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 have gone over the salient features of the evidence, and I say
unhesitatingly that there is evidence which points directly to
Coughlin; it points directly to Patrick O'Sullivan, and it points
directly to Burke, unerringly to those three as having a direct
connection with the murder of Dr. Cronin. Are those isolated men,
scattered over the city, having no bond of harmony? On the
contrary, the evidence is that four of those men on trial were
bound together by a bond. Judge Wing said the murder in this case
was different from an ordinary case. He said truly. The motive was
not robbery; it was not personal hate, but it was hatred, political
hatred in its nature, growing out of a political conspiracy. That
conspiracy originated in Camp 20, and it is in evidence that Beggs,
Coughlin, O'Sullivan and Burke are members of that camp. There you
have the start of it. In the course of circumstances, Sullivan made
the contract which was to lure the doctor to destruction; Coughlin
told the chief of police and told Thomas O'Connor that his enmity
toward Cronin grew out of secret society matter and was of long
standing. Simonds buys the furniture, Burke hires the house--the
Carlson Cottage--and the full arrangements are made for the
butchery of their victim. It is also in evidence that Coughlin
wanted Sampson to slug the Doctor, and up to that time he had not
got to the pitch when he wanted him killed, but you will see how it
grew. The evidence shows he denounced him as a spy, and on the
Monday morning after the murder, when he admitted his enmity to the
Doctor, the Doctor's body was lying in the catch-basin.
"How about Patrick O'Sullivan? We find after the murder he goes to
see Mrs. O'Farrer, and she says to him it is an awful murder. He
replied 'Yes.' She then asked why did they kill him. Now, mark his
reply. He says: 'They say he was a spy and gave away the secrets of
the order to which he belonged, and if he did he should be killed.'
Here you have the conspirators of Camp 20 at work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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