Chapter XXIII (3)

"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
February--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 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 your 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 12th 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--Nieman'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'Sullivan
said, 'Take wine,' O'Sullivan's idea was to take wine upon that
occasion, and O'Sullivan and Coughlin went into the room whispering
to each other and began making up their minds as to what they
should do with the body and counseling together, while the little
German 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 had 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 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 11 o'clock the committee of three with the chairman sitting on
the trunk came driving along eastward on Fullerton avenue, and at
half past 11, 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 trunk 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
prosecution 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 all times to stand by and help humanity, was not
returning to his home. Mr. Conklin, who picked up the card from 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
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
conspiracy, 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 deliberately
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 running over with blood. This trunk was brought to the
station, and this man Coughlin--this cold-blooded wretch--starts
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 morning 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 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.
Conklin 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 identified 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 his friend 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 1 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--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
discovered. 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
common key. It is a common key to unlock a common lock. You
remember 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 reference 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 instructions about hair, and then, coming here to give
testimony, to say that he doesn't know anything about hair, is more
than I can comprehend."

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, gentlemen, 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
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
discovered, 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 Cronin and
before the discovery of the body. Kunze was seen in the saloon by
Cameron about the 10th or 12th 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 1st 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 15th or 20th of April, riding in a buggy. Kunze
knew Coughlin and Coughlin knew Kunze. It was necessary to paint
the floor on the 12th 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 the officer discovering these men there, with the
lightning flashing and the thunders roaring. I have no doubt that
Kunze bungled the job on the 12th 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 10th and 12th with Dan Coughlin drinking in a saloon, and
seen with O'Sullivan in the 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 fun, 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 anything 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, and he said: 'John Ryan,
of Hancock, Mich.--my friend.' Coughlin said to the chief: 'John
Ryan, of Hancock, Mich., sent him to me.'"

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
anything 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
should return or not. Martin Burke flies away from Camp 20. Martin
Burke leaves his friend Coughlin, his friend O'Sullivan. He goes
away from his camp off to Winnipeg. He said he had been in Hancock,
Mich., working for Ryan. If Burke rented the Carlson cottage for a
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
Sunday 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 this 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 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
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 necessary, 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 defendants, 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
Illinois 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 the 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-rolls of the city, coming from the bar room, coming from the
paint brush--these men have held his Honor and yourselves for over
three long months; and if your verdict 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 want 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
mountain peaks illuminated by the sunshine of truth, until all who
are not blind may see that these men are the murderers of Dr.
Cronin. 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'Sullivan, 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 humanity. 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 head; 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 COUGHLIN.

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 absolutely no evidence whatever against his client, and
quoted numerous cases in the criminal records of New York, Chicago
and other cities to demonstrate 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 possibilities, 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 it affected Coughlin,
casting doubt on 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, "I sent your husband to prison upon the
words of Major Sampson?" Could they go to his children and say to
them, "I 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 souvenirs of his
crime, or preserving such evidences of his guilt. Never in the
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, the cause of
the death of Dr. Cronin, remained unproved, and until this was
settled, 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. W. Ingham, in behalf of the State, followed Mr. Donahoe
with a forcible review of the evidence, and which was listened to
with intense interest by every one within reach of his voice. He
prefaced his remarks by saying that the sanctity of human life 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 body 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 responsibility 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 the great
metropolis, living in fancied security and within the very shadow
of the court-house in which they were 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
indicated, 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. This 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 he was condemned to die. Condemned for
what? For no offense within the laws of the State of Illinois.
Condemned and executed by whom? By a tribunal that was unlawfully
constituted, a tribunal that was at the same time, accuser,
witness, judge and executioner. It was a tribunal which within
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? Who could say that six months
from that day he could not be repeated in the State of Illinois.
Only the twelve men who were trying the case. That was their
responsibility, for their oath in the case was to well and truly
try and true deliverance 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
dissertation 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 showing 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 client. I have known Daniel Donahoe for years, and
I know his ability. I have not known Judge Wing for so long a time,
but from 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, have 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 evidence I have stated to you. Not one particle of
evidence has been admitted to be proved and to be denied here,
except the single statement that Burke was at the cottage on the
night of the murder. There is evidence, however, which more than
outweighs all the alibis they can bring here.

"The saloon-keeper 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 ice of him,
and has no earthly 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 he knows it was on the Saturday night,
because on the night following, the Sunday night, he had an
opening, and, like other Germans, 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
corroborated. Let me draw your attention to the evidence given by
the German 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 left 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 men
who went into the Carlson cottage went in there to help carry out
the 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 Hylands, 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
O'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 preference 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
tending 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 31st 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 stranger, 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 was 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."

KUNZE'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
pigeon.