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
One more sensation was to be added to the many startling developments of
the trial, in its last stages. There was no session of court on
November 27th, in order that the attorneys for the State might be
afforded an opportunity to arrange the order of their arguments, and, as
the following day, Thursday, was the day of National Thanksgiving, the
case went over until Friday morning, November 29th. On the afternoon of
Thursday, Barney Flynn, a detective in the employ of the city, and
connected with the Chicago Avenue Station, went to Chief Hubbard with a
remarkable story. Flynn was the man who arrested Coughlin, after the
latter had concluded his interview with Chief of Police Hubbard. He took
him to the armory police station and searched him in the presence of
Captain Bartram. Among the other things he found in Coughlin's pockets
were two pocket-knives and a revolver. These Flynn carried with him to
the central station and placed in his box for safe keeping, and, when, a
few months later, he was transferred to the Chicago Avenue Station, he
placed them in a vault which he rented in the Fidelity Bank. There they
had remained undisturbed ever since. When Chief Hubbard heard this
story, he ordered the knives to be produced without delay. The attorneys
for the State were advised of the facts, and T. T. Conklin, who was sent
for, unhesitatingly declared that both knives had been the property of
Dr. Cronin. Flynn was placed upon the stand after the noon recess on the
following day and told his story.
[Illustration: FLYNN.]
Mr. Conklin followed the detective, and the knives were handed to him by
Judge Longenecker. He glanced at the larger one, which was medium sized
and with a pearl handle, and unhesitatingly declared that he himself had
given it to Dr. Cronin about a year before. "I ought to know it," said
the witness, emphatically, "for I carried it myself for nearly two
years."
The smaller knife, a little bone handled affair, of rather a peculiar
shape, was also identified by Mr. Conklin, as one he had found on the
street about nine months before. He had carried it home and placed it on
the mantle, where Dr. Cronin had found it and appropriated it to his own
uses. Both of these knives the physician had been in the habit of
carrying in the right-hand pocket of his vest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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