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
Of testimony against O'Sullivan, there was an abundance. Justice Mahoney
told of being present when the contract for professional services was
made between the iceman and the physician, and Mrs. Addie J. Farrar
testified that the iceman had said to her, after the disappearance, that
Dr. Cronin was a British spy, and that if he had given away any of the
secrets of the secret organization he ought to have been killed. Editor
R. T. Stanton, of the Lake View _Record_, showed that the particular
card of O'Sullivan's that had been used to entice Dr. Cronin from his
home had been printed for and delivered to the iceman two days before
the murder. The first evidence connecting Kunze with the murderers, or
their different places of rendezvous, was given by Willie James, a
sixteen-year old stenographer, who swore that he had seen Kunze wash his
feet at the window of the Clark street flat in the month of March, while
Mertes, the milkman, positively identified the little German as the man
who had driven a big broad-shouldered man to the Carlson cottage on the
night of the murder, and likewise identified Coughlin as the man he had
seen run up the steps of the slaughter-house and disappear behind the
front door. Kunze rocked to and fro with fury during this testimony, and
glared wickedly at the witness. Coughlin's gaze never left his accuser,
but his face flushed and his deep set eyes blazed.
SURPRISES FOR THE DEFENSE.
From a medical point of view, the testimony of Microscopists Tolman and
Belfield, and Chemist Haines, of the Rush Medical College was
exceedingly interesting. Stains from the floor of the Carlson cottage,
the hair found clinging to the trunk purchased by Simonds, the hair cut
from the head of the murdered man, the single thread of hair discovered
on cake of soap in the kitchen of the cottage, and fresh and dried blood
from the trunk itself, were the articles on which the experts had
experimented. The chemist had been requested to determine whether the
reddish stains were those of blood, while the task of determining the
probable origin of the blood and the relation of one hair to the other
was assigned to the microscopists. The evidence of all three experts was
conclusive. Chemist Haines had subjected the stained chips from the
floor of the cottage to four experiments, three of a chemical nature and
the fourth with a microscope, and the result furnished indubitable proof
that the stains were those of blood, while Microscopist Tolman, by other
tests, was equally well satisfied that the blood had come from a human
body. Additional tests had been made on a strand of hair found on the
cake of soap, and which was lighter in color in some portions than in
others, while Dr. Cronin's hair was brown. The fact that the single
strand appeared light in color to the naked eye seemed to indicate that
it could not have come from Dr. Cronin's head, but it was demonstrated
by the experts that hairs placed on soap or other alkaline substances
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account