THE CRONIN MURDER.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 400, 7 January 1890, Page 2

THE CRONIN MURDER.

TRIAL OF THE ASSASSINS. SKETCH OF THE CASE. THE NOTORIOUS TRIANGLE. Dubins my stay in Chicago I had an opportunity of attending the Cronin trial. The event was of interest to me, not only because ot the extraordinary character of the revelations, but also because it afforded me an excellent insight into the procedure of an American criminal court. My first experience in connection with the Cronin trial was somewhat singular. I was walking over the bridge leading from the courthouse into the city in company with a number of men about whom there was nothing particular to attract my attention, until suddenly one of them ordered ms in peremptory tones to walk off ths footpath. I naturally refused, when the individual threatened to use force, and an altercation seemed inevitable when a bystander good naturedly interfered and explained that the body of men in whose company I had persisted in walking were the Cronin jury. Even then I did not quite undent ind why everybody was prohibited from walking near them, but subsequent enquiries made the matter clearer to me. These men were then on their way from the courthouse to a hotel; for luncheon, and it was the duty of the janitors who accompanied them to prevent any person getting near enough to communicate with them. From the day they were sworn in until the day they gave the verdict they were kept absolutely isolated from their fellows in order to obviate the possibility of bribery. Even the janitors might be changed if there was any reason to suspect that they would lend themselves to any scheme for bribing the jury. The possibility or even the probability of such a thing being done was discussed by the community in the most matter-of fact way. It was known that the moving spirits in the Clan-na gael had the greatest interests at stake, and men were pointed out to me who were suspected of visiting the precincts of [the Court for no other purpose than to ;carry out some scheme of corrupting the jury, selecting the tenons, As the public are already aware, the diffi oulty in obtaining a jury was euch that ths initiation of the trial at one time threatened to take longer than the trial itself. Nor is thia to be wondered at when we consider the the extraordinary method adopted to discover an Impartial juror. “ Have you read anything about tho Cronin murder ?’’ would be asked, “ Yea."

“ Have you formed any opinion Jas to the oomplioity of the Clan na-gael in that murder f”

“Yea; I think they appear from ihe reports to have had a hand in it. ” ~

• Then you may stand down,’ and In thir way this juror was dl-qualitied from sitting in the case. Some men were disqualified because they belonged to secret societies, others because they were hostile to such societies as the Clan na-gael, others because they did not believe in capital punishment. Matters reached such a stage that securing a jury would have been impossible had not the court at last decided to accept men even if they had read the newspaper account of the tragedy and formed opinions thereon, or had a prejudice against the Clan na-gael. Eventu ally a good commonplace jury wae obtained. There was not an Irishman among them, and with the exception of one, who described himsol? as 'Bob Ingersollian in religion,’ they were all members of the Protestant Church. The public were hopeful from the character and antecedents of the jury that they would get an honest verdict from them provided the bribers could be kept away from them. THE FIRST OF THE CRONIN CASE.

The Cronin conspiracy is one of the most sensational over revealed. The public are familiar with the excitement aroused by the disappearance of Dr Cronin from Chicago on May 4 last, the conflioting reports of murder aud suicide and absconding, and eventually the finding of the naked body in a sewer near Chicago on May 22. Dr Cronin’s connection with the Clan-na-gael had in the meantime become well known, and the discovery of his body at the time when those with whom he had been associated in that secret organisation were circulating reports that he had been seen ia Canada, or had gone to England, aroused such a feeling of indignation that the police were roused to an unwonted state of activity. When the American public make up their mind to action something has to be done or somebody has to go. In this case something was done. The most remarkable skill was displayed by the detective police in working right back from May 22, when the body was discovered, te May 4, when the victim disappeared, and in connecting a train of circumstances that revealed a conspiracy to save the Clan na-gael by compassing the death of Dr Cronin. I do not intend to follow the trial through all its intraoaoies, but there are a few striking facts brought out by the prosecution that will account for the high state of publio indignation at the discovery of the conspiracy and the part played in it by the Clan-na-gael. THE ORIGIN OF THE CLAN-NA-GAEL. In the first place it should be explained that the United Brotherhood (commonly called the Clan-na gael) came into existence in 1869. It was organised for the purpose of freeing Ireland by force of arms. It was required that every member should be of Irish descent, and every member wae sworn to assist in freeing Ireland by ‘legitimate warfare * whenever the time for action came. It spread secretly but rapidly from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The brotherhood was divided into districts; each district had Its (camps, and although each camp was a part of the whole organisation the secrecy of the connection was maintained by the assumption of false names for each camp. Thus camp 20, the one directly concerned in the Cronin case, was publicly known as the Columbia Club. Each member had a number, and all were sworn to secrecy. In this way the organisation went on for many years before even its existence was discovered. Until eight years ago this organisation was controlled by a board consisting of 15 district officers. THE ORIGIN OE THE "TRIANGLE,"

But in 1884, at a convention held in Chicago, this board was abolished and the supreme control placed in the hands of a special board of five, including Alexander Sullivan, Feeley and Boland. These three worked together, and as three constituted a majority of the board they absolutely controlled the organisation throughout the United States. They were the afterwards notorious ‘ Triangle.’ Their word was above the laws qf the nation. £hey had the right to do and to command; and eyery member of the organisation was sworn to obey without question. From 1869 to 1831 a great fund had been accumulating in the hands of the executive of the United Brotherhood for use against England if that country should become involved in war, or for fomenting revolution in Ireland. That ffind was treated as sacred t;ntil it came under the control ot the " Triangle,” them ’’ legitimate warfare ” gave place te the dynamite policy, and the fund was professedly applied to purposes

never before contemplated by the organisation. An addition was mads to the oath, under which every member of the organisation was bound to carry out the orders of the “ Triangle ” in secrecy and without question. In 1884 they adopted as their signature the (erm of a triangle and if an order bearing tfiqt'authority came tc a member to go to England snl blow up London Bridge, it fead to be obeyed without question at the psrll of his life, In 1884 they began active work on those lines, MISAFPBOFBIATION AND TBEiOHEBY, It will never be known how far they actually carried their dynamite (policy into effect, but what is known is that before they had ong had control of ths organisation they began the misappropriation of its fund under circumstances of the most diabolical treachery it 1s possible to conceive, Having undisputed control of hundreds ot thousands of dollars, they set upon a plan ot misappropriation which has probably never been paralleled’ Orders from the “ Triangle ” to go to England on a dynamite mission went to men in various parts of the United States. Travelling a .Jar •seamed names they one by one want to Eng icud, only to ftud that M soon; as Ihsyjjput

foot on English soil they were laid hold ot and cast into prison. In this mysterious way no less than 20 of these unfortunate wretches were arrested—betrayed by the very men who had sent them on.their mission, and sent to imprisonment or death, in order that the men who had betrayed them might pocket th* funds they were supposed to expend In pTOManting their dynamite policy. This indictment was made in open conrt against the ‘Triangle,’ by Mr Longneck«r a the States attorney, and created the profoundest sensation. He showed that when the ‘ Triangle' took control they were entrusted with a fund of 3250,000 (£50,000). When they initiated their dynamite policy they levied upon the order for funds to such an extent that in four years they increased the fund to £lOO,OOO, the whole of which they appropriated without question and without record of any kind, and actually represented the order as indebted to them for £3OlO. They followed this up by a declaration that English detectives were in the order, and created such a scare that the order, instead of holding an investigation into the expenditure, abandoned their intended convention and handed all control over to the ‘Triangle.’ Every vestige ot documentary evidence was destroyed and an attempt was made to levy upon the members to pay the * Triangle ’ their £3OOO. THE SPLIT IN THE CLAN-NA-GAU. This occasioned a 1 split. ’ The • Triangle ’ had made many enemies and were suspected. Men drew out of the old order and started new camps. Among the dissatisfied was Dr Cronin. He drafted a circular attacking the * Triangle,’ read it at a meeting of one of the camps, was prosecuted by Alexander Sullivan for treason, secretly tried and expelled from the camp. That was in 1885. Daniel Coughlin, one of the defendants in the lata Cronin trial, was one of the committee, and Le Caron, the spy, was another. The effect of the split and the formation of new camps was that the ‘ Triangle ’ ceased to exist, and in 1886 the two branches of the order held a joint convention in Chicago. At that convention Dr Cronin charged Sullivan, Feeley and Boland with misappropriation ol the funds and with the betrayal of theti dynamite emissaries, A committee of trial was appointed, consisting of three of th( accusers of the ‘ Triangle ’ and three of theii friends, and that committee (of which Di Cronin was a member) met for the trial o Sullivan, Feeley and Boland at Buffalo Ii August of last year, An attempt was madi by Sullivan to prevent any rsoord bein| taken, but Cronin insisted upon taking dowi all the evidence in writing. The oommitt* decided by four to two in favor of th< * Triangle ’ (tho man who want over being o opinion that any other decision would breal up the order).

the onoNnt-euLLtvAH mt, A fight then began as to the form in which the report should be sent out. Cronin insisted that the evidence should go with the report, and Sullivan objected. Al there wae "•--majority of the Sullivan faction on the executive board, the report wee. consequently blocked, and up to May 4 last this report had not been sent out, but on ths very day that Dr Cronin disappeared the executive board met, adopted the report and sent it out next day without the evidence, but with tn apprendix by Sullivan charging Cronin with being a liar, a perjurer, and a spy. A day or two afterwards the report was circulated that Dr Cronin was another Ls Caron and had escaped to Canada or England.

CBONIN'S MUBDIB. It would ba tedious to go through all tbs details ot the conspiracy. All the time that Cronin was trying to expose the “ Triangle ” a plot wae being elaborated tor his murder. Briefly it came to this, that Burke, Coughlin and O'Sullivan rented a small cottage at Lake View, near Chicago, and kept it in readiness lor two'months, although they never occupied it. O'Sullivan (who should not be confounded with Alexander Sullivan) then made an arrangement with Dr Cronin for luring him out to this cottage on some favorable opportunity. O'Sullivan is an ice man, and •’though there were several doctors resident b tween O'Sullivan's ice works and Cronin's residence, he made a contract with Oronin to attend any of his workmen, in case of illness or accident. On the night of May 4 Ooughlin drove a buggy up to Dr Cronin's residence, stated that one of O'Sullivan’s men had his leg smashed, and induced the doctor to drive away with him in the buggy. Attar that Dr Cronin was never seen alive. It was proved to be a bogus report about the injury to th« iceman, and that Dr Cronin was taken to the cottage, his skull smashed in, and his body placed in a trunk and thrown into a sewer catch basin. The evidence against some ot the defendants was almost direct and against others merely circumstantial. Burke disappeared after the discovery of the body, and was arrested in Canada, where he was making his way to Liverpool under an assumed name. These are the main facta of the case as disclosed by the prosecution. The evidence for the defence had not developed when I left America, but I presume fromthe verdict that the case for the prosecution had not been materially shaken. A curious feature ot American criminal procedure is the delgy sometimes permitted in giving effect te the verdict of the jury. In this one a new trial is spoken cf, and it is just possible, unless pressure of public opinion should prevent it, that thia verdict may be suspended for months. In a recent murder case tfie criminal was not executed for nearly two years after fie was convicted. It is noteworthy that although the ‘ triangle,' Sullivan, Feeley and Beland were so prominently indentifiad with the Oronin quarrel they have not been implicated in thio trial. The prosecution absolutely failed to find sufficient evidence to justify farther proceedings against them. —[E.J.8., |q Sydney Telegraph ]

The extraordinary trial of the men who were accused of the murder of Dr Cronin at Chicago terminated on December 16. The jury were ’ unable to agree upon a verdict for several days owing mainly to tho obstinacy of one of their number, but ultimately he was compelled to accept a compromise. Martin Burke, Patrick O'Sullivan and ex-Dsteoflve Denial Coughlin were each found guilty of the murdet, enq were sentenced to be imprisoned for life. The prisoner Kunze was found gnilty of being an . accessory tq the murder, end was sentenced three years' imprisonment, Beggs was taunHl not guilty, and was therefore acquitted. prisoners who have been sentenced have made application for a new trial.