A STARTLING DISCOVERY.

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 midnight, 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. During 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 hisinvariable practice to in some way contrive to advise his friends, so that they might notify any patients that came in his absence. Moreover, he was not a drinking man and such a thing as staying out all night with boon companions 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 family was alarmed, or that Mr. Conklin, without waiting for breakfast, determined to procure a buggy and drive to P. O'Sullivan's residence, which adjoined his ice house, 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, considerably surprised when asked if the doctor was in the house.

P. O'SULLIVAN, THE ICE MAN.

"This is all news to me," he said, with an apparent air of frankness. "I have not beenout 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 physician to your family and workmen, when you live six miles from his office?"

This pointed query seemed 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 before, had been regarded as one of Dr. Cronin's friends.

"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 money with him, and that he wore no jewelry of value except a watch. Without delay, Conklin proceeded to notify Frank J. Scanlan, 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 skillfully 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 experienced detectives of the department startedout 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. Captain Schaack of the Chicago 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 newspaper 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.

THE MYSTERIOUS WAGON.

Meanwhile there had been startling developments 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 carpenter's wagon, drawn by a bay horse, rumbling at a furious rate toward the north. The Lake View police wereunder instructions to hail passing vehicles and pedestrians after midnight, and accordingly, Officer 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, however, 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 vehicle rumbling over the pavement. It proved to be the same old carpenter's wagon with its mysterious occupants and its old bay horse. But the trunk was no longer in the wagon. This time Hayden walked out upon the pavement 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 yearwas 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.

THE SPOT WHERE THE TRUNK WAS FOUND.

The officers returned to the station at the usual hour, but neither made any report of the mysterious wagon or its still more mysterious occupants. At half past seven o'clock, Alderman Chapman, of Lake View, was driving along Evanston Avenue, between Graceland and the Roman Catholic Cemetery. He had reached a point five hundred yards from Sultzer Street, when he saw three men standing around a trunk which stood back of a bush, with oneend 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 furious 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 curiosity 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 Villiers, said at once that it had been made either in Racine or Milwaukee. It was of cheap pattern and had evidently been purchased for the purpose for which it was used. The trunk hadbeen locked after theTHE BLOODY TRUNK AND ITS CONTENTS.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 removed 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 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 examination of the cotton led him to the belief that the murder must have been committed some time after midnight. Some of the absorbent material was still soft with blood and there was a pool of fresh blood in one corner of the trunk. Careful examination of the cotton 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.

This was the only possible tangible clue to the identity of the victim. The lock of hair was placed under a microscope. 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 instrument. 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.

Captain Villiers had not yet heard of the disappearance of Dr. Cronin. He was quickly satisfied, however, that a diabolical murder had been committed and at once issued orders to his subordinates to institute a thorough search for the body, which he believed to be somewhere 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 housesfor 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 cemeteries. 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 result. 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 before 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 trunk lying before him was the one he had seen in the carpenter's wagonwhen he stood with his brother-officer at Clark and Diversey Streets in the early morning.

Officer Hayden, when called in, was equally positive. At this moment the news of Dr. Cronin's disappearance was received, and Captain Villiers became intensely excited. The report that Dr. Cronin was missing under the most alarming circumstances and the gory evidences 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 issued orders for a search for the mysterious wagon 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 he had been told, he said; and his manner was so earnest, and his distress of mind—to outward appearances—so intense, that the official took him at his word.

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 thesearch. Without apprising them of his conjectures 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."

MR. AND MRS. CONKLIN.

"Had he plenty of hair on the top of his head" the captain went on.

"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 crowded around and examined it closely. Some were inclined to believe that it resembled that of the missing man, but were fearful of expressing 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.

By this time Captain Villiers was fully convinced 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 identification should be more complete, or that the resemblance between the lock and the hair of the missing man should be established by the testimony of those best qualified to speak on the subject. Accordingly, bright and early on the following morning he visited the tonsorial establishment 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 appeared 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 faras 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.

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 whereabouts 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.

DETECTIVES INSPECTING THE SPOT WHERE THE TRUNK WAS FOUND.

While thus engaged a discovery was made thatin the light of subsequent events was of considerable importance. It was the tracks of a wagon in the sandy road leading to the lake. Commencing at a point but a few yards from the place where 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 wasknown as the Wilson road, and apparently proceeded 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 station, 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 1:05, 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 downEvanston 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, however, I'll recognize and identify anywhere."

From a study of the surroundings, taken in connection 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 intention 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 removed 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.

For the next forty-eight hours the efforts of the authorities were re-doubled. All the liverystables 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 previous 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 solicitation 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.

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.

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 thathe 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 consciousness, he was started for the station. His peculiar agitation was noticed by the officers, 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 comprehensions 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 apronounced squint in one eye—gave his name as Frank J. Black, although he afterwards admitted that it was Woodruff. He was, he said, 26 years of age, a Canadian by birth, and a railroad 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 entirely 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 1) he said, "I was in Sol Van Praag's gambling house, at 392 South State Street, playing poker. I lost $8, and, just before 11 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 Woodruff, "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 hecame 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.

"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 morning 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 impatient and nervous, and urged the others to hurry up. They called him 'Doc.' and whenhe 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.'

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 mutilated 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 throwninto 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 fellow 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 without 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 Lieutenant.

"It was a red gear wagon, with a black boxand a high dashboard in front. The doors leading 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 nearest 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.

No time was lost by Lieutenant Beck in communicating 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 mentioned 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.

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 Saturday night. Just as soon as darkness had set in this idea was carried into effect. Starting from Webster and Lincoln avenues, he proceeded directly 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 horsedirectly 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. Resuming the trip, Woodruff drove straight and without 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 sideways 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 police were considerably mystified. It seemed impossible that, even with the newspaper accounts of the disappearance and the details as material to work upon, a man of only average intelligence 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 gamblinghouse denied that any men answering to the description of King and Fairburn had ever frequented his place, or been seen in conversation with Woodruff, although he recognized the latter as an occasional 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 communicating with the house. Diligent inquiry in a dozen different directions failed to locate either of the two men named by the prisoner, or to corroborate any other portion of the story. But Woodruff, when confronted with these contradictions, 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 exposed was soft and white and slender. This afforded 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 littlereasoning 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, therefore, 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 dispirited 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 abandoned by almost every one concerned.

"IT IS A CONSPIRACY"—DR. CRONIN'S FRIENDS CLAIM THE MURDER WAS A POLITICAL ASSASSINATION—THE PUBLIC SCEPTICAL 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.

"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 political assassination" was the immediate verdict of a number of prominent Irishmen of New York, Philadelphia and other places. And the developments soon to come showed that they knew whereof they spoke.

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 Presidents had, it was true, been shot in cold blood by madmen; and in different parts of the country and on divers occasions men had been killed in scrimmages at the polls as a result of troubles growing out of election affairs. But these were not political murders in the general acceptation of the term, not the deliberate well planned taking of life; not the outgrowth of a conspiracy 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's friends were not among the sceptics. 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 put in either way—was clearlyoutlined 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 without 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 meaning clear to many of those to whom it had previously 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 hisfriends 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 uncommunicative on this point—he barely escaped with his life from a house whither he had been summoned to attend a woman who was, in reality, feigning sickness. At another time he publicly 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 indirect 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 desired?

The answer to these questions is given in the theory adopted by the officers of the lawimmediately upon the discovery of the body; which was subsequently endorsed by the coroner's jury, re-indorsed by the Grand jury; and in pursuance of which seven men were soon to be placed upon trial for actual participation or complicity in the crime. This theory was that the physician had fallen a victim of a conspiracy, covering two continents, its ramifications extending 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 information that he possessed, and which virtually affected the reputation, honor, and credit of certain Irishmen of international reputation, might not be given to the world. In order, however, that this theory may be made clear, it is necessary to go back to the beginning of the trouble. Almost from his boyhood days Dr. Cronin had taken an active interest in organizations 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 country or abroad. Its strength, moreover, was phenomenal. Although, owing to the secrecy which surrounded its annual conventions, no public reports of its total membership had ever appeared of record,it was generally believed and understood that it ran into many scores of thousands, and penetrated into almost, if not quite, every section of the North American continent. In age it dated back to 1869, its cardinal object being to establish 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 revolutionary organizations in Ireland, and moved on lines so nearly masonic in their secrecy, that in many parts of the country the clergy of the Catholic church either discouraged or altogether forbade 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 conflicted with their duties as citizens of the United States, except 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 Brotherhood," knew that, as an Irishman or a man of Irish descent, his sworn duty was loyalty to Ireland, and that, were he called upon to take uparms in aid of any movement for the independence of Erin's Isle, it would be his duty to comply without question or demur. The membership of the organization was divided into districts, which again were subdivided into local lodges or "Camps." Each district had its general officer, 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 organization in every particular.

It was not until 1881, 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 become 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,and to faithfully keep the balance, save and except 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 number 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 necessary quorum. This was the trio which was destined to become famous in after years as the "Triangle."

Almost from the day and hour that the convention 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 Committee. In justification of this remarkable step, it was quietly given out that matters connected with the objects of the organization indicated that animperative 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 integrity, men whose word in commercial transactions was considered as good as their bond, as being in the immediate neighborhood of the enormous total of one hundred thousand dollars.

What followed in the next few years is a matter of history. At irregular intervals the news of dynamite explosions in different parts of England, 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 deliberatelybetrayed. 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:

This was a total of thirty-two men convicted of participation in dynamite explosions. Theconviction 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 1st, 1889, twenty-two still confined in British convict prisons. Besides these, two other delegates from the United States, Captain Mackey Lomasney and a mysterious man, known only as Peter Malone, were supposed to have been killed in the explosion on London Bridge on the evening of December the 13th, 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 successful 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.

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 bythe Executive Board upon the local Camps for more money, and dissatisfaction began to manifest itself. It seemed incredible that the immense 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 Triangle 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 members of the organization had a right to know what was being done with their money, whether 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 following 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 organization.An opportunity was soon found. In his own Camp, Dr. Cronin had read a circular from one of the Camps that had been expelled, protesting 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 consisting of Lawrence Buckley, Frank Murray, John O'Malley, Daniel Coughlin, the detective, who later was to be charged with participation in his murder, and Henry LeCaron,aliasBeach, 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 initials used throughout represent the titles in this order:

"V. C.," United Brotherhood; "F. C.," Executive Body; "U. S.," United Sons; "D.," Camps; "I. R. B.," Irish Republican Brotherhood; "R. D.," Revolutionary Directorate; "S. C.," Supreme Council.

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