The Crime of the Century; Or, The Assassination of Dr. Patrick Henry CroninHunt, Henry M.
History
The Crime of the Century; Or, The Assassination of Dr. Patrick Henry Cronin
Hunt, Henry M.
Cronin, Patrick Henry, 1846-1889; Trials (Assassination) -- Illinois -- Chicago
"I don't know," replied Simonds. "You keep them here and I'll take a
memorandum of them." This he did. "I will come back," he went on,
"to-morrow or next day, and give you my address."
True to his word, the man put in an appearance at ten o'clock the
following morning, greeting Salesman Hatfield with the remark: "Well, I
will take those goods." The bill was presented, and Simonds, stepping to
the cashier's desk, pulled out a big roll of bills of large
denominations, tens and twenties predominating.
"Now I will give you the address," he added, as he pocketed the change.
"You can send those things to J. B. Simonds, 117 South Clark street,
rooms 12 and 15, and send a man to put the carpet down."
IN THE CLARK STREET FLAT.
About noon of the same day the carpet-layer accompanied the furniture to
the address that had been given. This building was directly opposite the
ten-story Chicago Opera-House structure, in which the offices of both
Dr. Cronin and Alexander Sullivan were located. There were two rooms
bearing 12 as their number in the building. One room, the door of which
was covered with Turkish characters, was on the second floor. This was
not the room occupied by Simonds, and another flight of stairs brought
the furniture men to a sort of lodging-house arrangement of rooms. No.
12 was a front room, and 15 adjoined it in the back. In the front room
the carpet-layer found a short, rather stout man of dark complexion, and
wearing a closely cropped black moustache, who told him to go ahead with
his work. He had no noticeable accent in his speech, and seemed to be an
American. He superintended the laying of the carpet, and talked a good
deal in a friendly way. The carpet proved to be too long by several
yards for the room, and the carpet man wanted to cut it off.
[Illustration: DR. CRONIN'S OFFICE IN CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE BUILDING.]
"Oh, no," the other protested as he handed the workman a cigar. "Turn
it under. I'd much rather have it that way. You see, this is only
temporary anyway. I may move at any time."
The man did as requested, and the packing trunk and a portion of the
furniture was taken into the room. The remainder was unloaded into No.
15. Simonds, had called at the furniture house on the following day and
exchanged the trunk-strap for a larger one.
After making this statement Hatfield accompanied the officers to the
Carlson cottage. Here, as had been expected, he immediately declared
that the furniture and carpets were _fac similes_ of the articles he had
sold to Simonds. The bloody trunk that had been found on the Lake View
prairie corresponded also in every detail with the one that figured in
his bill of goods.
WHEN THE FLAT WAS RENTED.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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