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
moved by the instincts of humanity which his choice of a profession
indicated, he rushed to the assistance of a suffering man.
Suspecting nothing, he went out, armed, as it were, with the very
instruments of his skill and profession, and then rushed into the
slaughter-house prepared for his reception and death.
Then, as if the white face of death itself was not sufficient to
satiate human hatred, his body was subjected to the indignity and
ignominy of burial in a filthy sewer. This man, to whom sacred
burial in consecrated ground was a right to which he always looked
forward, was thrown into a sewer. The crime was singular in its
brutality, but its brutality was not its startling feature. Why was
Dr. Cronin slain? Because he was condemned to die. Condemned for
what? For no offense within the laws of the State of Illinois.
Condemned and executed by whom? By a tribunal that was unlawfully
constituted, a tribunal that was at the same time, accuser,
witness, judge and executioner. It was a tribunal which within
itself in the light of day, which existed upon a territory of the
State to whom its members hold allegiance, a tribunal which was
treasonable to the laws of the State, the juries were called upon
to execute and to the laws of the State whose protection it had a
right to claim. Who could have dreamed that such a thing was
possible in the State of Illinois? Who could say that six months
from that day he could not be repeated in the State of Illinois.
Only the twelve men who were trying the case. That was their
responsibility, for their oath in the case was to well and truly
try and true deliverance make between the people of the State of
Illinois and the defendants, to well and truly try them upon the
law and upon the evidence.
[Illustration: GEORGE C. INGHAM, ONE OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION.]
From this introduction, Mr. Ingham branched off into an elaborate
dissertation of the law regarding murder and the power of
circumstantial evidence. Numerous authorities on circumstantial
evidence were cited from. Counsel dwelt upon Coughlin's hatred of
Cronin, upon the purchase of the furniture and upon the peculiar
actions of the defense. Stress was laid upon the fact, that no
evidence had been produced with a view of showing that it was not
Martin Burke that rented the Carlson cottage, and that he engaged
the expressman to move the furniture from the Clark street flat to
Lake View. The general outline of the plot as disclosed by the
evidence was considered, and the conclusion drawn, that the right
men were on trial. Continuing, Mr. Ingham said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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