to him. He 
 asked me who that man was. I told him Dr. 
 Cronin. He seemed to know the name, at least 
 he recognized it the moment I mentioned it. He 
 said he would see me that afternoon, but after 
 seeing me with Dr. Cronin, he failed to keep his 
 appointment." 
 
 Although pressed to give this mysterious indi- 
 viduals name, Capt. O'Connor insisted emphati- 
 cally that he could not remember it. He said he 
 knew Alexander Sullivan, but when asked the 
 question, " do you know whether or not it was he 
 who wanted you to go," he simply replied, "I do 
 not." He went on to say that the request to
 
 2 45 
 
 JURORS EXAMINING FINGER MARKS IN PAINT ON 
 WINDOW BLINDS.
 
 246 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 go on such a mission, would naturally come from 
 the Executive Committee of the order. None 
 except this committee, could know the names 
 of the persons who were sent across the waters. 
 Alexander Sullivan, he had heard, was a mem- 
 ber of this executive committee. The other two 
 were Feeley and Michael Boland. The latter 
 at this time was the Police Recorder of Kansas 
 City. 
 
 Peter M'Gehan, of Philadelphia, was another 
 witness. He was at one time supposed to be 
 the man who had driven Dr. Cronin from his 
 residence to his death. In a general way he 
 answered the description given by Mrs. Conklin, 
 and his appearance in Chicago, at the time when 
 the first steps in the conspiracy were supposed 
 to have been taken, his destination being known 
 only to J. J. Bradley, of the Clan-na-Gael ex- 
 ecutive, coupled with his loud talk against Dr. 
 Cronin, and his association with the friends of 
 Alexander Sullivan all these circumstances 
 caused him to be placed under arrest, although 
 he was subsequently released. Not being found 
 at his place of residence when wanted by the 
 coroner, he was again arrested at his new board- 
 ing place, and put upon the stand. 
 
 In direct contradition to the testimony of 
 one of the previous witnesses, Joseph O 'Byrne, 
 M'Gehan denied that he had ever said that Dr.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 247 
 
 Cronin, with MeCahey, of Philadelphia, ought to 
 be put out of the way, or removed, or killed, or 
 words implying any such meaning. He knew, 
 however, that Dr. Cronin believed that he enter- 
 
 p. M'OEHAN. 
 
 .tained such views. Standing at the corner of 
 Clark and Randolph street one evening with 
 Thomas J. Conway, he saw the physician and 
 Mortimer Scanlon coming along, and the physi- 
 cian, calling him by name, said, " I understand that 
 you have used violent language against me." 
 M'Gehan replied that it was a lie. To this the 
 physician responded " I have been informed that 
 you were sent here to assassinate me." This the 
 Philadelphia man denied, saying that the doctor 
 was a " blamed fool," and that the people who 
 were circulating these stories were only trying to 
 make them enemies. M'Gehan was closely ques-
 
 248 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 tioned as to his movements since his arrival in 
 Chicago, and admitted that he had visited several 
 of the Camps, including the one of which Dr. 
 Cronin was senior guardian, and that he had bor- 
 rowed money from several of the avowed enemies 
 of the physician, although he had not been ac- 
 quainted with them before reaching Chicago. 
 Nothing was developed however to connect him, 
 even indirectly, with the tragedy. 
 
 This branch of the case was closed with some 
 very interesting testimony from J. G. Hagerty, a 
 railroad clerk. His story was, that sometime in 
 1885, a circular had been issued by the Clan-na- 
 Gael, stating that several hundred British detec- 
 tives had been sent from Scotland Yard for the 
 purpose of finding out the secrets of the Irish 
 revolutionists in this country, and hence all the 
 members were on the qui vive for information as 
 to the possible traitors in their midst. One night 
 while he (the witness) was walking on the street 
 with Alexander Sullivan, the latter had expressed 
 the opinion that the doctor was a scoundrel and a 
 menace to the Irish cause, and that it would be a 
 benefit if the cause were rid of him. 
 
 " Did Alexander Sullivan say anything to you 
 that night about having any idea that Dr. Cronin's 
 life ought to be taken " asked the Coronor. 
 
 " That was my impression" answered the wit- 
 ness, " that was the view I took of the conversa-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 249 
 
 tion, and I must say that I coincided with him at 
 the time. I believe that men who are trying to 
 get the secrets of people, who are trying to ele- 
 vate themselves should be exterminated, and I 
 gained that opinion from the reports I had heard, 
 especially from Timothy Crean, who is now dead, 
 and who with other men had been instrumental 
 in scattering this information, which, as I now be- 
 lieve, was scattered for the removal of Dr. Cronin." 
 
 "Did Alexander Sullivan use the words that 
 Dr. Cronin ought to be removed, the witness was 
 asked." 
 
 " I would not swear that the words were used 
 exactly as you state them, but that was my im- 
 pression at the time." 
 
 "'Did you get the impression that that was what 
 he meant." 
 
 "Certainly I did." 
 
 " Could he at that time or any time later have 
 spoken to others in the same way." 
 
 " Most undoubtedly to hundreds." 
 
 " Tim Crean had told me things that Alexan- 
 der Sullivan had said," went on the witness, "and 
 among them that this man was a traitor. The 
 word traitor to an Irishman's visor calls up a ter- 
 rible vengeful feeling. It does in me, the Irish- 
 men know what informers are and do not feel 
 leniently toward them. The impression that I 
 got from Mr. Sullivan's talk was that this man
 
 250 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 should be removed from our ranks in some way 
 or another; that he was a menace to the cause 
 and to the success of the objects which we were 
 trying to accomplish. I must say that at that 
 time and since, Mr. Sullivan was not alone in the 
 opinion as to the removal of men of that descrip- 
 tion that is, the removal of them from our ranks, 
 not by death, but that we should get them out of 
 our organization. There was nothing more laud- 
 able, considering the actions of Le Caron, who as 
 is now proven to have been Mr. Sullivan's friend, 
 according to the evidence now before you. Le 
 Caron was introduced to me on the evening of that 
 conversation by Mr. Sullivan as a man worthy of 
 our confidence and of the highest character, and 
 coming from s-uch a source, it being understood 
 that Sullivan occupied a high office in the order, 
 and considering the confidence with which he was 
 looked up to by the Irish people at that time, 
 myself, being nothing but a plebian, I could not 
 but believe what he said." 
 
 " Did you believe that Dr. Cronin was a 
 traitor." 
 
 " Yes ; Mr. Sullivan gave me that informa- 
 tion; that was his idea. He did not give me 
 any proof, but considering his position, I could 
 not do otherwise than take his ipse dixit for it. 
 I will say, however, that up to the recent rev- 
 elations I certainly had no idea at all that Mr.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 251 
 
 Sullivan could have been the man he is now 
 represented to be. I must say in justice to my- 
 self I had no idea that he could have come as 
 near being an accessory to this diabolical ' re- 
 moval,' as he is now represented to be by the 
 circumstantial evidence before you." 
 
 " Is there anything in your obligation and the 
 constitution of the order that would make you 
 believe that you ought to remove a man if your 
 executive ofdered you to do so." 
 
 "No sir." 
 
 "That you ought to take life?" 
 
 "No sir, I would not do it if the order came to me." 
 
 "Do you think that a man of less principle 
 or brains might do so?" 
 
 "I certainly believe now, to my sorrow, that 
 such might be the result. 7 ' 
 
 After this witness had left the stand it was 
 proven by the evidence of the Sergeants of the 
 Chicago Avenue Police Station that, for some 
 time prior to May the 4th, Coughlin and O'Sul- 
 livan, the iceman, were in daily communication 
 over the telephone, and that the latter had sev- 
 eral times sent messages to the Detective to 
 come over to his house, his office, or his barn. 
 
 ALEXANDER SULLIVAN'S SPECULATIONS. 
 
 Considerable time was devoted to the inves- 
 tigation of Alexander Sullivan's speculations
 
 252 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 through various Chicago Brokers on the Board 
 of Trade. It was first shown that in May, 1882, 
 upon the return of Alexander Sulllivan from 
 Paris, where he had been for some two months, 
 the sum of $100,000 had been deposited to his 
 credit in the Continental National Bank of New 
 York. This deposit was in turn transferred to 
 the Traders' Bank of Chicago, where it was 
 credited to " Alexander Sullivan, agent. v The 
 books of this Bank, which had failed in 1888, 
 when produced by Bryon L. Smith, the receiv- 
 er, showed that checks had been drawn by Sul- 
 livan against this deposit, payable to John T. 
 Lester & Co., the Board of Trade men, in the 
 following order: June ist, 1882, $30,000; June 
 the 6th, $30,000; August 26th, $25,000; Sept. 
 6th, $5,000; October 6th, $10,000. The entire 
 one hundred thousand dollars, therefore, had 
 within the short space of less than five months 
 passed into the hands of the Brokers. From 
 the books of the firm it was found that between 
 June the ist and August the 3oth, of that year, 
 Sullivan had traded almost daily in railroad and 
 telegraph stocks in blocks ranging from 100 to 
 5,000 shares each day. It was also shown that 
 between June 1882 and June 1883, he had given 
 his checks to the firm to a total of $133,000, 
 and received from the firm checks and stocks 
 aggregating about $128,000, indicating a loss of
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 253 
 
 but $5,000 on these extensive transactions. 
 These checks, however, failed to find their way 
 back again to the Traders' Bank. There was 
 no record of any further transactions of this 
 character on the part of Mr. Sullivan until 1886, 
 when he was concerned in some speculations in 
 grain through the house of Morris Rosenfeld & 
 Co. He was a winner up to July, 1887, when 
 the great Cincinnati wheat corner broke, his 
 profits were swept away and he sustained a loss, 
 which he settled by giving his note for an 
 amount somewhere between one and two thousand 
 dollars. This indicated that between the first 
 and the last transactions he had gotten rid of the 
 $95,000 turned over to him by J. T. Lester & 
 Co. What had become of this large sum of 
 money was a mystery. Perhaps it had been lost 
 in speculation, perhaps it had been returned to 
 Patrick Egan, from whom, as was generally sup- 
 posed, it had originally been obtained. 
 
 LUKE DILLON'S PLAIN WORDS. 
 
 It was not until June the yth, in the closing 
 days of the inquest, that Luke Dillon, one of the 
 nine members of the Executive Committee of the 
 Clan-na-Gael in America, and who had taken a 
 leading and determined part in the movement 
 to unravel the mystery which enshrouded the 
 murder of Dr. Cronin, was called as a witness.
 
 254 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Those who were in the court room when he as- 
 cended the stand, saw a man above the medium 
 statue, broad shouldered, of well-knit figure, square 
 cut face and well moulded features. His dark 
 blonde hair receded slightly from his forehead; 
 while a full blonde mustache of lighter hue shad- 
 ed his firm compressed lips. His chin was square, 
 indicating tremendous energy and great determin- 
 
 Luke Dillon. 
 Police Capt. 
 O'Donnell. 
 
 John F. Begge. 
 Officer Brown. 
 
 John Moss. 
 
 Chief of Police 
 
 Hubjaard. 
 
 Pat McGarry. 
 Mrs. T.T. Conklin. 
 
 PRINCIPAL WITNESSES BEFORE THE CORONER S JURY. 
 
 ation of character. His voice was full, resonant 
 and well modulated, and he spoke fluently and 
 yet in a measured way that indicated caution. 
 In answer to the questions of the Coroner he 
 said that he was a member of the Clan-na-Gael, 
 but that there was nothing in the obligation 
 which he had taken that conflicted with the laws
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 255 
 
 of the United States. He went on to say that 
 Dr. Cronin, shortly before his murder, had said 
 to him that the personal ambition of Alexander 
 Sullivan, to rule both in Ireland and American 
 politics would be the cause of his (Cronin's) 
 death, for he felt that the man had no more blood 
 than a fish and would not hesitate to take his 
 life. The witness related the circumstances con- 
 nected with the meetings of the trial committee 
 at Buffalo and New York, and the examination 
 proceeded in this wise: 
 
 " Can you give the jury any other reason why Alexander Sulli- 
 van should be an enemy of Dr. Cronin? " 
 
 " I can give none except personal revenge." 
 
 " Revenge for what? " 
 " Because this man found him guilty of crime, of theft." 
 
 " By this man you mean Dr. Cronin? " 
 
 " Yes sir; and also because of treacherous conduct to members 
 of the organization." 
 
 " Do you believe, Mr. Dillon, that Dr. Cronin's opinion of Sulli- 
 van was correct? " 
 
 " I do now. I used to think he exaggerated Sullivan's import- 
 ance. I looked upon him then as only an ordinary villian. But 
 Cronin looked upon him as a very dangerous man and a very able 
 man." 
 
 ' At the time of the existence of this so-called Triangle, Sullivan, 
 Boland and Feeley, do you know of their betraying any members 
 of the order? " 
 
 After a long pause the witness replied: "No; I believe men 
 have been betrayed." 
 
 " Could these men whom you believe to have been betrayed, 
 have been betrayed without the knowledge of the Executive ? " 
 
 " No, they could not otherwise be betrayed." 
 
 " And men were betrayed? " 
 
 " I believe so." 
 
 " They were not known to anybody outside of the Triangle? " 
 
 " They were not supposed to be known." 
 
 'If known, where would those outside receive their information 
 from? " 
 
 "The executive; the Triangle and Executive were the same 
 thing." 
 
 "At that time who were the Executive? "
 
 256 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 "Alexander Sullivan, Dennis C. Feeley and Michael Boland." 
 
 " Have you ever heard from any of the members that Dr. 
 Cronin, in conversation, has charged that Alexander Sullivan had 
 anything to do with betraying the members? " 
 
 "No; I don't think the doctor has ever charged that against 
 Sullivan. He has told me that he believed men had been be- 
 trayed through the intimacy of Alexander Sullivan with Le 
 Caron." 
 
 " Was Le Caron a member of a camp in Illinois? " 
 
 " Yes, sir; in Braidwood, 111." 
 
 " Who is Le Caron? " 
 
 " Well," the witness said, smiling, " I wish they had tackled him 
 instead of Dr. Cronin. I didn't know him personally." 
 
 " What position did he hold ?" 
 
 " He held the position of chief officer what would be the same 
 as president in an ordinary society." 
 
 " Was he once considered a good member of the order?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Is he considered such now?" 
 
 " Not at all ; certainly not." 
 
 " Have you any other information, Mr. Dillon, which would be 
 proper for you to give this jury, sitting to inquire into the death of 
 Dr. Cronin, which would assist them in arriving at the cause of his 
 death?" 
 
 " Well, I believe his death is the result of the abuse heaped 
 upon him by the friends of Alexander Sullivan. He has been 
 denominated a spy and a traitor, perjurer, and in fact all the invec- 
 tives have been piled upon him that could be heaped upon the 
 head of any man by the friends of Sullivan, all because of Cronin's 
 enmity to Sullivan." 
 
 " Why did Cronin have any enmity toward Sullivan?" 
 
 " Because he believed, as I do, that he was a professional 
 patriot, sucking the life-blood out of the Irish organizations, and 
 we tried to purify the organization by removing from its head such 
 men as Alexander Sullivan." 
 
 ' Do you know the reason why Alexander Sullivan left the 
 order?" 
 
 " I can tell you the general opinion in the order on that ques- 
 tion. We believed that he left the order because he thought that 
 his crimes would find him out, and that Cronin, John Devoy, I and 
 others who were endeavoring to purify the organization would 
 finally bring them to judgment before the rank and file. I believe 
 that when he resigned he did not cease to rule. I have seen his 
 handwriting on circulars issued to the United Brotherhood a year 
 after his resignation was supposed to have taken place." 
 
 Continuing, Mr. Dillon said that immediately 
 after hearing of the disappearance of Dr. Cronin, 
 he came to the conclusion that he had been mur-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 257 
 
 dered, and urged the Executive to appropriate 
 $3,000 to hunt up the murderers. The reply was 
 made, however, that there was no proof that he 
 was dead. In reply to a question the witness 
 said : 
 
 " I will give you facts that may show animus. Dr. Cronin saw 
 that the friends of Alexander Sullivan in Chicago were in the 
 habit of saying that the verdict, on the trial at which Dr. Cronin 
 was one of the jurors, was in favor of Alexander Sullivan. The 
 verdict was supposed to be kept secret, but it somehow leaked out 
 through the organization, unofficially, what the verdict r%ally was, 
 and the two doctors were pointed out as the only two men who 
 found Sullivan guilty of any crime, and that Alexander Sullivan 
 was not guilty. Dr. Cronin, in order to prove that he was in pos- 
 session of information which, if they heard, or he was permitted 
 to read, would prove the guilt of Alexander Sullivan, stated that 
 he had in his possession at least three hundred pages of testimony 
 which would be produced at the coming convention, to prove that 
 these men were all the charges had specified they were. The 
 executive ordered him to send that 300 pages of testimony to the 
 chairman of that body, but he refused to hand them over." 
 
 " When was the convention to be?" 
 
 " The date of the convention was not decided on; it was to be 
 at some future time. Dr. Cronin said it would be necessary for 
 him to hold these documents, so that in the coming convention he 
 would have something to justify the verdict he had given of 
 guilty." 
 
 " What was the verdict? 1 ' 
 
 " There were four verdicts. There were no majority or minority 
 reports. The vote of the jury was 3 to 3, a tie, as to the guilt or 
 innocence of Sullivan and the others. They heard all the evi- 
 dence, that is this evidence that Dr. Cronin was going to publish 
 at the coming convention." 
 
 CRONIN'S PRIVATE PAPERS IN EVIDENCE. 
 
 The taking of evidence came to an end on 
 June 1 2, with the reading of some of the notes 
 and papers left behind by the murdered man. 
 These, although not entirely pertinent to the in- 
 quiry, were of absorbing interest, and were lis- 
 tened to with breathless attention by the large
 
 258 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 audience. They related largely to the notes of 
 Mrs. Mackey Lomasney's testimony before the 
 New York commission heretofore referred to 
 and revealed a condition of affairs in the manage- 
 ment of Irish secret societies so callous, cruel, 
 selfish, treacherous, and revolting that a shud- 
 der passed through the auditors as page after 
 page was read with precision and emphasis by 
 the coroher. It was a woman's story of her hus- 
 band's separation from her, and of the trials and 
 tribulations through which she had passed, which 
 was calculated to melt the stoniest heart, and 
 served as a fitting finale to this historical inquiry.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 CLOSING SCENES OF THE INQUEST THE VER- 
 DICT ALEXANDER SULLIVAN'S ARREST OR- 
 DERED MIDNIGHT VISIT TO HIS RESIDENCE 
 
 HIS COOL DEMEANOR AND CHEERFUL AC- 
 QUIESENCE TAKEN TO THE COUNTY JAIL 
 RELEASED ON HABEAS CORPUS. 
 
 The closing scenes of the coroner's inquest 
 were of a nature calculated to impress them- 
 selves upon the memories of the participants. 
 
 The morning session had been replete with 
 sensational testimony. At the noon recess 
 word went around that the jury had heard 
 enough upon which to frame a verdict, and 
 that the prolonged investigation was nearing its 
 close. 
 
 This, of itself, was sufficient to bring to the 
 building a throng, that not only crowded 
 the court room and the outside corridors, but 
 extended away down the three broad flights of 
 stairs and out into the street. Nearly two 
 hours were spent in the reading of 'papers relat- 
 ing to the Clan-na-Gael and its English opera- 
 tions. When the last sheet had been read there 
 
 259
 
 260 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 was a pause. Chief Hubbard came in through 
 a private entrance and a long consultation en- 
 sued between that official, the State's Attorney, 
 and the coroner. Then the latter turned to 
 the jury. 
 
 " Gentlemen " said he " are there any more 
 witnesses that you would wish me to call ?" 
 
 " No sir," was Foreman Critchell's emphatic 
 reply. 
 
 " That is all the testimony that we have at 
 present, " resumed the coroner, " I can furnish 
 you with a good deal of corroborative testimony 
 if you wish me to." 
 
 " I think the jury has heard enough corrob- 
 orative testimony. If there are no witnesses 
 on any new points we would like to retire." 
 
 It was five o'clock when Foreman Critchell 
 led the little procession down stairs to the cor- 
 oner's office. A Deputy Sheriff and Deputy 
 Coroner went along as a body guard. The si- 
 lence that had prevailed in the court room was 
 broken by a loud hum; while everybody com- 
 menced at once to speculate on the probable 
 verdict and the people it would implicate. Six 
 o'clock came, seven, eight, nine, and still no 
 word from the jury room. But the crowd 
 kept its seats or its standing room with ex- 
 amplary patience. Shortly after nine supper 
 was sent in to the jurors, and the rumor went
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 261 
 
 out that they were unable to reach a conclusion. 
 This, however, as was to be developed an hour 
 later, was wide of the mark. 
 
 THE VERDICT. 
 
 One hour later, just as the hands of the clock 
 were pointing to ten, Coroner Hertz was sum- 
 moned to the jury-room. He was absent but a 
 few minutes, and when he returned Foreman 
 Critchell and his associates filed in after him. A 
 death-like stillness prevailed as Critchell com- 
 menced to read the verdict. When he reached 
 that point which recommended that 
 ALEXANDER SULLIVAN, the lawyer, 
 P. O'SULLIVAN, the Lake View iceman, 
 DANIEL COUGHLIN, the detective, and 
 FRANK WOODRUFF, alias Black, 
 be held to the grand jury as principals in or ac- 
 cessories to the foul crime, there was considerable 
 stir, coupled with exclamations of satisfaction, and 
 no little confusion was caused by a number of 
 those present scampering from the room to 
 spread the news around the city. The verdict, 
 as taken from the official document, was word 
 for word as follows : 
 
 We, the undersigned, a jury appointed to make inquiry accord- 
 ing to law as to how the body viewed by us came to his death, state 
 from the evidence: 
 
 First That the body is that of Patrick H, Cronin, known as 
 Pr. Cronin,
 
 262 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Second That his death was not from natural causes but from 
 violent results. 
 
 Third That the said P. H. Cronin was decoyed from his home 
 on North Clark street the evening of May 4, 1889, by some person 
 or persons, to the Carlson cottage, situated at No. 1872 North Ash- 
 land avenue, in Lake View, Cook County, 111. 
 
 Fourth That at said cottage the said Cronin was murdered by 
 being beaten on his head with some blunt instrument in the hands 
 of some person or persons to us unknown, the night of the said 
 May 4, or between May 4 and May 5, 1889. 
 
 Fifth -That the body, after the said murder was committed, was 
 placed in a trunk and carried to Edgewater on a wagon by several 
 persons, and by them placed in a catch-basin at the corner of 
 Evanston avenue and Fifty-ninth street, Lake View, where it was 
 discovered May 22, 1889. 
 
 Sixth That the evidence shows conclusively to our minds that 
 a plot or conspiracy was formed by a number of persons for the 
 purpose of murdering said Cronin and concealing his body. Said 
 plot or conspiracy was deliberately contrived and cruelly executed. 
 
 Seventh We have had careful inquiry into the relations sus- 
 tained by said Cronin to other persons while alive to ascertain if 
 he had any enemy or enemies sufficient to cause his murder. 
 
 Eighth It is our judgment that no other person or persons 
 except some of those who are or have been members of a certain 
 secret society, known as the United Brotherhood or "Clan-na-Gael," 
 had any cause to be the instigators or executors of such plot and 
 conspiracy to murder the said Cronin. 
 
 Ninth Many of the witnesses testifying in the case have done 
 so with much evident unwillingness, and, as we believe, with much 
 mental reservation. 
 
 We find from the evidence that a number of persons were con- 
 nected with this plot and conspiring to murder the said Cronin, 
 and that 
 
 DANIEL COUGHLTN, 
 
 PATRICK O'SULLIVAN, 
 
 ALEXANDER SULLIVAN, 
 
 FRANK WOODRUFF, alias BLACK, 
 
 were either the principals, accessories, or have guilty knowledge 
 of said plot and conspiracy to murder said Cronin and conceal his 
 body, and should be held to answer to the grand jury.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 263 
 
 We also believe that other persons were engaged in the plot, or 
 have guilty knowledge of it, and should be apprehended and held 
 to the grand jury. 
 
 We would further state that this plot or conspiracy in its con- 
 ception and execution is one of the most vile and brutal that has 
 ever come to our knowledge, and we would recommend that the 
 proper authorities offer a large reward for the discovery and con- 
 viction of all those engaged in it in any way. 
 
 We further state that in our judgment all secret societies whose 
 objects are such as the evidence shows those of the Clan-na-Gael 
 or United Brotherhood to be, are not in harmony with and are 
 injurious to American institutions. 
 
 We hope that future vigor and vigilance by the police force 
 will more than compensate for past neglect by a portion of the 
 force in this case. 
 
 R. S. CRTTCHELL, H. A. HAUGAN, 
 
 JOHN A. VAN HOUSEN, JUSTUS KILLIAN, 
 RUDOLF SEIFERT, VICTOR U. SUTTER. 
 
 ALEXANDER SULLIVAN.
 
 264 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 ARREST OF ALEXANDER SULLIVAN. 
 
 Just as soon as the verdict had been read, Fore- 
 man Critchell called the State's Attorney and 
 Coroner inside the latter's private room for a con- 
 sultation. A moment later they were joined by 
 Police Captain Schuettler and Detectives Palmer, 
 Amstein, Miller, Broderick, Schifter, McDonald, 
 
 ALEXANDER SULLIVAN'S RESIDENCE. 
 
 Williams and Hedrick. It was decided that the 
 arrest of Alexander Sullivan should be effected 
 without delay, notwithstanding the late hour, 
 and the Coroner, having made out his mittimus, 
 entrusted it to Detective Palmer. The latter 
 selected as his assistants Detectives Williams and
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 265 
 
 Broderick, and the trio entered a carriage. Well 
 on toward midnight the elegant residence of the 
 ex-President of the Land League, at 378 Oak 
 street, on the North side of the city, was reached. 
 Palmer was the first to alight. 
 He rapidly ascended the steps and rang the 
 bell. Henry Brown, Mr. Sullivan's clerk, opened 
 the door. 
 
 "Is Mr. Sullivan at home?" inquired Officer 
 Palmer. 
 
 "He is," said Brown. 
 
 " I want to see him," said Officer Palmer, as 
 he entered. 
 
 Brown closed the door. Fearing some scheme 
 to give Sullivan a chance to escape, Palmer at once 
 gave instructions to Williams to go to the rear of 
 the house, and the officer ran back to the alley. 
 
 But the noted Irish Nationalist had no thought 
 of escaping. At that very moment he was sound 
 asleep in bed. It was characteristic of the strong 
 will-power of the man. The drift of the testi- 
 mony for a week had indicated to him, as to every- 
 body else that heard or read it, that the Coroner's 
 jury would name him either as a principal or as 
 accessory to the crime. The paper that he had 
 in his hand as he drove home that evening, chron- 
 icled the fact that the jury had retired, and was 
 deliberating upon its verdict/ And yet, well 
 aware, as he must have been, that this verdict
 
 266 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 would be of terrible personal import he had 
 retired at nine o'clock and was as sound asleep as 
 a worn out child. 
 
 "Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Sullivan," shouted Brown. 
 . "What is it?" came a voice from the bed room, 
 "I'm here." 
 
 " Some one wants to see you," returned 
 Brown. 
 
 By this time Palmer had reached the top of 
 the stairs and was outside the bed room. Sulli- 
 van opened the door and recognized his visitor. 
 Not a muscle of his face moved. 
 
 " All right," he said ; nonchalantly, " I'm 
 coming.' 7 
 
 To dress himself, as neat as wax just as he 
 always looked was but the work of a few min- 
 utes. Then the door was opened again, and his 
 form was seen in the dimly lighted hallway. Pre- 
 ceded by Palmer, who had been joined by Brod- 
 erick, he went down-stairs into the dimly lighted 
 hallway. 
 
 44 Good evening, Palmer," he said, pleasantly. 
 
 The detective returned the greeting. " I have 
 a mittimus for your arrest, Mr. Sullivan." 
 
 "Very well," was the response. He led the 
 way into the parlor, and Palmer commenced to 
 read the document. Sullivan stood up near the 
 mantelpiece, leaning his elbow slightly upon the 
 marble slab, and listened attentively. Not for an
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 267 
 
 instant did he betray the slightest emotion. A 
 contemptuous sneer settled on his lips. His head 
 was slightly thrown back as if in defiance of 
 the officers. His hand toyed for an instant with 
 fringed plush that covered the rocking chair 
 close by on his left. He never once took his eyes 
 off Palmer as he read the mittimus. This was in 
 the following form : 
 
 STATE OF ILLINOIS, COOK COUNTY, ss. The People of the 
 State of Illinois, to the Sheriff and Jailer of said County, Greeting: 
 Whereas, at an inquisition taken for the people of the State of 
 Illinois at the Coroner's office, in said County of Cook, on the 230! 
 day of May, A. D. 1889, before me > Henry L. Hertz, Coroner, in and 
 for said County, upon view of the body of Patrick Henry Cronin 
 then and there lying dead, upon the oath of six good and lawful 
 men of said county, who being duly sworn as a Coroner's jury, to 
 inquire on the part of the people of the State of Illinois into all the 
 circumstances attending the death of the said Patrick Henry Cronin, 
 and by whom the same was produced, and in what manner and when 
 and where the said Patrick Henry Cronin came to his death; and, 
 whereas, the said jury, by their verdict then and there delivered to 
 the said Henry L. Hertz, Coroner, did return and find that the said 
 Patrick Henry Cronin came to his death by being beaten on his head 
 with some blunt instrument or instruments in the hands of some per- 
 son or persons to the jury unknown; and that one Daniel Coughlin, 
 one Patrick O'Sullivan, one Alexander Sullivan, and one Woodruff, 
 alias Black, were connected with the death of the said Patrick 
 Henry Cronin either as principals or as accessories before the fact, 
 and should be held to answer to the grand jury. 
 
 Now, therefore, you are hereby required to receive into your 
 custody the said Daniel Coughlin, Patrick O'Sullivan, Alexander 
 Sullivan and Woodruff, alias Black, and them safely keep until 
 discharged by due course of law. 
 
 Witness my hand this nth day of June, A. D. 1889. 
 
 HENRY L. HERTZ, 
 
 Coroner Cook County. 
 
 Palmer had hardly reached the last word, when
 
 268 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Sullivan remarked, without a perceptible tremor 
 in his voice: 
 
 " Will you not remain here with me over night, 
 Palmer?" 
 
 " I have no authority to do that," answered 
 the officer, after a moment's hesitation, "I was 
 instructed to take you down to the jail. I am 
 sorry, but I shall have to do it." 
 
 " Very well," replied Sullivan, tl I should like 
 to have some clean linen with me or have it sent 
 over." 
 
 " Certainly, that will be granted," replied Offi- 
 cer Pakner. 
 
 "Wait till I get my hat and coat," said Mr. 
 Sullivan. 
 
 He walked out of the parlor into the hall-way, 
 took down a light overcoat from the coat-rack, 
 and put it on. Palmer assisted him. 
 
 "You are taking this very coolly, Mr. Sulli- 
 van," said the officer. 
 
 "Yes," was the answer, "why shouldn't I? 
 My conscience does not trouble me." 
 
 " This proceeding was not altogether unexpect- 
 ed?" 
 
 " Well, yes, it was rather, at this hour of the 
 night." 
 
 Brown stepped to the door and Broderick fol- 
 lowed. Sullivan came behind. 
 
 " I am ready," he said.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 269 
 
 Brown opened the door. Broderick stepped 
 out, closely followed by Sullivan and Palmer. 
 The three men went down the steps to the side- 
 walk, where they were met by Williams. All 
 four entered the carriage which was in waiting. 
 A dozen people were on the sidewalk, and Sulli- 
 van's next door neighbors had gathered on the 
 veranda to see the Irish leader driven away. The 
 driver gathered his reins, wheeled the horses 
 around, and started them toward Dearborn ave- 
 nue at a rapid trot. The vehicle had barely 
 reached the corner when a little newsboy, with a 
 big bundle of evening papers under his left arm, 
 and waving an open one with his right, ran up 
 to the carriage window. 
 
 "Here is your extra," he screamed, with all 
 the strength of his infantile lungs. " All about 
 Alexander Sullivan charged with Cronin's mur- 
 der." 
 
 Not a muscle of Sullivan's face moved, not a 
 fibre of his frame, so far as the officers observed, 
 so much as twitched. He sat in his seat as 
 motionless as a statue, apparently the most 
 unconcerned of the four occupants of the vehicle. 
 
 Within five minutes the jail was reached. 
 Williams was the first to alight, and, going 
 up the steps, two at a time, he rapped 
 heavily upon the iron door. In a moment it 
 was opened. He ran down again to the car-
 
 1 70 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 riage, and the other three men, Sullivan includ- 
 ed, stepped out. The prisoner ascended the stone 
 steps to the jail with deliberation, nodded to 
 a bailiff who bade him good evening, and 
 passed in. Not a word was spoken as the little 
 party crossed" the hall way and yard. The 
 turnkey had evidently been prepared for the 
 new arrival, for, no sooner had Palmer reached 
 the head of the little stairway leading to 
 the jail proper, than the iron gates swung 
 open for their reception. In a dignified manner 
 Sullivan bowed to the bailiff inside, but did not 
 speak. The full light of a half dozen gas jets 
 shone full on his face. Not the slightest change 
 was observable in his appearance. He was just as 
 cool, just as collected, just as courteous, as he 
 had appeared to his clients in his office but a few 
 hours before. He stepped up to the wicket as 
 Palmer read the mitimus to the deputy jailer, 
 and, when the latter bade him a cordial good 
 evening, he merely nodded his head. The officials 
 did not ask him a single question, and when one 
 of the bystanders approached him and asked: 
 "Have you anything to say to-night?" he re- 
 plied, in a polite but firm tone that admitted of 
 no doubt as to its meaning: 
 
 " No, not to-night. What I have to say will 
 be said in court. I have no more to say to-night 
 than I had a week ago." With these words he
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 271 
 
 shook hands with the detectives and others pres- 
 ent whom he knew personally. The door to the 
 inner cage and corridor opened, and, as soon as 
 he had stepped in, was pulled to and locked. 
 
 -The ex-Irish leader, whose name was a house- 
 hold word wherever, throughout the wide world, 
 two or three of the Irish race were gathered to- 
 gether, was a prisoner of the State, a prisoner 
 charged with complicity in one of the most das- 
 tardly and cold blooded murders that had ever 
 disgraced a civilized community. 
 
 Yet, even now, his phenominal firmness and 
 self possession remained with him. For a few 
 moments he paced the corridor while the turn- 
 keys arranged the bedding which had been spec- 
 ially provided for him in Cell number 25 of 
 "Murderers' Row/' 
 
 " This way if you please," said one of the jail- 
 ers, when this had been done. 
 
 With a respectful half inclination of the body, 
 Sullivan stepped into the narrow cell, and the big 
 key grated in the lock. When, ten minutes later, 
 the same jailer peered in through the grating, 
 the prisoner, stretched upon his cot, was as 
 sound asleep as a new born babe. 
 
 Many of the friends of the murdered phy- 
 sician remained in their headquarters until the 
 arrest had been fully accomplished, and there 
 was considerable jubilation when the information
 
 272 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 that Sullivan had been placed behinl the bars 
 was received. Telegrams conveying the devel- 
 opments of the day were sent to scores of prom- 
 inent Irishmen in the leading cities of the country. 
 
 " This is a splendid days work," said Luke 
 Dillon. " This crime will now be fully exposed. 
 The plot will be unraveled and guilty brought 
 to punishment." 
 
 " Everything is progressing in the right di- 
 rection," said P. W. Dunne, one of the closest 
 friends of the dead man, " I am the last man to 
 gloat over a fallen foe, but Alexander Sullivan's 
 arrest comes none too soon." 
 
 ALEXANDER SULLIVAN'S EVENTFUL LIFE. 
 
 Alexander Sullivan had been a conspicuous figure in Chicago's 
 political life for some time, and a few years before had been a 
 prominent figure in two of the most exciting murder trials ever 
 witnessed in that city. Many persons believed, from the active 
 part which Alexander Sullivan has taken in Irish affairs, that he 
 was by birth an Irishman. He was a native of Amherstburg, Ont., 
 where his father was stationed in the British military service. He 
 went to Detroit in his youth and was engaged for a time in the boot 
 and shoe store of A. J. Bour. Subsequently he set up in the same 
 trade for himself, his store being in the Bresler Block, on Michigan 
 avenue. He was not a success in the business, and his career in it 
 was ended by the destruction of the establishment by fire, the 
 work of an incendiary. It was charged by his enemies that he 
 set the fire himself, but an investigation failed to fasten the guilt 
 upon him. 
 
 Before this time he had made himself conspicuous in the trades 
 unions as an advocate of the labor movement, then quite strong. 
 In the political campaign of 1868 he took the stump for the Re- 
 publican candidate. He was a polished and forcible speaker, and 
 did excellent service throughout the State. His political course 
 greatly offended his Irish brethren, nearly all of whom were Dem- 
 ocrats, and they denounced him with great vigor. Soon after the 
 installation of President Grant he was appointed Collector of In- 
 ternal Revenue at Santa Fe, N. M., but was not confirmed. Sub- 
 sequently, however, he was made Secretary of the Territory. He
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 273 
 
 established a Republican paper at Santa Fe, and published it 
 for some time. He became embroiled in several quarrels in the 
 Territory, and was once shot at by Gen. Heath. He was next heard 
 of in this city, where he was connected in a reportorial capacity 
 with the Inter-Ocean and the Times. In 1873 he was made Secre- 
 tary of the Board of Public Works, and hem it for some time. 
 
 About 1874 he was married to Miss Margaret Buchanan, who 
 for some time occupied a prominent position as a teacher in the 
 public schools, at one time being Principal of the Houghton 
 School. The evening of Aug. 7, 1876, Mr. Sullivan shot and 
 killed Francis Hanford, Principal of the North Division High 
 School in this city. The record is that at a meeting of the City 
 Council on the evening mentioned, when the report of the Com- 
 mittee on Schools was submitted, it was accompanied by two 
 letters written by Mr. Hanford, one of which made this statement; 
 "The instigator and engineer-in-chief of all the deviltry con- 
 nected with the legislation of the Board of Education is Mrs. 
 Sullivan, wife of the Secretary of the Board of Public Works." 
 
 The letters further accused Mr. Sullivan's wife of bringing 
 editorial and Catholic influences to bear upon the Board of Educa- 
 tion, and of conspiring with Mayor Colvin and others to have J. L. 
 Pickard, Superintendent of Public Schools, superseded by Duane 
 Doty. Duane Doty and Mrs. Sullivan, it was further averred, 
 were a " mutual admiration society." 
 
 Sullivan was present in the Council when these reflections on 
 his wife were read. He went home, and, after narrating the case 
 to Mrs. Sullivan, took her and a younger brother in a carriage to 
 Mr. Hanford's house, and, meeting Hanford on the sidewalk in 
 front of his house, demanded a retraction of what he had wiitten. 
 Hanford refused to give it. Sullivan struck him, and a general 
 squabble ensued, during which, it was alleged, Hanford pushed 
 Mrs. Sullivan, and thereupon Sullivan shot him. Hanford died in 
 thirty minutes. Sullivan was indicted for murder and tried twice. 
 The first trial began Oct, 17 and ended Oct. 26. The jury disa- 
 greed. It stood eleven for acquittal and one for conviction. The 
 second trial began Feb. 27 and ended March 10. Sullivan was 
 acquitted. 
 
 At the time there was some talk of indicting the jury, a strong 
 belief prevailing that their verdict had been bought. The jury, 
 however, were never molested. Since his acquittal Mr. Sullivan 
 had been practicing law in Chicago and gathering unto himself 
 that influence with Irish secret societies, notably the Clan-na-Gael, 
 which resulted in his election and re-election as President of the 
 new Land League, which consolidated the Irish- American societies 
 of all kinds. His power and influence was phenomenal, and he 
 ruled every organization with which he was connected, with an 
 iron hand. As a result he made many warm friends, and just as 
 many inveterate enemies, some of whom hated him with extraor- 
 dinary intensity. Men like Parnell and Michael Davitt, however, 
 extended him their full confidence, and were the first to come to
 
 274 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 his defense when the news of his arrest was published on the other 
 
 side of the Atlantic. 
 
 
 
 THE OTHER ACCUSED MEN. 
 
 Dan Coughlin, the detective, at this time was about 34 years of 
 age. He was a native of Michigan, and worked in the iron mines 
 of the northern part of that State when a boy. He arrived in 
 Chicago at the age of 26 and immediately fell in with Tim Crean, 
 Florence Sullivan, and Tom Murphy. They introduced him to 
 Alex. Sullivan and he secured a position on the police force 
 through the latter. Sullivan's influence was such that he had an 
 easy time. He became a pet of Capt. Schaack and stood closer 
 to that officer than was good for the discipline of the force. 
 
 P. O'Sullivan was born in Galena about 1853. His parents were 
 from Galway, Ireland. They moved to Southern Michigan soon 
 after he was born, and subsequently to Wisconsin, where they 
 worked a farm which O'Sullivan owned at the time of the tragedy. 
 He moved to Chicago about 1877, obtained employment as a 
 street-car conductor, and quit that position after about eight 
 years to go into the ice business. He went into politics in Lake 
 View, and was a candidate for Alderman on the Democratic 
 ticket, and was beaten. 
 
 Frank Woodruff, or Black, was the son of a farmer of San Jose, 
 Cal. He was born in Wisconsin. He had been in various peni- 
 tentiaries, but for petty offenses. He moved to Chicago about five 
 weeks before the jjth of May. He was an American.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AT THE TORONTO END OF THE CONSPIRACY 
 INVESTIGATING LONG'S CIRCUMSTANTIAL 
 STORIES, AND HIS INTERVIEWS WITH DR. 
 CRONIN A CHICAGO FUGITIVE CONCERNED 
 
 HIS SUSPICIOUS MOVEMENTS A CHAPTER 
 
 OF STARTLING COINCIDENTS LONG ON THE 
 
 RACK MAKES DAMAGING ADMISSIONS AND 
 
 BREAKS DOWN THE OBJECT TO DISTRACT 
 
 ATTENTION FROM THE SCENE OF THE CRIME 
 ANOTHER CONFESSION FROM WOODRUFF. 
 
 With the recovery of the body of the mur- 
 dered physician, and the developments that 
 followed in such rapid succession, attention was 
 attracted anew to the reports that had emanated 
 from Toronto during the week following the dis- 
 appearance. The circumstantial stories and 
 interviews that had been scattered broadcast 
 from that city over the signature of Charles 
 Long, the ex-Chicago reporter, not only had a 
 tendency to give the case an international aspect, 
 but also to confirm the suspicions of the dead 
 man's friends, that he had fallen a victim to a 
 
 275
 
 276 THE CRIME' OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 conspiracy wide in its ramifications, and planned, 
 moreover, by a master mind. The dispatches 
 were false, for the finding of Cronin's body in the 
 Lake View catch-basin admitted of no possible 
 argument to the contrary. It was equally cer- 
 tain that it could not have been a case of mis- 
 taken identity not merely because Long's 
 acquaintance with Dr. Cronin had been of a na- 
 ture to render a mistake of that kind improbable, 
 but because the detailed character of their con- 
 versation, as reported by Long, had been such 
 that Cronin's part in it could not have been taken 
 by any but Cronin himself, or some one of a few 
 men familiar with the inner workings of the Clan- 
 na-Gael or United Brotherhood. For example, a 
 week after the disappearance, and before the 
 rinding of the body, Long had concocted in 
 Toronto the story of the troubles in the Clan-na- 
 Gael, with Cronin's charge that nearly $100,000 
 of its funds had been misappropriated, while 
 papers elsewhere were still confusing the organiza- 
 tion with the Irish Land League and its Detroit 
 treasurer. "No one not a member of the Clan- 
 na-Gael could have gotten up these interviews," 
 Irishmen had said; and they were right. To the 
 general public also, unacquainted with these 
 facts, it seemed incredible that a presumably 
 reputable journalist, with an utter absence of 
 malicious motive, would, of his own free will,
 
 THE CRIME OP THE CENTURY. 277 
 
 and simply for the advantage of the small pecu- 
 niary recompense that his labors might bring, 
 so deceive and mislead the numerous and promi- 
 nent newspapers to which his dispatches were 
 addressed. It was a prostitution of the liberty 
 and license of a correspondent such, perhaps, as 
 had never been parallelled in the newspaper history 
 of the country, while, moreover, it was of a char- 
 acter calculated to wreck, for all time, the journal- 
 istic reputation of the man most directly concerned. 
 What, then, were Long's motives in giving 
 currency to these dispatches? Whose was the 
 guiding hand that induced him to take so great 
 a risk? The Chicago Tribune one of the 
 papers that had been victimized took it upon 
 itself to answer these questions. A member of 
 its staff was dispatched to Toronto, with instruc- 
 tions to sift the matter to the bottom. He was 
 fully equal to the task , and within a few hours of 
 his arrival in the city, his investigations had 
 brought to light a startling array of facts. 
 
 STARKEY'S SUSPICIOUS MOVEMENTS. 
 
 Among the American residents of Toronto at 
 this time was one William J. Starkey. Up to 
 a year before he "had been a member of the bar 
 in Chicago. He had been compelled, however, 
 to flee to the hospitable shores of the Dominion 
 and join the army of exiled forgers, embezzlers
 
 278 THE (tME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 and others who preferred the free air of the Do- 
 minion to the confined quarters of an American 
 prison by reason of the discovery of an attempt 
 he had made to bribe a juror in a case in which a 
 street railroad company with which he was iden- 
 tified was the defendant. Starkey knew Cronin 
 well. He had learned his history by acting as chief 
 attorney in the bogus case that had been brought 
 against the physician before a Chicago justice for 
 the .express purpose of cross-examining Cronin 
 regarding his past life. From that time on he 
 had been bound, body and soul, as a result of 
 certain transactions, to a prominent Irish-Ameri- 
 can of Chicago, who was one of the promoters 
 of the case in question. It was developed that 
 for months before the murder, and also after- 
 ward, he had been in communication with 
 acknowledged enemies of Dr. Cronin. It 
 was likewise discovered that he had left Tor- 
 onto on Sunday, May 5th, the day after Cronin's 
 disappearance, without leaving word with any- 
 one, unless in secret, as to his destination. He 
 took train No. 5, at 12:20 p. M., on the Great 
 Western division of the Grand Trunk, which 
 made connection at Hamilton with New York 
 and Detroit, as well as the lake steamers. He 
 reappeared Friday, May loth, and this was the 
 day that Long's first dispatch, to the effect 
 that Cronin was in Toronto, was sent out.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 279 
 
 After remaining over until the following Satur- 
 day, when the second and detailed interview 
 was sent out, he disappeared again. The day 
 following the finding of the murdered man's 
 body, cipher telegrams passed between Starkey, 
 at 135 Fourth avenue, New York, and D. K. 
 Mason, his business agent, in Toronto, and who, 
 by the way, was an exile in Canada from the 
 warehouse receipt law of Louisville, Kentucky. 
 While in New York, as will appear hereafter, 
 Starkey was seen in company with several well- 
 known opponents of the physician. 
 
 A CHAPTER OF COINCIDENCES. 
 
 What was the connection between Starkey 
 and Long in the fictitious telegrams sent out 
 from Toronto announcing that Cronin was in 
 that city. This was the first question to be 
 solved. Inquiry through the ordinary sources 
 of information failed to throw any light on the 
 matter. Starkey was not known to the Tor- 
 onto detectives or its police officers. None of 
 the local members of the press, save one, had 
 come in contact with him. A few hotel clerks 
 knew him by sight, but even these walking 
 directories, who are generally supposed to have 
 a knowledge of everything under the sun at 
 their fingers' ends, could not tell his place of
 
 2 SO THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 abode. A few knew him under the alias of 
 Hardy, and that was the extent of their infor- 
 mation. Several correspondents, who, 'upon 
 request from papers in New York, Philadelphia, 
 Chicago, and other cities, had inquired into his 
 relations with Long, reported that the two were 
 not on friendly terms. This information, how- 
 ever, came to them from Long himself, who 
 referred all inquirers to the Toronto Empire of 
 February 21, in which issue, he claimed, he 
 had " written up " and " roasted " the Chicago 
 fugitive. Right here was a coincidence of a 
 startling nature. It was on that date that the 
 furniture found in the blood-stained cottage had 
 been purchased. 
 
 "You must either see that Starkey and I are 
 at outs," said Long to Sergeant Reburn, of the 
 Toronto detective force, " or else that we planned 
 this thing as early as the 2ist of February, and 
 prepared this article to throw people off the 
 scent as to our true relations. I leave it to your 
 common sense to determine which is the proper 
 version to take of it." 
 
 The article was examined, and the result was 
 surprising. Long had "roasted" Starkey, not by 
 his own name, but under the alias of "A. B. Dar- 
 lingford." This individual, it was stated, was 
 residing in a fashionable section of Bloor street,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 281 
 
 TP 
 
 and was on intimate terms with a number of the 
 most aristocratic families of the city. 
 
 No better disguise could have been conceived 
 for the real Starkey, or, as he was generally 
 known, " W. J. Hardy," and who was boarding 
 at the time in an humble house on the northwest 
 corner of Wellington and Johns streets. He had 
 never passed under the name of "Darlingford," 
 nor had he ever lived on Bloor street, while his 
 favorite haunts, instead of being in the aristo- 
 cratic circles, had been the bar of the Walker 
 House, which was presided over by two young 
 Irishmen, and Kieche's European Hotel, of which 
 another Irishman was the proprietor. 
 
 To establish the fact that the relations of 
 Long and Starkey were not only pleasant, but 
 extremely intimate, was to the investigator a task 
 involving but little trouble. It was found that 
 Long had been a frequent visitor at the residence 
 of Starkey, alias Hardy. Several weeks before, 
 R. A. Wade, at one time a Chicago lawyer, had 
 called at the house, and found the two men in 
 conversation. "Billy" Acres, the principal waiter 
 at the Rossin House, declared that Long and 
 Starkey frequently sat together at the table. It 
 was also shown that Starkey and Long had been 
 frequent visitors to a room of another fugitive 
 from Chicago justice, who was temporarily stop, 
 ing at the before mentioned hotel. On the face
 
 282 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 of these facts, Long was finally forced to admit 
 that he and Starkey were very well acquainted 
 with each other, although he still insisted that 
 their relations were anything but friendly. 
 
 To ascertain the motives and the individuals 
 that had inspired the Toronto reporter to deceive 
 the press of the country with his infamous dis- 
 patches regarding the alleged presence of Dr. 
 Cronin in that city, was the point with which the 
 commissioner from Chicago now directed himself. 
 Long lived with his father president of the 
 Toronto Printing Company, a stockholder in the 
 Empire newspaper, and an ex-member of the 
 Parliament of Ontario in a handsome residence 
 located in spacious grounds. Here he was called 
 upon. His visitor urged him to remedy the 
 serious mistake he had made by giving to the 
 public the information he possessed regarding 
 the persons who had instigated the writing of 
 the articles, and their reasons for so doing. 
 
 " I will never do it," cried Long. " I saw Cronin. 
 The interviews proved that. Every member of 
 the Clan-na-6ael in Chicago knows that I could 
 have known nothing about Cronin's threatened 
 disclosures of treason among its members, or 
 of the theft of $85,000 from its funds. I must 
 have talked with Cronin to have known that." 
 
 The visitor suggested that he might rather 
 have talked with William J. Starkey, and Long,
 
 TMK CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 283 
 
 pale and trembling, sank back into his chair. He 
 recovered his composure in a moment and went 
 on to say that Starkey and he were enemies. 
 Then the visitor confronted him with remorseless 
 facts. He told him that he had frequently been 
 seen in company with Starkey, both at the lat- 
 ter's residence and at the Rossin House; that 
 he had met Starkey at McConkey's restaurant 
 on King Street on the day he claimed to have 
 seen Cronin, that being the day on which he 
 sent off his first dispatch ; that he and Starkey 
 were together for a long time on the following 
 day, when the lengthy interview with Cronin 
 was sent out ; that he had told the Toronto 
 detectives that Cronin was at Starkey's house, 
 and that he had given the latter's name as a wit- 
 ness and as one who had known Cronin in Chi- 
 cago, to the fact that the dispatches were truthful. 
 "Starkey told me that Cronin was at his 
 house" exclaimed Long, who by this time was in 
 a condition, bordering on the hysterical. 
 
 " Why didn't you bring Cronin out to your 
 house?" the visitor asked. 
 
 " Why should I?" replied Long. He had evi- 
 dently forgotten that two weeks before he had 
 assured Detective Reburn that Cronin had visited 
 his residence. Two days afterward, when con- 
 fronted with Reburn, he repeated his original 
 statement.
 
 284 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 " Cronin was at my house," he said. 
 
 "Why didn't you say so in your dispatches? 
 Why did you tell another story the other morn- 
 ing?" asked the visitor. 
 
 " I did not telegraph everything that passed 
 between Cronin and myself, nor did I tell you 
 everything the other day." 
 
 " Who saw Cronin at your house? " 
 
 "My wife." 
 
 "Did the servants?" 
 
 "Well, they wouldn't remember him." 
 
 " Did you present him to your father and 
 mother?" 
 
 " They were away." 
 
 It was apparent by this time, even apart from 
 the fact that the body had been discovered and 
 the circumstances demonstrated that it was in 
 the catch-basin at the time Long's dispatches 
 were filed, that his carefully prepared story 
 would not hold water. 
 
 Still the visitor persisted, and literally com- 
 pelled the reporter to drive him to the different 
 points at which he claimed to have seen Cronin, 
 and over the route he followed him the first day. 
 Long took him to the Yong Street Arcade, 
 thence to the Union Depot, thence up to King 
 and Ontario streets ; thence to Adalaide and 
 Toronto streets, ' where Cronin was alleged to 
 have taken a hack, and Long had taken another
 
 THE CK1.MK OF TJIK CKNTUKY. 285 
 
 and followed him. Pressed to give the name 
 of the hackman, his number or his description, 
 Long said that he was in such a hurry that he 
 paid no attention to any of these details. He 
 was reminded that Alexander Craig, clerk at the 
 Rossin House, had declared that no such guests 
 as he, Long, had described were ever at the 
 hotel, that no one had turned up to say that 
 Long and Cronin had been seen in^ conversa- 
 tion, that the hackman had faded into air, and 
 that Starkey remained the only bulwark of the 
 story. 
 
 'Make a clean breast of it," he was urged. 
 " Tell the public the truth regarding the circum- 
 stances under which your stories were origin- 
 ated." 
 
 " I will never retreat," was Long's reply. " I 
 would drag no one else through the mire of cal- 
 umny I am now going through." 
 
 " How do you happen to know so much about 
 Cronin's St. Louis record ? " he was asked. 
 
 " I was in St. Louis a little over a year ago and 
 made inquiries about him." 
 
 " What prompted you to do that ? " 
 
 Long declined to answer, but said that he had 
 a copy of the pamphlet entitled, " Is It A Con- 
 spiracy ? " 
 
 This was important, because it was known that 
 a number of copies had been sent to Starkey,
 
 286 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 whose name figured in the pamphlet as one of 
 Cronin's enemies. 
 
 Numerous Toronto Irishmen who were con- 
 sulted expressed the opinion (some of them to 
 Long's face) that they believed his dispatches 
 had been manufactured out of whole cloth. A 
 final effort was made to induce Long to clear 
 up the mystery surrounding the murder, by dis- 
 closing hpw he was prompted to send the dis- 
 patches, and a suggestion was made that, upon 
 the existing facts, he stood in danger of being 
 indicted by the Chicago authorities. This, how- 
 ever, failed of its purpose, and, failing to induce 
 the reporter to unbosom himself in the cause of 
 'ustice, the matter was dropped. 
 
 Further investigations into the movements of 
 William J. Starkey were next made. It was found 
 that the fugitive and a prominent Irish- American 
 from Chicago, had met in Windsor about eight 
 months before, when the Irish- American had paid 
 over to Starkey $8,000 in cash, which had been 
 obtained for him from a Chicago corporation 
 which was under obligations to him. About the 
 middle of February Starkey received a visit from 
 a man from Chicago who was possessed of brains 
 of a high order, and after his return to Chicago 
 a regular correspondence ensued between this 
 individual and Starkey, which ceased only with the 
 latter's departure from Toronto to New York,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 This occurred on the Sunday morning, following 
 the Saturday night on which Dr. Cronin left his 
 home forever. Up to two weeks before this 
 time Starkey's financial condition had been very 
 bad. Then he suddenly became <: flush," and was 
 enabled to invest several thousand dollars through 
 
 o 
 
 D. K. Mason, member of the great fugitive colony, 
 who, as has before been mentioned, had for five 
 years found it desirable to make his home in 
 Toronto as the result of some little irregularities 
 in warehouse receipts which had transpired in 
 Louisville, his old home. Where Starkey had 
 gone on Sunday, May 4th, was a mystery. From 
 the statement of the train dispatcher at the Union 
 Depot, as well as of a business man who had 
 talked with him just prior to the departure of the 
 train, it was certain that he had left on the noon 
 passenger train of the Grand Trunk. He had 
 not purchased a ticket however, and consequently 
 must have paid his fare to the conductor on the 
 train. His wife insisted that he had been absent 
 from Toronto, continuously from this time, but 
 although the intuitive wifely forecast of danger 
 which induced her to make such a statement was 
 entitled to due respect, it was established by a 
 dozen reputable witnessess, among them, some 
 of his oldest friends, that he had been seen in the 
 city on the Friday and Saturday, one week later,
 
 288 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 when Long had manufactured his telegrams and 
 Interviews. 
 
 Four days after this he was met in New 
 York by Richard Powers, of Chicago, ex- 
 president of the Seamen's Union, and a warm 
 friend of Dr. Cronin, who taxed him with being 
 concerned in the manufacture of the bogus dis- 
 patches. Starkey not only denied this with 
 some show of feeling, but also declared that he 
 was not acquainted with Long. Strange to say, 
 John F. Beggs, the Chicago lawyer who presided 
 at that time over Camp 20 of the Clan-na-gael, 
 was also in New York at that time. On Thurs- 
 day, May 23d, the day following the discovery 
 of Cronin's corpse, numerous telegrams, in 
 cipher, passed between Starkey and Mason, 
 the former's address being given as 135 Fourth 
 avenue, New York. The following day Starkey 
 was seen in conversation with certain members 
 of the executive committee of the Clan-na-gael, 
 and in about a week he reappeared in Toronto, 
 vigorously disclaiming all connection with the 
 movements of his friend i^ong. All the circum- * 
 stances pointed to the fact that the sole object 
 of the Toronto end of the conspiracy had been 
 to distract attention from the scene of the crime, 
 in order that the search for the body, then 
 decomposing in the catch basin might be dis- 
 continued, and, had it not been for the opportune
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 289 
 
 discovery, this portion of the plot would have 
 been entirely successful. No effort, however, 
 was made by those interested in bringing the 
 murderers to justice, to pursue the inquiries in 
 this direction, owing to the fact, that, however 
 important the information obtained, it would 
 not have been admissable before an American 
 court. The result was that the mystery sur- 
 rounding the " hidden hand " that directed the 
 movements of Long and Starkey had not been 
 dispelled up to the conclusion of the trial. 
 
 WOODRUFF'S SECOND CONFESSION. 
 
 Another confession was poured by Woodruff 
 into the willing ears of Captain Schack about 
 this time. In it^ the man of many aliases told 
 an entirely different story to that which resulted 
 'n his commitment to jail. According to his 
 .atest narrative, he was hired to take the wagon 
 to the Carlson cottage, saw Dr. Cronin cross the 
 threshold and pass through the doorway,. and 
 waited until the trunk had been brought out 
 and placed in his vehicle. Then he was told 
 to drive along the route so frequently de- 
 scribed. It was the intention of the men, 
 Woodruff went on to say, to sink the trunk in 
 the lake, but they became scared at meeting
 
 2QO THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 several policemen, and seeing the manhole of the 
 sewer, and which in the darkness looked much 
 larger than it really was, they directed him to 
 stop. Having lifted off the cover of the man- 
 hole, the men were disgusted to find that the 
 trunk was much too large to go into the open- 
 ing. Accordingly they decided to take the body 
 from the trunk, put it in the catch-basin and 
 take the trunk back to the cottage. The dis- 
 covery being made that the key was missing, 
 one of the men broke open the trunk, and 
 assisted by the other two, forced the body 
 through the manhole and into the catch-basin. 
 The cover replaced, the trunk was again thrown 
 into the wagon and the horse's head turned 
 toward the cottage. After going a short dis- 
 tance, however, the noise of a wagon was heard 
 coming from the south. One of the men, who 
 was sitting on the trunk, threw it out of the 
 wagon into the ditch, and commanded Woodruff 
 to lash his horse and drive as fast as he could to 
 the west. At Fullerton avenue, the men got 
 outi of the wagon, while Woodruff drove to the 
 barn. Concerning his previous confession, he 
 admitted that the statement that there was 
 a woman's body in the trunk was untrue, and 
 added that the names of King and Fairburn 
 were those of old friends, and had come to him 
 on the spur of the moment. Inasmuch, how-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 29 1 
 
 ever as the prisoner, having access to the daily 
 papers, could easily have concocted this story 
 from the published reports and surmises, little 
 stock was taken in his second "confession."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SULLIVAN'S ARREST CREATES A SENSATION 
 
 HIS FRIENDS STAND BY HIM THE NOTED 
 
 IRISH LEADER IN COURT EFFORTS TO SECURE 
 
 HIS RELEASE JUDGE TULEY GIVES HIM HIS 
 LIBERTY ARREST OF MARONEY AND MCDON- 
 ALD IN NEW YORK THEIR EXTRADITION 
 
 REFUSED. 
 
 Although, from the nature of the testimony 
 before the coroner's jury, and the numerous 
 developments in other directions, the arrest of 
 the ex-president of the Irish National League 
 of America was not entirely unexpected, it 
 nevertheless produced a profound sensation, not 
 only in the United States, but also across the 
 Atlantic. By many of his friends and 
 acquaintances in Ireland, the news was at first 
 received with incredulity, and afterward, when 
 confirmation had been flashed over the wires, 
 with expressions of astonishment and denuncia- 
 tion of the course of the authorities. Men like 
 Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt 
 were not slow or conservative of words in giv- 
 ing utterance to the opinion that a serious mis- 
 
 292
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 293 
 
 take had been made; that Sullivan was an hon- 
 est man, a patriot, a true worker in the cause 
 of Irish liberty, and altogether a man whom it 
 would be impossible to convict of identity with 
 a conspiracy to assassinate one of his enemies. 
 Meanwhile the Chicago friends of the accused 
 lawyer were not inactive. Bright and early on 
 the morning following his arrest they were in 
 conference, for the purpose of determining upon 
 the best course to pursue in order that his 
 freedom could be secured. As a result of 
 their deliberations, Counsellor A. S. Trude, one 
 of the leading member of the Chicago bar, 
 appeared before Chancellor Tuley upon the 
 opening of the court, and secured a writ of 
 habeas corpus, calling upon Sheriff Matson to 
 produce his prisoner in court at three o'clock 
 in the afternoon. The news spread rapidly. 
 Popular feeling had been re-kindled by the 
 events of the week, and, long before the hour 
 designated, the court room was besieged by a 
 crowd of people anxious to see the distinguished 
 suspect. Sullivan was brought into the court 
 room promptly on time, under escort of the 
 sheriff and a couple of broad-shouldered depu- 
 ties. .Owing to some difficulty in securing a 
 vehicle, and the stoppage of the street cars 
 through an accident, the sheriff and his prisoner 
 had been compelled to walk from the jail to the
 
 294 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 court room, "a distance of nearly one mile, and 
 strange as it may seem, although the route 
 took them through a leading thoroughfare 
 crowded with people coming and going, not 
 one seemed to recognize the official or his com- 
 panion. No ' one would have imagined for a 
 moment that the latter had been the occupant 
 of a cell over night. His linen was immaculate, 
 and his attire a neat fitting Prince Albert suit 
 of black diagonal, with a black cravat tied in a 
 simple knot over the snowy shirt bosom and 
 the turn-down collar was absolutely faultless. 
 The occasion was one to.try the soul of a strong 
 man, but as he looked over the court room 
 and glanced into the faces of many of his bit- 
 terest enemies, his expression was stoical, and 
 he shook hands in a cheerful manner with 
 several friends who were in court to show their 
 allegiance to him. As counsel, he had Attor- 
 neys Trude, Windes and McArdle -the two 
 latter his law partners ex-Senator Duncan and 
 Hiram Gilbert. The people were represented 
 by State's Attorney Longenecker and his assist 
 ant, Frank Baker, the former occupying his 
 favorite attitude of leaning over the bar of the 
 court while the arguments were in progress. 
 
 It was developed at the outset that the 
 unconditional release of the prisoner was not 
 desired, but that it was simply sought to secure
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 295 
 
 him his liberty upon substantial baTl The pro- 
 ceedings opened with the reading of the peti- 
 tion to which Mr. Sullivan had affixed his 
 signature. In this he declared that the evidence 
 before the coroner's jury, and upon which his 
 arrest was based, had been wholly insufficient 
 to warrant that action ; that there was no com- 
 petent evidence, direct or circumstantial, tend- 
 ing to prove that he was guilty of the murder of 
 Patrick H. Cronin, or an accessory thereto, or 
 had guilty knowledge thereof, or knowledge or 
 thought of conspiracy to accomplish the same ; 
 that the verdict was based upon a large amount 
 of incompetent and wholly irrelevant testimony 
 calculated to create prejudice, and that the ver- 
 dict rendered, so far as it reflected upon the con- 
 duct of himself (Sullivan) was the result of pas- 
 sionate prejudice, created by the admission of 
 such evidence. The document concluded with 
 a declaration that the petitioner was not guilty 
 of the crime with which he had been charged by 
 the verdict, and that he had had no connection 
 whatever with the murder of Dr. Cronin. 
 
 ARGUING ON THE PETITION. 
 
 The arguments were begun by States Attor- 
 ney Longenecker, who demurred to the applica- 
 tion on several technical grounds, dwelling espe-
 
 296 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 cially on the point that the question as to the 
 guilt or innocence of the accused was a question 
 to be decided in another court. The statement 
 of the accused regarding the insufficiency of the 
 evidence was, 
 he urged, a con- 
 clusion which 
 he was incom- 
 petent to arirve 
 at. 
 
 Mr. Gilbert 
 replied for Sulli- 
 van, saying that 
 it would be a 
 practical denial 
 of justice to de- 
 prive his client 
 of the right to 
 be admitted to 
 bail. Mr. Trude 
 followed with a 
 lengthy address, in the course of which he said 
 that the bill of rights which guaranteed the 
 inalienable rights of citizens, provided that un- 
 less there was positive proof or a strong pre- 
 surnptionof guilt, the accused should not beheld 
 in imprisonment. Mr. Sullivan he said, had 
 made no effort to run away. He had been at 
 homeat night and in his office by day, and hence
 
 '1IIF, CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 297 
 
 he did not stand on the same footing as a felon 
 who had been brought back from some State 
 to which he had fled. Further argument fol- 
 lowed, and it was finally agreed that the court 
 should read over the evidence taken before a 
 coroner's jury, before announcing his decision. 
 Sullivan was thereupon remanded to jail. Here 
 he was held for forty-eight hours, or until three 
 o'clock of the following Friday afternoon. When 
 brought down to the court room for the second 
 time, he looked careworn and anxious, and there 
 was no smile on his face as he greeted his 
 attorneys. 
 
 SULLIVAN RELEASED ON BAIL. 
 
 Judge Tuley plunged into his decision with- 
 out loss of time. He reviewed the evidence 
 which went to show that Cronin had been in 
 fear of his life, particularly from Sullivan, but 
 held that there was no rule of law which would 
 admit this evidence before a jury. Sullivan, he 
 said had not been shown to have been connected 
 in any way with the obtaining of the horse and 
 buggy, with the renting of the Carlson cottage, 
 or with any of the other preliminaries of the 
 crime. 
 
 It was shown, on the other hand, that Sullivan 
 had resigned from the Clan-na-Gael four years 
 before-hand ; and, if Cronin had been murdered
 
 298 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 in the pursuance of the order of any camp, it was 
 not very clear how Sullivan, not being a member 
 of the organization, could have influenced that 
 action. The judge went on to say that the pro- 
 test made by Sullivan against Dr. Cronin as one 
 of the committee of six, showed the most bitter 
 and malignant hatred of the dead man, but the 
 very fact that this document was not made public 
 until two or three weeks after the killing of 
 Cronin, seemed to argue that Sullivan was not 
 connected with the crime. It was almost impos- 
 sible to believe that he would have promulgated 
 that protest two weeks after the murder, had he 
 been connected with the conspiracy. The evi- 
 dence pointed to Sullivan as a person who might 
 have a revenge to gratify, but it failed to show 
 any direct act toward the gratification of that 
 revenge. There was no doubt but what the 
 coroner's jury believed that Alexander Sullivan 
 was connected with the conspiracy, but it was 
 largely influenced by hearsay evidence. Striking 
 out all but legal evidence, no impartial man 
 could think that it would be possible for any 
 jury to convict the petitioner on what rc- 
 mained,and as a man could not be deprived 
 of his liberty on the ground that more evidence 
 would be produced to show him guilty, it was 
 apparent to him (the Judge) upon mature delib- 
 eration, that Sullivan was entitled to bail. Upon
 
 THE CKIMi: OF TliF, CENTURY. 299 
 
 the announcement of this decision there was con- 
 siderable discussion regarding the amount of 
 bail, and in the end a bond of $20,000 was 
 agreed on by both sides. As bondsmen, there 
 were then presented Fernando Jones, a real 
 estate dealer and one of the oldest residents 
 of Chicago ; Daniel Conkery, a coal mer- 
 chant ; James W. Touhy, an extensive dry 
 goods merchant, and Michael W. Kerwin. The 
 state's attorney asked that they should be 
 sworn and their property scheduled. Mr. Jones 
 affirmed that he was worth $20,000, and as his 
 wealth was in realty, estimated at about 
 .$2,000,000, the affirmation was considered quite 
 as good as an oath. Mr. Kerwin scheduled 
 $400,000; James W. Touhy, $175,000, and 
 Daniel Corkery, $100,000. A bond was quickly 
 signed and Alexander Sullivan was once more 
 a free man. His friends crowded around him 
 and congratulated him on having regained his 
 freedom. There were several minutes of hand- 
 shaking, his countenance the while expressing 
 the satisfaction at the turn affairs had taken, and 
 then, with his friends and counsel, he left the 
 court room. The bonds remained in force until 
 November the 8th of the same year, when, no 
 indictment having been returned against him, Mr. 
 Sullivan appeared with his attorney before Judge 
 Baker and demanded that his bondsmen should
 
 30O THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 be released and himself declared discharged from 
 all further connection with the case. The State 
 was at first inclined to resist the application, but 
 on the following day, finding that the law was 
 entirely on Sullivan's side, the objection was with- 
 drawn ; the bonds were declared canceled and 
 Alexander Sullivaa, by reason of the failure of 
 the grand jury to find sufficient evidence upon 
 which he could be brought to trial, was legally 
 declared innocent of all complicity in the atro- 
 cious crime. 
 
 TWO ARRESTS IN NEW YORK. 
 
 On the same day that the coroner's jury re- 
 turned its verdict, John J. Maroney and Charles 
 McDonald were arrested in New York on sus- 
 picion of complicity in the murder. These arrests 
 were made in accordance with instructions issued 
 by the State's Attorney and Chief of Police, of 
 Chicago, in the belief that Maroney was the man 
 Simonds, who had hired the Clark street flat, and 
 that McDonald answered to the description of 
 the man who drove the Dinan rig. Both men had 
 been prominent in the Clan-na-gael, Maroney 
 especially, having been one of the secret workers 
 for the "triangle." It was claimed by Luke Dillon 
 that he had discovered that Maroney was in 
 Chicago under an assumed name from Februray 
 2Oth to March 2oth, that he reappeared on the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 30! 
 
 morning of the day that the physician was mur- 
 dered under an assumed name, and that he 
 left Chicago for good on the following day. A 
 complaint and information against the two men 
 was sworn out by John J. Cronin, the dead man's 
 brother, and upon this requisitions on Governor 
 Hill of New York were issued by Governor 
 Fifer of Illinois, and entrusted to Detective Far- 
 rell, In the meantime the prisoners had been 
 arraigned at the tombs police court in New 
 York, before Justice Hogan, and remanded until 
 the question of extradition could be argued. 
 This, however, did not meet the approval of their 
 friends, of whom over a hundred were in court, and 
 the same afternoon a writ of habeas corpus was 
 applied for and granted by Judge Andrews of the 
 Supreme Court. The prisoners declared that 
 they had been in New York for weeks before and 
 weeks after the murder of Dr. Cronin, and in 
 this they were corroborated by a large num- 
 ber of people. Detective Farrell reached Al- 
 bany on the following day, but Governor Hill, 
 upon looking over the requisition, promptly 
 denied the application, on the ground that it was 
 not accompanied by an indictment, and that no 
 proof whatever was presented showing that the 
 accused were guilty of the crime charged against 
 them. Upon receipt of this information, Hat- 
 field, the furniture salesman, Martinson, the ex-
 
 3O2 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 pressman, and Throgmorton, the real estate 
 agent, started for New York with a view of iden- 
 tifying the prisoners. Upon their arrival, how- 
 ever, they utterly failed to find in either "suspect" 
 the slightest resemblance to the mysterious 
 Simonds, and on the heels of this Judge 
 Andrews in the Supreme Court, handed down a 
 decision upon the matter of the writ of habeas 
 corpus, ordering that the men be discharged 
 from custody, on the ground that there was not 
 sufficient evidence produced before Justice 
 Hogan, in the police court, to justify their com- 
 mittal to prison.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 OFFICER COLLIN'S SUSPICIONS MARTIN BUKKE 
 
 AND HIS RECORD FORTUNATE DISCOVERY 
 
 OF THE PHOTOGRAPH OF A CLAN-NA-GAEL 
 GROUP THE CARLSONS AND OTHERS IDENTI- 
 FY BURKE HIS PECULIAR MOVEMENTS AND 
 
 HIS FLIGHT AN INDICTMENT AGAINST HIM 
 
 THE CAPTURE IN WINNEPEG, WHILE EN 
 
 ROUTE TO ENGLAND STUBBORN FIGHT TO 
 
 PREVENT HIS EXTRADITION TO AMERI- 
 CAN SOIL THE LAW TRIUMPHANT A MEM- 
 ORABLE JOURNEY HOME. 
 
 There is more truth than poetry in the old 
 saying that it is "always the unexpected that 
 happens." The fleeing criminal is oftentimes 
 in the greatest danger when he imagines him- 
 self safe from pursuit. Examine the records of 
 the courts and the detective agencies in scores 
 of the largest cities of this and conti- 
 nental countries, and they will be found replete 
 with sensational narrations of the capture of 
 murderers, forgers, embezzlers and others 
 charged with offences covered in existing ex- 
 tradition treaties in distant lands and isolated 
 
 303
 
 304 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 regions, and among people of strange tongues, 
 where they had fondly hoped that detection or 
 discovery was an impossibility, and that they 
 were safe, for all time to come, from the 
 strong arm of the law that they had violated. 
 So too, a criminal will outwit the keenest of 
 detectives, and nonpluss the most experienced 
 of officers, only through his own lack of caution, 
 to run his neck into the noose in an entirely 
 different direction to that in which he is being 
 sought. 
 
 And so it was that to a sharp, keen, wide- 
 awake official of the police department of Winne- 
 peg, Manitoba, was due, in no small measure, the 
 capture, at this juncture, of one of the alleged 
 conspirators whose presence was most earnestly 
 desired by the police authorities of Chicago. 
 
 It came about in this way Officer John 
 Collins, an Irish-American, and an energetic 
 member of the force, had been detailed for 
 special work upon this celebrated case. He was 
 familiar with the proceedings of the Clan-na- 
 Gael. He also knew a man named Martin 
 Burke, who occasionaly assumed that of De- 
 laney as an alias. This individual had been looked 
 upon as a tool of the local Clan-na-Gael leaders, 
 voicing their opinions in bar-rooms and at 
 street corners. He had been particularly violent 
 in his denunciation of Dr. Cronin, and at the.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 305 
 
 saloons on the north side of the city that he 
 was in the habit of frequenting, more especially 
 those in the neighborhood of Chicago Avenue 
 and Market Street, he had been heard to fre- 
 quently say that Cronin "ought to be killed as 
 a British spy." Little was known as to Burke's 
 antecedents. Even his uncle, Phil Corkell, who 
 kept a small grocery store on the north side, 
 professed to know little or nothing about him. 
 All that the police could learn at the time in 
 tracing his record was that he had reached the 
 United States from Ireland some time in 1886. 
 A year later he turned up in Chicago. He 
 had not been long in the city when he joined 
 the Clan-na-Gaels. The notorious Camp 20 
 was the one he chose to gain admission to the 
 order. Dan Coughlin, John F. Beggs, Mike 
 Whelan and other leading lights of the order 
 at this time dominated the affairs of this par- 
 ticular camp. For some reason or other 
 certainly not because he was -particularly 
 sharp or bright, for his uncle described him as 
 a soft sort of a fellow, without any "gumption" 
 Burke attracted the favorable attention of 
 Beggs, and the latter, aided materially by 
 Alexander Sullivan, procured him employment 
 in the city sewer department. He was 
 assigned to work at the Chicago Avenue pipe 
 yard, which at that time was a hot Led of
 
 306 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Irish Nationalists. Accordingly to all accounts 
 he earned no small proportion of his salary by 
 boasting to his fellow workmen of his influen- 
 tial backers. It was his burden of corf- 
 versation that Alex. Sullivan, Beggs, Coughlin, 
 and other Clan-na-Gael leaders were his staunch 
 friends He also boasted that he came from the 
 same part of Ireland, on the borders of Mayo 
 and Sligo, in which Michael Davitt and other 
 eminent Nationalists were reared, and he never 
 tired of narrating his experiences with "moon- 
 lighting" expeditions in the west of Ireland. 
 After Le Caron had testified before the Par- 
 nell Commission, in London, he varied 
 his conversation, and was eternally de- 
 nouncing and breathing imprecations upon the 
 "British Spy." Early in 1889 he lost his job 
 in the pipe department. From that time on 
 he had no steady employment. 
 
 At the same time he had plenty of money 
 and spent it freely in the Market Street saloons. 
 This of itself was sufficient to arouse sus- 
 picions, for when he was at work he was al- 
 ways in debt. Occasionally he varied his sa- 
 loon loafing by taking trips to Lake View. 
 
 To his associates he explained that he had a 
 young female acquaintance in that neighborhood, 
 although it was observed and sometimes re- 
 marked that these trips were altogether too pro-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 307 
 
 longed for ordinary courtship. Afterwards it 
 was recalled that they were taken about 
 the time the mysterious strangers were occupy- 
 ing the Carlson cottage. 
 
 BURKE'S PICTURE IDENTIFIED. 
 
 i 
 
 It was nothing but natural that, as soon as 
 Dr. Cronin's disappearance had been announced, 
 the bartenders, saloon-keepers, and other inti- 
 mates of Burke, calling to mind his deep-rooted 
 hatred of the missing man and his apparently 
 endless supply of funds, began to whisper that he 
 must have had something to do with the affair. 
 
 "He was surely in it," they said one to another. 
 
 These rumors came to the ears of Officer 
 Collins, and the latter lost no time in commu- 
 nicating with Captain Schuettler, who was actively 
 engaged in the case. Schuettler immediately 
 set about getting a photograph of the suspect. 
 Diligent enquiry developed the fact that no 
 single one was in existence. 
 
 It was learned, however, that a picture of a 
 group of Clan-na-Gaels was to be found, and 
 that Burke was among them. A few years 
 before, soon after the death of Timothy Crean, 
 a relative of Alexander Sullivan, and at one 
 time a district member of the Clan-na-Gael, a 
 burial lot was purchased in the Mount Olivet 
 Catholic Cemetery, near Washington Heights.
 
 308 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 It was intended as the "God's acre" of the 
 Irish Nationalists. Imposing ceremonies marked 
 its dedication, Father M. Dorney, the " stock 
 yards priest," delivering the address upon the oc- 
 casion. Subsequently a tall obelisk, with the 
 name of Timothy Crean carved in the base 
 with an appropriate inscription, was erected on 
 the lot. It was on the occasion of the unveil- 
 ing of this obelisk that the Nationalist group 
 was photographed. In the back-ground of the 
 picture, his features showing up clear and dis- 
 tinct among some forty people, was Martin 
 Burke. 
 
 It was an easy matter for Collins to locate 
 the photographer that had taken the group, 
 and then, finding that the negative had been pre- 
 served, to procure a copy of the picture. This 
 much accomplished, however, the next question 
 was, could Burke be identified? 
 
 If he could not, all the rumors, and the sus- 
 picions, and the labor would go for naught. 
 
 Collins took the picture to the Carlsons. 
 
 Without acquainting them of his theories or 
 suspicions, or indicating the object that he had in 
 view; he asked them whether they recognized 
 any one of the group. Charley Carlson, the 
 son, was the first one approached. His finger 
 went down on the face of Burke as that of the 
 man who had rented the cottage. His father
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 309 
 
 and mother put on their spectacles, looked the 
 photograph over, and without the slightest hes- 
 itation declared "That is the man." To make 
 assurance doubly sure, Collins went to Hakan 
 Martinson, the expressman. A single glance 
 over the faces in the picture was sufficient. 
 "That is the man" he said, indicating Burke, 
 "that hired me to haul the furniture from that 
 flat on South Clark Street." Further question- 
 ing led him to say that he had frequently seen 
 Burke, about the time of the murder, in and 
 around the saloons and the neighborhood of 
 Chicago Avenue and Market street. This was 
 enough for Collins. He was satisfied that he 
 had struck the right lead. All that was nec- 
 essary now was to get his hands on the man. 
 
 THE FLIGHT AND CAPTURE. 
 
 But the bird had flown. Burke 's former 
 haunts knew him no more. Collins had start- 
 ed out exultant in the prospect that the suspect 
 would be behind the bars in a few hours. He 
 went to one place after another, over Burke's 
 old stamping ground, but everyone of whom 
 he enquired shook their heads. He had dis- 
 appeared as mysteriously as though the earth 
 had opened and swallowed him up. The 
 officer kept on, however, and finally learned 
 enough to satisfy him that his man had skipped
 
 310 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 to parts unknown. His Clan-na-Gael uniform was 
 found at the Philbin House, where he had resid- 
 ed, and that was all. He had been last seen in the 
 city on the night of the day that Dr. Cronin's 
 body had been buried. In fact he was in the 
 crowd on the north side that viewed the fun- 
 eral procession. For several days previously 
 he had been particularly well supplied with funds. 
 Where they came from was a mystery, although 
 somebody knew somebody else who had been 
 told by a third party that an individual mys- 
 teriously alluded to as "an Irish lawyer" had 
 been seen to give him some bills from a big 
 roll in the course of a hurried consultation. 
 At any rate, he had the money. Then he 
 began to talk vaguely about making a trip to 
 Ireland. Next he skipped. 
 
 Officer Collins made his report, and Captain 
 Schuettler, with other officials of the depart- 
 ment, took up the threads of his discoveries. 
 It was learned that .immediately prior to 
 leaving town, Burke had gone several times to 
 Lake View to see his mythical girl. He had pack- 
 ed his grip at his uncle's house. A conductor 
 who knew him had seen him on a street car on 
 the night of the funeral. This clue was fol- 
 lowed up, and with considerable difficulty Burke 
 was finally traced from the car to the North- 
 western depot. Here the investigation struck
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 31 I 
 
 another snag. None of the scores of employes 
 of the depot, or the train men remembered having 
 seen any man who answered the description 
 given. The conductors and brakemen of the 
 through trains were shown the picture and asked 
 to exercise their memory, but without result. 
 Not one of them could place the suspect. Then 
 the authorities did the only thing that could be 
 done. They notified every town along the road, 
 and a full and complete description of the much 
 wanted individual was scattered broadcast over 
 the entire country and the provinces of Canada. 
 Days and weeks came and went however, no 
 tidings of the fugitive were obtained, and the 
 prospects of locating him and securing his arrest 
 became correspondingly dubious. Late one Sun- 
 day night however; a messenger boy rushed 
 breathless into the central Police department 
 with a dispatch enclosed in an envelope, across 
 the face of which the word " Rush" was stamped 
 in large characters. Chief Hubbardhad not left 
 the office. He tore open the envelope, and great 
 was his gratification when he read the following 
 message : 
 
 WINNIPEG. MAN., JUNE 16, 1889. Martin Burke, alias Delaney, ar- 
 rested here on suspicion of complicity in the Cronin case. He was 
 boarding the Atlantic express, and had a ticket for Liverpool, 
 England. McRAE. 
 
 To this the following response was immedi- 
 ately sent :
 
 312 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL., JUNE 16, 1889. Hold Martin Burke, alias Delaney, 
 by all means. Will send officer immediately. 
 
 G. W. HUBBAKD, 
 
 General Superintendent. 
 
 HOW BURKE WAS CAPTURED. 
 
 It was an inspiration, and a fortunate one, that 
 induced Chief McRae, of the Police Department 
 of Winnepeg, to turn his steps toward the rail- 
 road depot on the afternoon of Sunday, June 1 6th. 
 Just why he did so he was never able to satisfac- 
 torily explain even to himself. He had with him, 
 however, that eagle eye and that acuteness of 
 perception which had not only made his name 
 famous in the criminal annals of Manitoba, but 
 also made it a menace and a terror to transgress- 
 ors of the law. When, some days before, he had 
 received a request from the police authorities of 
 Chicago to be on the watch for a man named 
 Delaney, he had issued general instructions to 
 members of his force that any individual answer- 
 ing the description should be arrested on sight, 
 while at the same time the principle details were 
 impressed upon his own memory. One of the first 
 persons he encountered upon reaching the depot 
 was a man whose appearance instantly arrested 
 his attention. He was an athletic looking 
 fellow of excellent proportions, about twenty- 
 six years of age and fairly well dressed. His 
 face was red and freckled, his eyes gray and
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 313 
 
 his hair brown. There was a deep scar on the 
 front part of his head on the left side, another 
 over his left eye tending downward, and a third, 
 very deep, on the back of his head, below the rim 
 of his hat. Nearly six feet in height, he looked like 
 a man well able to take care of himself, and the 
 termination which was wrought in every line of 
 his countenance showed that he was possessed 
 with sufficient nerve to assist in carrying out the 
 details of any dark deed. Observing that he was 
 being watched, the man looked furtively around, 
 pulled his slouch cap well down over his eyes and 
 endeavored to hide his features in the shadow of 
 the building. In a few moments he walked to 
 the rear, across the vacant lot, strolled back again 
 and boarded a Canadian Pacific express, which 
 was about to leave for Montreal. The Chief fol- 
 lowed and took a seat behind the suspect, but 
 the latter immediately stuck his head out of the 
 window so that McRae could not see his face. 
 
 Not to be trifled with, however, the latter went 
 out of the car and walked along the platform. 
 When he reached the window he found it closed, 
 and looking through, saw the man on the other 
 side of the car with his head again out of a win- 
 dow. These actions served to confirm his sus- 
 picions, and McRae boarded the train. At this 
 moment it began to pull out, and realizing that 
 it was a time for prompt action, he stepped up
 
 314 TH E CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 to the suspect, placed his hand on his shoulder, 
 and told him that he was wanted. The man 
 turned pale and red by turns, but made no 
 reply, and grabbing up his valise, he meekly fol- 
 lowed his captor out of the car and on to the 
 platform. Here the Chief asked him several 
 questions, and failing to get satisfactory replies 
 decided to take him to the station. Donald E. 
 McKinnon, one of the most experienced members 
 of the city force, was acting as desk sergeant at 
 the time. 
 
 " What is your name ?" he asked, as the Chief 
 brought in his prisoner. 
 
 "W. J. Cooper," was the reply. 
 
 McKinnon proceeded to search him. In his 
 pockets he found several small articles, the sum 
 of $58.20 in cash, a railroad ticket to Montreal, 
 and a steamship ticket from the latter city to a 
 European one. On the back of this the name of 
 VV. J. Cooper was written. 
 
 " I must caution you now," said Chief McRae, 
 " that anything you admit may be used against 
 you now as evidence, if you should be brought 
 to trial. Now, is that your name written on this 
 ticket ?" 
 
 ''Yes No," answered the prisoner, after con- 
 siderable hesitation. 
 
 " Well, what is your name ?" continued the 
 Chief.
 
 THE CKIMI-; OK Till; < KXTUKY. 
 
 Again more hesitation " Martin Burke," the 
 prisoner replied, finally. 
 
 " What other names have you got ?" 
 
 " Well, I sometimes go by the name of De- 
 la ney." 
 
 The Chief was now satisfied that the man so 
 badly wanted in Chicago was in his clutches, and 
 he hastened to ap- 
 prise Superintend- 
 ent Hubbard by 
 telegraph of the 
 fact, This done, 
 he resumed his ex- 
 amination of the 
 prisoner. 
 
 When asked 
 where he came 
 from, he replied 
 "Chicago," but 
 that he had not 
 traveled direct, 
 having first gone 
 to Hancock, Michigan, where he had visited a 
 man named John F. Ryan. This man, he said, 
 had a homestead, although he corrected this 
 latter and said that he kept a store. He went 
 on to say that he had written to Ryan since his 
 arrival in Winnipeg, and that he was on his way 
 to the old country. While making these state 
 
 MARTIN BURKE
 
 316 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 ments he was extremely nervous and excited, 
 and this caused Chief McRae to remark : 
 
 " What have you done that you are so nerv- 
 ous ?" 
 
 Burke made no reply. He was asked why he 
 had adopted the name of W. J. Cooper, and 
 replied that he did so because he was being 
 watched by two or three men. In Chicago, he 
 said, he had resided at the corner of Erie and 
 Sedgewick streets, and he gave the names of sev- 
 eral people in that neighborhood whom he knew, 
 including a saloon keeper. Burke was placed in 
 a cell, and the officers proceeded to examine his 
 valise. In it. they found several articles of 
 clothing, including a light colored felt hat, con- 
 siderably crushed, and with about a three-inch 
 brim. On the sweat band there were ink marks, 
 which had evidently been applied to obliterate 
 some name or ownership mark. There was also 
 a slip of paper, which proved to be a receipt for 
 the sum of five dollars, pafd by W. J. Cooper to 
 Alexander Calder, on account of a ticket to 
 Liverpool. 
 
 Inquiries were next made concerning Burke's 
 movements from the time he arrived in the city. 
 It was found that he first put in an appearance 
 on the Thursday prior to his arrest, and put up 
 at the Russell House, a second-class hotel, wit?\- 
 out registering. On Saturday he appeared a 1
 
 Tllli CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 317 
 
 Caldwell's office and inquired the price of a ticket 
 to Oueenstown or Liverpool, by way of Montreal. 
 He was told and giving his name as Cooper, he 
 handed out $5 as a deposit, adding that he would 
 call and pay for the ticket on the following day. 
 He was told that the office was not usually open 
 on Sunday, but that if it was necessary the agent 
 would come down and issue the ticket. From 
 here he went to the telegraph office, where he 
 wired to somebody in Chicago for the sum of 
 $200. This came later in the day, and was paid 
 to him. Late that night he wrote and mailed 
 several letters, and on the following morning 
 Sunday called for his ticket and paid for it. 
 
 BURKE IN COURT. 
 
 A night's imprisonment did not tend toward 
 making the suspect any more communicative. 
 When spoken to on the following morning, he 
 admitted that he had known Dr. Cronin by sight, 
 but said that he had never been personally ac- 
 quainted with him, and also denied that he had 
 ever been a member of the Clan-na-^ael. He 
 
 o 
 
 manifested condiserable bravado, saying that he 
 would claim British protection and refuse to go 
 back with any Chicago officers who might be 
 sent for him. Within a few hours after his 
 arrest, one of the leading counselors of the city,
 
 318 THE CRIME or THE CENTURY. 
 
 A. B. Campbell, had been retained in his behalf 
 through some mysterious source, and by his 
 advice the suspect became as close mouthed as a 
 clam. 
 
 On the Wednesday following his arrest, he was 
 arraigned before Police .Magistrate Peebles, but 
 upon the production of the dispatches from the 
 Chicago authorities, a remand was granted for 
 two days, without any evidence being offered. 
 This made him very uneasy, and he urged his 
 attorney to procure a writ of habeas corpus. 
 The request would probably have been complied 
 with, had not Chief McRae declared that he 
 would block any such movement by swearing out 
 an information charging Burke with murder. The 
 suspect was anything but satisfied with prison 
 fare, and, at his request he was furnished with 
 meals from a hotel at his own expense and also 
 provided with a comfortable bed. A dispatch late 
 in the day brought the information that the 
 grand jury in Chicago had returned an indict- 
 ment against him, and, as a natural result, he 
 spent a sleepless night. Officer Collins arrived 
 from Chicago on Thursday, and a single glance 
 at the prisoner was sufficient to tell him that the 
 right man was under arrest. This much settled- 
 Collins, accompanied by Chief McRae, drove to 
 the residence of Judge Bain, one of the judges of 
 the Court of Queen's Bench for the Province of
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 319 
 
 Manitoba and a jurist of extraordinary ability 
 and sagacity, where the following information was 
 sworn out : 
 
 Canada, Province of Manitoba, County of Selkirk : The informa- 
 tion and complaint of John M. Collins, of the City of Chicago, in the 
 State -f Illinois, an the United States of America police officer, 
 taken upon oath before me, the undersigned, one of Her Majesty's 
 Judges of the Court of Queen's Bench for the Province of Manitoba 
 aforesaid, Judge ui.der the Extradition Act at the City of Winnipeg, 
 in said County of Selkirk, this 2Oth day of June, in the year of our 
 Lord 1889, who says he has just cause to suspect and believe, and 
 does suspect and believe, that Martin Burke, alias W. J. Cooper, late 
 of the said City of Chicago, in the said State of Illinois, did commit 
 the crime of murder within the jurisdiction of the said State of Illinois, 
 one of said Unitec 1 States ox America, to wit : That the said Martin 
 Burke, alias W. J. Co per, on or about the 4th day of May, 
 in the year of our Lord 1889, at the said City of Chicago, did 
 feloniously, willfully, and of malice aforethought, kill and murder one 
 Patricl; H. Cronin. 
 
 Taken and sworn before me, John F. Bain, Judge of the Court of 
 Queen's Bench, Manitoba. 
 
 JOHN M. COLLINS. 
 
 Upon this information a warrant was immedi- 
 ately issued and served on Burke in his cell by 
 Sergeant McCharle^ He was then taken from 
 the police station to the County Jail, where he 
 was incarcerated as a common prisoner, and H. 
 M. Howell, Queen'u Counsel was retained to con- 
 duct the case for the State of Illinois. 
 
 THE IDENTIFICATION COMPLETE. 
 
 The fast express on the following day had 
 among its passengers from Chicago the Express-
 
 320 THE CKIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 man Martinsen, and Officer J. M. Broderick. 
 They were taken at once to the jail. Fifty-two 
 men were drawn up in line in the yard of the 
 structure and Burke placed among them. Mar- 
 tinsen passed along the line slowly, beginning 
 at the right. He scarcely stopped in front of 
 Burke as he passed, but he looked back after he 
 had gone a few feet. Then he went back, from 
 left to right, and this time scanned Burke more 
 closely. 
 
 " I am pretty well satisfied," he said, but he 
 passed once more along the line, and stopped 
 again in front of the suspect. Then he walked 
 over to the side of Govenor Lawlor, the Superin- 
 tendent of the jail. 
 
 " I have got him," he said, to the Crown Attor- 
 ney and Burke's lawyer. 
 
 "What number from your left?" asked the 
 former, "from your left as you face the line." 
 Mortinson stepped out and counted. 
 
 "Number 21," he said. Number 21 from that 
 end was Burke. The prisoners were taken back 
 to their cells. The identification was complete. 
 Burke had been picked out of fifty men. What 
 more was needed ? 
 
 More court proceedings were in order In 
 Canada the mills of the Gods grind slow, but 
 they grind exceedingly fine. The memorable 
 words which once fell from the lips of General
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 32! 
 
 U. S. Grant, " Let no guilty man escape," 
 might be fittingly applied to the judicial system 
 which prevails in the Dominion. Burke was 
 again arraigned, this time before Judge Bain 
 and another adjournment granted to await the 
 arrival of the necessary papers. It was evident 
 that Burke meant to fight extradition to the bit- 
 ter end ; it was equally evident that Judge Bain, 
 although the youngest Judge upon the bench, 
 was the best before whom the case could have 
 been brought. He intended that justice should 
 be done, and he did not propose that legal tech- 
 nicalities should save' the prisoner from extradi- 
 tion, if it were proved that he was in any way 
 concerned in the murder of the physician. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT ACTS. 
 
 All this time the authorities in Chicago had 
 not been idle. AssistantStates Attorney George 
 Baker was first dispatched to Springfield, the 
 State Capital, where the necessary papers were 
 obtained. From here he hastened to Washington, 
 where a requisition and other documents were 
 properly " vised " by the State Department, and 
 late on the night of June 24th, immediately 
 upon his arrival from Cape May, where he had 
 been taking a brief vacation, the President of the 
 United States, Benjamin Harrison, placed his
 
 322 THE CRIME QF THE CENTURY. 
 
 signature upon the warrant which authorized the 
 Secretary of State, James G. Elaine, to affix the 
 great seal of the United States to the official 
 documents. Without this Presidential warrant, 
 the custodian of the seal in the State Depart- 
 ment could not permit even Secretary Elaine to 
 affix it. On the following morning this formality 
 was carried out and the responsibility of the Fed- 
 eral Government in the case came to an end. 
 Burke was again brought before Judge Bain on 
 Thursday, June 27th, and despite the fact that 
 it was known that the extradition documents were 
 on their way, a determined effort was made by 
 Counselor Campbell, with whom another prom- 
 inent lawyer, W. E. Perdue, had been associ- 
 ated, to secure the discharge of the prisoner. 
 
 The Court decided to proceed with the case, 
 and Officers Collins and McKinnon were called 
 to testify. When they had told what they knew, 
 a remand was granted fqr a week. Here it was 
 resumed on July 3d, when Expressman Mortin- 
 sen repeated his identification of the prisoner, 
 and Joseph Dillabaugh, a Chicago newspaper 
 man, testified that he had seen the body taken 
 from the Lake View catch basin, and was satisfied 
 that it was that of Dr. Cronin. Additional evi- 
 dence was given on the following day, Elliott 
 Flower and Andrew Yount, representatives of 
 Chicago newspapers, testifying to the location
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 323 
 
 of the Carlson cottage, the blood stains found 
 in it and other material facts. So the case 
 went on from day to clay. The evidence of 
 young Carlson was considered necessary, and 
 he was sent on in hot haste from Chicago. It 
 was not until Wednesday, July loth, that suf- 
 ficient facts were before the Court upon which 
 to base a decision. This decision, however, was 
 to the point. It held that all the evidence given 
 wasadmissibl eand sufficient for the purposes of 
 extradition. It was sufficient to raise a pre- 
 sumption of guilt, and this was all that was 
 necessary. Judge Bain went over the evidence 
 which had been introduced before him, bringing 
 out each little point, showing wherein it was 
 weak and wherein it was strong, and concluded 
 an able and exhaustive review of the case by 
 remanding the prisoner to jail for extradition. 
 
 FIGHTING TO THE LAST. 
 
 Still Burke did not despair. Under the laws 
 of the Dominion it was open to his counsel 
 to apply for a writ of habeas corpus, in order 
 that the decision of the Court might be reviewed. 
 Nearly three weeks' delay was allowed for this 
 purpose. People wondered that, considering 
 the fact that Burke's available assets at the time 
 of his arrest footed up little more than $50, he
 
 324 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 was able to retain two prominent attorneys, 
 whose fees must, even up to this stage of the 
 case, have aggregated more than ten times that 
 amount. They wondered still more, when the 
 announcement was made that the case of the 
 suspect had been taken to a court of last 
 resort, and which comprised Chief Justice Taylor, 
 Judge Kellam and Judge Dubuc. This pro- 
 ceeding was in the form of a petition for a writ 
 of habeas corpus, based largely on technical 
 grounds. Elaborate arguments were heard for 
 several days, and in the meantime ex-Senator 
 William Kennedy, of Wisconsin, arrived from 
 the States as special legal adviser to the suspect. 
 This was additional proof that somebody or 
 other, with plenty of money at command, was 
 behind Martin Burke in the effort to prevent his 
 being taken back to Chicago. Again, however, 
 the law was triumphant ; the application for a 
 writ of habeas corpus was denied, and the extra- 
 dition of the prisoner was ordered for the second 
 time. 
 
 CANADIAN JUSTICE TRIUMPHS. 
 
 Burke's last chance for a long stay in Canada 
 had now disappeared. Unusual promptness 
 characterized the action of the authorities at 
 Ottawa. Immediately upon the receipt of a 
 telegraphic dispatch from Chief Justice Taylor,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 325 
 
 to the effect that the appeal had been denied, 
 the warrant* of extradition was issued by 
 Sir John Thompson, minister of justice, and 
 mailed to Winnipeg. It arrived at its destina- 
 tion at noon of Saturday, August 3rd, and, 
 having been vised by the Lieutenant-Governor 
 and the Provincial Secretary, was served upon 
 Govenor Lawlor. Chief of Police Hubbard had 
 in. the meantime arrived from Chicago to superin- 
 tend the arrangements for the return of the 
 
 o 
 
 prisoner, and availed himself of the opportunity 
 to highly eulogize Chief McRae for the able 
 manner in which he had worked his part of the 
 case. Day had barely dawned on Monday 
 morninsf when the Chicago officers were astir. 
 
 o o 
 
 They drove at once to the jail, and the necessary 
 formalities having been complied with, the pris- 
 oner was delivered into the custody of Officer 
 Collins, in whose name the warrant had been 
 made out. He was quickly hustled into a 
 covered carriage, Chief Hubbard, Lieutenant 
 Ross and Officer Broderick occupying the 
 opposite seat. A little after six the depot was 
 reached, and the prisoner, who had been hand- 
 cuffed prior to leaving the jail, was placed in the 
 smoking compartment of the palace sleeping car 
 " Great Falls." Here he was closely guarded by 
 the two police officers, who were well armed, 
 while the Chief and Lieutenant returned to the
 
 326 THE CRIME Of THE CENTURY. 
 
 hotel for breakfast. In a very little while a big 
 crowd had gathered at the depot, t)ut the blinds 
 of the compartment had been carefully pulled 
 down, and the people were compelled to derive 
 what satisfaction they could by gazing at the 
 clbsed windows. Burke had brought a basket 
 of food and fruit with him from the jail, and 
 through enquiries it was learned that it had been 
 delivered to him the night before, that he had 
 been advised to eat no food which might be 
 offeree! to him by the officers, as it might be drug- 
 ged, and that he had also been instructed to 
 have nothing whatever to say to his guards while 
 on the road. These instructions, it was after- 
 ward developed, were inspired by a telegram 
 from Chicago, and which had been sent by an 
 unknown man from the Grand Pacific Hotel over 
 the initials " J. G." Shortly before ten o'clock the 
 train pulled out, and Burke had started on what, 
 to him, was destined to be a memorable journey. 
 Chief McRae, representing the Winnipeg, 
 police, Chief Clark of the provincial police, Chief 
 Hossackof the Canadian Pacific detective force, 
 H. McMicken of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & 
 Manitoba road, and James McHale, a United 
 States Government officer, accompanied the 
 party as far as Morris, McHale and Hossack. 
 going as far as Neche on the American side of 
 the line,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 327 
 
 BURKE'S JOURNEY TO CHICAGO. * 
 
 Great crowds had gathered at every station 
 where a stop was made, and it was soon found 
 necessary to lock both doors of the car and keep 
 a guard at each. Chief Hubbard and a porter 
 took charge of the front door and allowed the 
 other passengers to go in and out as they desired, 
 while Lieutenant Ross took charge of the rear 
 door, which was kept locked all time. A large 
 and demonstrative crowd was encountered at 
 Grafton, the people climbing over each other 
 to secure standing room on the platforms of the 
 car, and shouting loudly that they would kill the 
 prisoner if they could get their hands on him. 
 Lieutenant Ross, however, induced them to go 
 back to the platform, saying that there would be 
 serious trouble if they continued to make threats. 
 At all other stations along the line until Fargo, 
 Dakota, was reached, the same scenes were re- 
 peated, except that the feeling did not run so high, 
 and curiosity seemed to be the main motive. 
 Quite a number of strangers succeeded in get- 
 ting through -the front door of the car at Minto, 
 Dakota, but after reaching the section next to the 
 smoking-room, they were confronted by Chief 
 Hubbard, who forced them to leave the car. At 
 Grand Forks the crowd took entire possession 
 of the train, and none of the passengers in the
 
 328 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 sleeper were able to leave it during the stop. 
 Better order prevailed at Fargo, where the depot 
 police turned out in force and kept the crowd 
 at a respectful distance. The same system 
 was adopted at Moorhead, just across the 
 river, where a stop was made for supper. All 
 this time Burke kept his nerve. He sat near 
 a window with Collins beside him and Brod- 
 erick opposite.. He steadily refused to talk, 
 although Hubbard and Ross took turns at 
 him. To every attempt to draw him into con- 
 versation, he had but one reply, and that was 
 that his lawyer had told him not to talk. At 
 times he ate sparingly from the basket with 
 which he had been supplied, but invariably 
 refused the offer of the officers to furnish him 
 with refreshments. When night came he was 
 allowed to lie down on one of the couches of the 
 smoker, but sleep was out of the question, and 
 when a party started to sing in the rear portion 
 of the car immediately adjoining the smoker, 
 Burke, from the inside, joined in the song. There 
 was no crowd at Minneapolis, the guards at the 
 gates keeping every one out. At St. Paul it 
 was the same way. Here Burke was transferred 
 to a special car which had been engaged for the 
 party. He appeared at the door of the sleeper 
 strongly manacled. There were manacles on his 
 wrists and his feet were chained together so that
 
 THE CRIME OE THE CENTURY. 329 
 
 he could step only a few inches at a time, while 
 the chain was so short that he could not descend 
 the steps of the car. Lieutenant Ross noticed 
 this and, taking him in his strong arms carried 
 him to the ground. He managed to walk slowly 
 to the special car and was lifted aboard, and the 
 blinds and curtains were drawn down on either 
 side. 
 
 The Winnipeg party was joined at this point by 
 while Assistant State's Attorney Baker and Carl- 
 son and Mortensen, the witnesses. On the front 
 and rear platforms of the car two St. Paul 
 detectives were stationed, and several more occu- 
 pied the rear end of the first coach ahead. On 
 from this point to Chicago the scenes of the day 
 before were repeated. Every station had its 
 crowd, and everybody was wild to see the pris- 
 oner. At Kilborne City, where a company of 
 the State militia on its way to camp was encoun- 
 tered, one of the soldiers climbed up to a win- 
 dow, pushed up the blind, and forced his body 
 half way into the car. He was seen by one of 
 the officers in the inside, however, and a rap on 
 the head induced him to get. out a great deal 
 quicker than he had got in. Remarkable anx- 
 iety to see the suspect was manifested by women 
 at almost every stopping place, and at times they 
 outnumbered the men, asking innumerable ques- 
 tions, and craning their necks in endeavoring to
 
 33 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 get but a glimpse of the interior of the car. 
 Between St. Paul and Chicago not a member of 
 the Chicago party went out into the open air. 
 Burke sat on the right-hand side next the win- 
 dow, with either Broderick or Collins constantly 
 by him. The rest of the party were distributed 
 over the car in such a way that there was some 
 one at almost every point. 
 
 Chicago was reached between nine and ten 
 o'clock on Monday night. The train was stopped 
 at a lonely point in the suburbs, about three miles 
 from the center of the city, much to the chagrin 
 and disgust of an immense crowd that had gath- 
 ered at the depot. The leg irons were removed 
 from the prisoner, although the handcuffs were 
 left in place. To them an iron chain sev- 
 eral feet long was fastened, the other end being 
 held by Officer Collins. The party dropped off 
 the train in the darkness and hastened across the 
 tracks to a carriage in waiting. Half an hour 
 later Martin Burke, handcuffed to two stalwart 
 officers, was ushered to the Chicago Avenue 
 Station, and without being booked or searched 
 was escorted to arcell. 
 
 Early on the following morning Senator Ken- 
 nedy of Wisconsin was on hand at the jail with 
 a demand to see his client. Instructions had 
 been given, however, that no outsider should be 
 allowed to get within talking reach of the pris-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 331 
 
 oner, and the lawyer was so informed. After 
 making several other fruitless efforts to accom- 
 plish his purpose, he secured from Judge Baker 
 a writ of habeas corpus, commanding Burke's 
 appearance in court. It was made returnable at 
 3 o'clock in the afternoon, but at that hour a re- 
 turn was made that the prisoner was in the cus- 
 tody of Officer Collins, as agent of the United 
 States. A new writ was therefore directed 
 against the officer, but before this could be served 
 Burke was transfered to the county jail, where 
 his attorney was allowed to see him. On the 
 following day he was arraigned in court, and, 
 having plead " not guilty," in a low but firm voice, 
 on the charge of having been concerned with 
 others in the murder of Dr. Cronin, he was re- 
 turned to jail. 
 
 o 
 
 PREPARING FOR THE TRIAL. 
 
 t 
 
 All this time State's Attorney Longenecker and 
 his assistants were actively engaged in preparing 
 for the great trial. Motions to quash the indict- 
 ments were filed for all the prisoners, while there 
 was a separate application in behalf of O'Sulli- 
 van for a change of venue. These matters came 
 up before Judge Horton, on August 5th, and 
 the entire case was transferred to that branch of 
 the Criminal Court presided over by Judge Me-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Connell, while August 26th was fixed as the date 
 for the opening for the trial. On that date the six 
 prisoners were arraigned and applications were 
 made in behalf of Burke, Woodruff, O'Sullivan 
 and Coughlin for separate trials. Elaborate 
 
 arguments were 
 made on these 
 motions, the 
 prosecution 
 making a vigor- 
 ous resistance. 
 Judge McCon- 
 nell took the 
 question under 
 advisement for 
 a couple of days, and then denied the motions 
 as to all the defendants, with the exception of 
 -Woodruff, who, on account of the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances that had entered into his side of the 
 <case, and his numerous confessions, was held to 
 be entitled to a separate trial. 
 
 THE SIX PRISONERS IN COURT.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THEORIES REGARDING THE DISAPPEARANCE OF 
 
 THE MURDERED MAN'S CLOTHING THE 
 
 HAND OF PROVIDENCE MANIFESTS ITSELF 
 FORTUNATE DISCOVERY OF THE LAST 
 BLOODY EVIDENCES OF THE CRIME DR. 
 
 CRONIN'S APPAREL is FOUND IT HAD BEEN 
 
 SECRETED, WITH HIS CASE OF SURGICAL 
 INSTRUMENTS, IN A CATCH-BASIN, ADJACENT 
 TO THE ONE IN WHICH THE BODY WAS 
 
 DISCOVERED SHOES, JEWELRY AND PURSE 
 
 MISSING COMPLETE IDENTIFICATION BY 
 
 HIS FRIENDS THE SEARCH CONTINUED 
 
 A PIECE OF CARPET FOUND THE CON- 
 SPIRATORS' PLANS THWARTED. 
 
 " God moves in a mysterious way ; 
 His wonders to perform." 
 
 No stronger exemplification of the truth of the 
 old familiar hymn, which commences with the 
 above lines, and which for generations has been 
 sung, Sabbath after Sabbath, in churches of nearly 
 every denomination throughout the Christian 
 world, had ever before been grafted in the record 
 of a criminal case. 
 
 333
 
 334 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 With the arrest and extradition of Martin 
 Burke and his incarceration with the other 
 suspects in the county jail, attention was attracted 
 anew to the question regarding the disposition made 
 of the clothing of the murdered physician, and of the 
 case of surgical instruments which he had taken 
 with him when decoyed from his home. What 
 was supposed, or claimed to be, a thorough 
 search of the sewers and inlets in the neighbor- 
 hood of the man-hole in which -the body was dis- 
 covered, had been made immediately after the 
 latter event, without, however, bringing anything 
 to the surface which was calculated to shed 
 additional light on the great crime. It was, 
 therefore, nothing but natural that, having in 
 mind the international character of the conspiracy 
 as evidenced by the dispatches from Toronto, 
 regarding the alleged presence of Dr. Cronin in 
 that city, the friends of the murdered man, as 
 well as the prosecuting officials of the county, 
 should arrive at the conclusion that, in a 
 geographical sense, the conspiracy was intended 
 to cover a still wider field. It was upon the 
 failure to find a single trace of the murdered 
 man's apparel, taken in connection with the fact 
 that on the eve of his sudden departure from 
 Chicago, Martin Burke had employed the tin- 
 smith Klahre to seal up a mysterious tin box, and 
 his unwillingness at the time that the contents
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 335 
 
 should be revealed, that laid the ground for 
 the suspicion, which worked itself into a general 
 belief that the tell-tale articles had been shipped 
 across the Atlantic, and that when, in the opinion 
 of the conspirators, the proper time had arrived, 
 they would turn up on the banks of the Seine in 
 Paris, or of the Thames in London, mute evidence 
 of the fact that, as had been claimed, the missing 
 man had actually left Chicago, appeared in 
 Toronto, thence gone to Montreal or some other 
 port, and embarked for England or the Continent, 
 and, further, that, for some cause or other it 
 mattered not that the world be left in doubt so 
 long as the aims of the conspirators were accom- 
 plished he had consigned himself to a watery 
 grave and left his clothes behind as convincing 
 proof of the fact. But for the discovery of 'the 
 body, such a programme could, without question, 
 have been carried out in its entirety, and the case 
 would have gone down into history as one of the 
 many mysteries for which no tangible explana- 
 tion was to be found. After the recovery of the 
 body, however, any proceeding of this kind 
 would have been worse than useless. But the 
 question still remained as to the disposal of the 
 clothing which had been stripped from the bleed- 
 ing and battered body in the Carlson cottage, and 
 it was not until after a lapse of over six months 
 and while the trial of the accused men was in
 
 336 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 progress, that the question was satisfactorily 
 answered. 
 
 A STARTLING DISCOVERY. 
 
 Strangely enough, as in the case of the body, 
 the mystery was solved by employe's of the 
 sewer department. On the afternoon of Novem- 
 ber 8th complaint was made at the Lake View 
 offices that some obstruction existed in the sewer 
 underneath the man-hole at the corner of 
 Evanston and Buena avenues. This point was a 
 mile and a quarter southeast of the catch-basin 
 where the body had been found in May, and: 
 about a quarter of a mile from the ditch in 
 which the trunk with .its rolls of blood-stained 
 cotton had been thrown. Three men, Michael 
 Gilbert, foreman of the cleaning gang, Michael 
 Reese, and W. W. McMillan, the foreman of 
 of the flushing gang, were sent to the place 
 with orders to move the obstruction without 
 delay. The three men raised the cover of the 
 catch-basin and Reese was lowered into it. He 
 had barely reached the bottom when he shouted 
 out that he had found a wooden box that 
 contained something that sounded like iron or 
 tin. He was quickly hauled up, bringing the box 
 with him. It was an oblong affair, about a foot 
 in length, seven or eight inches deep and nearly 
 as broad. In spots it evidenced that it had once 
 been highly varnished and polished. The brass
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 337 
 
 handle in the centre of the cover indicated that it 
 had been carried as a satchel is carried. Gilbert 
 forced open the case while his associates looked 
 on with eager eyes. A single glance at the 
 contents, covered though they were with the 
 filth that had leaked in through the opening, was 
 sufficient, and the three men exclaimed almost 
 with one breath, 
 
 " THAT IS DR. CRONIN'S BOX." 
 
 The contents were an assortment of extension 
 splints with which the Doctor had provided him- 
 
 THE BOX AND ITS CONTENTS. 
 
 self in anticipation of having to treat a fractured
 
 338 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 leg when he had reached Iceman O 'Sullivan's 
 house in Lake View. '. 
 
 Reese was again lowered into the catch-basin 
 and after a few moments exclaimed that he had 
 made a further- find. This time he passed up the 
 broken frame of a satchel, its coverings entirely 
 consumed by the foul waters of the sewer, a 
 second satchel and a bundle of clothes covered 
 with black, slimy refuse. After a hurried con- 
 sultation the men decided to notify the police, and 
 a call was sent to the Lake View station. Within 
 a few moments the patrol wagon the same one 
 which had driven Dr. Cronin's naked body to the 
 morgue was on the scene. Very quickly the 
 instrument box, the leather satchel, the bundle of 
 clothes and the rotted satchel were loaded on a 
 stretcher and carried to the Sheffield avenue 
 station. 
 
 THE LOAD ON THE STBETOHEB. 
 
 Information of the discovery was telephoned to 
 the Central Police Department, and Chief Hub- 
 bard responded with an order that the things
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 339 
 
 should be brought down at once. One hour 
 later the filthy packages were spread out on a 
 rubber tarpaulin in the Chief's private office, 
 and the leather satchel, having been washed 
 under the running hydrant, was opened. The 
 first article that was taken out was a book 
 that had swollen to more than twice its natural 
 size. The Chief opened it. On the fly leaf, 
 partially covered with dirt, was the name " Dr. 
 P. H. Cronin," written in the bold hand of the 
 man who had once owned the book. In one of 
 the pockets was a package of business cards in 
 a good state of preservation. They read as 
 follows : 
 
 DE. P. H. CRONIN, 
 
 Physician and Surgeon, Chicago. 
 
 Office, 501 Opera House Block, Kesidence, 468 and 470 
 
 North Clark street. 
 
 Office Hours: Office Hours: 
 
 11 to 1 p. m.; 2 to 5 p. m. 9 to 11 a. m.; 6 to 7:30 p. m 
 
 Nothing more than this was needed to prove 
 that the articles were really those that had once 
 belonged to the physician, and the Chief gave 
 orders that the dirty mass should -be taken to the 
 Chicago avenue station and thoroughly cleaned. 
 By this time, however, the developments of the 
 day had reached State's Attorney Longenecker, 
 who was conducting the trial in the Court House, 
 about half a mile away, and by his instructions 
 the order was countermanded, and the things
 
 34 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 were taken to his private office. Mrs. Conklin 
 was sent for, and upon her arrival the bundle of 
 clothes was unrolled. Lieut. Schuettler separated 
 the different pieces, handling the revolting articles 
 as coolly as an ordinary man would a towel, while 
 Mrs. Conklin looked on endeavoring to be more 
 cool and collected than any one else in the little 
 group. The first thing held up was a light spring 
 overcoat of a fashionable pattern. It had been 
 slit up the back by a keen edged knife, and the 
 sleeves were torn clean up to the collar. 
 
 IDENTIFYING THE CLOTHING. 
 
 Mrs. Conklin's eyes filled with tears, and for a 
 moment it was thought that she would swoon. 
 Quickly recovering herself, however, she said 
 quietly : 
 
 " It is Dr. Cronin's coat." 
 
 SOME OF DE. CHONIN'S CLOTHES.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 341 
 
 The next garment taken from the foul smelling 
 pile was an ordinary coat of black diagonal cloth, 
 answering perfectly to the description of the one 
 which Mrs. Conklin had said Dr. 'Cronin wore 
 when he was driven away. This, too, was almost 
 cut to pieces. Mrs. Conklin bowed her head to 
 indicate that she recognized it. Next the vest 
 was produced, then the trousers, then the drawers, 
 then two. white shirts and a collar, and finally the 
 physician's under vest and his big military slouch 
 hat. Every article, except the latter, had been 
 cut up very neatly, as though a very sharp knife 
 or pair of scissors had been used. The few men 
 present grated their teeth and set their jaws firm 
 at these evidences of the bloody butchery, while 
 Attorney W. J. Hynes, bringing his fist down on 
 the table, exclaimed in passionate tones: 
 
 "The fiends must have cut the clothes from 
 the body after they had finished their murderous 
 work." 
 
 Nearly all of the 
 garments were 
 stained with blood. 
 There was blood 
 
 TWO VIEWS OF DH. OBONIN'S HAT. On both SlCCVCS OI 
 
 the cut-away coat, blood on the vest and blood 
 on the trousers. One of the white shirts was liter- 
 ally soaked with it, while the other was slightly 
 stained. There was blood on the undershirt and on
 
 34 2 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 the drawers, which were made of fine wool, and 
 even upon the rim of the hat. Six months' 
 immersion in. the slime of a sewer, where they 
 had been exposed to the influences of repeated 
 storms, had not been enough to eradicate the 
 evidence of the terrible deed which had been 
 committed in the little cottage. 
 
 A MURDERER'S SHIRT. . 
 
 But there were no cuts or rips in the second 
 white shirt, and the conclusion was quickly 
 formed that it had belonged to one of the 
 murderers, who, fearing detection, must have 
 discarded it before leaving the cottage and 
 starting on the long and lonely trip with the 
 body in the trunk through the streets of Lake 
 View. It was closely examined for a mark 
 that would lead to the identification of its owner, 
 but not so much as an initial could be found. 
 
 On one of the cuffs 
 of the undershirt 
 was a large blue 
 enameled button, of 
 which, so said Mrs. 
 Conklin, Dr. Cronin 
 had been very fond. 
 The second button 
 ^^^ - and cuff were miss- 
 
 CBONIN'S POCKET INSTBUMENT CASE. inf. The physician's 
 
 neck-tie was next held up, but the pin, one which
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 343 
 
 he had worn for very many years, was gone. A 
 button bearing the insignia of the " Royal 
 Arcanium," of which Dr. Cronin had been a very 
 active member for several years, was found in 
 the lapel of the cut-away coat. The pockets 
 were searched for the gold watch and chain which 
 the physician had carried, and the well filled purse 
 that he had taken out on the fatal night. Neither 
 were found. 
 
 "The watch and chain are gone, also the 
 doctor's purse," said George Ingham. " Now will 
 these fellows claim that they murdered Dr. Cro- 
 nin through patriotic motives. Some people will 
 be uncharitable enough to believe that they in- 
 tended to commit robbery." 
 
 ,- V ft*' " 
 
 <> r '"/%. 
 
 
 'Up Ix 
 
 <T>4 tra/i 
 
 ^ 
 
 &*** ^, 
 
 ^- / ih' f - 
 
 rt'Si 
 
 **
 
 344 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 The clothes were temporarily laid aside at this 
 point and the contents of the leather satchel were 
 over-hauled. Mrs. Conklin at once identified it 
 by several marks, as one the physician had 
 carried for several years. From its recesses the 
 doctor's prescription book was first produced, 
 then his call book, and then a street guide that 
 Mrs. Conklin had purchased over two years be- 
 fore. After this came still another book with a 
 list of drugs and medicines, and explanations of 
 their uses. All the pages were badly soiled. A 
 tiny knife was fished out from the bottom of the 
 satchel. It was a pretty toy, one which Dr. Cro- 
 nin had received as a present from a little girl. 
 Tears started to Mrs. Conklin's eyes. 
 
 "Let me have that,' 1 she said, and she reached 
 for the knife. 
 
 It was silently passed over. 
 
 A tiny thermometer, such as surgeons carry to 
 test the temperature of patients was now brought 
 out, and then in rapid succession a roll of plasters, 
 a small pocket instrument case, a handkerchief, a 
 double stethescope, a lot of minor surgical instru- 
 ments, including a keen bladed scalpel and a box 
 of hypodermic syringes. This latter attracted 
 considerable attention, on account of its beauty. 
 It had been a present from W. M. Bagnall, one 
 of the most intimate friends of the physician, and 
 on it he had placed this inscription:
 
 THK CRIME OK THE CENTURY. 
 
 345 
 
 PRESENTED 15Y 
 
 WILLIAM M. BAGNELL 
 
 TO 
 
 DR. P. HARRY CRONIN. 
 
 All of this, how- 
 ever, except the last 
 line, had been eras- 
 ed. There were 
 two letters and a 
 postal card in the 
 ' satchel, each bear- 
 ing the down-town 
 
 BAGNALL'S PRESENT TO THE DOCTOR. address of the phy- 
 
 sician, together with a comb and a piece of paper, 
 so saturated with blood that it was difficult to 
 tell whether or not it had contained writing. 
 The wooden box contained several silver exten- 
 sion splints, which are used in case of fractured 
 limbs. The other valise, the cover of which had 
 been eaten away, was apparently about eighteen 
 inches long, quite large enough to have contained a 
 bundle of "clothes. When found by Reese, the 
 overcoat and trousers were clinging to the ribs 
 of it, which was taken as evidence that it had 
 contained the whole bundle when it was dumped 
 into the sewer. Salesman Hatfield, when sent 
 for, said unhesitatingly that he had no doubt but 
 that the valise was the one he had sold to the
 
 34 6 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 BEMAINS OF THE MUBDEBEBS' VALISE. 
 
 man Simonds, and which had been taken from 
 the Clark street flat to the Carlson cottage. The 
 hat was also recognized by the tradesman of 
 whom the physician had been a regular customer. 
 
 The excitement 
 which prevailed in 
 the city when the 
 news of the find be- 
 came known almost 
 equaled that of the 
 day on which the 
 body was found, while 
 
 the friends of the phV' 
 
 sician were exultant and congratulated each other 
 upon the unexpected aid that the prosecution had 
 received. Rumors of what the day had brought 
 forth had found their way into the court room a 
 little while prior to the adjournment of the after- 
 noon session, and created a profound impression; 
 the lawyers for the defense were astounded, while 
 the agitation of all of the prisoners, excepting 
 Beggs, T vas apparent to every observer. Only 
 the ex-Senior Guardian of Camp 20 .maintained 
 a cool demeanor. 
 
 A PIECE OF CARPET FOUND. 
 
 On the following da) 7 , acting under instructions 
 of the Chief of Police, a dozen picked men from 
 the Central detail commenced a thorough search 
 of the Lake View sewers. They were assisted
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY 
 
 347 
 
 by several experienced sewer men. Long pike 
 poles were secured and the hunt began, but the 
 task was by no means an easy one, many of the 
 sewers being too small for the smallest man to 
 crawl through. 
 
 Starting at Evanston 
 avenue the gang work- 
 ed slowly to the lake, 
 but for several hours 
 nothing was found to 
 reward their efforts. 
 It was not until late in 
 the day that a find was 
 made by Officer Lorch. 
 Equipped with a rub- 
 ber suit and one of the pike poles, he had been 
 lowered into the man-hole at the corner of Evan- 
 ston and Graceland avenues, one block south of 
 the man-hole in which the clothes and surgical in- 
 struments had been thrown, and two blocks south 
 of the street where the trunk was found. Worm- 
 ing himself into the twenty inch sewer he went 
 through the filthy main for a distance of twelve 
 or fifteen feet, pushing the pike pole ahead of him. 
 His persistence was finally rewarded by the bring, 
 ing to light of a muddy, slimy piece of carpet about 
 twenty inches square, and which looked as if it 
 had been hastily torn from a longer strip. When 
 brought to the surface and rinsed under a hydrant 
 
 THE SILVER HYPODEEMIC SYBINGE CASE.
 
 348 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 it was found to be a cheap quality of an ordinary 
 ingrain of a modest dark pattern, resembling just 
 such a carpet as that which the man Simonds 
 had purchased at Revells. 
 
 Its man y months 
 of contact with the 
 water and slime of 
 the sewer, however, 
 had destroyed all 
 traces of the color 
 and pattern, and hence it was impossible to posi- 
 tively identify it as a portion of the carpet laid 
 down in the Carlson cottage, but in view of the 
 locality in which it was found, and its proximity 
 to the place where the clothes and trunk were 
 secreted, there was but little doubt but that it 
 was a portion of the blood-stained carpet which 
 the murderers had taken up from the floor of the 
 cottage. The search was continued in the hope 
 that the boots, hose, watch and chain, and purse, 
 which were still missing, might be found in the 
 depths of the sewer, but despite the most 
 energetic efforts it was not rewarded by success. 
 
 THE CONSPIRATOR'S PLANS THWARTED. 
 It was a very easy task to find an explanation 
 of the presence of the bloody remains of the 
 .tragedy in the particular catch-basin in which 
 they were found. As originally planned, the con- 
 spiracy probably contemplated the sinking of the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 349 
 
 body and the other evidences of the crime in the 
 deep waters of the lake. After being accosted 
 by Officer Way of Edgewater, however, the 
 murderers must have become alarmed at meet- 
 ing so many policemen, and had turned Ground 
 as if to go back to Chicago. Meanwhile the 
 blood soaked carpet which had been ripped from 
 the floor of the cottage had been torn into strips 
 by the men in the wagon. 
 
 The expedient 
 of disposing of 
 the body by 
 throwing it into 
 the 59th street 
 catch b.asin, 
 which was only 
 half a mile from 
 Edgewater, was 
 one, 
 
 THE ENGLISH PBESCRIPTION BOOK. 
 
 but it was necessary in order to avoid 
 detection. This done, the murderers started 
 south for the distance of a mile, and having found 
 it impossible to jam the trunk into a man-hole, had 
 thrown it over the fence. The clothes, carpet, 
 satchels, and other evidence of guilt had been dis- 
 tributed along Evanston avenue for the distance 
 of another half mile, but yet so concealed as to 
 have made it next to impossible for the police, 
 with the facilities at their disposal, to find any-
 
 3150 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 thing but the trunk. This at least was the ex- 
 planation of some of the* officers, although it was 
 directly antagonized by other officials identified 
 with the force. For instance, Capt. Schuettler, on 
 the day of the finding of the carpet, declared that 
 the sewers in this particular locality had never 
 been searched. 
 
 " I went out but once to search those sewers," 
 he said, "just after the trunk was found' The 
 then detective, Dan Coughlin, and I rode in one 
 buggy. Captain Schaack and Michael Whalen in 
 the next, Detectives Lorch and Gardiner in the 
 third. Schaack said that ruf^believed the blood 
 in the trunk had come from a 'stiff' taken from 
 some cemetery, and we worked on that theory. 
 As a consequence the sewers were never examined 
 in that particular neighborhood."
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SPECIAL GRAND JURY SUMMONED PERSONNEL 
 
 OF ITS MEMBERS JUDGE SHEPARD\S VIGOR- 
 OUS CHARGE THE TESTIMONY TAKEN SEV- 
 ENTEEN DAYS' INVESTIGATION RESULTS IN 
 
 THE INDICTMENT OF SEVEN MEN FULL TEXT 
 
 OF THE INDICTMENT. 
 
 Sheriff Matson, tall and commanding, appeared 
 in that branch of the Criminal Court presided over 
 by Judge Shepard, at ten o'clock on the morn- 
 ing of June 12, at the head of such a procession 
 of prominent business men as is seldom seen in 
 the precincts of a court room, save on occasions 
 that stir the entire community. For the third 
 time during his term of office as sheriff once in 
 the Anarchist case, then in the celebrated 
 "boodler 1 ' trial, and again on this occasion, the 
 Sheriff had been ordered to summon a special 
 venire of grand jurors. That he had taken 
 pains to get good material, and at the same time 
 avoid selecting any of those that had served on 
 either of the two former occasions, was apparent 
 \vhen he presented the twenty-three men to the 
 Court. Their names were called out as follows' 
 
 351
 
 35- THK C.'RIMK OK THK (.'KNTl'RY. 
 
 D. B. Dewey, Isaac Jackson, 
 
 H. P. Kellogg, H. S. Peck, 
 
 D. A. Peirce, W. J. Quan, 
 
 W. K. Forsythe, John O'Neill, 
 
 John H. Clough, Louis Hasbrook, 
 
 J. McGregor Adams, Henry Greenebaum, 
 
 Jacob Gross, C. Gilbert Wheeler, 
 
 Francis B. Peabody, J. C. W. Rhode, 
 
 W. H. Beebe, A. P. Johnson, 
 
 A. G. Lundberg, George W. Waite, 
 
 John F. Wollensack, Henry A. Knott, 
 W. D. Kerfoot. 
 
 JUDGE SHEPARD'S PLAIN WORDS. 
 The Judge looked approvingly over the double 
 row of intelligent faces before him, and appointed 
 John H. Clough as foreman. The customary 
 oath usually administered incases of special grand 
 j'uries, where some of those summoned may be dis- 
 posed to avoid service, was omitted, and the regu- 
 lar grand jury oath was clinched with the state- 
 ment, "so help you God." After this the excuses 
 of half a dozen of those who considered them- 
 selves entitled to exemption came too late. Com- 
 mencing his charge by reading the section of the 
 statute defining the duties of grand jurors, and 
 fixing the punishment for disclosing grand jury 
 proceedings, Judge Shepard went on to say: 
 
 " The prime matter which will come before you will be 
 the murder of the late Dr. Cronin. This appalling murder 
 demands a most rigorous investigation. Dr. Cronin, an 
 American citizen, has been struck down and killed under cir- 
 cumstances so horribly indicative of conspiracy, premeditated 
 design and malice, as to warrant the most searching inquiry. For- 
 tunately the power of a grand jury is fully equal to the emergency.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 353 
 
 " Men who can tell of facts and circumstances that will lead 
 you to the discovery of the guilty parties can be made to tell. It 
 is just as much perjury to falsely deny knowledge of a fact as to 
 affirm its existence. Nothing short of a refusal to testify before 
 you on the ground that his testimony will tend to criminate him- 
 self will excuse any witness, and he cannot falsely employ that 
 personal privilege as a protection for another without subjecting 
 himself to the pains and penalties of perjury. 
 
 " It is not the policy of the law that it is better that one or any 
 number of guilty men should escape rather than that an innocent 
 person should suffer; the law has no policy in such matters except 
 that every guilty man shall be punished. With all the information 
 already in the possession of the law officers of the county at hand, 
 it will be a blot on the commonwealth, a severe blow to the admin- 
 istration of justice, and a frightful menace to the safety of the indi- 
 vidual citizen, if every man engaged in this shocking crime, or 
 having guilty knowledge of it, shall not be discovered. 
 
 " The whole power of the county is at your disposal. Employ 
 your resources, use the power invested in you without fear or favor, 
 and the result cannot be uncertain. You will now retire to the jury 
 room and make your own arrangements for the transaction of the 
 business for which you have been called together." 
 
 At the conclusion of this address the grand 
 jury retired, in charge of Bailiff Hamilton. An 
 organization was quickly effected, and soon the 
 twenty-three men were at work, with the assist- 
 ance of State's Attorney Longenecker and his 
 assistant, Jampolis. Acting Captain Schucttler was 
 also called in, and from these officials the body 
 received an outline of the case, very much 
 from the same material which came before the 
 coroner's jury, with the exception that the State's 
 Attorney had prepared a connected narrative 
 that, step by step, was to be corroborated by
 
 354 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 witnesses. At each of the stairways leading to 
 the floor where the grand jury quarters were 
 located bailiffs were stationed, and none but 
 grand jurors and witnesses were permitted to 
 pass. 
 
 THE GRAND JURY'S INQUIRY. 
 
 Beginning with the testimony of Mrs. Conklin, 
 the liveryman Dinan, the furniture salesmen, and 
 
 the agents of the 
 
 o 
 
 Clark street flat, 
 the Grand Jury 
 traced the move- 
 ments of the mur- 
 derers, step by 
 step. Daniel 
 Brown, the police 
 officer attached to 
 the Stanton avenue 
 station, and who 
 had preferred the 
 charges of treason 
 against Dr. Cronin 
 in a camp of the 
 Clan-na-gael, was 
 subjected to an exhaustive examination. He was 
 kept on the stand for nearly two hours, and was 
 not permitted to refuse to answer questions, or 
 to avoid answering by saying that he did not 
 
 OFFICER BROWN.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 355 
 
 recollect, or that he had forgotten. He was 
 closely questioned concerning his connection with 
 the order and his reasons for preferring the 
 charge against the physician. 
 
 Another witness was Thomas G. Windes, the 
 law partner of Alexander Sullivan, and at that 
 time a Master in Chancery of the Circuit Court. 
 He told the jury that he knew absolutely nothing 
 about the check for $99,000, drawn in favor of 
 Windes & Co., and which had been deposited in 
 the Traders' Bank to the credit of Alexander 
 Sullivan. In fact he had never even seen the 
 check. When questioned by the State's Attor- 
 ney, he said without hesitation, that he had seen 
 Detective Coughlin at the office of Alexander 
 Sullivan at least six or seven time's at different 
 periods preceding the murder, and that they 
 seemed to be quite intimate. 
 
 Corroborative testimony was given by Henry 
 Brown, a clerk in Sullivan's office. On the fifth 
 day of the investigation an indictment was found 
 against Martin Burke, in order that the record 
 upon which his extradition from Winnipeg was 
 sought should be complete. The speculations of 
 Alexander Sullivan on the Board of Trade, his 
 relations with the Clan-na-gael, and the alleged 
 misappropriation of funds, were investigated 
 at length. Incidentally, Frank B. Johnson, con- 
 fidential clerk of John T. Lester & Co., told
 
 356 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 of a speculation which he had engineered for 
 Sullivan in 1882. In that year Sullivan, upon 
 a "tip" from Johnson, purchased 200 shares of 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad stock, 
 putting up several thousand dollars as margin. 
 The transaction lasted for some time, and in the 
 end Sullivan's gains amounted to $50,000, out of 
 which he made Johnson a present of $5,000. 
 This, while interesting, was not material to the 
 purpose of the investigation. Rev. Father Dor- 
 ney was another witness, but, although closely 
 questioned, he told nothing of importance. The 
 indictment against Burke was returned into Judge 
 Shepherd's court, on June igth. There were 
 two counts, one charging him with the murder 
 of Dr. Cronin by means and weapons to the jury 
 unknown, and abetted and aided by persons un- 
 known, while the other charged him, under the 
 name of Burke, otherwise known as Martin Pe- 
 laney, otherwise known as Frank Williams, with 
 conspiring with certain other unknown persons 
 to murder the physician. The names of fifty 
 witnesses were on the back of the indictment. 
 Mortimer F. Scanlan told a lengthy story regard- 
 ing the enmity toward Dr. Cronin that existed in 
 Chicago, and which was fomented by a faction of 
 the canrp to which Coughlin belonged. He also 
 said that the physician carried important papers 
 regarding the alleged embezzlement of Clan-na-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 357 
 
 gael funds, either in his inside pocket or in his 
 instrument case, about the time of his death. 
 
 PAT COONEY UNDER SUSPICION. 
 
 Just about this time the police began an 
 active search for a man named Pat Cooney, 
 better known to his associates by the sobriquet 
 of " the Fox," and who answered in every par- 
 ticular to the description given of the man 
 Simonds, who had purchased the furniture from 
 the Revells and had rented the flat on Clark 
 street. He was a bricklayer by trade, and had 
 come from the west of Ireland, somewhere in 
 the same region from which Burke hailed. 
 Some time prior to the murder he had been a 
 boon friend and companion of Coughlin and 
 Burke, and had- been frequently heard to de- 
 nounce Dr. Cronin as a British spy. He com- 
 menced to drink steadily during the week 
 following the physician's disappearance, and 
 although not working, had an abundance of 
 money. The police authorities were .satisfied 
 that Cooney was the man they wanted, but a 
 thorough search of the city resulted in the dis- 
 covery that he had left for parts unknown. 
 Detectives were sent to several points where 
 men answering to his description had been 
 shadowed by the authorities, but their labors
 
 358 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 were without result. A man supposed to be 
 "The Fox" was arrested at Frankfort, Indiana, 
 on June 23d, but proved to be an entirely 
 different individual. The search was continued 
 for months, and finally it was concluded that 
 Cooney had left the country. 
 
 THE TRIAL IN CAMP 2O. 
 
 Startling information was brought to the 
 attention of the Grand Jury, at its session on 
 June 24th, which established to the satisfaction 
 of the prosecuting officials, that there was an 
 " inner circle " in the notorious Camp Number 20 
 of the Clan-na-gael, and that a trial of Dr. 
 Crcnin was ordered by this inner circle within 
 two months of his death. For a year or more 
 the physician had been denounced in this camp 
 as a British spy, by Coughlin, O'Sullivan, Cooney, 
 Burke and others of that ilk. Members of other 
 camps, who were friendly to the "triangle," 
 helped to spread the story in some quarters by 
 innuendo, and in others by direct assertion, 
 testifying before the Parnell commission, in 
 London, in the spring of 1889. Le Caron had 
 said that there were in the United States 
 three other spies like unto himself, but at 
 the instance of the Court their names were sup- 
 pressed. Hardly, however, had this evidence 
 been cabled across the water, than it began
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 359 
 
 to be hinted about in Chicago that Dr. Cronin 
 was one of the three referred to. It was 
 also falsely asserted that Le Caron had testi- 
 fied that Dr. Cronin was his friend, and a man 
 eminent in his profession. This, for the purposes 
 of the " inner circle," was proof positive that 
 Cronin was a British spy. Le Caron's testimony 
 was given during the first week in February. 
 About the third week of that month it was alleged 
 that Alexander Sullivan had received advices 
 from abroad, to be re-directed to Patrick Egan, 
 at Lincoln, Nebraska, setting at rest all doubt as 
 to the fact that there was at least one spy in the 
 United States. The rumor that these advices 
 existed had its effect. Charges, so it was claimed, 
 were preferred against Dr. Cronin for giving 
 secrets to the enemy, for seeking to obtain 
 information prejudicial to the cause in order to 
 sell it to England, and for general betrayal of 
 the secrets of the order. In accordance with 
 the rules of the organization, these charges 
 should have been lodged with a member of the 
 executive. A member friendly to the inner cir- 
 cle was induced to order^a trial. This trial was 
 directed to be held in Camp 20, because the per- 
 son preferring the charges belonged to that 
 camp. Under the rules of the order this process 
 was irregular, as the charges should have been 
 heard in Cronin's own camp. His enemies, how-
 
 360 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 ever, cared nothing for law. What they wanted 
 was vengeance. John F. Beggs, a well-known 
 lawyer, and -president of the Irish- American 
 Club, was Senior Guardian of Camp 20. He 
 selected a trial committee. It held several meet- 
 ings, the last about the middle of February. At 
 this meeting the death of the physician must 
 have been decreed. 
 
 This was the story in outline as it reached the 
 State's Attorney. Lawyer Beggs, who had 
 already been several times summoned before the 
 Grand Jury, was again recalled. His answers 
 were evasive and unsatisfactory, although he 
 
 denied that any com- 
 mittee had been ap- 
 pointed, that any secret 
 trial had taken place, 
 or that, so far as his 
 knowledge went, Dr. 
 Cronin had been con- 
 demned to death as 
 the result of any action 
 of that particular camp. 
 Many admissions, were 
 JOHN F. BEGGS. wrung from him when 
 
 was confronted with the facts, but his entire 
 demeanor was so uncertain, and he made so 
 many contradictory and inconsistent statements, 
 that the members of the Grand Jury were
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 361 
 
 convinced that he possessed a guilty knowl- 
 edge of the murder, or of the circumstances 
 which resulted in the perpetration of the crime. 
 The result was that, at the conclusion of his 
 examination, he was placed under arrest and 
 incarcerated with the other suspects in the county 
 jail. 
 
 SEVEN SUSPECTS INDICTED. 
 
 Enough testimony had now been heard to 
 enable the Grand Jury to act intelligently, and 
 the inquiry was closed. One entire day was 
 devoted to the sifting of the evidence as it 
 related to each individual who had been men- 
 tioned in connection with the crime, and at five 
 o'clock of the afternoon of Saturday, June 
 29th, seventeen days from the inauguration of 
 the inquiry, the jurors again filed into Judge 
 Shepherd's court. 
 
 " Have you any report to make Mr. Foreman?" 
 asked the Judge. 
 
 "We have, your honor," promptly answered 
 Mr. John H. Clough, and stepping forward he 
 handed a bulky document to Clerk Lee, who, in 
 turn, handed it to Judge Shepherd. The Court 
 glanced over the contents and then inquired: 
 
 " Have you any further business to transact, 
 gentlemen ?" 
 
 "I think we have finished what we had to do," 
 answered Mr. Clough,
 
 362 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 " Then," said the Court, "you may be excused 
 from further service." 
 
 And thus was dismissed one of the most 
 important Grand Juries ever empaneled in Cook 
 County or in the State of Illinois. For three 
 weeks it had been constantly engaged in probing 
 into the mystery, and in that period it had 
 examined over 200 witnesses, a number unprece- 
 dented in a criminal case. That its labors had 
 been attended with good results, and that it had 
 performed its duty with fidelity and faithfulness, 
 was demonstrated by the document that had 
 been entrusted to the Court. It was an indict- 
 ment charging the following persons with the 
 murder of Dr. P. H. Cronin: 
 
 JOHN F. BEGGS, Lawyer and Senior Guardian of 
 
 Camp No. 20. 
 
 DANIEL COUGHLIN, Ex-detective. 
 PATRICK O'SULLIVAN, Iceman. 
 MARTIN BURKE, Laborer. 
 F. J. WOODRUFF, alias Black, the horse thief. 
 JOHN KUNZE, Laborer. 
 PATRICK COONEY, alias " The Fox." 
 
 The full text of the indictment was as follows : 
 
 The grand jurors aforesaid, chosen, selected, and sworn, in and 
 for the County of Cook in the State of Illinois, in the name and by the 
 authority of the people of the State of Illinois, upon their oaths 
 aforesaid, do present that one Martin Burke, otherwise called 
 Martin Delaney, otherwise called Frank Williams, one John F. 
 Beggs, one Daniel Coughlin, one Patrick O'Sullivan, one Frank J,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 363 
 
 Woodruff, otherwise called Frank J. Black, one Patrick Cooney, one 
 John Kunze, and divers other persons, a more particular description 
 of which is to the said jurors unknown, late of the County of Cook, 
 March I, in the year of our Lord 1889, in said County of Cook in the 
 State of Illinois aforesaid, did unlawfully, feloniously, fradulently.and 
 deceitfully conspire and agree together with the fraudulent and mali- 
 cious intent then and there, feloniously, wrongfully, and wickedly, 
 and with malice aforethought, to kill and murder one Patrick 
 Henry Cronin, in the peace of the people of the State of Illinois then 
 and there being, and the jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid 
 do further present that the said Martin Burke, otherwise called Mar- 
 tin Delaney, otherwise called Frank Williams, said John F. Beggs, 
 said Daniel Coughlin, said Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank J. Wood- 
 ruff, otherwise called Frank J. Black, s'aid Patrick Cooney, said John 
 Kunze, and the said divers persons whose names are to the said jurors 
 unknown, in execution of the said last mentioned premises and in 
 pursuance of the said conspiracy, combination, and agreement 
 between and amongst them as aforesaid, afterwards to wit: May 4, 
 in the year of our Lord 1889, in said County of Cook, in the State of 
 Illinois aforesaid, in and upon the said Patrick Henry Cronin, in the 
 peace of the people of the said State of Illinois, then and there being 
 unlawfully, willfully, feloniously, and of their malice aforethought, 
 did make an assault, and that they, the said Martin Burke, otherwise 
 called Martin Delaney, otherwise called Frank Williams, said John 
 F. Beggs, said Daniel Coughlin, said Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank 
 J. Woodruff, otherwise called Frank J. Black, said Patrick Cooney, 
 said John Kunze, and said divers other persons, with certain means, 
 weapons, and instruments, a more particular description of which is 
 to the said jurors unknown, unlawfully, willfully, feloniously, and of 
 their malice aforethought, did strike, penetrate, and wound the body, 
 limbs, head, and face of him, the said Patrick Henry Cronin, with the 
 means, weapons, and instruments aforesaid, and upon divers parts of 
 the head, face, limbs, and body of him, the said Patrick Henry 
 Cronin, did inflict divers mortal wounds, bruises, lacerations, and 
 contusions, of which said mortal wounds, bruises, lacerations, and 
 contusions he, the said Patrick Henry Cronin, then and there 
 instantly died. 
 
 CHARGED WITH MURDER. 
 
 And so the jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do say that 
 the said Martin Burke, otherwise called Martin Delaney, otherwise
 
 364 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 called Frank Williams, said John F. Beggs, said Daniel Coughlin, 
 said Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank J. Woodruff, otherwise called 
 Frank J. Black, said Patrick Cooney, said John Kunze, and said 
 divers other persons, him, the said Patrick Henry Cronin, then and 
 there in manner and form aforesaid, unlawfully, willfully, feloni- 
 ously, and of their malice aforethought, did kill and murder, contrary 
 to the statute and against the peace and dignity of the same people 
 of the State of Illinois. 
 
 The grand jurors aforesaid chosen, selected, and sworn in in the 
 name of and by the authority of the State of Illinois, and through the 
 County of Cook in the State of Illinois, upon their oaths aforesaid, do 
 further present that one Martin Burke, otherwise called Martin 
 Delaney, otherwise called Frank Williams, one John F. Beggs, one 
 Daniel Coughlin, one Patrick' O'Sullivan, one Frank J. Woodruff, 
 otherwise called Frank J. Black, one Patrick Cooney, and one John 
 Kunze, late of the County of Cook, May 4, in the year of our Lord 
 1889, in said County of Cook, in the State of Illinois aforesaid, in and 
 upon one Patrick Henry Cronin, in the peace of the people of the 
 State of Illinois then and there being, unlawfully, willfully, feloniouslj 
 and of their malice aforethought, did make an assault, and that they, 
 the said Martin Burke, otherwise called Martin Delaney, otherwise 
 called Frank Williams, said John F. Beggs, said Daniel Coughlin, 
 said Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank J. Woodruff, otherwise called 
 Frank J. Black, said Patrick Cooney, said John Kunze, with certain 
 means, instruments, and weapons, a more particular description of 
 which is to the said jurors unknown, unlawfully, willfully, feloni- 
 ously, and of their malice aforethought, did then and there strike, 
 penetrate, and wound the body, limbs, head, and face of him, the 
 said Patrick Henry Cronin, then and there giving to him, the said 
 Patrick Henry Cronin, with the means, weapons and instruments, 
 aforesaid in and upon divers parts of the head, face, limbs and body 
 of him, the said Patrick Henry Cronin, divers mortal wounds, bruises, 
 lacerations, and contusions, of which said mortal wounds, bruises, 
 lacerations, and contusions he, the said Patrick Henry Cronin, then 
 and there instantly died. And so the jurors aforesaid upon their 
 oaths aforesaid do say that the said Martin Burke, otherwise called 
 Martin Delaney, otherwise called Frank Williams, said John F. 
 Beggs, said Daniel Coughlin, said Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank J. 
 Woodruff, otherwise called Frank J. Black, said Patrick Cooney, and 
 said John Kunze, him, the said Patrick Henry Cronin, then and 
 there, in manner and form aforesaid, unlawfully, willfully, feloni-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 365 
 
 ously, and of their malice aforethought, did kill and murder, con- 
 trary to the statute and against the peace and dignity of the same 
 people of the State of Illinois. 
 
 The grand jurors aforesaid, chosen, selected, and sworn in and 
 for the County of Cook, in the State of Illinois, in the name and by 
 the authority of the State of Illinois, upon their oaths aforesaid, 
 do further present that one Martin Burke, otherwise called 
 Martin Delaney, otherwise called Frank Williams; one John F. 
 Beggs, one Daniel Coughlin, one Patrick O'Sullivan, one Frank J. 
 Woodruff, otherwise called Frank J. Blaclc, one Patrick Cooney, 
 and one John Kunze, late of the County of Cook, May 4, in the 
 year of our Lord 1889, in said County of Cook, in the State of 
 Illinois aforesaid, in and upon one Patrick Henry Cronin, in the 
 peace of the people of the State of Illinois, then and there being, 
 unlawfully, willfully, feloniously and of their malice aforethought, 
 did make an assault; and the said Martin Burke, otherwise called 
 Martin Delaney, otherwise called Frank Williams, said John F. 
 Beggs, said Daniel Coughlin, said Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank J. 
 Woodruff, otherwise called Frank J. Black, and said John Kunze, 
 with certain blunt instruments, a more particular description of 
 which is to the said jurors unknown, which they, the said Martin 
 Burke, otherwise called Martin Delaney, otherwise called Frank 
 Williams, said John F. Beggs, said Daniel Coughlin, said Patrick 
 O'Sullivan, said Frank Woodruff, otherwise called Frank J. Black 
 said Patrick Cooney, and said John Kunze, in both of the hands 
 of each of them, the said Martin Burke, otherwise called Martin 
 Delaney, otherwise called Frank Williams, said John F. Beggs, said 
 Daniel Coughlin, said Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank J. Woodruff, 
 otherwise called Frank J. Black, said Patrick Cooney and said John 
 Kunze, then and there, had and held the said Patrick Henry Cronin, 
 in and upon the head, face, and body of him, the said Patrick Henry 
 Cronin, then and there unlawfully, willfully, feloniously, and of 
 their malice aforethought, did push, shove, strike, thrust, and pene- 
 trate, giving to the said Patrick Henry Cronin then and there, with 
 the said blunt instruments aforesaid, in and upon the head, face, and 
 body of him, the said Patrick Henry Cronin, divers mortal wounds, 
 contusions, and lacerations, each of the length of two inches and of 
 the depth of one inch, of which said mortal wounds, contusions, 
 and lacerations the said Patrick Henry Cronin then and there 
 instantly died. And so the jurors aforesaid upon their oaths afore- 
 said do say that the said Martin Burke, otherwise called Martin
 
 366 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Delaney, otherwise called Frank Williams, said John F. Beggs, said 
 Daniel Coughlin, said Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank J. Woodruff, 
 otherwise called Frank J. Black, said Patrick Cooney, and said John 
 Kunze, him, the said Patrick Henry Cronin, then and there in 
 manner and form aforesaid, unlawfully, willfully, feloniously, and 
 of their malice aforethought, did kill and murder, contrary to the 
 statute and against the peace and dignity of the said people of the 
 State of Illinois. 
 
 The grand jurors aforesaid, chosen, selected, and sworn in and 
 for the County of Cook^Tn the State of Illinois, in the name and by 
 the authority of the people of the State of Illinois, upon their oaths 
 aforesaid do further present that one Martin Burke, otherwise called 
 Martin Delaney, otherwise called Frank Williams, one John F. 
 Beggs, one Daniel Coughlin, one Patrick O'Sullivan, one Frank J. 
 Woodruff, otherwise called Frank J. Black, one Patrick Cooney, and 
 one John Kunze, late of the County of Coo'k, May 4, in tLe year of 
 our Lord 1889, in the said County of Cook, in the State of Illinois 
 aforesaid, in and upon one Patrick Henry Cronin in the peace of the 
 people of the State of Illinois, then and there being, unlawfully, will- 
 fully, feloniously, and of their malice aforethought, did make an 
 assault, and the said Martin Burke, otherwise called Martin Delaney 
 otherwise called Frank Williams, said John F. Beggs, said Daniel 
 Coughlin, said Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank J. Woodruff, other- 
 wise called Frank J. Black, said Patrick Cooney, and said John 
 Kunze, with certain sharp instruments, a more particular description 
 of which is to the said jurors unknown, which they, the said Martin 
 Burke, otherwise called Martin Delaney, otherwise called Frank 
 Williams, said John F. Beggs, said Daniel Coughlin, said Frank J. 
 Woodruff, otherwise called Frank J. Black, said Patrick Cooney, 
 and said John Kunze, in both of the hands of each of them the said 
 Martin Burke, otherwise called Martin Delaney, otherwise called 
 Frank Williams, said John F. Beggs, said Daniel Coughlin, said 
 Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank J. Woodruff, otherwise called Frank 
 J. Black, said Patrick Cooney, and said John Kunze, then and there 
 had and held the said Patrick Henry Cronin, in and upon the face, 
 head, and body of him, the said Patrick Henry Cronin, then and 
 there willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and of their malice afore- 
 thought did push, shove, strike, thrust, and penetrate, giving to the 
 said Patrick Henry Cronin then and there with the said sharp instru- 
 ments as aforesaid in and upon the head, face, and body of him, the 
 said Patrick Henry Cronin, divers mortal wounds, contusions, and
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 367 
 
 lacerations, each of the length of two inches and of the depth of one 
 inch, of which said mortal wounds, contusions and lacerations the 
 said Patrick Henry Cronin then and there instantly died. And so 
 the jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do say that the said 
 Martin Burke, otherwise called Martin Delaney, otherwise called 
 Frank Williams, said John F. Beggs, said Daniel Coughlin, said 
 Patrick O'Sullivan, said Frank J. Woodruff, otherwise called Frank 
 J. Black, said Patrick Cooney, and said John Kunze, him, the said 
 Patrick Henry Cronin, then and there in manner aforesaid, unlaw- 
 fully, feloniously, and of their malice aforethought, did kill and 
 murder. 
 
 KUNZE'S SUPPOSED PART IN THE CRIME. 
 Considerable surprise was occasioned by the 
 appearance of the name of John Kunze in the 
 
 indictment. No- 
 body had supposed 
 that a German was 
 connected with the 
 conspiracy, while it 
 was regarded as 
 remarkable that 
 the police should 
 have been able to 
 keep the fact that 
 there was another 
 suspect so com- 
 plete a secret. 
 Now, however, the 
 
 JOHN KUNZE. facts came out. 
 
 Kunze had come from Germany a few years be- 
 fore, representing that he was the heir to a large 
 estate, in Luxemburg, a.m] ha,4 worked <u various 
 
 w
 
 ^68 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 \j 
 
 places and at anything he could get to do. For 
 some reason or other he was taken under the 
 protecting wing of Dan Coughlin, of whom he 
 came to be regarded as a protege. The two 
 men were together almost daily, and could 
 scarcely have been on more intimate terms. Be- 
 fore the Grand Jury, Mertes, the milkman, had 
 identified Kunze's picture as that of one of the 
 two men whom he had seen drive up in a buggy 
 to the Carlson cottage between eight and nine 
 o'clock on the night of the murder. 
 
 "He was the man who staid in the buggy and 
 held the horse while the other man ran up the 
 steps and entered the door," were the milkman's 
 own words. 
 
 In addition to this, a young man named 
 James had positively identified the German as 
 one of the tenants of the flat on Clark street, 
 saying that he had seen him, coming and going, 
 and at the windows, for nearly a month. More 
 than this, he had seen him washing his feet before 
 the window. The Grand Jury had considered 
 this evidence as conclusive. Kunze was arrested 
 in Chicago on July ist, and slept that night, 
 with his fellow^ suspects, five in number, in a cell 
 in " Murderers' row,"
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PUBLIC ABHORRENCE AT THE CRIME A GREAT 
 OUT-POURING OF THE PEOPLE COSMOPOLI- 
 TAN ASSEMBLAGE AT CENTRAL MUSIC HALL 
 A JUDGE'S VIGOROUS SPEECH CONGRESS- 
 MEN DENOUNCE THE CRIME THE RIVAL 
 
 DEMONSTRATIONS AT CHELTENHAM BEACH 
 AND OGDEN'S GROVE. 
 
 Greater honors could scarcely have been ac- 
 corded the departed statesman, patriot or war- 
 rior than were paid by the citizens of Chicago to 
 the memory of the man who had been removed 
 from their midst by means and methods so 
 foul and dastardly. 
 
 Three thousand men and women young peo- 
 ple just budding into manhood and womanhood, 
 old folks with whitened locks and faltering step- 
 crowded the spacious Central Music Hall and its 
 approaches on the night of June 28, to express 
 their detestation of the crime that had stained the 
 fair fame of the Garden City, to denounce the 
 criminals and to demand of those responsible for 
 the execution of the law that no effort be spared 
 to bring the guilty to justice. It was one of the
 
 370 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 most cosmopolitan assemblages that had ever 
 been gathered under a roof in Chicago. There 
 were native Americans, British Americans and 
 Irish Americans, Swedes and Italians, French- 
 men and Germans. Members of the colored race 
 were scattered here and there through the vast 
 audience, and even the Chinese colony had its 
 representatives in a couple of distinguished look- 
 ing Celestials, who, with characteristic modesty, 
 occupied seats away back in the rear. 
 
 THE PROMINENT CITIZENS PRESENT. 
 
 Equally striking and significant was the ar- 
 ray of citizens that occupied the stage. Back of 
 W. H. Dyrenfurth, President of the Personal 
 Rights League, under the auspices of which the 
 gathering had been called, and who officiated as 
 temporary chairman, sat men of such national 
 and local celebrity as Judge Prendergast, W. P. 
 Rend, Robert Lindblom, of the Board of Trade, 
 Congressmen George G. Adams and Frank Law- 
 ler, Alderman John Dalton and Representative 
 Charles G. Dixon, the prominent labor leader. 
 In one of the boxes sat Herman Raster, the noted 
 editor of the Staats Zeitung, in another United 
 States Commissioner Phil. A. Hoyne. To 
 the right and left could be seen scores of men 
 of high social and official position, side by 
 side with divines of the Catholic, Protestant,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 371 
 
 Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and other denom- 
 inations. Few of these could claim any per- 
 sonal acquaintance with the murdered man, many 
 more had known him scarce by name or even 
 looked upon him in the flesh, but one and all were 
 animated by the same motives those of respect 
 to his memory and a deep-rooted determination 
 that the foul crime should and must be avenged. 
 The decorations of the stage were modest 
 and tasteful. Upon the rear wall, under the 
 organ loft, were draped two large American 
 flags; numerous baskets of flowers and plants 
 tending to form an artistic background; a large 
 banner, bearing the emblematic figure of the 
 Goddess of Liberty, was suspended from the 
 organ, and supported on one side by a banner, 
 with a figure of Columbia, holding the stars and 
 stripes in one hand, the other resting upon the 
 national shield, with the American eagle hover- 
 ing at her feet. To the front of all, and upon 
 which the greatest interest centered, was a life- 
 sized portrait of the victim of his enemies, draped 
 in mourning, and surmounted by miniature 
 American and Irish flags. Col. W. P. Rend, in 
 the absence of Mayor Cregier, was the presiding 
 officer of the occasion, and presented letters, 
 regretting their inability to attend, from Right 
 Rev. Bishop Cheney, and United States Senators 
 Charles H. Farwell and Shelby M. Cullom,
 
 372 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 who had promised to be in attendance. Otto's 
 beautiful chorus, "Gehet " (The Prayer), having 
 been rendered by a volunteer combined Swiss 
 and German chorus, a number of vigorous and 
 remarkable speeches were made. Congressman 
 Frank Lawler spoke in this strain: 
 
 "A BLOT ON CHICAGO'S NAME." 
 
 " I am thankful for the privilege of giving my views upon 
 what I consider to be one of the most revolting and cowardly 
 crimes ever committed in this or any other community. Any per- 
 son having the heart of an American cannot but feel that the 
 murder of Dr. Cronin is a blot upon the good name of this gieat 
 city, which can only be wiped out by the arrest and swift punish- 
 ment of the instigators and their hirelings. 
 
 " The vast concourse that turned out to pay their respect to the 
 memory of Dr. Cronin when that sad and solemn demonstration 
 conveyed his remains to their last resting-place, gave an unanswer- 
 able testimony to him who lived a Christian and patriotic life, and 
 it should convey to his enemies in no uncertain language the fact 
 that the people of Chicago knew Dr. Cronin to be an Irish-Ameri- 
 can gentleman, faithful to his native as he was true to his adopted 
 country. This should be accepted by his traducers, and they had 
 better understand that the people of Chicago are slow to anger, 
 but when once aroused, they are just enough to vindicate him who 
 gave up his life while answering the call of distress a martyr to 
 truth, honesty and charity. Dr. Cronin's traducers had better 
 beware, for Justice is jealous, and may lift the sword when she 
 finds that those who are not with her are against her. 
 
 " Thank God, we are unanimous in this opinion. I am proud of 
 the action of the Irish-American societies condemning the murder 
 of Dr. Cronin. Let us continue to act so that justice shall be dealt 
 out to every guilty person, no matter what his position may be. 
 Let us not condemn communities or peoples because bad men 
 have shielded their crimes behind their good name and well- 
 earned reputation in war and in peace. Let us not forget the 
 people that did their share at Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg.
 
 THE CRIME OK THE CENTURY. 373 
 
 Winchester and in the Shenandoah Valley, because a few assassins 
 who belong to no race, curse our civilization with their crimes. Let 
 us not condemn the race that gives us a Corcoran, a Meagher, a 
 Smith, a Mulligan, a Shields and a Sheridan, because that race is 
 now bowed down with the burden of a Coughlin, a Burke or a Sulli- 
 van, but let us pledge our united fortunes, and, if it needs be, our 
 lives, to the vindication of law and order, no matter who may be 
 guilty." 
 
 JUDGE PRENDERGAST'S VIGOROUS SPEECH. 
 
 Still more vigorous was the speech of Judge 
 Richard Prendergast, one of the leading Irish- 
 Americans of the city; and who, although com- 
 paratively a young man, was recognized as a bril- 
 liant ornament to the judicial bench. His clear 
 cut sentences awakened a responsive chord in 
 the hearts of his hearers, and at times during his 
 speech the applause was deafening. Among 
 other things he said : 
 
 " Those who take part on the side of justice and against this con- 
 spiracy, should be prepared to meet opposition and find spies on all 
 sides. I have no doubt that right in this meeting there are tools and 
 spies upon words and deeds. I believe there are members of this 
 great conspiracy in this hall to night. Don't imagine that your 
 public meeting, guarded by tickets, will exclude spies and assassins 
 in thought, if not in deed. Even the organized power of the State 
 will have all it can do to keep them and their influences from the 
 jury box. This is strong language, but it is called for by the occa- 
 sion. At this time, no man who is asked to express himself on the 
 great topic of this foul murder can afford to be silent. Sometimes 
 persons are silent on the ground of expediency, but on this occasion 
 no man who is worthy of the name can be anything else but an open, 
 avowed enemy of this great conspiracy. It is time to discuss secret 
 societies, whether they are good or bad, when the murderers of Dr. 
 Cronin are at hand.
 
 374 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 "Was Dr. Cronin a spy?" demanded the eloquent speaker, 
 and from the vast audience there came the reply, with a roar, " No." 
 
 " Was he known to be such before Le Caron testified ? " again de- 
 manded the judge, and again the thousands answered " No," while a 
 cheer went up that shook the building. 
 
 "This man carried his life in his hands, and did it for years," 
 resumed the speaker. " The talk of his being a spy is sheer non- 
 sense; it matters not who makes the statement, whether directly or by 
 insinuation, he lies in his throat. A spy could not have arrayed 
 himself for years in hostility to all the sources of disaster that has 
 fallen upon the Irish cause. But that is simply the Irish phase of 
 the question, and as Americans every citizen must rise high enough 
 to declare that in view of American law, spy or no spy, no man had 
 a right to decree or to do his murder. A peculiar feature of this con- 
 spiracy is that it had for its purpose not only the destruction of Dr. 
 Cronin's life, but the destruction of his character that it was for 
 a twofold purpose, malice and cowardice; hatred of him because of 
 what he was, and cowardice so as to cover up the evidences of crime. 
 
 "Here," went on the speaker, after he had alluded at length to the 
 stories that had emanated from Toronto, Montreal, and other places, 
 as demonstrating the underspread motive of the conspiracy. "Here, 
 where Dr. Cronin spent so many years of hislife, we can safely affirm, 
 as this meeting does affirm, that, tested by his career and by every fact 
 and circumstance brought to light, Dr. Cronin was an unselfish, a 
 public-spirited, an honorable and an honest man, and those who hated 
 him and lured him to his death did so because of that character of his, 
 which could neither be bent nor broken, severed nor turned aside by 
 threats against his life, by attacks against his life, by plots against 
 his life that he had discovered, or by the easier methods of bribery 
 that must have been within the power of those who organized those 
 plots. In the presence of a society whose object is the maintenance 
 of the right of the individual to think, to speak and to act as his 
 conscience directs, regardless of any adverse powers. Impressed by 
 the spirit of such a meeting, I can not refrain from giving expression 
 to the sentiments I feel. I do so for another purpose, and it is this: 
 
 " That the miscreants who planned and effected this foul murder 
 will know, or rather they will understand, how the public knows how 
 'I regard them. They have known it for years. This is a time when 
 no man who ever had anything to do with the Irish movements 
 especially, can afford to be silent and do justice to himself. I do so 
 with the distinct consciousness that the man who attacks this con-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 375 
 
 spiracy invites its hatred. I believe I have had its hatred for some 
 time. If speaking as I have done does not invite its hatred, I invite 
 it now. No "ian who shakes hands with a criminal, or his allies or 
 sympathizers, can be relied upon as a faithful conservator of justice 
 Let no man having political ambition be deluded with the thought 
 that subserviency w : aid him. Treason to American institutions 
 and to the cause of justice, at this time, will damn forever the man 
 that the public believes guilty, and he does not have to be tried by a 
 jury or any other bar than enlightened public opinion." 
 
 But no more graphic a tribute to the charac- 
 teristics and memory of the murdered man could 
 have come from tongue or pen than came from 
 Colonel Rend, and his auditors hung breathless 
 upon his words: 
 
 " He was a man endowed with many of the choicest gifts and 
 graces of nature. In person he was a perfect model of physical 
 manhood. In intellect he possessed talents of a high order. His 
 natural abilities enabled him to overcome the stern circumstances of 
 an early life of poverty and discouragement. By his own unaided 
 efforts, and from the savings of intelligent and careful economy, he 
 gained a collegiate education. He then studied for the medical pro- 
 fession. Afterward he filled the chair of a professor in the college 
 where he received his diploma. He became an accomplished lin- 
 guist in several modern languages, and could speak German and 
 French as fluently as his native tongue. To these attainments he 
 added the charming accomplishment of a fine musical education. 
 But above all, he trained and educated to an admirable degree the 
 higher moral sentiments of his spiritual being. His soul shone out 
 with all the brightness of the noonday sun. He loved right and jus- 
 tice. He hated wrong and injustice. He despised cunning, decep- 
 tion and falsehood in every form. He unmasked and denounced 
 hypocrisy, especially where he saw hypocrisy used as a cloak to 
 cover schemes of spurious patriotism. He was fearless in facing and 
 defying danger where honor or principle was involved. He was an 
 honest man, and a true man in every fiber of his nature. He cher- 
 ished with fond remembrance, and loved with all the ardor of his 
 warm Irish nature, the land of his fathers and of his birth. He 
 pleaded and labored in the sacrec} cayse of the promotion of Ire-
 
 376 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 land's rights and liberties. Indeed, were it not for his fond devo- 
 tion to Ireland, he would still be alive and in our midst. He became 
 a martyr to Ireland's sacred cause. For his adopted country he had 
 a love and affection even more ardent and intense. He respected 
 and obeyed our laws. He honored our flag He revered our 
 institutions. Except to his God, he gave his highest allegiance to 
 this, our common country. In fine, he was a model citizen in the 
 highest sense. This man has been murdered under circumstances 
 most revolting. Why? What offense did he commit? What wrong 
 had he done to any person or any cause ? I answer, none. He 
 simply dared to do right. For this he became a marked man. For 
 this his terrible doom was sealed. For this he was lured by tigers 
 in human shape to a cruel and inhuman death." 
 
 The sentiments of the commercial classes were 
 voiced by Robert Lindblom, one of the most 
 prominent members of the Board of Trade, who 
 delivered a masterly address. In his peroration 
 he said : 
 
 " We have come here to emphasize our rights as men, and as Ameri- 
 can citizens, and to protest against these rights being domineered by 
 foreign influences and conspiracies. We have also come here for one 
 other purpose, and that is to protest against any influences of 
 church, nationality or societies being interposed between the great 
 criminals guilty of the assassination of Dr. Cronin and even-handed 
 justice, and to demand in the name of the civilization that this gory 
 spot upon its robes shall be covered by the mantle of stern justice. 
 
 " We are no there to sit in judgment on the Irish people, but rather 
 to ask them to sit in judgment on their petty leaders, and in im- 
 peaching these I do not reflect upon that great Irish leader, Parnell, 
 than whom there are few purer characters in modern history. Is the 
 fame of Ireland so great that it can afford to condone murder? Are 
 the Irish servant girls to have no protection against those who play 
 upon their sensibilities as a matter of business. 
 
 " When the history of this epoch is being written this bloody assas- 
 sination will appall the historian. Shall he write that Ireland's sons 
 and daughters were so jealous of their honor that they hurled the 
 traitor to it from his false position, or shall he write that Irish preju- 
 dices were so strong that even gory blood did not look bloody red ? "
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 377 
 
 Several other addresses were made. C. G. 
 Dixon, a prominent labor leader, spoke for the 
 working classes, Dr. G. Frank Lydston for the 
 medical profession, Louis Nettelhorst, a member 
 of the Board of Education, for the youth of the 
 city, and Frank Adams, Member of Congress, 
 touched upon the crime in its national aspect. 
 The singing society rendered Freeh's exquisite 
 song, "Suess und Ruhig ist der Schlummer," 
 and an original poem, entitled, "Cronin, the 
 Martyr," was read by H. E. Bartholomew. After 
 this the resolutions prepared by the Personal 
 Rights League were presented. They read in 
 this wise : 
 
 We, as citizens of the United States, residents of the cosmopolitan 
 city of Chicago, in mass meeting assembled to do honor to the mem- 
 >ry of a fellow-citizen, Dr. P. H. Cronin, who, because he advocated 
 ^hat which seemed right to him, we believe to have been the victim 
 of a conspiracy concocted for basest purposes, and appalled by the 
 monstrous cruelty of his murder, we declare : 
 
 1. That from the facts so far made public, it seems the assassina- 
 tion of Dr. P. H. Cronin was instigated by most foul and criminal 
 malice. 
 
 2. Every citizen has a right to life, liberty and property guaran- 
 teed by the laws of the land, and it is utterly foreign to the spirit of 
 our people, as well as to the laws, that any man be deprived of 
 either except by due process of law._ 
 
 3. That we hold no nationally or organization responsible for the 
 crime nor for the causes which led to it. 
 
 4. That we honor and respect love for native land, but condemn 
 perversion of that noble sentiment to personal ends. 
 
 5. That we hope no lawful means will be neglected to bring to 
 justice the instigators and perpetrators of this atrocious crime; and 
 that we resent as a public outrage any attempt to clog the wheels of
 
 378 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 justice or to use undue influence to shield the guilty. Public officers 
 must feel that their highest duty is to the people. 
 
 6. We call upon the public prosecutors to see to it that no inno- 
 cent man is condemned, and that no guilty man escapes. Therefore, 
 be it 
 
 Resolved, That we encourage all lawful efforts to bring to justice, 
 which shall not discriminate, and to adequate punishment, the insti- 
 gators and perpetrators of this murder. 
 
 Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that the Citizens' 
 Association be invited to co-operate with and assist in every lawful 
 manner the authorities in bringing to justice the murderers of Dr. P. 
 H. Cronin. 
 
 When the vote on the resolutions was called, 
 every man, woman and child in the audience rose 
 to their feet, and with the singing of the " Star 
 Spangled Banner," in which all joined, one of the 
 most remarkable gatherings in the history of Chi- 
 cago came to an end. 
 
 THE GATHERING AT CHELTENHAM BEACH. 
 
 Not less significant, as indicating the condition 
 of public sentiment and the interest maintained 
 in the crime three months after the physician had 
 been "removed," were the demonstrations of 
 August 1 6th. For years it had been the prac- 
 tice of the various Irish organizations of the city 
 to unite in a patriotic demonstration in one of 
 the large groves adjacent to the city, the pro- 
 ceeds, which invariably aggregated many thou- 
 sands of dollars, being contributed to the treasury 
 of the Irish National League, and thus event- 
 ually finding their way across the Atlantic for the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 379 
 
 support of the movement with which Parnell and 
 his colleagues were identified. The murder of 
 Dr. Cronin, however, had rended asunder the 
 Irish element in Chicago, and, as a result, there 
 were two factions, one composed of friends of 
 the murdered man, and the other of adherents of 
 the " triangle," In this condition of affairs a 
 " union " demonstration was, perforce, out of the 
 question, and while the former faction determined 
 to celebrate at Cheltenham Beach, and apply the 
 proceeds to the fund for the detention and prose- 
 cution of the assassins, their opponents preferred 
 to gather at Ogden's Grove, the meeting-place in 
 former years, and to make the same disposition 
 of the receipts as of old. According to the best esti- 
 mates, from 13,000 to 15,000 people participated 
 in the " Cronin " demonstration, and between five 
 and seven thousand that of the other element. 
 At Cheltenham Beach speeches denouncing the 
 murder and demanding retribution were made by 
 Congressman M. A. Foran, of Cleveland, Ohio, 
 and Frank Lawler, of Chicago; John Devoy, the 
 well-known Irish leader of New York, and Rev. 
 Father Toomey. 
 
 Said Congressman Foran : 
 
 " Dr. Cronin went forth that fatal night as a brave man to answer 
 a call for help. Instead of being called on a mission of mercy, he 
 was called forth to be foully and brutally murdered. I will not use 
 even the word assassination. He was called up to some cottage on 
 the outskirts of this city. He went in there filled with the hope that
 
 380 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 he would be able to carry succor and relief to some suffering mortal. 
 He is scarcely inside the door before he is stricken down mur- 
 dered, and the next we hear of him his bruised and mutilated body 
 is discovered in a foul and stinking sewer in this city. It is almost 
 beyond human comprehension to believe that men could be so 
 depraved, so low, so lost to all sense of justice and humanity, so 
 much like devils as to do this foul and heinous thing. But yet it 
 was done; and then, not satisfied with having murdered the man 
 himself, not satisfied with having destroyed his body, the malignity 
 of these murderers is so great that they must murder his reputation 
 and his honor. If devils were brought up from hell they could con- 
 ceive of no fouler, no more damnable deed than that!" 
 
 The speech of Father Toomey aroused the 
 thousands of people to a pitch of almost uncon- 
 trollable excitement, especially when he said : 
 
 " The hanging of the actual murderers will not reach the root of 
 the .crime. That will only be reached when the man with fertile 
 brain and inventive genius who engineered the crime while his 
 pockets were filled with the money plundered from the Irish people 
 shall be brought to justice. [Cheers and cries of " Sullivan! Sul- 
 livan!"] 
 
 " It is to this arch traitor that you want to look, and it is to him 
 and his henchmen that you must look. You must look to men who 
 can spend money like water, men who have no vocation or calling 
 which will bring them in the sums which they spend. It is men who 
 can spend $25,000, $50,000, or $75,000 a year, and who murder men 
 to cover it up. [Tremendous cheers and cries of "Sullivan! Sul- 
 livan!" and "That's the talk!"] These are the men that you want to 
 see dance upon nothing [wild cheers and cries of "That's the talk! 
 Hang him! Hang him!"] rather than the men who have been 
 deceived and duped into committing crime for which doubtless 
 to-day they are sorry. 
 
 " Dr. Cronin's memory is secure with us; and if there are traitors 
 in the Irish ranks in America you will find them amongst the men 
 who have plundered your treasuries; you will find them amongst the 
 men who have done murder to cover embezzlement. [Cheers and 
 cries of " Sullivan, Sullivan !" and the " Triangle ! "] 
 
 " When you find men who start rumors that Dr. Cronin's friends 
 are traitors to Ireland, if you put your hand on them you will find
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 381 
 
 men who were not far removed from him who caused the deed to be 
 done. [Cries of " Good, good !"] You will find one of the many 
 specious and quiet agents who did quick and serviceable work from 
 various offices in Chicago to the telegraph which carried the word to 
 Canada that Dr. Cronin was seen there, when he was actually in the 
 sewer in Chicago, and you find a man close to the crime. And if he 
 had not been found the day that he was found you would have heard 
 of him next by some means on a steamer on the ocean; and by and 
 by you would have heard of him in Paris [great sensation and nod- 
 ding of numerous heads] and then you would have found the body in 
 the River Thames. [Cries of "Hear, hear," and "You're righf 
 there."] 
 
 "It is well to be severe and just, but it is well to be careful that in 
 being severe and just the laws of the land in which we live are not 
 set aside by us, and that we do not set ourselves up individually as 
 judges and arbitrators of the lives of men. We live in a nation that 
 will tolerate no such work, be the nationality what it may. 
 [Cheers] Because Dr. Cronin saw fit to ask for an accounting for 
 moneys disposed of illegally, unjustly and wrongfully; . moneys 
 given from the sweat and blood, from the heart's core of the Irish- 
 Americans for their country's cause, there was but one course. They 
 had not the money to give back, and because he would not cease at 
 the bidding of the traitors murder was resorted to to cover up rob- 
 bery. [Cheers.] For Dr. Cronin's honor and his loyalty to Ireland 
 I myself would vouch with my life. [Tremendous cheers.] Let it 
 be your care to allow no one to utter the slander that Dr. Cronin was 
 not loyal to Ireland. Let it be your care to resent the lie that Dr. 
 Cronin still lives in the body. He does live in spirit. He still lives 
 in the hearts of the men of his country." [Cheers.] 
 
 DENOUNCED AT OGDEN's GROVE. 
 
 John F. Finerty presided over the meeting at 
 Ogden's Grove, and Rev. G. W. Pepper, of 
 Louisville ; Judge J. W. Fitzgerald, of Cincin- 
 nati ; Senator Grady, of New York; and O'Neill 
 Ryan, of St. Louis, were among the speakers. 
 The mention of Alexander Sullivan's name by
 
 382 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Senator Grady was the signal fora scene of con- 
 siderable enthusiasm. The speeches were de- 
 voted to the condition of the Irish race and the 
 progress of the work of Parnell and his lieuten- 
 ants for the liberation of their country from Eng- 
 lish rule. The only reference to the tragedy 
 that was at that moment being denounced at the 
 other end of the city occurred in an address, 
 which was read and adopted, and was in these 
 words : 
 
 "We would deem it, under other circumstances, quite unneces- 
 sary to emphasize before the American people the unwavering devo- 
 tion of Irish-American citizens to the government of the United 
 States, but a tragedy was recently enacted in our midst, the victim of 
 which was one of our own race, that has been made the occasion of 
 venting upon us as a people, and upon our societies as a body, the 
 spleen and venom of persons who, claiming to be superloyal to the 
 republic, have not the claim to honest loyalty which we, as a race, 
 hold upon this continent. The Heights of Abraham, red with the 
 blood of Montgomery; the waves of Champlain, brilliant with the 
 victory of McDonough; the plains of Chalmette, still radiant with 
 the martial fire of Jackson; the convent of Cherubusco, still ringing 
 with the war shout of Shields; the sunken road of Antietam, that 
 beheld the green flag of Meagher's Irish brigade rise and fall by the 
 side of the stars and stripes, as color-bearer after color-bearer went 
 down under the withering breath of the rebel front of flame; the 
 valley of Cedar Creek, in which the heroic figure of Phil Sheridan 
 lives as immortally as that of Napoleon at Marengo; the square of 
 the Haymarket, in this our own city, where the Irish officers of the 
 law stood like a wall of iron between the people and anarchy all 
 these examples and many more could we summon to the bar of 
 public opinion if it were, indeed, necessary to convince the Ameri- 
 can people that every man born in Ireland is in spirit, if not in fact, 
 an American. 
 
 " It has been asserted by those instrumental in covering us with 
 defamation that we wish to screen the murderers of Dr. Cronin. We
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 383 
 
 meet here to-day, among other reasons, for the purpose of vehe- 
 mently denouncing his atrocious murder in our capacity as American 
 citizens; but we hold that, as Irish-Americans, we have no more 
 right to be held responsible for that foul atrocity than has any other 
 element of our body politic for crimes committed by persons to whom 
 they are kindred. We devoutly hope that the officers authorized by 
 law will succeed in bringing to justice the assassins of Dr. Cronin. 
 
 " We repudiate, both as American citizens and as Irish-Ameri- 
 cans, the claim made by the enemies of our race, that the Irish 
 element has any desire, or any purpose, to make the soil of America 
 the theatre of acts of vengeance because of feuds, factions or dis- 
 agreements growing out of political differences or personal heart- 
 burnings."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 IN COURT AT LAST THE STATE'S ATTORNEY 
 POINTS OUT THE ACCUSED, MAN BY MAN 
 A FORMIDABLE ARRAY OF LEGAL TALENT 
 OBJECTIONS TO LUTHER LAFLIN MILLS AND 
 HIS ASSOCIATES OVER-RULED BY THE COURT 
 
 WEEKS CONSUMED IN THE WEARISOME 
 
 TASK OF SECURING A JURY SCENES AND 
 INCIDENTS. 
 
 " THE STATE IS READY." 
 
 " May it please the Court and gentlemen of the jury: We are 
 here to try the charge of murder lodged against Burke, who sits 
 back behind that man there, with his hand up to his left ear; 
 Patrick O' Sullivan, who sits in the bend of the table there; Daniel 
 Coughlin, who. sits behind Mr. Ames, his attorney, and Beggs; one 
 Patrick Cooney, who is indicted jointly with them, and Frank J_ 
 Woodruff, who is not on trial in this case. John Kunze sits there 
 behind the table, and John F. Beggs sits there with Coughlin. 
 These men are all charged in this indictment with the murder of 
 Dr. Patrick H. Cronin. It is alleged that they murdered him the 
 night of the 4th of May, 1889, in this town." 
 
 Thus State's Attorney Joel M. Longenecker 
 addressed Judge McConnell on the morning of 
 Friday, August 3oth. Less than four months 
 had elapsed from the day that the physician was 
 lured to his death; but the mystery surrounding 
 the tragedy, at one time believed impenetrable, 
 
 381
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 385 
 
 had been solved to the satisfaction of the officers 
 of the law, and five of the accused were con- 
 fronted with the bar of justice to answer for 
 their participation in the crime. The court room 
 was crowded to suffocation, although admission 
 was restricted to members of the bar, jurors, 
 representatives of the press, and others having 
 orders from the Sheriff or State's Attorney. 
 Outside the court room a great crowd of people 
 of both sexes and all conditions of life clamored 
 loudly but vainly to be admitted, and the officers 
 on duty were compelled to draw their clubs in 
 order that comparative quiet might prevail. 
 The five prisoners, all neatly dressed and clean 
 shaven, and looking fairly at ease, occupied posi- 
 tions as indicated in the remarks of the State's 
 Attorney. They were well represented by coun- 
 sel. Counselors Forrest and Judge Wing looked 
 after the interests of Coughlin; Messrs. Donahue 
 and David were there in behalf of O'Sullivan, 
 the iceman, and Kunze; and Senator Kennedy 
 of Wisconsin, with Messrs. Foote and Foster, 
 were on hand for Martin Burke. At the same 
 table with the State's Attorney sat Hon. Luther 
 Lafllin Mills, George C. Ingham and William 
 J. Hynes. The three eminent counsel in question 
 had been retained to assist-in the prosecution, but 
 the announcement of the fact was the signal for a 
 vigorous protest from Attorney Forrest, who
 
 386 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 claimed that they had been employed by private 
 parties. The protest, however, was promptly 
 overruled, and the first ten men of the special 
 venire took their seats in the jury box. Their 
 names were William E. Cribben, A. P. Richard- 
 son, A. P. Hall, L. Brackenhoff, W. L. Bigley, 
 A. W. Roth, F. E. Wheeler, R. F. Ridden, Will- 
 iam Newman, Emery L. Lillibridge, George M. 
 Fish and J. W. Bridger. They had hardly been 
 sworn, however, when Lawyer Donahoe, on be- 
 half of Kunze, again objected to the participation 
 of Mills, Ingham and Hynes. He claimed that 
 they had been engaged by private parties to ap- 
 pear in the case, that they had received money, 
 or the promise of money from such parties, who 
 were solely actuated by a desire to secure the 
 conviction of the defendants, and that Attorney 
 Hynes in particular was actuated, however, by a 
 personal ill-will toward one of the defendants. 
 The counsel offered to prove these allegations by 
 calling the three lawyers in question to the stand; 
 but the objection was again overruled, and, with- 
 out further opposition, the State's ^Attorney pro- 
 ceeded with the examination of the talesmen. 
 This proved to be a task of the most wearisome 
 character, continuing throughout the month of 
 September and on to the cojnmencement of 
 the fourth week of October. Five out of every 
 six men that were called had formed opinions
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 387 
 
 based upon what they had read in the public 
 press, or upon what they had been told ; that 
 made it impossible for them to try the case fairly 
 and on its merits. Many were opposed on prin- 
 ciple to secret societies ; others were particularly 
 antagonistic to the Clan-na-Gael. It was evident 
 from the start that the counsel for the defense 
 intended to avail themselves of every possible 
 technicality, and the questions propounded to the 
 talesmen on the first day were so broad in nature 
 that Judge McConnell was compelled to inter- 
 fere. At the next session of the court a list of 
 questions was submitted, which, so it was argued 
 by Mr. Forrest, should be asked of every man in 
 the interest of the defendants. The questions 
 were as follows : 
 
 Have you now, or have you ever had, an opinion that during 
 the year 1889 a secret committee was appointed by Camp 20 of the 
 so called Clan-na-Gael Society, or some officer of said camp, to try 
 the deceased, Dr. Cronin, for any supposed offenses ? 
 
 Have you formed any opinion as to whether or not the alleged 
 murder of Dr. Cronin was in pursuance of the acticfn or finding of a 
 secret committee, appointed by said Camp 20, or its officers, or any 
 of them, to try said Cronin for any supposed offense ? 
 
 Have you formed any opinion as to whether or not Dr. Cronin 
 was killed in the Carlson cottage? 
 
 Have you an opinion as to whether or not a trunk was used in 
 removing the supposed remains of Dr. Cronin from the Carlson cot- 
 tage to a catch-basin. 
 
 Have you formed an opinion as to whether the tenant or tenants 
 of the Carlson cottage had anything to do with said murder ? 
 
 Have you formed an opinion as to whether or not Dr. Cronin was 
 taken to the Carlson cottage by the horse and buggy engaged by 
 Daniel Coughlin from Dinan, the liveryman?
 
 388 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Have you formed an opinion as to whether or not Daniel Cough- 
 lin knew when he engaged the horse and buggy from Dinan that the 
 horse and buggy was to be used to take Dr. Cronin to the Carlson 
 cottage to be murdered ? 
 
 Have you formed an opinion as to whether or not Patrick O'Sulli- 
 van made a contract with Dr. Cronin for professional services. If 
 you have formed such an opinion, I wish to ask you also, have you 
 formed an opinion as to whether or not Patrick O'Sullivan made 
 such a contract for the purpose of using said contract as a scheme to 
 entice Cronin away to be murdered ? 
 
 Have you an opinion as to whether or not Martin Burke, one of 
 the defendants, was the tenant of said cottage ? 
 
 Have you an opinion that the Clan-na-Gael Society is in any way 
 to blame for the death of Dr. Cronin? If you have such an opinion, 
 state further whether or not you entertain an opinion that any parti- 
 cular camp of the Clan-na-Gael had to do with the murder of Dr. 
 Cronin, and further state if you have an opinion that the defendants, 
 or any of them, are members of said camp? 
 
 We desire to further inquire, in instances where jurors state they 
 hold opinions upon the above topics, as to the sources of said opin- 
 ions, and further as to whether these opinions have been expressed 
 or otherwise. 
 
 One entire day was occupied by the defense 
 in arguments and quotations from legal authori- 
 ties tending to demonstrate their right to sub- 
 mit these questions, but after considering the 
 matter over night, the court decided to narrow 
 them down to the following points : 
 
 1. Have you formed an opinion as to whether or not the alleged 
 murder of Dr. Cronin was in pursuance of the action or finding of a 
 secret committee appointed by Camp 20 of the so-called Clan-na- 
 Gael society, or its officers, or ?ny of them, to try Dr. Cronin for any 
 supposed offense ? 
 
 2. Have you formed an opinion as to whether or not Dr. Cronin 
 was taken to the Carlson cottage by the horse and buggy engaged by 
 Daniel Coughlin from Dinan, the liveryman ?
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 389 
 
 3. Have you formed an opinion as to whether or not Martin 
 Burke, one of the defendants, was a tenant of the Carlson cottage ? 
 
 4. Have you formed an opinion as to whether or not Dr. Cronin 
 was killed in pursuance of a conspiracy ? 
 
 5. Have you formed an opinion as to whether or not any of these 
 defendants was concerned in said conspiracy, or was a member of 
 said conspiracy ? 
 
 This matter disposed of to the satisfaction of all 
 concerned, the effort to secure twelve acceptable 
 men was resumed. Day after day went by, how- 
 ever, and little progress was made. Both the 
 city and the country were drawn on for material. 
 Some of the venires were composed of the finest 
 looking men that had ever tramped into the 
 dingy court room. There were heavy manufact- 
 urers, business men of standing and influence, 
 and wealthy farmers from the suburbs.- One man 
 after another expressed his belief that the pris- 
 oners were guilty, and the five men became 
 gloomy and morose when confronted with the 
 substantial proof of the terrible prejudice which 
 existed against them. For a long while it looked 
 as though there were not twelve American busi- 
 ness men of independent means in Chicago who 
 had not already formed a positive opinion, and 
 one which could not be removed by any evidence, 
 as to the guilt of the prisoners. The number of 
 talesmen that passed through the mill each day 
 ranged from twenty to thirty. A large propor- 
 tion were excused from cause, while the others
 
 390 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 were peremptorily challenged by the State or 
 the defense. Freeman Gross, a capitalist; was 
 the first man who enjoyed any prospect of being 
 a juror, and his selection was the net result of 
 seven day's labor and an expenditure by the State 
 of over $2,000. After however, he had been passed 
 by both sides, matters were brought to the atten- 
 tion of the State's Attorney which warranted him 
 in using a peremptory challenge upon the soli- 
 tary occupant of the jury box and the second 
 week opened with seven venires exhausted and 
 the first selection still to be made. A bold move 
 was made by Attorney Forrest on a side issue at 
 this stage of the case. Failing to obtain an 
 order of the Court which would enable him to 
 secure possession of the blood-stained specimens 
 from the Carlson Cottage, and which were held 
 by the prosecuting authorities; in order that a 
 microscopic examination might be made by ex- 
 perts in behalf of the defense, the lawyer, with 
 three other men, invaded the Carlson cottage, 
 disarmed old man Carlson and Lindgren, his 
 son-in-law, who were in the place and who pre- 
 sented revolvers at their heads ; and, with a jack- 
 knife, cut several pieces out of the floor where 
 the blood spots were thickest, and also out of the 
 base-board just beneath the spot on the wall 
 paper where the blood had splashed when the 
 physician was leveled by a blow upon his head.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 39! 
 
 No cognizance of these preceedings, however, 
 were taken by the court, but on the following 
 day an order was issued permitting certain 
 experts to examine the specimens held by the 
 State in the presence of other witnesses. By 
 the end of the second week fifty-one of the one 
 hundred peremptory challenges credited to the 
 prisoners had been exhausted, and still the first 
 of the jurors was not within sight. Up to this 
 time 327 veniremen had been examined. Of 
 these nearly 90 per cent, had already made up 
 their minds ; 8 per cent, were violently antago- 
 nistic to the Clan-na-Gael ; 2 per cent, were 
 opposed to secret societies of all kinds, and one 
 per cent, were conscientiously opposed to capital 
 punishment. On the latter question the point 
 was raised as to whether a man who had consci- 
 entious scruples against flie death penalty, 
 where the evidence was purely circumstantial, 
 was qualified to sit as a juror in a murder case in 
 Illinois. It was at first ruled by Judge McCon- 
 nell that such a venireman was qualified, but, 
 after elaborate arguments by the prosecution and 
 the citing of innumerable authorities, the Court 
 decided to withdraw from its position. When 
 the nineteenth venire was issued on September 
 1 9th, four men, Messrs. Pearson, Culver, 
 Hall and Dix had been practically accepted by 
 both sides. But this slow progress was not
 
 39 2 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 agreeable to little Kunze, and, becoming excited, 
 he arose and asked permission to address the 
 court. His counsel tried to get him to sit down, 
 but the young German insisted upon being 
 heard. 
 
 " Shudge," he cried, waving his hand toward 
 
 the bench, " I 
 must speak mit 
 you meinself." 
 
 " Your attor- 
 ney will speak 
 in your behalf," 
 said the court. 
 
 "NeinlNein!" 
 e x c 1 a i jn e d 
 Kunze. " Mein 
 attorney no 
 speeg for me ; I 
 like mit mein 
 own interest to 
 talk mit you. 
 Last Saturday 
 Shudge Longenecker told I looze notings by being 
 in chail, und I vas guilty not, und I looze notings 
 by dat. But mein healt I looze by der chail, 
 und dat is somedings ; but it will maag me veil 
 und I proof meinselef guildy not at all. Ein 
 doctor no man can heal und he don'd know the 
 
 O'SULLIVAN AND KUNZE, FROM PHOTO- 
 GRAPH TAKEN DURING THE TRIAL.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 393 
 
 woondt ; und I vant der chudge to tell me vat I 
 am chail in for to-day anyhow ? " 
 
 Kunze, much excited, sat down amid the 
 laughter of his colleagues. 
 
 " I have your matter under consideration," 
 said the court in kindly tones, and the prisoner 
 subsided. 
 
 New tactics were attempted by the defense in 
 the fourth week. It was broadly hinted by Mr. 
 Forrest that the right sort of men were being 
 neglected by the bailiffs and a demand was made 
 that all future venires, instead of being special, 
 should be drawn in the regular way. In sup- 
 port of this demand he said, among other things: 
 
 " We are very much dissatisfied with the class of jurors obtained 
 thus far; they do not come from the body of the county. We are 
 getting a class jury from" the smallest olass in the county. We have 
 had five Englishmen to one Irishman. According to the school 
 census of 1884 there were 114,000 Irish persons and only 20,000 
 English in this city. If the jurors were taken from the box these 
 nationalities would come in due proportion. Yesterday there were 
 seven English and Scotch veniremen. Now we look upon the Eng- 
 lish as a class as a most reputable portion of the community, but it 
 so happens that if there should be a strong prejudice against the 
 defendants, we might expect to find it right there. I believe the non- 
 church going community in this county exceeds the church going 
 people; and I am satisfied also that the members of the Catholic 
 church exceed in number all the persons in the so-called evangelical 
 churches. Yet of those we have had here, twenty to one were 
 Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists. We do not say that we 
 should have a Catholic jury, but we claim we should have a jury 
 drawn from the body of the county by lot. Another thing: The 
 mechanics, the laboring men, exceed the mercantile class. The
 
 394 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 salesman class depends more on the daily papers for intellectual 
 food than any other class in the community. My experience of 
 mechanics is that they do less newspaper reading, but devote them- 
 selves to works on history, philosophy and political economy. 
 They are better posted to-day than any other class. All the evils 
 resulting from the present system would disappear were the jurors 
 drawn by lot from the box, which is the fairest method of obtaining 
 jurors." 
 
 Mr. Mills replied at some length. He said : 
 
 "I will not deign to answer the insinuations and animadversions 
 made by the distinguished counsel, directed or intended against the 
 integrity and fidelity to the law of the gentlemen of the prosecution 
 or the sheriff of Cook County. Your honor, in the interruption 
 made, expressed an answer to such insinuations and animadversions. 
 Counsel has talked much of classes, lines of men, divisions of the 
 community. He has talked of the employer class and the laboring 
 class; he has even brought into this discussion the element of reli- 
 gion as suggesting classes of men. I submit that there are no 
 classes recognized by the law of this State, What statute recog- 
 nizes a distinction between the laborer and the man who hires him ? 
 What statute draws a line between the salesman and the head of a 
 business? At no time has the State made a special demand for any 
 class of men. We stand to-day with the regular panel exhausted 
 and in need of a jury, and we appeal to the statute to help us out." 
 
 "We will continue as we have been going on," 
 said Judge McConnell after the arguments had 
 been concluded ; " the court has been -diligent 
 and cautious and intends to see that nothing but 
 a fair and impartial jury is impaneled in this 
 case." 
 
 HOT WORDS FROM LAWYERS. 
 
 The monotony of the proceedings was inter- 
 rupted on Saturday, September 28th, by the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 395 
 
 first sensational scene of the trial. It originated 
 during the examination by Mr. Donahoe of John 
 W. Johnson, a special venireman, who had 
 testified that he had no prejudices against the 
 Irishmen or the Clan-na-Gael. 
 
 "Have you any opinion," queried Mr. Donahoe, " outside of what 
 you read in the newspapers, that Dr. Cronin was murdered?" 
 
 " He was certainly murdered the papers said so." 
 
 " Have you any opinion as to who is responsible for his death? " 
 
 " I don't know anything about it." 
 
 " Did you read of the arrest of O'Sullivan and Coughlin?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " You believe they were arrested, don't you?" 
 
 " Yes, they certainly were arrested." 
 
 ' ' This is bully-ragging," Judge Longenecker remarked to the court. 
 
 " I can not suffer this examination to be continued," said Judge 
 McConnell. 
 
 " We are surprised at his answers," exclaimed Lawyer Forrest, 
 "because of certain things we have been informed about." 
 
 "Put your questions in that way," said Mr. Hynes, " and dis- 
 close your informant." 
 
 " Oh, no," said Forrest, mockingly, "that will enable the scheme 
 to be carried out." 
 
 The lawyers for the prosecution sprang to their feet to protest 
 against the insinuation. With flashing eyes, Mr. Hynes exclaimed: 
 
 " I would like to call the attention of the court to the language of 
 Mr. Forrest." 
 
 " Stop, gentlemen," said the court in an appealing voice. 
 
 " The language I used," cried Forrest, in a tone of defiance, " can 
 be repeated." 
 
 " Nothing but the dignity of the court and the courtesy we owe to 
 it prevent me from denouncing that remark as in the character of 
 mendacity," ejaculated Mr. Hynes. " I do not do it because the 
 courtesy of the occasion prevents it. The counsel owes it to the 
 administration of justice to disclose the reason for his remarks." 
 
 "Sit down and have patience," shouted Forrest in mocking tones. 
 "You willget it in time." 
 
 "In the absence of that explanation," continued Mr. Hynes, "I
 
 396 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 denounce counsel's statement as a deliberate invention and a wilful 
 slander upon the administration of justice in this case. [Sensation.] 
 
 "Well, it is so denounced," said Mr. Forrest. 
 
 "I did not hear the latter part of counsel's remark," observed the 
 court, referring to the words which roused the ire of Mr. Hynes. 
 
 "He said it was a scheme of ours," said Judge Longenecker. 
 
 "Oh, I made the remark," cried Forrest flippantly. 
 
 "Then, it was improper," responded the court, with a slight frown 
 on his face. 
 
 "There is no scheme on the part of the prosecution," Mr. Hynes 
 explained, "except to watch the schemes of the defense. 
 
 "I am surprised to see the gentleman so agitated," put in Forrest. 
 
 "I am agitated, sir," said Mr. Hynes to thecourt, "because I am 
 sensitive in my honor, and the gentleman is not." [Sensation.] 
 
 Counsel on both sides were standing and gesticulating as if they 
 wished to prolong this interesting colloquy. 
 
 "Take your seats, gentlemen," said the court, slowly. The law- 
 yers meekly sat down. "The language employed by Mr. Forrest, ' ( 
 continued Judge McConnell, "was highly improper. I don't care to 
 visit the offence with any greater severity than condemnation." 
 
 Mr. Johnson was peremptorily challenged in 
 behalf of Kunze, and the scene was over. 
 
 An entire month had now been consumed in 
 the effort to fill the jury box, but only four men 
 had been passed. Still, but twenty peremptory 
 challenges remained to the defense on October 
 ist, and it was consequently certain that this 
 stage of the case was nearing its end. All of the 
 challenges yet to be used- were to the credit of 
 Beggs ; those of the other prisoners having been 
 exhausted. The second quartette of jurors, 
 Messrs Walker, Allison, Corke and North, were 
 secured on October 8th. During the next 
 few days a number of special veniremen, whose
 
 THK CRIMK OF THE CENTURY. 397 
 
 answers to the questions propounded indicated 
 that they were unbiased, were tendered by the 
 State to the defense, but one and all proved 
 unacceptable to Mr. Forrest and his associates. 
 There was a startling interruption to the trial at 
 this point, which is dealt with in the next chap- 
 ter, and which necessitated a suspension of the 
 proceedings in court for several days. Finally, 
 late on the evening of October 22d, the last man 
 of the third quartette of jurors was selected, and 
 Messrs. Marlor, Bontecou, Bryan and Clarke took 
 their seats with their colleagues in the box. All 
 known records in the history of criminal juris- 
 prudence, so far as time was concerned, had been 
 beaten in the selection of this jury. The search 
 for talesmen had lasted forty-five days. The 
 number of veniremen that had been snmmoned 
 was 1091, of which 927 had been excused by 
 counsel for cause. In addition to the special 
 veniremen there were twenty-four on the regular 
 panel disposed of. One hundred and seventy- 
 five peremptory challenges had been used, of 
 which ninety-seven were credited to the defense, 
 and at the time the last juror was accepted, there 
 remained to the defendant Beggs but three per- 
 emptories and to the State twenty-two. The 
 jury in the Anarchist case, notwithstanding that 
 the seven defendants had 140 peremptory chal- 
 lenges between them, was procured in twenty-
 
 398 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 seven days, while the jury that tried the cele- 
 brated county "boodle" case, when the defend- 
 ants had 240 peremptories, was made up in just 
 eighteen days. The twelve jurymen chosen had 
 cost the State in fees alone to the veniremen 
 summoned nearly $5,000. Six of them, Messrs. 
 Culver, Hall, Dix, Walker, Corke and Bontecou 
 had been tendered by the defense to the State 
 while the prosecuting lawyers were the first to 
 be satisfied with Pearson, Allison, North, Marlor, 
 Bryan and Clarke.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 STARTLING INTERRUPTION TO THE TRIAL- 
 VILLAINOUS ATTEMPT TO FRUSTRATE THE 
 
 ENDS OF JUSTICE BOLD EFFORTS TO BRIBE 
 
 THE SPECIAL VENIRESMEN IN THE INTEREST 
 OF THE PRISONERS A " HUNG " JURY WANT- 
 ED FORTUNATE DISCOVERY OF THE PLOT 
 
 THE "WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS" OF THE 
 CONSPIRACY PROMPT ACTION OF THE PRO- 
 SECUTING AUTHORITIES SPEEDY ARREST 
 
 AND INDICTMENT OF THE GUILTY PARTIES 
 CRIME ADDED TO CRIME. 
 
 The thirty-seventh day of the trial or rather 
 of the effort to secure a jury was productive 
 of startling developments that temporarily sus- 
 pended the further progress of the case. At the 
 morning session there had been a wrangle between 
 the State's Attorney and Counsellor Forrest con- 
 cerning an application by the former for 
 an order upon the prosecution to furnish the 
 addresses of a number of female witnesses 
 whose names were upon the back of the indict- 
 ment. Judge Longenecker, who did not happen
 
 400 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 to be in a compliant mood, resisted the applica- 
 tion, declaring that no law was in existence by 
 which he was compelled to make public property 
 of the location of those upon whom the State re- 
 lied for evidence which was to make out its case. 
 It was broadly hinted that the information 
 was required for purposes that could scarcely be 
 classed as legitimate, and there were suggestions 
 that if the order was issued some of the witnesses 
 in question might stand in need of protection. 
 Despite these arguments, however, the presiding 
 Judge took the other view of the matter and the 
 defense gained its point. For the balance of the 
 session the weary grind of examining the special 
 veniresmen went on, but without result, and when 
 the time for the usual recess arrived not an addi- 
 tional man of the many examined had been ac- 
 cepted by either side. 
 
 SENSATIONAL TURN IN THE CASE. 
 
 Promptly at the regular hour for resuming the 
 proceedings, Judge McConnell put in an appear- 
 ance. For the first time since the opening day 
 of the trial, however, the counsel for the State 
 were absent. Considerable time passed, and still 
 they failed to put in an appearance. At this 
 juncture a messenger arrived in hot haste, with 
 an intimation that the Judge's presence was ur- 
 gently requested in another part of the building.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 4OI 
 
 He returned in a few moments, accompanied by 
 the State's Attorney. There was a solemn look 
 on both faces, and a whisper immediately went 
 around the court that a sensation was upon the 
 tapis. The Judge 
 had hardly taken 
 his seat when 
 Mr. Longenec- 
 ker, addressing 
 him, said : "In 
 view of some 
 matters of which 
 I have advised 
 your Honor, I 
 shall have to ask 
 the Court to ad- 
 journ for the 
 present in order 
 to enable us to 
 complete an in- 
 vestigation we 
 are making." 
 
 " I am disposed to think," was the ready re- 
 sponse of the Court " from what I know of the 
 matter, that the request is a reasonable one. 
 The court stands adjourned until one o'clock to- 
 morrow afternoon." 
 
 A buzz of surprise went through the crowded 
 room. Longenecker hurried away, while counsel 
 
 THE JUDGE HEARS OF THE JURY 
 BRIBING PLOT.
 
 4O2 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 for the defense looked at each other with sur- 
 prise. The prisoners excitedly asked each other 
 and the spectators : " What's in the wind? What 
 does this mean." No one could answer. 
 
 For the next twelve hours there were scenes 
 abo.ut the Criminal Court building which for mys- 
 tery and suppressed excitement had never before 
 been approached in the criminal history of 
 Chicago. 
 
 A JURY-BRIBING PLOT. 
 
 Hardly had the Court adjourned when the 
 State's Attorney commenced the investigation 
 which, as he had declared a few moments before, 
 demanded his presence. The outer door of his 
 office was locked from the inside, while a stalwart 
 officer stood on guard. In a room across the 
 hall a half dozen officers were stationed to pre- 
 vent the approach of strangers. Assembled in 
 the office were Judge Longenecker, Luther Laflin 
 Mills, Messrs. Hynes, Ingham and Kickham 
 Scanlan, Assistant State's Attorneys Neeley, 
 Elliott, Baker and Glennori, Chief of Police 
 Hubbard and Captain Schuettler. At one time 
 and another a score of detectives hurried from 
 one room to another, receiving instructions, 
 going away in pairs and returning with some 
 man or another who would disappear behind the 
 doors to emerge no more. It was four o'clock
 
 THE <KIME OF THE CENTURY 403 
 
 in the morning before the investigation was sus- 
 pended. Three hours later it was resumed. At 
 ten o'clock a special grand jury was called by 
 Judge Horton. It assembled at twelve. Ex- 
 Mayor John A. Roche was appointed chairman. 
 The body retired to its room and for nearly 
 twelve hours was engaged in an inquiry on the 
 star-chamber order. More than a score of wit- 
 nesses were examined, and, just as the clocks of 
 the city were chiming the hour of midnight, the 
 members of the Grand Jury entered the Court 
 and returned indictments against six individuals 
 for conspiring to thwart the ends of justice by 
 endeavoring to bribe jurors in the Cronin case. 
 These individuals were Thomas Kavanaugh, 
 steam-fitter ; Alexander L. Hanks, court bailiff ; 
 Mark L. Soloman, court bailiff ; Fred W. Smith, 
 hardware agent; Jeremiah O'Donnell, gauger; 
 Joseph Konen, fruit dealer. 
 
 The mystery that enveloped the proceedings 
 of the previous day was now dispelled. The 
 tentacles of the devil fish had reached into the 
 court of justice. The desperation of the mys- 
 terious power behind the five men who were on 
 trial for their lives for the murder of the Irish 
 physician had reached a climax. From the 
 moment that the prisoners had first faced Judge 
 McConnell, their attorneys had waged a stubborn 
 and a bitter war against the veniremen passed by
 
 404 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 the State. Eight jurors had, however, been 
 selected. The peremptory challenges of O'Sul- 
 livan, Burke, Coughlin and Kunze had been 
 exhausted, and Beggs alone of all the prisoners 
 possessed the right of exercising the power of 
 peremptory dismissal. All this time the mighty 
 and unseen power behind the prisoners and 
 behind the lawyers was hard at work. It had 
 never been still from the time that the doom of 
 the physician had been sealed. Its machinery 
 had ground him to death and been then torn down, 
 built up again, and set in motion to conceal the 
 gory corpse. The shafting encircled the entire 
 boundary within which a juror could be drawn, 
 and the leviathan proportions of the murderous 
 machine could not be measured until a cog had 
 dropped out here and there and been carried to 
 the office of the State's Attorney. The machine 
 had assisted in the escape of Cooney. It had 
 tried its best to get Martin Burke far beyond the 
 reach of the clutches of the law. It had inspired 
 the police officers of the State to ignore their 
 duty. It was probably, at that very time, 
 instructing possible witnesses in the art of per- 
 jury. It had gone farther and had actually 
 attempted to. suborn by bribes the men who had 
 been summoned as jurors in the trial in progress. 
 The facts, as narrated first to the State's Attor- 
 ney and later to the Grand Jury, admitted of no
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 405 
 
 controversy. George Tschappatt, a German, 
 who for ten years had been employed as foreman 
 of an extensive lard manufactory, had been one 
 of the veniremen approached. His wife was a 
 friend of Mark L. Soloman, a bailiff of the 
 Criminal Court He was summoned as a venire- 
 man on Monday, and was present at the court 
 room Tuesday, but was not examined. On 
 Wednesday morning Soloman encountered him 
 in the ante-room awaiting his turn to be called. 
 Approaching him with extended hand, he said : 
 
 " Hello, Tschappatt, what are you doing here?" And then slap- 
 ping him on the shoulder continued: " Have you been summoned 
 as a venireman ? ' 
 
 Mr. Tschappatt replied that he had, and was anxious to be 
 excused, as he could not spare the time to sit on the case. 
 
 " Come outside and have a drink," resumed Soloman. Taking 
 Tschappatt by the arm they adjourned to a neighboring saloon. 
 While they stood at the bar sipping a glass of beer, Soloman said: 
 
 " Tschappatt, you must have a pretty hard time of it to get along 
 and support a family. How would you like to enter a scheme where 
 you could make a thousand dollars?" 
 
 Tschappatt innocently replied that he was in on it. " How is the 
 money to be made ?" he asked. 
 
 Leading Tschappatt over to one corner of the saloon, the bailiff 
 revealed the scheme. 
 
 " I'll tell you what I want you to do," he said. "Get on the jury, 
 if you possibly can, and there's a thousand dollars in it for you if 
 you stick out for an acquittal." 
 
 "Tschappatt immediately tore himself away from the bailiff's 
 grasp, and replied emphatically that he would have nothing to do 
 with it. 
 
 "You ought to know me well enough, Soloman," he said, "to 
 know that no amount of money could bribe me to defeat the ends of 
 justice. If the prisoners on trial are guilty of what they are charged
 
 406 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 with, I say hang them, and everybody else who is connected with the 
 conspiracy. No, sir ; you can't bribe me, and you ought to know 
 that." 
 
 With this the venireman attempted to get away from the bailiff, 
 but Soloman held on to him with a vise-like grasp. 
 
 "Don't be a fool, Tschappatt," said Soloman, "you'reapoor man, 
 and ought to know that a thousand dollars is not to be picked up 
 every day. Now, listen to me, and I'll show you how you can make 
 it and nobody will ever be the wiser. If you properly answer the 
 questions put to you by the lawyers you will in all probability be 
 passed and sworn in as a juror. Now, I'll see that you get the money 
 leave that to me. Of course the money won't be given to you, but 
 your wife will get it, so it will be all the same. On a certain day that 
 you will appoint she will appear in court wearing a certain dress that 
 you will designate. By that you will know that she has received the 
 money, and if she doesn't wear that dress you will know the reverse. 
 But don't let that trouble you. She'll get the money. 
 
 "Soloman," said Tschappatt, " what kind of a man do you take 
 me for? You first ask me to sell myself and then you want to. drag 
 my wife into it. I have a good mind to knock you down. You 
 deserve it." 
 
 " Well, there's no use getting hot about it," said Soloman. "I 
 thought I was doing you a goodf turn, and only that we have 
 known each other for years I would not have put a thousand dollars 
 in your way. But you can do just as you please about it accept it 
 or reject it. If I were you, however, I would consider the proposi- 
 tion. It will be many a long day before you get a chance again to 
 make a cool thousand." 
 
 Tschappatt replied that he would not entertain the matter for a 
 moment, "and if I had known this was the reason," he said, "that 
 you called me out I would not have come." 
 
 They then returned to the criminal court building, Soloman still 
 talking about the proposition. 
 
 Tschappatt rejoined the other veniremen who were waiting in the 
 ante-room, but did not utter a word of what had passed between him 
 and the bailiff. At noon time, when the court took a recess until 2 
 o'clock, Tschappatt went back to the place where he was employed 
 and worked hard to catch up for the time he had lost. He returned 
 to the criminal court a few minutes before 2 o'clock. Soloman was 
 waiting for him at the foot of the stairs.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 407 
 
 " Where have you been for the past two hours?" was the greet- 
 ing from the bailiff. " I have been looking all over for you. iJid 
 you consider that proposition I made you ?" 
 
 Tschappatt told him that he bad not, and tried to brush him one 
 side so he could go up-stairs into the ante-room. Soloman stopped 
 him, and then offered him $5,000 if he would get on the jury and 
 stand out for acquittal. This is the language he used: 
 
 " We have got to have you on that jury, and you can't get out of 
 it. Think of it $5,000 for a few days' work. Are you a fool that 
 you won't accept it ? " 
 
 " I gave you my answer this morning, Soloman, and I make you 
 the same reply now. I will not accept. All the money in Chicago 
 could not induce me to do as you want me. Now, let me pass on up- 
 stairs ? " 
 
 " Don't say anything about this," was the bailiff's injunction, and 
 he followed Tschappatt up into the court-room. 
 
 The five bailiffs, one of whom was Soloman, went over to the jail 
 and brought the prisoners into court. Soloman sat in a chair behind 
 Kunze. 
 
 About the middle of the afternoon Tschappatt was brought in 
 from the ante-room and took his seat in the jury box. In answer to 
 the questions from the attorneys he said he had formed opinions 
 regarding the case, and did not think he could give the prisoners a 
 fair trial. He had visited the Carlson cottage, he said, and talked 
 with some one there about the case. The court excused him for 
 cause. x 
 
 During the examination of Tschappatt Soloman kept his eyes on 
 him continually and was greatly agitated, evidently fearing that he 
 would tell the court about being approached. When he left the box, 
 however, he took his secret with him. 
 
 As good fortune would have it, on leaving the 
 court room Tschappatt encountered his employer, 
 Benjamin V. Page, to whom he told this story. 
 By the latter it was communicated to Mr. Mills, 
 and the prosecuting officials, with the consent of 
 the court, immediately commenced the investiga- 
 tion already alluded to. Soloman was sent for
 
 408 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 and at first emphatically denied the accusation 
 that had been made against him. Confronted 
 with the honest German, however, he was forced 
 to admit his guilt, and make a full statement of 
 his connection with the conspiracy. From his 
 pocket he produced a slip of paper on which was 
 a list of names and addresses of jurors whom it 
 was thought could be influenced by money, and 
 a comparison showed that itcontained the names 
 of several men who were on the special venire, 
 and at that time waiting to be examined. This 
 list, Soloman said, was given to him by Hanks, 
 one of his fellow-bailiffs. Upon being interro- 
 gated this individual was also compelled to admit 
 his connection with the affair. 
 
 WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS. 
 
 With these statements as a foundation, still 
 more important developments were brought to 
 the surface without much difficulty. It was found 
 the Fred. W. Smith, a manufacturer's agent, had 
 offered several citizens the sum of $2,000 each 
 to get on the Cronin jury. Hanks had made an 
 offer to Joseph Konen, a fruit dealer, of $1,000 
 if he could succeed in passing the lawyers and 
 would render a verdict for the defense. Another 
 man had been offered $1,000 with the same 
 object by Jeremiah O'Donnell, who a few weeks 
 before had received an apointment in the internal
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 409 
 
 revenue as gauger for the Calumet District, and 
 the latter in turn had been approached by 
 Thomas Kavanaugh, a member of a plumbing 
 firm. Hanks appeared to have been one of the 
 big cogs in the machine, so much so that he had 
 advanced $1,000 to Soloman for his services as 
 a briber. Behind Hanks was Kavanaugh, who 
 was an active member of the Clan-na-Gael. 
 Both were spokes in the big wheel of the ma- 
 chine which had been buzzing so silently and as 
 they imagined, so successfully. Within a few hours 
 after the indictments had been returned, the men 
 named therein had been arrested and incarcer- 
 ated in jail. The investigation was continued 
 upon the following day and further facts were 
 brought to light which warranted the presenta- 
 tion of the matter to the regular Grand Jury for 
 the October term. This body, after spending 
 two hours in the examination of witnesses, re- 
 turned additional indictments against Smith, 
 Hanks and Soloman, together with an indictment 
 against John Graham, confidential clerk to A. S. 
 Trude, a prominent member of the bar. The 
 indictment of Graham was based on evidence 
 tending to show that he had originally employed 
 the parties that had endeavored to corrupt the 
 special veniremen. According to the story told by 
 Bailiff Hanks to the Grand Jury, Graham had 
 offered to pay $2,000 each for two or more men,
 
 41O THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 saying that money was no object. He had also 
 employed the bailiff to keep up the drooping 
 spirits of certain of the prisoners by delivering 
 to them verbal messages of cheer from their 
 friends on the outside, Graham paying hand- 
 somely for this service. He was arrested, but 
 immediately released on bail, and bondsmen 
 were found for all of the men concerned in the 
 attempted bribery. Judge Longenecker, and the 
 attorneys assisting him, however, were convinced 
 that they had yet to reach the fountain-head of 
 the directing conspiracy, and their next move 
 was the arrest of Henry N. Stoltenberg, the 
 confidential clerk and stenographer in the office 
 of Alexander Sullivan. At the same time the 
 residence of the latter was once more placed 
 under surveillance. After being detained over 
 nicyht, the clerk was taken before the Grand 
 
 o 7 
 
 Jury. His answers to the questions propounded 
 were regarded as of considerable importance, more 
 especially his admission that he had received 
 letters from a prominent Irishman in Toronto, 
 and which had been addressed to him under 
 cover to a second party. He was then released. 
 Alexander Sullivan's law partner, Thomas G. 
 Windes, and E. J. McArdle, a young Irish lawyer 
 were also examined, but both declared that they 
 knew nothing whatever regarding the matter 
 under investigation.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 4! I 
 
 It was evident by this time that sufficient had 
 been accomplished to frustrate the purposes of the 
 conspiracy, and, as the resumption of the search 
 for jurors was imperatively ordered by the court, 
 the effort to discover the wheels within wheels of 
 the jury-bribing plot was abandoned for the time 
 being. Enough had been discovered to prove 
 that the men behind the prisoners were prepared 
 to go to any lengths to prevent a conviction. As 
 Luther Laflin Mills remarked, in that earnest and 
 impressive manner which characterized all his 
 utterances : 
 
 " The plot was the most damnable and hellish 
 that has ever been concocted to defeat the ends 
 of justice. It can not be exaggerated. It ex- 
 tends all over the country, and its ramifications 
 are so numerous and far-reaching that it seems 
 almost incredible that we have made such pro- 
 gress in marking them out. It is without parallel 
 in the history of legal jurisprudence in this miser- 
 able effort to defile the laws of Illinois. When 
 all the facts are known, as they are sure to be 
 sooner or later, the whole civilized world will be 
 shocked, as it was when the news of the conspir- 
 acy that ended in Dr. Cronin's death was sent 
 out. The public is entitled to know all the 
 facts, because it ought to know the obstacles that 
 the officers of the prosecution have had to en- 
 counter from the 4th of May up to the present
 
 412 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 time. We have sought earnestly and honestly 
 to prevent a miscarriage of justice in this case, 
 and thanks to the brave young man who was proof 
 against bribery and his courageous employer who 
 reported the facts to us, we have broken up a con- 
 spiracy that would have set at naught the labor 
 of months."
 
 4*3
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A JURY SECURED AT LAST NAMES AND SKETCHES 
 
 OF THE TWELVE MEN SELECTED TO DETERMINE 
 
 THE GUILT OF THE ACCUSED THE TRIAL 
 
 UNDER' WAY OPENING SPEECHES FOR THE 
 
 STATE SCENES IN THE COURT ROOM. 
 
 Hundreds, if not thousands of people besieged 
 the entrances to the Criminal Court building at 
 an early hour on the morning of Friday, Octo- 
 ber 25th. It was the opening day of the great 
 trial. Men and women were wedged together 
 in a compact mass. They were packed solid on 
 the iron steps leading down from the entrance 
 onto the sidewalk, and out in the road to the 
 other side of .the street. Special instructions 
 had been given to the bailiffs to maintain order, 
 as well as to eject all suspicious persons. They 
 made a bold fight for awhile, but when the doors 
 had been opened they were overwhelmed by num- 
 bers. Within a few minutes every seat in the 
 court room was occupied, and hundreds were 
 fighting for places to stand. The crowd below 
 pressed upward and it began to look as though 
 the building would be taken by storm. Rein-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 415 
 
 forced in numbers, however, the bailiffs made 
 another rally against the crowd, and finally suc- 
 ceeded in closing the doors. Only those pre- 
 senting special orders were admitted for the rest 
 of the day. 
 
 THE SCENE IN COURT. 
 
 The clock in the court room was striking ten 
 when the prisoners filed in through the door 
 communicating with the iron corridor that led to 
 the jail. Ex-Senior Warden Beggs led the pro- 
 cession. Behind him came Coughlin, O'Sullivan, 
 Burke and Kunze, in the order named. A big 
 bailiff walked shoulder to shoulder with each 
 prisoner. For a moment the five men who were 
 about to be placed on trial for their lives 
 appeared paralyzed as they contemplated the 
 immense throng that had gathered to gaze at 
 them, and to listen to the opening address in 
 behalf of the State. Beggs was as white as a 
 sheet, Burke's face crimsoned, while the faces of 
 the other prisoners turned pale and red by turn. 
 Close after them came the attorneys for the 
 defense, then those for the prosecution, then 
 Judge McConnell, and lastly the jurors. 
 
 Each of the twelve good men and true rose 
 in his place and answered as his name was called. 
 This was the roster :
 
 41 6 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 JOHN CULVER. 
 
 CHARLES C. DIX. 
 
 JAMES A. PIERSON. 
 
 JOHN L. HALL. 
 
 HENRY D. WALKER. 
 
 FRANK ALLISON. 
 
 THE JURY.
 
 THE CUIME OF Till'; CKN'ITUV. 417 
 
 EDWARD BRYAN. 
 
 GEORGE LUTHER CORKE. WM. STANLEY NORTH. 
 
 ELIJAH BONTECOU. 
 
 CHARLES F. MARLOR. BENJAMIN F. CLARK. 
 
 THE JURY.
 
 418 TIIE CRIME 01'' THE CENTURY. 
 
 John Culver, age 43; born in Illinois; father, 
 American; mother, Scotch; married; real estate 
 business; Methodist Episcopal. 
 
 James A. Piersqn, 54; born in New York 
 State; parents, American; married; farmer; no 
 religion. 
 
 Charles C. Dix, 33; born in Chicago; Ameri- 
 can parents; bachelor; insurance business; Epis- 
 copalian. 
 
 John L. Hall, 29; born in Illinois; American 
 parents ; married ; architectural draughtsman; 
 Methodist Episcopal. 
 
 Henry D. Walker, 58; born in Massachusetts; 
 American parents; married; upholsterer; Prot- 
 estant. 
 
 Frank Allison, 39; born in New York State; 
 American parents; machinist; no religion. 
 
 George Luther Corke, 30; born in Illinois; 
 parents, English; married; druggist; Methodist. 
 
 William Stanley North, 33; born in Cleve- 
 land, Ohio; American parents; married; manu- 
 facturer; Presbyterian. 
 
 Edward S. Bryan, 40; born in New Jersey; 
 American parents; married; law book salesman; 
 Congregationalist. 
 
 Elijah Bontecou, 35; born in Troy, N. Y.; 
 American parents; married; salesman; Protest- 
 ant.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 419 
 
 Charles F. Marlor, 30; born in New York; 
 parents, American; married; clerk; Episcopalian. 
 
 Benjamin F. Clark, 53; American by birth 
 and parentage; married; real estate dealer; 
 Methodist. 
 
 LONGENECKER'S MASTERLY EFFORT. 
 
 Breathless silence prevailed. Judge McCon- 
 nell inclined his head. The gavel fell. State's 
 Attorney Longenecker, with his hands thrust 
 deep into the pockets of his trousers, was on his 
 feet in an instant. Without any preliminaries, 
 he plunged direct into his opening address. The 
 effects of the months of hard work he had 
 devoted to the case were plainly apparent. His 
 face was pale and his voice weak, but he braced 
 himself for his task, and without any attempt at 
 oratory, but in a plain, succinct manner which 
 indicated that he had thoroughly mastered his 
 subject, he gave to the jury in the short space 
 of two hours a complete and admirable state- 
 ment of the evidence that had been collected 
 and would be submitted to the body. Com- 
 mencing with a review of the conception and 
 progress of the Clan-na-Gael, he traced the move- 
 ments of the organization and the extent of the 
 active interest in its affairs that had been mani- 
 fested by the murdered man. The motive for 
 the crime, he declared, was the bold warfare
 
 42O THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 which Dr. Cronin had waged against his enemies 
 and especially against the deadly and malicious 
 plottings of the triangle. The speaker became 
 thoroughly aroused as he dealt with this branch 
 of his subject, and with his right hand sweeping 
 the air, he lashed the triangle in the most vigor- 
 ous English. Mr. Forrest objected that the 
 famous and omnipotent triumvirate had nothing 
 to do with the case, but the objection was over- 
 ruled. The State's Attorney went on to declare 
 that the plotting against Dr. Cronin began about 
 the first of the year. It was in Camp 2Othat the 
 conspiracy had been hatched, and of this Camp 
 Beggs, Coughlin, Cooney, Burke and O'Sullivan 
 were members. Here it was that the fate of the 
 victim was sealed, and the commission of the 
 crime intrusted to reliable hands. In vivid lan- 
 guage thi speaker proceeded to show the lizard- 
 like deliberation with which the plotters had gone 
 about their work; how they had purchased the fur- 
 niture and trunk, rented the cottage, lured the 
 physician from his residence ; beaten out his life ; 
 robbed the corpse of every article of identifica- 
 tion; save the "agnus dei" which was fastened 
 around the neck ; thrust it into the trunk ; borne 
 it to Edgewater; and there dumped it into the 
 catch basin. The prisoners scowled and the jury 
 listened with looks of intense interest as the 
 State's Attorney, although almost exhausted by
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. ,421 
 
 his effort, continued with his vivid recital. The 
 evidence which would be presented against each 
 one of the prisoners was briefly mapped out, and 
 the speaker grew more earnest than ever as he 
 went on to tell how the hidden hand that directed 
 the murder had sought to malign the dead. The 
 word had been passed to the rank and file that 
 Dr. Croniri was a spy and that he would soon 
 appear across the water as another Le Caron. 
 It was possible that the actual murderers were 
 led to their work by this belief. It was certain 
 at least that a dastardly attempt had been made 
 by the hidden hand to spread the spy theory 
 after the doctor had disappeared. Men had been 
 told to do such acts as would leave the public to 
 believe that the physician was still alive, and so 
 successful had they been that only by a mere 
 accident was it that their plans were crushed for- 
 ever. And so the speaker went on with his 
 straightforward narrative of the conspiracy and 
 its sequel and finally closed a powerful address 
 with a brief peroration in which he admonished 
 the jurors to do their duty without fear or favor. 
 Among other things, the State's Attorney said, in 
 the course of his address : 
 
 THE LAW IN THE CASE. 
 
 "Gentlemen of the jury, you have been selected with great 
 care to try this case. You have been questioned perhaps more than 
 you thought proper, yet we thought it our duty to be very inquisitive
 
 |22 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 with reference to your past histories, so that we might, in trying this 
 very important case, feel that we had twelve men who would render 
 a fair and impartial verdict. You all stand before this court and 
 before this community with characters that are written, and if, after 
 hearing the evidence in this case, you render a truthful verdict, 
 whether that verdict be to unlock the prison doors and set at liberty 
 these men. or whether it be to inflict the highest punishment for the 
 crime with which they are charged, you can go out into the world 
 with a passport of duty done which will be an honor to you through 
 all the future of your lives. Each of you has said under your oaths 
 that you would try this case upon the law and the evidence that 
 you would render a verdict based exclusively upon the law and the 
 evidence; that you would not be controlled by public opinion; that 
 you would not be governed by anything other than the evidence in 
 the case; no matter how much regard you may have for public 
 opinion, no matter how much we may feel that oftentimes public 
 opinion is right, yet you as jurors are sworn to try this case on the 
 evidence and the law, and to render a verdict based upon it exclu- 
 sively. You answered that you would try this case fairly and impar- 
 tially. Fair and impartial verdicts mean verdicts not only fair to one 
 side, but to both sides of a case on trial. Too often jurors and 
 courts and even prosecutors, in their anxiety to be fair toward men 
 on trial, step over the line of duty, and criminals go unpunished and 
 the law becomes a farce. While I want you to give these men a 
 fair and impartial trial; while we desire that you gi-ve them the 
 benefit of everything the law in its wise provisions enables you to 
 give, in your anxiety to be fair don't step over the line of duty and 
 do an injustice to the people of this great State. You have said that 
 before you would convict any man on trial in this case you would 
 want the people to prove that he is guilty beyond a doubt a reason- 
 able doubt; that you would require the State to make out the case 
 from the witness stand; and that you would respect the provisions of 
 the law that says every man is presumed to be innocent until proven 
 guilty; that you would not convict any man unless you were satisfied 
 of his guilt from the evidence. But, let me say, the presumption 
 of innocence is not evidence in the case, and when you hear of that 
 presumption all the way through this case understand that it is not 
 evidence. 
 
 "While the law presumes every man innocent until proven 
 guilty, yet it is not such a presumption as to rebut evidence. Pre- 
 sumption simply stands up before you and says: Before you can
 
 THE CRIME ()K THE (T.XTrkY. 4^3 
 
 convict this mail he must he proven guilty. And as the evidence is 
 given to you step by step the presumption stands as a guard between 
 innocence and the evidence that is being giving, until at last, when 
 your mind is satisfied, when your judgment has come to the con- 
 clusion that the men are guilty, the presumption is wiped out, and 
 you are no longer to presume the man innocent. 
 
 "When you stated that you would not convict these men except 
 they were proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, it simply meant 
 this that, after hearing the evidence, if you are satisfied of the 
 truth of the charge; if you are satisfied, as jurymen sworn to do your 
 duty, that the men on trial are guilty, then you have no right to go 
 digging around for doubts; you have no right to hunt around for an 
 excuse to refrain from doing that which the law makes it your duty 
 to do. A reasonable doubt means a doubt that is reasonable. I 
 mention these facts because the learned counsel for the defense, 
 which was proper and right, were anxious to impress on your minds 
 that before you could convict anybody you must believe them guilty 
 beyond a reasonable doubt. You have taken an oath in this case and 
 and are sworn to try it upon the law and the evidence. The oath 
 taken is that you will well and truly try this case and the verdict 
 render according to the law and the evidence. That means that 
 there is an issue to be tried. The men at the bar are charged with 
 the crime of murder on the one hand; that on the 4th of May, in 
 this county and State, they did maliciously, wickedly and feloniously 
 kill and murder Dr. Cronin. That is the charge made in the indict- 
 ment. On the other hand, these prisoners at the bar say they are 
 not guilty. That issue is what you are sworn to try. It is as to 
 whether these men on trial killed and murdered Dr. Cronin. What 
 is murder? may be asked. Murder is the unlawful killing of a 
 human being with malice aforethought, either expressed or implied. 
 Before you can convict these men it becomes the duty of the people 
 to prove every material allegation in the indictment. What are the 
 material allegations in the indictment? First, that Dr. Cronin was 
 killed; next, that he was killed in this county and State; next, that 
 these defendants killed him without provocation or excuse. These 
 are the material issues to be proven in this ease. 
 
 " It you believe from the evidence that he was murdered and that 
 these men killed him, as charged in the indictment, then the question 
 is settled. Then you have the law as to murder to govern you, and 
 you are the judges of the law and the evidence; and if you find that 
 these defendants killed him, and that he was murdered, then the
 
 424 niF, CKIMK <)! fin: ( -i:\TrkY. 
 
 statute fixes the punishment, or leaves it In you to fix the punish 
 ment. That is the law in the case, except what you may get from 
 his honor 0:1 the bench. I apprehend that the learned counsel for 
 the defense will not contest the fact, if it is proven that Dr. Cronin 
 was killed, as we have charged that he was stricken to death, as we 
 can prove I don't apprehend that they will contend then it was any 
 other homicide than that of murder. So you will have that question 
 to settle. If we prove that Dr. Cronin was killed as we allege he 
 was killed, there will be no question as to whether it was murder or 
 manslaughter; it will be admitted by the learned counsel for the 
 defense that it was murder or nothing. 
 
 THE EVIDENCE MAINLY CIRCUMSTANTIAL. 
 
 *' Now, gentlemen, this is the issue that you are to try. His 
 honor from the bench has pronounced every one of you a qualified 
 juror in the case; and as now we approach the evidence, I desire to 
 call your attention to something that was talked of a great deal while 
 we were selecting this jury. You have by this time learned that 
 most of the evidence of the case will be that of a circumstantial 
 character. There are two kinds of evidence, as you have learned 
 circumstantial and direct evidence and yet, after all, nearly all evi- 
 dence is circumstantial. You may not have read it, but any lawyer 
 at the bar will remember reading of the incidents or illustrations 
 by Wharton and other writers, in which they say that nearly all 
 evidence is circumstantial. Even if you are looking at a man hold- 
 ing a pistol, and see him fire it at another, and see the man drop 
 that is all circumstantial. You see the man holding the pistol; you 
 hear the report; you see the other man drop, and you are satisfied 
 that he is shot, and yet you don't see what killed him. The bullet is 
 found in his brain; you saw the man pointing the pistol, and these 
 are the circumstances of that case, although you saw the acts that 
 brought about the circumstances which led you to believe he was 
 killed by the bullet. That is one way of illustrating circumstantial 
 evidence." Here the State's attorney gave another illustration on 
 the same line, and proceeded: "That is circumstantial evidence. 
 Circumstances are truths. Nearly every case that comes into. court 
 rests almost exclusively upon circumstantial evidence. Of course, 
 there is direct evidence makingup the circumstances, but after all, the 
 crime itself, the act itself, is proved by the circumstances in the 
 case.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 425 
 
 " So that, while we must rely upon the circumstances in this case, 
 yet we propose to show to you evidence enough to convince your 
 minds thoroughly upon the question of the guilt of these accused. 
 \Ve shall prove this by circumstances just as much as if there had 
 been an eye-witness of the scene. You stated, gentlemen, as I said 
 before, that you would not convict unless your minds were satisfied 
 beyond a reasonable doubt, from the evidence, of the guilt of these 
 defendants. You stated further that if you were satisfied beyond a 
 reasonable doubt every man of you satisfied that the crime was of 
 such a character as to deserve the highest penalty you would then 
 have no conscientious scruples against capital punishment that you 
 were not opposed to capital punishment. It does not matter whether 
 your minds are satisfied by circumstantial evidence or direct evidence 
 as to the guilt of the men on trial you stand pledged on your oaths 
 to execute the law as you believed it ought to be executed in the 
 case. 
 
 "On the night of May 4th, soon after seven o'clock, was the 
 last time that Dr. Cronin was ever seen alive, except by the men who 
 assassinated and beat out his life. Until the 22d day of May his body 
 was not seen by his friends or any one except those who thrust it into 
 the catch-basin in Lake View. 
 
 "We claim in this case that the murder of Dr. Cronin as we 
 shall prove it was a murder was brought about by a conspiracy. 
 These men are charged with having murdered Dr. Cronin. The evi- 
 dence that we shall introduce will show a conspiracy to murder Dr. 
 Cronin, and we shall show that the conspiracy was formed and car- 
 ried into execution, and having been carried into execution, termin- 
 ated in the killing of Cronin, and that these men are liable for the 
 murder." 
 
 From this point Judge Longenecker went 
 through in detail the entire record of the case as 
 it affected the defendants collectively and as in- 
 dividuals and then continued : 
 
 " I believe I have gone over the main points of the evidence. Of 
 course, there will be evidence here and there showing conclusively 
 that this conspiracy was well planned, and showing conclusively to 
 your minds before you are ready to render your verdict that these 
 defendants are guilty. I said that this was a conspiracy. Any one
 
 426 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 who looks at the evidence can see very readily that the acts com- 
 mitted of themselves are conclusive that the murder was the result 
 of a conspiracy. When Dr. Cronin's body was found the head was 
 cut in a dozen places from behind and on the temple showing that 
 they had killed him by giving him lick after lick until his life was 
 beaten out. All that will be described by the doctors; the condition 
 of the body shows that the blows were dealt from behind. 
 
 " Now, a conspiracy is made up of certain acts by individuals, 
 either together or separate, and every act that was done by either of 
 these parties necessary to carry out the object of the conspiracy binds 
 the others who were in the conspiracy. For instance, if a conspiracy 
 existed, then the act of Coughlin in hiring the horse was the act of 
 Burke, the act of Sullivan, or the act of Beggs, or any other person 
 who engaged in that conspiracy. The renting of the cottage by 
 Burke under the name of Williams was the same as if they had all 
 gone there and rented it. The going over to P. O'Sullivan's to 
 tell him they 'had rented the cottage was the going over of all those 
 interested in the conspiracy, and so in making the contract with Dr. 
 Cronin. If O'Sullivan made a contract and those other parties were 
 in the conspiracy, and that was a part of the conspiracy, then they 
 all entered into that contract as a part of the work to be done. Every 
 act that was done by either of those parties before the commission of 
 the crime is the act of all, if you believe there was a conspiracy to 
 kill Dr. Cronin. 
 
 ALL ARE GUILTY. 
 
 Another thing I wish to call attention to, and that is that the 
 accessory is the same as the principal. It does not matter whether 
 either of these parties struck the deadly blow; it does not matter 
 whether they were a thousand miles away from the cottage if it was 
 a conspiracy and they were accessories to the crime, then they are 
 principals to the crime just as much as if they helped to strike the 
 deadly l)low. For instance, three men may enter into a conspiracy, 
 knowing that you have $1,000 in your house. You may live between 
 Thirtieth and Thirty-first streets, on State. The three men go to rob 
 your house. One stands at Thirtieth street and the other at Thirty- 
 first street, and the other goes in and robs you of your money. 
 All of these three men have committed burglary. The men who 
 stood on the street corners are just as guilty as the man who went 
 inside for the purpose of stealing your money.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 427 
 
 " When you take this evidence into consideration, when you take 
 the fact that this man Coughlin hired the horse, and another fact 
 that after Dinan had gone to the station and Coughlin said: " Don't 
 say anything about me engaging the horse and buggy; you may get 
 me into trouble, because Cronin and I were not friends: when you 
 consider that he claimed that the man for whom the horse and buggy 
 were hired was named Smith; that he was sent out to hunt Smith and 
 saw Smith and let him go; when you consider the hiring of the flat 
 at 117 Clark street, the buying of the furniture and the trunk and 
 the strap, the renting of the cottage, the contract between the doctor 
 and this man O'Sulivan; the statement that a sister was to be there 
 to occupy the cottage; the driving of the doctor from his home under 
 the supposition that he was going to minister to the wants of an 
 injured man; the appointment of a secret committee at the instance 
 of Dan Coughlin; the fact that the senior guardian said that the com- 
 mittee reported to him and not to the camp; the statements that Dr. 
 Cronin was a spy the grouping together of all these things makes 
 the conspirators as guilty as if the murder was the act of one man. 
 
 AN APPEAL FOR JUSTICE. 
 
 "And, gentlemen, if, after hearing this evidence, you are satis- 
 fied that Dr. Cronin was murdered; if you are satisfied from the evi- 
 dence that this thing has been deliberated upon from the 8th day ; of 
 February, or from the igth of April, when they rented the flat on 
 Clark street, and all those deliberations to take away the life of this 
 man Cronin; the appointment of a secret committee; the attempt to 
 make it appear that the society was trying this man as a disguise to 
 those who might not approve of such work; all these things, if they 
 are proved to you; if it appears in evidence that this great delibera- 
 tion was had, that this great conspiracy was concocted as we claim, that 
 this man's life was taken away, as we shall prove if all this satisfies 
 your minds, then your duty will be plain, then you can give the cor- 
 rect answer to the question as to whether you have conscientious 
 scruples against the death penalty. Gentlemen, we will present this 
 evidence as rapidly as possible, but I trust you will be patient with 
 us in this case. It is a matter that concerns the people as well as the 
 defendants. We will present it as rapidly as we can, consistent with 
 doing our duty; and when you have heard this evidence, if you arc 
 not satisfied that Dr. Cronin was murdered: if vou ar(; not satisfied
 
 428 I UK CRIME OF TIIK CENTURY. 
 
 that these men, whether present at the killing of the doctor, or 
 whether only present in the conspiracy; if you are not satisfied that 
 they are guilty of the charge, then, of course, turn them loose. But 
 if this evidence shows this deep laid conspiracy; shows its premedita- 
 tion; shows the coolness with which they planned it; if it convinces 
 your minds beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty, then your 
 duty is claimed to inflict upon them the highest penalty of the law.''
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 EVIDENCE FOR THE STATE THE STORY OF THE 
 
 CRIME RE-TOLD A LONG LINE- OF WITNESSES 
 
 SENSATIONAL DISCLOSURES AND MISSING LINKS 
 SUPPLIED A MASTERLY GROUPING OF THE TES- 
 TIMONY AGAINST THE PRISONERS. 
 
 Just as soon as the State's Attorney had 
 resumed his seat, and the announcement had 
 been made that the defense would postpone its 
 reply until the end of the trial, the task of 
 examining the witnesses was commenced. 
 Report had it that the defense would contend 
 that the body dragged from the catch basin had 
 not been satisfactorily identified as that of Dr. 
 Cronin's, and so the prosecution at once set out 
 to prove the corpus delicti. A large array of 
 witnesses, including ex-Captain Francisco Vil- 
 liers, James Boland, Mrs. Conklin, James P. 
 Holland, a reporter; H. F. Wisch, the barber; 
 Stephen Conley, who had identified the body by 
 the front teeth; Maurice Morris, by the Agnus 
 Dei; and Joseph O'Byrne, by the broken finger 
 of the right hand, were examined on this point 
 and gave conclusive testimony. The story of 
 
 430
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 431 
 
 the discovery of the body was next retold, and 
 the medical men who had examined the corpse 
 testified regarding its condition and the marks 
 :>f violence which appeared upon the head and 
 other portions of the body. There was a dra- 
 matic scene on the second day at the conclusion 
 of the examination of Dr. D. G. Moore, who had 
 assisted in the autopsy. It was developed in the 
 course of the cross-examination that he had, but 
 a few hours before, read the newspaper reports 
 of Dr. Egbert's testimony of the previous day 
 upon the same points. Thereupon Mr. Forrest 
 demanded that the entire testimony be stricken 
 from the record. % 
 
 A DRAMATIC SCENE. 
 
 Judge McConnell, to the amazement of nearly 
 everybody in the room, sustained the motion. 
 A dramatic scene followed, and suppressed ex- 
 clamations of surprise burst from the audience. 
 Mr. Forrest, with a triumphant smile, walked 
 hurriedly past his associates and sipped a glass 
 of water. For an instant the public prsecutors 
 were dumbfounded. Mr. Hynes was the first to 
 contest the ruling. His face was crimson with 
 excitement as he drew his massive form above 
 the table at which he was sitting and in a loud 
 voice declared that if such an unprecedented 
 ruling were followed, the trial might just as well
 
 432 THE CRIME OF' THE CENTUilV. 
 
 stop then and there. Raising his arm so that 
 his clinched fist was on a level with the bar of 
 the court, Mr. Hynes challenged Judge McCon- 
 nell to show authorities to sustain such a ruling. 
 Beside the big lawyer was Luther Laflin Mills, 
 pale with emotion. Almost before Mr. Hynes 
 had finished his thundering attack, the clear, reso- 
 nant voice of Mr. Mills arose above the noise 
 of the street and the mumbling of the auditors. 
 He, too, declared that it was time to stop the 
 case if the testimony of the rest of the State's 
 witnesses was to be excluded for the reason that 
 they had read the testimony of witnesses who 
 had preceded them on the stand. State's Attor- 
 ney Longenecker nervously watched the fight 
 being waged by his associates. Hurrying down 
 the center aisle were Mr. Ingham and Mr. Scan- 
 Ian, who were on their way to the State's Attor- 
 ney's office for authorities. Judge McConnell 
 sat in his chair with his head in his hand. Be- 
 fore him were Mr. Hynes and Mr. Mills, the first 
 red and valiant in attack, the other almost start- 
 ling in his pallor. The prisoners leaned forward 
 and watched the struggle with intense interest. 
 The prosecutors had scarcely resumed their seats 
 to watch the effect of their first volley, when Mr. 
 Forrest arose and intimated that Dr. Moore had 
 been called at the eleventh hour to patch up the 
 holes in the testimony of Assistant County
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 433 
 
 Physician Egbert. This was a taunt that brought 
 Mr. Hynes and Mr. Mills to their feet again and 
 called forth a censure from the court. Judge 
 McConnell, speaking in a low voice, then said 
 that if such a ruling was enforced in its spirit 
 there would be no reason for continuing the case, 
 but he did not contemplate such a course. Mr. 
 Hynes, seeing that the court was retreating, now 
 leaped to his feet, and with a burst of rhetoric 
 that came very near provoking applause in the 
 benches declared that with such a ruling as that 
 delivered from the bench, the testimony of hon- 
 orable men who would appear for the State, and 
 who could not be influenced by newspaper re- 
 ports would be excluded, while the testimony of 
 perjurers who would swear that they had not 
 read the newspaper accounts of the trial would 
 go on record. As the big lawyer sat down, Mr. 
 Inghamand Mr. Scanlan returned with law books 
 piled high upon their arms. But the battle was 
 now over, and the prosecution had won. With 
 much deliberation and a gratuitous encomium on 
 the press for its enterprise and influence, Judge 
 McConnell reversed his previous decision, and 
 ruled that the testimony of witnesses who had 
 read the newspaper reports of the testimony of 
 other witnesses was competent, and that it must 
 be admitted. 
 
 Liveryman Dinan, who was put on the stand
 
 434 THE CRIME or THE CENTURY. 
 
 after this episode, repeated his former state- 
 ments regarding the hiring of the white horse 
 and buggy by Coughlin, and added, as some- 
 thing new, that, after he had unbosomed himself 
 to Captain Schaack, the detective, meeting him 
 on the street, had remarked to him: " I'd hate 
 to trust you with anything; you're a clear case of 
 weakener." 
 
 INSIDE OF CAMP TWENTY. 
 
 The inside history of the now famous Camp 
 20 was next taken up, and numerous witnesses 
 were called to testify regarding its inner work- 
 ings. Among them were Junior Warden Michael 
 J. Kelley, Recording Secretary John F. O'Con- 
 nor, Andrew Foy, Patrick J. Ford and Stephen 
 Colleran. 
 
 By these witnesses it was sought to show that 
 over two months before the murder of the phy- 
 sician a secret committee had been appointed by 
 Senior Guardian Beggs, on the motion of Cough- 
 lin, to investigate the charge that Dr. Cronin 
 had read, in another camp, a circular antagonistic 
 to the triangle, and that this committee had been 
 ordered to report to the Senior Guardian alone. 
 
 This was the story as it had been related to 
 Grand Jury, but on the stand most of the wit- 
 nesses resorted to all manner of strategy to ham- 
 per the prosecution, and even the most inconse- 
 quential details of the doings of the camp had
 
 THE CRIME OE THE CENTURY. 435 
 
 to be wrung from them. Colleran admitted, on 
 being closely pressed, that he had seen Coughlin 
 and Burke together in the central part of the 
 city about the time that the plot to murder Dr. 
 Cronin was reaching its maturity, and he also 
 gave conclusive evidence regarding the intimacy 
 of Cooney "The Fox," with Coughlin and 
 Burke. 
 
 No inclination to suppress the facts, however, 
 was manifested by Thomas F. O'Connor, when 
 he took the stand. This intrepid Irishman, who 
 had been a member of the Clan-na-Gael for 
 twenty-four years, was a captain in the organiza- 
 tion, as well as a Fenian captain, and who had, 
 moreover, distinguished himself as a stanch 
 supporter of Dr. Cronin in the latter's merciless 
 war upon the triangle, told his story without 
 reserve. He said that at the meeting of Camp 
 20, on February 8th, Andrew Foy, in a speech, 
 had declared that if there were yet four British 
 spies in the Clan-na-Gael organization, as Le 
 Caron had sworn before the Parnell Commission 
 in London, the order ought to be destroyed at 
 once. To this the witness, arising and facing 
 Senior Guardian Beggs, replied that the camps 
 should look to the triangle for traitors, as he was 
 possessed of positive information that Le Caron 
 was the agent of that body. A scene of wild 
 confusion ensued, a score of members leaping to
 
 436 TlIK CRIMK OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 their feet and demanding the source of Captain 
 O'Connor's information. This he refused to give 
 unless it was insisted upon by Beggs. While 
 the uproar was at its height, a motion was made 
 by Coughlin that a secret committee be ap- 
 pointed to investigate the source of O'Connor's 
 information, which was generally understood to 
 be Dr. Cronin's camp. There was no doubt but 
 that this committee was appointed, for another 
 witness, Dennis O'Connor, who had been in the 
 Clan-na-Gael order for twenty-one years, testified 
 that at a meeting on May 3d, he had heard some- 
 body ask the Senior Guardian if " that secret 
 committee had reported," although he could not 
 recollect the reply. This deficiency of memory 
 was supplied by the next witness, Financial Sec- 
 retary Patrick Henry Nolan, who had heard 
 Beggs reply that the committee would report to 
 him alone. 
 
 Nolan had also met Burke and Cooney at a 
 saloon on the day following the murder and 
 noticed that both were well supplied with funds. 
 There was- a straining of necks in the Court 
 room when the name of Patrick McGarry was 
 called, and the athletic opponent of the triangle 
 stalked past the jurors and up the steps leading 
 to the witness stand. He was asked what he 
 had said in Camp 20 when he made his bitter 
 attack on the triangle and turning his honest face 
 toward the jurors below, he replied :
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 437 
 
 "I referred to the unity that ought so exist among members of the 
 organization and the members of the Irish race altogether, and the 
 other gentleman had referred to it also. It was about the time that 
 Lc Caron had testified before the forgery commission in England 
 and had referred to spies, getting into the organization, and the o! her 
 gentleman had referred to Irishmen coming to this country and the 
 coming American citizens ought to educate their children, educate 
 them first in the principles of American constitution, also educate 
 them to have a love for their forefathers' home, as there was nothing 
 in the Irish race nothing in Irish history that Irishmen ought to 
 be ashamed of in America. I said it was all very well to talk of unity 
 and I wanted to see unity among the Irish people, but there could 
 not be unity while members of this organization would meet in back 
 alleys and in dark corners and villify and abuse the man who had the 
 courage to stand out and take traitorism and robbery by the throat 
 and strangle it. I said I was raising,children and educating children, 
 and as long as God allowed me to be over them I would educate 
 them first as Americans and also educate them that if ever there 
 should come an opportunity to strike a blow for Ireland's freedom 
 they should do so. I said they could not be too particular about get- 
 ting members in the organization, and that I had been investigating 
 Le Caron's record, and I said there were men in this organization 
 that were worse than Le Caron. I said that the man who gave Le 
 Caron his credentials to go into the convention was a greater scoun- 
 drel than ever Le Caron could pretend to be. I said I had found out 
 that Le Caron's camp did not exist in two years, did not have a meet- 
 ing in two years, that the junior guardian given in tbe directory had 
 not been in the town of Braidwood for over two years. I stated they 
 must have known that such a camp did not exist only on paper 
 That was about the substance of my remarks." 
 
 A roar of applause, which the bailiffs vainly en- 
 deavored to suppress, came from the audience, 
 as McGarry concluded. 
 
 "Did John F. Beggs make a speech in reply to yours " asked the 
 State's Attorney. 
 
 " Yes " was the reply. "Beggs said that the visiting members 
 should not be coming in there violating the hospitality of that 
 camp, and that it would have to be stopped. He said that it 
 was not right; that it was cowardly. I wanted to interrupt him, but
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 the presiding officer, the chairman at the time, would not let 
 me. I wanted to interrupt him when he used the word cow- 
 ardly. He said they came in there attacking Alexander Sullivan, 
 and it was cowardly to attack any one behind his back. Why 
 did they not say so to his face if they had anything to say ? He 
 said Alexander Sullivan had strong friends in the camp, and he 
 slapped his breast, and said, " I am one of them." That was about 
 all that passed. I wanted to get the floor to reply to him, and I did 
 get the floor afterward. I said the gentleman had said it was cow. 
 ardly. I wanted him to understand that I was no coward; that I 
 would tell Alexander Sullivan, either there or anywhere else, what 
 my opinion of him was, and every man who knew me knew what 
 that was. I said, ' Why did you mention Alexander Sullivan's 
 name ? I have not mentioned it. I have not heard it mentioned 
 here till the senior guardian of this camp mentioned it here.' I 
 stated and I repeated that the man who gave Le Caron his creden- 
 tials was a greater scoundrel than ever Le Caron pretended to be. 
 That was all I said, and I should not have mentioned his name only 
 it was brought out. I should say, that when Beggs said that 
 Alexander Sullivan had stout friends in this camp and that he was 
 one of them, he also said that he (Beggs) was for union and unity 
 among the Irish people if it took war to make it." 
 
 The witness went on to tell how, when he 
 heard that Dr. Cronin was missing, he had gone 
 to O'Sullivan's house, and, in the presence of 
 several witnesses, told him that his association 
 with the mystery looked suspicious. One of 
 the men suggested that perhaps the Ancient 
 Order of Deputies had made away with the miss- 
 ing man, but McGarry replied that the crime 
 was much nearer home, and that it would be 
 found that his own race had killed him. When 
 the reference was made to the Deputies, Mc- 
 Garry, suddenly turning his head, had seen 
 O'Sullivan make a grimace as a sort of admoni-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 439 
 
 tion to .the other man to say nothing more. In 
 concluding his testimony the witness told how Dr. 
 Cronin, some time before his death, had been 
 called to attend the supposed victim of a serious 
 accident. He went up a flight of stairs, but upon 
 entering the room, did not like the appearance 
 of the man in the bed and with the remark, 
 " My God, did you bring me here to murder 
 me," went down the stairs several steps at a time. 
 
 THE BLOODY TRUNK PRODUCED. 
 
 Additional evidence was submitted to prove 
 that neither Coughlin nor Beggs had entertained 
 any kindly feeling toward the physician in his 
 lifetime, but that on the contrary, they hated him 
 with all the intensity of their strong natures. It 
 was shown, for instance, that in saloons on the 
 North Side of the city, not only Beggs and 
 Coughlin, but also O'Sullivan, had repeatedly 
 denounced Dr. Cronin in the most vituperative 
 language, and that Coughlin in particular had 
 remarked little more than a month before the 
 murder that, "a prominent North Side Catholic 
 would be done up if he could not keep his mouth 
 shut." The attempt was made on cross-exami- 
 nation to show that the man to whom this lan- 
 guage had reference, was John F. Finerty, the 
 noted Irish orator and editor, but on this ques*
 
 44-O TIIK CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 tion the witnesses disagreed. As a matter of fact 
 Mr. Finerty lived on the south side of the city. 
 From this point the purchase of the furniture 
 and trunk for the Clark Street flat, and which 
 was afterward removed to the Carlson cot- 
 tage, was taken up. Hatfield, the salesman, 
 repeated the testimony which he had given 
 before the coroner's jury. The trunk itself, 
 with the stains of Dr. Cronin's blood plainly 
 visible on the outside was offered in evidence. 
 So was the batting saturated with the life 
 blood of the physician, and which was found 
 in its interior when it was first discovered in 
 the Lake View ditch. Cross-examination of the 
 salesman failed to shake his opinion that the 
 goods found in the cottage were those he 
 had sold to the much-wanted " Simonds." 
 Branching off, the prosecution took up the 
 threats that had been made against the physician 
 at different times prior to his murder, and 
 " Major" Sampson, an individual not unknown 
 in the criminal history of Chicago, told how he 
 had been approached by Coughlin, who had asked 
 him to meet Dr. Cronin some night and give him an 
 "infernal good licking." Coughlin had also sug- 
 gested that he might take another man with him 
 in order that the job might be the more com- 
 plete. Instead of complying with the request 
 however, Sampson had gone to Dr. Cronin and
 
 TIIK CKIMK Ol' 1 TIIK CKNTURY. -J-j I 
 
 acquainted him with the fact that he was in peril. 
 The renting of the cottage was gone into detail. 
 Mrs. Carlson told her story, and when she had 
 finished, Mr. Mills turning his face toward the 
 line of prisoners, asked the witness if she could 
 recognize in the great audience before her, the 
 face of Frank Williams. The silence was op- 
 pressive as the woman's eyes rested upon the 
 prisoners. 
 
 THRILLING SCENES IN COURT. 
 
 " Do you see the man?" asked Mr. Mills, in 
 an emphatic tone. 
 
 " Yes sir," replied the witness. 
 
 " Where is he? " 
 
 Mrs. Carlson leveled the index finger of 
 her gloved hand at Burke. The latter chewed 
 viciously at his tobacco and his eyes rolled 
 wildly. The other prisoners did not dare 
 to look at their companion. The witness went 
 on to tell why it was certain that she had made 
 no mistake in her identification. She knew 
 Burke by his restless eyes, by his mouth, by 
 the general contour of his face. Burke turned 
 pale as the terrible ordeal proceeded. Dramatic 
 in the extreme was the identification of Burke 
 by old man Carlson. When asked to pick out 
 Frank Williams from the hundred of faces that 
 were turned toward him, he glanced about earn-
 
 442 THE CRIME OF TIIK CENTURY. 
 
 estly, but did not uttera word. The request was 
 repeated, and ^gain the old man scanned the 
 audience without discovering the face. Burke, 
 his countenance rigid with determination, sat 
 with his frightened eyes riveted upon the witness. 
 Carlson was asked to leave his chair and walk 
 among the people below him. Taking his soft 
 hat in his hand, he walked slowly past the jurors 
 and the lawyers. His eyes were astened upon 
 the prisoners. He began with Beggs. Then 
 his gaze passed :rom Coughlin to O'Sullivan and 
 thence to Burke. The two .men were but a few 
 feet apart. With a grunt of satisfaction Carlson 
 shook his old hat at the pale-faced prisoner. 
 
 " Is he the Frank Williams you saw?" asked 
 Mr. Mills. 
 
 "Yes, sir," was the emphatic reply, and the 
 painful silence which had prevailed in the court- 
 room was broken by a prolonged DUZZ. 
 
 It was Coughlin's turn to turn pale when John 
 C. Garrity was placed upon the stand. This wit- 
 ness told how on one occasion Coughlin had 
 asked him if Sampson could be got to do a piece 
 of work. W T hen asked wlia;, it was, he replied that 
 he wanted to have a certain fellow " slugged." 
 Garrity asked what he wanted done to him, and 
 Coughlin replied that he wanted a man to get a 
 club and break his nose and knock his teeth out or 
 disfigure him for life. Mortensen, the expressman,
 
 Till; CRIME OF TIIK CENTURY. 443 
 
 forged another link : n the evidence by positively 
 identifying Burke as the man who had hired him 
 to cart the furniture to the cottage. When 
 the witness pointed directly at Burke, the latter 
 showed more anger than at any time during 
 the trial. His face was flushed, his jaws set, 
 and he glared savagely at the Swede. Edward 
 Spelman, of Peoria, Illinois, the district officer 
 of the Clan-na-gael, was another witness, but 
 his memory was exceedingly treacherous. In 
 fact, he could not remember any of the circum- 
 stances to which he had testified before the 
 Grand Jury, and it turned out that, in the inter- 
 val, he had visited the office of, and conferred 
 with, Alexander Sullivan. The only fact of 
 importance to which he testified was that he had 
 seen Coughlin and Kunze together in Peoria. 
 and that they appeared to be very intimate. 
 The witness admitted that the following corre- 
 spondence had passed between himself and 
 Beggs : 
 
 " CHICAGO, Feb. 16, 1889. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR AND BROTHER : I am directed to call your 
 attention to the following subjects: First, it is charged that the 
 S. G. of the Columbus Club (Dr. Cronin's camp) at n recent meet, 
 ing read to the assembled members the proceedings of the Trial 
 Committee. Second, lam directed to enter the protest of Camp No. 20 
 against the D.'s in Chicago electing or initiating men until their 
 names are presented to D. No. 20 and the other D.'s for their consid- 
 eration. The old rule by communication has become a dead letter 
 .since the formation of the Central Council, and I am informed that 
 said council has not held a legal meeting since its formation. Good
 
 444 THE CRIME F T1IE CENTURY. 
 
 discipline calls for an investigation of the foregoing, which I feel 
 you will attend to. Fraternally yours, 
 
 "Don't forget our reunion February, 22." 
 
 "J. F. BEGGS, S. G., D. 20." 
 " PEORIA, ILL., Feb. 17, 1889. 
 
 "FRIEND BEGGS: Yours of yesterday to hand and contents care- 
 fully noted. Will you kindly refer me to that section of our law where 
 I am empowered to inflict a penalty on an S. G. for disclosing the pro- 
 ceedings of a Trial Committee ? Under the constitution I called the 
 S. G. and J. G. together [meaning Senior Guardian and Junior 
 Guardian] for the purpose of forming a council. It they fail to per- 
 form their duty I would like to. know how I can remedy the evil you 
 complain of. While I admit that no person should be admitted in 
 Chicago unless his proposition should come before the council or the 
 D.'s in your city, on accepting the position of the D. O. [District 
 Officer], I felt that I should be able in my own way to effect a recon- 
 ciliation of our people in Chicago. But I must confess to you that I 
 am greatly disappointed. My position is this: That if any person 
 who is a member should violate the law, he should be tried as pro- 
 vided by our constitution. What is the fact? Members who know a 
 wrong go around the street and go from one D. to another and talk 
 about such an offense. Then they report, and the D. O. is a figure head. 
 I will take no notice of any complaint unless made to me, and if I have 
 authority under our laws, you may depend I will be on hand. I thank 
 you for your kindness, and discipline is our only safeguard. If you 
 see where I can act, I arn at your command. My term of office will 
 expire at this month, and God knows I am glad. I am disgusted 
 with the conduct of men who think they should lead the Irish people. 
 But I think it is dangerous for decent men to associate with such 
 scamps. Thank God, proxies no longer prevail. 
 
 " Fraternally yours, D. O. 16." 
 
 "CHICAGO, Feb. 18, 1889. 
 
 " DEAR SIR AND BROTHER : Yours of the i-jih received. I have 
 not the constitution before me, and therefore can not point out the 
 section that would cover the matter complained of; nor am I pre- 
 pared to say that the act mentioned was a violation of any written 
 law; but that it was very unwise, and such conduct as is prejudicial 
 to the good of the order, no man in his right senses will deny. It is 
 just such acts that keep us continually in hot water. Why, in God's
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 445 
 
 name, if men are sincere, will they insist upon opening old sores? 
 The majority of our men believe the parties charged to he innocent 
 of any criminal wrong, and to have the charges made continually 
 that they are guilty, creates a bitterness and ill feeling, and the man 
 or men who continue to bring the charges are not the friends of 
 Irish unity. What earthly good is done in continuing the old fight. 
 What is the reason for it? I confess I can give no answer. If we 
 are true men, as we profess, we will rather conciliate than keep up a 
 war which can only lead to further disunion. The rank and file are 
 sincere. They want peace, and the time is not far distant when 
 they will have it, even if it has to come to war. I am anxious for a 
 better understanding among our people, and will do anything in my 
 power to obtain unity. The matter I wrote of, I would let pass if I 
 could, but I was ordered to notice it. Personally I think it better 
 not to notice such things, but I am only one. The men who are the 
 power will in time realize the motives of those who are continually 
 breeding disorder in their ranks, and a day of punishment will come. 
 I am very much discouraged at the present outlook, but hope no 
 trouble will result. Fraternally yours, J. F. BKGGS." 
 
 Of testimony against O'Sullivan, there was an 
 abundance. Justice Mahoney told of being 
 present when the contract for professional serv- 
 ices was made between he iceman and the 
 physician, and Mrs. Addie J. Farrar testified 
 that the iceman had said to her, after the 
 disappearance, that Dr. Cronin was a British 
 spy, and that if he had given -(.way any of the 
 secrets of the secret organization he oueht to 
 
 c> o 
 
 have been killed. Editor R. T. Stanton, of the 
 Lake View Record, showed that the particular 
 card of O'Sullivan's that had been used to entice 
 Dr. Cronin from his home had been printed for 
 and delivered to the iceman two days before the
 
 TLIIC CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 murder. The first evidence connecting Kunze 
 with the murderers, or their different places of 
 rendezvous, was given by Willie James, a sixteen- 
 year old stenographer, who swore that he had 
 seen Kunze wash his feet at the window of the 
 Clark street flat in the month of March, while 
 Mertes, the milkman, positively identified the 
 little German as the man who had driven a big- 
 
 o 
 
 broad-shouldered man to the Carlson cottage on 
 the night of the murder, and likewise identified 
 Coughlin as the man he had seen run up the 
 steps of the slaughter-house and disappear behind 
 the front door. Kunze rocked to and fro with 
 fury during this testimony, and glared wickedly 
 at the witness. Coughlin's gaze never 4eft his 
 accuser, but his face flushed and his deep set 
 eyes blazed. 
 
 SURPRISES FOR THE DEFENSE. 
 
 From a medical point of view, the testimony of 
 Microscopists Tolman and Belfield, and Chemist 
 Haines, of the Rush Medical College was exceed- 
 ingly interesting. Stains from the floor of the 
 Carlson cottage, the hair found clinging to the 
 trunk purchased by Simonds, the hair cut from 
 the head of the murdered man, the single thread 
 of hair discovered on cake of soap in the kitchen 
 of the cottage, and fresh and dried blood from 
 the trunk itself, were the articles on which the
 
 MM; CUI.MK OF THK CKNTI'KV. 447 
 
 experts had experimented. The chemist had 
 been requested to determine whether the red- 
 dish stains were those of blood, while the task of 
 determining the probable origin of the blood and 
 the relation of one hair to the other was assigned 
 to the microscopists. The evidence of all three 
 experts was conclusive. Chemist Haines had 
 subjected the stained chips from the floor of the 
 cottage to four experiments, three of a chemical 
 nature and the fourth with a microscope, and 
 the result furnished indubitable proof that the 
 stains were those of blood, while Microscopist 
 Tolman, by other tests, was equally well satisfied 
 that the blood had come from a human body. 
 Additional tests had been made on a strand of 
 hair found on the cake of soap, and which was 
 lighter in color in some portions than in others, 
 while Dr. Cronin's hair was brown. The fact 
 that the single strand appeared light in color to 
 the naked eye seemed to indicate that it could 
 not have come from Dr. Cronin's head, but it 
 was demonstrated by the experts that hairs placed 
 on soap or other alkaline substances became 
 bleached in a manner similar to the color of the 
 single strand. This evidence was of vital impor- 
 tance as it linked the hair found in the trunk 
 with the hair cut from Dr. Cronin's head, and 
 went far toward proving that one of the mur- 
 derers had washed his hands with the soap
 
 TIIK < KIMK OF THK <T.\rt KY. 
 
 after the diabolical work in the parlor had been 
 done. 
 
 A surprise was in store for the defense at this 
 juncture of the trial, in the form of several wit- 
 nesses whose identity and testimony had not be- 
 fore been made public. One of these, William 
 Niemann, who kept a saloon a block and a half 
 south of the Carlson cottage, swore that on the 
 night of May 4th, between ten and eleven o'clock, 
 O'Sullivan, the iceman, with two companions, 
 one of whom strongly resembled Coughlin and 
 the other Kunze, visited his place and drank sev- 
 eral glasses of wine. O'Sullivan paid the bill, 
 and the three men engaged in an earnest conver- 
 sation that lasted sometime, although they spoke 
 so low that the drift of what they were saying 
 could not be learned by the saloon-keeper. This 
 evidence demolished the claim that O'Sullivan 
 was in bed all night on the night of the murder, 
 and although Niemann was rigidly cross-examined 
 he held to his story without the slightest varia- 
 tion. 
 
 HEARD HIS DEATH CRY. 
 
 But it remained for a poor washerwoman, who 
 was searching for her drunken husband, to fur- 
 nish the final link in the chain and discover the 
 crowning evidence against some of the men who 
 were on trial. She testified on November I2th,
 
 TIIK CKIMi; (>! TIIK CKNTUKY. 449 
 
 and her story was one of the most dramatic and 
 sensational of the trial. Paulina Hoertel was her 
 name, and she was a little German woman, poor- 
 ly but neatly dressed, with a thin, pinched face, 
 but with considerably more intelligence than is 
 usually found among people in her station of life. 
 She wept bitterly at times while telling her story 
 For several years, owing to the drunken habits 
 of her husband, her life had been full of trouble 
 At one time he visited a saloon near the Carlson 
 cottage with nearly five hundred dollars in his 
 pockets, fell into a drunken stupor, and remained 
 in the place four days and nights. When his 
 wife, after considerable searching, finally discov- 
 ered his whereabouts, the saloon-keeper first at- 
 tempted to shoot her, and then secured her arrest 
 on a charge of disorderly conduct. 
 
 From a long recital of her domestic misery, 
 Mrs. Hoertel went on to tell, how on the night 
 of the murder she had started out to find her 
 husband, who, as usual, was away from home. 
 After going some distance her heart failed her, 
 and she started to return. As she entered North 
 Ashland avenue from Cornelia street, she saw a 
 white horse attached to a top-buggy, coming to- 
 ward her at a lively pace from the direction of 
 the city. There were two men in the vehicle, 
 and the horse was brought to a full stop imme- 
 diately in front of the Carlson cottage. A tall
 
 45O THE CRIME OF THE CF.XTrUY. 
 
 man, with a black satchel or box in his left hand, 
 jumped from the vehicle, and, after reaching out 
 his arm toward the buggy as if to take some- 
 thing, crossed over the sidewalk toward the 
 steps. Mrs. Hoertel was at this time on the 
 same side of the street and walking i'n the direc- 
 tion of the cottage. As soon as the man had 
 gotten out of the vehicle, his companion lashed 
 the white horse into a gallop, and started back 
 toward the town. The tall man walked briskly 
 up the long flight of stairs, and, upon reaching 
 the threshold of the cottage, the door was opened 
 by somebody within. A bright light was burn- 
 ing in the front room of the building, and when 
 the door was opened its reflection was seen on 
 the steps. Mrs. Hoertel reached the front of 
 the cottage just as the door closed. An instant 
 later she heard some one cry in a loud voice, 
 "Oh, God!" Then there was a noise, that 
 sounded like a blow, followed by a heavy fall, and 
 again the now frightened woman heard the ex- 
 clamation, "Jesus!"' 
 
 The woman stood still for an instant. The 
 light was still shining through the slats of the 
 tightly-drawn blinds, but all was as still as the 
 grave, and, thinking that the sounds which she had 
 heard were only those of an ordinary quarrel, she 
 resumed the journey toward her home. A block 
 distant, between the Carlson cottage and the lit-
 
 Tin, CRIME oi 'HIE CENTURY. 451 
 
 tie building in the rear where the Carlsons lived, 
 she saw in the starlight the outlines of a man who 
 was evidently on watch. Upon reaching her 
 home she could not open the doors, her husband 
 having changed the locks in her absence, and she 
 was compelled to sit all night on her door-step. 
 It was not until three days later that she was able 
 to obtain access to her home. 
 
 Told through an interpreter, for the woman's 
 efforts to make her broken English understood 
 failed almost from the start, this story created a 
 painful impression in the court-room. Every 
 one within hearing recognized its vital interest. 
 The white horse that had carried the physician 
 away from his house had been traced to the door 
 of the Carlson cottage, and the exclamation, " Oh, 
 God !" must have been wrung from the Doctor 
 the instant he entered the door and saw that a 
 trap had been set for him. But it was too late 
 to retreat, and, with a last cry of "Jesus," he had 
 fallen beneath the blow of one of his assassins, 
 with the name of his Saviour upon his lips. 
 
 " I heard the far-away cry of Jesus," was the 
 way in which the interpreter made a literal trans- 
 lation of the statement, and every eye was turned 
 on the prisoners. Burke's mouth opened, his face 
 turned scarlet and his eyes rolled wildly around 
 the court-room. Coughlin's jaws were set tightly, 
 and he glared x savagely at the witness. Beggs,
 
 45 2 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 O'Sullivan and Kunze, however, sat like stoics, 
 and did not move a muscle or change a shade in 
 color. Judge Wing, who was chosen to cross- 
 examine the witness, occupied over an hour in an 
 effort to confuse her as to dates and assail her as 
 to character, but the replies were prompt and un- 
 answerable, and when she left the stand not a 
 word of her story had been shaken. 
 
 THE STATE RESTS ITS CASE. 
 
 By this time the State had almost exhausted 
 its list of witnesses. John E. McKennon, of 
 the police department of 
 Winnipeg, told about the 
 arrest of Burke at that 
 place, and Henry Plainskef 
 testified that on the morn- 
 ing after Dr. Cronin's mur- 
 der, Burke and another man 
 whom he recognized from 
 
 o 
 
 a photograph as Cooney, 
 entered a store on Clark 
 street and purchased a cheap 
 white shirt and two collars. 
 Burke, he said, kept his coat buttoned closely 
 about his throat, and acted in a suspicious man- 
 ner. Gus Klahre testified that on May 6th Burke 
 had brought to him to be soldered a galvanized 
 iron box fourteen by twenty-six inches, and weigh- 
 
 COONEY, "THE FOX.'
 
 THE CRI.MI-; OF Tin-; CKNTUKV. 453 
 
 ing about forty pounds. He was very particular 
 that the contents of the box should not be seen, 
 and while the work was being done, talked freely 
 about Dr. Cronin's disappearance, saying that 
 he was a British spy and deserved to be killed. 
 The clothing, instrument case and other articles 
 found in the Lake View sewer were exhibited to 
 the jury and identified by several witnesses. As 
 a finale to its case, the State endeavored to 
 introduce the inside history of the Clan-na-gael, 
 with a view of showing Coughlin's bitter hatred 
 for Dr. Cronin, and ex-Police Officer Daniel 
 Brown was called to testify on this point 
 Strenuous objections, however, were offered by 
 the defense, and argument on the question ex- 
 tended over an entire afternoon. The State's 
 Attorney insisted upon his right to show that 
 four years before, Alexander Sullivan, who was 
 on the Executive Committee at that time, and was 
 charged with the fraudulent appropriation of 
 funds, prosecuted Cronin, that Coughlin was on 
 the trial committee, that Dr. Cronin was tried 
 for reading a circular that reflected on Sullivan's 
 character, and that notwithstanding this, four 
 years later, Beggs stood up in his camp and 
 defended Sullivan. To this Mr. Forrest re- 
 sponded that the defense had no vindication to 
 offer for the triangle, nor any attack to make no 
 it. They did ask, however, that Coughlin and
 
 454 "THE CRIME OK THE CENTURY. 
 
 his fellow-prisoners be tried for their own sins, 
 and not for those of Alexander Sullivan. So 
 far as counsel for the defendants were con- 
 cerned they were willing to say "to perdition 
 with Alexander Sullivan." They were not 
 responsible for his acts, they did not appear 
 there to apologize for him, but they did pro- 
 test most solemnly as American citizens against 
 the names of their clients being connected 
 with that of Sullivan, and against the prejudice 
 that existed against the latter being visited on 
 the defenseless heads of the poor men who were 
 on trial for their lives. 
 
 At the conclusion of the arguments, the evi- 
 dence was ruled out by the court. The case for 
 the State was practically closed on November 
 1 3th, and an adjournment was taken until the 1 6th, 
 when one more witness was called for the pros- 
 ecution. This was James Clancey, a staff corres- 
 pondent for the New York Herald. His testi- 
 mony was to the effect that he had called upon 
 iceman O'Sullivan twice upon the day when Dr. 
 Cronin's body was discovered and urged him to 
 go and identify it. The iceman, however, had 
 refused to do so, being greatly agitated and 
 making several contradictory statements which 
 to the witness, seemed additional evidence of 
 guilt. On cross-examination it was developed 
 that Mr, Clancey had been a worker in the cause
 
 TltK CR1MK OK TI I K CKXTl'KY. 455 
 
 of Irish liberty in years gone by, that he had 
 been sentenced to penal servitude for life, for 
 attempting to shoot two policemen who were 
 about to arrest him for alleged participation in 
 revolutionary schemes, and that he had been 
 pardoned at the expiration of ten years through 
 the intervention of several members of Parlia- 
 ment. When Mr. Clancey left the stand at 
 noon on Saturday of November i6th, the formal 
 announcement was made : 
 
 "We rest the case for the State."
 
 45 6 
 
 JUDGE s. P. M'CONNELL.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE DEFENSE TAKES ITS TURN UNSUCCESSFUL 
 
 EFFORTS TO EXCLUDE THE BULK OF THE EVI- 
 DENCE GIVEN FOR THE STATE. ALIBIS FOR THE 
 
 PRISONERS AND THE WHITE HORSE A GENERAL 
 
 DENIAL OF COMPLICITY IN THE TRAGEDY. RE- 
 BUTTAL EVIDENCE FOR THE PROSECUTION. 
 
 Only the usual recess for lunch intervened 
 between the closing of the case for the State and 
 the opening of that for the defense. Mr. Forrest 
 led off with some forty motions to exclude the 
 testimony of as many witnesses who had been 
 called by the prosecution, but each motion was 
 overruled, and the usual exception taken. The 
 first witness for the defense, Frederick J. Squibb, 
 a stenographer, was examined with a view of 
 showing that the evidence of several of the pre- 
 ceding witnesses differed materially from that 
 which they had given at the coroner's inquest. 
 Ex-Police Captain Michael J. Schaack, testified 
 that Mrs. Conklin had absolutely failed to iden- 
 tify the white horse and buggy, and his testimony 
 was corroborated in some parts by Lieutenant of 
 
 457
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Police P. G. Koch. The story of Neimann, the 
 saloon-keeper, that O'Sullivan, Coughlin and 
 Kunze were in his place drinking sherry wine 
 late on the night of the murder was impeached 
 by Jeremiah and James Hyland, cousins, both of 
 whom swore that they visited O'Sullivan at his 
 house on the night of Sunday, May 5th, took 
 r.upper with him, remained several hours and 
 then went over in a body to Neimann's saloon. 
 The two men were placed alongside of Coughlin 
 and Kunze for purposes of comparison, but few, 
 if any, points of resemblance were to be seen be- 
 tween them. An alibi for Coughlin was the next 
 thing in order, and ex-Detective Michael Wha- 
 len laid the foundation for it by swearing that he 
 saw his brother detective at the Chicago avenue 
 station from half-past seven until midnight on the 
 night of the murder. 
 
 John Stift, a police officer, corroborated Wha- 
 len, but on cross-examination he destroyed the 
 entire value of his testimony by stating that on 
 the morning of May 5th he was put to work by 
 Captain Schaack on the disappearance of the 
 physician, while, as a matter of record the disap- 
 pearance was not reported to the police until 
 nearly twelve hours later in the day. Peter Koch 
 was called in behalf of Kunze, with a view of 
 showing that the association of the little German 
 with Coughlin was due to the fact that both 
 
 B
 
 TIIK CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 459 
 
 were working on a distillery explosion case. On 
 the following day William Mulcahey, one of 
 O'Sullivan's employes, testified that the iceman 
 had told him of the contract with Dr. Cronin, 
 and also declared that he was out delivering ice 
 with O'Sullivan until after six o'clock on the night 
 of the murder, that they all had supper together 
 and that he and O'Sullivan slept together that 
 night, both retiring late. Mulcahey positively 
 swore that the iceman did not leave the house 
 during the night. His testimony was corrobor- 
 ated by Thomas Whalen, O'Sullivan's cousin, 
 who had lived with him for six years, and by 
 James Knight, James Menahan and Patrick Bren- 
 nan, all of whom were employed by O'Sullivan at 
 the time of the murder. Robert Boyington, a 
 carpenter, who boarded at the O'Sullivan resi- 
 dence, told the same story. Miss Kate McCor- 
 mick, sister of Mrs. Thomas Whalen, as well as 
 the latter, were examined on the same line, and 
 both insisted, despite the sharpest kind of cross- 
 examination, that the iceman did not leave the 
 house on the fatal night. The alibi for Martin 
 Burke was started by Mat. Danahy, who testified 
 that the defendant was at his house from six 
 to nine o'clock on the night of May 4th, and that 
 he shook dice with him for a long time. He 
 added that Burke and Cooney came to his saloon 
 on the following morning (Sunday), and remained
 
 460 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 until late in the evening, during which time they 
 engaged in several games of " cut-throat " euchre. 
 Other witnesses testified regarding seeing 
 Burke in the saloon. Ex-Congressman John F. 
 Finerty, M. J. Keane, John Dwyerand Matthew 
 Brady all gave evidence to the effect that there 
 was no inner circle in the Clan-na-Gael. Justice 
 David J. Lyon testified that on the 22d of 
 February in company with Beggs he called 
 on Benjamin Harrison, at that time the President 
 elect of the United States, at the latter's resi- 
 dence in Indianapolis, in reference to the procure- 
 ment of an appointment for a friend to the office 
 of sub-treasurer at Chicago. Witnesses were 
 also called with a view of showing that the com- 
 mittee appointed by Beggs was a perfectly in- 
 nocent one, and had no relation whatever to 
 Dr. Cronin. An alibi for Dinan's white horse 
 was furnished by Louis . Budenbender, who had 
 been brought all the way from Hoboken, N. J., 
 to testify. His story was, that he was standing 
 nearly opposite the Conklin residence on the 
 night of May 4th, that he saw the buggy drive 
 up and Dr. Cronin driven away; and that, 
 having since seen Dinan's white horse, he was 
 certain that it was not the same animal. The 
 horse in the buggy according to Budenbender 
 was a dark speckled gray with white legs and 
 very different in appearance to Dinan's nag. Prof.
 
 TIIK CUIMK OF Till: CKNTURV. 
 
 Marshall D. Ewell, Dr. Harold H. Moyer and 
 Prof. Lester Curtis were called to rebut the expert 
 testimony for the State. Mrs. Hoertel was also 
 recalled in behalf of the defense, with a view of 
 showing that she had made a mistake in the 
 dates upon which she had seen the men enter 
 the Carlson cottage, and August S. Saltzman, a 
 German, was positive that it was after the 8th 
 of May when the two locks were changed on the 
 doors of the Hoertel residence. Additional 
 expert testimony was given by Dr. Edmond 
 Andrews, who said that the wounds on the body 
 of Dr. Cronin when it was found, were not 
 necessarily fatal. Police Officer Stift, on being 
 recalled, admitted that he had made a mistake in 
 his previous testimony, and that it was on Mon- 
 day instead of on Sunday that the orders con- 
 cerning the search for the missing physician had 
 been issued. 
 
 The case for the defense was practically closed 
 on November 25th. Four additional witnesses 
 were introduced, to support the previous tes- 
 timony to the effect that O'Sullivan was at 
 home on the night of the murder, and Mertes, 
 the milkman was recalled with a view of show- 
 ing that the version of what he saw on the 
 night of May 4th in front of the Carlson cot- 
 tage, as given on the stand, was materially 
 different from the story he had told officers
 
 462 THE CRIME OF THE CENTUkY. 
 
 Rohan and Crowe two clays after the body 
 was found. In behalf of Kunze, J. W. Fra- 
 lick, a master painter, swore that the defend- 
 ant worked for him under the name of John 
 Krogel, from April 2Oth to June 2oth, and that 
 on May 4th he was doing work for him in a 
 house on i6th Street until after half past five 
 o'clock in the evening. No evidence was sub- 
 mitted however, tending to show Kunze's where- 
 abouts after that hour. Several witnesses were 
 called to impeach the statement of old man 
 Carlson, that when Burke rented the cottage on 
 March 2Oth he went directly over to O'Sullivan's 
 house and reported his success to the iceman. 
 According to their statements, O'Sullivan was 
 engaged that day in unloading several car-loads 
 of ice at the freight depot of the Chicago & 
 Northwestern Railway some miles away. 
 
 THE STATE ON REBUTTAL. 
 
 The rebuttal evidence for the prosecution was 
 now in order. Dr. Patrick Curran was called 
 for the purpose of showing that James Lyman, 
 a veteran member of Camp 20, had publicly 
 stated that Dr. Cronin's death had been ordered 
 by the executive, but the defense protested so 
 emphatically against the admission of this testi- 
 mony that Judge McConnell, after mature delib- 
 eration, decided that it was not admissible. Bailey
 
 THE CRIME UK THE CEV1TKY. 463 
 
 Dawson, the veteran Chicago politician, whom 
 Beggs claimed to have met in the rotunda of the 
 Grand Pacific Hotel on the night of May 4th, 
 was put on the stand and swore he was a patient 
 in the Emergency Hospital on that date, and that 
 he did not reach the Grand Pacific Hotel until 
 May nth, when he was introduced to Beggs by 
 a mutual friend. This testimony was corrobor- 
 ated by Col. A. C. Babcock. The story told by 
 the Hylands was torn to pieces by A. B. Ander- 
 son, a liveryman, from whose evidence appeared 
 that on the night they claimed to have visited 
 Niemann's saloon in company with O'Sullivan, 
 the place was crowded with patrons. Niemann 
 also stated that so far as he could remember, he 
 had never seen the Hylands in his place. Numer- 
 ous witnesses swore that Salzman, who had 
 been introduced by the defense to impeach Mrs. 
 Hoertel, had a bad reputation for truth and 
 veracity, was utterly unworthy of belief, and 
 had no regard whatever for the sanctity of the 
 oath. Numerous other witnesses were intro- 
 duced to disprove various statements that were 
 made in behalf of the prisoners. 
 
 CRONIN'S KNIVES FOUND. 
 
 One more sensation was to be added to the many 
 startling developments of the trial, in its last 
 stages. There was no session of court on No vein-
 
 464 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 her 27th, in order that the attorneys for the State 
 might be afforded an opportunity to arrange the 
 order of their arguments, and, as the following 
 day, Thursday, was the day of National Thanks- 
 giving, the case went over until Friday morning, 
 November 29th. On the afternoon of Thurs- 
 day, Barney Flynn, a detective in the employ of 
 the city, and connected with the Chicago Avenue 
 Station, went to Chief Hubbard with a remark- 
 able story. Flynn 
 was the man who 
 arrested Coughlin, 
 after the latter had 
 concluded his in- 
 terview with Chief 
 of Police Hubbard. 
 
 VHe took him to 
 the armory police 
 station and search- 
 ed him in the pre- 
 sence of Captain Bartram. Among the other 
 things he found in Coughlin's pockets were 
 two pocket-knives and a revolver. These Flynn 
 carried with him to the central station and 
 placed in his box for safe keeping, and, when, a 
 few months later, he was transferred to the Chi- 
 cago Avenue Station, he placed them in a vault 
 which he rented in the Fidelity Bank. There 
 they had remained undisturbed ever since. When 
 
 FLYNN.
 
 THE CK1MK OF T1IK CKNTURY. 465 
 
 Chief Hubbard heard this story, he ordered the 
 knives to be produced without delay. The 
 attorneys for the State were advised of the facts, 
 and T. T. Conklin, who was sent for, unhesitat- 
 ingly declared that both knives had been the 
 property of Dr. Cronin. Flynn was placed upon 
 the stand after the noon recess on the following 
 day and told his story. 
 
 Mr. Conklin followed the detective, and the 
 knives were handed to him by Judge Longe- 
 necker. He glanced at the larger one, which 
 was medium sized and with a pearl handle, and 
 unhesitatingly declared that he himself had given 
 it to Dr. Cronin about a year before. " I ought 
 to know'it," said the witness, emphatically, " for I 
 carried it myself for nearly two years." 
 
 The smaller knife, a little bone Handled affair, 
 of rather a peculiar shape, was also identified 
 by Mr. Conklin, as one he had found on the street 
 about nine months before. He had carried it 
 home and placed it on the mantle, where Dr. 
 Cronin had found it and appropriated .it to his 
 own uses. Both of these knives the physician 
 had been in the habit of carrying in the right- 
 hand pocket of his vest. 
 
 The cross-examination by Mr. Forrest was 
 extremely light, the witness being simply asked 
 whether the knives were not of a very ordinary 
 pattern. The witness admitted that he would
 
 466 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 not swear they were the identical knives that Dr. 
 Cronin had carried, because there were many 
 like them in the market, but he was positive that 
 they resembled them as closely as they could do 
 even to the number of the blades. On re-exam- 
 ination by the State's Attorney, Conklin said that 
 no such knives were found at his house after Dr. 
 
 Cronin had dis- 
 appeared. Prior 
 to this, at the 
 morning session 
 of court, Bar- 
 nard F. Car- 
 berry, a bright 
 looking young 
 fellow, gave 
 evidence con- 
 cerning a visit 
 
 he had made to 
 Matt Danahy's 
 saloon on the evening of May 4th, which appeared 
 to put an end to the last vestige of Martin Burke's 
 alibi. Lawyer Forrest was then given another 
 inning, and introduced a long string of witnesses 
 to counteract the evidence which the State had 
 submitted on rebuttal. 
 
 Owing to the fact that the discovery of the 
 knives had taken the defense somewhat by sur- 
 prise, it was permitted to sandwich its rebuttal 
 
 THE KNIVES.
 
 THE CRIME OE THE CENTURY. 467 
 
 testimony in between the speeches. On De- 
 cember 2d August Loewenstein, a brother of 
 Jacob Loewenstein, Coughlin's former partner 
 in the detective business, testified that he had 
 sold a pair of pants to Coughlin on the 27th 
 of April, one week before the disappearance 
 of Dr. Cronin. The garment ,had to be altered, 
 and while Coughlin was waiting for them, 
 he took out of the pockets of the old ones 
 some keys and two knives which he laid upon 
 a chair. Witness particularly recollected these 
 knives because he had asked Coughlin to give 
 .him one of them, and he was positive that 
 the two knives which had been identified by Mr. 
 Conklin were the same he had seen in Coughlin's 
 possession. Jacob Loewenstein also swore, with 
 emphasis, that he had seen Coughlin's knives on 
 scores of occasions when he was traveling beats 
 with him, and was more than positive that those 
 which had been placed in evidence were the 
 identical ones his partner had owned for a long 
 period. One of them in particular he could tell 
 by the way it was ground, from the color of the 
 handle and the general appearance. The point, 
 he said, showed it had been ground on the sand- 
 stone at the station, and, as a matter of fact, he 
 had seen Coughlin grind it that way when he 
 was standing by and talking to him. This evi- 
 dence was not materially shaken on cross-exam- 
 ination.
 
 468 THK CRIMK OF TIIK CK.VITKY. 
 
 State's Attorney Longenecker opened his ad- 
 dress on Friday, November 29th, and spoke for 
 four hours. He resumed on Saturday, Novem- 
 ber 3Oth, and finally finished at three o'clock on 
 the same day. Judge Wing then commenced 
 his appeal for Daniel Coughlin, speaking two 
 hours on Saturday, six hours on Monday, De- 
 cember 2d, and about one hour on Tuesday, 
 December 3d. George Ingham followed on 
 behalf of the State, speaking continuously 
 through the day until five o'clock, when he 
 closed. Daniel Donahoe, on behalf of O'Sulli- 
 van and Kunze, spoke from ten A. M. to five P. 
 M. on Wednesday, December 4th. Mr. W. J. 
 Hynes, who was Dr. Cronin's intimate friend 
 during his lifetime, occupied the whole of 
 Thursday, December 5th, and a portion of Fri- 
 day, December 6th, with a royal tribute to the 
 memory of the murdered patriot, and a group- 
 ing of the facts of the conspiracy. Mr. Foster, 
 on behalf of Beggs, and Mr. Forrest, for the 
 other defendants, followed in their turn. Luther 
 Laflin Mills had been selected to make the clos- 
 ing address, but a sudden attack of illness, which 
 confined him to his room, necessitated a change 
 in the programme, and State's Attorney Longe- 
 necker, on Dec. 13, brought the speech-making 
 portion of the trial to a close.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 469 
 
 J. M. LONGENECKER, STATE'S ATTORNEY.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 OPENING FOR THE STATE. THE EVIDENCE RE- 
 VIEWED A MASTERLY ARGUMENT BY STATE'S 
 
 ATTORNEY LONGENECKER TRACING THE PLOT 
 
 FROM ITS INCEPTION TO THE MURDER AN 
 
 APPEAL FOR JUSTICE ARGUMENTS FOR THE 
 
 DEFENSE DONAHOE, WING, FOSTER AND FORREST 
 
 MAKE THEIR FINAL PLEAS FOR THE PRISONERS t 
 AND INGHAM, HYNES AND LONGENECKER CLOSE 
 FOR THE STATE. 
 
 State's Attorney Longenecker was on his feet 
 the moment the witness had left the stand. It 
 was apparent that the State was determined to 
 push the remainder of the proceedings with all 
 possible speed. The prisoners looked anxious; 
 the vast audience expectant. 
 
 "You may proceed," said Judge McConnell, 
 and clearing his throat, the State's Attorney 
 commenced a memorable address. 
 
 He spoke as follows: 
 
 " If the Court please, Gentlemen of the Jury, I want to talk to you 
 about this case, about the evidence which you have been hearing from 
 the witnesses. I shall not attempt to talk to any one except you twelve 
 men, because you are now interested in the case and it is your duty 
 to come to a correct conclusion. The responsibility rests upon you 
 after we have done our work. I have no doubt that you twelve men are 
 
 470
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 471 
 
 competent to render such a verdict in this case as will meet the demands 
 of the law. I have no doubt that you are prepared on this evidence 
 to render such a verdict as the evidence warrants you in rendering. 
 Now, I say to you this, that I shall confine myself to the evidence in 
 the case. My associates will attend to the arguments and make the 
 speeches. I want now to express my feeling of gratitude to you for 
 your patience during the hearing of the evidence. It is due to you, 
 gentlemen; it is a sacrifice that you, I hope, will never be called 
 upon to make again. To be taken from your homes and be shut up 
 for weeks and months is no little sacrifice. You have had reason, 
 perhaps, to complain of us; you have had reason to complain 
 because of the slowness of the case; and yet, after all, we felt it our 
 duty to do what we have done. We felt that we could not in any 
 way shorten the proceedings and yet do justice to the case. I hope 
 that none of you will harbor any feeling against any one in this case 
 on account of delays. 
 
 "Again, gentlemen, you are twelve men here listening from day to 
 day to the evidence; this case has strung out from day to day and 
 from week to week, until it has become a great case. It has become 
 a noted case to you a case that you will never forget. It has grown 
 as the days have passed by. Very often jurors, courts and lawyers, 
 when a case grows and there is evidence piling up, forget that 
 it requires some evidence to reach a conclusion, more of it than 
 if it was a small case. Do not be led into this error of determining 
 what you shall do. The evidence of conspiracy is the same for a 
 small offense as it is for a great offense. The evidence of conspiracy 
 to obtain dollars and cents from you or me or any one else must be 
 just as strong, although it only takes two hours to try the case, as if 
 you are trying men for murder. What I am trying to have you 
 understand is this: that because it has been so long and has grown so 
 large, you must not think that it requires more evidence on that 
 account. If the evidence convinces you of the guilt of these men, 
 then it matters not whether there are five men or ten men on trial or 
 only one man. The evidence necessary to convince you beyond a 
 doubt of the guilt of the men on trial should be just as strong as if 
 there were twenty men on trial. The law is always just. It is made 
 to protect the innocent as well as punish the guilty. 
 
 "After you have heard the arguments from counsel on both sides, 
 having heard the evidence and instructions of the Court, you will go 
 into your room and make up your verdict and bear in mind that the 
 law itself is just; if the law compels you to inflict a penalty here that 
 you do not like to inflict, remember that you are not to blame and 
 the law is not to blame; it is the men who have violated the law. 
 What I say to you in this case is from a feeling that we wish to get at 
 the truth; what I say will be said with a view of getting at a truthful 
 verdict and nothing else. I have no feeling against these men on trial 
 personally. Why should I stand up here and ask you to convict Mar- 
 tin Burke, Daniel Coughlin, Patrick O'Sullivan, John F. Beggs and 
 John Kunze unless I believe the evidence justified me in asking you to 
 do it ? If I should at this moment ask you twelve men to convict 
 them upon anything else but the evidence, I would not be fit to fill the
 
 472 THK CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 position that I now occupy. We do not desire that these men shall 
 be 'guessed' guilty. We do not desire that they shall be convicted 
 upon doubtful evidence. We do not desire that they shall be convicted 
 upon anything except the law and the evidence in the case; but if you 
 do believe that that law and that evidence satisfies your mind of their 
 guilt, then we do demand at your hands that your verdict shall be 
 in accordance with the law and the evidence, and nothing short of a 
 truthful verdict under the law and thre evidence will meet the demands 
 of this case, whether the verdict be to acquit the defendants or whether 
 it be to convict the defendants; with that verdict the people repre- 
 sented by myself and my associates must be content." 
 
 REVIEWING THE EVIDENCE. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen, as I said, we want to talk about the evidence in 
 the case. I will do it as hastily as possible, bearing in mind at the 
 same time that it is necessary that it be presented to you in such a 
 way as you will see the chain that has been forged from day to day 
 in this case, and so that you may be enabled from this evidence to 
 come to a correct conclusion. I shall not attempt to go over all the 
 evidence, that is all the details, because I apprehend that you men 
 have watched this evidence as closely as I have; but what I intend to 
 say to you regarding the evidence will be such as I think should be 
 mentioned to enable you to come to a correct conclusion, and I will 
 leave pieces of evid nee here and there to be remembered by your- 
 selves. 
 
 "Again, gentlemen, if I should misstate this evidence, I hope that 
 the attorneys for the defense will call my attention to it; and I hope 
 it will not be charged that I am trying to take any unfair advantage 
 of these men who are upon trial for their lives. As I said to you in 
 my opening of this case, we ^contend that the murder of Patrick 
 Henry Cronin was brought about by a conspiracy. We claim that 
 it was acted upon and executed. And that these men on trial are 
 parties to the conspiracy, together with others who are not on trial. 
 That is our position. We further claim that it was a cold-blooded 
 conspiracy; a conspiracy that is without parallel, coldly and deliber- 
 ately planned; a conspiracy that, as we understand it from the evi- 
 dence, would chill the blood in the warmest heart; a conspiracy that 
 is most terrible in its effects. If such a conspiracy as this has existed, 
 as we know it has existed, and if the murder has been the result of 
 such a conspiracy as this, then it follows that it must have been 
 planned for weeks and weeks before its execution; and if that be 
 true, then, gentlemen, you must notice the line of evidence in the 
 case in order to come to a correct conclusion. A conspiracy always 
 originates somewhere; one man can not conspire, two men may con- 
 spire; oftener three men conspire, and it is easier to commit a crime 
 where two men are engaged in working it out in different ways, 
 engaged in bringing about in different ways the same results, than 
 where the same object is aimed to be accomplished by one man. 
 Now, it is not necessary, as the Court will instruct you, that we prove 
 that the parties got together and talked the matter over and arranged
 
 T1IK CK1MK OF THE CENTURY. 473 
 
 it; that is not necessary; the law does not require that; we don't 
 need to prove that they ever came together. If that was so it would 
 be very seldom that a prosecutor could obtain a conviction in a con- 
 spiracy case. Remember this is a charge of murder, brought about 
 by a conspiracy, and we claim that this evidence shows conclusively 
 that a conspiracy was concocted by these defendants on trial. Let 
 us see where we go to start in. Where do we learn of this conspiracy 
 first?" 
 
 CAMP 2O*S MYSTERIOUS MEETINGS. 
 
 " You remember that there is a Camp 20 in this city. It is proven 
 here that the Clan-na-Gael organization has a camp called Camp 20, 
 also named Columbia Club; that they met in North Side Turner 
 Hall, and that before the date of which I now intend to speak there 
 had been a division in this organization, and that the two factions had 
 united, after which the numbers had been changed, so that this Camp 
 96 had become Camp 20. I will also ask you to remember that 
 before this reunion of these two organizations, or these two factions 
 of the organization, a trial committee was appointed to try the ex- 
 executive body of this organization; that this ex-executive was to be 
 tried by a committee to be selected at a convention that met in this 
 city last year in the month of June. You will remember that Dr. P. 
 H. Cronin was one of the members appointed on that trial committee, 
 and that after that trial committee had acted, the two factions were 
 united and the camps were renumbered. I speak of that, and I want 
 you to bear it in mind, that Dr. Cronin was on that committee, and 
 that it was shown that there were three men called trianglers who 
 were being tried by the committee of which Dr. Cronin was a mem- 
 ber. Now we will stop there, and go to this Camp 20,. on the 8th day 
 of February. You go into that camp. We call the secretary here, 
 John F. O'Connor, and he testifies that on that occasion, the night of 
 the 8th of February, one Andrew Foy made a speech. O'Connor 
 can not remember what Foy said, but he tells you that there were 
 resolutions passed, and that he does recollect that Thomas F. O'Con- 
 nor made a speech there. He tells you that Thomas F. O'Connor 
 had charged that a certain report of the trial committee, this trial 
 committee to which I have already called your attention, and of which 
 Dr. Cronin was a member, was read in another camp. Secretary 
 O'Connor tells you that Thomas F. O'Connor said he had heard the 
 report of that trial committee read. That is about all that this man 
 could remember, exci-'/t that some one jumped up and demanded to 
 know how it was that^some camps had got the reports of this trial 
 committee before others. He did not pretend to know what Foy had 
 said in his speech, but he did recollect that some resolution was 
 passed in regard to the matter. 
 
 " We next called Andrew J. Foy. Andrew J. Foy testifies here 
 that he did make a speech; that he did say that he understood there 
 were parties getting into the camp who were other Le Carons: that 
 there were other Le Carons in this country; that there were spies in 
 this country and in the organization. He admits that in his tesfi-
 
 mi: CRIME (TF THE CENTURA. 
 
 mony, and he further said that they ought to be more careful in 
 admitting members into the organization and not to admit parties of 
 this kind into the organization. Then it was that Thomas F. O'Con- 
 nor made his speech and said they had better look after the ex- 
 executive if they wanted to find out the traitors who had been 
 squandering the funds of the order and sending honest, patriotic men 
 to English prisons. And thereupon you are told four or five men 
 jumped to their feet and a motion or suggestion was made to have a 
 secret committee appointed. What for? [State's Attorney Longe- 
 necker paused when he asked this question and for a moment gazed 
 silently and earnestly into the jurors' faces.] What for?" he repeated. 
 "Not to get a report of the trial committee, not to find out what it 
 was that was contained in this report, but to see why this report was 
 made in this other camp and who it was had made it. We called 
 Michael J. Kelly, another member of that organization, a junior 
 guardian in Camp 20, and what does he say ? You must remember 
 that these three witnesses were not what might be called willing wit- 
 nesses. These three witnesses that were first called here upon the 
 stand were unwilling witnesses for the people ; but we called them. 
 We called Michael Kelly to the stand, and he remembers that a 
 speech was made by Foy, and he remembered that Thomas F. 
 O'Connor made a speech, and that Le Caron's name perhaps was 
 mentioned, but he does not remember much about it. He does tell 
 you, however, that Thomas F. O'Connor stated that he had heard Dr. 
 Cronin read that report in his, Dr. Cronin's, camp. That is about all 
 we got out of him. We then called to the stand Anthony J. Ford, 
 who was very fair in the witness stand, and he goes on and tells you 
 that Andrew Foy made a speech, but he does not remember very 
 much about Foy's speech. He also remembers that Thomas F. 
 O'Connor made a speech in reply to that, and he tells you here in 
 reference to that matter. We called Stephen Colleran here, a friend 
 of Burke's, and he remembered and tells you that he heard some 
 remarks made by Andrew Foy, and he also heard the speech made 
 by Thomas O'Connor, and he recollects that three or four talked of 
 the appointment of a committee to investigate the matter alluded to 
 in O'Connor's speech, but whether it was a secret committee or not 
 he does not remember." 
 
 PURPOSE OF THE SECRET COMMITTEE. 
 
 " You will bear that in mind in regard to Colleran, because I shall 
 not go into details with his evidence on this particular point, as he 
 touches another line of evidence in the case. JThen Denis O'Connor 
 was called here, who says that he has belonged to the order for fifteen 
 or sixteen years, and he testifies that it was charged in Camp 20, at 
 that meeting to which I have referred, that Dr. Cronin had read a 
 report of the trial committee; he says Foy had made a speech, that 
 Captain O'Connor had replied to him in another speech, and that he 
 understood that a committee was appointed. What for?" again ex- 
 claimed the State's Attorney, with considerable emphasis. " To go up 
 to visit Dr. Cronin's camp, he says, for the purpose of ascertaining
 
 THE CRIME ()! THK CENTURY. 475 
 
 why he read this report in his, Dr. Cronin's, camp. That we find in 
 the record, gentlemen, there is no dispute on that point. You will 
 remember that these men swear to that fact, men who were not will- 
 ing witnesses for the prosecution; they swear that they understood it 
 was to investigate Dr. Cronin and his camp as to why he in that camp 
 had read a report of that committee before which the charges had 
 been tried before the ex-executive body. That is from the mouth of 
 Denis O'Connor. But he tells you that he did not understand it to 
 be a secret committee, but we called other witnesses on this same 
 point." 
 
 Mr. Foster at this point broke in with an interruption. He called 
 the State's Attorney's attention to the fact that the record will show 
 that Denis O'Connor had not said that the committee had been ap- 
 pointed to investigate why the report had been read, but to find out 
 if a minority report had been read there, and, if so, what it was. 
 
 State's Attorney Longenecker asserted that he was correct in his 
 statement of the evidence. Mr. Foster, no doubt, on cross-examina- 
 tion had made a speech to Denis O'Connor, and asked him if that 
 was not so, and Denis said yes; but he had stated directly the testi- 
 mony of the witness on direct examination. " After Denis O'Connor 
 testified," continued State's Attorney Longenecker, " we called to 
 the stand Henry Owen O'Connor. He testifies that he was there, 
 and heard a discussion between Captain O'Connor and Foy, and he 
 tells you that there was something said about a committee, and that 
 he offered an amendment thereto. We have the resolution read here 
 before you by the secretary. Henry Owen O'Connor says, however, 
 that he left soon after, and he did not know that a committee had 
 been appointed until afterward. I shall speak of the evidence of this 
 witness in relation to another matter, and to other meetings, later 
 on. I shall now read to you the evidence of the next witness whom 
 we called in the case, Thomas F. O'Connor." 
 
 The State's Attorney then read the evidence of Thomas F. O'Con- 
 nor, as already published, relating to a speech made by Andrew Foy 
 in Camp 20 on the night of February 6, and his reply thereto, in 
 which he had made the now famous assertion that he had heard the 
 report of the Buffalo trial committee, and that he knew that the ex- 
 executive had squandered the funds of the organization and sent its 
 members to prison, and finally Coughlin's motion to appoint a secret 
 committee to investigate the reading of the report in Cronin's camp. 
 
 THE MEETING OF FEB. 8. 
 
 The State's Attorney, resuming, said: " The next man we called 
 to the stand was John Collins. He, too, tells you that he remembers 
 Foy's speech and O'Connor's speech, and that a secret committee 
 was ordered appointed. On that point, gentlemen, we have ten wit- 
 nesses, all of whom have testified in regard to the call for the appoint- 
 ment of a secret committee on the night of Feb. 8. That was the 
 night when this conspiracy began. Remember that Foy had made 
 his speech claiming that there were spies in the order, and charging 
 that there were other Le Caron in the country. Following that
 
 T1I1C CRIME 01< THE CENTURY. 
 
 O'Connor had made his speech on the other side, the two factions had 
 met. Thomas O'Connor had stated that the ex-executive body had 
 squandered the funds, that they had put patriotic men behind prison 
 bars, and that the camp had better give their attention to the execu- 
 tive body than to any statements regarding spies or Le Carons in the 
 country. Denis O'Connor, Kelly, Ford and others all agree in tell- 
 ing you that it was in Dr. Cronin's camp, or in reference to Dr. Crb- 
 nin's camp, that these remarks had been made." 
 
 The State's Attorney then called the attention of the jurors to the 
 resolution passed on that occasion, and which had been read by the 
 "secretary from the witness-stand. He also called attention to the 
 amendment proposed by Henry F. O'Connorto that resolution. The 
 motion called for an imperative demand for action by the district 
 officer, and the amendment was that the district officer's attention be 
 called to it and asking for instructions. The State's Attorney, con- 
 tinuing, said, he would wish to direct the attention of the jury to the 
 evidence bearing upon the utterances of Patrick O'Sullivany a mem- 
 ber of the Lake View camp. 
 
 They had it on the testimony of A. J. Ford that Patrick O'Sullivan 
 had charged that in Lake View they were taking in deputies. He 
 had charged that they had taken in men who belonged to what was 
 called the Union Order of Deputies, and in statements made that 
 night in Camp 20 to the same effect. Mr. Ford and others had given 
 Patrick O'Sullivan as authority on that subject. It was in evidence 
 here that Dr. Cronin had organized a camp in Lake View, to which 
 this man, O'Sullivan, also belonged, and in the organization of which 
 he had taken part ; there was no evidence here that any other camp was 
 organized in Lake View except the Washington Literary Society, and 
 this was the camp, Cronin's camp, into which Patrick O'Sullivan had 
 chai-ged that members of the United Order of Deputies were being 
 admitted. It was upon this statement of O'Sullivan's that Ford's 
 speech was founded, and that he made this statement that he feared 
 the organization would be broken up. 
 
 Mr. Longenecker then alluded to and read the resolution passed 
 on this subject. 
 
 " Now," continued the State's Attorney, " Captain O'Connor has 
 taken the stand here and the defense did not dare to cross-examine 
 Captain O'Connor upon that proposition and swore that the motion to 
 appoint a secret committee was made by Daniel Coughlin. The defense 
 did not dare to put a witness upon the stand to swear that that motion 
 was made by any other person than Daniel Coughlin, and that state- 
 ment stands here uncontradicted. He swears that Daniel Coughlin 
 arose and moved that a secret committee be appointed. Now, in all 
 organizations where a committee is moved, the mover is made 
 chairman of the committee. If any of you ever belonged to an 
 organization, and if you ever do belong to an organization, you will 
 know that when a motion is made for the appointment of a commit- 
 tee, if the iran in the chair understands parliamentary rules, he makes 
 the mover for a committee chairman of the committee. Bear that in 
 mind. Ip this case Captain O'Connor says that Dan Coughlin 
 moved that this secret committee be appointed and that Thomas
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CEV1TKY. 477 
 
 Murphy, who did not dare take the stand, seconded that motion. 
 Thomas Murphy, you will remember, gentlemen, is the treasurer of 
 the organization. Daniel Coughlin moved, and it was seconded, that 
 a committee of two or three be appointed by the senior guardian to 
 investigate this statement of Captain F. O'Connor. Why was this 
 investigating committee appointed? Denis O'Connor and others 
 tell you that it was known at the time that Dr. Cronin was the man who 
 had read the report of that trial committee. They all knew that 
 Cronin had acted as a member of that committee, they knew he had a 
 separate report, the minority report; that he had condemned this 
 executive body; that he had charged the funds of the organization 
 had been squandered; then, for what purpose, I ask again, was tht 
 appointment of this committee proposed?" 
 
 The State's Attorney again impressed upon the jury the fact that 
 Daniel Coughlin had for years been a personal enemy of Dr. Cronin, 
 the man whom it was proposed to investigate, and that this same 
 Coughlin, who so hated Cronin, was the man who had called for the 
 appointment of a secret committee to find out just what it was 
 admitted they all knew at the time. It had been claimed by counsel 
 for the defense, and it no doubt would be claimed that this committee 
 was not appointed to try Dr. Cronin. 
 
 THE MURDER OF DR. CRONIN. 
 
 " Of course they were not appointed to try him, gentlemen," ex- 
 claimed Mr. Longenecker, vehemently, "and they never did try him, 
 for they never gave him a chance for his life. We don't contend they 
 even went through the formality of a trial, but that this committee 
 was appointed; that it acted; and that the result of its action was the 
 removal of Dr. Cronin, we have no doubt. Now gentlemen," contin- 
 ued the State's Attorney, " the learned counsel who has more excep- 
 tions, and 'I object,' and 'wait a minute' in the record than he has 
 evidence of the innocence o*f his clients, said that I was very tena- 
 cious about dates. I am. He called your attention to the fact that I 
 had stated in my opening speech that dates would cut a figure in 
 this case. They will. This was on the 8th day of February that this 
 committee was ordered, and this, mark you, on the motion of a man 
 who was an enemy of Dr. Cronin. The records, as shown by Patrick 
 Henry O'Connor, show that Martin Burke was there, Patrick Cooney 
 was there, John F. Beggs was there, and all these defendants on trial 
 except P. O'Sullivan and Kunze. The record shows that. And now, 
 before I forget it, remember, because I don't want to neglect defendant 
 Kunze in this case, remember that if a conspiracy has been organized 
 to do a certain thing if there is a conspiracy to do a certain crime 
 whoever shall have joined that conspiracy has become a party to it, 
 and they are bound by the acts committed prior to their joining the 
 conspiracy and are involved in it as much going in the last hour as if 
 they went in the first hour."
 
 478 THE CRIME OF TIIK CENTURY. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 " Now on this occasion, on the 8th day of February, we have Mar- 
 tin Burke, Daniel Coughlin, John F. Beggs, all present at this meet- 
 ing, and on this night also Martin Burke was appointed a committee 
 of one, as shown by the secretary's books, to pass upon the qualifica- 
 tions of Danahy's bartender (who swears to an alibi for Burke) for 
 admission into the order. They were getting in their friends then. 
 This was on the 8th of February. On the i6th of February John F. 
 Beggs, senior guardian of this camp, wrote a letter to Spelman, the 
 district officer, and on the iyth of February Spelman, the district 
 officer, answers that letter, in which he says he knows of no author- 
 ity under the constitution that authorizes him to inflict a penalty on 
 a member who has committed the offense referred to by Beggs. 
 Recollect, gentlemen, they talk about penalties; that he knows noth- 
 ing in the constitution by which he is authorized to inflict a penalty. 
 From these letters it will be seen that Mr. Senior Guardian Beggs 
 had directed Spelman's attention to Dr. Cronin's camp, showing that 
 he knew that it was in Cronin's camp that this minority report had 
 been read, and to ' investigate' which the secret committee had been 
 proposed by Coughlin. On the i8th of February John F. Beggs writes 
 (and I will read you the letter) that he does not know of any ' writ- 
 ten ' law of the organization which authorizes the infliction of a pen- 
 alty. On the igth day of February Mr. Simonds appears and rents a 
 flat and furniture is bought, and on the 2oth the carpet is nailed 
 down in the room on Clark street. ' Dates will cut a figure in this 
 case.' This was all done in the month of February. On the night 
 of the 22d of February this man (Coughlin), who moved to appoint 
 that secret committee, already beginning his work as chairman of 
 the committee, tells Henry Owen O'Connor that they have another 
 Le Caron, and he says he has got it from good authority that it was 
 Dr. Cronin who was the spy among them, and Mr. O'Connor would 
 not hear any more and left him." 
 
 At this point Mr. Longenecker's attention was called by associate 
 counsel for the defense to the fact that the words of Coughlin alluded 
 to occurred on March i and not on February 22, and he made the 
 necessary correction. 
 
 THE BEGGS-SPELMAN LETTERS, 
 
 " Now, "continued Mr. Longenecker, " let us see whether there is 
 anything else shown by these letters that passed between Beggs and 
 Spelman. In the first place let us ask ourselves what was there to 
 write about to Spelman if the object of the whole ' investigation ' aris- 
 ing out of Thomas O'Connor's speech was to find out ' why ' Cronin 
 had read that minority report. There was no need to make any fuss 
 about that. But suppose they wanted to create the belief that there 
 was in the organization a man who was a spy or traitor, and that they 
 wanted an excuse for killing him that would be a very different 
 matter,"
 
 THE CRIME OK THE CENTURY. 479 
 
 The Slate's Attorney then proceeded to read to the jury the first 
 letter written by Beggs to Spelman, dated Feb. 16. In this letter 
 Beggs says: "It is charged that the senior guardian of Columbus 
 Camp, at a recent meeting, to the assembled brothers read the pro- 
 ceedings of the trial of the executive at Buffalo." Mr. Longenecker 
 compared this passage of Beggs' letter with the motion of Henry 
 Owen O'Connor, carried by Camp 20, directing the senior guardian to 
 notify the district officer "of the report going around regarding 
 reports of the trial committee being read in one of the camps of this 
 city." 
 
 "That motion was carried by the camp," said Mr. Longenecker, 
 "but it seems that Mr. Beggs had found out what camp that report 
 had been read in and all about it before he wrote as directed to Mr. 
 Spelman." 
 
 Having alluded passingly to the passage in Beggs' letter protest- 
 ing against the initiation of members into camps before their names 
 were presented to Camp 20 and the central officers for ratification, 
 which he said was in line with O'Sullivan's charge that U. O. D. men 
 were being admitted to Cronin's camp, Mr. Longenecker took up 
 Spelman's reply to this letter of Beggs. In this letter, which was 
 dated Feb. 17, Spelman asked Beggs to refer him to that section of the 
 law by which he was empowered to inflict a penalty on a senior guard- 
 ian for disclosing the proceedings of a trial committee. 
 
 In this letter also Mr. Beggs refers to " certain men who want to 
 lead in Irish affairs" as " scamps," and says he " is disgusted with 
 their conduct." The reply of Beggs to this letter, dated February 18, 
 was then read. In this Beggs says he knows of no " written law " 
 under which a penalty could be inflicted for the offense alluded to in 
 his first letter. " No man in his right senses," he declared, " would 
 deny that such conduct was prejudicial to the good of the order." 
 Mr. Beggs in this letter also deplores the " opening of the old sore," 
 and says that as the majority of the members believed " the parties 
 charged to be innocent," created ill feeling and blasted the hopes of 
 the friends of Irish unity. Beggs also said he would not notice the 
 matter alluded to, as he thought it better not to notice such matters, 
 only he was ordered to do so by the vote of the camp. " But I am 
 only one man," said Beggs, " but the men who are in power will in 
 time realize the motives of those who are continually breeding disor- 
 der in the ranks. I am very much discouraged at the present out- 
 look, but hope no trouble will result in the meantime." 
 
 Mr. Longenecker asked significantly what Beggs was talking 
 about in this latter portion of his letter. A comparison of his utter- 
 ances with the evidence of Thomas F. and Henry Owen O'Connor 
 showed that Beggs was referring to Cronin, and to the report which 
 he had read in his own camp, charging the ex-executives with being 
 thieves and robbers and with putting Irishmen behind English prison 
 bars. What did Spelman mean when he said he had hoped for a 
 reunion and for better results? To whom did Beggs refer when he 
 spoke of " these men who are continually breeding disorder in the 
 ranks?" It was evident that they were talking about Cronin. 
 
 " On the 22d of February," continued the State's Attorney, "when
 
 480 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Patrick McGarry made the same charge that this ex-executive was 
 composed of thieves and robbers, at the reunion meeting John F. 
 Beggs stood up and said he would not submit to any such charges 
 being made in his camp, and he slapped his breast and thanked God 
 that he was a friend of Alexander Sullivan's. 
 
 " On the igth of February, Throckmorton said the man named 
 Simonds came there and inquired and rented .the flat at 117 Clark 
 street. Now we have a meeting on February 22d. You recollect 
 what Patrick McGarry stated at that meeting, and, for the purpose 
 of showing you just what he did say, I would like to read from the 
 record, but, after glancing through the papers on the table, I fear I 
 have neglected to bring it from my office." 
 
 Judge Longenecker had now spoken for over 
 four hours, and a recess was ordered until ten 
 o'clock on the following morning (November 30), 
 and at that hour the State's Attorney resumed his 
 speech, as follows : 
 
 "If the Court please, and Gentlemen, Mr. Foster was right in 
 regard to my statement about Spelman. It had reference to the cir- 
 cular letter which he said was not addressed originally to Beggs, 
 and that evidence had nothing to do with this case. 
 
 "On yesterday evening I wanted to call your attention to what 
 was said and done on the meeting of the 22d of February this 
 reunion. You remember that Mr. Beggs spoke of it in his letter 
 to Spelman; not to forget their reunion. At that meeting speeches 
 were made by different parties, and among them Patrick McGarry 
 made a speech, and John F. Beggs, the senior guardian of Camp 20, 
 answered that speech. You may not remember just what was said 
 on that occasion. I will now read just what Patrick McGarry said 
 about it." 
 
 Judge Longenecker proceeded to read from a typewritten manu- 
 script the testimony of Patrick McGarry as to what occurred at the 
 meeting of Camp 20 on Feb. 22. 
 
 "'Four gentlemen had spoken,' Mr. McGarry testified, and 
 referred to the unity that ought to exist in the organization. It was 
 about the time that Le Caron had testified before the Parnell commis- 
 sion in England and the other gentlemen had referred to spies get- 
 ting into the organization. On the 8th day of February, on the occa- 
 sion of moving the appointment of the committee, Foy talked about 
 spies in the organization. Mr. McGarry spoke of how Irishmen 
 coming to this country and becoming American citizens ought to 
 educate their children. That was good talk. How they should edu- 
 cate them first in the principles of American institutions ; that was 
 good. How they should educate them also to have love for their 
 mothers and fathers and forefathers' homes; that there was nothing
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 481 
 
 in the Irish race and nothing in Irish history that Irishmen should 
 be ashamed of in America; that is true." 
 
 The State's Attorney proceeded to recite the testimony of McGarry, 
 as before published, in regard to the speech that he had made at this 
 celebrated reunion meeting at Camp 20. 
 
 " ' I said I agreed in my remarks with what all three gentlemen 
 had said. .1 said it was all very well to talk of unity, and I wanted 
 to see unity among Irish people; that there could not be unity while 
 the members of this organization would meet on dark streets and 
 back alleys to villify and abuse a man who had the courage to stand 
 up and attack the treachery and robbery of the triangle. I said that 
 I was educating children, and as long as God allowed me to be over 
 them, I would educate them first in American principles, and I also 
 wanted to educate them that, if they got an opportunity to strike a 
 blow for Ireland's freedom, they would do so. I told them that I had 
 been investigating Le Caron's record, and I said there were men in 
 this organization that were worse than Le Caron. I said that the man 
 who gave Le Caron his credentials to go into the convention was a 
 greater scoundrel than ever Le Caron could pretend to be. I said that I 
 had found out that Le Caron's camp did not exist for two years, and they 
 did not have a meeting, and the junior guardian, as given in the direct- 
 ory down in Braidvvood, had been for a year at Spring Valley, and I 
 said that they must have known that such a camp could not exist 
 only on paper."' 
 
 Judge Longenecker went on to review the testimony of McGarry 
 in reference to this famous meeting, and next called the attention of 
 the jury to the conduct of John F. Beggs, the senior guardian of 
 Camp 20, on that occasion. 
 
 VIOLATIONS OF CAMP RULES. 
 
 "'Now remember,' he said, 'that Alexander Sullivan's name 
 had not been mentioned; the triangle had not been mentioned, and 
 John F. Beggs said that visiting members were coming in there and 
 violating the hospitality of the camp, and that would have to be 
 stopped that it was cowardly,' and, says McGarry: ' I wanted to 
 interrupt him, but the presiding officer and chairman at that 'time 
 would not let me interrupt him.' When he used the word coward, he 
 said that they came in there talking about Alexander Sullivan, and it 
 was cowardly, and he said that they talked about a man behind his 
 back; ' why don't they say it to his face?' He said that Alexander 
 Sullivan had strong friends in that camp, and he slapped his breast 
 and said that he ' was one of them.' That was Beggs' speech on the 
 22d of February this same senior guardian, who was called upon to 
 appoint a secret committee to investigate why Dr. Cronin had read a 
 minority report in his camp charging Alexander Sullivan and the rest 
 of the triangle with squandering the funds. On this occasion it was 
 admitted that Alexander Sullivan was not a member of the organiza- 
 tion, but he was and had been a member of the executive body a 
 member of the triangle and Beggs having mentioned his name in 
 his speech, McGarry had charged this corruption, and then it was
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 that this man Beggs said he would not submit to it, and that it was 
 cowardly for them to talk about it. He said that Alexander Sullivan 
 had strong friends in that camp, and he slapped his breast and said: 
 ' I am one of them.' ' I wanted to get the floor to reply to him,' said 
 McGarry; ' I said the gentleman had said it was cowardly, and I 
 wanted him to understand that I was no coward; that I would tell 
 Alexander Sullivan either there or on any other ground what my 
 opinion of him was, and that every man who knew me knew what Pat 
 was. I said, Why did you mention Alexander Sullivan's name? 
 I have not mentioned it; I have not heard it mentioned here until the 
 senior guardian of this camp mentioned it. I have said, and I repeat, 
 that the man who gave Le Caron his credentials is a greater scoundrel 
 than Le Caron could ever pretend to be. I said I did not men- 
 tion his name until it was brought out, and then John F. Beggs said 
 that Alexander Sullivan had strong friends in the camp, and he was 
 on^ of them, and that he was for union and unity among Irish people 
 if it took war to bring it about.' 
 
 " Now this occurred on the 22d of February. The senior guardian 
 was then defending the triangle. Dr. Cronin had been charging the 
 triangle with misappropriation of the funds and what else? He 
 had been charging them with worse than murder. He had been 
 charging that they not only robbed the treasury, but that they had 
 sent innocent men to English prisons; that they had sent men behind 
 the bars in order to protect their own thievery. He had charged upon 
 this triangle, as Thomas O'Connor stated in his speech, in his minor- 
 ity report which he had read to his camp, the scoundrelism of these 
 men; and here we find this senior guardian " and the State's Attor- 
 ney turned round and pointed to Beggs "on the 22d of February 
 defending them and saying that they had friends and he was glad to 
 say that he was one of them. Now, gentlemen, remember that this 
 was on the 22d day of February, two days after the carpet had been 
 nailed down in the flat at 117 Clark street; five days after the notori- 
 ous letter that the senior guardian had written Spelman to find out 
 something that he knew all about writing to this district member to 
 investigate a matter that he knew all about." 
 
 THE CONNECTION WITH THE MURDER. 
 
 " What else? We find that on the following meeting on the ist of 
 March it is in evidence here by Henry Owen O'Connor that as he 
 was leaving the hall, Daniel Coughlin, the chairman of the commit- 
 tee, followed him into the ante room, and said to Henry Owen 
 O'Connor, ' there are other Le Carons here among us.' He knew 
 how Henry Owen O'Connor's heart went out to Ireland. He knew 
 how patriotism burned in his heart; he knew that Henry Owen O'Con- 
 nor was loyal to his people. He thought by prejudicing him in that 
 direction he would surround their action with another friend. What 
 does he do? He says ' it is rumored around that there is another 
 Le Caron, and we have got it pretty straight that it is Dr. Cronin.' 
 This was on the ist day of March, on Friday night.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 483 
 
 "Singular, is it not? Here on the 8th day of February, the date 
 on which the motion was made for that committee on the i6th of 
 February the senior guardian writing about it and on the iyth writing 
 about it; on the igth renting the flat; on the aoth nailing the carpet 
 down, and on the 22d defending the triangle, and on the ist of March 
 this man, who is on trial now for his life, says that Dr. Cronin is a spy. 
 Why was this done? Why should he tell that he was a spy? Follow- 
 ing along on the same line it was uttered on February 8 that there 
 were spies in the camp; on the 22d they talked about spies, and now 
 it was whispered into the ears of Henry Owen O'Connor that this 
 man, Cronin, was a spy. They knew how the Irish people despised 
 a man who was pointed out as a spy, therefore, he began his work 
 of prejudicing the minds of those Irishmen who were in earnest in 
 reference to the freedom of Ireland, and tells O'Connor that Cronin 
 was a spy, but Henry Owen O'Connor turned on his heel and would 
 not have it and said: ' I don't believe it," and walked away. Now, 
 what do we find? We find this: That a conspiracy began in Camp 
 20 on the 8th of February. Following that, as I stated, were the 
 remarks made by this man Coughlin, and remarks by Beggs. Now, 
 we go on to another meeting in this camp. Was that committee 
 appointed? I stated on yesterday that we did not contend that it was 
 a trial committee. We never have contended that it was wanted for 
 the purpose of trying Dr. Cronin or any one else; no such statement 
 has been made, but that there was a request for a secret committee, 
 is undisputed. 
 
 " Now was it appointed? We find that either on the 3d of May 
 or on the loth that does not matter one of the witnesses, I think 
 Henry Owen O'Connor, states that it was on the 3d of May, soon after 
 he came home from the East, there was ameeting. On cross-examin- 
 ation by Mr. Foster, his attention was called to the matter that he 
 was investigating as a committee-man in regard to auditing the 
 books, and by that he thinks probably it might have been the loth 
 thp following meeting. That does not matter; but Nolan, the other 
 secretary, the one who keeps the names and numbers of the different 
 members and their accounts the financial secretary states that it 
 was on the night of the 3d. Here are two undisputed witnesses 
 uncontradicted by any man in Camp 20; not a man that dare lift up his 
 hand to God and say that these men have sworn falsely. Here 
 they come into court and make a statement that is undisputed. Was 
 the committee appointed? 
 
 "On the night of the 3d or the loth I do not care which night it 
 was some one in the crowd asked the senior guardian if the secret or 
 private committee had reported. The senior guardian, with his hand 
 uplifted, said : 'That committee reports to me alone.' That was John 
 F. Beggs! ' Has that committee reported?' 'That committee 
 reports to the senior guardian alone.' 
 
 THE PLOT TO MURDER CRONIN. 
 
 "Had he reference to the trial committee? Why, no. They con- 
 tended they had been urging for that committee's report; would he have 
 made such a remark as that if it had reference to the trial committee
 
 4*4 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 that tried the triangle? No, gentlemen, it had reference to this secret 
 committee that had been appointed by John F. Beggs; and to show 
 you that he had appointed it, on the agth day of April, over on the 
 South Side of this city, as is testified to by his friend Spelman, the 
 district officer on the aqth day of April what did he say ? He said, 
 'That matter has all been amicably settled.' How settled? At the 
 hour he spoke the cottage had been rented; at the hour he spoke the 
 arrangements had been made; at the hour he spoke the sentence had 
 been fixed; at the hour he spoke it had been 'amicably' settled that 
 was on the 2gth day of April. Is there anything in the camp thatshows 
 it was amicably settled? Has there been a man to come here to 
 say they visited Dr. Cronin's camp to investigate why he read this 
 report! Has there been a man that dare come to the front and say 
 that any investigation had been made that anything had been done? 
 No. Then, why was it that this man, Beggs, said that it had been 
 amicably settled ? Because the committee had agreed that certain 
 things had to be done, and that they would be done, and therefore 
 there was no occasion for any further investigation. That is why he 
 told Spelman on the 2gth of April that this matter had been amicably 
 settled. It had been. 
 
 " Following that, when he says, ' That committee reports to me 
 alone,' it is no wonder he made that remark, knowing in his heart 
 what had been done; knowing the results that were to follow, no 
 wonder he said ' That committee reports to the senior guardian 
 alone.' 
 
 " Now, if he made that remark that it was to report to him 
 alone where is the man that will assert that there was no com- 
 mittee appointed ? We do not contend that there was a committee 
 appointed as provided by the constitution in a legitimate way in 
 their order. There is no such contention here; but that they assumed 
 to appoint a committee; that they did appoint a committee, and that 
 that committee was a committee of three. We contend that that was 
 done for the purpose of covering up the deeds of these men that 
 followed the appointment of the committee. You remember. There 
 is nothing said about the appointing the committee to try Dr. Cronin 
 nothing is said about the appointing the committee to do anything 
 except to find out how it was that this was done. If it had been 
 intended to do anything in an honorable way in a way that they 
 must, to be honorable to themselves and the society, and appointed 
 that committee as Denis O'Connor said, to go up and find out about 
 the matter and report back then it might be considered as of 
 nothing. But they didn't do it. Tell me that it was 'amicably 
 settled!' What had they done in the camp? What report had been 
 made? What steps had been taken to investigate the matter? No 
 one knows except the senior guardian and his committee just what 
 was said or done." 
 
 THE LAW OF CONSPIRACY. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, I shall not bother you by reading much law at 
 this time. As I stated, I want to go over the evidence, but at this 
 point T want to call your attention, before entering upon the other
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 485 
 
 evidence, to the Spies case. I will only read from the syllabus, and 
 leave the case for others who may wish to refer to it, either on the 
 side of the people or on the side of the defense. I want to call your 
 attention to the law of conspiracy as laid down in that case." [Here 
 Judge Longenecker read a long extract bearing on the point that 
 where two or more persons combine to do an illegal act, they are all 
 guilty, whether they are all present at the consummation of the crime 
 or not.] He then proceeded: "That is all I desire to read you upon 
 the law of conspiracy. We have talked about Camp 20 and actions 
 of this order, and we now come up to another part of the case. You 
 will remember that Throckmorton, of the real estate agency of Mar- 
 shall & Knight, on Clark Street, told you that a man by the name of 
 Simons appeared there on the i8th of March and inquired in refer- 
 ence to a flat. He wanted to rent two rooms on the upper floor of 
 117 Clark street. The agent told him they had two rooms on the 
 floor below, and he said he didn't want them that he preferred to 
 have those on the upper floor, fronting on Clark street. You will 
 remember that he stated that they could not rent two rooms in that 
 flat and' he would have to rent the entire flat, and the man said he 
 would see Mr. Marshall concerning it. Next day, the igth, the man 
 appeared again at the office, and Throckmorton saw Mr. Marshall, 
 who would not rent two rooms and said he would have to take the 
 entire flat. The fellow said all right, and paid them $40 for the top 
 flat, which, as you will remember, was in the neighborhood of Dr. 
 Cronin's office, just opposite the Chicago Opera House building. 
 You will further remember that Throckmorton testified that the man 
 pulled the money out of his pocket in a careless way and paid $40. I 
 don't know whether he understood why he wanted the front rooms at 
 that time, but he paid a month's rent and signed a lease. Mr. Mar- 
 shall corroborates that statement." 
 
 THE PURCHASE OF THE FURNITURE. 
 
 " On the same day this man, J. B. Simonds, appeared at Revell's 
 store. Now, it does not matter whether we have shown that he was 
 a member of Camp 20 or any thing about it. It does not matter 
 whether we know who he is, but it is part of the means used in this 
 case, and for that reason it was admitted in evidence. He said to 
 Hatfield, the salesman, that he wanted some of the cheapest furniture 
 he could get. He was taken to the department where the cheapest 
 furniture is kept. He was quick and firm in his selections. When he 
 was shown a cheap bedstead he said, 'That is all right; I will take 
 that.' When he was showed cheap chairs, he said, 'I will take them.' 
 When Hatfield showed him other pieces of furniture, he said promptly, 
 ' I will take them.' Then he said he wanted a cheap trunk, the larg- 
 est in the store. They went to the trunk department and they picked 
 out a packing trunk of the largest size. He said he wanted a com- 
 mon valise and a strap for the trunk. These articles were all pro- 
 duced and he went away. That must have been before the signing 
 of the lease for the flat, because he comes back the next day and tells 
 them to deliver the goods. He picked out the commonest furniture,
 
 486 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 stating that it was only for temporary use. The next day he went 
 back and paid for the furniture and it was moved to 176 Clark street. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, have you any doubt about that furniture going 
 to that number? None of you can have a doubt on that question. 
 When he went back to Revell's he said he wanted a larger sized 
 strap; that the strap he got was too small, too light, and Mr. Hatfield 
 said he would get him a larger strap, which he did and charged him 50 
 cents for it. Mr. Allen, who moved the furniture, said he took a bed; 
 a bureau, a washstand, a mattress, a bowl, and pitcher, the trunk 
 (the valise and strap were inside the trunk) and all the articles 
 that this man Simonds had purchased, to 117 South Clark street. 
 The shipping clerk Neahr, who packed the goods testified that 
 the goods taken over there were the same as those bought by 
 Simonds. This was followed by the evidence of McHale, the 
 carpet layer, who said he laid the carpet in the front room of 
 117 Clark street; that Simonds appeared there and was very easy 
 about the matter, not caring just how the carpet was laid, and 
 he had the carpet laid in the front room. It is not for us to say what 
 the objecting was in renting the flat at 117 Clark street; it is true that 
 that number was selected; it is true that this furniture was purchased; 
 it is true that the trunk was purchased and went with this furniture. 
 Now we find that the only living person identified as occupying the 
 room, in which this furniture was placed and the carpet laid, is the 
 man Kunze. He was seen there with another man taller than him- 
 self. They were seen there frequently during the time the flat was 
 occupied by this man Simonds, and Kunze was the man who was 
 identified as being in that flat at the time. That is testified to by 
 James, testified here in a manner that must convince you that he was 
 telling the truth, because, in his evidence, he was not over-anxious 
 about anything else. When the learned counsel for the defense 
 asked him if he had ever been mistaken about men he had seen on 
 the street, James said he might have been, that such a thing could 
 happen, but he was not mistaken as to Kunze being the man who was 
 in the flat. That evidence was before you, and that is the first time 
 Kunze appears in this case, with the exception, perhaps, of 
 his trip with Coughlin down to Peoria, which was in relation to 
 another matter, and was only shown for the purpose of letting the 
 jury know the intimacy that existed between Coughlin, the chairman 
 of the committee and this man who was seen in the flat. He is just 
 the kind of character, just the kind of man that Daniel Coughlin 
 would have selected to occupy that room. 
 
 " This flat is occupied. We have shown that the furniture was 
 moved in there, that the trunk was moved in, that the valise and all 
 the articles purchased at Revell's were moved into that flat, and 
 stayed there until the night of the aoth. You will remember that 
 Collector Goldman, who collects the rents for this real estate firm, 
 went to collect the rent for the flats on the morning of the 2Oth of 
 March. He didn't find any one in, but he peeped through the letter 
 hole and saw the carpet and furniture still there and went away. 
 But when he returned the next morning, the 2ist of March, the flat 
 was vacant. And if you remernber the other evidence, you wjl} find
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 487 
 
 that they moved in the evening. Now, why was that flat rented? 
 Why was this furniture purchased? Is there any explanation on 
 earth except that it was purchased and moved in for the very purpose 
 for which it was used thereafter? Why they selected that flat at 117 
 South Clark street is not for us to answer. Why they should have 
 moved the furniture in there first is problematic, except it was for the 
 purpose of losing the identity* and stopping the tracing of the property 
 from where it was first purchased. That might have been the object. 
 It is not necessary we should account for the reason of their having 
 moved this furniture into that flat, but it is one piece of evidence in 
 this case that follows along the line of the conspiracy. 
 
 THE MEETINGS IN CAMP 2O. 
 
 " You will remember that on the 8th there was a meeting. On 
 the 1 5th they had another meeting in Camp 20, and after that meet- 
 ing I have no doubt and I have a right to talk in this way; it is 
 only my opinion; it is an inference drawn from the evidence after 
 that meeting, I have no doubt that Dan Coughlin, the chairman of 
 that committee, sat down and talked to John F. Beggs and considered 
 that they had better notify the district member; that they had better 
 fix up something to cover up matters in case anything came out after- 
 ward in reference to the affair. So that on the i6th, the day after 
 their meeting up here because they meet every Friday night Dan 
 Coughlin and John F. Beggs and other committeemen talked the 
 matter over, and they decided they had better write to the district 
 officer, Mr. Spelman, and tell him they wanted to find out something 
 about Dr. .Cronin's camp, for when Beggs writes his letter, he gives 
 the number of the Columbia Club, and says the report was read in 
 that camp. Well, they think they had better write to this district 
 officer, and ask him to tell them something about what they shall do, 
 and inquire of him about a matter they knew all about. You remember 
 how the answer of Mr. Spelman came back, that he knew nothing in 
 the constitution that gave him power to inflict a penalty. They had 
 already, then, passed upon this man. This committee had already 
 set their heads together and concluded it was necessary to iniflct a 
 penalty, and that is the reason why this Peoria man wrote that he 
 knew nothing in the constitution that required him, or that gave him 
 power to inflict a penalty on the senior guardian for having read the 
 report of the trial committee in his camp. This was not written in 
 all seriousness; it was written as a covering for what had happened 
 in Camp 20. . 
 
 RENTING THE CARLSON COTTAGE. 
 
 " This was on the i6th. On the zyth comes back this letter from 
 Spelman. On the i8th Beggs writes this other letter, in which he 
 says the time is coming when the men who are creating disturbances 
 in the Irish organization will find there is a day of punishment. He 
 had it on his mind he had been conferring with this committee. On 
 the iSth Mr. Simonds was talking of renting the flat, and when Beggs
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 wrote this letter in reply to Spelman, stating that the time is coming 
 when those men who are creating this disturbance would learn there 
 is a day of punishment, then it was they began active operations. On 
 the igth the furniture was purchased and placed in 'the flat, so there 
 is no other theory on earth than that it was the work of this commit- 
 tee, whoever they may be. Well, it does not stop there. On the 
 2Oth of March we find that a man by the name of Frank Williams 
 appears on the scene. Ha introduces himself on the afternoon of the 
 2Oth, and I was somewhat surprised that my brother Donahoe spent 
 a whole half-day trying to show that P. O'Sullivan was an hour's ride 
 from home at noon that day. This all occurred on the afternoon of 
 the 2Oth, and the object of that proof was to show that this man, Mar- 
 tin Burke, alias Williams, alias Cooper and Delaney, didn't walk 
 over the plot and talk to P. O'Sullivan after he rented the cottage. It 
 was to show that P. O'Sullivan was not at home about that time on 
 the 2oth, and I was somewhat surprised that the learned counsel 
 wasted time on it. Charles Carlson said it was in the afternoon 
 when this man Williams came to rent the cottage. He knew posi- 
 tively that it was after one o'clock, but the exact time he could not 
 state. That is not disputed by any one. So it is no use quibbling 
 over that alibi; there is nothing of an alibi about it. It is all as plain 
 as it can be that the renting took place on the afternoon of the 2Oth. 
 But, anyway, this man, Frank Williams, who is loaded down with 
 names, comes and rents the cottage. The testimony of Jonas Carl- 
 son shows that he had a sign ' For Rent ' on his cottage; and you 
 must remember that it is just 102 feet from the steps of O'Sullivan 's 
 house to the entrance of Mr. Carlson's back gate, and it is only 166 
 feet to the corner of the front cottage, in which this murder was 
 committed. 
 
 " There was the sign ' For Rent ' on that Carlson cottage; there 
 was Patrick O'Sullivan, a member of Camp 20, a man who had been 
 saying that Dr. Cronin was taking deputies into the camp, to say that 
 the cottage was to rent. He knew that the old folks went to bed at 
 an early hour; he knew the habits of these poor old people. Patrick 
 O'Sullivan knew there were but two houses on the entire block on 
 that side of the street; he knew there were not half a dozen 
 houses within a radius of three or four blocks. Now, Martin Burke, 
 who belonged to the same camp, and was present at the time the 
 committee was ordered to be appointed Martin Burke, under the 
 name of Frank Williams, appears on the scene and wants to rent the 
 cottage. He told Jonas Carlson that his sister intended to keep 
 house for him and his brother. Now, remember that every time any- 
 thing was said about the flat or the cottage the party was to come from 
 the East. Simonds said his brother was coming from the East to 
 have his eyes treated, and he wanted to be near the center of the city 
 for that purpose. This man, Frank Williams, who turned out to be 
 none other than Martin Burke, a brother in Camp 20, appears and 
 says his sister is coming from the East. Martin was not so lavish 
 with his money as Simonds was, because when the old man wanted 
 $12 a month he wanted him to take $11. Martin wanted to save all 
 he could out of the pile; but this man Simonds, who had the bulk of
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 489 
 
 the money, pulls it out in rolls when he was going to pay for anything. 
 Simonds carried his money just as the trianglers would carry it, who 
 had been robbing the Irish cause for years, but Martin Burke, who 
 had been working in the ditches, thought if he could save a dollar out 
 of the $12 he would do it. But Mr. Carlson refused to lower the 
 rent and he paid the $12. Then he said his sister was coming from the 
 East to keep house for them. You can have no doubt that the cottage 
 was rented by a man named Frank Williams. Mr. Carlson and his 
 wife, and Charles Carlson and his wife, who were present, said that 
 he rented the cottage. Charles wrote out the receipt and signed it for 
 his father and gave it to Frank Williams. Here are three persons 
 who swore that Frank Williams rented the cottage. And here is a 
 significant incident for you to remember. They started out with 
 assumed names. Martin Burke appears as Frank Williams. If he were 
 renting the cottage for a lawful purpose, if he wished it for no other pur- 
 pose than to occupy it in alegitimate way, to havehis sister come and 
 keep house for him, there would be no occasion for his renting it 
 under the name of Frank Williams. That is conceded. So, then, 
 he must have rented this cottage for some other purpose. It was not 
 because he wanted to keep from paying the rent, because he paid it 
 in advance. That was not the cause; he did not want to lose his 
 identity in order to keep from paying the rent. It was for an unlaw- 
 ful purpose that he went there to rent the cottage. The learned coun- 
 sel on the other side can not dispute that proposition. The old gen- 
 tleman said Williams went out after receiving the receipt and talked 
 to O'Sullivan. Now, O'Sullivan did not live a half a mile or three- 
 quarters of a mile away. You must not think that O'Sullivan lived 
 at one end of the town and Carlson at the other end. His place is 
 just across the lot from the Carlsons. The old gentleman testified 
 that Burke went out of the front gate and walked to where O'Sullivan 
 was standing at his barn and said, ' The cottage is rented.' The old 
 gentleman said he didn't understand what else was said. You 
 remember how hard it was for him to express himself in the English 
 language, and yet counsel undertook to impeach that old man by 
 proving what he said at the coroner's inquest. There is no dispute 
 that he said then he could not hear what Burke said there. There is 
 no use denying that. He said practically the same thing here. He 
 said he heard Martin Burke say to O'Sullivan that the cottage was 
 rented, but he could not hear what else was said* Now, that is about 
 the same thing. You must have noticed how hard it was to under- 
 stand Carlson when he testified in the English language. Mrs. Carl- 
 son said she didn't know where Burke went, but that the young man 
 talked to her husband, who asked him some questions as to where he 
 was working. The old gentleman is the only one who saw him go 
 outside and heard him say this to Patrick O'Sullivan. 
 
 "It was quite natural, was it not? Here was Martin Burke, a 
 brother in the camp, Martin Burke who had met O'Sullivan before, 
 going cross-lot to speak to O'Sullivan. How did Martin Burke know 
 this cottage was for rent ? How did he know there was a vacant cot- 
 tage out there near Patrick O'Sullivan ? Who was it brought it to his 
 ears, unless it was Daniel Coughlin or Patrick O'Sullivan ? And you
 
 49O THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 will remember that one of the witnesses testified that all through the 
 month of March telephoning was going on between O'Sullivan and 
 Coughlin. Coughlin knew a?rf*about Lake View because " 
 
 Messrs. Forrest and Donahue here interrupted with vigorous 
 objections, claiming that this evidence was ruled out. The Court 
 decided in their favor, and remarked that the telephoning was in 
 April. 
 
 Judge Longenecker corrected himself accordingly, and continued: 
 " But Dan Coughlin was up in Lake View in March; Dan Coughlin 
 knew the whole ground there. Patrick O'Sullivan lived within a 
 stone's throw of the cottage. The card was on for rent. A motion 
 was made in the camp of which Coughlin, O'Sullivan and Burke 
 were members; a flat had been rented, furniture purchased and 
 placed in it. How did this man Williams know that this cottage 
 was for rent? How did he know where to go to rent that cottage 
 unless some one of those parties had talked to him, either Dan 
 Coughlin or Patrick O'Sullivan ? Those three witnesses swear that 
 Frank Williams rented it, and do you think that Williams was any- 
 body else except this man Burke ? When the old gentleman was 
 called to identify him he walked down in front of him and said: 
 ' That is the man.' Mrs. Carlson said: 'That is the man.' Charles 
 Carlson says, ' That is the man.' Mrs. Joanna Carlson said: 'That 
 is the man.' There are four witnesses that swore that Martin Burke 
 rented the cottage. I don't suppose the defendant's attorneys will 
 dispute that proposition. 
 
 "I want to know why Martin Burke rented that cottage. What 
 explanation is there to give for its being rented? If Martin Burke 
 rented it intending that his sister should keep house for himself and 
 his brother, why didn't they keep house? If Martin Burke was work- 
 ing at the stock yards and even went to Joliet to work; if he worked 
 for the city in the sewers, why did he go out to Lake View to get a 
 house? Well, if we can not find a reason for this by following the 
 evidence, we will give you a pretty good reason for his not occupying 
 it. My judgment is that he ought to be compelled to live there for 
 all the days of his life. He ought to be required to wallow in the 
 blood that there was drawn from the veins of Dr. Cronin! 
 
 " Why didn't he occupy this cottage? We find by this man Mort- 
 ensen, a Swede who was driving an express wagon and stood on the 
 corner of Chicago avenue and Market street, in the neighborhood of 
 Dan Coughlin's station 'this man Mortensen says he was standing 
 there about 5 o'clock in the evening when a man, whom he identifies 
 as Martin Burke, came up and wanted him to move some furniture. 
 Burke had again to ' jew ' the man in reference to dollars and cents. 
 He said: 'You can do it for $1.50.' Mortensen wanted $2, but 
 finally he agreed to do it .for $1.50. He told the expressman to 
 report at 117 Clark street and he would be on hand. Mortensen 
 drove up to the number given him and found Burke standing at the 
 door. There are the two men we first see at 117 South Clark street 
 Kunze, the little German, and Burke, the Irishman. Kunze had 
 been sleeping there."
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 49! 
 
 KUNZE MAKES AN OBJECTION. 
 
 " I never did," shouted Kunze, rising to his feet and shaking his 
 fist at the State's Attorney. 
 
 " Burke was moving the furniture with another man," continued 
 Judge Longenecker. 
 
 " That is a lie," broke in Kunze again. The little German seemed 
 very much excited, and it required all the power of Mr. Donahoe to 
 soothe him. 
 
 "There is no attempt to prove," proceeded the State's Attorney, 
 "that Kunze helped to move the furniture; nobody would believe 
 that he would lift anything; but this man Burke was there to move 
 his sister's furniture, and another man with a moustache was there 
 to help him. They would not let the expressman go up-stairs to help 
 them. What did they carry down from that flat? Did any one else 
 move from there that day? No, because if they had it would have 
 been in evidence here. No desks were moved out. No lawyers were 
 shifting because they could not pay their rent; no doctors were mov- 
 ing out because they could not collect their bills; but Martin Burke 
 was moving his furniture to put into the cottage in which his sister 
 was to keep house for himself and brother. They carried down a 
 bedstead, a mattress, a washstand, a trunk. Mortensen didn't see 
 the valise and the strap, because you will remember that Allen said 
 the valise and strap were inside the trunk. Mortensen didn't see the 
 lamp, but he saw all the other articles which this man, Simonds, 
 bought this man who thought so much of Burke and his sister as to 
 buy household furniture for them. The furniture was put on the 
 wagon, and they told Mortensen to drive to a point in Lake View, 
 and they would go by the cable. Mortensen went and waited for 
 them at the place designated. They were late in arriving, and said 
 the cable had broken down as usual. They drove up in a buggy, and 
 told him to follow them. They drove to the Carlson cottage, and the 
 furniture was carried in there a trunk, a bureau, a washstand, wash- 
 bowl and pitcher all the articles that were bought at Revell's. The 
 other man is not here on trial; it does not matter who he may be. It 
 is not for you to stop to inquire about those we have not got. To 
 take care of the one we have is all that we are after now. 
 
 " You can have no doubt that Martin Burke moved this furniture. 
 Mortensen saw him two or three times afterward; saw him on Chi- 
 cago avenue, always walking on the south side of the street leading 
 to the station, where Coughlin drew his pay for organizing a con- 
 spiracy against citizens of Chicago. It runs on now to the 24th of 
 March, and what do we find? March 20 the cottage was rented; March 
 20 this man Burke moved the furniture in, which was identified by 
 Mr. Hatfield. Something had to be done to get Dr.Cronin out there. 
 ' We have got the cottage,' said the chairman of the committee. 
 'Yes, I have rented it,' says Burke. 'Yes, it is near me,' says 
 O'Sullivan. I am reasoning now from evidence. I have a right to 
 talk that way. Well, on the 24th of March Dan Coughlin was in 
 Mahoney's saloon on Chicago avenue, and was seen by Quinn and 
 Riley talking to P. O'Sullivan near the screen. They were engaged
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 in a whispered conversation and afterward came up into the crowd. 
 Recollect that before that Patrick O'Sullivan had been charging that 
 Dr. Cronjn had been taking deputies into the organization. Recollect 
 that he had charged in open camp that Cronin had been taking in 
 deputies, and a discussion arose there between Patrick O'Sullivan and 
 Dan Coughlin about deputies. Then it was that this man Coughlin 
 said ' if a North Side Catholic doesn't keep his mouth shut he will 
 soon be put out of the way,' or something to that effect. That was 
 testified to by Quinn and Riley, and is undisputed. This man 
 Coughlin, whose mind was full of murder, being chairman of this 
 committee about Cronin, and about the object of which he was talk- 
 ing to O'Sullivan, they having been discussing the question of how 
 to get Cronin to the cottage, it was in his mind, and he broke out 
 without thinking what he was saying, without thinking that the words 
 would come back at him in future months. He says: ' A North Side 
 Catholic, if he doesn't keep his mouth shut, will be done away with.' 
 Who was he referring to? Dr. Cronin had charged that the triangle 
 had almost ruined their organization. Dr. Cronin had charged that 
 the man who was the friend of Coughlin was a thief and a robber. 
 Dr. Cronin had charged that this man had thrust innocent men into 
 prison in ordei to cover up his stealing. Why was Dan Coughlin 
 thinking then of this subject? Because he and this man were discuss- 
 ing how they could induce Dr. Cronin to go to the Carlson cottage; 
 because they were then planning as to how they could get him there 
 after Martin Burke had rented the place; this I believe to be the true 
 state of his mind at that time. I believe they talked it over in that 
 way just as much as if I had heard it from their very lips." 
 
 ENTICING CRONIN TO HIS DEATH. 
 
 " This is not all, gentlemen. Something had to be done to get Dr. 
 Cronin out to Lake View. Dan Coughlin, the schemer and originator, 
 had put O'Sullivan into a notion of doing something that he had never 
 thought of before. Nothing had then occurred to show that O'Sulli- 
 van would have trouble with his icemen nothing to lead him to 
 believe that there might be accidents and damage suits, and that he 
 would be in need of a physician. But the idea struck him. Dan 
 Coughlin had talked with him on the 24th. On the 2gth there was a 
 literary society organized in Lake View, and Dr. Cronin was brought 
 up to organize it. They wanted to get him familiar with the country. 
 They wanted to get him used to driving in that locality. What did 
 he do? This man, O'Sullivan, who was as cold as the ice on his 
 wagons, goes to the meeting with a friend and helps to organize this 
 Clan-na-Gael camp in Lake View. They took in Justice Mahoney, 
 who was a candidate for office. Whenever a man gets running for 
 office he joins nearly everything, and Mahoney thought it was neces- 
 sary for him to join this literary society. Dr. Cronin made a speech, 
 and it was such a good one that Mahoney said the thing ought to be open 
 to all the world. My idea is that if Irishmen should be free, it should 
 be done open and above board. If there is any reason for establish- 
 ing a republican form of government in Ireland, let your speech be 
 open and not in secret.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 " When Mahoney went in there he belonged to the United Work- 
 men. That is a good order. I used to belong to it myself, but I got 
 dropped for non-payment of dues. Mahoney used to know Dr. Cro- 
 nin as the examining physician of his lodge. He used to send men to 
 him to be examined, and that made Dr. Cronin and himself good 
 friends. Now, when Mahoney made a speech, Dr. Cronin lauded him 
 to the skies, stating what a good thing it was to have that man in the 
 society that it was quite an ad vantage to the order to have him. 
 Patrick O'Sullivan, with his cold, icy heart, took it all in. The idea 
 struck him at once, 'Here are Mahoney and Dr. Cronin. great 
 friends,' and afterward he said to Mahoney : 'Do you know Cronin 
 well?' Mahoney said 'Yes.' 'Is he a good doctor?' asked O'Su li- 
 van. 'Yes.' 'Will you go down and introduce me to him ?' continued 
 the iceman: 'I want to make a contract with him to treat my men.' 
 And Mahoney said he'd do so. 
 
 " Why did that wretch want to employ Dr. Cronin ? Why was it 
 he wanted all at once to have Dr. Cronin attend to his men, when 
 by his own admission he had never had occasion within the last five 
 years for a doctor to treat one of his men. By his own admission he 
 never had an accident during all his ice seasons, except when a piece 
 of ice once fell on a little girl, but he never had a charge or a dam- 
 age suit against him in regard to it. This was on the 2Qth of March. 
 Do you think I am stretching it too far when I conclude that he and 
 Coughlin had talked the matter over and considered what induce- 
 ments they could make to get the Doctor out there ? Could you, as 
 sensible men, come to any other conclusion than that this man, on 
 the pay roll of the city, was then telling O'Sullivan, ' You must get 
 some scheme by which Cronin will be brought to the cottage or you 
 will never kill him there?' Why didn't O'Sullivan step up to the 
 Doctor that night and make his contract? Simply because he warie'l 
 to get the Doctor off his guard. He knew that Dr. Cronin would at 
 once begin to figure the matter out. He would say, Dan Coughlin 
 and P. O'Sullivan are great friends, but if Mahoney is there he would 
 be all right and he would never suspect a thing." 
 
 JUSTICE MAHONEY'S PART IN THE PLOT. 
 
 " Mahoney said they didn't go down the next day. Then the 
 election came on, and Dan Coughlin, having been in the habit of 
 running the election, I suppose, so far as the Clan-na-Gael part is 
 concerned, was busy. Patrick O'Sullivan, being something of a 
 politician himself in his neighborhood, had also to attend the elec 
 tion. The rent was paid for a month any way, so they ran along 
 until the igth of April. If you figure that out, you will find it was 
 soon after another meeting of the Clan-na-Gael Camp soon after 
 the committee had a chance to get together. You will find that on 
 the iSth O'Sullivan left word with Mahoney that he would like him to 
 go down with him to see Dr. Cronin. Mahoney, acting in good 
 faith, met him, and they went down to Dr. Cronin's office. Now, 
 we have the object. We have one of the members of Camp 20 rent- 
 ing the cottage; we have another member of Camp 20 going to make
 
 494 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 a contract with the Doctor. He goes to the office and tells the Doctor 
 he would like to employ him to attend to his men during the ice sea- 
 son. You remember what the contract was. They talked about it 
 and figured on the price, which was finally agreed as $50 for the ice 
 season, or seven months. Thel)octor asked O'Sullivan if he had had 
 any accidents and O'Sullivan said no, but he didn't know what 
 might occur that the horses might run off and hurt somebody. 
 Mahoney testified to this. Here is a significant fact. It was on the 
 igth of April that this contract was made/ Now remember that on 
 that day Patrick O'Sullivan handed the Doctor some cards, saying, 
 ' I may be out of town and my card will be presented to you.'. This 
 is significant when we get to another branch of this evidence. Now, 
 he reports again to the chairman of the committee that ' the contract 
 is made; Cronin is thrown off his guard; Mahoney went with me.' 
 Now, to show you that he was watching what he was doing, Frank 
 Murray tells us that on the morning of the 5th of May O'Sullivan 
 told him that he happened to be down town and met Mahoney, and 
 that he wanted Mahoney to go with him to make this contract. It 
 was an accidental meeting, he said. The committee had had a 
 chance to meet and consult again in the meantime. The furniture 
 was bought; it was moved into the cottage; the contract with the Doc- 
 tor was made; they had it 11 arranged, and when Spelman comes to 
 the city on the 2gth of April the senior guardian says, ' It is all ami- 
 cably settled.'" 
 
 ALL ARRANGEMENTS COMPLETED. 
 
 " But something else must be done. On the 2oth of April, the 
 day after the contract was made, Frank Williams appears again oh 
 the scene. Mrs. Johanna Carlson testified that he came there and 
 paid the rent, and then she and her son requested permission to enter 
 the cottage and get a lounge and an old trunk left there by the 
 former occupant of the premises. Charles Carlson went into the 
 cottage with Martin Burke. He saw the carpet on the floor and the 
 bed with its pillows. He didn't notice everything particularly, of 
 course, but Williams showed him around and helped him out with the 
 lounge and trunk. He paid the rent again and Mrs. Carlson wanted 
 to know why they didn't move in. He said his sister was sick in the 
 hospital and that as. soon as she got well they would move in. That 
 paid the rent up to the 2oth of May. Soon after that the same day or 
 the day after Mrs. Carlson, who was worrying, as an old lady 
 would, about the property, which was their only dependence, talked 
 to her husband about the matter. The old gentleman went over to 
 see O'Sullivan. Now why should he go over to see O'Sullivan? The 
 defense put a witness on the stand to prove that the old man went 
 over to see O'Sullivan. Why should old man Carlson, who scarcely 
 knew O'Sullivan, walk over to him to inquire about his tenant? Be- 
 cause he had seen Martin Burke walk over there and heard him say 
 the cottage was rented. Jonas Carlson went there and said: ' How 
 about those tenants? Why don't they move in? Do you know them?'
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 495 
 
 O'Sullivan said, 'I know one of them. Is your rent due?' 'No,' 
 sa : d the old man. 'Well,' replied O'Sullivan, 'you will get your 
 reni that is all right.' Does not that of itself convince you, gen- 
 tlemen, that what the old gentleman swore to as to Martin Burke 
 going to O'Sullivan was his reason for going to speak to O'Sullivan 
 on this occasion? Is not that convincing of itself that the old man 
 told the truth when he said he saw Martin Burke walk out there and 
 tell O'SulUvan the cottage was rented? But I don't care whether you 
 believe the statement that the old man heard the words or not. The 
 fact is nevertheless true that Martin Burke did go over to this man 
 O'Sullivan, because if he had not, the old man would never have 
 thought about going to O'Sullivan to ask about moving in. 
 
 "After making this contract, O'Sullivan goes home and sits down 
 to the dinner table, and the first thing he says is: ' If there is any 
 sickness in the family I have a doctor hired, 'and he tells Mrs. 
 Whalen and all th icemen that ' I have a doctor hired. Any time 
 you want a doctor send for him.' His contract with the Doctor was 
 not that he should treat sick people, or treat Mrs. Whalen, Tom 
 Whalen and their children, and everybody in the neighborhood. The 
 contract was not for that purpose. It was for treating injuries to his 
 icemen. Yet he goes home and wants them to understand it right 
 away in the house. But that is not all. He had given the Doctor a 
 card. Something must be done. This man, Coughlin, who was on 
 the detective force for years, and who was signing the pay-roll every 
 month this man gave him to understand that something else 
 must be done. Then O'Sullivan goes to work and has a new card 
 printed in April. He gets tfeem just before the 4th of May. It is a 
 different card from the one he gave Dr. Cronin. He had no idea that 
 the new card would ever land on the mantlepiece of the house where 
 Dr. Cronin resided; he had no idea that card would ever again face 
 him. He did not expect this, because they try to prove that he got a 
 bunch of new cards for distribution. His idea was this: That if they 
 claimed that the card was presented for the Doctor to go to his house 
 he could say the town was full of those cards. Don't you see? He 
 was getting a new card printed which was to be used in drawing the 
 Doctor out there. But it w-.s never intended to be left in the posses- 
 sion of Dr. Cronin. If it was they supposed the Doctor would stick it 
 in his pocket. O'Sullivan had no idea that any living soul would see 
 that card thereafter. It was for a purpose, anyway. 
 
 " Now we. have all this arranged; we have the whole thing ' ami- 
 cably settled; ' that was the way in which it was to be done. We have 
 the cottage rented, the contract with the Doctor; now it is all ' amica- 
 bly settled' just how we are going to complete the work; we don't 
 need district officers or outside help; it is all arranged; the work will 
 be completed." 
 
 BEGGS' ENMITY TOWARD CRONIN. 
 
 " Now we will tell you about other things in this case before we 
 come to the 4th of May. You will remember that in September John F. 
 Beggs was walking down the street with Mr. O'Keefe, and Mr. Flynn,
 
 49 6 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 and they were discussing Dr. Cronin. Beggs said Dr. Cronin vas 
 not fit to belong to the Irish cause. When you brand an Irish/nan 
 as not being fit to belong to the Irish cause it means that he is a 
 man to be held in contempt by the Irish people. Beggs gave as a 
 reason that he had taken Dan Coughlin in without ever initiating 
 him, and O'Keefe, said he was going to investigate it. I have no 
 doubt that somebody filled up Beggs in reference to Dr. Cronin. I 
 have no doubt somebody stood behind him tellinghim what a terrible 
 man he was; that he was always creating disturbances :n the order; 
 that somebody talked him up in this matter until he got to be senior 
 guardian. 
 
 " Up to the 4th of May Dr. Cronin still lived, but all the arrange- 
 ments were ' amicably settled.' 'The matter I was writing to you 
 has been amicably settled,' wrote Beggs. I want to call your atten- 
 tion to another thing: You remember that about a year ago last 
 September, about the time that Beggs was talking about Cronin 
 not being a good Irishman, about that time Dan Coughlin was trying 
 to get some one to 'slug' Dr. Cr nin. Now you must believe that 
 statement. Here were three wi ..esses. They did not all swear to 
 the same point, but all directed to the .same thing that Sampson 
 swore to. You remember that Garrity testified that this man Cough- 
 lin told him he would like to see Sampson, as he had some work he 
 wanted Sampson to do that he wanted him to 'slug' Dr. Cronin. 
 Now, if Garrity is the kind of man that Dan Coughlin's learned 
 attorney would have you believe, and I don't say he is not, Gar- 
 rity then is the kind of man that Coughlin would talk to about this, 
 is he not? If this man Sampson is in th,e habit of loafing in Garrity 's 
 saloon, Garrity would be the man that Coughlin would go to in order 
 to get a word to Sampson; and in order to get Sampson from run- 
 ning from him, Coughlin told Garrity he wanted to see him. Gar- 
 rity said he told Sampson. Sampson took this man Lynn with him. 
 The conversation, of course, is not in evidence; it was not compe- 
 tent, but Lynn stands across the street. Sampson didn't know but 
 what maybe this man Coughlin wanted to run him in; he didn't know 
 but what it was a job put up on him. You don't suppose that 
 Coughlin would have sent for a class leader in a Methodist church 
 to do this job, nor would he send for a banker or a lawyer or 
 a doctor to it. But he picked up Sampson. lie thought Sampson was 
 void of all respect, and he said: 'Sampson, I wan* you to slug a man.' 
 It was just before election, and he said: 'You can catch him some 
 night when he is coming to his house, because he is out attending 
 political meetings I want you to mark him.' He is pretty good 
 at leaving his mark," exclaimed the State's Attorney, " and he wanted 
 Sampson to mark Dr. Cronin. What does that show? It shows an 
 ill feeling, it shows a hatred in this man's heart. That something 
 was moving in Dan Coughlin's heart that caused him to make this 
 proposition to Sampson. The attorneys for the defense will insist 
 that this is absurd, that it is ridiculous and not reasonable Gen- 
 tlemen, there it is, there is the evidence undisputed."
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 497 
 
 MAJOR SAMPSON S PART IN THE SCHEME. 
 
 " Now, I don't care what you may think of Sampson. Sampson 
 told you that he played with the shells. He told you he had been 
 in the bridewell, but never in the penitentiary; he told you he had 
 followed gatherings and made money in a crooked way he as much 
 as said all that. But who was it that was familiar with all this? and 
 where did the learned counsel who cross-examined him for the 
 defense learn the man's record, except from Dan Coughlin? How 
 did they know the history of this man Sampson unless they got it 
 from Coughlin? How did they know what he had done in Michigan? 
 They didn't happen to ask him if he was ever in Hancock. Mich. 
 But they knew all -A his doings in Michigan and southern Illinois, 
 when he was following James G. Elaine. If Sampson was a crook, 
 a thief and a robber if he were the man they would have you 
 believe Dan Coughlin, in the pay of the city, and not doing his 
 duty in this respect, was not fit to be on the police force. He must 
 have known of this. The attorney could not have dreamed or 
 guessed it, because Sampson says it is so. With all their cross-ex- 
 amination they didn't even impeach him on these questions. Then 
 how about Garrity. Garrity says he was arrested for selling liquor 
 without a license, but the case was dismissed, and Dan Coughlin had 
 charge of it." 
 
 "The evidence is that Captain Schaack had charge of the case," 
 interrupted Forrest " Coughlin swore out the warrant." 
 
 " But the lawyer insisted," responded Judge Longenecker, " that 
 Dan Coughlin was the man who got Garrity's license revoked. If 
 this man was violating the law, and Dan Coughlin swore out the war- 
 rant, it was his duty to prosecute; but they bring Loewenstein on the 
 stand and he tells you that Garrity's saloon was a place for thieves 
 and robbers. If that is so, then what is the duty of those police 
 officers; what was their duty as men put on the force to look after 
 the interests of this city? It was their duty to forever shut up the 
 doors of this saloon forever blot it out of existence, this robbers' 
 roost, and not to come here and try to break down the evidence we 
 gathered from the very men who were the associates of Dan Coughlin. 
 
 "Now there is more in that, gentlemen, than you can think of. 
 When you couple it with Dan Coughlin's expression toDinan, ' Don't 
 say anything because I have had trouble with Dr. Cronin because 
 they know I am his enemy,' it is very significant. Why did they 
 know it? He had told Garrity he wanted to see Sampson; he told 
 Sampson he wanted him to slug Dr. Cronin, and he had whispered 
 into the ears of O'Connor that Cronin was a spy. He had charged in 
 a North Side saloon that a prominent North Side Catholic would soon 
 be destroyed. On every corner he had raised his hand against Dr. 
 Cronin. In the lodge he moved to appoint this secret committee to 
 investigate Dr. Cronin, and when you couple it all together it is a good 
 piece of evidence in this case, as tending to show the direction 
 in which Daniel Coughlin was moving at the time he uttered the 
 words."
 
 498 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 TRUE TO THE IRISH CAUSE. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, I want to say, before I pass on to the 4th of 
 May, and I think jt is due from me, as a public prosecutor, to say 
 this: You have seen from day to day that we have called on the stand 
 unwilling witnesses from Camp 20, and I want to say this, that the 
 best patriots in the Irish cause to day are the men we got on the stand 
 to tell you the truth in reference to this case Thomas O'Connor, 
 and Henry Owen O'Connor, Patrick Dolan and Patrick McGarry. 
 They are the best patriots that have appeared on the face of the 
 globe. Here are men that stood up in this court-room and dared to 
 tell the truth of what had happened in Camp 20, and I feel that it is 
 due upon this occasion to say that the Irish cause never had better 
 patriots than these men who came afterward and testified to the truth 
 and to tell you where this hellish conspiracy originated. They have 
 the nerve to come and tell us where it began, in order that the law 
 might be vindicated; in order that the death of Patrick Henry Cronin 
 might be avenged. I say this because it is due to them. Their evi- 
 dence is undisputed. It has not beeh contradicted; they came out 
 with clean hands. 
 
 "As to Sampson, I do not care what the attorney may say in re- 
 gard to him. As to Garrity, I think both of them deserve credit for 
 coming forward and telling the truth in this case. It is not often 
 that you can get men, who are hounded to death by officers, who 
 would lead the community to believe that they are the worst creatures 
 on earth it is not often that you can get them on the stand. They 
 stood there for an hour with the counsel, prompted by the man who 
 knows all about them, to question and put question after question as 
 to their character." 
 
 The State's Attorney, at this point, asked the Court for an adjourn- 
 ment, and intimated that he would not take more than an hour further 
 to conclude his address. Some suggestion as to an adjournment 
 until half-past one was modestly made, but on the State's Attorney's 
 assurance the Court adjourned proceedings until two o'clock. 
 
 THE FATAL 4-TH OF MAY. 
 
 On the assembling of court at 2 o'clock, State's Attorney Long- 
 enecker resumed his address to the jury: 
 
 " If the Court please, and Gentleman, as I stated in my opening 
 of yesterday, I do not desire to do anything but talk about the evi- 
 dence. On the 4th of May Dan Coughlin, one of the defendants 
 here, appeared at Patrick Dinan's livery stable. It was customary 
 for the Chicago Avenue Station to hire horses whenever they desired 
 them at Mr. Dinan's stable, which is just north of the Chicago Avenue 
 Station on Clark street, so that it was not an unusual thing for 
 Dan Coughlin to go there or for any officer to call for a horse and 
 buggy, and it was not customary for Mr. Dinan to inquire what they 
 desired with the horse and buggy. You remember Patrick Dinan's 
 testimony in regard to this. Coughlin said he had a friend who 
 wanted a horse and buggy and would call for it about 7 o'clock that
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 499 
 
 evening, showing that Dan Coughlin was an actor in reference to 
 this horse and buggy that was obtained from Dinan. He told Pat- 
 rick Dinan that his friend would call at 7 o'clock, and at 7 o'clock a man 
 came. Napier Moreland, who was a buggy washer and worked in 
 the stable, testifies that at just about 7 o'clock a man appeared there and 
 called for the horse and buggy that Detective Coughlin had engaged. 
 Dinan was out in the barn. Just then Dinan came back and the 
 stranger got under the gaslight that was in the buggy part of the 
 stable and asked for the horse that Dan Coughlin had engaged for 
 him. Dinan ordered the horse called the gray horse and sometimes 
 the white, to be hitched to the buggy. There was a blacksmith named 
 Jones, there getting a horse, and the stranger did not want the white 
 horse, but wanted the other rig. Mr. Dinan told him he could not 
 have that; he did not know where it was going and he knew what 
 this horse was going to do, and Moreland got the old gray horse. 
 You remember that Dinan said that it had not been out of the stat>le 
 for quite a while and had not been driven. This was a little after 7 
 o'clock. He wanted side curtains and Dinan told him it was a warm 
 evening and he did not need side curtains and it would take too long 
 to put on side curtains. The man, grumbling, got into the buggy and 
 they put on the hitching strap to it, and Dinan tells you that this man 
 had a low-crowned, narrow-rimmed slouch hat. That he did not 
 see his eyes, because he pulled his hat over his forehead, but his face 
 looked as if it had not been shaven, and he had a black or a brown 
 mustache. He gives his height as 5 feet and 7 inches, and said that he 
 had a dirty, faded looking overcoat. Moreland testifies to the same 
 thing; that the man had on a low-crowned, narrow-rimmed slouch 
 hat, and that his face looked dirty, and he describes him about the 
 same that Dinan does. 
 
 " How did the horse start when he turned out? It went directly 
 north. Dinan swore that he was anxious to see the horse drive 
 off, and he watched the man drive north on Clark street. Then he 
 was going north. Mrs. Conklin tells you that a man came there a 
 little after seven o'clock and came to the door and rang the bell, and 
 that Sarah McNearney and Agnes McNearney were there at the 
 office. You remember the description of the house; there were two 
 flats, and Dr. Cronin occupied one frcfnt room and Mr. and Mrs. 
 Conklin used the other front room for living purposes. She states 
 that when this man came to the door she admitted him into the room. 
 He says he is in a hurry and wants the Doctor, and the Doctor says, 
 1 very well; I will be there in a minute.' You remember now that 
 the McNearney girl, who was sitting outside, says that he had on a 
 slouch hat with a narrow brim and his face had not been shaven for 
 some time. He had a very keen eye his eye was so piercing that 
 she could not look at him, and he had a restless manner. He said 
 there was an accident to one of P. O'Sullivan's men; that he had 
 been run over by an ice wagon, and the Doctor said: ' Why didn't 
 you get a doctor near?' 'Doctor,' he said, 'here is O'Sullivan's 
 card,' and Dr. Cronin took it and laid it on the mantel in his own 
 room, and then wrote out a prescription for Sarah McNearney. Mrs. 
 Conklin described the man, the same as the McNearney girls, saying
 
 500 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 that he had a low-crowned, narrow-brimmed hat, and that his face was 
 dirty as if it had not been shaven." 
 
 THE MAN WHO DROVE THE WHITE HORSE. 
 
 " They all agree upon this low-crowned hat with the narrow brim 
 and the condition of the man's face. The Doctor gathered up the 
 cotton and splints and a little satchel in which he had his instruments. 
 The man said: 'I have a horse and buggy here for you.' That 
 attracted her attention to the window, and she looked out and stood 
 by the south bay window, and looked down at the horse that was 
 standing in front of the saloon,, and she saw that the horse had an 
 uneasy appearance, and, in describing the facts, she said that his 
 knees were in motion. You remember she describes how he was 
 standing there. Now, Dinan gave just the same description as to his 
 appearance that he looked as if he wanted to go but he was not 
 much of a goer. Frank Scanlon was standing there, and he wanted 
 to see the Doctor about an arrangement regarding a paper that the 
 Doctor was publishing at that time, and gives the same description. 
 Now, here are five or six witnesses that describe this man, three or 
 four at the Doctor's office, and two at the livery stable. 
 
 " Now suppose the horse was not identified at all; suppose it was 
 a bay horse or a brown horse or any other kind of a horse than a 
 white horse or a gray horse, and suppose these two men had come 
 that gave the same description of the man that appeared at Dinan's 
 livery stable, and other witnesses identified him as the man that 
 started away with the Doctor to treat one of O'Sullivan's men keep 
 that circumstance in mind that Patrick O'Sullivan and Dan Cough- 
 lin were seen together on the night of the 24th of March, 'when Pat- 
 rick O'Sullivan was to make this contract, that they both belonged to 
 the same order, and that the contract was made and O'Sullivan says: 
 ' My card will be presented to you if I am out of town.' Take that 
 circumstance and what have you got? You have men who identified 
 the horse that Dan Coughlin hired; you have that man driving north 
 on Clark street in the direction of the Carlson cottage; you have that 
 man presenting Patrick O'Sullivan's card and demanding the atten- 
 tion of the Doctor under the contract that Patrick O'Sullivan had with 
 the Doctor, and you have them driving in the direction of the Carlson 
 cottage. But that is not all the evidence we have on that point. 
 Suppose that this is an ordinary horse that can not be identified, yet 
 Mrs. Conklin tells you that that horse is a horse, that she remembers 
 it not simply because it was a white horse and because it came from 
 Dinan's livery stable, but she describes it from its uneasy motion; 
 she remembers its legs and its knees. She says it has big knees, and 
 Captain Schaack says it has big knees. And Mrs. Conklin, looking 
 out of the window on that fatal night saw those knees. Why does 
 she say that? The last time she saw Dr. Cronin alive he was sitting 
 behind that horse that had knees that were wabbly. No wonder she 
 remembers that horse, because she saw it in the same uneasy appear- 
 ance that it had the night that Dr. Cronin was driven away. She
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 501 
 
 identifies the horse from the knees and from the uneasy appearance, 
 quite as much as if it was white or gray." 
 
 The State's Attorney then reviewed Captain Schaack's testimony 
 as to how he had driven the horse around in front of Mrs. Conklin's 
 house and as to the question of identification, and repeated his argu- 
 ments that it was not the position in which the horse stood, but its 
 peculiar, uneasy~~motion that enabled her to identify it. He consid- 
 ered that the identification of the horse by Mrs. Conklin was a fact 
 that could not be disputed. The undertaker who arranged for Cro- 
 nin's funeral and Mr. Scanlon had also observed the same horse, and 
 he considered the identification complete. 
 
 THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE HORSE. 
 
 " They bring a man from New Jersey who stood here across the 
 street, and the only reason why he says it is the same horse is because 
 the horse that drove Cronin away was a gray horse, and this horse 
 of Dinan's is a white horse. Did this man who traveled all the way 
 from New Jersey tell you what kind of knees the horse had ? Did he 
 tell you there was anything wrong with the horse that drove Dr. 
 Cronin away? No; but he says, looking from under an electric 
 light on the opposite side of the street, he could see that that was a 
 gray horse with dark legs, and therefore it was not the horse that 
 drove Dr. Cronin away. On the question of identifying the horse, 
 here are two witnesses where they could have a good view of the 
 horse, swear positively that that was the horse. It is true that they 
 brought the other man who looked across the street with nothing to 
 attract his attention to the horse as much as the man, but Mrs. 
 Conklin could not help looking to the parties getting into the buggy. 
 
 " But lay that aside; lay aside the evidence of the identification of 
 the horse; when you gather up this chain from the 8th day of Feb- 
 ruary with the renting of the flat; with the writing of the letters; 
 with the renting of the cottage; with the removal of the furniture; 
 with the fact that Coughlin hired the horse and that his man was 
 there at 7 o'clock on his own time within five minutes of the time 
 that he appears there with P. O'Sullivan's card in his hand what 
 more evidence do you want to satisfy you that the horse that drove 
 Dr. Cronin to his death was any other than the one that Daniel 
 Coughlin hired of Dinan? 
 
 "On the 4th of May we find that about eight o'clock, or a little 
 after, at the Carlson cottage, a gray horse is seen coming up Ashland 
 avenue the gray horse that was hired by Daniel Coughlin, and that 
 started from Dinan's livery stable northward at twenty minutes after 
 seven o'clock. Immediately after eight o'clock the gray horse was 
 seen coming from the north on Ashland avenue, driven by a man 
 whom the party could not describe. Remember that Dr. Cronin 
 started with a satchel and with his box of splints, and with a roll of 
 cotton; that he carried them on his lap, and that he wore a slouch 
 hat with a low crown, and a brown overcoat; and that this horse and 
 buggy that the man had seen coming north he observed that the horse 
 was gray. He saw the buggy turned round and a tall man get out
 
 5O2 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 and reach in and take something out, as if it were a dark satchel, and go 
 up the steps into the cottage, and the man in a brown coat with a 
 high-crowned hat went into the cottage. The buggy then drove south, 
 It was a white horse that drew it away. Here we have the white 
 horse from Dinan's stable, seeming to start for the Carlson cottage, 
 and here we have the white horse taking Dr. Cronin away in the 
 buggy, and a man getting out of the buggy and going up the steps 
 into the cottage. It looks as if Providence, working in a mysterious 
 way, designed that there should be some one to see the last steps 
 taken by this poor man as he rushed up the steps full of life and full 
 of hope, going in there to relieve suffering humanity. This witness 
 heard cries from within heard strokes and cries as if there was a fight 
 and passed on. Do you have any doubt now but that Dr. Cronin 
 was driven to the Carlson cottage? Can you as twelve men making 
 up you~r minds upon the evidence have any doubt but that it was Dr. 
 Cronin who was driven into that cottage ? If not there, tell me where 
 he was driven to." 
 
 THE MURDER IN THE COTTAGE. 
 
 "Well, we have him entering into the cottage. At 8 o'clock a 
 wagon was seen coming from the south and a little man was driving 
 and a tall man was with him, and they drove up to this cottage. 
 This was after the work was done. This was after the deadly blows 
 were dealt. They came driving up, and the big man got out. That 
 was Daniel Coughlin and Kunze the man who drove him there was 
 Kunze who slapped him on the back on the I2th of April and said, 
 ' That is my friend.' He is the man who drove him there. He drove 
 off with a horse with a brown face. Again at 10 o'clock Daniel 
 Coughlin and Kunze are seen in a saloon on Lincoln avenue Nie- 
 man's saloon walking in there to drown the last bit of feeling they 
 had in wine. The little German said he would take beer, and O'Sulli- 
 van said, ' Take wine.' O'Sullivan's idea was to take wine upon that 
 occasion, and O'Sullivan and Coughlin went into the room whisper- 
 ing to each other and began making up their minds as to what they 
 should do with the body and counseling together, while the little Ger- 
 man was at the other end of the room. This was at eleven o'clock, 
 within two blocks of the Carlson cottage. Remember that at four 
 o'clock on that day, within three or four doors of Ashland avenue, 
 on Lincoln avenue, this man Kettner, the man who knew Coughlin and 
 who passed the time of day to him, says Daniel Coughlin was with 
 another man on that street. No doubt he was showing this man the 
 route and telling him how to drive. No doubt this chairman of the 
 committee was then instructing him how to operate when he was seen 
 at four o'clock in the afternoon in company with this stranger. At eight 
 or nine o'clock he was seen with Kunze driving to the cottage, and he 
 was afterward seen in Nieman's saloon with Kunze. Shortly after that 
 these two men were seen by Mr. Wardell, who hid been down to a 
 neighboring saloon, on his way home a little before eleven o'clock, 
 and he says one was a tall man and another was a small man. He 
 says they walked into the cottage together. Nieman says that after
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 503 
 
 they were in his saloon he washed his glasses and locked up at eleven 
 o'clock, and Wardell says he saw these men walking along together 
 one about the size of Coughlin and one of O'Sullivan. 
 
 DISPOSING OF THE BODY. 
 
 "At II o'clock the committee of three with the chairman sit- 
 ting on the trunk came driving along eastward on Fullerton avenue, 
 and at half past n, a block north of Fullerton avenue, the three men 
 were seen with what seemed to be a carpenter's chest, by Officer Smith, 
 going north. They were seen by Way, the private watchman, in the 
 morning of that fatal night; they were seen to get off the wagon; they 
 were seen to look about the lake, and when this was discovered they 
 said, 'Where is the Lake Shore Drive?' showing that they had either 
 missed their way or missed their connection in some way or else they 
 were getting ready to dispose of their tool chest or trunk. Follow 
 that back. On their return the wagon was there, but no trnnk and 
 no tool chest, and Officer Smith said to the other officer, ' Why, that 
 is the same wagon I saw going north about 12 o'clock, and here they 
 come back on Evanston avenue.' Here comes back the committee 
 of three. They came to return their sealed verdicts. Their work had 
 been accomplished; they thought that everything was sealed from 
 the outside world. Have you any doubt as to what was in that 
 trunk? Have you any doubt as to who guided that wagon and 
 directed its course? If you have any doubts, tell me who did it. 
 Here is the evidence piling up pile upon pile. Well, the night 
 went on. Mr. and Mrs. Conklin slept; the sun rose in the east on 
 the 5th of May. Dr. Cronin did not appear. Frank Scanlon, the 
 last friend that saw the Doctor when he rode away, mentioned that 
 the Doctor said when he was asked when he would come back, 'God 
 knows when I will get back.' God did not tell him when he would 
 come back, but God above stands ready to day to direct this prose- 
 cution aright, and *to say that the men who destroyed the life of 
 that man shall be punished for this terrible crime." 
 
 DR. CRONIN IS FIRST MISSED. 
 
 " On that Sabbath day no Doctor returns. Dr. Cronin, who had 
 gone to administer to suffering humanity; Dr. Cronin, who had been full 
 of hope and ready at ail times to stand by and help humanity, was 
 not returning to his home. Mr. Conklin, who picked up the card 
 ftom the mantel board, read upon it, ' P. O'Sullivan's ice house.' He 
 started for O'Sullivan's residence and asked, ' Did you send for Dr. 
 Cronin?' 'Why, no.' What would you have thought at that time? 
 What would you have thought if you had been a brother in the camp 
 with Dr. Cronin? Would you have stood there as a stone? ' No,' 
 thought Mr. Conklin, ' this is something wrong,' and he started out 
 to see what had occurred. Sitting there within 160 feet of where the 
 deadly blows were struck, sitting there where the wounds were 
 made, sitting there where the man called for God and Jesus, he 
 never lifted a finger or undertook to unravel the mystery; and yet do
 
 504 . THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 you believe him innocent under this evidence? Mr. Conklin, who 
 thought something was wrong, went to Captain Schaack and showed 
 him this circular that Dr. Cronin had published in reference to the con- 
 spiracy, and begged him to help him hunt for the Doctor, and the 
 Captain, like a great many others who did not understand Irish 
 troubles at the time, thought there was nothing in it at that time. He 
 told him he would look after it, but Mr. Conklin, not satisfied with 
 that, goes to Mr. Murray, of the Pinkerton agency, and gets Frank 
 Murray to go out and talk with this man privately about the contract 
 why he had made the contract. Well, he did not know but that there 
 would be some accidents his men might get drunk and run over 
 somebody and his contract was made for that purpose, and he 
 referred to McGinnis* establishment. Finally Frank Murray 
 induced him to get into a buggy and go with him. Frank Murray 
 says that when he talked about the contract, this man, who had deliber- 
 ately planned for the life of Dr. Cronin, told him that he happened to 
 meet Justice Mahoney down town when he made the contract. 
 
 " It went on; people were looking in every direction; some 
 thought that Dr. Cronin, was alive, and others that he was dead. The 
 community was divided upon the question. Now, I say that Daniel 
 Coughlin this man signing the pay rolls of the city and drawing his 
 salary for protecting the innocent this man who ought to have raised 
 his club in defense of the injured Daniel Coughlin was hunting for 
 the body that was found in the trunk, on the morning of the 5th of 
 May. At about 7 o'clock, you recollect, this Thiele and two others, 
 who were out on that Sabbath morning, found the trunk, a common 
 trunk with a common lock, unlocked with a common key, and thrown 
 off there, I suppose, by common hands; full of common blood; full of 
 blood the bottom besmeared with blood, the cotton sticking to the 
 sides and bottom as if a hog had been stuck; as if it had been run- 
 ning over with blood. This trunk was brought to the station, and 
 this man Coughlin this cold-blooded wretch smarts out " 
 
 " We except," said Mr. Donahoe, rising to his feet. 
 
 COUGHLIN SEARCHES FOR THE BODY. 
 
 " I submit from the evidence," said Judge Longenecker, " if this 
 evidence does not make it out, I have no right to say so, but if this 
 evidence nails him to that cross, in this case, he is a cold-blooded and 
 heartless wretch. Assuming from the evidence that his hands are red 
 with the blood of Dr. Cronin, we charge that it was a cold-blooded 
 affair. He goes out and almost stands on the catch basin where the 
 body lay hunting for the body that was in the trunk. On the morn- 
 ing of the 6th, when the newspapers for which my friend Donahoe 
 has such contempt published the fact that a white horse had driven 
 Dr. Cronin away, the chief of police, when this was brought to his 
 attention, gave notice to the entire force to see who had hired a white 
 horse on the 4th of May. A policeman appears at Dinan's stable 
 and asked if he had a white horse out, and he said ' yes,' and he goes 
 to Chicago Avenue Station and sees Captain Schaack, and when he 
 goes there he also sees Daniel Coughlin. Coughlin wants to know
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 505 
 
 what is the trouble, and asks him to say nothing about it, ' because.' 
 he says, ' it is understood I am an enemy of Dr. Cronin, and Cronin 
 is missing.' That was what occurred on the 6th day of May. This 
 was the first utterance of Coughlin in reference to the white horse or 
 to there being any charge that he was responsible for it. He knew 
 then that Mrs. Conkliu and Frank Scanlon had identified the horse, 
 and he knew, without having to bring a witness from New Jersey, 
 that the horse that drove Dr. Cronin away was the horse that his 
 friend got from this stable. 
 
 "You remember now that Coughlin was sent to find the man. 
 Dinan did not stop there; he sent word to Schaack and Schaack sent 
 to the chief, and Schaack had his orders from the chief to send 
 Coughlin to find out who hired the white horse at that time. This 
 was on May 6. Then, if you remember, the evidence shows that 
 they were out hunting for the object that had evidently been in that 
 trunk, and did not find it until the 22d day of May." 
 
 THE FINDING OF THE BODY. 
 
 " On the 22d day of May some men who were looking after the 
 health of the community, cleaning catch basins in Lake View, lifted 
 the lid of one of the basins and saw the body of a man. That body 
 was taken out and brought to the morgue in Lake View, and identi- 
 fied as that of Dr. Cronin. Up to this time the word had gone out. 
 Coughlin supposed it was all right. P. O'Sullivan was on his ice wagon 
 again and handling ice. It was the right kind of business for him to be 
 in. Up to this time Burke was visiting hisfriend in Joliet, and at work 
 in a ditch, telling him that he had been working at the stock yards. 
 Up to the finding of this body they all thought ' there is no danger 
 now; our verdict is sealed and it is returned to him alone [pointing 
 in the direction of Beggs]. No one has a right to know except the 
 senior guardian; we are in no danger. Dan Coughlin signed his 
 pay rolls all the same; Patrick O'Sullivan handled his ice; Burke 
 worked in the ditch, and this body was found. It was found just half 
 a mile from where that committee of three were seen at Edgewater 
 a mile south of Evanston avenue, where they had the tool chest or 
 trunk seen by Officer Way. One half mile south in a catch-basin was 
 found the body of Dr. Cronin. The wagon was seen to be empty just 
 three-quarters of a mile from where the body was found and the 
 bloody trunk was found in the bushes. In the catch basin there was 
 cotton. In the trunk there was cotton when Dr. Cronin left home 
 he had in his arms cotton- -and further on just a quarter of a mile 
 we find that Dr. Cronin's clothes were in a sewer. 
 
 " Recollect that when they were last seen with this trunk it was at 
 Edgewater, at i o'clock. The clothes were found just north of Buena 
 avenue in the sewer with a satchel, and it turns out now that the 
 satchel in all its measurements and appearance and quality and size 
 is identical with that which Simonds bought, and that Burke moved 
 into the Carlson Cottage. Now, will you tell me, going over the 
 ground, and seeing that satchel and the trunk on the road and the 
 clothes in the sewer with the evidence of the cries in the cottage
 
 506 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 the card of O'Sullivan taking him there, will you tell me that you 
 have any doubt as to where this crime was committed or that Dr. 
 Cronin was killed in that cottage ? 
 
 "You can not hesitate upon that question. Then who did it ? 
 Go right back to the beginning; follow it up with all that we have, 
 told you in reference to these men and can you come to any other 
 conclusion than that these men are guilty ?" 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE COTTAGE. 
 
 " But the cottage was not discovered on the day the body was dis- 
 covered. On the night of the 22d of May Captain Schuettler tells you 
 that he put a guard there, and next morning he, with Captain Wing, 
 visited this Carlson cottage, which is almost under the doorsteps of 
 this defendant, O'Sullivan, within ten seconds' walk. They examined 
 and they found what was said to be blood and the floor painted over. 
 On the Sunday morning, the 5th the morning after Wardell saw" 
 these two men enter the cottage, he saw spots of blood on the wall. 
 They found the carpet gone, the trunk gone, the trunk strap not there, 
 but the furniture was there. The pillows were without cases, the 
 bureau was standing out from the wall and there was the chair with 
 its arm broken and evidence of the crime having been committed 
 there. 
 
 "In the cottage was found the key, and the learned counsel says he 
 will show you something about that key. We shall show all there is 
 about that key. We never pretended that it was anything but a com- 
 mon key. It is a common key to unlock a common lock. You remem- 
 ber that evidence, the lock was hanging onto the hasp, showing that 
 they had not a key to unlock it. It does not matter whether it was a 
 common lock or a common key or not. The key that unfastened that 
 lock had blood upon it and it was found in the Carlson cottage, with 
 paint upon it, or what seemed to be paint, of the same color as the 
 paint that was upon the floor. Do you want anything else in refer- 
 ence to that key and lock ? That was found in that cottage and that 
 key unlocked the lock; and that lock was on that trunk that Simonds 
 purchased at Revell's, and which was found on Evanston road within 
 three-quarters of a mile of the place where the body was found, and 
 within a quarter of a mile of the place where the clothes were found 
 that were worn by Dr. Cronin on the night he left home. 
 
 " What other evidence do you want to show that that trunk came out 
 of that cottage ? In that trunk was found hair. I will not exhibit it; 
 other counsel in the case may; but there was hair there and there was 
 a man came here, who has got bald on the hair question, and says he 
 can not tell human hair from dog's hair. Why a man should waste 
 the better part of his life looking at hair and then can not tell one 
 kind of hair from another is more than I can understand. Why he 
 should go over the country lecturing about hair and giving instruc- 
 tions about hair, and then, coming here to give testimony, to say 
 that he doesn't know anything about hair, is more than I can com- 
 prehend.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 507 
 
 This sally of the State's Attorney seemed to amuse some of the 
 audience, and the Judge again threatened to clear the court-room if 
 any more levity was indulged in. 
 
 Judge Longenecker proceeded to ridicule the testimony of the 
 expert on the question of hair and blood corpuscles. "You, gentle 
 men, are the judges of the evidence as to whether that was human 
 hair and human blood, and you are to take and determine whether 
 that body that was in the trunk, whether the blood and the hair that 
 were in that trunk were human hair and human blood. These men 
 called to the stand as experts give their opinions as experts. The 
 evidence shows that it was blood; we prove that by chemistry; we 
 called to the stand Professor Haynes, and he says that it was human 
 blood. Now, Gentlemen, do you believe there was a dog killed in 
 that cottage? Do you believe there was an ox killed in that cottage? 
 Do you believe there was a guinea pig killed in that cottage? Do 
 you believe it was a guinea pig's blood that was on that cake of 
 soap or in the trunk or in the cottage? If you do, very well, but 
 the evidence all tends to show that it was human blood, and not only 
 that it was human blood, but that it was the blood of Dr. Cronin 
 that was found in the cottage and in the trunk. The evidence tends 
 to show and must convince you that it was the hair and the blood of 
 Dr. Cronin that was in the cottage and in the trunk. 
 ^ " Why do I say this? Because the evidence in this case must 
 convince you that there was a conspiracy to take his life; that he 
 was driven to this cottage; that he was seen alive entering this 
 cottage; that he was last seen there; and within a half mile the 
 trunk with that hair and that blood. That it was the hair and the 
 blood of Dr. Cronin, I think can not be disputed. 
 
 " But, gentlemen, why was this floor painted, if there was an ox 
 killed there, or if a dog were killed in there, or if a guinea pig were 
 killed there? If these blood corpuscles which they talk about in this 
 case were the corpuscles of an ox, or any other animal, why did this 
 man who rented the cottage desire to paint the floor to conceal the 
 blood of a dog to cover it up? I shall not take up your time to 
 argue that proposition that it was anything else than the blood of 
 Dr. Cronin." 
 
 
 THE EXISTENCE OF AN INNER CIRCLE. 
 
 "Well, we find Martin Burke when the body is discovered. He 
 takes a leave of absence. Now, remember what Martin Burke did 
 in this matter, and what Kunze did in this matter, and what Coughlin 
 did and what Beggs did. First, we find Beggs, a week after the 
 murder, telling O'Burne and Maurice Morris that ' Cronin was all 
 right. He will turn up all right; we are in the inner circle.' Now, 
 the learned gentlemen brought men here to show that there are no 
 inner circles. Men who belong to inner circles do not advertise that 
 fact to the world. We speak of inner circles; there are inner circles 
 in politics, in churches and in different classes of business. When 
 there are men to do and perform certain things they are called an 
 inner circle, I have no doubt now Beggs had only reference to the
 
 508 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 fact that he was on the inside and understood what he was talking 
 about; that he knew that Dr. Cronin's death would never be discov- 
 ered, and he felt secure in saying ' He is all right; we are in the inner 
 circle.' That is about the amount of it. I believe he met him on the 
 street in front of the Chicago Opera House, and you remember that 
 this was just after the disappearance of Croninand before the discov- 
 ery of the body. Kanze was seen in the saloon by Cameron about 
 the loth or I2th of April with Dan Coughlin. Now, if it was that he 
 was with Dan Coughlin for the purpose they claim, and that he 
 wanted to get something from Kunze, then it certainly was not the ist 
 of April. They proved that Coughlin was after certain papers, and 
 that Kunze slapped him on the shoulder and said he was his friend 
 and would do anything for him. He was seen by Washburne on the 
 I5th or aoth of April, riding in a buggy. Kunze knew Coughlin and 
 Coughlin knew Kunze. It was necessary to paint the floor on the 
 1 2th of May, before the cottage was discovered. On Saturday night, 
 not when Kunze was at work not when it was necessary for Kunze 
 to be at work for his employer the two men went into the real 
 estate office; the thunders were roaring and the lightning was flashing; 
 an officer sees these men; he says to them, ' You are late out.' A 
 light was seen in the cottage, and when the officer came back the 
 light was out. I have no doubt now but that Kunze was the man 
 who put the artist's touch upon the blood of Dr. Cronin, and th 
 officer discovering these men there, with the lightning flashing and 
 the thunders roaring. I have no doubt that Kunze bungled the job on 
 the I2th of May, and after they had discovered that they could not 
 rent that cottage any longer after the old woman had said she 
 would not take pay for the cottage any longer. Kunze goes to the 
 South Side and gives the name of Kizer; boards under that name, 
 and works under another name. Now, take the evidence: seen in 
 the flat washing his feet; seen on the 4th; seen on the roth and I2th 
 with Dan Coughlin drinking in a saloon, and seen with O'Sullivan 
 in th2 middle of April riding, and seen by Mertes going to the 
 cottage on the 4th of May, and saying to a man under the assumed 
 named of Petrowsky that he had an occupied house in Lake View; 
 and he might go there and have lots of fu%and following that, that 
 his friend excused himself and did not go. That is Kunze. P. 
 O'Sullivan talks to Mr. Carlson, and says to him: ' Is the cottage 
 rented ?' Then he talks about deputies and taking them into the 
 brotherhood, and his card is presented while he is out of town. Then 
 Coughlin, with his threats, with his desire to have Cronin slugged: 
 Coughlin's motion for the secret committee; Coughlin whispering 
 that Cronin is a spy; Coughlin's charge to Dinan, 'Don't say any- 
 thing about it, for Cronin and I are enemies;' Coughlin telling the 
 chief of police, when asked about the man for whom he hired the 
 horse and buggy, that it was Smith all this is sufficient. The chief 
 asked: 'Where did you know Smith?' and Coughlin answered 
 'John Ryan, of Hancock, sent him to me.' When in Winnipeg 
 Burke was asked to whom he wrote, aud he said: 'John Ryan, of 
 Hancock, Mich. my friend.' Coughlin said to the chief: 'John 
 Ryan, of Hancock, Mich., sent him to me.'"
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 509 
 
 THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 
 
 "See the connection; see the arrangements! Take Coughlin's 
 statement that the white horse and buggy was hired for a man named 
 Smith. He was so anxious, so careful to tell Dinan not to say any- 
 thing about it, because it might get him into trouble; yet he pretended 
 to tell Captain Schaack, as proved by Whalen, that he saw Smith and 
 didn't bring him in when he had instructions to find him. He told 
 Dinan that he had worn out the leather of his shoes hunting for Smith, 
 and yet when he sees this man, who is drawing all the trouble upon him, 
 he didn't even bring him to the station. Away with the Smith story! 
 
 "Martin Burke, as soon as the body is discovered, is found in 
 Winnipeg. We find him there under an assumed name, on his way 
 to Europe. He is brought back under the laws of extradition on this 
 charge of murder. For days and weeks before he could be removed 
 he put the courts to the trouble of investigating as to whether he 
 shoulJ return or not. Martin Burke flies away from Camp 20. Mar 
 tin Burke leaves his friend Coughlin, his friend O'Sullivan. He goes 
 away from his camp off to Winnipeg. He said he had been in Han- 
 cock, Mich., working for Ryan. If Burke rented the Carlson cottage 
 fora lawful purpose, why should he go to Winnipeg and thence to the 
 old country? Why should he flee the State of Illinois? It is because 
 Martin Burke moved the furniture into the Carlson cottage for an 
 unlawful purpose; it is because Martin Burke was in the cottage and 
 dealt the blows that put out the life of Dr. Cronin; it is because his 
 hands were red with the blood of a human being. 
 
 " Colleran testified that Martin Burke and Coughlin were together 
 outside of the lodge. Colleran tells you that he met him on the Sun- 
 day night after the discovery of the body, and that he said he had 
 been working in the stock-yards, when in fact he had been in Joliet.' 
 
 " That was before the discovery of the body," interrupted Mr. 
 Forrest. 
 
 "You are right," said the State's Attorney; "it was just before 
 the discovery of the body. Well, Burke disappears. There may be 
 something that I have omitted in this matter. As I said, the clothing 
 was found in the sewer Dr. Cronin's coat, his vest, his pants. Dr. 
 Cronin's box of splints'; Dr. Cronin's satchel and instruments, his 
 cards all were found in thi sewer on the line that that wagon was 
 driven on that fatal night. That is beyond question. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, I have gone over the evidence as rapidly as I 
 could, and yet at the same time kept it in connection as I understand 
 it. There may be a great many things, and there are, that I have 
 omitted; but my intention has been to keep your minds directed to 
 the chain of circumstances. And if you want to get at this case, if 
 if you want to boil it down, if you want to write the history of the 
 case, you are to write: 
 
 "'I contracted for medical services' Patrick O'Sullivan. 'I 
 contracted for the cottage.' Martin Burke. ' I contracted for the 
 horse and buggy for my friend.' Daniel Coughlin. Then draw your 
 line and write 'Committee of Three.' Write again: 'I contracted 
 for your life.' Patrick O'Sullivan. ' I contracted for the horse and
 
 51O THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 buggy to drive you to death? ' Dan Coughlin. ' I rented the cottage 
 in which to strike out your life.' Martin Burke. Write again: ' The 
 committee reports to this senior guardian alone.'" 
 
 JUDGE LONGENECKER CLOSES. 
 
 " Gentlemen, I have finished. I hope you will pardon me for 
 having detained you so long. I know how anxious you are, while 
 you may be ever so willing to sit here for weeks and months if neces- 
 sary, yet you can not help but be anxious to be with your families. 
 Yet, as a duty you owe to the public, as a duty you owe the defend- 
 ants, as a duty to society, you must be patient until you hear what the 
 others have to say in this important case. For three long months 
 my associates have held up my hands; they have been with me night 
 and day. They have encouraged me. It was necessary to have 
 assistance in this case; able counsel as they are, it requires it. No 
 one knows unless he has had the experience what it is to be left with 
 a case of this character on his hands. No one knows unless he has 
 had the experience, what is it to get at the bottom of a conspiracy of 
 this character. Therefore, I have felt the necessity of these .men 
 who have sat by me for the last three months, and I want you, no 
 matter what may be said, to feel that the people of the State of Illi- 
 nois have as much right to demand the best talent the city affords, as 
 due to men that come up out of the sewers. While these men are 
 able, men of ability, men of standing, men of reputation, understand 
 that this was a terrible crime; understand that this was a terrible 
 conspiracy; understand that the very men, the officers of ihe law, 
 who ought to have held up my hands, were divided against me; 
 understand that in this case men drawing their salaries from 
 the police department of our city stood in league with the men who 
 struck out the life of Dr. Cronin. And while I compliment, not as a 
 compliment, but as well deserved on their part, these associates of 
 mine for their ability, don't understand that I under-estimate Judge 
 Wing and Mr. Forrest and Mr. Donahoe and Mr. Foster. On the 
 other side sit as good talent as was ever brought into a court-room. 
 I say it without flattery, that if these men hang for the murder, they 
 could have asked for no better men to have defended them than the 
 gentlemen on my left. Coming out of the sewer, coming out of the 
 chilly ice wagon, coming from the pay-flails of the city, coming from 
 the bar room, coming from the paintbrush these men have held his 
 Honor and yourselves for over three long months; and if your ver- 
 dict shall be that they hang on the scaffold they can not claim that they 
 have had no time to call upon the holy Trinity. 
 
 " Gentlemen, when you come to consider your verdict, when you 
 come to make up your minds, when, as I believe you will do, you 
 undertake to render a truthful verdict on the law and the evidence, 
 I want you to remember the facts in the case. I war* you to look at 
 this mountain of evidence that we have been building up and up 
 before you until it has risen high, until it stands out with its mount- 
 ain peaks illuminated by the sunshine of truth, until all who are not 
 blind may see that these men are the murderers of Dr. Cronin.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 These mountain peaks stand prominently forth. This contract of 
 O'Sullivan's, this hiring of the buggy, this renting of the cottage, this 
 running to Canada; all these point to the fact that these men are the 
 guilty ones. It stands up like a mountain built of truth, as solid as 
 the granite hills against which the Coughlin, the Burke, the O'Sulli- 
 van, the Beggs, the Kunze alibis can not prevail. 
 
 ' I leave the matter now in your hands. I have had this case on 
 my hands for months and months. I feel now that the responsibility 
 rests with you. I put it in your hands, believing confidently and 
 expecting that you will do what your best judgment dictates. When 
 you come to consider your verdict, think of the 4th day of May; think 
 of that man gathering his little valise and instruments; think of him 
 bringing to his bosom the cotton to relieve suffering; think of the 
 splints in the box, think of his rushing out to the buggy; think of his 
 crowded seat; think of him moving north to relieve suffering human- 
 ity. See him enter as a gentleman into the cottage; hear his cries of 
 God and Jesus when, without giving him time to utter the other 
 Trinity name, he was felled to the floor. Think of his wounds in his 
 haad; think of the grave in which he was placed; think of all these in 
 making up your penalty, and may it be such a verdict as when His 
 Honor pronounces judgment on it, that he, having an eye to God, 
 may say: ' May the Lord have mercy on your souls.' " 
 
 Judge Longenecker received the congratulations of his colleagues 
 for the able manner in which he had presented his case, and the 
 Court inquired if Judge Wing wished to proceed at once. Judge 
 Wing said he was ready to proceed if the Court desired he should 
 go on. 
 
 AN APPEAL FOR COUGHLCN. 
 
 Judge Wing's address to the jury on behalf of Daniel Coughlin was an 
 able effort, lasting over two days. He took the ground that there was abso- 
 lutely no evidence whatever against his client, and quoted numerous cases 
 in the criminal records of New York, Chicago and other cities to demon- 
 strate the fact that circumstantial evidence was totally unreliable, and 
 that it would be monstrous if a man's guilt or innocence were to be based 
 upon a previous conviction. He urged that prejudice should not effect the 
 verdict, and that the jury should not be biased against his client simply 
 because he was a member of the Clan-na-Gael. The whole case, he said, 
 was circumstantial, was interwoven with doubts, contradictions and possi- 
 bilities, so as to be practically of no strength whatever when taken in a 
 mass. Counsel reviewed the testimony of other witnesses for the State as 
 itaffected Coughlin, casting dpubton the evidence of Mertes, the milkman, 
 scoring Major Sampson, and insisting there was no absolute proof that it 
 was Dinan's white horse that drove the Physician to his death. Speaking 
 of Sampson, he asked the members of the jury if they were going to act 
 upon the word of a thief. Could they look the prisoner's wife in the face 
 and say to her, '*! sent your husband to prison upon the words of Major 
 Sampson?" Could they go to his children and say to them, " have made 
 you, by my verdict the children of a felon. I have put eternal griefs upon 
 you upon the words of a man who goes about the country with public 
 speakers, seeking sporting privileges, and working ' Grangers' with the 
 'shell game?' " As to the knife episode, he said, that never since crime 
 was committed by man had anyone heard of a guilty man keeping souve- 
 nirs of his crime, or preserving such evidences of his guilt. Never in the
 
 512 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 R. M. WING, ONE OF COUNSEL FOR DEFENSE.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 513 
 
 history of the world had such a thing occurred. The speaker went into 
 the Camp 20 phase of the evidence, insisting there was an absolute lack 
 of proof that any conspiracy had existed. He touched upon the telephone 
 messages that passed Between Coughlin and O'Sullivan, saying it was 
 impossible that murderers or men plotting murder would trust a message 
 to a fellow-conspirator through a telephone. 
 
 He elaborated on the necessity of absolute proof of the cause of death, 
 arguing that no one but a physician could definitely determine the cause 
 of death, and unless it was shown beyond a doubt that the death of Dr. 
 Cronin was caused as shown in the indictment, it was the duty of the jury 
 to find the prisoners innocent. One of the most vital points in the case, 
 thecaute of the death of Dr. Cronin, remained unproved, and until this 
 wasseftled, and settled beyond a doubt, the charge could not hold good 
 and the defendants could not be convicted. Judge Wing dissected the 
 evidence of the medical experts at length, ridiculing them mercilessly, 
 casting doubt upon the theory of the State, that the blood found in the 
 Carlson cottage was that of a human being. He concluded his address in 
 these words : 
 
 " Gentlemen, I have tried to discuss this case fairly and conscientiously. 
 We are about to part, and I beg you, in conclusion, not to go off upon any 
 prejudice, or upon any passion or upon any suspicion. I beg of you to 
 give these men a fair show. I believe you will do that. I beg of you TO 
 remember that a certain conclusion can only be reached after you have 
 traveled on sure and certain ground. Do what you think is right under the 
 law, gentlemen, and I do not doubt you will." 
 
 COUNSELOR INGHAM'S SPEECH. 
 
 Mr. Geo. C. Ingham, in behalf of the State, followed Mr. Donahoe with 
 a forcible review of the evidence, and which was listened to with intense 
 interet>t by every one within reach of his voice. He prefaced his remarks 
 by saying that the sanctity of human lite in America was in the keeping 
 of the juries of America. The law provided that a man guilty of murder 
 should be punished, but it provided no method for its own enforcement, 
 save that which was invested in twelve men. To that number of men it 
 was entrusted. The jury came from the bcdy of the county, and so it was 
 that peace and good order of every community was in the keeping of its 
 own citizens. In every criminal case the jury held in one hand the rights 
 of the prisoners, and, to a certain extent, it held in the other hand the 
 good name and the peace of the community in which it lived. This was a 
 responsibly already great, but which increased in direct proportion 
 to the enormity of the offense under consideration. Yet no responsibility 
 could be greater than that of the twelve men before him. Only a few 
 months before, Patrick Henry Cronin, a citizen of the State of Illinois, a 
 resident of tho great metropolis, living in fancied security and within the 
 very shadow of the court-house in which they weie now sitting, was lured 
 from his home upon a mission of murder. Fired by professional zeal, 
 moved by the instincts of humanity which his choice of a profession indi- 
 cated, he rushed to the assistance of a suffering man. Suspecting nothing, 
 he went out, armed, as it were, with the very instruments of his skill and 
 profession, and then rushed into the slaughter-house prepared for his 
 reception and death. 
 
 Then, as if the white face of death itself was not sufficient to satiate 
 human hatred, his body was subjected to the indignity and ignominy of 
 burial in a filthy sewer. Tim man, to whom sacred burial in consecrated 
 ground was a right to which he always looked forward, was thrown 
 into a sewer. The crime was singular in its brutality, but its brutality 
 was not its startling feature. Why was Dr. Cronin slain? Because hewas 
 con demned to die. Condemned for what ? For no offense within the laws" 
 of the State of Illinois. Condemned and executed by whom? By a tribu- 
 nal that was unlawfully constituted, a tribunal that was at the same time, 
 accuser, witness, judge and executioner. It was a tribunal which within
 
 5*4 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 GEORGE C. INGHAM, ONE OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 515 
 
 itself in the light of day, which existed upon a territory of the State to 
 whom its members hold allegiance, a tribunal which was treasonable to the 
 laws of the State, the juries were called upon to execute and to the laws of 
 the State whose protection it had a right to claim. Who could have 
 dreamed that such a thing was possible in the State of Illinois V Who could gay 
 that six months Irom that day he could not be repeated in the State of Illi- 
 nois. Only the twelve men who were trying the case. That was their respon- 
 sibility, for their oath in the case was to well and truly tfy and true deliver- 
 ance make between the people of the State of Illinois and the defendants, 
 to well and truly try them upon the law and upon the evidence. 
 
 From this introduction, Mr. Ingham branched off into an elaborate dis- 
 sertation of the law regarding murder and the power of circumstantial 
 evidence. Numerous authorities on circumstantial evidence were cited 
 from. Counsel dwelt upon Coughlin's hatred of Cronin, upon the purchase 
 of the furniture and upon the peculiar actions of the defense. Stress was 
 laid upon the fact, that no evidence had been produced with a view of show- 
 ing that it was not Martin Burke that rented the Carlson cottage, and that 
 he engaged the expressman to move the furniture from the Clark street 
 flat to Lake View. The general outline of the plot as disclosed by the 
 evidence was considered, and the conclusion drawn, that the right men 
 were on trial. Continuing, Mr. Ingham said : 
 
 "Now, I want to call your attention to one fact, that not one attempt 
 has been made at defense. The counsel for the defense have done the best 
 they could. I know the counsel for the defense well. I know Forrest, and 
 have known him for years, and have tried cases with and against him. I 
 know he would go far and near and would remove heaven and earth, were 
 it possible, to save his clients. I know that he believes thoroughly and 
 heartily in the maxim of old Lord Brougham, that a lawyer should know 
 but one man in the world, and that man his ciicnt. I have known Daniel 
 Donahoe for years, and I know his ability. I have not known Judge Wing 
 for so long a time, but f rom what I have seen of him and know of him I 
 know him to be a skillful lawyer. His address to you, gentlemen of the 
 jury, proves his ability, and I say to you unhesitatingly, that these men, 
 after doing everything in their power to aid their clients, nave utterly and 
 signally failed. I ask you to remember that not one particle of evidence 
 has been introduced by the defense either to dispose or disprove the evi- 
 dence I have stated to you. Not one particle of evidence has been admitted 
 to be proved and to be denied here, except 1 he single statement that Burke 
 was at the cottage on the night of the murder. There is evidence, how- 
 ever, which more than outweighs all the alibis they can bring here. 
 
 "The saloon-Jceeper came upon the stand here and plainly and clearly 
 told you that on the night of the 4th of May, about half-past 10 o'clock, three 
 men entered his saloon. He tells you he is positive one of them was Patrick 
 O'Sullivan. He knows him, buys iceof him, and hasnoearthly reason to give 
 evidence to injure him unless it was true. He says also that the other was a 
 taller man, and in his opinion he believes that man was Coughlin ; further, 
 there was a little man who spoke with a German accent, and that man he 
 says he is sure was Kunze. Now, you will remember he had only bought 
 that saloon a few days before, and he can hardly be mistaken in the night, 
 because he tells you lie knows it was on the Saturday night, because on the 
 night following, the Sunday night, he had an opening, and, lik" other Ger- 
 mans, he never had less than fifteen to twenty-five men at his bar. What 
 object could he have in testifying against Patrick O'Sullivan, Coughlin and 
 Kunze, and saying they were the men who drank wine and took cigars at 
 his bar? Is he^corroborated ? Let us see. The saloon-keeper is admittedly 
 as honest a man as there is in Chicago. No attempt has been made to 
 impeach his evidence, and I ask you to consider whether or not he is cor- 
 roborated. Let m draw your attention to the evidence given by the Ger- 
 man gardener named Wardell. They left the saloon about 11 o'clock or a 
 quarter after, the saloon-keeper says, and you will remember that Wardell 
 says he lelt a saloon near by about twenty minutes after, and just at that 
 time he happened to raise his eyes and saw in front of him two men, whom 
 he describes, and believes to be O'Sullivan and Coughlin, and he saw them 
 walk down to and enter the Carlson cottage. Where was the third man ? 
 Do you remember that about a half hour after that time, about half a mile 
 south of the Carlson cottage, a wagon was seen with a trunk in it? The two 
 m:;n who went into the Carlson cottage went in there to help carry out the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 trunk containing Cronin's body and the clothes, while the third man went 
 down and got the wagon that was to take the body and the clothes away. 
 
 " Now, how is that met? We are told that the saloon-keeper is mistaken, 
 that this man never saw O'Sullivan and Coughlin and Kunze, but that on 
 the Sunday night Patrick O'Sullivan went there to that very saloon with 
 the two Hy lands, and that they had two glasses of wine and a cigar each. 
 Gentlemen, you will remember that the saloon-keeper, who is a German, 
 distinctly said that the smaller man asked for beer and spoke with a 
 German accent. The younger Hyland never spoke with a German accent 
 in his life. Which do you propose to believe Neiman, the saloon-keeper, 
 who has no earthly interest whatever in giving false testimony against 
 < )'Sullivan or the friends of Patrick O'Sullivan ? These two strangers who 
 go to see him for the first time are compelled to stay and take dinner, and 
 are then taken out to the saloon and each given two glasses of wine and a 
 cigar at the expense of O'Sullivan. Remember, gentlemen, he had never 
 seen these two Hylands before that Sunday afternoon. The truth is, 
 that when they say those three men were in that saloon, the two 
 Hylands and O'Sullivan, they admit unconsciously the fact that three men 
 were there,as the saloon-keeper testified; they admit that O'Sullivan was there 
 and the thing is narrowed down to a simple question of veracity between . 
 the saloon-keeper on the one hand and the Hylands on the other. There is 
 much more reason, vastly more reason, I submit, why the evidence of the 
 saloon-keeper, who knew O'Sullivan perfectly, should be believed in pref- 
 erence to that of the two Hylands, who are ready to swear anything to help 
 their friend out of a scrape. Now, what else is disputed? 
 
 "An attempt is also made to dispute that portion of the evidence tend- 
 ing to show that O'Sullivan was at the Carlson cottage. How is it done? 
 Again they resort to an alibi. As I said to you in the opening of this case, 
 and I will now repeat, that if O'Sullivan was at home and in bed at the time 
 the murder was committed, and you are satisfied from the evidence that 
 he was engaged in that conspiracy, he is just as guilty as if he struck the 
 fatal blow himself. Against the testimony of Neiman, who saw him there 
 with Coughlin and Kunze in that saloon, and of Wardell, who saw him and 
 Coughlin enter the Carlson cottage after they left the saloon, they produce 
 the evidence of Mulcahey, a man who became connected with O'Sullivan 
 under the most suspicious circumstances. That man testified that he came 
 to Chicago a perfect stranger; that he went to O'Sullivan went to his 
 house on the 3lst of April was instantly taken in and kept and boarded 
 there, slept in the same bed with O'Sullivan, rolled around the street in the 
 ice wagon and slept with him on the night of the murder. He swears also 
 that he was with O'Sullivan when old Carlson claimed to have heard the 
 conversation between O'Sullivan and Burke; he swears also that he heard 
 Coughlin and O'Sullivan arrange that O'Sullivan was to keep his eye upon 
 Kunze and report if he saw him in Lake View. In short, gentlemen, he was 
 a very convenient sort of witness. What was he doing there all the month? 
 He was not working for O'Sullivan, yet he slept in the same bed with him 
 a perfect rtranger, and, strange as it may appear, he only went into the 
 employ of O'Sullivan a few days before the murder. I undertake to say, 
 gentlemen, that his testimony is false, that O'Sullivan was not in bed, that 
 on the contrary he and Burke and Coughlin were engaged in the murder 
 at the Carlson cottage. Who is there that corroborates his testimony ? 
 The two women, a cousin of O'Sullivan's by marriage and his sister. Tom 
 Whelan was too sound a sleeper to know whether O'Sullivan was in bed or 
 WPS up or out, and they ask you to believe that sort of an alibi against the 
 evidence you have on the part of the prosecution." 
 
 KLNZE'S PART IN THE MURDER. 
 
 " What is the evidence against Kunze ? He was the friend, the tool of 
 Coughlin. It is in evidence that he had been engaged with Dan Coughlin 
 in working up the distillery case. How much of a detective he is I do not 
 know, but I don't suppose he is a very great one. If I were to guess at it I 
 should say he was a detective's stool pig> on. 
 
 " He had been engaged with Coughlin for months. Merles swears < hat 
 he saw him drive their horse with a white face up to the cottage the night 
 of the murder, and you will remember that he picked him out from a num-
 
 THE CRIME 0V THE CENTURY. 517 
 
 ber of men. Mertcs is a countryman of Kuiize's, and he would not be 
 likely to testify against his own countryman unless truth compelled him 
 to do so. He tells you that Kunze drove a horse and buggy up to that Carl- 
 son cottage at 8:30 o'clock on the night of the murder, and, more than that, 
 it is in evidence that Kunze was perfectly at home in the rooms at 117 Clark 
 street, and was seen by a very intelligent witness sitting in front of the 
 window washing his feet. Now, what was he doing at 117 South Clark 
 street, if he was not engaged in that conspiracy? The men who engaged 
 thut Hat at 117 Clark street, those conspirators, were not going to trust their 
 livca to men they did not know; and the truth is that he was the tool of 
 Coughlin. More than that, it is in evidence that he said he expected to be 
 arrested on the Cronin business. Why ? Why ? I repeat." 
 
 " Because I was toid so," suddenly cried Kunze, springing to his feet. 
 
 " This man is defended by able lawyers," retorted Mr. Ingham, " and on 
 their heads is the responsibility of his defense." 
 
 " God knows 1 am innocent of the murder of Dr. Cronin," cried Kunze, 
 again springing to his feet, and there was a scene of excitement lor a few 
 minutes. Finally his counsel forced him to his seat, and induced him to 
 remain quiet. 
 
 " Why did he say he expected to be arrested on the Cronin business? I 
 repeat," continued Mr. Jngham. " It was because he felt he was connected 
 with that business. Coughlin knew him, Coughlin had worked with him, 
 and Coughlin knew that in this case their lives were safe in his hauds. It is 
 in evidence that shortly after the murder he was with Patrick O'Sullivau 
 drinking, and you will remember a conversation which was detailed by a 
 saloon-keeper, and which occurred shortly before the murder, wherein Pat- 
 rick O'Sullivan made a bargain to sell to Kunze the bay horse with a white 
 face. Why was that horse sold to Kunze, this little painter who was work- 
 ing around the country, this man who was in the employ of the detective 
 and trusted by Coughlin? Will you, gentlemen of the jury, tell me why 
 O'Sullivan, who lived at the rear of the Carlson cottage, and whose stable 
 almost abutted on the cottage, was selling this poor painter a horse?" 
 
 WHOM THE EVIDENCE POINTS TO. 
 
 "I have gone over the salient features of the evidence, and I say 
 unhesitatingly that there is evidence which points directly to Coughlin; 
 it points directly to Patrick O'Sullivan, and it points directly to Burke, 
 unerringly to those three as having a direct connection with the murder 
 of Dr Cronin. Ai-e those isolated men, scattered over the city, having no 
 bond of harmony? On the contrary, the evidence is that four of those 
 men on trk.1 were bound together by a bond. Judge Wing said the murder in 
 this case wa:i different from an ordinary case. He said truly. The motive was 
 not robbery; it was not personal hate, but it was hatred, political hatred 
 in its nature, growing out of a political 'conspiracy. That conspiracy 
 originated in Camp 20, and it is in evidence that Beggs, Coughlin, O'Sullivan 
 and Burke are members of that camp. There you have the start of it. In 
 the course of circumstances, Sullivan made the contract which was to lure 
 the doctor to destruction ; Coughlin told the chief of police and told 
 Thomas O'Connor that his enmity toward Cronin grew out of secret society 
 matter and was of long standing. Simonds buys the furniture. Burke 
 h'rcs the house the Carlson Cottage and the full arrangements are made 
 for the butchery of their victim. It is also in evidence that Coughlin 
 wanted Sampson to slug the Doctor, and up to that time he had not got to 
 the pitch when he wanted him killed, but you will see how it grew. The 
 evidence shows he denounced him as a spy, and on the Monday morning: 
 after the murder, when he admitted his enmity to the Doctor, the Doctor's 
 body was lying in the catch-basin. 
 
 " How about Patrick O'Sullivan ? We find after the murder he goes to 
 see Mrs. O'Farrer, and she says to him it is an awful murder Me replied 
 'Yes.' She then asked why did they kill him. Now, mark his reply. He 
 says : ' They say he was a spy and gave away the secrets of the order to 
 which he belonged, and if he did he should be killed.' Here you have the 
 conspirators of Camp 20 at Avork. 
 
 " Where did the trouble begin? Recollect that O'Sullivan says to Mrs. 
 O'Farrer when he was at her house that, ' They say Cronin gave away the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 secrets of the order to which he belonged.' It is in evidence in this case 
 '.hat the only secrets that Cronin ever gave away were about embezzlement 
 of the money and the sending of their brethren to English prisons. You 
 know also that it is in evidence in this case that the very first hostility 
 toward Cronin was made apparent in Camp 30 of the Clan-na-Gael organ- 
 ization. There was constant turmoil and trouble in the Clan-na-Gael 
 organization because of the embezzlements and the wrong doing of the 
 triangL. It is in evidence also that Dr. Cronin charged at the trial of 
 that triangle that they had embezzled over $100,000 of the funds of the 
 organization besides sending patriotic Irishmen into British prisons. 
 Whether that be true or false we have not been permitted to show. So far 
 as this case is concerned it is immaterial whether true or false. You are an 
 American jury; this is an American court; these defendants are here under 
 indictment, and you are called upon to administer American law; and 
 whether Dr. Cronin may have been a spy or an honest man and a patroit 
 cuts no figure whatever in this case. One thing, however, I can say. When 
 that sewer gave up its dead, it opened up the sunlight of heaven on these 
 charges. 'Cronin was killed,' says O'Sullivan: 'he was killed because he 
 ja\e away the secrets of his order,' and I repeat the only secrets he could 
 have given away were the embezzlement of the funds and the imprison- 
 ment of their brothers. His mouth was closed and his charges were for- 
 ever stopped by his death. That swollen and distorted body, those mute 
 lips, prove the truth of his charges more clearly than any court or jury 
 could possibly dr, and it these charges were not true there would have been 
 no motive for them to put him out of the way. Thomas O'Connor tells you 
 he was present at a meeting of Camp 20 when a man, Foy, arose, and said 
 they had better look out for spies, and there were other Le Carons among 
 them. He says that he made a speech to that effect, I may not give you the 
 exact details, and O'Connor said in reply that they had better look out for 
 the men who were embezzling the funds of the organization and sending 
 their brothers to English prisons. A storm arose. The records of that 
 meeting show three things: They show, first, a resolution to the effect that 
 hereatter no member should be initiated whose name had not been submit- 
 ted to all the camps. They show, secondly, that a demand was proposed to 
 be made on the executive for information in regard to the Buffalo trial, 
 that is the trial of the triangle; and thirdly, that that was amended or 
 changed so as to read that information should be asked from the district 
 member. 
 
 " That record also shows the appointment, or passage of a resolution 
 "or the ,-ppointment of a secret committee of three by the senior guard- 
 ian to investigate rumors afloat regarding the trial committee. What 
 were they? O'Connor has told you that the charges were what he made, 
 and he and others say that the camp where these charges were made was 
 known as Dr. Cronin'scamp. DenisO' Connor and others say they knew 
 to whom Thomas O'Connor referred. To investigate the mat- 
 ter of these rumors then meant to investigate the men who 
 put these rumors afloat. That man was killed, foully slain, and' 
 nis body thrown into the sewer. Now Beggs wrote to the district member. 
 Beggs asked the district member to investigate certain charges. The 
 first resolution of the meeting required him to dp that. The district mem- 
 ber said he knew of no portion of the constitution which was violated by 
 an act of that kind, and he knew of no section of the constitution which 
 would enable him to inflict a penalty. That letter of Beggs' when you 
 study it, means this: ' I do not want to do this, I would rather have noth- 
 ing to do with it, but I have been compelled to notice it, and these old 
 quarrels must stop.' And you will notice it is full of forebodings of dan- 
 gers to come. 
 
 "Again, subsequently, you will remember that Beggs replied at a sub- 
 sequent meeting that the committee the secret committee which he had 
 appointed must report to him alone. Then the practical part of the busi- 
 ness began with the appointment of that committee. It was Beggs' dut y to 
 appoint that committee. Beggs did appoint that committee. Beggs 
 was an enemy of Cronin, as were the others. Begsrs denounced him 
 as did the others. Beggs said after his death, 'O, he will turn 
 up; he is all right.' The others said the same thing. They cov- 
 ered his body with the filth of the sewer and his memory with the epithet of 
 traitor. 1 said in an American court, before an American jury, it made no
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 519 
 
 difference whether the charges which Coughlin made were true or false, it 
 made no difference whether he was a traitor or n patriot, but the truth of 
 history demands that the name of Cronin shall be vindicated, and it is vindi- 
 cated more strongly than it could be by mortal lips when you remember 
 that that vindication comes from the slime of the sewer on his body and the 
 production of his clothes, also from another sewer. They murdered him 
 Because they feared his charges; they called him a spy in order to nerve 
 their dupes to kil! him, and they slew him. Gentlemen of the jury, I have 
 now said all in this case that I intend to say. It is needless for me to say 
 more, as I shall be followed by others of great ability. I simply ask you to 
 do this. Your duty is 'npleasant, and the duties you have already under- 
 gone have been onerous and burdensome. 
 
 "It is unpleasant fora man to sit on the trial of a fellow-man on a 
 charge involving his life and liberty, but lit is your business to do that in 
 this case. As long as human nature is constituted in such a way as it is, 
 law will be necessary to make some men walk straight. Crimes, murders, 
 thefts and arsons can only be prevented by the enforcement of the law. 
 The law, as I said, can only be enforced by the jury. On the call of 1'rovi- 
 dence you are here now, and your duty is before you. Recollect, gentle- 
 men, that while your duty is serious and burdensome, it is also of vast 
 importance. Remember, gentlemen, that your duty is just as important 
 and as necessary, and the necessity for courage and determination to carry 
 out that duty is as great as it would be upon the battlefield or in any 
 other walk of life. Deal with these men justly, execute the law, satisfy 
 your own consciences, and the rest of us will be satisfied." 
 
 COUNSELOR DONAHOE TALKS. 
 
 Mr. Ingham was followed by Mr. Donahoe, who spoke in behalf of 
 O'Sullivan and Kunze. He prefaced his argument with the remark that 
 there was no duty in the life of a lawyer that afforded him more pleasure 
 than to defend the innocent; and that, therefore, he began to plead for the 
 lives of his two clients with a heart as ligtit as that of a newly-made bride, 
 caressed with her husband's love. It was the apparent desire of the public 
 prosecutor to disgrace every witness, who appeared to testify to any fact 
 or circumstance, tending to show the innocence of the accused, but this 
 course would never deter him from exercising the best ability that God had 
 given him, in procuring for his clients every legal right known to the 
 law and the country. He urged the jury to banish all prejudice, and to 
 adopt reasonable judgment in considering the legal evidence of the case 
 and the laws of the country, and urged that if they did so, his two clients 
 would soon be breathing the free air of heaven. Thecounsel drew attention 
 to the fact, that he had been especially assigned to the defense of Kunze by 
 the Court, the prisoner having sworn that he did not have a dollar, and also 
 said that until the opening of the present case he had had no connection with 
 O'Sullivan or any of his friends. There was nothing to prove, the counsel 
 went on to argue, that Kunze was in any way connected with the crime. 
 The young man who claimed to have seen him wash his feet at the window 
 of the Clark street flat, as wf 11 as the saloon-keeper, whose place he was 
 alleged to have visited on the night of May the 4th, might easily have 
 been mistaken. It was, in brief, a case of mistaken identity. Mr. Uonahoe 
 argued at length, with a view of showing that the testimony regarding 
 the identification was at all times questionable, and should be received with 
 a great degreeof caution, and quoted numerous authorities to illustrate the 
 fact that his theory was correct. Proof of criminal intent, he said, was abso- 
 lutely necessary, and that that was proof absolutely lacking. Mr. Donahoe 
 concluded his speech in these words : 
 
 "Gentlemen, lam about to say the lastwordsfor my clients. Their 
 welfare is in your hands. I am satisfied that if you banish from your mind 
 everything but the law and the evidence, in this case, you will unlock the 
 prison door and let them go about their business, earning their bread by the 
 sweat of their brows. Something was said in this case, some discussion in
 
 52O THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 your presence about Alexander Sullivan. There is no proof that my clients 
 Know Alexander Sullivan. If there should exist in your minds, or if there 
 has been injected into your minds, prejudice againstthat man, for God's 
 sake don't use that against my clients, two young- men whom the evidence 
 in this case proves to be innocent. Yet the law does not say that they 
 require to show their innocence ; the law requires that the prosecution shall 
 show their guilt. I have at heart the welfare of Kunze, although he never 
 gave me a dollar, as much as I have the welfare of my client, O'Sullivan, 
 who has retained me in this case. Banish all prejudice and suspicion from 
 your minds; apply your reason and judgment arid consciences to the law 
 and the evidence in this case, and I am sure, then, that these young men 
 will be acquitted, as they ought to be. Remember tl.at in your hands rests 
 the lives of these men. Remember that one day you will bo called upon to 
 give an acount for every act and deed done in this life. Let nothing that 
 you shall do in this case against my clients be such as shall be charged 
 against you when you appear before that tribunal of the Most High, and 
 when you are asked ' How have you dealt with your fellow-men?' don't 
 have to say that when dealing with your fellows you had bloody hearts. 
 Merciful ! The more merciful a man is, the more godlike he is 1 But, gen- 
 tlemen of the jury, do not misunderstand me. Do not think that I am 
 asking for mercy for my clients. Oh, no ; not at all ; not at all. I ask that 
 you carefully weigh this evidence, consider the law, be governed by the 
 legal evidence and the law, and that is all that I ask you to do. I believe 
 that if you banish everything from your minds but the law and the evidence 
 in this case, that the God that gave you a head to think and a heart to feel 
 for your fellow-men, the God that gave you an existence, will never permit 
 you to strangle my clients. Oh, no, unless you are ready to guess them into 
 eternity, you can't convict them on this proof. J tried this case fairly. I 
 have treated every witness fairly, I have been respectful to the Court, 
 and I have been respectful to you. These two young men's welfare, their 
 lives, are confided to your hands. For God's sake, for their sake, for your 
 sake, make no mistake. Gentlemen, I thank you." 
 
 HYNES' GREAT EFFORT. 
 
 The announcement that Mr. W. J. Hynes would commence his argument 
 at the opening of court, upon theday following the conclusion of Mr. Don- 
 ahoe's address, had the etfect of attracting an immense throng to the Tem- 
 ple of Justice. Hundreds were admitted, while thousands were unable to 
 gain entrance to the court-room. Judge McConnell took his seat on the 
 bench at ten o'clock, and Mr. Hynes immediately commenced his address. 
 He said that in what he had to say he would endeavor to be fair. He knew 
 the importance of the great proceeding of the character under considera- 
 tion. He knew that, no matter how guilty men might be, under the civiliz- 
 ation of a century, punishment was to be visited only under due process of 
 law. For three months or more the public time had been occupied in hear- 
 ing the accusations, trying the accused, considering the evidence, listening 
 to the arguments, through that protection of the law for which lives have 
 been sacrificed and rivers of blood have been spilled, to secure to those 
 charged with crime the protection of the law. That protection of the law 
 had been thrown around the men on trial to see that they should have a fair 
 hearing, and that the jury should render a fair verdict. All evidence that 
 was not competent had been excluded, and, wherever a question of doubt 
 had arisen, His Honor, the judge, exercising his natural instincts of mercy, 
 had solved that doubt for the benefit of the accused. Hearsay evidence 
 had been excluded; the defendants had been confronted by the witnesses 
 who testified against them, and all these forms of law, of civilization 
 and justice had been extended in the trial of men accused of charging a man 
 behind his back, of killing him behind his back, of killing him first and 
 accusing him afterward. Even such men as these, however, were entitled 
 to all the protection of courts of law, and to all the safeguards which the 
 law threw around them, because no human life could be taken, no human
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 521 
 
 W. J. HYNES. ONE OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION.
 
 522 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 liberty or freedom could be abridged by a day or an hour, until the court 
 of justice, the accusation against the accused had been judicially ascer- 
 tained and determined by twelve fair-minded men beyond a reasonable 
 doubt. 
 
 With this introduction, the learned counsel proceeded to review the 
 case from the day of the disappearance of Dr. Cronin. He declared that 
 the dispatches received at Chicago, from Canada, shortly after the disap- 
 pearance of the physician, and to the effect that he was alive and in the 
 flesh in the dominion, demonstrated beyond a doubt that the defense was 
 organized before the crime was committed. It demonstrated, moreover, 
 the existence of a wide-spread conspiracy, the conspiracy of intelligence 
 and brains, as well as of experience in handling the telegraph and the 
 press. John F. Beggs had said that Cronin was not dead and would tu-n 
 up all right, and if the scheme of disposing of Dr. Cronin's body 
 on the night of May 4th had not been frought with some 
 misadventure, some miscarriage of judgment, the public, not 
 understanding the motive which underlied the occasion, would prob- 
 ably have believed that what Beggs said was correct. If all the 
 marks of the crime had been obliterated, if the body had not been found, 
 if it had been disposed of, the murderers, and those behind the murderers 
 would have continued to charge that Dr. Patrick IJ. Cronin was a British 
 spy, and that his disappearance was to be accounted for upon the hypoth- 
 esis that he had gone to England to testify against Parnell. This would 
 have been the claim. It was to confirm the impression made upon the 
 minds of some of the "dupes " of the triangle, that the disappearance, as 
 well as all traces of the crime were to be wiped out, so that the story would 
 be accepted that Cronin was a spy, and a traitor to the cause to which he 
 had always allied himself and which he had sworn to defend, and that he had 
 violated his oath and crossed the broad Atlantic in order to testify against 
 his own country and in behalf of England. 
 
 The speaker proceeded to dissect the evidence at length. He paid par- 
 ticular attention to the testimony of the medical witnesses for the 
 State, urging that it was entitled to full credence, and that the prosecution 
 received all the aid of science that was possible. Continuing, Mr. Hynes 
 said 
 
 THE DEFENSE OF THE PRISONERS. 
 
 " No\y what sort of a defense because I propose to deal with that first 
 what kind of a defense is made by these five prisoners? A defense that 
 is not a defense is worse than no defense at all. A defense that utterly 
 fails, as this defense in my judgment has utterly failed, leaves the case of 
 the prisoners stronger against them than it was when the State rested. You 
 expect some defense when an accusation of this kind is brought against 
 men. You are looking for explanations. You are hoping, like merciful 
 men, that every circumstance and every word will find an explanation 
 consistent with innocence, and when the defense fails to meet the accusa- 
 tion and to furnish an explanation, then it is disastrous to the defendants. 
 The only defense that is set up here is the common defense that is set up 
 for the-commonest criminal the favorite defense of an alibi. I am not 
 here to abuse all the witnesses that appeared to prove alibis for these 
 defendants. I remember that on the evening of the 4th of May Mrs. Wha- 
 len and Miss McCormick say they went out of the house and were out until 
 after 10 o'clock. I do know that Miss McCormick said they went out about 
 the time the boys were getting ready to go away to the saloon. These boys 
 that went to the saloon fix the hour of supper all the way from 7 to half- 
 past 8 o'clock, fluctuating between 7 and half-past 8 o'clock ; that is the 
 value of an alibi. In fixing the time, the human mind does not go back, 
 unless there is something special about it unless there is something at the 
 time of the act to associate the time with the act. That makes them a part 
 of each other and relating to each other at the time of the act ; not by mere 
 recollection afterward. 
 
 "All these witnesses testify that Patrick O'Sullivan got home on the 
 evening of the 4th of May between half -past 5 and 6 o'clock. We had the 
 statement of Mr. O'Sullivan himself, made to Captain Schaack and he 
 ought to know better than they that he got home at half -past 7 o'clock, a
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 523 
 
 difference of an hour and a half or nearly two hours in Patrick O'Sullivan's 
 own statement when he talked with Captain Schaack. He said he arrived 
 home at half -past 7, and that he was not out of his house that evening after 
 he got home. They all say he' got home about half-past 5 or 6 o'clock 
 every witness here. Who knows best, and what is the yaluo of recollection 
 as to the hour when the thing occurred? They all, with the exception of 
 Mulcahey, swear that he was not out of his house after that time after 
 supper; that he Fat down for a time in the house and then went to bed wiia 
 Mulcahey. He, himself, feeling that he had been seen out of the house tl.at 
 night, at least back in the alley near the Carlson cottage, sent for Captain 
 Schaack while lie was still a prisoner in the jail, and said he wanted to make 
 a correction of his former statement. He was out of the house that night, 
 he said, but only out to the alley in the rear of his barn." 
 "That is not the testimony, ' said Mr. Donahoe. 
 
 " That is the testimony," insisted Mr. Hvnes, " and T will refer to it." 
 " No," rejoined Mr. Donahoe, " he said he went to the rear of the br.jfl. 
 I have got the testimony here." 
 
 O'SULLIVAN'S CONTRADICTORY STATEMENTS. 
 
 "I have got the testimony, too," said Mr. Hynes, "and I will read it. 
 He said he went to the rear of the shed in the alley. Let me call your 
 attention also to the fact that Mulcahey, his room-mate, does admit that he 
 was out of the house that night aboutS o'clock or half -past 8 out in the 
 yard. Mulcahey fixes the supper at about half-past'/ o'clock; so that he 
 has liim out in the yard about 8 or half-past 8 that night, and not another 
 soul in the house knew he was out of the house. All of them swore that he 
 did not leave the house. Do I say thai they perjured themselves ? No ; not 
 all of them." 
 
 "Do I understand you to say," interrupted Mr. Donahoe, "that Mul- 
 cahey swore he was out of the house ? " 
 
 " Mulcahey swears," replied Mr. Hynes, " (hat he wasout at 8 or half- 
 past 8 in the yard." 
 
 " He did not swear to it in this court," said Mr. Donahoe. 
 
 " He swore to it in this court," retorted Mr. Hynes, " and I will read you 
 his testimony. It is perfectly proper, gentlemen," continued Mr. Hynes, 
 addressing the jury, " for Mr. Donahoe to challenge my statements. I invite 
 him to do it first, to correct myself it' I am in error, and, secondly, to show 
 that I am right if I make a statement of that kind. Here is Captain 
 Schaack's statement. Captain Schaack says : k There is one thing I forgot; 
 in conversation with O'Sullivan I asked him where he was on the 4th of 
 May. He said he was on the ice wagon all day. I asked him what time he 
 came home in the evening, and he said 7 or 7:30. He had his supper and went 
 to bed about 8 or 8:30, and about 9:bO some men came home, and he got up 
 and let them in and went to bed again. I asked him if he was positive that 
 he was not away from his house, and he said he was positive he was not, 
 that he was in the house all the evening. After he was in the jail he sent for 
 me and I came down to see him in the jail. He told me he had forgot to tell 
 me he was out of the house that night in the rear of the shed.' " 
 
 Here Mr. Donahoe objected, saying that nothing was said about O'Sul- 
 livan's being in the alley. Mr. Hynes said that if he was beyond the shed he 
 was of necessity in the alley. A short dispute followed, in which some tes- 
 timony was read, which was finally won by Mr. Hynes, who then continued : 
 
 " There is no more point about his being on one side of the shed than on 
 the other; the point lies in the value of the alibi. They put young Knight 
 on the stand and there is nothing that better illustrates the value of an alibi 
 than his testimony. They put on Menahan and they both swore that the 
 two Hylands came there on Sunday afternoon about 5 o'clock. Knight 
 swears that O'Sullivan was in the house from a point of time between 4 and 5 
 o'clock on the afternoon of Sunday, May 5, and that when the Hylands 
 came in he shook hands with them, and he was not out of the house from 
 that time until he went out at 10 o'clock that night, when it is conceded 
 that O'Sullivan was down at Mrs. Conklin's at that time, and did not get 
 home until palf-past 7 or 8. And yet they could put Knight on the stand- 
 honestly swearing, because there was no >roof that he was swearing falsely 
 honestly swearing and insisting, uuder Judge Longenecker's cross-
 
 5*4 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 examination, that O'Sullivan was not out of the house from 4 or 5 o'clock 
 until 10 o'clock that Sunday night. But everybody knows he was out. He 
 was with Detective Murray down at Mrs. Conklin's.- Everybody con- 
 cedes that he did not get home until half-past 7 or 8 o'clock. 
 
 WORTHLESSNESS OF THE ALIBI. 
 
 " Now, there is the value of an alibi. Knight says that the two Ilylands 
 got there between 4 and 5 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, and were in the 
 house and did not leave until about 10 o'clock. The tall Hyland said 
 nothing about their leaving O'Sullivan's house in the afternoon. Recess 
 tame, and 1 wondered where the memories were put together, and the fact 
 was recalled that it had-already appeared in the evidence that O'Sullivan 
 was down at the Conklin's house at those hours. When the Smaller Hyland 
 went on the stand in the afternoon he said they went there between 4 and 
 5 o'clock. He said O'Sullivan was not at home and they went off to a ball 
 game and did not return until about 7:30 in the evening. Others of 
 O'Sullivan's household testified to the same state of facts. Knight swears 
 that the Hylands never left the house that Sunday afternoon- that they 
 were there all those hours and he was in the parlor talking to them. Mena- 
 han swears that the Hylands came there about 5 o'clock, and that he did 
 not believe he was out of the house except a few minutes when he was only 
 around the yard. Every time he went back to the house the Hylands 
 were there, and he said he knew they did not leave the house except to 
 stepout of the door for a moment. But were they at O'Sullivan's that 
 afternoon? There is the value of their alibi. Would not the alibi for the 
 Hylands be just as good as their alibi for Saturday night ? Would not their 
 abili for that Sunday afternoon when O'Sullivan was down at Mr. Conk- 
 lin's with Detective Murray, be just as good as the alibi for Saturday night? 
 An alibi defense! But there is nothing tells better upon the alibi than 
 O'Sullivan's own testimony. Those people swear he was home, covering 
 the time when old man Carlson testified that voices were heard in the Carl- 
 son cottage at 7 o'clock. Mr. Carlson said he saw Martin Burke come out 
 of the door at 5 o'clock on Saturday afternoon and spoke to him, and 
 Burke said: 'I guess it is not too early to fix up,' and old Jonas said: 'I 
 guess not.' Burke went in, and he came out again at 7 o'clock, and old 
 man Carlson heard the voices of some men inside the cottage. And it was 
 old Jonas who testified that Patrick O'Sullivan admitted to Captain 
 Schaack that he got home about 7 or half-past 7 o'clock that evening. He 
 did not get home before that, and he (O'Sullivan) took his supper and went 
 to bed. 
 
 " Now the others swear that he was home from half-past 5 or before 6 
 o'clock up to supper time, and was not out of the house once, except, as 
 stated by Mulcahey, when he went into the yard at half-past 7 or 8 o'clock. 
 O'Sullivan says himself he was out. I don't care whether you put it as far 
 as the shed, or the rear of the shed, as Captain Schaack put it in his direct 
 examination. The fact that he was out and away from the house shows the 
 value of the alibi ! I don't claim that O'Sullivan was in the house when Dr. 
 Cronin entered. If he was he was not immediately in view, because the 
 word sent to the doctor was that O'Suliivan was out of town, and his card 
 was presented, on which the Doctor would go and attend to the business ; it 
 would not answer the purpose that O'Sullivan should appear in the room 
 the moment the Doctor entered. At least he was not in the immediate view 
 of the Doctor when he entered the room, because his presence would have 
 excited the Doctor's suspicion. The Doctor certainly did not see him in 
 that room, if he was there, until after the door was closed behind him and 
 after the first blow was struck that Mrs. Hoertel heard. 
 
 THE VALUE OF HUMAN MEMORY. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen, such is the value of human memory. These wit- 
 nesses said they were there up to O'Sullivan's time of departure, and he was 
 at home at supper. You see their anxiety to be able to account for O'Sul- 
 livan's whereabouts, and to be aWe to fix the time that would answer his 
 purpose. When Tom Whalen was put on the stand I think I cross-examined 
 him myself as to the hour in which he was in the habit of getting 1 home.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 525 
 
 ' Oh le said, 'at various hours,' but it was finally narrowed down to the 
 fact >at he got home about 6:30. He had to go about a mile and a half to 
 his h^_ne, and he said that he generally got there about 7. Then as soon as 
 lie saw that I was endeavoring to pin him down to an earlier hour, taking 
 the hour he quitted work us a ganger, he said he would sometimes loaf 
 around the barn and talk ten or fifteen minutes with the men. He said 
 also that they generally waited supper for him after he got home. That 
 shows that supper was late. It appeared that the ladies went out after 
 supper. They say they went out on their own suggestion. Probably they 
 did. Th y were absent. lam glad they were absent, but if they had not 
 been the;' probably would have said they had seen O'Sullivan that evening. 
 O'Sullivaj would say to them, ' Don't you remember that I was here '< ' 
 and they would not deny it, but would believe it, and in their anxiety to 
 help and save him they would believe it surely and swear to it. That is 
 all I wish to say about those ladies. It was necessary to get supper late. 
 Mrs. Hoertel had seen a man standing between the two nouses inside the 
 fence about 8 o'clock probably five or ten minutes past 8 o'clock. She saw 
 a man standing between the Carlson cottage and the little cottage in which 
 the Carlsons lived. He was standing on the sidewalk inside the fence in 
 other words, close to the back door of the Carlson cottage; when she got on 
 Koscoe street she saw the man there. The question arises, was not that 
 Patrick O'Sullivan? and so supper is belated, and we have an attempt to 
 show that he was not out of the house. Mulcahey says that he was out of 
 the yard between 8 and 8:30 o'ciock. I don't know anything about Mul- 
 cahey 's conduct or whereabouts that evening except what he told us. He 
 was O'Sullivan 's bed-fellow, and his bed-fellow from the first night that he 
 arrived from those regions in Pennsylvania that have become celebrated 
 for crimes of this nature." 
 
 "I object and except to those remarks," cried Mr. Donahoe, angrily. 
 
 "You know the Molly Maguii-esin Pennsylvania," continued Mr. Hynes, 
 " down in that notorious valley." 
 
 "I dont think," remarked Judge McConnell, in a mildly expostulating 
 tone, "that we ought to refer to that, or draw any inference from it." 
 
 "I think," responded Mr. Hynes, "I have a right to speak about the 
 locality from where a party comes, but I bow to your honor's suggestion in 
 the matter. At any rate, gentlemen of the jury, I can argue from dates. 
 He arrived here on the 3d of April, but on your honor's suggestion I with- 
 draw anything of that kind and wish the jury not to consider it. It is not 
 a thing I should refer to, according to his honor's suggestion, and I don't 
 want you to consider it, but consider this, that Mulcahey was the first to 
 arrive on the scene here. Knight came afterward ; Brennan came after- 
 ward ; I don't know when Boyington began to appear there, but three men 
 came to O'Sullivan's after Mulcahey arrived. He was not working for 
 O'Sullivan but he was taken right into O'riullivan's own room. Mulcahey 
 says he was out about 8 or half past 8 o'clock. He does not say he was out 
 himself; I don't know whether he was or not, but he says O'Sullivan 
 was out in the yard about that time. It was dark at eight o'clock on the 
 4th of May; that is, I mean it was night, and as dark as it can be with the 
 stars shining and a quarter moon. The moon went down about 11 o'clock 
 that night. It was oif in the southwest, nearly south at that hour. It was 
 shining in on the south side of the Carlson cottage. There was a man 
 there. They didn't know whether they had been seen or recognized or 
 not. They didn't know whether more than one man was seen or not. At 
 any rate, there is a confession that at that time Patrick O'Sullivan was out 
 of the house. 
 
 The speaker went on to consider the testimony of Nieman, the saloon- 
 keeper, andsaid that it was proven beyond a doubt that Coughlin, O'Sulli- 
 van and Kunze were in the saloon late on the night of May 4th. There was 
 * no earthly doubt aboutrit. If there were, he would ask that the defendants 
 be acquitted. All the facts and all the evidence tended to show that the 
 saloon-keeper was accurate in his dates and correct in his statements, and 
 there could be no mistake about it. The counsel went over Kunze's con- 
 nection with Coughlin, Coughlin's alibi so far as it related to the night of 
 the murder, the peculiar circumstances surrounding the curious Smith, 
 the identity of Burke with the man that rented the Carlson cottage, and 
 the connection of Kunze as a tool of Coughlin with the conspiracy, and
 
 526 
 
 THE CRIME OF THF, CENTURY. 
 
 urged that every circumstance pointed conclusively to the guilt of these 
 defendants. The identification of Coughlin by Mertes, the milkman, was 
 beyond peradventure, while the telephone messages that had passed 
 between Cughlin and O'Sullivan showed the extent in which they had 
 been in commadeation. Numerous exceptions to the statement of the 
 speaker were made by Counselor Donaboe and oiher attorneys for the pris- 
 oners, but the speaker proceeded without paying apparent attention to 
 these interruptions. The alibi provided for Burke was shown to be unre- 
 liable, and the charges against the triangle, the row in Camp 20 and tin- 
 appointment of a secret committee to try the physician were dissected :;t 
 length. The evidence of witnesses regarding the memorable meetings of 
 that body, taken in connection with Beggs' mysterious actions and his cor- 
 respondence with Spellman, of Peoria, showed beyond a shadow of a doubt 
 that the conspiracy to accomplish the ends of the opponents of Dr. Cronin 
 had existed. 
 
 Mr. Hynes proceeded to contend that " the trunk was bought and the 
 valise was bought, the scheme was designed of stripping the clothes from the 
 body for the purpose ot hiding the corpse and or raising the cry to satisfy 
 those to whom Dr. Cronin had been denounced as a spy that he had taken 
 his leave and gone away to the other side of the water to give up his infor- 
 mation and deliver himself and all that he knew into th hands of the 
 British government. If his name was once successfully connected with 
 the word 'spy,' if plausible proof were adduced that he was a spy f or the 
 British government, these lies, accusations against the triangle, would be 
 as idle as the wind. His fate would have been regarded as no more than 
 just by Irishmen devoted to a cause which they believed to have been 
 betrayed. It was the interest of the reputation of the men who were 
 attacked on a charge upon which he had collected evidence ; it was the 
 interest of the suppression of the conclusion he had arrived at ; it was the 
 interest of the men who were exposed by the honest investigation and 
 courageous report ; it was the interest of these men that Dr. Cronin should 
 not be understood to be murdered in this country, because to be murdered 
 here was to confess the truth of his charges. If those charges were untrue, 
 if they were without foundation, if there was anyth ng wanting in the 
 evidence of them, gentlemen of the jury, there would be no occasion for 
 killing him. No man was ever killed that way for a mere personal hatred. 
 He must have the evidence of these men's robberies and wrong-doings to 
 prove his assertions, and it was in the interest of their reputation, in order 
 that they might continueto plunder and rob, and impose themselves upon 
 a sacred cause, that his reputation was to be attacked and his memory 
 branded as that of a spy killed upon British soil. The evidence in this 
 case, gentlemen of the jury, that immediately after the disappearance of 
 Dr. Cronin we had the assurance from John F. Beggs that he was all right, 
 and would turn up. Then we had Mike Whalen, who testifies that the dis- 
 patches showed he was ssen here and there and elsewhere that he had 
 run away, that he had gone away where ? Gone off to report to the 
 British government in London. That was the suggestion. It was not 
 sufficient. It was not sufficient that he should be killed, that his life should 
 be stricken out by a foul and cowardly murder without trial and without 
 warning, behind his back, that his sins should be visited upon him, but his 
 reputation must be stamped to death, his standing among Irishmen must 
 be assailed as a man utterly and entirely fallen and disgraced and his char- 
 acter generally arraigned and pilloried as that of a spy and a renegade in 
 the interests of those men in whose interests he was killed."' 
 
 HOT SHOT FOR THE PRISONERS. 
 
 Mr. Hynes resumed his address at the opening of court on the following 
 day. He denounced the prisoners as members of a baud of blood-thirsty, 
 conspirators, and dealing with the case against Beggs, urged that the whole 
 of the testimony showed conclusively that he was identified with the crime. 
 The alibi for the white horse was considered at length; the speaker taking 
 the ground that the identification of Dinan's animal by Mrs. Conklin and 
 John T. Scanlan, Jr., was conclusive. Continuing Mr. Hynes said: 
 
 " I call your attention to the fact that not from the opening to the close 
 of Mr. Douahoe's speech was one word sai 1 in condemnation of themur-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 527 
 
 derof Dr. Cronin not one adjective used to describe it, not one sentiment 
 if dissent or dissatisfaction, disapprobation or condemnation of that crime, 
 '.hat stands out as the blackest and reddest of modern times. 'I do not 
 mow whether Dr. Cronin was a spy or not,' says the representative of P. 
 U'Sullivan, addressing 1 this jury, ' and I don't care.' 
 
 "That is right," interrupted Mr. Donahoe, "I don't care anything 
 about it." 
 
 " No, sir," said Mr. Hyncs, in an impassioned tone, turning around and 
 'acing the attorney for O'Sullivan, "but as an officer of the court, as a law- 
 abiding citizen, as a member of this human family, as a Christian gentleman. 
 I hope, and as a man with the common instincts of mankind in mercy's 
 name* in decency's name, in humanity's name, find somewhere within the 
 possibilities of your character an impulse to denounce a murder so infam- 
 ous as this, if you dare to do it with your client's retainer in your hands." 
 
 " Not one word of condemnation, gentlemen," continued Mr. Hynes to 
 the jury; " not one word of defense in the memory of that brave, courageous, 
 honest man, whose only fault a fatal fault was his honest courage, when 
 these cowardly fiends assembled in their numbers in that room, with a dim 
 light, and after the door was closed behind his back, his heart throbbing 
 with sympathy for anticipated suffering, with anxiety for the relief of 
 human pain; scarcely had the door closed upon his back, when these cow- 
 ardly murderers fell upon him from behind, and, like the miscreants they 
 were, beat out his life. 
 
 "Oh, gentlemen what savagery and brutality is palmed off for patriotism! 
 Many and many a hot and rash act has brought calamity and suffering and 
 shame to the face of the Irish people, but in all their history in the past, 
 and in all the history that they can make in the future, this will stand out as 
 the one conspicuous monument of shame, casting its dark shadow upon the 
 reputation and character of an honorable and generous race a race who, 
 as a rule, sympathize with the suffering, sympathize with the weak, and 
 are rarely, if ever, cowardly. But that honorable and courageous sonli- 
 ment, when it is perverted, and when it is violated, the higher the height of 
 generosity from which it fails, the more calamitous the break and the 
 greater the destruction that it causes." 
 
 Speaking of the discovery of the body and its condition, the orator suH : 
 " The 'Agnus Dei,' the emblem of his faith and his religion, was around his 
 neck. I suppose that, these men thought that they were prompted by a 
 religious sentiment, when they saved from touch and left upon his remains 
 the 'Agnus Dei,' the symbol of his faith. I suppose these men think that 
 there is a religious sentiment in that. A sentiment that can beat out the 
 life and violate the ten commandments, and the divine decree issued from 
 the mountain, ' Thou shalt not kill,' and still leaves a religious emblem 
 around the neck, is but superstition ; it is not faith ; it is not religion ; it is 
 not morality. And, gentlemen, do not think that it represents the con- 
 science of the Catholic. It does indicate one thing; that the men who killed 
 Dr. Cronin, stripped him of his clothes, and put him in the catch-basin, had 
 some respect for that emblem. That is all that it indicates, and it simply 
 helps to identify the men who committed the murder. They would not 
 desecrate it upon his neck by tearing it from his dead body: they would 
 give him that advantage after they had killed him, as they thought. But 
 they could bury that emblem, that they thought sacred in a sewer." 
 
 Mr. Hynes concluded his speech in this form : 
 
 "Oh, there is no conspiracy behind! There is no citadel ofj crime, 
 your Honor," suddenly turning around and addressing the Court, "of which 
 these men are simply the outworks! There is no dark nest of criminals 
 behind these to be uncovered, and uncovered only in the face of dire results 
 of the awful crime that they have committed ! 
 
 "And committed for what? What was the motive? Judge Wing 
 appealed to you, and Mr. Donahoe talked to you as if a predjudice of race or 
 religion had any place in this trial. Did it ever occur to any man connected 
 with the prosecution or the defense that any question of that kind could 
 nter into the breasts of this jury? Do you think that Judge Wing or Mr. 
 I >onahoe has any apprehensions of that kind that these men should be pun- 
 ished because they are Irishmen, or because he says they are Catholics ? 
 They may be Catholic in name. I do not know whether they are Irishmen. 
 Burke, it appears, was born in Ireland, and Donahoe made a point when an
 
 528 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 inquiry was made of Collcran, as to what county he was born in, and it 
 appeai-s he was born in the County of Mayo. Why was that inquiry made V 
 Because Colleran was from Mayo, and it was simply to show that thej 
 were neighbors and came from places within a few miles of each other. 
 Simply to show to the jury that we had to go to his friend to get whatever 
 information we could, and to show the earnestness of that friendship. In 
 that Mr. Donahoe discovers an attempt to appeal to the predjudices of thii 
 jury against the County Mayo man. 
 
 " Gentlemen, Judge Wing solemnly submitted to you a proposition that 
 he did not know how you might feel as to the right or dutv of an Irishman, 
 separated from the land of his birth, taking an interest in the affairs of that 
 land after he has become a citizen of the United States. I am not here to 
 criticise an Irishman's right to do that; so far as I have anything to say on 
 that subject it would be for me to defend it, because our country, first, last, 
 and all the time, is for the right of humanity the world over, and where 
 humanity is suffering, and where liberty is trampled in the dust, there 1 
 think is to be found the cause of the true devotee of freedom. It is a natu- 
 ral thing that an Irishman, born in Ireland, or even the son of a man born 
 in Ireland, should take an interest in that land and in its struggle for 
 national recognition and for self-government. 'J here are very few Ameri- 
 can citizens who do not sympathize with that effort. I justify every legiti- 
 mate and honorable endeavor of every Irishman to better the condition of 
 his native land, but let it be done as Washington did it; let it be done as 
 Emmet attempted to do it in honorable, open, manly and legitimate 
 endeavor to establish self-government, and not by making war upon 
 defenseless men and women and attacking the lives of non-combatants. 
 
 " For the past nine or ten years, when these acts have been charged on 
 the triangle, and when these lawless, fruitless and destructive acts of the 
 Irish cause have been charged against the triangle 
 
 " I except to these remarks," said Mr. Donahoe. " There is no evidence 
 to that." 
 
 " 1 suppose that the speech of Tom O'Connor," said Mr. Hynes, " that 
 these men had been sent to English prisons, is not considered in evidence by 
 the gentleman." 
 
 "There had been conversation of that kind," remarked the Court, and 
 the objection of Mr. Donahoe being overruled, Mr. Donahoe took an excep- 
 tion. 
 
 "I apprehend," continued Mr. Hynes, "there has not been a rational, 
 thinking and intelligent Irishman who has not recognized the fact that 
 every one of these acts was embarrassing if not destructive to the cause of 
 Ireland ; that every one of them simply met as an echo a new penal act or 
 an act of coercion on the part of the English government, and crippled the 
 hands and silenced the voices, even, of the true champions of Ireland mak- 
 ing their fight under Mr. Parnell. Anything of that kind, I am willing to 
 join with Mr. Foster in saying was a perversion of the purposes of the 
 organization to which these gentlemen belonged ; a perversion of its intent; 
 a departure from its policy and its methods; and, as I said last night, 
 invented by them, not for the cause of Ireland or to serve its ends, but sim- 
 ply as a means to excuse and cover up the disappearance of money that had 
 been stolen. 
 
 "Some allusion has been made by Mr. Donahoe to myself. I do not 
 propose to refer to it, except in one respect. What possible personal motive 
 could I have, except the motive that every citizen should be actuated by, 
 end that should control the conduct of every lawyer engaged in the 
 prosecution of a great case like this? Should I fail in my duty when invited 
 into this case by the State's Attorney to assist him in its prosecution? Was 
 the fact that I first saw the light of day in the same land that Martin Burk 
 did, going to embarrass my conduct or to hinder me in the performance of n y 
 duty in any respect? A scandal to my profession, and a shame an<i reproach 
 to my people, would I indeed be, if for one moment I forgot my simple func- 
 tion of an American lawyer, in an American court, before an American 
 jury, pleading for the vindication of American law. If these men, unf- r- 
 tunately situated as they are to-day, have been personal enemies, I do not 
 know them. I certainly have no personal feeling; I contemplate thpm 
 only with pain and with regret and with shame. I never saw one of them 
 before the commission of this crime , exc pt John F. Beggs, and
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 529 
 
 you that although I had seen John F. Beggs, and had spoken with him 
 and had a very slight acquaintance with him, I did not know that the man 
 indicted under that name was the prisoner at the bar, until the first day that 
 I came into court here. Whatever relation I had with him was not of an 
 unkind character ; so that I come to the trial of this case free from the 
 impulse of personal motive having no anxiety jex< ept an anxiety for the 
 punishment of crime, the vindication of the law, the maintenance of its 
 majesty, the sanctity i if human life, and tb? punishment of the foulest, 
 crime that has blotted the calendar of this State, or of any other State of this 
 American Union. 
 
 " Now, you have listened to me with patience; I thank you for your 
 attention through the desultory speech that it was necessary for me to 
 make after the exhaustive and able manner in which the people's case had 
 I x-en presented to you by the two distinguished gentlemen who preceded 
 me. Judge Longenecker and Mr. Ingham. In leaving you, gentlemen (5f 
 the jury, and this case and my associates in it, I trust I leave it without any 
 trace of personal feeling toward anybody counsel or anybody else in this 
 case. If, in the sharp fight of a lawsuit of a trial like this under the spur 
 of combat at times, I have said or done anything that tas wounded the feel- 
 ings or hurt the sensibilities of any man, no matter who, I am sorry for it. 
 I want you to take this case. It is a great case and a serious case. There 
 never was a greater nor more serious duty devolved upon any twelve men 
 on God's earth. It is as sacred and as important as the duty of the soldiers 
 who went out to fight for the flag and maintain the unity of the States and 
 the sovereignty of the Constitution. I commit it to you with all its awful 
 solemnity ; with all its awful responsibilities, feeling confident that in the 
 breast of every one of these twelve men beats the heart of an honorable, 
 honest, a patriotic and a law-abiding man ; that your verdict will be the 
 verdict of your conscience a verdict that your consciences and judgments 
 will approve and that the Court will ratify, that God will sanctify, that will 
 vindicate the law and commit the guilty to a just punishment." 
 
 FOSTER'S PLEA FOR BEGGS. 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Hynes' argument, Mr. Foster, who appeared 
 specially in behalf of John F. Beggs, claimed the attention of the Court. 
 Among other things he said : 
 
 " Dr. Croniu was murdered. A more dastardly and heinous murder, a 
 more atrocious and cold-blooded murder, in my judgment was never perpe- 
 trated. Are the gentlemen for the State satisfied with that? In this con- 
 nection allow me to urge you to pause and consider. You remember what 
 it is to which I refer. Whatever you may see of error on the part of coun- 
 sel, in the name of heaven don't charge it on the head of his client. Don't 
 charge the forgetfulness; don't charge the investigation ; don't charge the 
 bad judgment of the lawyer upon the head of the client he is attempting to 
 represent. The man who does not say that the murderer or murderers of 
 Dr. Cronin ought to be punished is a man whose friendship I don't prize, and 
 whose citizenship, in my judgment, we can get along better without than 
 with. Those are my sentiments ; that is my belief; but in the name of God, 
 gentlemen, must an innocent man suffer because of a crime which we con- 
 cede as being perpetrated in our midst? Are the minds of men to be 
 inflamed, are men to lose their reason by visiting vengeance on a man who 
 is charged of the diabolical crime of the murder which is being investigated 
 here? 
 
 "These are the questions to which I direct your attention to some 
 extent. Because a man has espoused a cause, because a man is identified 
 with a clan which may not meet your approval or may not meet mine, that 
 is no reason, no excuse under heaven, why his life should be destroyed. And 
 I thank my friend. Judge Longenecker, for the statement which he made 
 at the very threshold of this case as to what the issue involved really was. 
 Jn bis opening he used this language in reference to the Clan-na-Gael
 
 53O THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Society: 'Remember that we are not called upon to try the Clan-na-Gael 
 organization; we are not here fci prosecute that organization or to defend 
 it. If that organization has no right to exist, then it is the duty of the gov- 
 ernment under which it exists to take hold of it. It is not the duty of those 
 trying the criminal case to settle that question. As I said, no matter what 
 our feelings may be in regard to this, no matter what our ideas may be 
 aooutan organization formed to make war with a country at peace with 
 ours, we are not called to try that question, and you are not sworn to try 
 that issue.' Gentlemen, every word of that is true." 
 
 Mr. Foster then went on to comment upon the questions relating to 
 prejudice on the part of the jurors put during their examination. He said 
 that those questions were proper and wise, because it was needful to 
 ascertain if they entertained any religious or radical prejudice. Then he 
 said: "John F. Beggs must bo convicted of the murder of Patrick H. 
 Cronin, or he must be discharged. There is no question here as to whether 
 he is a Protestant or as to whether he is a Catholic. There is no question 
 here as to whether he is a Clan-na-Gael or whether he is not. He is a 
 murderer and must be punished for murder or he must be discharged by 
 your verdict. The issue is simple easy to understand. No intricate plead- 
 ings are needed in this case; no intricate issues are involved. The plain 
 and simple question is, did John F. Beggs kill Dr. Cronin ? Not necessarily 
 with his Own hand, but was he a part and parcel of a conspiracy to destroy 
 the life of Patrick H. Cronin '( Freed of all rubbish, that question is left to 
 your consid ration and no other. There are some things, gentlemen, of 
 which 1 complain in this case, and I believe I have a right to complain of 
 them. The law in its wisdom has provided means for the punishment of 
 crime. One of the most important offices in the State of Illinois, one of the 
 mosi remunerative offices is the office of State's Attorney of Cook county. 
 Why is that office sought for ? Because itis honorable, because it is remun- 
 erative, and the lawyers are few who would not gladly assume the respon- 
 sibilities of the office of public prosecutor. The law not only provides for 
 a public prosecutor, but it provides for five assistants. Mr. Foster then 
 referred to the importance of having a competent and trustworthy man 
 for this office, and then remarked that it was singular that the State's 
 Attorney with his five assistants could not attend to the business of the 
 county." At this juncture he made it evident that he was opposed to the 
 appointment of Mr. Hynes ro assist the prosecution, for he said : 
 
 "No sooner was there an arrest made on account of the murder of Dr. 
 Cronin than war was declared in the opposing camps of the Clan-na-Gael in 
 Chicago. It was war to the knife, and the knife to the hilt, which has been 
 kept up incessantly from that time to this. What was the first thing to do? 
 Employ a good lawyer. Not satisfied with the provisions of the statute to 
 which I have referred not satisfied with the ability of my learned friend, 
 Judge Longenecker, and all his assistants, they looked for another man. They 
 cast about for a. man of extraordinary ability to come to the rescue and hang 
 the lot of opposing Clan-na-Gaels, and as they cast about for the man, he, who 
 of all others is a power before a ju ry,the man who first attracts their attention 
 is the man who last addr.-ssed you a man whose home is in the courts a 
 man who only lives to address juries, and by addressing juries and courts 
 a man who can win cases before juries regardless of the facts by the power 
 of his ingenuity and his eloquence. That is the man they want; that is 
 the man they will have, who, in addition to the power I have referred to, 
 is a partisan in the conflict, an Irishman and a Clan-na-Gael of the opposing 
 faction. What other man among the two thousand lawyers at the Chicago 
 bar except \Vi;liam J. Hynes, is the man to whom their attention is 
 called ?" 
 
 Having commented on the able arguments of Mr. Ingliam and Mr. 
 Hynes, Mr. Foster said : 
 
 " All I desire that you should do, gentlemen, is this: After the argu- 
 ments are finished, when t'.ie silvery-tongued orator is done and you retire 
 to deliberate upon and consider your verdict, sit down and wait until your 
 blood is cool, sit down and wait until calm judgment and cool discretion 
 take the place of frenzied emotion, before you act, and by your action com- 
 mit a deed which shall haunt you to your grave. 
 
 " Only a century ago Ireland blossomed as a rose. From the center to 
 the circumference of that beautiful isle the smoke-stacks opened their
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 531 
 
 black mouths toward the sky. Throughout the length and breadth of the 
 land the tiros glittered and gleamed upon the forges t-f industry, and every- 
 where the buzz of the spindle and the clatter of the loom were heard. 
 Among 1 the illustrious names which history gives us we find among them 
 some of the grandest statesmen, some of the most eloquent orators and 
 most learned scholars that ever lived upon this earth, either in times modern 
 or ancient, were the sons of the Emerald Isle. Bui how have the mighty 
 fallen ! Armed forces have invaded the territory ; the jury and the courts 
 have been superseded by the dru-mhead court-martial ; coats of tar and 
 leathers have been resorted to; men, women and little children have been 
 publicly whipped; the parliament has been stolen away; the smoke-stacks 
 are cold and crumbled, and h'res are out on the forges and in the furnaces, 
 and the spindle and the loom ai e still. 
 
 Counsel read selections from the address of John F. Beggs to President 
 Harrison at Indianapolis at the time he visited that city with the Iri.-h 
 national committee, and also President Harrison's reply to the address of 
 the organization, and then said: " Do you question for a moment the loy- 
 alty of the Irish people in America, and would you condemn them for their 
 loyalty to their mother country? It is not charged in this case that the Clan- 
 na-Gaels are dynamiters. If it had been my brother Hynes is the only one 
 connected with this case who could give you reliable and full information 
 on that subject, because he is a dynamiter. It may possibly have been that 
 some men would think that by throwing a little dynamite into England it 
 would set Englishmen thinking favorably of the project of that old states- 
 man, Gladstone, to give to the Green Isle liberty to govern herself. Or 
 perhaps it might have been regarded as a matter of retaliation for the suf- 
 fering and indignity which the s >ns and daughters of the Green Isle had 
 encountered for years. I do not know anything about it and therefore 
 shall not refer to it. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, I have got an unpleasant duty to perform. I'realize 
 the fact that when we step upon the narrow walks ot the city of the dead we 
 aretreadinguponsacredground. Hewhospeaksof a soul departed in any 
 other than words of commendation had bettor weigh well the purport of his 
 language. Human charity is ever willing to bury with the bodies of men all 
 the evil which they do, and remember only their virtues. That is commend- 
 able. That is right. Yet, gentlemen, I say I have a painful duty to per- 
 form because of certain expressions made by my client during the life of 
 the man whose soul is now in eternity, and in order that I may protect his 
 life I feel that I am justified even in censuring the conduct of the man dur- 
 ing life, who has passed into eternity. The man who supposes or has sup- 
 posed that Dr. Cronin, while here on eprth, wns an angel in di=guise, is very 
 much mistaken. Now, is that hard to say of a man who is dead? I hope 
 you do not misconstrue the purpose for which I have stated it, or the object 
 I have in view, but because my client has given his opinion while Dr. Cro 
 nin was ative. I have a right to give it, so long as my client is alive in order 
 that he may live, and that my language may be understood and justified in 
 every regard. Whether or not this is an illegal organization, wnether or 
 not the dynamite policy existed as stated by Judge Longenecker in his 
 opening argument, whether or not the purposes of the organization are to 
 send dynamite to England and there to destroy human life and the 
 lives of men and women and of children, as my friend says, I know not, 
 but if that was the object of the organization the most active member and 
 the promoter of the society and the purposes of the organization was Dr. 
 Patrick H. Cronin. 
 
 "To that statement I emphatically object," said Judge Longenecker. 
 " We wanted to prove the reverse of that, and that _Dr. Cronin was 
 expelled because he bitterly opposed the dynamite doctrine. nd we were 
 not allowed to do it. It is not right to make such an assertion against a 
 dead man, and, for one, I will not sit here and listen to it. So far from Dr. 
 Cronin ever taking a dynamite policy, so far from his being an active 
 member in furthering such a purpose, we wished to prove that he wrote a 
 circular bitterly opposing the dynamite policy, for which he was expelled 
 from his camp. It is not right, it is not manly to charge upon a dead man 
 something that is entirely without foundation and opposed to the truth." 
 
 " I claim that I have the right to argue that he was an active member 
 in that project," retorted Mr. Foster. ' because the gentleman shows that he 
 organized camp after camp in this city anci organized them on one basis."
 
 532 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 44 And that basis was diametrically opposed to any dynamite policy and 
 also opposed to the triangle, which dictated that policy, 1 ' said Judge Longe- 
 necker. " If Cronin were here and could defend himself it would be a dif- 
 ferent matter." 
 
 44 1 do not know of any testimony from which you can argue that there 
 was any dynamite policy, Mr. Foster," said the court. 4- 1 certainly do not 
 know of any such testimony, and therefore I do not think I can permit you 
 to proceed on that ground." 
 
 41 It is in testimony that the dynamile policy of the organization was 
 approved, because they were all reunited," said Mr. Foster. " I know what 
 Hynes has said and 1 claim the right to reply to him unless the gentleman 
 for the prosecution particularly desires to interrupt me. He does not dis- 
 turb me at all but simply interrupts me." 
 
 44 1 shall interrupt you just as long as you unjustly attack a dead man 
 who can not defend him? elf," said Judge Longenecker. 
 
 44 There is evidence in this case, gentlemen, to the effect that Cronin, in 
 lifetime, did organize certain societies, and what that evidence is I will read 
 by and by. If I go beyond that evidence at all, and state what I can not 
 prove, I shall suffer by it, because if I depart from the facts as you know 
 them to be, any remarks I may make will have no effect whatever upon 
 you. I do say this, that if it were not a dynamite policy, and the question 
 was not whether it was wrong to send dynamite to England, that it was 
 wrong to steal a hundred thousand dollars to keep in this country which 
 ought to have been spent in England, and sent there for the destruction of 
 the lives of men, women and children. Dr. Cronin protested against that. 
 Now, in the case of JohnF. Beggs, from the commencement of this trial 
 down to the present time, there has been no objection taken before you. 
 Where has been the concealment of a fact? Where has there been any 
 objection against testimony? Where has there been an exception to the 
 ruling of the court? Now, I am not complaining because the learned law- 
 yer objected and . excepted, but I say on behalf of my client that his life and 
 connection in this case in its ramifications has been an open book before 
 you. They called him before the coroner, and for hours he testified and 
 was examined by the coroner as prompted by my learned friend. He was 
 called before the grand jury and examined by the State's Attorney and his 
 assistants by the hour as to every fact within his knowledge, as to every 
 circumstance as to hi-j whereabouts, and everything their ingenuity could 
 suggest. That was the reason why I called my friend, Judge Longenecker, 
 to the witness stand. I wanted to show you, gentlemen, and I wanted you 
 to know that this man had been examined twice with reference to all the 
 circumstances surrounding him in this historic Camp 20. That examination 
 had been taken by a stenographer in shorthand in both places, and not a 
 single statement tnat John F. Beggs made on either of these occasions has 
 been disputed, and the gentlemen know it. 
 
 44 1 was impressed with the idea of my client's innocence the first time I 
 ever talked with him, and I am more than ever satisfied of it at the present 
 time. Where did they get those letters which he wrote to Spelman and 
 received from Spelman ? Did he not send for the chief of police, and tell 
 them where he would find them in his office, and yet the prosecution in this 
 case makes those very letters the foundation on which this jury is asked to 
 take him out and strangle him and destroy his life. The first thing that my 
 client is supposed to have said or done in connection with this case, as 
 alleged by a witness, that he said Dr. Cronin ought not to be put on the trial 
 committee to try Alexander Sullivan. It is in evidence that Dr. Cronin 
 made all the charges of embezzlement of the funds, and the sending of the 
 brothers to the English prison, on which the triangle was to be tried, and 
 would you, gentlemen, like to be tried by a man you knew to be your 
 enemy, whether it might be for your life, your liberty or your property? 
 You must remember, gentlemen, that these facts complained of by Dr. 
 Cronin took place two years before Beggs was a member of the Clan-na- 
 Gael, and hespoke as he felt, and if the foundation on which be based his 
 remarks was true then his deduction Avas true, and you, gentlemen, know 
 that having made the charges of embezzlement and of worse than murder 
 against Alexander Sullivan and the triangle, he was perfectly justified in 
 saying that the Doctor was not a proper man to sit on the investigating com- 
 mittee. It is charged by one witness that Beggs is alleged to have said that
 
 * THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 533 
 
 Dr. Crouin was not a fit man to belong to any Irish society. Why ? Because 
 Coughlin had told him, and ottered to make an affidavit to the effect, that 
 Dr. Cronin had admitted him to the secrets of the organization without ini- 
 tiating him. It is claimed that Dr. Cronin was expelled from Columbia 
 (/amp. Su ppose he were, was he justified because he knew all passwords 
 :m<l the grip and the ritual of the organization in shirting hostile organiza- 
 tions without any authority? It is in proof here that one of his first acts 
 after his expulsion was to start a hostile camp with the same number and a 
 name calculated to mislead, for while he was expelled from Columbia Club, 
 No. !>6, he organized Columbus Club, No. 96. 
 
 " How often do you hear the expression that a man is not fit to belong 
 to a church, or is not lit to belong to a political body? Some of you gentle- 
 men of the jury are Masons, others Odd Fellows, and what would you think 
 of a Mason, if in the judgment of the lodge he was deemed a lit subject for 
 expulsion, and who, after being expelled and put out of the organization, 
 went right across the street and started a lodge of his own? Ho would ha'V e 
 the password, he would have the ritual. He would have all the necessary 
 forms and ceremonies and grips to enable him to start such a lodge, and 
 what would you say of such a man, especially if he named the new lodge 
 the same name as you gave yours? Counsel then referred to the trial by 
 the Presbyterian church of Professor Swing, and his subsequent expul- 
 sion therefrom; to the trial of Professor Thomas by the Methodist Church, 
 and his expulsion therefrom for heresy; charges which a few years before 
 would have insured the burning of those two men, then passed on to con- 
 sider the disagreement in the Episcopal Church which resulted in the forma- 
 tion of the Reformed Episcopal Church, and inquired if the jury ever 
 dreamed of men being put on their trial in any of those churches for saying 
 that Dr. Swing was not lit to be in the Presbyterian Church, or that Dr. 
 Thomas was not fit to be in the Methodist Church. 
 
 "And yet, continued Mr. Foster, the expressions they used were the 
 same as John F. Beggs is testified here to have used, and on account of 
 which they ask you to destroy his life. Beggs' statement of his opinion 
 giving the reasons upon which he made it, was harmless, yet the gentlemen 
 stand here and argue by the hour, and ask you to lind that Beggs was an 
 enemy of Cronin because of these expressions. Now, gentlemen, the evi- 
 dence of John F. Finerty is that Cronin was at that convention that 
 appointed that trial committee to investigate the old executive, commonly 
 designated by the name of the triangle. This is a point upon which we had 
 some dispute to-day, and I refer to it simply to show that I was correct in 
 my statement on that point. But the gentlemen have already conceded 
 that they were wrong and I was right. Now I say that these were harmless 
 expressions, and they are the only expressions which have been shown in 
 evidence, or of which any evidence existed. I say existed, because if they 
 ever existed anywhere they would have been proven in evidence. That was 
 all that Beggs ever said against Cronin from the day of the beginning of 
 the world down to the present time. That was all. All that he ever said 
 was the statement that he ought not to have been on the trial committee 
 which met at Buffalo, and from the statements made to him, naming the 
 man who made them, that he (Cronin) had no business belonging to a'iy 
 Irish societies. They say that he claimed friendship for Alexander Sullivan 
 I shall refer to that hereafter but did he ever denounce Cronin? Never! 
 Never! All the members of the organization have been ai-rested, and brought 
 to the State's attorney's office and discharged, cr brought here and sworn a 
 witnesses, and not one of them can say he ever heard a word that he 
 ever saw John F. Beggs rise in his place and utter one word of denuncia- 
 tion against the murdered Dr. Cronin. 
 
 " Gentlemen of the Jury, Beggs was right when he made that statement. 
 If you are going to hang him for that I may as well stop here and now. 
 Take him inside the narrow limits bf the jail and hang him, and let this 
 faive end at once, and with it end the institution which we term our glori- 
 ous courts of justice. 
 
 Mr. Foster went on to say, that there was not one syllable in the case 
 from beginning to end to show that Beggs was not one of the most con- 
 sistent friends that Dr. Cronin ever had. No hatred had been proven, no 
 ill will shown. It was simply sought to convict Beggs, because the testimony- 
 showed that Burke had gone to his office twice in January and once in
 
 534 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 February. It was not now, however, that he had ever gone there afterward, 
 or that Beggs had ever associated with him anywhere else. As for the pro- 
 ceedings of Camp 20, it was simply unfortunate for Beggs that he had 
 allowed himself to be elected senior guardian of the camp. But for that he 
 would be walking upon the street and breathing the free air. Had he had a 
 headache on the 8th day of February, if he had a toothache, if he had gone 
 to the theatro with his wife, if any thing in Gods world had happened to 
 him, except the chance that took him down to preside for the first time after 
 installation in the office of senior guardian of camp 20, he would have been 
 a free man that day. There was no question about that, with no animosity 
 toward Dr. Cronin, and no ill will, and a clamor and a jj.Iaim for unity and 
 peace was the offense that he had committed, and nothing more. 
 
 Mr. Foster concluded his speech on the morning of Saturday, December 
 7th. He again reviewed the affairs of CampfcO, urging that there was no 
 proof of the existence of a secret committee, and no evidence against 
 Beggs. Stress was laid upon the fact that the ex-senior guardian had set 
 up no alibi, but that he had endeavored to aid the State by every means in 
 his power. In conclusion Mr. Foster said: 
 
 Now, there is another matter, gentlemen, to which I desire to call your 
 attention. I can imagine that an Irishman, with all the hardships of his 
 father in his mind, and all the hardships to which he has been subjected, 
 might feel as if he could take a dagger and plunge it into the heart of a 
 British spy, and then kneel down before his God and ask. a blessing of the 
 Divinity upon him. But John F. Beggs never believed that Dr. Cronin was 
 a British spy. John F. Beggs is not deserving of mercy if he stood at the 
 head of that cruel conspiracy to effect Dr. Cronin's murder. No words of 
 commendation, no thought of pity, not one syllable, would I say in his 
 behalf were he guilty of this atrocious and cold-blooded murder", because 
 John F. Beggs is the dupe of no man. He is the tool of no man. He stands 
 forth responsible for his acts, wjthout a mitigat ng circumstance if he 
 is guilty. Therefore, I say to you, gentlemen, in all candor and sincerity, 
 you must either destroy the life of John F. Beggs or else you must turn him 
 free. 
 
 " Are you opposed to the execution of the death penalty? You and 
 each one of you have sworn that you were not. Are you waiting for a 
 murder more atrocious ? In the name of heaven when do you expect to 
 hear of one '( I am talking sense now. I am appealing to your reason and 
 your judgment. If John F. Beggs is guilty John F. Beggs must die. 
 Shame to the verdict, shame to the verdict, I say, which, under the circum- 
 stances surrounding this case, would say, ' We will not torture our minds 
 and we have not the moral turpitude to hang a man upon this evidence, 
 but, by guessing and imagining and speculating that he might ba guilty, we 
 will give him a term in the penitentiary upon general principles and upon 
 speculation. 1 Shame to such a verdict as that. Humanity can stand no 
 such outrage perpetrated upon her citizens. I said yesterday that the con- 
 duct of John F. Beggs had been an open book before you. Why, when the 
 organization of the coroner's jury was effected, one of the members of 
 Camp 20, Captain Thomas O'Connor, rushed to Deggs, as the highest officer 
 in the camp, and said : ' How about the secrets of the organization ? 1 have 
 been subpoenaed as a witness.' What was bis reply ? Was it concealment ? 
 Captain O'Connor, the most prejudiced witness in this case against my 
 client, the man who has more feeling than any other witness against my 
 client, is compelled by truth to say that John F. Beggs said: 'Tell every- 
 thing you know.' 
 
 " Where was the concealment then ? When the men who are interested 
 in the prosecution of the murder of Cronin, when the men who have 
 devoted the energies of their lives to the prosecution of these defendants, 
 in the finding out, the spying out and determining of the guilty parties, go 
 to the senior guardian, and say: * What ahall we do when summoned before 
 the officers of the law in regard to the secrets of the society?' they arc met 
 with the prompt response : ' Tell everything you know.' No concealment. 
 No covering. No destruction of record. ' Tell everything you know.' 
 
 " How was it with Luke Dillon, who came from Philadelphia, interested 
 in the prosecution of this case, going home, whining like a sick child, squeal- 
 ing like a stuck pig, because investigation was going too far, and giving to 
 the public the secrets of the organization. But Beggs says: 'Tell every- 
 thing you know.'
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 535 
 
 "Gentlemen, my client has already suffered too much in this case. He 
 is ruined. A young 1 man who has blossomed out in a noble profession is 
 forever ruined. It requires but a charge of this kind, it matters not what 
 your verdict may be, and the stain is fastened upon his skirts and there it 
 must stay forever. He has already suffered too much, I have no perora- 
 lii in to make. I demand your cool, deliberate judgment, and that is all I 
 ask. I make no appeal to your sympathy. On behalf of myself, and on 
 behalf of Beggs, and of my associates, I extend to you thanks for the kind 
 and patient manner in which you have listened to the testimony and 
 listened to my efforts at an argument. 
 
 " I hope the time is short when he will be able to thank each one of you, 
 to take each one of you by the hand and in person thank you for his deliv- 
 erance, an'l then may you be returned to the loved ones at home, and may he 
 bo returned to the bosom of his loved wife, for Jove makes the world so 
 small that all the beauty is in one face, all the music in one voice and all the 
 rapture is in one kiss. Gentlemen, I thank you." 
 
 FORREST'S ABLE PLEA ON BEHALF OF HIS CLIENTS. 
 
 "If your Honor please, and you, Gentlemen of the Jury, you sit in judg- 
 ment on the lives of your fellow-citizens. You act, you look, like men who 
 are thoroughly imbued with a sense of your responsibility. You have lis- 
 tened attentively to all the details of the testimony. You have listened 
 with admiration to the discussion of the testimony by the distinguished 
 gentlemen who have preceded me. You can not have failed to note the 
 radical difference between the method of treating the evidence by counsel 
 for the defendant and by counsel for the people. One is wrong, altogether 
 wrong; the other is right, altogether right. The question is an important 
 one. You will hear my discussion on it and the discussion of Brother Mills, 
 and then you will hear the Judge pronounce upon the method of treating 
 the evidence. You will pay no attention to what I say about the law 
 unless it commends itself to your reason, and unless what I shall say is 
 afterward given in principle or substance by the Court. It must be that 
 the method of treating the circumstantial evidence has been pointed 
 out clearly. The books are filled with decisions, and our judges can not be 
 radically different in treating it. In England and America they treat 
 it alike, and therefore, I say the prosecution is altogether wrong, or we 
 are a Itogether wrong. The gentlemen for the prosecution tell you that the 
 law of circumstantial evidence is represented by the fable of the farmer 
 and the bunch of fagots, which fable was intended by -<Esop, and by all 
 reproducers of ^Esop, to illustrate, not circumstantial evidence, but the 
 fact that in unity there is strength, or, to use the expression sometimes used 
 in politics or war, ' United we stand, divided we fall.' We claim that that 
 is altogether wrong, and, if I am right, they are altogether wrong in their 
 method, and, if wrong in their method, my inference, is they dare not 
 apply the legal method. Judge Wing, Mr. Donahoe and myself have 
 applied the analytical method, which isadopted by every scientific man and 
 every searcher after truth. I propose, gentlemen, toconsume thisaf ternoon 
 in discussing the question as to which is right in their method of consider- 
 ing the evidence. Mr. Ingham commented upon the rule as laid down by 
 the Supreme Court of Illinois, and then quoted the instruction given by 
 Judge Wing in a case in which he appeared for the prosecution. You are 
 convinced, as jurors, if you are convinced as men, that it is right, when 
 properly understood, but you must not take one piece of this instruction 
 and consider it, when the Supreme Court in passing upon a set of instruc- 
 tions never takes one by itself, but considers one in the light of all the 
 others. So you must consider these instructions in the light of each other." 
 
 The counsel proceeded to read at extreme length from "Wells on Cir- 
 cumstantial "Evidence," with the viewcf showing the unreliability of such 
 testimony. Burrill's work on the same subject was also considered. 
 
 He next read a decision of the Supreme Court, which, in effect, 
 declares that a verdict of guilty can only be arrived at when there is no rea-
 
 536 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 W. S. FORREST, LEADING COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 537 
 
 solvable hypothesis consistent with the innocence of the person charged, 
 even though at the same time the only solution of the crime is the theory 
 of the guilt of the defendant. The life and liberty of the citizen can not be 
 sacrificed on the ground that only by regarding him as guilty can the crime 
 be explained . Mr. Forrest then quoted a case showing that where a phys- 
 ical possibility existed of the crime being committed by some other means 
 than that claimed in the theory of the guilt of the defendant, the supposition 
 of his innocence was not to be excluded on the ground of its moral impos- 
 sibility. 
 
 An adjournment was taken at this point until 10 o'clock Monday morn- 
 ing, December 9, when Mr. Forrest i esumed his address to the jury. 
 
 He began with an apology for his discussion of the question of law on 
 Saturday, stating that he thought it was his duty to do so. Then he went 
 on to argue that witnesses may lie, but facts can not. He took a peculiar 
 line on this point, referring to the tariff discussion, and showing that the 
 Republicans claimed that the tariff is a ^enent to the country, and that the 
 Democrats claimed the opposite. " So you see," continued counsel, " much 
 depends upon the disposition you have when you start to look at facts." 
 He then read from "Taylor on the Law of Evidence," citing a case in 
 whjch Macbeth was quoted to show that the smearing of the daggers was 
 an intentional effort to create circumstantial evidence against the innocent. 
 The decision also referred to Joseph's coat of many hues which was stained 
 by the blood of a kid. All this was done to show the unreliability of cir- 
 cumstantial evidence. Then Mr. Forrest turned his attention to the case 
 on trial, referring to the fact that Klahre had soldered the box that was 
 supposed to contain Dr. Cronin's clothes, which, he remarked, according to 
 the theory of the prosecution, was to have been shipped to England and 
 received by some accomplice in the crime and afterward published to the 
 world as containing Dr. Cronin's clothes. 
 
 "You do not claim that I BJ id that?" asked Judge Longenecker. 
 
 " No," replied Mr. Forrest, " but that was your theory and that wag the 
 theory of the whole world. It was not only the State's Attorney's theory, 
 gentlemen; it was not only the theory of the press of Chicago; itwaithe 
 theory of the whole world. The whole world has learned the proof. These 
 clothes were never in that box. You have since seen that the clothes that 
 these gentlemen assure had been sent by Martin Burke to Englandin that 
 box were never shipped over the sea. The box was never intended for an 
 alleged accomplice. It was never intended to contain the corpse of Dr. 
 Cronin. Inspiteof all their reasoning and of all the inferences that they 
 drew, by chance a workman in a sewer in the town of Lake View turned 
 up Dr. Cronin's clothes, which, instead of being in England iiiatiiibox, 
 were in a valise buried in a sewer in the town of Lake View. 
 
 " In all seriousness I will ask you two questions : suppose the cleaning 
 of that sewer had not occurred until after this trial. Don't you know that 
 in every speech of these distinguished orators they would have urged that 
 Martin Burke was guilty because he sent Dr. Cronin's clothes over the sea? 
 If that argument had been mad "! to me, and these clothes had not been 
 <" iscovered would not I have given it weight? Can not you learn from 
 that fact some lessons ? You can learn that these gentlemen for the State 
 are no safer guides than we are. You can learn that circumstantial evi- 
 dence can lie and mislead, and although the defendant may not be able to 
 disprove what they prove, as they say, it does not follow that the defend- 
 ants are guilty." 
 
 DIFFICULT PART OF THE DEFENSE. 
 
 " You see the difficulty that the defense is in when we have to prove a 
 negative. How could we prove that the clothes were not over the sea if 
 accident had not turned them up in the sewer in Lake View ? You see the 
 danger of assuming to be true what we can not disprove. You see th *, 
 unreliability of circumstantial evidence. You see the difficulty we have in 
 proving a negative. Suppose that one of you were on trial, and suppose 
 that the State's Attorney oould introduce a witness to swear he saw you 
 burning a deed or will, and suppose in the middle of the trial the deed 
 should be produced in all its entirety, how rejoiced you would be. So 
 rejoiced were we, and so rejoiced was the soul of Martin Burke, so glad-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 dened was my soul, when the clothes were found in the North Town ; call 
 it fate, call it blind chance, call it an overruling Providence, call it what 
 you will, it did for Martin Burke what his counsel and all the witnesses in 
 the world could never have done. Suppose that the truth had not been 
 disclosed. Suppose that the clothes had not been found ; suppose that the 
 argument had been made I'y these gentlemen and what an argument they 
 would have made in the form of a narrative! describing how the clothes 
 crossed the stormy sea, describing the ship containing this guilty secret. 
 They could have speculated about what was to be done over there, and how 
 it was to be done. Suppose they had done that; suppose that you had 
 believed it; suppose you had drawn the conclusion that they urged you to 
 draw in their opening, and that they would have urged you to draw in their 
 closing. Suppose you had imposed the death penalty on Martin Burke ; 
 suppose the death penalty had been executed, and then the proof should 
 have been discovered that tne clothes were in the North Town sewer, what 
 justification could you have mode to the people of the State of Illinois? 
 What justification could you havemadein your prayers to your God? What 
 justification could you have made in the forum of your own consciences to 
 yourselves? 
 
 "Facts do lie. Now, by an agreement between this court and counsel 
 for the defendant, lam not to speak of the Camp iO conspiracy; but if 
 that agreement had not been made, may it please your honor, I would 
 not have spoken of the Camp 20 conspiracy, because it is wholly unneces- 
 sary. That has been done ably and exhaustively by the distinguished gen- 
 tleman who represents Mr. Beggs. One thing I want to call your attention 
 to and pass it. These gentleman have said, 'What difference does it make 
 whether that remark of Beggs' that the committee reported to him alone 
 was made May 3or May 10.' Why, it makesall the difference in the world to all 
 the defendants except Beggs, if you believe it was the appointment of a 
 secret committee to kill Dr. Cronin. It makes all the difference in the 
 world to them, and the gent'eman that asked the question well knew it. It 
 was made after May 3, and, therefore, if made, it is evidence against nobody 
 but Beggs. If it was made before May 3, it would be evidence against every- 
 body on trial, if you believe that conspiracy was entered into between them. 
 That is the reason why these witnesses were prevailed on to swear that it 
 was made May 3 instead of May 10. Every one of them, I believe, swore 
 that it was May 3, but on cross-examination it turns out that it was May 10. 
 O'Connorsays that it occurred on a certain night when he was appointed 
 on a>i auditing committee, and the record shows that that motion was made 
 on May 10 and that was the only time he was there. So you see that some- 
 body had a motive to change that from May 10 to May 3; and the motive was 
 to make it evidence against all instead of evidence against only one." 
 
 Mr. Forrest went on to say that it was a remarkable thing in this case 
 that the State had just one witness to every matter of importance. There 
 was just one witness who heard Burke say that Cronin was a British spy 
 and ought to be killed. They had just one other witness who heard 
 Coughlin say it was rumored that Cronin was a spy ; then they had just one 
 other witness who heard O'Sullivan say, on the 22d of May, that Cronin 
 was a spy, and is it not remarkable that there should be just one person 
 who heard those gentlemen make such remarks? If they were in the 
 habit of making those remarks, is it not highly probable that they made 
 them more than once, and that they made them to more than one person, 
 yet why was only one produced ? It looks as if they were going out into 
 the highways and by ways of the world, searching for witnesses, and 
 had found only one. 
 
 ATTACKING THE PROSECUTING WITNESSES. 
 
 " Now I shall have something to say with respect, to the credibility of 
 the witnesses," he continued, " and shall ask you to draw inferences you 
 may not be inclined to draw. Probably you will ask me why a person 
 should commit perjury in a cas"> where a citizen is on trial for his life. 
 It is difficult to answer, because we do not know anything of the character 
 of the witnesses or their associations, and can not find out what their con- 
 nection is with other parties. There is also this to be remembered, that men 
 have whimsical ambition. There are witnesses who desire to be distin-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 539 
 
 guished, and who know it is always a great matter to know all about some 
 great crime which has been committed. The man is a hero for the time 
 being. He is a great man, called upon by reporters, written up and petted 
 by the police and other persons. 1 can not tell what the effect of that 
 would be. They may not intentionally commit perjury, but at the same 
 time they may be lead entirely astray from the facts. Counsel regaled the 
 jury with some of his experience in trying other murder cases by way of 
 explaining what he meant, and said it is unpopular to testify on behalf 
 of the defendant in a case like this. The enemies of my client have their 
 claquera placed about the court, whose duty it is to applaud when any- 
 thing comes out favorable to the prosecution. 
 
 " I want to know, if your Honor please, if there is any evidence of any 
 claquers having been placed in this court in this case?" curtly inquired Mr. 
 Ingham. 
 
 " I certainly do not know of any such evidence,'" replied Judge McCon- 
 nell, " and the remark is a highly improper one." 
 
 " Claquc-rs were over ther" in thst corner and very frequently applauded, 
 and that is where the Clan-na-Gaels were congregated," angrily retorted 
 Mr. Forrest. 
 
 "There are no claquers in this court, and the counsel well knows it," 
 said Mr. Ingham, sharply. 
 
 " I can not have you go into that subject or say any more on that line, 
 Mr. Forrest," said Judge McConnell. 
 
 " Very well," said Mr. Forrest, and he then turned around to the jury 
 and informed them that his client on a previous occasion was awarded a 
 new trial by the Supreme Court. Now, I want to call your attention to 
 certain evidence. There is a peculiar combination of men and circum- 
 stances against my clients, Daniel Coughlin and Martin Burke. The same 
 remark applies to the other men, but chiefly to those two. For example, 
 it is worth $100 a week to Patrick Dinan to have it established that his horse 
 took the Doctor away. He told you that. He told you that his horse is in 
 the museum, and if teat fact is nofrestablished then he will lose $100 a week. 
 Now, what effect do you suppose that will have upon his zeal in giving evi- 
 dence ? Again, old man C arisen was in very needy circumstances ; his boy 
 had not been living with his wife for four years. He had been traveling 
 around the country while his wife was living out as a servant, and it was 
 obviously to their advantage and pecuniary interest that the statement 
 should be established that tbe murder was committed in that cottage. How 
 that might tend to affect his testimony and lead him to imagine what never 
 took place, you will decide. It is an unfortunate circumstance, and may 
 have made him renrmber things which never occurred, especially as he is 
 an old man, and the wall between memory; and imagination is nearly 
 broken down, owing to old age. Of course this is peculiarly unfortunate to 
 my client. 
 
 " Another circumstance. It is proved that the Clan-na-Gael in the city 
 of Chicago and throughout the United States is divided into two wings. It 
 is proved that a division exists right through the country. One wing of 
 this Clan-na-Gael exists in the prisoner's bar, the other wing sits in the wit- 
 ness seat. How does the wing that sits in the witness seat conduct itself ? 
 It involves the entire prosecution, and how does it feel toward my client? 
 What do they say? They say your wing are robbers, betrayed their com- 
 rades to the British and sent them to British prisons by telling the British 
 government who they were. One of the witnesses, Captain Thomas O'Con- 
 nor, told you that he worked every day through May, June, July and 
 August as a detective in this case for not one dollar, and you find there are 
 other persons who gave their money and collected money to aid the prose- 
 cution. We have a split in the Clan-na-Gael throughout this entire coun- 
 try, and it is a matter of public notoriety and history that 15,000 Clan-na- 
 Gaels were in the prosecution. Don't you know it is the same old cover of 
 Irish slander? It is the Irish leaders slandering each other, and they will 
 slander each other for all eternity. Now what is the effect of this ? On the 
 one side they say your wing is sending out comrades to British prisons, 
 betraying them to the British government, and they are prosecuting them, 
 while they say the patriots whom they laud to the sky are dynamiters who 
 sent dynamite to England to wreck property and lives. Don't you see that 
 stand out plainly and distinctly? And not alone has it permeated the
 
 54O THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 prosecution, but if you believe what Lyman said about it, one of the 
 dynamiters sits right here at the prosecution table. Do you suppose there 
 is much difference between the leaders of the two wings? I do not, 
 geneially speaking. One wing charges the other with betraying their com- 
 rades arid sending them to British prisons. W hat is the effect of it ? Every 
 man who has left Ireland for Ireland's good, because the English police 
 were after him, and every man who came here from Millbank, came here 
 crying. 'Kevenge, revenge, revenge.' And yet they say they come here 
 and want an American jury to pass upon an American case, while the 
 motive behind it all is ancient Irish malice, so far as that thing is concerned. 
 What effect has this had upon the witnesses? There is not a witness who 
 has been discovered in this case since-the coroner's jury that is not a suspi- 
 cious witness. Did you notice the peculiarity of the witnesses? I never 
 saw such a body of witnesses and you never did. They have eyes like the 
 eagle; like the OAvls they can see better and farther by night than by day. 
 Their hearing is as sensitive as that of the deer that roams through our 
 northern forests. Their perceptive faculties are marvelous. Their recol- 
 lection is beyond conception. They can remember the slightest circum- 
 stance. Every one of them, and it is an extraordinary thing and quite 
 unnatural, remembers the slightest circumstance, and each of them does 
 something more remarkable than the defendants about whom they testify. 
 You will remember that it is not some public event which occurred and by 
 which they recollect, but it is evidence of an occurrence which they them- 
 selves give, and such evidence and such memories as they have. When in 
 the future writers on memory want to give instances of prodigious feats of 
 memory they will search the record of the Cronin trial and cite the wit- 
 nesses for the prosecution. 
 
 " There was that man Pulaski, who testified that he sold Burke a shirt. 
 What an idea! That Burke had only one shirt, and that the witness did what 
 no other man eve/ 1 did in his life to a man who bought a, shirt, asked him to 
 takeoff his coat to measure him. Burke had an abiding place, and why 
 should he go to that store on Sunday, the eth of May, and buy a shirt? If any- 
 thing of the kind ever occurred it was two of those dock loafers who work 
 around the bridge, and who look as if they had only one shirt, and when 
 they make a change of it they buy a new shirt. Now he says ;his man came 
 in and bought a shirt, and that he told him to step back and try on a nice 
 clean shirt, and if it did not fit to put it right back in the lot. You know as 
 well as I do that when you go and buy a ready-made shirt there is only one 
 question asked you What is the size of your collar? But that is not all. He 
 remembers another man who was stan ding across the street, and that this 
 man went into the middle of the street and hailed the other man, and then 
 they had a whispered conversation. Now he tells you that he remembers 
 that the big man wore a 16J4 collar and the little man, who subsequently 
 came across the street, wore a 15V& collar. He remembers it exactly, and did 
 not testify bef re the coroner's inquest. And then they had a photograph 
 which he identities, but they never introduced it in evidence, and I don't 
 know why, but it looked to me as if a 15>6 collar would go only half way 
 round that man's neck. 
 
 " Now comes Klahre, and he says what never occurred. That on the 
 morningof Sunday, May 5th, he read in one of the papers that Dr. Croniu was 
 a spy, and had been made away with. As we all know, Mrs. Conklin testi- 
 fied that not one word was said about it until 12 o'clock Sunday, but they 
 had to get it in quick, because Burke was out of town on the 8th and 9th. 
 He says that on Monday morning Martin Burke came into his place with a 
 box, a tin box, with a rope around it. The expressman brought in the box, 
 which weighed about fifty pounds, and put it down, and we may lightly call 
 this the box trick. Klahre said he was going to cut the rope, when Burke 
 called out: ' Hold on ; don't you cut that rope.' It would not do for him 
 to peep into that box, because he might have seen Dr. Cronin's clothes, and 
 then it he had, and it had turned out subsequently that the clothes were 
 found in the sewer, it might have been shown that he told a fib. But he 
 asked Martin Burke one question, 'What do you think of Cronin's dis- 
 appearance ? ' He tells*you that Burke said, ' He is a British spy, and ought 
 to he killed.' So the great myftery has been solved. He further says that 
 neither he nor Burke said another word in an hour and a half. The first 
 raaa that came there told Klahre just what he wanted to know, and you
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 54! 
 
 will remember that they asked every man they wanted to impeach, ' Didn't 
 you say Cronin was British spy and ought to have been killed?' Now, 
 some one made that to order." 
 
 DRIVER SWANSON 'S STORY. 
 
 " Now take Swanson. By the way, do you remember that when Captain 
 Schuettler, the police officer who spoke to nearly every witness since the 
 coroner's inquest, was on the stand, it turned out that every time he struck 
 ti witness from Clark street to Lake View the man was either a German or 
 a Swede? You would not expect a German dr tective to find an American, 
 m.r would you expecta German detective to find an Irishman. Why I can 
 not tell you, but that is a fact. Now, Swanson gave his testimony. Two 
 of my witnesses go to a livery stable and get a carriage. The carriage was 
 got to go to Fleming's opening on West Van Buren street, and Fleming 
 was a cousin of William Coughlin. The carriage comes to William Cough- 
 lin's saloon, but Coughlin, the very person interested in going to the open- 
 ing, is the very person, according to his testimony, who did not go. The 
 Swede remembers every street he drove through, every place he stopped, 
 and every cobblestone he drove over, and yet they tell you that although 
 it's a large establishment their men did not wear a uniform or livery until 
 after the 10th of May. The man says he had a tall hat, a cut-away coat, his 
 pantaloons did not come up under his vest, and yet he was seen driving 
 through the streets at 13 o'clock at night." 
 
 " O'Sullivan watered his garden on that day, too," dryly remarked the 
 State's Attorney. 
 
 "Yes, and if it had been your witness he would have told you what 
 flower it was he watered, what its color was and just how long it had 
 been growing, in every detail," said Mr. Forrest. 
 
 The counsel then went on to give some of his college experience where 
 a rrofessor told him the great argument of the truth of the gospels of 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke and John was tnat each one of them differed in the 
 circumstantial details of each transaction but all agreed in the essentials of 
 every transaction. " That is the argument which can not be answered, 
 whereas if they had agreed in all the details, the argument would be con- 
 spiracy, collusion and fraud," 
 
 RIDICULING THE PROSECUTING WITNESSES. 
 
 Counsel then criticised the testimony given by Carberry, whom he 
 designated as the impecunious and modest man, and who fixes the night of 
 May 4th by his giving a large order to his grocery, and then considered what 
 he was pleased to call the remarkable story given by Dinan and his wife ar.d 
 Moreland regarding the horse and the buggy which it was alleged the Doc- 
 tor was driven away in. He remarked that the horse left the stable at 7:30, 
 not at 7:20, as had been testified to, and then i>roceeded to review Mrs. 
 Conklin's identification of the horse and buggy. He ridiculed the testimony 
 of the witnesses wfto were able to say that there was a dim light in one room 
 of Mrs. Conklin's house and a bright light in the other, and argued that 
 because they all agreed on that point, therefore there was something sus- 
 
 Eicious about that testimony. " She says she observed more about that 
 orse, with a mosquito screen behind her and an electric light in front of 
 her, than the owner of the horse, who has had it for seven years. Why, if 
 you senta veterinary surgeon to look at that horse, be could not, after look- 
 ing over the horse, give you a more exact description of its peculiarities 
 than Mrs. Conklin learned through that screen. 
 
 " Now comes the knife transaction. Mr. Flynn appears. Mr. Flynn is a 
 remarkable policeman. See if he did not do a more remarkable thing than 
 Dan Coughlin did. He is ordered to arrest Coughlin, and he takes from his 
 pocket a revolver and two knives two knives not worth 10 cents, both of 
 them. He takes the two knives to his desk at the Central Station and locks 
 them up, and then it occurs to him that they will not be safe there and he 
 puts them in the Fidelity deposit vault, when right beneath him on the 
 floor below is the custodian of property taken from prisoners with a vault 
 having a combination lock. Did you ever hear of a policeman taking a 
 revolver and two old knives worth 10 cents to the Fidelity Bank because
 
 542 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 be was responsible for the property? He never says a word about it until 
 last Monday, and he shows them to Coiiklin. And, mirabile dictu! he says 
 he carried thote knives for two years; one of them he found on the street: 
 he put one on the maute', and tho Doctor carried one of them in his vest 
 and one in his pants. He just knew exactiy where the Doctor carried 
 these knives. If you have two kn .ves you do not trou ble yourselves about 
 where you carry them; butConklin knew that the Doctor hud one knife in 
 his vest and the other in his pants. Don't you see what remarkable feats 
 they perform? 
 
 " Now, Neiman is a saloon-keeper, anda party happens to go to his place. 
 Hio attention is called to it three months afterward, and he can remember 
 that three people came in to get a glass of wine, and he can tell you that one 
 of the men wore a Prince Albert coat. It never occurred to anybody that 
 Dan Coughlin and Kunze were in that saloon until a week before Neiman 
 testified, and then Dan foughlin was pointed out to him by a detective. 
 Dcn't you notice the urgency there was how to get him to express an 
 opinion? Now, if witnesses were urged here, what do you suppose was 
 urged upon them outside? Next comes the man Mertes. Owls can see by 
 night, and he says he saw these men enter the cottage and then tells you 
 all about it. Mrs. Hoertel has a remarkable memory. She isin the habit of 
 going out to find her husband who is drunk, and knew certain saloons that 
 he frequented. It was no unusual thing for her to find her husband, but 
 on this night she knows just what streets she went along and just where she 
 turned the corners. She is searching for her husband, and she goes to a 
 saloon, does not see him there, but she looks at the clock and sees that it 
 was exactly eight o'clock, and she Avill never forget the circumstance that 
 it was exactly eight o'clock. She has got to remember that it was eight 
 o'clock or she will run afoul of Mertes, and they both remember the same 
 thing. She says she saw him enter the cottage; she hears the blows and 
 hears the cries of ' God !' and * Jesus! ' and hears the dying moan. And 
 yet she never says a word to any body. She is locked out and sits on the 
 steps all night, and she goes to her husband's partner, with whom she is 
 apparently on good terms, and does not tell her story." 
 
 EXPERTS ON THE CAUSE OP DEATH. 
 
 " Now, we go to their experts on the cause of death. How can they tell 
 the cause of death? I have heard of men giving extraordinary opinions, but 
 their experts can tell you what killed the man, and still they can not find 
 any evidence of it. If the public prosecutor had put in his indictment 
 'cause of death unknown,' it would not have been necessary for them to 
 p.ay he died from some kind of violence, but the jury is prejudiced against 
 these men because they said the death is due to that particular thing. ' 
 
 Mr. Forrest went on to review the testimony of the experts as to the 
 hair and blood, and ridiculed the testimony of Professor Tolman in regard 
 to his microscopical examinations of what he called lanugo . He said, "don't 
 you see the Clan-na-Gaels at work? Let the two wings of the Clan-na- 
 Gaels alone and they will make a laua-hing stock of American juries. You 
 and I have got to stand between them. Everything that they introduced 
 respecting the hair was introduced for the purpo-e of misleading you. The 
 testimony of Tolman was introduced to show by the diameters of 'hairs that 
 were alike that they were Dr. Cronin's hair, so that you should not be mis- 
 lead. A little learning is.a dangerous thing.' A great scientist can take 
 an Irish setter and get two locks of hair from him and examine them; the 
 hairs are of the same diameter; can he swear that they came from the same 
 dog or no? The hairs of dogs are alike, and human hair is as much alike as 
 the hair of horses or of sheep is alike. Only think of taking a bit of wool 
 from one sheep and comparing it with the wool of another sheep to see if 
 they came from the same sheep! We are like the animals in structure: our 
 bones are alike, our hearts are alike, our viscera are alike; there is no 
 material difference, and it is just as impossible to tell whether two locks 
 came from the same human head as it is to tell whether wisps of hair came 
 from the same horse's tail." 
 
 CAUSE OP DR. CRONIN'S DEATH. 
 
 At the opening of the afternoon session, Mr. Forrest began the discus- 
 sion of the cause of death. " It is said by the learned gentlemen who repre-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 543 
 
 sent the people, that our defense on that question is technical, but I deny 
 it, and I will satisfy you that I am right and that it is a substantial defense. 
 They will tell you it shows the weakness of our case. Gentlemen, 1 am 
 engaged in detcnding the lives of these men, and I will avail myself of any 
 technicalities and of any and every question in order to perform my duty. 
 I will show you that It is not technical, and for this reason. They can try 
 us again, they can indict us for causing death by hanging, by suffocation, 
 by apoplexy, and also by causes unknown, and you are asked to convict 
 under this indictment to repair the blunder of the State's Attorney. This is 
 a very simple proposition of law. If I charge you with stealing my money 
 I must prove you stole my money, and it will not do to show that you 
 stole my potatoes ; but if you are again indicted for st aling my potatoes 
 you can only plead you didn't steal my money. Suppose the body was 
 burned after a man was poisoned, would you be able to prove that he was 
 poisoned/ No, but you would have to charge in your Indictment that he 
 died from causes unknown. It will not do to simply prove that this 
 man, Dr. Cronin, died from violence; that is not. the question. 
 The indictment charges death from wounds on the head, face and body. 
 There is no evidence of any wound on the body, so that is excluded, and 
 you i'.re reduced to the supposition of wounds on the head and face. It is 
 not a technical defense, as I say, because an acquittal on this indictment 
 does not prevent their being tried a half a dozen times under different 
 issues. I will now refer to the testimony of Dr. Egbert. In his examina- 
 tion, which I will read to you, he describes the wounds on the head, but 
 distinctly and emphatically says that he can not say whether the arteries 
 were cut. The counsel for the State very adroitly put their questions as to 
 whether the arteries were involved, and he said they were. He meant that 
 the arteries were in that region. However, Dr. Egbert testifies that the 
 man did not die from hemorrhage. Dr. Perkins next comes on the stand, 
 and tells you that the man died of concussion or contusion of the brain. 
 There wasno evidence of it, because the brain was too decomposed, but he 
 knows and is perfectly satisfied that that was the cause of death. Dr. 
 Egbert could not, by any possibility, assign the cause of death, owing to 
 the decomposition which. had taken place, nor could he tell whether those 
 wounds were made before or after death. Dr. Perkins says the same 
 thing, and Dr. Moyer says the same. If they do not know, how do you 
 know? Some of you told me your minds were made up, but by the living 
 God you must try us according to the law. The burden of proof is on 
 them and they must prove the cause of death, and how do you know it V 
 Will you guess at it? Do you propose to guess my clients guilty and then 
 hang them ?" 
 
 TESTIMONY OF THE EXPERTS. 
 
 Mr. Forrest read from the testimony of medical men at some length to 
 show that they could not assign the cause of death, and asserted that 
 the State had compelled its witnesses to stretch their consciences and to 
 testify to what were not the facts, because of the State's Attorney's blunder 
 in not putting into the indictment "cause of death unknown." 
 
 "Are you reading that testimony,. of Dr. Perkins correctly'/" inquired 
 Mr. Hynes. " You are putting as an answer and reading to the .,ury as au 
 answer of the Doctor's what in reality was a question of your own." 
 
 " Well, possibly I did," responded Mr. Forrest, who went on reading 
 testimony. His misquotation of the testimony in that case, however, 
 induced the State's Counsel to keep a very sharp eye on the evidence he 
 quoted. Mr. Forrest criticised at some length the testimony given Vy Dr. 
 Perkins, and argued that if it would not be possible to tell whether the 
 victim died from concussion or contusion of the brain without a micro- 
 scopical examination, it was a remarkable thing that no such examination 
 had been made. It was evident from the testimony that some one was 
 straining his conscience as far as he dared, and it was also in proof that it 
 would have been impossible to have told even by a microscopical examina- 
 tion of the brain whether death resulted from concussion or contusion. 
 However, if it could, they did not do it. Yet the attorneys for the State will 
 ask you to say that this matter is satisfactorily proved ; that you know what 
 the cause of death was, no matter whether you do or not, and, notwith-
 
 544 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 standing all the doctors say. it was impossible to say what was the cause of 
 death. The State says to you, ' We want these men convicted.' but 1 say 
 to you, 'Do your duty.' The State says to you, 'Violate your oaths and 
 convict them pow,' and that doctrine is preached by the public prosecutor 
 in a community where, above all things, the people should be taught 
 respect for the administration of the law. Counsel then passed to an exam- 
 ination of the testimony given by Dr. Moore. He argued that even Dr 
 Moore could not assign any cause of death, and then made a frantic appeal 
 to the jury, inquiring, 'Are you prejudiced against these men?' If the 
 jury wants an excuse, those doctors say, we will throw you one. They 
 seem to say we know what you think ; we know what you want to do and 
 what j'ou are ready to do, and all that is needed is for us to throw out a 
 suspicion." 
 
 DR. MOOEE'S TESTIMONY RECALLED. 
 
 " Dr. Moore said Dr. Cronin did not die from blood letting, because he 
 died before he could have bled to death," remarked Mr. Hynes 'It is just 
 as well that you should quote that to the jury." 
 
 " That doesn't matter," roared Mr. Forrest. " Moore says that he might 
 have died and possibly would have died from concussion or contu>ion of 
 the brain, but he does not dare say that he did die from it. He throws no 
 more light on the cause of death than did the others. His evidence was the 
 most extraordinary, and the conclusion he arrived at as to why there was 
 contusion of the brain was also most extraordinary, and although it must 
 be a very tiresome proceeding to you, gentlemen, I am compelled to com- 
 ment upon it and go into it at some length." 
 
 Counsel then lead copious extracts from the testimony of Dr. Moore, 
 remarking that that doctor reminded him of a celebrated man named 
 Bogardus, who had written a book upon the theory that all disease could 
 be cured by blood-letting and hot water. "He practiced his theory, but by 
 and by his patients began to die, and wherever he went the undertaker fol- 
 lowed. His friends complained to him and said: ' You had better give 
 up your theory.' 'Can't give it up,' seid the doctor. 'Don't care how 
 many die; 1 have written a book and have a theory, and must sustain it.' 
 So with the indictment of the State's Attorney. I have written an indict- 
 ment; it is my theory and has got to be sustained, right or wrong, in spite of 
 the law and evidence, and you give me a jury which is excited and I will 
 get some one to swear to something, and that will be enough. My theory 
 must be sustained." Are you gentleman ready to violate your oaths by 
 sustaining it?" 
 
 NO PROOF OF THE CAUSE OF DEATH. 
 
 "We have in evidence that the brain was disintegrated. ' I do not find,' 
 said the doctor, ' any indication of brain disease, because the brain was too 
 far disintegrated.' He did find concussion and contusion of the brain, yet 
 there was no evidence of that. If the brain was so far disintegrated that 
 they could not tell one thing, how could they tell the other? Of course he 
 could not tell whether he died of brain disease, yet he could, although 
 there was no evidence, swear that the man died of concussion of the brain. 
 I asked him whether he could discover brain diseases by the naked eye, and 
 he said no, that it would require microscopical examination, and yet he did 
 not make the examination required. Dr. Andrews says you can not possi- 
 bly tell the cause of death from that post-mortem examination, and that 
 is the position that all the other doctors occupy in the case. I say to you, 
 therefore, that the indictment should have read for causing his death in an 
 unknown way, and then men would not have had to strain then-consciences 
 and could have answered the question intelligently. Are we not to have 
 conscience in this matter at all? The law should be executed in this coun- 
 try aa it is in England. There is no place in the world where there is so 
 much respect for law as there is ther--, and there is no place in the world 
 where they so uniformly execute the strict letter of the law, no matter what 
 the consequence may be. The witnesses therefore have disposed of both the 
 internal and external evidences, and the doctors have told you they can not 
 possibly tell you what the cause of death was. Now, if the doctors say they
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 545 
 
 can not, can you? But.says the State's Attorney, you have got to sustain my 
 theory. Now, I ask you gentlemen, as twelve law-abiding men, twelve men 
 who look me Straight in (he face you twelve men told me you would try my 
 client accord ing to the Jaw and the evidence if the Court tells you the cause 
 of death must be proved beyond reasonable 'doubt, I ask you how on your 
 consciences you can find these prisoners guilty, and even without the testi- 
 mony of Drs. A ndrews and Moyer 't The God's truth is that no man can tell 
 I he cause of death. No man can tell how he was killed, whether the wounds 
 cnuscd death or whether he died from contusion or concussion of the 
 brain. There is nothing in the evidence about blood letting-, and there is 
 nothing about concussion or contusion of the brain, and 1 ask you to keep 
 to your ( Contracts with the law and with your God, and to follow it, no 
 matter where it leads you . You and I would risk our lives tor the defense 
 of Illinois if she were in peril. We are not cowards; we fear neither the 
 hooting of crowds nor bullets while we are doing our duty. You care 
 nothing for the mob, nor do I, and Illinois now says to you, do your duty 
 on your conscience. I demand it of you and you can not give me less. 
 Now. everything that was put in the notes was put in, the hypothetical 
 question which we submitted to our medical men, and Drs. Moyer, Andrews 
 and Curtis tell you distinctly that it is impossible, from thje description of 
 the wounds and the notes taken at the post-mortem, to tell what the man 
 died of. They corroborate the other witnesses that the cause of death was 
 uncertain . How much evidence do you want? There is notonly a reason- 
 able doubt, but we have proved beyond possibility of doubt that you 
 can not tell the cause of death. Now, gentlemen, your duties are important, 
 und you will be required to carry them out. 
 
 "Von will remember that early in the case the State's Attorney said 
 dates are important, and they are of vitn.1 importance. Dr. Moore closed 
 the evidence as to tlie cause of death on October 28th, and he and the other 
 physicians all swear that you can not tell whether the wounds were ante or 
 postmortem. Now what do they doV Instead of going to Dr. Fengeror 
 other prominent medical men and asking their opinion, what do they do? 
 They know that if they ask the opinion of eminent medical men they might 
 be told that the boys had made a mistake, and, therefore, they say we 
 represent the people of the State of Illinois; we represent the right wing of 
 the Clan-na-Gael and we will show you a trick. You remember that on 
 October 31st they discovered this witness, Mrs. Hoertel, who testified that the 
 wounds were .committed before death. They could not get any one to 
 swear that the doctors were right, but they had got their theory that it 
 took place in the Carlson cottage; they have got their men from Millbank 
 prison, they have the Clan-na-Gael back of them and they say 
 ' We will show you something.' Now, you see why we proved that 
 we did not get that name of Mrs. Hoertel before the 31st of October. 
 Mr. Clan-na-Gael, you may be cunning, but you are tracked into 
 your den at last. I told you to look out for the Clan-na-Gael. 
 Don't you see how important it was? I can not tell you whether those 
 wounds were inflicted before or after death; the doctors can not tell you. 
 The State well knows that it cannot get any such evidence from any doctors, 
 and therefore they say we will show you that he was murdered. On Octo- 
 ber 26th they sent out their German spies, or I will apologize for that and say 
 detectives. Sjhuettler goes out, and Hoefig goes out, and a lot of others, 
 and they look into the highways, byways and hedges of the city, and finally 
 they find a woman who can swear that she saw the Doctor enter the cottage, 
 heard the blows intlicted, heard him cry, 'Oh, God,' 'Qh, Jesus,' andthen 
 heard the dying moans. I believe you can talk about this murder being 
 awful, you can say that we did not denounce the Doctor's murder, but that 
 has been done sufficiently all over the world, and the whole world has fixed 
 the responsibility for it on the head of my client, but I will tell you right 
 here in your court-house, in the name of the law and justice, they would 
 commit a legal murder to sustain a theory and a blunder. The whole thing 
 was made necessary by the original blunder. Dates are of importance. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen, that is all I have got to fay about the cause of death. 
 Did I not tell you that those witnesses were remarkable witnesses ? They 
 turned up just at a good time, and the State's Attorney calls it providence. 
 It seems to me that some men can appeal to God by day and rely upon the 
 devil by night as easily and as unceremoniously as Mansfield can act te 
 double part in ' Dr. Jekylland Mr. Hyde.' "
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 "Let us talk common sense. You and I arc citixenR of Illinois. We are 
 responsible for the good name and honor of Illinois or lit r shame. We know 
 our families are here, anil we are ready to stand up for her and give our 
 lives for her if necessary. We intend 10 uphold the law, but vou can not 
 uphold the law by any such testimony as has been introduced in this 
 case. You laugh at my cjtch-bosin, some of you; I did not know what they 
 wished these catch-basins mighC be, and you don't know. They never 
 examined into that, and yet it is highly probable that from the condition that 
 body was in, from its position, with the head being down and the feet up, 
 and from the evidence of the men who told you that when they attempted to 
 pull the body up it slipped back, it is physically possible that those very 
 wounds on the scalp might have been made vyhile pulling the body out. If 
 there had been a tin oyster can or anything like that at the bottom of the 
 catch-basin when the body slipped back, it would have made just such 
 wounds, and in that case, or even if they were made by the bricks and hard 
 mortar, the skull would not have been scratched, and the skull was not 
 scratched." 
 
 Mr. Forrest then undertook to trace the course of the wagon from the 
 cottage to where the trunk was found, and said the men must have gone 
 over ten nailed instead of going about two and a half miles, in order that 
 the wagon must be brought to the Carlson cottage. Unless that could have 
 been established in some way, one link in the chain of evidence would be 
 gone. The State said they wanted to get on paved steets, yet as a matter 
 of fact they went on unpaved streets. After spending some considerable 
 time in going over the route alleged to have been taken by the wagon with 
 the trunk, Mr. Forrest had the trunk brought in and proceeded to point 
 out to the jury the defects in regard to the State's evidence in regard to 
 that trunk. He alleged that all the blood stains could be made with a half 
 a pint of blood judiciously distributed ; that the marks on the lock showed 
 that it had been pried otf from the outside, and urged upon the jury that 
 it would have been impossible for the three men to have kicked open the 
 trunk from the rear in order to dump the body into the catch-basin without 
 bending the hasp in front. The key, he insisted, was found by a trunk- 
 maker, and that the whole thing was a fabrication by men who had been 
 employed to get up a plausible story. 
 
 THINKS THE EVIDENCE WAS MANUFACTURED. 
 
 "And bear in mind, gentleman, that the men who had control of the 
 lock, the Lake View men, were in the house were in the Carlson cottage 
 before Lorch. Schuettler enters the house, examines it and leaves it; Wing- 
 enters there, ' examines ' it and leaves it, and then they send Lorch there, 
 and they tell him to look about the cottage. Gentlemen, mark you, they 
 tell him to look, and there right in the middle of the cottage, under some 
 kind of furniture, they find a key. Now he tries to correct himself; he sees 
 it is a most important matter; he tries to correct himself as to dates. Now 
 then, gentlemen, there was a pot of paint in the house, and the paint is 
 daubed on two or three inches thick. There is the paint; a whole pot of it 
 right in the house. The pot of paint in the house of course accounts foi 
 the daubing on the floor; that is why it was put there. 
 
 " Then we have the trunk question; the key must be lost in order to 
 account for the breaking open of the trunk. But, gentlemen, that trunk 
 might easily have been broken open by simply throwing it down on the 
 sidewalk, without any force at all, and it would have broken open of itself 
 without being kicked open at all. But, gentlemen, for finding the key 
 which fits the lock on the trunk, that, gentlemen, may account for the fact 
 that the top of the trunk was broken off. Mr. Foster alluded to the con- 
 fused way in which Officer Lorch fixes his dates as to the finding of 
 the key, and to the fact that while Lorch could tell what he was doing on 
 half a dozen days on both sides of May 25th, he could not tell what he was 
 doiiv? on May 25th. Now, as regards the paint upon this key. Just tako a 
 look at it, examine both sides of it, and you will see from the even edges 
 of the paint that it was held by one end and the other dipped in. This 
 side is rubbed off a little, you see, but it is evident it was dipped in. Dipped 
 in. gentlemen. Well, did the police do it? I don't know, you don't know. 
 But there is one circumstance that can not fail to strike you f orcibly,namely.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 547 
 
 that the lid was evidently broken off from behind while the hasp and lock 
 remain intact. This is evidence which in itself contradicts the theory of the 
 State that the top of the trunk was torn off in order to fret the body out of 
 it. Gentlemen, this is an attempt to counterfeit the truth, but it is hard to 
 counterfeit truth. God Almighty has st made it that it is hard to counter- 
 feit it. You can not sink the truth. You can not cover it up. It is like a 
 buoy in the water. It may be sunk under the surface for a short time, but 
 when you come to stir the water by cross-examination, it will surely como 
 to the surface again. It is hard to counterfeit the truth." 
 
 PERHAPS THE POLICE KILLED CRONIN. 
 
 " If Dr. Cronin was killed in there, in that cottage, and his body placed in 
 the trunk, and if his murderers afterward painted that floor, they must 
 have found that key there. They must have known that the key was lost; 
 they must have been desirous ot finding it, and if they had painted that 
 floor, and the key was lying there, they must have found it. They would 
 have looked pretty carefully for it and yet, lo and behold! there, right in 
 the middle of the floor, it is found by Officer Lorch. But remember 
 Schuettler had been there, Wing had been there, the whole Carlson family 
 had been there, from the 21st to the 2Uh of May, three whole days before 
 Lorch found it. Do you think that the Carlson family went around there 
 and never touched any thing? I don't know; I hardly think you do. Now, 
 right in the middle of the floor, under a washstand or some other piece of 
 furniture, the key was found, and of all the men in the world to find it who 
 should it be but an officer who had been a trunkmaker who found it. Lorch, 
 whose business is trunkmaking, was the man who found it. He had worked 
 in a trunk factory, and when he found the key, as he says, he worked for 
 some time in order to get it to fit. Of course a carpenter might have found 
 it, a molder might have found it, a stone mason might have found it; but 
 of all the suspicious circumstances in the world, the most suspicious in con- 
 nection with the finding of this key was the fact that it was found by a 
 trunkmaker." 
 
 DID NOT TRACE THE WAGON. 
 
 Mr. Forrest alluded to the fact that nobody from the State had 
 attempted to trace the wagon from the cottage, and insinuated that the 
 reason that they had left this phase of the case alone was because the 
 route of the wagon described by the witnesses for the State did not corres- 
 pond with any rational idea of what the route would be of persons driving 
 from the cottage to the place where the body was finally disposed of. Mr. 
 Forrest alluded to the testimony of the expressman Mortensen, and 
 referred sneeringly to his icmarkable memory by which he was enabled 
 to remember every article of furniture he hauled to the Carlson cottage 
 i'rom the Clark street flat, although there was nothing in the particular 
 incident to distinguish it from others of its kind. Mortensen had been in 
 the custody of the police, ever since the coroner's inquest, until he took 
 the witness stand. He did not identify the trunk as the one he hauled, but 
 said it was one just like it. He pretended to identify the other articles of 
 furniture. It was plain he was drilled on this point, and, great Godl if they 
 drilled the witnesses on minor points, how did they know but they drilled 
 them on more important things! He drew attention to the fact that 
 neither of the Carlsons had said a word about seeing a trunk in the Carlson 
 cottage at the coroner's inquest, but this was before the Clan-na-Gael had 
 taken charge of this case, for when the trial came on, old Carlson was 
 ready to swear that he had gone out expressly one night in April or 
 March to see the trunk, and he paeped in through the window for that 
 purpose, and then he sees the trunk and nothing else. This testi- 
 mony came just before the mimic from Millbank prison came 
 upon the stand and gave an exhibition of his powers of mimicry in a 
 case in which a man was on trial for his life. "Well, did the judge in the 
 English court say you were a dangerous man ? " Mr. Clancy was asked, and 
 he says, " Oh, yes, but it was only because I was a Fenian. That's all ; and 
 they tried to arrest me for being a Fenian, and I drew out my revolver and 
 I deliberately tried to murder them (two policemen)." " That's nothing, gen- 
 tlemen pf the jury ; this makes him a bero ; this is ooe of the patriots who
 
 548 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 have been betrayed and snt behind British prison bars ; this man who 
 tried to murder two English policemen in the execution of their duty is 
 one of the patriots of Irish patriots. So says your public prosecutor. Well, 
 but the judge said he was a dangerous man, and he served out his fourteen 
 years in Millbank prison. And now he comes here, having become a great 
 mimic, a wonderful actor, and coolly and deliberately tries to mimic the 
 life of poor Pat O'Sullivan away." 
 
 At this point, on the suggestion of Mr. Forrest, a recess was taken. 
 
 Before the jury retired, Juror Culver expressed a desire to take the map 
 of Lake View introduced in evidence along with him. Mr. Forrest said he 
 could have it, but Bailiff Santa interfered and said it could not be done 
 without the sanction of the Court. Mr. Forrest turned to the judge and 
 said as neither the State nor the defense had any objection to the 
 jury having the map he thought it might be allowed. Judge McCon- 
 nell said the jury could have the map. but not at this particular time. 
 
 Mr. For rest resumed his argument on the following day, Tuesday, speak- 
 ing for five hours. He dwelt at length on the dry subject of blood corpus- 
 cles, and insisted that Drs. Belneld, Tolmanand Raines had been mistaken 
 in their testimony. The failure of the State to put.in evidence the letter sent 
 to the Carlsons from Hammond, Ind., informing them that the cottage was 
 no longerneeded by i he murderous tenants, wasdue, so counsel argued, to 
 the fact that it was afraid the defense would prove it was not in Martin 
 Hurke's handwriting. He argued at length, with the apparent purpose of 
 convincing the jury, that itwas a huge conspiracy planned to strangle his 
 clients ; that the witnesses for the State were hired perjurers, and that the 
 lawyers were the tools of a body of men who were seeking to control an 
 organization for political purposes, and concluded his third day's talk 
 by telling 1 with dramatic effect a story about the fate of a pleasure-seeker 
 who innocently, in exploring the base of a huge cliff in Scotland, ran upon 
 the cave of a band of smugglers. The man peered into the cave. The 
 smugglers detected him, and believing he was a spy captured him and sen- 
 tenced him to death. They tumbled him over the brow of the cliff, and 
 his body was dashed to pieces on the jagged rocks below. A rope was used 
 in the execution, and on this fact the lawyer laid especial stress, but just as 
 he was rounding up his brightest and most luminous period, Judge Longe- 
 necker brought him to a dead halt by asking, in[a matter-of-fact tone, what 
 the authorities did to the man who cut the rope. 
 
 The appeal for the prisoners was closed on the following day (Wednes- 
 day, Dec. llth,) when Mr. Forrest again spoke for five hours. He went over, in 
 detail, the evidence relating to Dinan's horse, ridiculing the testimony of Mrs. 
 Conklin and dwelling on the conversation between Coughlin and Dinan, to 
 show that the former had given the correct version of it, and that therefore 
 there was a presumption in favor of his innocence. There was no evidence 
 that Coughlin had any motive for desiring Cronin's death, and the main testi- 
 mony against him was that of thieves and keepers of disreputable resorts; 
 nor was there any proof that Burke was connected with the crime. Con- 
 cluding the most lengthy speech of the trial, Mr. Forrest said: 
 
 FORREST'S PERORATION. 
 
 "Now, Gentlemen of the Jury," continued Mr. Forrest, "I want you to 
 find Daniel Coughlin and Martin Burke not guilty. Why? Because there is 
 not established in this case a conspiracy in which it is alleged these men 
 participated. In other words, to save my Strength and not to exhaust your 
 patience, there is nothing proved in this case beyond reasonable doubt they 
 will connect them or either of them with the killing of Dr . Cronin. It is not 
 necessary for me to repeat that. Now, then, I ask you to acquit them 
 and when I ask you to acquit them, I ask you simply to do your duty noth- 
 ing more. Nothing has been leftundone againstthem that could have been 
 done. The State has had several able lawyers, and they have insulted every 
 witness called for the defense. Every man called for the defense has been 
 called a murderer or a sympathizer with murder. Everything has been 
 done to insult and break down witnesses for the defense. Everything that 
 intimidation in the court-room and out of it could do has been done in 
 behalf of the State; everything that insinuation could do, has been done on
 
 THE CKI.MK OF THE CENTURY. 549 
 
 the part of the State. The Court has given them the widest range of cross- 
 examination, so there can't beany fault found in that respect. All the 
 evidence which they offered was admitted by the court. We have the State's 
 Attorney's forces, and the entire police force of Chicago. They have talked 
 about the police force betraying them. I saw no evidence of it. Everything 
 that one wing of the Clan-na-Gael could do has been done.In addition to the 
 State's Attorney, they have had other distinguished orators two of the 
 greatest criminal lawyers of modern times, Luther Lallin Mills and George 
 Ingham, whose businesslike mine, is the pleadingof criminal law; Mr. Hynes, 
 a great lawyer, a great cross-examiner, one of the most brilliant orators 'of 
 the Chicago bar, a man whom one of the largest corporations in Chicago 
 relics upon to wring verdicts from juries in most desperate cases. lie, 
 too, has done all that he could on behalf of the State. Every thing' that 
 could be done has been done to prove this charge, so that, gentlemen of 
 the jury, you can say to your neighbors, you can say to your social worlds, 
 you can say to your own consciences that no fault is to be found with the 
 State ; evers'thing has been done that could be done, but there was a rea- 
 sonable doubt as to the guilt of those men, and I found them not guilty for 
 that reason. Remember, the State's Attorney has solemnly told you that 
 the world has confidence in you, that he has confidence in you, that the 
 Judge has confidence in you, and that whatever verdict you render will 
 satisfy him, will satisfy the community, will satisfy the world, because 
 the community has implicit and unlimited confidence in your honor and 
 intelligence. This, gentlemen, I say on behalf of Maitin Burke and 
 Daniel Coughlin, in confiding their cases to your hands. No peroration 
 have I, but simply one word will I give. The word I give is ' duty 'duty 
 to Illinois, duty to your God, duty to yourselves. * To thine own self be 
 true, and it must follow as the day the night thou canst not then be false 
 to any man.' " 
 
 LONGENECKER'S CLOSING. 
 
 " If the Court please and Gentlemen of the Jury, I regret to announce 
 that Mr. Mills is sick and not able to close this case. While I know you, 
 gentlemen of the jury, are disappointed, while I am profoundly disap- 
 pointed, yet no one is more disappointed than Mr. Mills himself. No one 
 regrets it any more than the gentleman who was to address you himself. I 
 left him yesterday evening at 7 o'clock, and it was determined there and 
 then by his physician that it would not be safe for him to attempt to close 
 this case. 
 
 "When I was struggling along here in the city of Chicago years ago, try^- 
 ii. i to earn an honest living in my profession, Mr. Mills called me into his 
 office and said : * Longenecker, I would like to have you as one of my assist- 
 ants in the State's Attorney's office.' I said: 'Very well, I will be very 
 glad to come into your office.' And when this case arose, and I felt the 
 great responsibility that rested upon me as State's Attorney, I thought I 
 would be doing the people a good service in requesting Mr. Mills to close 
 the argument in this case. And at my earnest solicitation he agreed to do 
 so. Butit has been willed otherwise, and he is not here to addressyou. 
 
 "Now, I promise you, gentlemen, that I shall not talk to you long. I 
 make that promise to you now. 1 know how tired you are, having been 
 locked up so long away from your families, and it would be unreasonable, 
 even if I could, to attempt to make a long speech in reference to this case. 
 Anr\ if I do not cover all the points made in the case, if I do not go into 
 details, I think you will all give me indulgence, for I do not want to impose 
 upon your good nature and upon you as jurors any longer. 
 
 "We are not in this case for the first time after the opening with the 
 theory of the defense. In most all mifrder cases, in most all important 
 trials, when the State, or the people represented by the State's Attorney, 
 gives an outline of the prosecution's side, the defendants' attorney arises 
 and gives to the jury their defense. If not at the opening, then after the 
 evidence is closed for the prosecution; then they arise and tell us how they
 
 550 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 LVTHE& LAFLIN MILLS, ONE OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION,
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 55! 
 
 are going to meet this evidence. That was not done. So that it remained 
 until the lust. When counsel for the defendants arose to address you in a 
 three days' argument, for the lirst time, you, us jurymen, and we, us repre- 
 sentatives of the people, were notitled of the theory of the defense; that is, 
 that there was a great conspiracy on the part of the people; that there was 
 a conspiracy to hang innocent men; a conspiracy to murder under the guise 
 of the law, and the gentleman was so earnest in that statement that he carried 
 it all through his argument to the jury. He argued that proposition with 
 the same force that he did anything else that he talked about in the 
 case. Now gentlemen, if that is your notion of this case, if you 
 believe there is a conspiracy to murder Martin Burke, and those other 
 men on trial, then you ought to acquit, and you ought to recommend 
 to His Honor that the counsel representing the people of this great State 
 should be indicted and tried for murder. If I, as a respresentative of the 
 people, am guilty of coaching evidence against Martin Burke and those 
 other men on trial,! ought not to have a trial, but ought to be taken by the 
 citizens of your State and hanged without court or jury. Do you believe, 
 gent lemen, that there is a conspiracy hereto convict innocent men? Do 
 you believe 'hat these men sitting by my side have crowded me out of my 
 office and concocted a conspiracy against innocent men, and called in a jury 
 of twelve men to assist them? You do not believe that they are guilty of 
 it. If they were guilty of if, do you suppose that they could do it without 
 my knowing it? If they did it without my knowing it or finding i* 
 out, then I am unworthy of the position, and should be prosecuted for 
 criminal negligence and convicted. Why, the gentleman tells you that it 
 is done by the other branch of the Clan-na-Gaels, and they are backing the 
 prosecution; that as soon as it gets out of the hands of the Coroner they 
 bring up witness after witness to swear falsehoods before you, and he states 
 it in that way. 
 
 "Eyei y Clan-na-G ael witness that we have, called to the stand belonged to 
 the triangle, part of the Clan-na-Gael organization, Camp 96, from which 
 Dr. Cronin left (I put it in that way). The learned counsel for an hour 
 talked about his organizing an opposition camp, calling it 96, the same as 
 old 96; Columbus Club instead of Columbia Club. The whole of that camp 
 stood by the triangle ; the very men who came here to testify from the 
 camp were in sympathy with the triangle and believed that they were right 
 until within the last year or so. We go right into their own camp, among 
 their own friends, and we get the truth from men who believed that Dr. 
 Cronin was not right in making the charges against the triangle, and yet it 
 was fully believed that it was the other faction. It is true that P. McGarry 
 did belong to an opposing camp, but Thomas O'Connor, John F. O'Connor, 
 Henry .Owen O'Connor, John Collins the whole of them, were members or 
 Camp20,that we produced here as witnesses. Are they in a conspiracy with 
 the other associates, the members of the same camp as John F. Beggs, 
 Daniel Coughlin and Martin Burke ? Why, they come as brothers from the 
 game camp so that won't do to charge it in that way . Now, gentlemen, the 
 only reason of that is to show you how far men will go in trying to mislead 
 a jury. 
 
 'Do you believe that I could have it in my heart to put a witness on the 
 stand that I did not believe, to swear the life away of these men. If you 
 do, recommend to His Honor that I be prosecuted for the crime. Gentle- 
 men, I would rather have my arms torn from my body than to be guilty of 
 such a crime as that.' 
 
 Mr. Forrest "We believe that." 
 
 Judge Longenecker "Yes, you must believe it. And yet one of your 
 lawyers wants you to believe that I was so ignorant, that I was so unworthy 
 of my position, that I was so incompetent as to sit here like a mummy and 
 let these men conspire to have a jury hang innocent men. 
 
 "Gentlemen, you don't believe that. You don't believe that that great 
 big-hearted Irishman sitting there (Mr. Hynes), whose heart has always 
 gone out for poor humanity, would be guilty of it. Mr. Foster says that lie 
 has known Mr. Ingham, and he knows him to be a truthful man, a man that 
 is worthy of belief, and for that reason he says Ingham said nothing 
 against Beggs, because he was such a straight, truthful man. In that 
 regard that gentleman, that legal light of the bar, charged me with dis- 
 honesty, charged that big-hearted Irishman with dishonesty.
 
 552 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 "Gentlemen, I may be a little disconnected in my argument before you 
 and if I am, you will pardon me. But I wish to notice Foster's argument 
 for his client. If there is nothing against John F. Beggs, I can not see whn 
 he said so much. It was understood, I may say, that Mr. Ingham was notto 
 talk about Camp 20 at all. That is the truth of the matter. He was not to 
 discuss that proposition . I had gone over it, as you recollect, I thought I 
 had tired you out by talking of Camp 20. Mr. Hynes was to take up that, 
 and lie did, and went over the same ground as 1 had, and I still have to 
 repeat myself because of this assumed sincerity on the part of Mr. Foster. 
 
 "Why this learned counsel should talk a day and a halt' if there is nothing 
 against his client, I do not know. Do you wonder at it? Why is it that a 
 man, whose services are so valuable, who never had anythingbutan import- 
 ant case, should talk a day and a half in a case where there is no evidence 
 against his client, and out oi the day and a half never talk about his client's 
 case, except for about fifteen minutes, is more than I can understand. 
 Was it because he was trimmed for a speech? Was it because he had to 
 read the Irish history that he had copied into his manuscript? Was it 
 because Foster had to advertise at the expense of his client? or was it 
 because he thought there was something against his client? You know how 
 he spread like the waters of the Platte river; you can look at it and you can 
 say what a mighty river. It is all spread out. It is true it is all spread out, 
 but there is no depth to it. 
 
 "We do not take issue with him on the smoke-stacks of Ireland. We do 
 take issue with him in reference to Mr. Hynes, and we have given you our 
 statement in regard to that. We dp take issue with him in regard to every- 
 thing except in regard to the ability on our side. I admit that we have 
 ability here on this side helping me. Why should not the poople of tbe 
 State of Illinois have ability as well as the defendants ? He said I had five 
 assistants, and yet these three lawyers had to be cajled in to help me in this 
 case. Has that anything to do with the case at issue? Since you began 
 this trial three Grand Juries have been impaneled and discharged. Two 
 other courts have been constantly in session. Over 300 cases have been dis- 
 posed of I am making a guess of that, averaging it for the actual three 
 months. Three hundred cases have been disposed of; and three Grand 
 Juries have been impaneled and discharged since this case began. Habeas 
 corpuses have been heard ; men have been sent to the penitentiary and 
 others to the bridewell and some to the jail. And yet he would have you 
 understand that I had five assistants doing nothing. Now, that is not fair, 
 is it? That is not doing his client any good ; that is not in the case. Sup- 
 pose it was so, what has that got to do with the guilt or innocence of 
 Beggs ? No matter whether I had five, six, or a dozen ass'stants, the ques- 
 tion is, What are the facts ? Lawyers or no lawyers, that is what you have 
 to deal with. 
 
 "Mr. Foster argued for an hour about how the Presbyterians had got 
 away with Swing, and how the Methodists had disposed of Dr. Thomas, and 
 how the Episeopals had disposed of Dr. Cheney. Didn't he talk a long time 
 about that? What for? Why did he devote his time to talking about that? 
 But suppose that the hot-headed Presbyterians had said, we do not believe 
 that this man ought to be permitted to live? Suppose that they had ordered 
 a committee of investigation, a secret committee to investigate Dr. Swing? 
 Suppose that they had entered into that arrangement, not intending to 
 murder him, but suppose they did, and suppose you can find no other peo- 
 ple on earth that had a feeling against Dr. Swing i ut these men who said 
 he was unworthy to live, and that men said he ought to be killed, and 
 these men had themselves invited him out? Why, the Presbyterians would 
 hang for killing him, for carrying out that conspiracy. Sometimes these 
 conspiracies are brought about by things that ought not to aifect the mind 
 of any man. Now, our theory has been in this case that there was a con- 
 spiracy, whether it originated at the time of the appointment of the com- 
 mittee, or after its appointment, our theory is that there was a conspiracy 
 to mu rder Dr. Cronin because they believed he was a spy, and that the men 
 who followed that up had another object in having him murdered, namely, 
 to prevent him from going before the honest Irishmen and showing them 
 how they had been robbed of their funds. That has been our theory. The 
 proof justifies us in making this statement. Did you ever think since this 
 trial have you heard of anybody having any feeling against Dr. Cronin?
 
 THE CRIME OK THE CENTURY. 553 
 
 You have heard of his belonging to this organization and that. You have 
 heard of his singing in public; you have heard of his being- here and there, 
 a man liked. Hus there been any evidence of any other pirson on earth 
 that would be likely to kill Dr. Cronin? None at all. Where do you ^<>, 
 where do you get the starting point in this great conspiracy? Where do you 
 find it? You find it in Camp 20, in Turner Hall? Now, we do not charge 
 that the entire camp was in it. We do not charge that the membership 
 knew of the conspiracy, but we do charge that it started there among 
 these parties. 
 
 " Foster treats the Beggs-Spellman correspondence as if Beggs was pub- 
 lishing to the world that Eewaa going to commit murder. Not so. Our 
 theory is, and it is the correct one, that these letters were written for the 
 purpose of covering up that which they expected this committee to do. 
 That is our theory. That is why they were written . That is why Mr. Beggs 
 fa'd tome when he was brought face to face with the record that a com- 
 mittee had been appointed, but does he explain? You can see that it is a 
 blind. You can fee why he flushed these letters in the face of the people; 
 because! . v as the work of the conspirators to begin in this line. Nothing 
 had yet been prepared for the disposition of Cronin. Nothing had been 
 arranged, but they must make a sort of an investigation in this way. Talk 
 about reading between the lines? The Lord knows there is enough in the 
 lines without reading between the lines 
 
 " Recollect that the letter in which he says : ' I hope no trouble will 
 result,' is one of the links. Let us get it just right, ' I hope no trouble will 
 result.' On the 18th the flat is rented. And on the 20th they finish laying 
 the carpet. Now jump on to the 22d, the next meeting of Camp 20, where 
 these minutes are approved, and what do you find? On the 2-d of February 
 i i the line of his- letters, in the line that he hopes that no trouble will 
 result, what does he do? Pat McGarry read his speech, in which he said that 
 the man who gave LeCaron his credentials to go into the convention was 
 a greater scoundrel than ever Le Caron could pretend to be." 
 
 Mr. Donahoe " You will concede that.every Irishman knew who it was 
 that gave Le Caron his credentials?" 
 
 Mr. Longeneckcr "I do not know whether thej% did or not. I presume 
 they did. Beggs said that they had members who were coming in and vio- 
 latijg 1 the hospitality of thatcamp. That would ha veto be stopped. It was 
 not right. He said that they came in there talking about Alexander Sulli- 
 van, audit was cowardly to talk of a man behind his back. Why did they 
 not say so to his face? He said Al^tander Sullivan had strong friends in 
 that camp, and he slapped his breast and says, ' I am one of them.' 
 
 sideratiou the manner in which he speaks of the letter to Spelman the 
 speeches he makes and the letter on the 22d, when you bring them all in 
 together, then it does become strong. Now, gentlemen, I am not going to 
 bother you about reading. I am anxious that you should not be misled in 
 reference to Beggs. Because, if Foster is correct and I know he is then, 
 if Beggs is guilty, he is awful guilty. A man who is educated, a man who 
 has practiced law, a man who ought to be ready to see that the law is exe- 
 cuted, a man who is educated in a profession of this character, is held 
 accountable for his acts in a higher degree than is the man who does not 
 know the law. And for less acts he is more responsible. If this man set 
 the machinery in motion and his counsel says heis not adupe if he set this 
 terrible conspiracy in motion, then he becomes the worst of the men on trial. 
 And he is just the character who would do just the little which would have 
 more effect than if he stood by in the shoes of Martin Burke or Dan Cough- 
 lin. He stands at the head of the conspiracy. He stood jliere helping to 
 forge the first link in this great conspiracy; and I am anxious, gentlemen, 
 that you do not be misled in reference to John F. Beggs. John F. Beggs 
 made his record on this chain of evidence the same as Martin Burke made 
 his record. 
 
 "Well, but Mr. Foster says that Beggs is acquainted with Harrison. He 
 introduced this fact that this second constable introduced him to Bailey 
 Dawson and Mr. Babcock, and that he only introduced him for the purpose 
 of what ? Of showing his associations. Is that the reason why he intro-
 
 554 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 duced this speech that Beggs had mace to President Harrison ? Does that 
 show the associations of every man who has shaken the President's hand? 
 Does it give him character ? Does it throw open the record ? Is it an open 
 book of nis character to go and shako the hand of President Harrison ? If 
 that is so, President Harrison had better stand and shake the hands of men 
 who arc all over this country, and give them characters. If that is open- 
 ing up the book of a man, if that gives him a reputation and a standing 
 when he is charged for cruel murder, why then Mr. Harrison ought to 
 shake hands with a good many fellows in Chicago. That is not it. He 
 didn't know what might come. Providence had been causing the sewer to 
 give up the silent witness. Providence had been giving up the German 
 woman that heard the last words of the dying man. He don't know what 
 Providence might do before the case ended, so an alibi must be proven for 
 Beggs, and when he finds out that he does not establish an alibi, then he 
 wants you to understand that he was practicing a fraud on you, and simply 
 introduced it for the purpose of showing hi? associations. 
 
 "Of course, take a circumstance alone, and it may be weak. But when It 
 stands in relation to another circumstance in the line of the object, then it 
 becomes strengthened. And Mr. Forrest will not find me disputing his 
 propositions of law. Right here let me say that the Court will give you the 
 law; but do not forget that you are to try this case on the facts under the 
 law. He may give you fifty instructions that the law is so and so, and that 
 if the facts are so and so, apply them under that law and that is so and so. 
 He will tell you that if from all the circumstances in the case, you have no 
 reasonable doubt as to the guilt, then you must convict; but, that if you 
 have a reasonable doubt, then you must acquit. It is you after all who 
 become the judges of the case. Do not forget the evidence in the case. The 
 Courtdoes not intend to instruct the evidence out of your mind in giving 
 you a long chain of instructions which it is his duty under the law to give. 
 He does not intend that you shall forget the evidence that is applicable 
 under thatlaw. For instance, he might give you an instruction, and it is 
 possible he will, that before you can find the men guilty, you must believe 
 beyond a reasonable doubt that Dr. Cronin, if killed, was killed in the man- 
 ner andform as charged in the indictment, and that the cause of death was 
 as charged in the indictment. 
 
 "Well, now, that means you are to decide whether he was killed as 
 charged in the indictment, not as testified by any particular doctor on the 
 stand. Why, this counsel undertakes to tell me what my duty is as State's 
 Attorney. This man, who says there %ras a great conspiracy here; that 
 Ingham and Hynesand Scanlan and the Clau-na-Gael got up a conspiracy 
 here to murder innocent men, and I, W. S. Forrest, have discovered it. 
 This man argues this point, that it was not the cause of death, with the 
 same force and strength that he does any other point in the case, and yet he 
 knows in his soul there is nothingin it. Why, be tells you thatl made a blun- 
 der in that indictment. Why, gentlemen, if that indictment had charged 
 that this man was killed and that the cause was unknown, with all these 
 wounds on his head, with all this blood in the trunk and in the cottage, 
 wouldn't you have a right to take that into consideration, the blood in the 
 cottage and on the sidewalk and in the trunk, and the condition of him 
 when he was found ? If I had drawn such an indictment, he would have a 
 reason to say that. I don't know what effect their argument has had upon 
 you, whether you think you know more about drawing an indictment than 
 I do, or Judge Baker, who has drawn them for years and years, and hence 
 I am going to read to you just what the doctors say on that proposition. 
 
 "But recollect that that can be proven the same as any other circum- 
 stance. But before going into that, gentlemen, I like to talk when I come 
 to a fact and not leave it for some other time. Mr. Culver, you buy a 
 wad, you buy a pistol, and you buy a bullet. Now Culver may intend to 
 have that pistol'to shoot somebody. It was known that you were going to 
 shoot him. Then you are just as guilty for buying the wad, and you the 
 bullet, and you the powder, us he is for doing the shooting, fully so. Now, 
 Martin Iturke held the pistol, wad, bullet and all. He hired the cottage, he 
 moved the furniture, he WHS present when it was ordered. But if he only 
 did all that, just as I say, it must be a criminal intention. Suppose you 
 said you didn't buy that powder at all, had nothing to do with it. Well, 
 we find out that when you bought the powder that you said you were
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CKNTUKV. 555 
 
 going' to give it to Culver, and Culver was going to shoot Longenecker 
 for talking so long about tins case. That would nail you. The same way 
 as the other. Now, of course, just to say that these innocent acts alone 
 of themselves are not criminal, but What may seem to be innocent may be 
 guilty circumstances. That is the point I want to make on that. Same 
 with Martensen. Here is evidence from Martensen, who moved the fur- 
 niture. Why Martensen tells us, 'I was hired to haul this furniture ; that 
 is my business.' He went and hauled it, and said he was the man who 
 hauled it there. Nothing out of the way for him to haul that furniture. 
 That circumstance of itself is innocent, while under certain circumstances 
 it might be guilty." 
 
 The State's Attorney then took up the cause- of -death phase of the case. 
 He had not, he said, intended to say much about it, as the Judge, according 
 to law, would tell the jurors that they must determine the cause. But the 
 statement made by Attorney Forrest to the effect that if the jurors returned 
 a verdict of acquittal on the present indictment, the State could try the 
 prisoner's again on an indictment stating that the cause of death was 
 unknown, compelled him to refer to it. The statement madelby Attorney 
 Forrest was, the speaker cried, absolutely untrue. No law would permit 
 the suspects to be tried again . Moreover, the indictment was strictly in 
 accord with the testimony given by the medical witnesses who had on the 
 stand sworn that death was caused by violence from blows inflicted on the 
 head. 
 
 The theory that because the Doctor might have, under certain circum- 
 stances, died from a stroke of apoplexy, was no reason why he had died of 
 
 " If he died of apoplexy," cried the State's Attorney, " why were his 
 shirt and pantaloons cut to get them off him? Why was he stripped, his 
 body put in one sewer and his clothes in another ? The physicians, some of 
 them, admitted that such wounds as found on the Doctor's head might not 
 cause death. Well, a bulletin the bowels of a man might not kill him, but 
 if a man with a bullet wound there was found dead, it would be judged by 
 any man of sense that the man died from the effects of the bullet wound." 
 
 The assault upon the testimony of the State by Attorney Forrest came 
 in for extended argument. " It showed how weak is the testimony of the 
 defense," he exclaimed, "it shows how weak it is when this three-day 
 lawyer spends nearly the whole of that time on our evidence and but fifteen 
 minutes on his own. Forrest did quote a little Scripture, so did the devil. 
 Forrest talked about Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, about whom his 
 Sunday-school teacher taught him. He said that they disagreed; and 
 because they disagreed, he tried to argue, that Mrs. Conklin and the young 
 ladies who corroborated her, must have lied because they agreed. The only 
 thing that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have to do with this case is that 
 they all point to Calvary, and, gentlemen, the evidence in this case points to 
 Calvary [Cronin was buried at Calvary]. It was easy for him to deny the 
 truth of our testimony, and especially that of Mrs. Hoertel, but he didn't 
 attack Mrs. Hoertel's character. Why? Because they knew it was spotless." 
 
 "Now, the gentleman says there are other witnesses, and among them 
 Dinan, has an interest in the museum, and all that. Why, Dinan made the 
 statement he made here before the coroner's inquest. The same statement 
 he made here, he made in the presence of Dan Coughlin, and yet this 
 learned lawyer, who spent three days talking about witnesses and not 
 fifteen minutes over his own defense, tells you Dinan swears in this case 
 because he has an interest in keeping the gray horse in the museum. Then, 
 gentlemen, you remember his attitude toward Mrs. Conklin, whose evi- 
 dence was straight forward, who gave her testimony before the coroner, 
 and who made her statement the very day after Dr. Cronin disappeared. 
 What has he said but that he would have you believe she was sitting there 
 committing willful and deliberate perjury; th's woman who felt that Dr. 
 Cronin was gone; who felt he was dead, who charged O'Sullivan with 
 being in the conspiracy before she could induce the officers of the law to 
 believe anything was wrong. He would have you believe, as he said, that 
 she lied while upon the stand, and yet you noticed how she gave her evi- 
 dence. The same tactics were pursued with Conklin and all the other wit- 
 nesses. It was asserted that all of it came out after the coroner's inquest. 
 Why look at it. He talked about the horse and well knows that she
 
 556 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 described and that she mentioned about his knees when before the 
 coroner. Her identification of that horse was like your identification would 
 be of a man who might come into your house to-night ami you might see 
 him under a gas jet. If you saw him in the street in daylight the next day 
 you might not know him, but if you ever saw him under a gas jet under 
 the same circumstances you would immediately say, 'There he is.' His 
 stooging position, his eyes, and a dozen other things would strike your 
 memory and make you certain of your identification. 
 
 "So with Mrs. Conklin. \Vhenshe saw the bqrse in the same position it 
 was on the evening Dr. Cronin was driven to his death, she immediately 
 said, ' that is the horse.' Why, because she saw the unquiet appearance of 
 the horse and the movement of its legs, and she at once said ' that is the 
 horse.' But it was not necessary for her to be so positive in the identifica- 
 tion of the horse. She said it was a white horse and a top buggy without 
 side curtains from the very start, and the moment she saw Dinan's horse 
 and buggy she identified it. Then he tells you that Mertes was fixed by us 
 to see Cough lin driven up to that cottage, and he tells you that without 
 Mertes we could not have proved that Coughlin was ever there. He also 
 tells you that without Mrs. Hoertel and Mertes we could not prove that 
 Cronin was murdered. Well, to a certain extent the great lawyer is right, 
 for without any evidence we could not prove the crime. Now, take Cough- 
 lin's conduct in regard to that white horse. Or, before we reach that I 
 would call your attent.on to the fact that it was known that Dr. Cronin had 
 been driven away from the Conklin residence in a buggy drawn by a white 
 horse, for on the Monday morning, long before it was known that Dr. Cronin 
 was murdered, before any one had charged that there was anything wrong 
 with him except Mrs. Conklin, word was sent out from the police force to 
 see who had a white horse and buggy out on Saturday night, and yet this 
 lawyer would have you, as an honest jury, believe that we were trying to 
 have MertesswearthathesawCoughlin drive there with a bald-faced brown 
 horse for the purpose of swearing his life away. It is absurd to talk such 
 stuff as that, yethe would have you believe it. Mertes never mentioned 
 the matter until arter the body was found; until after the cottage was dis- 
 covered and it was advertised as to what horse had driven Cronin away. 
 
 " But here is a significant fact to which I wish to direct your attention. 
 Why should Dan Coughlin, on the Monday morning, before any one had 
 charged that Dr. Cronin was murdered, when Captain Schaack said he 
 would turn up all right, when he was not uneasy, when he told Mrs. Conk- 
 lin to wait until night, when the world and every one almost had accepted 
 the statement that the trunk had contained the body of a woman, on 
 account of the statement made by a certain man, why should Dan Coughlin 
 be so anxious about the horse his friend had driven? No one had told him 
 that any one drove a white horse, and why should he say to Dinan, 
 ' Don't mention it, because Cronin and I were not friends? ' Gentlemen, at 
 that time Coughlin knew that Dr. Cronin was murdered, and he knew that 
 the white horse and buggy had carried him to his death. Think of the mat- 
 ter, and remember that it was on the Monday morning before any one had 
 charged that anything had happened to Dr. Cronin that he was so anxious 
 to have the matter concealed. Why was he induced to believe that that 
 horse had taken Dr. Cronin to his death? No one had charged that he had 
 anything to do with it; no one believed the poor woman, and why should 
 Coughlin be so ready to believe it when Captain Schaack did not believe it, 
 when the chief of police did not believe ir, when the public prosecutor did 
 not believe it, and when the community were led to believe that Dr. Cronin 
 was alive? I ask you again, why should Dan Coughlin, on the 6th of the 
 month, the second day after the murder, and before anything had been dis- 
 covered, tell Dinan to keep still. 
 
 " This man, Forrest, tells you that because we have only one witness to a 
 fact, therefore, it is put up and is a lie. He goes on to tell you about Matthew, 
 Mark, Luke and John, and that is about all he knows about the Bible. He 
 says Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are not agreed, and he quotes that to 
 show that Mrs. Conklin and the two Miss McNearneys when they gave a 
 description of the man who called for Dr. Cronin lied, because, as he says, 
 they agreed in their description. The trouble with him is they didn't 
 tell the story all alike, but the material part of it they did tell alike. 
 .All that leads up to the identification of the man who drove Cronin, the
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 557 
 
 central figure, they do agree upon, and that is true. The same way with 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. While they give it in different language, 
 do not they all point to Calvary, and so it is with this evidence of the Misses 
 McNearncy and Mrs. Conkliu, and the evidence also of Uiniin; it is the evi- 
 dence of witnesses who tell the truth and it all points you to Calvary. I do 
 not intend to dwell upon all that Forrest has talked to you about. He has 
 talked about the evidence of that wagon, and seems to think a good deal 
 more of sound than he does of sight. He regards sound as being far better 
 than sight, hence I think he will appreciate my speech on this account. 
 
 "He says that wagon was driven from away across the railroad crossing 
 onto Fullerton avenue. No one saw it cross the railroad track, and Officer 
 Steib says, the first he saw of it it was east of Ashland avenue. He also says 
 that before he saw it he heard it rumbling over the railroad track, but he does 
 not know whether it was this wagon he heard rumbling or some other. But 
 there is not enough in it for us to ' stop long to consider whether it crossed 
 the railroad track or not. The fact is the same. They did not see it until it 
 was east of Ashland avenue, and then they saw it coming back on Ashland 
 avenue. There is no reason why they could not drive around the block if 
 they wanted to, but we do not know what course they took, yet we do know 
 they could have taken that course very easily, and if they had t*ken a 
 direct course they would have been tracked from the cottage to the place 
 of their destination. 
 
 "Forest then says to you: 'It is strange, isn't it, that they drove right 
 down toward the city, where they could be seen by the police force? It does 
 not seem that the police force hurt them any. Tl ey were seen by half a 
 dozen officers and not stopped, and the man who drove the wagon did not 
 seem afraid of police officers, but on the contrary seemed to know just what 
 police officer to strike. They got along to Fullerton avenue, and they knew 
 that it was just the very thing to do to drive along a street where they would 
 not be suspected. Suppose they had driven along Ashland avenue 
 straight to where they went to dispose of the body, they would have been 
 unquestionably tracked. But we are not here to argue why they did or did 
 not do certain things. Those men who murdered Dr. Cronin and thrust his 
 body into the sewer, can probably tell you far better than I can. There is 
 reason for acquitting the men if you believe them guilty, simply because 
 we can not tell exactly the way they drove around or in what direction. 
 The fact is they were seen on Fullerton avenue, going east, about half -past 
 11 o'clock. At 12 o'clock they were seen going north on Clark street, and at 
 1 o'clock they were at Evanston avenue and Edgewater, and one man sat 
 on the wagon, facing backward. 
 
 " Another point. Some one during the trial, and I think I took that 
 position myself, during the time Forrest was arguing the question of the 
 trunk, said they kicked it open. Now, it does not matter whether they 
 kicked it open or not. Men who could open a sewer qould pry that lock 
 open as well as any one else. He wants you to understand that the officer 
 pried it off, but you will remember that those two honest Germans testified 
 that they found the lid separate from the trunk, and that they gathered it 
 up and put it with the trunk. Now, it does not matter whether the lock 
 was broken open or whether the trunk was kicked open. The fact is it was 
 locked; that the trunk was in the wagon and the key was gone. Is it for 
 us to say whether they pried open that trunk or kicked it open from the 
 rear? Our theory is that they kicked it open, and that when they found it 
 would not open wide enough they pulled the lock off. We don't know how 
 it was done. His clients can tell you better perhaps than we can if they had 
 anything to do with it, which we insist they had under the evidence." 
 
 " I take an exception to that remark of Judge Longenecker's," said Mr. 
 Forrest. 
 
 " Oh, yes," replied the State's Attorney, " take your exception. Forrest 
 also said that the key was found by a trunk-maker, because he found on the 
 stand a man, Officer Lorch, who had worked once as a trunk-maker. Do 
 you believe what Officer Lorch said as to where he found that key, or do 
 you believe that he went and fitted a key to the trunk, then put some paint 
 on it, put it where it was under the washstand, and then came into 
 this court and swore to a lie? If you want to believe Forrest's 
 statement against that of the officer, believe it. But we say that aftet 
 they had got the trunk into the wagon they found that the trunk was
 
 THE CRIMH OF THK CKNTURV. 
 
 locked and the key gone, but it does not matter. We could theorize as to 
 how that key was missing on the floor, but it is not necessary. It is in evidence 
 that that key was found in the cottage, and it is in evidence that the trunk 
 was locked and had not a key upon it when they went to take out the body. 
 Yet this learned lawyer would have you believe this is a conspiracy on the 
 part of the people, and he says it began after the coroner's inquest. That 
 is his statement. A conspiracy to convict innocent men ! Jx'uw, look at it. 
 I suppose he would have you believe, and he might just as well go on to 
 charge, that the body of Dr. Cronin was put there by the conspirators on 
 the part of the State, and that the trunk was put where it was by the same 
 conspirators on May 5th, also that the clothes were put in the sewer in a 
 sachel just like the one these men bough t at Kevell's, and not', ily that, 
 but that Martin Burke knew he was going to be brought into tha* conspir- 
 acy when he went to Winnipeg. He would also have you believe that Mar- 
 tin Burke knew after the coroner's inquest and before bis name was men- 
 tioned that there would be a great conspiracy, and that they would try to 
 implicate him, and therefore he would go to Winnipeg. I merely mention 
 those matters, gentlemen, because you will have observed that Mr. Forrest 
 argued them with the same force that he argued every circumstance con- 
 nected with this case, and you can appreciate the sincerity of his argument. 
 Is it to intimidate the people's representatives, so that they would not dare 
 go further in this hellish conspiracy ? Is it for that purpose, or what does 
 he mean by it? If it means that he thinks hecan intimidate the representa- 
 tives of the people in this case, he has struck the wrons? blow, because it is 
 our duty to present these matters as we get them, and we shall use our 
 weak endeavors to do our duty. 
 
 " Mr. Forrest spoke as earnestly about that and was as much in earnest 
 as he was when he spoke to you of the identification of Burke. He read to 
 you an authority of a case which occurred about three hundred and fifty 
 years ago, where the identification was contested. According to his reason- 
 ing, a man might go into your house, shoot your wife before your eyes, and 
 then if you can identify him the moment you see him you arc not to be 
 believed. Hearguos that before you can be believed- you must put him 
 in a line of a hundred men, let them walk through a room one by one, 
 and then pick him out. That he argues in the face of undisputed evidence 
 that you saw him kill your wife, yet he would have you believe that you 
 could not rely upon any such evidence as that for identification. The man 
 who could be mistaken in Martin Burke's face, surely must be blind. It 
 is a case of undisputed identification. The case Forrest refers to, is where 
 it has been contested; where three or four witnesses swear that is the man 
 and others swear that it is not the man; where witnesses swear that it is the 
 horse and others swear that it is not the horse; where some witnesses swear 
 that it is so and other witnesses swear that it is not so, but who ever heard 
 of any man, any lawyer, any man, indeed, in his senses undertaking to talk 
 with sincerity and urge upon twelve honest men that where five witnesses 
 come forward and swear to the face of Martin Burke, that he is the man, 
 and are not to be believed. Who ever heard of a second-class lawyer, or 
 even a police court shyster, claiming that that identification was not per- 
 fect? .bive undisputed witnesses, old man Carlson, Mother Carlson, Charles 
 Carlson, Mrs. Charles Carlson, and Mortensen, five witnesses swear that that 
 is the man who rented the cottage, yet that same learned lawyer is under- 
 taking to mislead you into the belief that that identification is not to be 
 relied upon. It is absurd. 
 
 " Well, if he will argue that Martin Burke is not the man who was th~ro 
 on the 4th of May, if he will argue under this evidence that Martin Burke 
 did not rent that cottage, if he will argue that he did not move that furni- 
 ture there, if he will argue that Martin Burke was not seen on the premises 
 there, and tell me that he is in earnest, and you believe his argument, tell 
 me when and where you would convict a man of crime, if the lawyer takes 
 the position he did in this case. But he says the old man CarlsDn could not 
 tell it was the 4th of May. How do you know ? When that old man got on 
 the stand, Forrest was yelling at the top of his voice, 'How do you know, 
 how do you know?' while the old man yelled at the top of his voice, 
 'Because I know.' Yet he would have you believe he said 'How do you 
 know? ' in such a meek and mild tone that he could not hurt any one's feel- 
 ings. He is not sincere when he says that the State's Attorney and Mr.
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 559 
 
 Hynesand Mr. Inghani are engaged in a conspiracy, and when he abuses 
 flu- witnesses on the stand and charges them with perjury and lying, tie 
 knows in his heart that it is not true. He has made insinuations against 
 that big-hearted Irishman sitting there, Mr. Hynes, of bullying witnesses, 
 which he knows is untrue. There is not a man who practices before the bar 
 oC Chicago vho is more lenient with the witness than is Mr. Hynes, and 
 there is not i> man at the bar who will get more out of him than will Mr. 
 Hynes. You, gentlemen, heard his cross-examination of the defendants' 
 experts, and his examination of the witnesses who came to the stand, and I 
 will leave it to you to decide, and not to Forrest, if he abused the witnesses 
 on the stand. For three days this learned counsel for the defense stood 
 before you twelve gentlemen and had no stock in trade ; not a word to say 
 in their defense beyond abusing and scandalizing the men who are trying 
 this case, and who are seeing that the people of this great State are not mis- 
 represented. He stood here and maliciously abused Mr. Hynes, whose only 
 effort and desire has been that the guilty men, if they are guilty, shall be 
 punished, and it is my duty as an officer of the State, to explain this matter 
 to you and to hurl back the insinuations at the man who in>ulc them. 
 
 "He told you further that I had made a blunder, butJle did not tell 
 you how many blunders he had made. He told you I had made a blunder 
 with the same force that he tells you that Mertes lied when he testified that 
 he saw Coughllu at the Carlson cottage, and when he tells you that, li is 
 clients have not been proved guilty, notwithstanding all our witnesses' lies. 
 Suppose what he says about Mertes and his knowing it was May 4th is proved, 
 what difference does it make whether it was on the night of May 4th or not. 
 But he does put this man Kunze and Dan Coughlin together at the 
 Carlson cottage. He puts Coughlin in the cottage and Kun/.e driving him 
 there, and he and his associates gave you good evidence of their sincerity 
 when they went to the cottage or house where this poor man lives, who can 
 talk but very little of the English language, and told him that the Court had 
 sent them to find out what he knew. Yet when he comes here and gives his 
 evidence on the witness stand they tell him he lied, but they carefully 
 abstained from saying what they did when they went to see him. You will 
 remember how they examined him and put words into his mouth that he 
 did not understand, and then tried to impeach him, butl think you, gentle- 
 men, will admit that it is proved beyond question that Coughlin went to the 
 cottage ; that he had a key to it in his pocket ; that he was perfectly at 
 home there, and that Kunze drove him there. 
 
 "Then he says old man Carlson did not see Burke thei-e on the night of 
 the 4th. He could 119! tell you why the old man did not see him, although 
 the old man said distinctly that he did ; but tin's we do know, that the next 
 morning be and his wife were out in front of the cottage and they saw 
 something on the steps which they say looked like preserves, and he said to 
 his wife that he supposed they had been moving in the night before. 
 You will remember that Burke had said to old Carlson that it was about 
 time to move in. Yes; move in. It was a bad day for Burke when he 
 moved in, and it was a bad day for Dr. Cronin when he moved in." 
 
 ' The witness said it was about time totix up," said Mr. Forrest. 
 
 " Yes. T think he did. It was a pretty bad time to fix up," retorted the 
 State's Attorney. " Fix up is a better word, and a nice fix they made of it. 
 Old man Carlson tells you that the next morning he thought they had 
 moved in. Forrest says youmu&tnot believe old Carlson, because he is an old 
 man, and that thestory about the wagon tracks he did not tell before the 
 coroner. That is very true, but he says here that there was a wagon track, 
 and it certainly was not necessary for the old man to commit perjury in 
 order to prove that there was a wagon track. A great many things have 
 happened which were not testified to before the coroner's inquest, but For- 
 rest says that none of them are true. He first complains and abuses us when 
 getting a jury because there was so much known of the case and so much 
 published, and yet, because we did not publish the whole thing to the 
 world and before the coroner, he abuses us before the petit jury. You can 
 not please him, and the only way to please him is to give him evidence 
 Millicifut to acquit his clients. 
 
 " Mr. Forrest brought the trunk in here and exhibited it to you and I 
 have a right to say a few words about that. I also desire to say a few words 
 about the clothes and the necktie, which was cut through at the neck. They 
 cuthis pantaloons otf, they cut his clothes off and did not take the time to 
 take them off."
 
 ' 
 
 560 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 "I want, to enter an objection to the jury's inspecting the clothes," 
 hastily remarked Mr. Forrest, jumping to his feet. 
 
 " I don't care about the clothes," replied the State's Attorney. " You 
 exhibited the trunk, and I am going to speak of that, although tfeey are all 
 in evidence. At the same time I desire to call your especial attention to 
 the necktie, which was not unfastened in the front but cut from behind. 
 They had the man on his face, and when they stripped his body of the 
 clothing they cut his necktie. Now, I wantto show you this Moody trunk. 
 They never turned up the bottom of this trunk to show you what is there. 
 There is some of the blood which ran through the trunk. t>o you see this 
 blood in the trunk? You do not believe that the man in that trunk died 
 from apoplexy do you? You do not believe that he died from poison, do 
 jou? You do not believe he died a natural death. Where was the trunk 
 found? It was found within three-quarters of a mile south of where the 
 body was found in a catch-basin, and right by its side, within three or four 
 blocks, were found the clothes of Cronin in the sewer. Kemember that the 
 wagon was seen half a mile north of where the body was found with this 
 trunk in it, which was then thought to be a carpenter's chest, and it was 
 seen coming 4his way empty three blocks east of where the body was 
 found. 
 
 "I want to call your attention to this matter because it is important. 
 You will remember that Mr. Ingham mentioned the fact in his statement 
 that when seen they were north of Bryn Mawyr avenue, looking for the 
 Lake Shore drive in the sand, whereas, if they had honestly been looking 
 for the Lake Shore drive, they would have found it south. Now then, put 
 these three things together. You know where the body was found and the 
 clothes were found, and between those two points this trunk was found 
 with blood fresh in it that could be stirred by those honest Germans the 
 next morning, with cotton batting saturated with blood, and if you put 
 those things together, you will have reason to believe that it was the same 
 trunk that came from the Carlson cottage. Why? Because the trunk in 
 the Carlson cottage was just such a trunk, and it had been moved, and in 
 the valise was found Cronin's clothes, and that valise was moved from 117 
 Clark street and was found in the sewer. I am going to make up a chain of 
 evidence in this case, although I am not going ail over those outside cir- 
 cumstances, because every circumstance which is proved in the case is not 
 necessary for a conviction; mark that. If you get instructions from, the 
 court that there is a necessary circumstance lacking, and if you have a rea- 
 sonable doubt on that material circumstance, and if there can be no con- 
 viction without that circumstance in the case, then you can not convict. 
 But every circumstance in the case that is proved is not a material or nec- 
 essary circumstance. If such circumstances as are necessary to lead your 
 minds to believe the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt are- 
 clearly proved, that is all that is necessary for you to be satisfied upon. 
 You need all these little outside circumstances, because they corroborate 
 and make stronger each link in the chain of evidence. You want to remem- 
 ber that every point which leads in the direction of a correct conclusion to 
 your minds should bo very clear to you. As to whether they affect the 
 material circumstances is another matter. 
 
 "Iwantyou to re member that Burke went to Winnipeg. Forrest says 
 that he never attempted to deceive the officers there or to go under an 
 assumed name, but Officer McKinuon tells you that he first said his name 
 was Cooper, and when the chief of police told him any statement he made 
 would be used in evidence against him, then, for the firsttime, he said his 
 name was Burke. Again, when Patrick O'Sullivan was requested to come 
 to the police station and he sawa lot of men standing back of the Carlson 
 cottage, he wanted to know what those men were doing in that cottage, 
 clearly showing that he knew what had transpired in the cottage. Another 
 thing I want you to remember is what Beggs said after the murder, when he 
 said to Maurice Morris and another person in the presence of Ward, who did 
 not take the stand, 'Cronin is all right; we know what we are talking about 
 and you do not; you are not in the inner circle.' Whoever said it was the 
 organization or a pat t of the Clan-na-Gael which formed that inner circle ? 
 We did not, but that inner circle was made up of members of the order, men 
 who knew what was going on. Fo-ter says Beggs' remark was advertising 
 the murder, but it was not. It means that he and other members who were
 
 TIII; CRIME OF TIII-; CENTURY. 561 
 
 interested in the murdo.r of Dr. Cronin were ah inner circle ; ttiat he knew 
 where Cronin could be found, and that liu believed his remains would keep 
 there undiscovered until they could not be identified. You have another 
 link, then, in t he chain of evidence, and you have to take every circumstance 
 in the case that leads you up to the chain, and strengthens ejch liukintho 
 chain that Mas forged by Beggs. Then he answers: ' Why didn't you call 
 Turn Murphy ?' We had him before the grand jury, and we examined his 
 books, but the idea of calling' Tom Murphy himself when bis partner sits 
 here and has pat here from the beginning of the trial as a lawyer for the 
 defendant! As to the money in the camp, Tom Murphy did not have 
 enough money in the funds oi the organization to square his own account, 
 let alone spending: money for killing- Cronin. We did not claim that he did. 
 We. do not claim that the camp paid the expenses, but we have the riff lit , to 
 take Tom Murphy before the grand jury and investigate the camp in order 
 to discover who were the conspirators. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, I do not propose to dwell upon their defense at all. 
 They have no defense. When we started in this case we groped in the val- 
 ley and you groped in the valley. When you looked for the evidence you 
 ft nind it. If you are looking for an excuse to acquit those defendants, > ou 
 may acquit them either on the ground that we have not stated the cause 
 of death, or you can acquit them on the ground that you do not believe 
 theevidencc. Butyou are not going to do that; you are too honorable men 
 to do so. The people of the State of Illinois have rights as well as these defend- 
 ants. I would not ask you to convict the men unless you feel that the evi- 
 dence justified you in doing so, but their defense, what is it? It is shorter 
 than the defendants can cover themselves by lying upon it, and, as a cover- 
 ing, it is narrower than they can wrap themselves in. There is no 
 defense. Since we were groping in the valley we have piled up a mount- 
 ain of evidence, until you have the mountain peaks, which stand out so 
 clearly, that all of you can not fail to see them, and there stands the evi- 
 dence, irresistible, unimpeachable and indisputable. Gentlemen, let us see 
 what we have got. 
 
 "Lotus start in on this chain. Go into Camp 20 and see what there is 
 there. You find that theie was a committee appointed'; you find that 
 charges were made about spies; you find there was a circle of brothers 
 banded tog-ether. Take in the 22d of February ; takein thespeech of Beggs; 
 take in the letters of Spelman. There you have got a link. You stai t out 
 from Camp 20 with that link. You go over to 117 South CJark Street ; you 
 goto Revell; you take the buying of the trunk and the buying of the valise 
 and the buying of the furniture; the putting of it into 117 Clark street, and 
 Kunze is in there as a man to throw the public off as to the cause of the 
 occupancy. There you have a second link. The trunk, the valise, the strap 
 and the furniture form asecond link. Put that on and follow it up. These 
 two links are undisputed and undenied. There is no dispute as to that 
 second link ; you find Martin Burke taking the furniture and putting the 
 trunk and valise into that cottage. There is a third link undisputed; no 
 question about it, unless you want to disbelieve the five witnesses as to i he 
 identification of Martin Burke. You go on and you find Patrick O'Sullivan 
 contracting with Cronin, that is the fourth link. There are four HnUs 
 established by evidence and undisputed leading up to the murder of Dr. 
 Cronin. You come to Dan Coughlin ; he has the horse and buggy; that is 
 the fifth link. These five links are as solid as the rocks- as solid as iron; 
 live undisputed links in the chain. You find, further, on Evanston road, 
 the trunk, the body and the clothes. That is another link. There are six 
 links that lead from Camp 20 to the grave of Dr. Cronin. We have the first 
 link made by the Clan-na-Gael brotherhood in Camp 20; to that add 
 Beggs' letters and his statements about the inner circle; to that add that 
 that committee was to report to him alonci to that add everything that 
 BeggS did and said; it is all hanging on that link. We find Burke renting 
 the cottage and saying that his sister is going to keep house with him ; we 
 flnd him disappear ; we find him in Winnipeg. That is another link. Then 
 there is the P. O'Sullivan link; you find his printed card was presented to 
 Dr. Cronin, and the man who presents it s:iys, ' O'Sullivan wants you to go 
 to his ice house.' That is an undisputed circumstance. All these circum- 
 stances are leading you up to the murder of Dr. Cronin. Take Dan Cough- 
 Jin's statement to Dinan; take his statement that Smith, from Hancock,
 
 562 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 Michigan, is the man who drove the rig, the very man that Burke \rent to 
 see at Hancock, Michigan, and who says John Ityan is his friend. 
 
 " Look at it 1 There never was such a chain of circumstances. The 
 chain itself is strong, and yet ail those circumstances, those little links, are 
 as strong so strong that they can not be broken. And yet this lawyer will 
 stand up here for three days and say there is not evidence enough to con- 
 vict! Now, another thirfg that goes to add to P. O'Sullivan's link and to 
 show that he was not honest in that contract is the testimony of this man A. 
 J. Ford. He testifies that he made a speech in Camp 20, in which he said 
 that there were men fraternizing with the deputies up in the Washington 
 Literary Society in Lake View, and lie gave this man O'Sullivan as his 
 authority. There is another circumbtance. Why then did O'Sullivan, if he 
 believed that Cronin was organizing a lodge there if he believed that that 
 literary society was taking in men opposed to the Irish cause why did he 
 think Cronin was a friend of his, and why did he go and make a contract 
 with Dr. Cronin? Now, gentlemen, I have laid down these links; you take 
 it in Camp 20, follow it to 117 Clark street, to the cottage, to Dan Coughlin's 
 horse and buggy, to the trunk, the body and the clothes. You come back 
 to Camp 20 and it falls at the feet of John F. Beggs. His lawyer eays that 
 John F. Beggs is the dupe of no man. No, gentlemen; but John F. Beggs is 
 just as guilty, if he was in this conspiracy, as Martin Burke, every bit. The 
 learned counsel told you a story here, and it was very apt. He told you 
 that men who had been defrauding the government and doing crooked' 
 work took a man who was on their track and put him over the brink of a 
 precipice and swung him back and forth, and he says one of them climbed 
 up and cut the rope, and an innocent man, innocently charged, dropped on 
 the rocks below and was cut to pieces. The men who stood by and laughed 
 while this was being done were just as guilty as the man who cut the rope. 
 John F. Beggs, if he was in this conspiracy, is just as guilty as the men who 
 dealt the blows, every bit. Now, in such a case as that, where an innocent 
 man was swung out over the rocks where these men who were criminals 
 themselves, swung a man over a cliff down to death what would you do 
 if you were on a jury to try such men ? 
 
 " Gentlemen, I am through; I promised you I would hurry up. I do not 
 believe that if I were to talk from now till next June I would change your 
 opinion one way or another. If you are settled to turn these men loose, 
 you will do it; if you believe this evidence is not sufficient to convict them, 
 why of course you will acquit them. But I want to call your attention to 
 your responsibility. Gentlemen, this is a serious matter; it has got down to 
 business. I have been sitting here for weeks,and indisputed evidence that 
 must lead your minds to the conclusion that Dr. Cronin was murdered, evi- 
 dence that must lead to the conclusion that it was done by a conspiracy; 
 evidence that must convince your minds that it was a cold-blooded mur- 
 der, that it was planned in secret, that it was done with the coolness of those 
 men who swung the man over the cliff you must have come to the conclu- 
 sion that if there ever was a murder case in which the -extreme penalty of 
 the law was demanded at your hands by a verdict of that kind, this is one. 
 Hemembcr that you are no't here to acquit guilty men; you are not here to 
 convict innocent men. Remember that we are here insisting that this evi- 
 dence is so overwhelming that you, as honest men, under your oaths, can 
 not resist this volume of proof, and that it ought to convince you beyond 
 a reasonable doubt that all five of these men are guilty of this crime."
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 ALL THE TESTIMONY I5EFORE THE JURY JUDGE 
 
 M'CONNELL'S LUCID CHARGE THE JURY KK- 
 ' TIRES A PERIOD OF ANXIETY POPULAR EX- 
 CITEMENT AT ITS HEIGHT DEMEANOR OF THE 
 
 PRISONERS SUSPENSE AT LAST ENDED THE 
 
 VERDICT. 
 
 Breathless silence prevailed as the State's 
 Attorney concluded his argument. Attention 
 was now directed to Judge McConnell. Every 
 eye in the court-room, including that of the pris- 
 oners, was directed toward the bench. Spread- 
 ing before him a bulky roll of foolscap, his 
 Honor, after requesting the close attention of the 
 jurors, commenced to read the final instructions. 
 These were couched as follows: 
 
 " The jury arc judges of the law as well as of the facts in this case, and 
 if they can say upon their oaths that they know the law better than the 
 Court itself, they have the right to do so; but, before assuming so solemn a 
 responsibility, they should be sure that they are not acting from caprice or 
 prejudice, that they are not controlled by their will or wishes, but from a 
 deep and confident conviction that the Court is wrong and they arc right 
 Before saying this upon their oaths, it is their duty to reflect whether, from 
 their study and experience, they are better qualified to judge of the law 
 than the Court. If under all circumstances they are prepared to say that 
 the Court is wrong in its exposition of the law, the statute has given them 
 that right. 
 
 "in the language of the statute, murder is the unlawful killing of a 
 human being, in the peace of the people, with malice aforethought, either 
 expressed or implied. The unlawful killing may be pcrpetrat d by poison- 
 ing, striking, starving, drowning, stabbing, shooting, or by any other of 
 the various forms or means by which human nature may be overcome and 
 death thereby occasioned. Express malice is that deliberate intention 
 unlawfully to take away the life of a fellow-creature, which is manifested 
 by external circumstances capable of proof. Malice shall lie implied when 
 no considerable provocation appears, or when all the circumstances of the 
 killing show an abandoned and malignant heart. 
 
 563
 
 564 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 " Whoever is guilty of murder, shall suffer the punishment of death or 
 imprisonment in the penitentiary for his natural life, or for a term of not 
 less than fourteen years. If the accused, or any of them, are found guilty 
 by the jury, the jury shall fix the punishment by their verdict. 
 
 "An accessory is he who stands by and aids, abets, or assists, or who, 
 not being present, aiding, abetting-, or assisting, hath advised, encouraged, 
 aided, or abetted the perpetration of the crime. He who thus aids, abets, 
 assists, advises, or encourages, shall be considered as principal and punished 
 accordingly. Every such accessory, when a crime is committed within or 
 without this State by his aid or procurement in this State, may be indicted 
 and convicted at the same time as the principal, or before or after his con- 
 viction, and whether the principal is convicted or amenable to justice or 
 not, and punished as principal. 
 
 "The manner or cause of death, which is alleged in the indictment, is an 
 essential element of the charge against the defendants, and the law requires 
 the prosecution to establish that averment to your satisfaction, beyond 
 reasonable doubt, as it is laid in the indictment, before a conviction of the 
 defendants, or either of them, can lawfully be had. But whether or not the 
 manner or cause of death was as laid in the indictment may be estab ished 
 by circumstantial evidence, just as any other fact essential to conviction 
 may be. 
 
 "The indictment against the defendants is no evidence of their guilt, but 
 is merely a formal charge for the purpose of putting them upon trial. You 
 ought to commence the investigation of this case with a presumption that 
 the defendants, and each of them, are innocent of the crime of which they 
 are accused, and you should act upon this presumption throughout your 
 consideration of the evidence. Unless this presumption of innocence shall 
 have been overcome by proof of guilt so strong, credible, and conclusive as 
 to convince your minds, beyond every reasonable doubt, that the defendants 
 are guilty, and unless the evidence is of such a nature as to exclude every 
 reasonable doubt of guilt, then you ought to acquit the defendants. 
 
 "But this rule of law, which clothes every person accused of crime with 
 the presumption of innocence, and imposes on the State the burden of estab- 
 lishing his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, is not intended to aid any one 
 who is in fact guilty of the crime to escape, but is a humane provision of 
 law, intended, so far as human agencies can, to guard against the danger 
 of any innocent person being unjustly punished. 
 
 "Circumstantial evidence in criminal cases is the proof of such facts and 
 circumstances connected with or surrounding the commission of the crime 
 charged as tends to show the guilt or innocence of the party charged, and if 
 these facts and circumstances are sufficient to satisfy the jury of the guilt 
 of the defendants beyond a, reasonable doubt, then such evidence is suffi- 
 cient to authorize the jury in finding the defendants guilty. 
 
 " The law exacts a conviction, wherever there is sufficient legal evidence 
 to show the defendants' guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and circumstan- 
 tial evidence is legal evidence. 
 
 " The following rules should guide you in your use and application of 
 the circumstances introduced in evidence: It is the duty of the jury to 
 enter upon the consideration of each circumstance proven, having in their 
 minds the presumption that the defendants, and each of them, are 
 innocent, and in considering such fact or circumstance, they should 
 apply to il the presumption of innocence, and if such fact or circumstance, 
 when considered in connection with all the evidence in the case, can be 
 explained consistently with the innocence of the accused, it is their duty so 
 to explain it. No circumstance introduced in evidence on this trial can be 
 used by you as a basis for any inference of guilt against the defendants,or 
 either of them, unless such circumstance is first proven to your entire 
 satisfaction, and every circumstance in the casp which is not proven to 
 your entire satisfaction should be wholly dismissed from consideration, and 
 must not be permitted to influence you to any extent against the 
 defendants, or either of them. Any circumstance which is essential to a 
 conclusion of guilt against the defendants, or either of them, should be 
 established beyond all reasonable doubt and to a moral certainity before it 
 can be used by the jury against the defendants. 
 
 "In order to justify the inference of legal guilt from circumstantial evi- 
 dence, the existence of the inculpatory facts must be absolutely incompati-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 565 
 
 We with the innocence of the accused, and incapable of explanation upon 
 any other reasonable hypothesis than that of their guilt. If you can recon- 
 cile the facts in this case upon any reasonable theory consistent with the 
 innocence of the defendant, John Kunze, it is your duty so to do, and to 
 find said defendant, John Kunze, not guilty. If you can reconcile the facts 
 in this case upon any reasonable theory consistent with the innocence of 
 the defendant, Patrick O'Sullivan, it is your duty so to do, and to find said 
 defendant, Patrick O'Sullivan, not guilty. If you can reconcile the facts in 
 this case upon any reasonable theory consistent with the innocence of the 
 defendant, Martin Burke, it is your duty so to do, and to find said defend- 
 ant, Martin Burke, not guilty. If you can reconcile the facts in this case 
 upon any reasonable theory consistent with the innocence of the defend- 
 ant, Daniel Coughlin, it is your duty so to do, and to find said defendant, 
 Daniel Coughlin, not guilty. 
 
 "It ts not sufficient for the jury to find that a resolution was adopted for 
 the appointment of a secret committee in Camp 20 on February 8, 1889, but 
 it must further appear to your satisfaction, beyond all reasonable doubt 
 that such committee was in fact appointed by the defendant Beggs, and 
 that such appointment was in pursuance or in furtherance of a conspiracy 
 to commit the crime set out in the indictment, and you must further be 
 satisfied, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the defendant Beggs had knowl- 
 edge of the purpose for which said committee was asked, or, if appointed, 
 assented to its purpose subsequently, or'you will not be justified in finding 
 a participation in such conspiracy on the part of the defendant Beggs by 
 reason of the facts just recited. That the defendant Beggs was a member 
 of the United Brotherhood and was the presiding officer of Camp 20 are not 
 circumstances standing a^ne tending to establish his guilt of the crime 
 charged in the indictment in this case. And as there is no evidence in this 
 case that any overt act was committed by the defendant Beggs in the com- 
 mission of the alleged murder charged in the indictment in this case, there- 
 fore, unless it is established that a conspiracy was entered into to commit 
 the murder charged in said indictment, to which conspiracy the said Beggs 
 was a party, he should be acquitted. 
 
 " When the testimony of witnesses appears to be fair, is not unreasonable 
 or unnatural, and is consistent with itself , and where the witnesses have 
 not, in any manner, been impeached, then you have no right under the law, 
 to disregard the testimony of such witnesses from mere whim, caprice, or 
 without just cause. It is the duty of the jury to consider the whole 
 of the evidence, and to render a verdict in accordance with the weight 
 of all the evidence in the case, and not act upon a consideration of the evi- 
 dence for the prosecution or the defense alone. All the evidence must be 
 considered. 
 
 "\Vhile it is your duty to carefully scrutinize and dispassionately weigh 
 the evidence of all the witnesses in the case, still it is your sworn duty to 
 give proper credit to the evidence of each and all of the witnesses, and, if 
 possible, to reconcile all of the evidence in the case with the presumption 
 that each witness has intended to speak the truth, unless by their manner 
 of testifying on the witness-stand, or by inconsistent statements sworn to, 
 or by the testimony inconsistent with other credible evidence, in the cause 
 you are Impelled to believe that the testimony of some one or more of the 
 witnesses is untruthful or unreliable, or unless you are led to believe, from 
 an exhibition of interest, bias or predjudicfe, that such witness or witnesses 
 have oeen inclined to exaggerate, color or suppress the truth, or unless 
 they have been impeached in some of the ways known to the law. 
 
 "One of the modes of impeaching 1 a witness is by showing that he or she 
 has made statements out of court at variance with nis or her statements on 
 the witness-stand; and if the jury believe from the evidence that a witness 
 has made statements at another time and place at varian.ce with his or her 
 evidence in this case, regarding any material matter testified to by him or 
 her, then it is the province of the jury to determine to what extent this fact 
 tends to impeach either his or her memory or his or her credibility, or 
 detract from the weight which ought to be given to his or her testimony. 
 If the jury believe from the evidence that any witness has willfully sworn 
 falsely as to any matter or thing material to the issues in this case, then the 
 jury are at liberty to disregard his or her entire testimony, except in so far 
 as it has been corroborated by other credible evidence, or by the facts and 
 circumstances proven on the trial. Testimony of verbal admissions, state-
 
 566 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 merits and conversations, ought to be taken by you with caution, because 
 that sort of testimony is subject to much imperfection and mistake. And 
 when the verbal admission of a person charged with crime is ottered in evi- 
 dence, the whole of the admission must be taken together, as well that 
 part which makes for the accused as that which makes against him; and if 
 part of the statement which is in favor of the defendant is not disproved, 
 and is not apparently improbable or untrue, when consistent with all the 
 other evidence in the case, then such part of the statement is entit- .* to as 
 much consideration from the jury as any other part of the statement. 
 
 "Before you can be warranted in using against any one of the defend- 
 ants any evidence respecting the conduct or conversation of any other 
 defendant,you must believe to a moral certainty, from reliable and credible 
 evidence, not only that the particular defendant whose conduct and conver- 
 sation the prosecution seek to use against the defendant was a member of 
 an unlawful conspiracy ,as charged in the indictment, but that the defendant 
 himself was also an associate and member of such conspiracy. If, after an 
 examination of all the evidence, which examination should be made by you 
 in a spirit free from passion and prejudice, there should exist in your mind 
 any reasonable doubt as to whether or not any defendant was a member of 
 an unlawful conspiracy as charged in the indictment, then and in such 
 case it would be illegal and wrong for you to use against such defendant 
 any evidence respecting the conduct or conversation of any other defend- 
 ant, even if you should believe that such other defendant was a member 
 of such alleged conspiracy. 
 
 "In no view which can be taken of this case will you be warranted in 
 using against one defendant any evidence of the act, conduct or conversa- 
 tion of any other defendant occurring subsequent to the day of the alleged 
 homicide of Dr. Cronin. 
 
 "Although you may believe that the defendant Beggs, at a meeting of 
 Camp 20 on May 10th, remarked in substance that that committee was to 
 report to him, and even if you should further believe that such remark pos- 
 sessed some criminal import, yet, in no view that can be taken of this case, 
 will you be justified in using such remark as evidence against any other 
 defendant. 
 
 "Although you may fully and confidently believe that one J. B. Simonds, 
 the person who drove Dr. Cronin away from his home on the night of May 
 4th, and other unknown persons' were members of a conspiracy to murder Dr. 
 Cronin as charged in the indictment, and, indeed, that they did murder him, 
 yet you can not and ought not use any evidence respecting the conduct 
 and conversations of such persons, or any of them, against any defendant 
 unless you are first convinced beyond every reasonable doubt, from the 
 evidence, that such defendant was also a member of such conspiracy to 
 murder Dr. Cronin. 
 
 "Although you may believe that a conspiracy existed to murder Dr. 
 Cronin, and although you may further believe that he was murdered in pur- 
 suance of such conspiracy, yet the fact that a detendant did some act which 
 contributed in some measure in producing the Doctor's death will not jus- 
 tify you in concluding that the defendant doing such act was a member of 
 such conspiracy, unless you further believe, from the evidence, beyond a 
 reasonable doubt, that said defendan*, at the time of doing such act, actu- 
 ally knew and intended that the act done by him should be one of a series 
 of acts to be done by others in producing the Doctor's death. 
 
 "A conspiracy may be established by circumstantial evidence, the same 
 as any other fact, and such evidence is legal and competent for that 
 purpose ; so whether an act which was committed was done by a mem her 
 of a conspiracy, may be established by circumstantial evidence, whether 
 the identity of the individual who committed the act be established or not; 
 and also whether the act done was in pursuance and furtherance of a 
 common design, may be ascertained from the same class of evidence ; and 
 if the jury believe, from the evi lence in this case, beyond a reasonable 
 doubt, that the defendants or any of them, conspired and agreed together, 
 or with others, to kill and murder Patrick Henry Cronin, and that in 
 pursuance and furtherance of that common design and by a member 
 or members of such conspiracy the said Patrick Henry Cronin was killed 
 and murdered in manner and form as charged in the indictment in this 
 case, then such of these defendants, if any, whom the jury believe from
 
 THE CRIME OF I I IE CENTURY. 567 
 
 the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt were parties to such conspiracy, are 
 Kuilty of the murder of the said Cronin, whether the identity or the 
 individual doing the killing be established or not, or whether such defend- 
 ants wore present at the time of the killing or not. 
 
 " Under the charge of conspiracy against any of the defendants to com- 
 mit murder, it must be proven, beyond every reasonable doubt, that such 
 defendant combined with one or more persons in the common purpose and 
 with the common design to murder the deceased before you will be justified 
 in believing that the conspiracy existed as charged against him. Although 
 you may believe that the defendant Burke rented the Carlson cottage and 
 removed the furniture and other articles mentioned in evidence from 117 
 South Clark street to the said cottage, and although you may further 
 believe that Dr. Cronin was murdered in the Carlson cottage, you are 
 advised that these acts of the defendant Burke in themselves are insufficient 
 to justify you in concluding that he was a party to the alleged conspiracy, 
 unless it further appears, beyond all reasonable doubt, that such acts of 
 the defendant Burke were delibei-at^ly and willfully intended by him to 
 assist in the perpetration of the crime of murder. 
 
 "Although you may believe than Dinan's horse and buggy was used on 
 May 4th to take the Doctor to his death, you are advised that the act of 
 the defendant, Coughlin, in engaging such horse and buggy is insuf- 
 ficient to justify you in concluding that he was a party to the alleged con- 
 spiracy, unless it further appears bey< nd all reasonable doubt that such act 
 of the defendant, Coughlin, was deliberately and willfully intended by him 
 to assist in the perpetration of the crime of murder. 
 
 "Although you may believe that the contract between O'Sullivan and Dr. 
 Cronin was used on May 4th to decoy the Doctor to his death, you are ad vised 
 that the act of the defendant, O'Sullivan, in making such contract of itself 
 is insufficient to justify you*in concluding that he was a party to the alleged 
 conspiracy, unless it further appears, beyond all reasonable doubt, that such 
 act of the defendant, O'Sullivan, was deliberately and willfully intended by 
 him to assist in the perpetration of the crime or murder, tfr that he know- 
 ingly and corruptly consented to the use of said contract in accomplishing 
 the alleged murder of the deceased. 
 
 " In considering the circumstance of the contract made between Patrick 
 O'Sullivan and Dr. Cronin, you are not permitted by the law to take into 
 account or draw. any inference fri m the fact that the witnesses McGarry, 
 Capt. Schaack, Mrs. T. T. Conklin, and others testified that they expressed 
 the opinion to Patrick O'Sullivan in conversing with him that the said con- 
 tract was unbusiness -like, unusual, strange, and suspicious; such opinions 
 furnish you no warrant for concluding that the object and purpose of Pat- 
 rick O'Sullivan in making the contract was illegal or criminal. 
 
 "While it is necessary, in order to establish a conspiracy, to prove'a com- 
 bination of two or more persons by concerted action to accomplish the 
 criminal or unlawful purpose alleged in the indictment, yet it is not neces- 
 sary to prove that the parties ever came together and entered into any 
 formal agreement or arrangement between themselves to effect such a pur- 
 pose ; the combination, or common design or object may be regarded as 
 proved, if the jury believe from the evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, 
 that the parties were knowingly willfully, and actually pursuing in concert 
 the unlawful object stated in the indictment, whether acting separately or 
 together, by common or different means; providing they were leading 
 intentionally to the same unlawful result. 
 
 "The evidence in proof of a conspiracy will generally, in the nature of 
 the case, be circumstantial. Though a common design is the nature of 
 the charge, it is not necessary to prove that the defendants came together, 
 and actually agreed in terms to have that design and to pursue it by com- 
 mon means. If it be proved to the satisfaction of the jury beyond a rea- 
 sonable doubt that the defendants knowingly and intentionally pursued 
 by their acts the same object, one pursuing one part, and another another 
 part of the same, so as to complete it with a view to the attainment of the 
 same object, the jury will be justified in the conclusion that they are 
 engaged in a conspiracy to e^ect that object. 
 
 "If the jury believe fror the evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, act- 
 ing in the light of the entire charge of the Court, that the defendants now 
 on trial, or some of them, conspired together, or together and with others
 
 5 68 
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 who were to the Grand Jury unknown, to kill and murder Patrick Henry 
 Cronin, and that one or more of the conspirators, in pursuance and fur- 
 therance of the conspiracy, did kill and murder the said Cronin in manner 
 and form as charged in the indictment, then any or all of the defendants 
 (if any) who so conspired are in law guilty of such murder, although they 
 may not have actually killed the said Cronin, or been present at the time 
 or place of the killing. 
 
 "The burden of proving everything essential to the establishment of the 
 charge against the defendants, and each of them, lies on the prosecution, 
 and even if it were conceded that somebody murdered Dr. Cronin, yet the 
 defendants .are not required nor expected to prove who committed the 
 murder. 
 
 " The prosecution is required to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that 
 the defendants, and not somebody else, committed thecrime charged in the 
 indictment. It is insufficient to justify you in convicting the defendunts, 
 that the evidence disclosed that Patrick H. Cronin was murdered, and that 
 the defendants, or somebody else, murdered him, or that the probabilities 
 are that the defendants and not somebody else murdered him. 
 
 "You ought not, and cannot legally convict the defendants, or either of 
 them, upon the mere doctrine of chance and probability. Although you 
 may believe that it is highly probable and very likely that the defendants 
 are guilty, and even that it is far more likely and probable that they are 
 guilty than hat they are innocent, yet, no amount of suspicion will warrant 
 you in finding a verdict of 'guilty' against the defendants, or any of 
 them. 
 
 " To warrant a conviction upon a charge of murder, the evidence must 
 be of such kind and quantity as to convince the jury of the truth of the 
 charge beyond every reasonable doubt, and to a,moral certainty. If, there- 
 fore, when you, without passion, prejudice, or bias, have fairly and hon- 
 estly considered the entire evidence on both sides of the case, do not feel 
 morally certain, to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt, of the guilt of 
 the defendants, then it is your duty to acquit them. 
 
 "It is the duty of the jury to examine the evidence on both sides of the 
 case without any feeling of resentment or revenge, and if, after such exam- 
 ination, you entertain any reasonable doubt as to whether the deceased 
 was murdered by the defendants as charged in the indictment, or by some- 
 body else, you should acquit the defendants; in other words, if the evi- 
 dence, after an impartial consideration, leaves your mind in a state of 
 reasonable doubt as to whether any particular defendant is guilty, as 
 charged in the indictment, then such defendant should be acquitted. 
 
 "If the evidence in this case fails to show any motive on the part of the 
 defendant to commit the crime charged against nim, then this is a circum- 
 stance in favor of his innocence, which the jury ought to consider in con- 
 nection with all the other evidence in the casein arriving at a verdict. 
 
 "An individual juror ought not to compromise any well-founded doubt 
 of guilt that he may entertain respecting the defendants or any of them 
 with his fellow-jurors. The jury can agree only to convict or acquit, and 
 you can only properly convict when the guilt of the defendants is so fully 
 and clearly proven to the mind of each individual juror, as to exclude every 
 reasonable doubt of guilt. 
 
 "A reasonable doubt is that state of the case which, after the entire com 
 parison and consideration of all the evidence in the case leaves the jurors 
 in that condition that they can not say they have an abiding convic- 
 tion, to a moral certainty, of the truth of the charge. It is not sufficient to 
 establish a probability, though a strong one, that the fact is more likely to 
 be true than the contrary, but the evidence must establish the truth of the 
 fact to a reasonable and moral certainty ; a certainty that convinces and 
 directs the understanding and satisfies the reason and judgment of the juror 
 who is bound to act upon it conscientiously. 
 
 " 1'n considering the case, however, the jury are not to go beyond the 
 evidence to hunt up doubts, nor must they entertain such doubts as are 
 merely chimerical or conjectured . A doubt to justify an acquittal must be 
 reasonable, and it must arise from candid and impartial investigation of all 
 the evidence in the case, and unless it is such that were the same kind of 
 doubt interposed in the graver transactions of life, it would cause a reason- 
 able and prudent man to hesitate and pause, it is insufficient to authorize a
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 569 
 
 verdict of not guilty. If, after considering all the evidence, you can say 
 you have an abiding conviction of the truth of the charge, you are satisfied 
 beyond a reasonable doubt. 
 
 "The doubt which the juror is allowed to retain in his own mind, and 
 under the influence of which he should frame a verdict of not guilty, must 
 always bea reasonable one. A doubt produced by undue sensibility in the 
 mind of any juror in view of the consequence of his verdict is not a reason- 
 able doubt, and a juror is not allowed to create sources or materials of 
 doubt by resorting to trivial and fanciful suppositions, and remote conjec- 
 tures as to possible states of facts, differing from that established by the 
 evidence. You are not at liberty to disbelieve as jurors, if, from the evi- 
 dence, you believe as men; your oath imposes on you no obligation to doubt 
 where no doubt would exist if no oath had been administered. 
 
 "In this case the jury may, as in their judgment the evidence warrants, 
 find any or all of the defendants guilty, or any or all of them not guilty ; and 
 if in their judgment the evidence warrants, they may, incase they find the 
 defendants, or any of them guilty, fix the same penalty for all the defend- 
 ants found guilty, or different penalties for the different defendants found 
 guilty. 
 
 "And in case they find the defendants, or any of them, guilty of murder, 
 they should fix the penalty either at death or at imprisonment for life in 
 the penitentiary, or at imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of any 
 number of years not less than fourteen." 
 
 THE JURY RETIRES. 
 
 The instructions of Judge McConnell were lis- 
 tened to with intense interest by the jurors, the 
 prisoners, and the spectators. After he had con- 
 cluded he made a verbal statement to the effect 
 that if the jurors had taken any notes during the 
 progress of the case, it would be necessary for 
 them to disregard them in the jury-room. The 
 oath was then administered to the bailiffs who 
 were to take charge of the jury. Each one of 
 them was compelled to solemnly swear by the 
 ever-living God that they would take the jury 
 to some private, convenient place provided by 
 the sheriff, and keep them together, without 
 eat or drink, water excepted, unless ordered by 
 the court ; and not to speak to them themselves 
 nor to permit any person or persons to speak to 
 them until they had agreed upon a verdict. 
 
 This formality concluded, a discussion arose as
 
 57O THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 to the exhibits which had been offered in evi- 
 dence going into the jury-room. As to the locks . 
 of hair cut from the head of the body found in 
 the catch-basin there was no objection on the 
 part of the counsel for the defendants. Special 
 objection was raised however, to the O'Sullivan 
 card, the articles of clothing found in the sewer, 
 the bloody trunk, the satchel and hat, and the 
 documentary evidence which had been submitted 
 in the course of the case. All the objections on 
 the part of counsel for the defendants to the 
 introduction of these articles to the jury-room 
 were, however, overruled, and at half-past four on 
 the afternoon of Friday, December i3th, the 
 jury retired. It was the prevalent opinion of 
 those who had been in attendance on the trial 
 from its inauguration, that the deliberations of 
 the body would be of short duration. This 
 idea, however, proved to be erroneous. For 
 over six hours the counsel on both sides, the 
 friends of the prosecution, and the adherents of 
 the defense sat around the court-room in mo- 
 mentary expectation that a verdict would be 
 reached. 
 
 About an hour after the jury had retired, a 
 request was sent into the court-room for the 
 maps, charts and other exhibits which had been 
 introduced in evidence, and it was complied 
 with. At six o'clock one of the bailiffs was dis- 
 patched to procure supper for the body. Court 
 was reconvened at nine o'clock, but, no word 
 being received from the jury, a recess was de- 
 clared until nine o'clock on the following morn-
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 571 
 
 ing. When the day broke, however, the jury 
 was far from an agreement, and although the 
 court remained in continuous session until 
 night, no word was received from the twelve 
 good men and true who held the fate of the five 
 prisoners in the balance. Meanwhile, public 
 excitement had reached a remarkable pitch. 
 Larofe crowds had assembled outside of the court . 
 
 o 
 
 building anxiously awaiting a deliverance from 
 the jury, and in the public resorts throughout the 
 city the probable outcome of the trial and the 
 fate of the defendants was the one absorbing 
 topic of discussion. 
 
 No message from the jury was delivered to 
 the court at any time during Saturday, and after 
 remaining in session until nearly midnight, a 
 recess was ordered the following morning. In 
 the meantime a score of ugly rumors gained cur- 
 rency. 
 
 It was claimed that the jury stood' eleven to 
 one in favor of convicting all of the defendants, 
 and that the one man in question had been 
 " fixed " by the defense. Another rumor had it 
 that the recalcitrant juror had been subjected to 
 personal violence by some of his colleagues who 
 were indignant at the course which he had seen 
 fit to pursue. Saturday night passed, and the 
 dawn of the Sabbath was broken, but still the 
 twelve men had failed to reach a conclusion upon 
 the evidence presented to them. The rule of 
 court regarding their comfort had been held in 
 abeyance so far as to allow of their being pro- 
 vided with blankets and other necessaries for
 
 5/2 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 passing the night, together with bounteous meals 
 from an adjoining restaurant, whenever they felt 
 inclined to refresh the inner man. 
 
 All through the Sabbath, throngs of people, 
 about equally divided between the friends of the 
 murdered physician and the adherents of the fac- 
 tion to which the prisoners belonged, were con- 
 gregated about the streets adjacent to the Crimi- 
 nal Court. No word came from the jury-room, 
 however, and Judge McConnell, who put in an 
 appearance at six o'clock in the evening, prompt- 
 ly ordered a recess until ten o'clock Monday 
 morning, as soon as it was definitely ascertained 
 that the jury was not prepared to make any 
 communication. 
 
 The delay afforded an opportunity of compil- 
 ing some interesting statistics in connection with 
 the famous trial. Its practical commencement 
 was on August 3Oth, when the examination of 
 veniremen for the selection of a jury was inaug- 
 urated. The first panel of four jurors was ac- 
 cepted on September i8th, after nearly one hun- 
 dred men had been examined and had confessed 
 that they were prejudiced against the accused, or 
 had formed an opinion based upon the published 
 reports of the case which could not be removed 
 by evidence. The second panel of four was 
 secured on October 8th, and the third and final 
 panel on October 22d. The presentation of the 
 case for the State occupied from October 24th 
 to November i6th. the type-written transcript of 
 the testimony against the defendants covering 
 nearly 4,000 pages. The defense opened on
 
 TIIF, CRFMK OF TIIF. CENTURY, 5/3 
 
 November i6th and closed on November 3Oth, 
 having in the meantime examined nearly seventy 
 witnesses. 
 
 The speeches occupied fourteen and one-half 
 days of which State's Attorney Longenecker 
 consumed one and a half days in his opening- 
 address, Judge Wing one and one-half, Mr. 
 Ingham one, Mr. Donahoe one and one-half, Mr. 
 Hynes one and one-half, Mr. Foster one and 
 one-half, Mr. Forrest three, and Mr. Longe- 
 necker, in his closing analysis of the case, one 
 and one-half. Taken from its inception to the 
 close, the trial was the most lengthy in the his- 
 tory of American jurisprudence, being only 
 equalled by that of the celebrated Tichborne 
 case in England, which occupied in the aggregate 
 nearly five months. The trial of Daniel Cough- 
 lin and his associates commenced on August 
 26th and ended with the rendering of the verdict 
 on December i6th. In the effort to secure a 
 jury 1,115 special veniremen were examined, of 
 which number 928 were excused for cause, 97 
 were peremptorily challenged for the defense, 78 
 by the State and twelve finally chosen. 
 
 The expenses of the case were enormous. The 
 fees of the special veniremen and the jury ag- 
 gregated $8,000. The salaries of the bailiffs, 
 special officers, and court officials reached $20,- 
 ooo, not including the cost of maintaining the 
 courts. The fees of the witnesses summoned 
 in behalf of the State reached a total of over 
 $5,000, while the expenditures on account 
 of legal^ assistance to the State's Attorney were
 
 574 TIIE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 fully $20,000. The accounts of the stenograph- 
 ers and type-writers, ran into another $10,000, 
 and on the sum total, taken in connection with 
 the fact that the entire business of the courts 
 was delayed during the progress of the trial, a 
 final estimate of $100,000 as the total cost of the 
 trial to the tax-payers, is not an exorbitant one. 
 The outlay on the part of the defense, as far as 
 could be ascertained, did not probably exceed 
 $20,000. 
 
 A VERDICT AT LAST. 
 
 It was not until half past two of the afternoon 
 of Monday, Dec. i6th, that the members of the 
 jury, after being locked up over seventy hours, 
 were prepared to render a verdict. Court was 
 opened at ten o'clock in the morning, but there 
 being no sign of any communication from the 
 jury-room, a recess was taken until two o'clock. 
 Shortly before that hour it was learned that a 
 verdict had at last been reached. Extraordi- 
 nary precautions were at once taken in and about 
 the court room. 
 
 The general public was excluded, and only 
 counsel engaged in the case, representatives of 
 the press, and about two score of police officers 
 in plain clothes were admitted. Judge McCon- 
 nell took his seat on the bench at 2:25, and a 
 moment later the five prisoners were ushered 
 in over the iron bridge leading from the jail. 
 
 John F. Beggs, a deathly pallor on his face, 
 and his blue eyes glaring as though protruding 
 from the bleached bones of a skeleton, headed
 
 THE CRIME OF THE CENTUKV. 575 
 
 the line. Next to him came Daniel Cou^hlin. 
 with a nervous, cynical smile upon his face. 
 Then followed O'Sullivan, his jaws set firm, and 
 the fingers of his right hand tugging nervously 
 at his mustache. Close behind him came Mar- 
 tin Burke, with the same look of stolid indif- 
 ference that he had worn throughout the trial. 
 Kunze, who brought up the line, was apparently 
 the least concerned of the five, smiling and bow- 
 ing as he passed in to the reporters and court 
 officials. 
 
 Just as soon as the prisoners had taken their 
 seats and the fifteen deputy sheriffs, three to 
 each man, had filled the space behind their 
 chairs, the jury was brought in. Breathless 
 silence prevailed. Everyone present seemed 
 impressed with the solemnity of the moment. 
 Even Judge McConnell, who had maintained a 
 calm and reserved air throughout the trial, 
 nervously mopped his brow, from which the 
 perspiration threatened to pour in torrents. 
 In response to a question of the clerk Fore- 
 man Clarke responded that the jury had agreed 
 upon a verdict, at the same time handing up a 
 sealed paper to the bench. The painful and 
 oppressive stillness which prevailed was only 
 broken when the voice of the clerk, who had in 
 the meantime unfolded the paper, rang out clear 
 and distinct in tones that penetrated through the 
 iron doors to the corridors beyond. This is what 
 he read :
 
 576 THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 
 
 We, the jury, find the defendant, John F. Beggs, not guilty. 
 
 We, the jury, find the defendant, John Kunze, guilty of 
 manslaughter as charged in the indictment and fix his punish- 
 ment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of three 
 years. 
 
 We, the jury, find the defendants Daniel Coughlin, Patrick 
 O'Sullivan and Martin Burke, guilty of murder in the manner 
 and form as charged in the indictment and fix the penalty at 
 imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of their natural 
 lives. 
 
 One prolonged buzz, as though a thousand bated breaths had 
 been loosened, filled the court-room as the clerk resumed his seat. 
 Then there was a wail, a despairing cry. Little Kunze, the come- 
 dian of the prisoners, had broken down at last. The hot. scalding 
 tears chased each other down his cheeks as, with clasped hands and 
 a look of unutterable agony upon his face, he ejaculated again and 
 again, " My God ! My.God ! God knows I am 'nnocent ! I never 
 was in Lake View that night ! Oh ! God knows I am innocent, gen- 
 tlemen ! " 
 
 Very different were the feelings of John F. Beggs, who occupied 
 the extreme right of the line. No sooner had the last words of the 
 verdict been read than in a single bound he was before -the jurors. 
 Shaking each by the hand he thanked them cordially, and then, 
 addressing them as a body, said: "Gentlemen, I thank you. I trust 
 that the future may confirm your judgment upon me, and that ycu 
 will never regret that you found nae not guilty of this terrible charge." 
 
 O'Sullivan was the" only one of the other three prisoners who gave 
 vent to his feelings in tears. They trickled down his cheeks for a . 
 moment, but he brushed them away and soon recovered his self-pos. 
 session. Coughlin looked defiantly around the court-room but did 
 not ^betray any emotion, while Martin Burke looked more cool and 
 unconcerned than any man in the room. The formal motion forla 
 new trial was entered and recorded, the iron doors revolved on their 
 hinges, the four prisoners passed to the jail beyond, the great ial 
 was at an end, and with three men condemned to a living dea|h and 
 the fourth incarcerated for a period commensurate with Jiisjcrime, 
 the murder of the Irish patriot was avenged. 
 
 - 
 
 THE END. 
 
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