The Crime of the Century Part 11

"When you got to Montreal where did you intend going?"

"I intended taking a steamer for France, but found that no ship left that port which would take me there."

"Why did you not then go on to New York?"

"Because I am well known there and did not care to risk it."

"After you left Ottawa where did you go?"

"I took the Canadian Pacific train for Toronto and arrived here Friday morning at about 9 o'clock."

"Where were you from 9 o'clock till the _Empire_ reporter met you on Yonge street?"

"I had been trying to find Starkey, the lawyer, who left Chicago last winter."

"Why did you wish to see him?"

"Simply to get the run of the town."

"Did you not suspect that he might expose you?"

"O, no! I am sure he would not do that. It would not be to his interest."

"I thought Starkey was not friendly to you. Did he not at one time try to hurt your reputation?"

"I don't know that he did. In any case he would not do so now."

"Well, now, as to why you left Chicago?"

"I have been declining in health for some time and thought it would do me good to take a trip."

"Why should you have left Chicago without letting your friends know?"

"Well, now, that is a long story and the telling of it would implicate a great number of my friends who are in no way responsible for any of my actions. I trust you will not press me on that point."

Cronin was pressed, however, and told the following story:

"While I lived in St. Louis I promptly identified myself with the Irish cause, then disturbing the public. I soon found that the great Irish movement was to be centered either at Chicago or New York, and after consulting my intimate friends, among whom was Dr.

O'Reilly, I made up my mind to go to Chicago. I did so, armed with letters of introduction, and soon found myself prominent in Irish as well as other circles."

He then went on to say that he soon discovered that the large quant.i.ties of money being received by certain persons for the Irish cause were not handled properly, and that not more than three-fourths of it ever reached Ireland.

"I know," he stated, "that at least $85,000 was gobbled up by certain persons in Chicago, and when I began to 'call the turn' on them they tried to scare me off. Failing in this, they tried to bribe me. That would not work."

"Their next move," said Dr. Cronin, "was to introduce me to Le Caron under the name of Beach, in order that he might pump me and damage me in any way that he could. Beach was introduced to me by a reporter named Conwell, a man whom I had always considered my friend, but since the recent developments in the London _Times_ case I know he was against me and that Le Caron was introduced to me for no good purpose. He got little out of me, however, and that means failed. I have been warned several times to get out of the country, and a.s.sured that my life was in danger. But up to last Sat.u.r.day I felt that I could hold my own. Last Sat.u.r.day, however, I was put in possession of unquestionable proof that the Clan-na-Gael Society had decided that my life should be taken. A man was appointed as my executioner and preparations were in active progress to accomplish the deed. Enough to say I made up my mind at once to fly. You know the rest. The lady who accompanied me yesterday to Hamilton was quite unknown to me, as was also the gentleman, until I met them on the train between Ottawa and Toronto. Neither of them knew who I was until you met me on Yonge street Friday morning. They happened to be going to Buffalo on the train I took out of Toronto, and I left them at Hamilton."

This part of the story proved to be true.

"Did you plan for a man to call at your office and request you to go out to the ice-house and attend a patient?" he was asked.

"That I will not answer."

When asked what move he intended making next the Doctor stated that he would go to France as soon as possible. "I left some important doc.u.ments behind in Chicago," he said, "and only hope that I can get to a country where I will be safe; then I will make some disclosures which will open the eyes of the public generally and make the hair stand on the heads of several Chicago and New York gentlemen. This talk about my having been seen in a cable-car Sat.u.r.day night is entirely false. The Conklins have made fools of themselves over the whole matter. According to the instructions I left with them they should not have opened their mouths until I was safely out of the country; but it is the same old story--tell a woman anything and you are sure to get the worst of it."

The Doctor intimated that a certain Methodist minister had caused all his trouble, but would not disclose his name.

The woman who accompanied the Doctor from Toronto to Hamilton proved to be from Buffalo and had no knowledge of the company she was keeping until she read the paper. The Doctor says that the man who walked up Yonge street with him Friday afternoon was also unknown to him until Thursday night and that he was on his way to Winnipeg. This man has been located at Collingwood, a small town about 100 miles north of Toronto. He is unknown there, and may be waiting a steamer which would take him to Winnipeg.

Cronin is still in town and a close watch is being kept on all his movements.

CRONIN'S ENEMIES IN HIGH GLEE.

In another dispatch it was stated that Dr. Cronin had, on Sat.u.r.day night, accepted the hospitalities of W. J. Starkey, an ex-Chicago lawyer. On the following morning, so the same dispatch went on to say, the physician had actually been entertained by Long at his residence. To ninety-nine out of a hundred people, this was conclusive. Everything pointed to the fact that the hitherto missing man was alive and in the flesh. No chain of evidence could have been more complete. Had not Miss Murphy seen him on the car? Had he not ridden down town with Conductor Dwyer, to whom he said that he was on his way to the Union Depot, and had he not appeared in Toronto, broken bread with Starkey and Long, and admitted that he was on his way to cross the ocean? What more was wanted? At this point, too, his enemies in Chicago began to add leaven to the lump. The story told by Woodruff was recalled, and it was insidiously suggested in one quarter that the physician was the mysterious "Doc," and that having performed a criminal operation upon the equally mysterious "Alice," whose remains had been taken to the park in the trunk, he had fled the country to avoid the legal consequences of his crime. In another direction it was boldly charged that before many days the physician would turn up in London in the _role_ of a second Le Caron. Said one of his most inveterate opponents:

"Dr. Cronin is not dead; at least he wasn't a.s.sa.s.sinated at the end of his buggy ride with a strange man last Sat.u.r.day night. Neither is he likely to be found in this city or State, and perhaps not in the United States. And there is much reason to suspect that he went at the beck and call of the English Government--in short, that he was a British spy, and has gone to join Le Caron, his friend and companion and near neighbor both here and in St. Louis. A startling communication in cipher has been received from the other side, and the information comes from a source whose accuracy cannot be doubted. It is to the effect that agents of the English Government have been arranging to place another American informer on the stand in the Parnell inquiry. It seems that the informer has offered to testify for a stated sum, which is said to be $100,000, and that the Government is only awaiting the report of its experts, who are inspecting his doc.u.mentary proof before accepting his proposition.

That is the way the matter stands now. I have been asked to find out who this new informer is. I have tried my best to do so, but I can't say I have been entirely successful. Dr. Cronin's mysterious disappearance has left a deep suspicion on my mind. I never liked that fellow, anyway, for I always considered him a contemptible rascal. I don't believe, either, that he has been a.s.sa.s.sinated, because I don't know of any good reason for killing him. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned up in London shortly. It wouldn't be at all strange. He was Le Caron's friend, as nearly as I can ascertain from Chicagoans, who knew them both, and what would be more natural than for him to cross the Atlantic to pay the druggist a friendly visit?"

On the heels of this came an alleged dispatch from London:

"Le Caron, the man who acted as a spy for the British Government on the movements of the Irish leaders in America, and who testified for the _Times_ before the Parnell Commission, declares that he and Dr. Cronin were the closest friends. Le Caron believes that Dr. Cronin has been killed, and that the friendship of the murdered man may account for his removal."

Naturally enough, these diabolical insinuations had their full effect on the public mind. The search for the body was practically abandoned by the police, and the theory that the physician had left the town of his own free will was generally accepted by the public.

Even some of those who had been closely a.s.sociated with him were inclined to the same view, except that they ascribed his possible trip to London to different purposes to those advanced by his enemies.

"I believe Dr. Cronin is in New York on his way to London for the purpose of testifying before the Parnell Commission," said one of his friends.

"Why do you think so?" he was asked.

"Apart from certain things I cannot divulge," was the response, "Dr.

Cronin has for several years been prepared to prove that not one-tenth of the amount of funds published in the American papers as having been collected for the Land League ever went across the water."

"How would testimony to that effect benefit Parnell?"

"It would show that his connection with certain extensive movements among the Irish factions in America has not been as close as was supposed. If, as a matter of fact, he has received no financial help from these factions, he cannot be held responsible for their statements of his advocacy of their advocacy."

"Do any other persons entertain this theory?"

"Yes, a number of Irish-Americans, who know of Dr. Cronin's possession of the information I speak of, have expressed the opinion I hold."

And, as if to demonstrate the fact that the speaker was on the right track, a dispatch was received in Chicago, through the agency of _The United Press_, within the hour, that said:

"New York: It is reported to-night that Dr. Cronin is in this city."

STAUNCH FRIENDS TO THE FRONT.