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
"No, I don't. He walked straight and seemed to be sober. He was only
abstracted and preoccupied. I noticed when we were passing the Windsor
Theatre that he looked through the open windows of the car at the
building with more interest than he had shown in anything else."
"How was it that you noticed him then?"
"Because he leaned forward as far as he could, and I guess I hadn't much
else to look at just then."
"Did he get up as if he intended to leave the car?"
"No, he didn't; he kept his seat."
"How far did he ride?"
"To Madison Street. He started to get off at Washington Street, though.
He had been more preoccupied than ever going through the tunnel, and
when he got up at Washington Street he seemed kind of dazed. He asked me
if we were at Madison Street, saying that he wanted to go to the Union
Depot. I told him we were a block from Madison Street, and he returned
to his seat. When we got to Madison I stopped the car and he jumped off.
He started toward the river at a fast gait, as if he had an important
appointment to keep."
"Do you know Dr. Cronin?"
"No, sir; I think not."
"Then you do not know, of your own knowledge, that your solitary
passenger was Dr. Cronin?"
"No. But now that you speak of Dr. Cronin," he said after a long
interval, "I remember that I thought he was a doctor, and I got an
impression somehow from his grave aspect that he had been attending to a
very serious case."
"Did you notice whether anybody was with him when he stepped out at
Frederick Street to board your car?"
"I didn't notice, but I don't think there was."
"Did you see an undersized man with a heavy mustache and a slouch hat?"
"No; I didn't--but hold on a minute. I did see a man on the sidewalk,
standing in the shadow of the building, who I think wore a soft hat,
but as I had only a fleeting glimpse at him I couldn't attempt to
describe him."
These two stories, the first so clear and direct, and the other so
corroborative obtained general credence except among the immediate
friends of the physician. These still insisted upon their theory of foul
play. Numerous contradictions in the statements made by Dwyer to
different people were pointed out. An inspection of the sheet upon which
he had made out his report of the trip when he turned in his receipts
showed that instead of one passenger on the nine o'clock car he had
carried thirty-six. The story told by Miss Murphy was directly
challenged, many of the physician's friends declared that it was
manufactured for ulterior motives. It was also charged that her father
and Dr. Cronin were bitter enemies. This was denied at the time, and it
was added that Murphy, who resided on Oak Street near by Alexander
Sullivan, had never taken an active part in Irish affairs. Subsequently,
during the Coroner's investigation, it was developed that at that very
time he was the financial secretary of a Clan-na-Gael camp hostile in
its composition to the missing man.
BOGUS "INTERVIEWS" FROM CANADA.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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