The Crime of the Century Part 18

THE LYING IN STATE--AN IMPRESSIVE SCENE--THE IMPOSING PROCESSION--AT THE CATHEDRAL--AN ELOQUENT VOICE FROM THE PULPIT--CLERICAL DENUNCIATION OF THE CRIME--LAID TO REST IN CALVARY CEMETERY.

Four days after the discovery of the body, all that was mortal of the murdered physician was laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery. To the old residents that witnessed the procession there came back memories of the imposing obsequies of Stephen A. Douglas. It was a greater demonstration of the kind than the city had seen since the remains of the "Little Grant" were consigned to the tomb. Many a hero whose name is honored for victories won in hard-fought battles had gone to the city of the dead with less show of honor and respect. It was not that Dr. Cronin had more n.o.ble attributes than many other men that the people in tens of thousands turned out to witness the funeral march. It was the involuntary sympathy that went out to one whose death was so tragic, and--at that time--shrouded in so deep a mystery. There was, of course, the crowd that is always to be found at every public demonstration, be it what it may. But there were thousands upon thousands that had been drawn to the scene by a desire to testify, in their humble way, their sorrow and indignation that such a crime had befouled the fair name of the city, and there was not one face in the vast concourse that lined the streets through which the procession pa.s.sed that did not wear a look of solemnity.

LYING IN STATE.

All through the night of May 25th the casket containing the body of the victim reposed on the catafalque in the First Cavalry Armory. At each corner of the catafalque a sentry, in the uniform of the Hibernian Rifles, stood immovable as a statue. It was a lonely vigil, and it was not broken until six o'clock of the Sabbath morning. Even at that early hour, while the church bells were ringing out their summons to those accustomed to attend the first or daylight ma.s.s, a large crowd had gathered outside of the Armory. Half an hour later a squad of the Central Police detail, under command of Lieutenant Wilson, arrived at the building. The officers were drawn up in two lines on either side of the entrance, the doors were thrown open, and the people in waiting commenced to enter. And so for hours a living stream poured into the building, and past the catafalque, with its draping of American flags, its burning candles and golden crucifix, and its tributes of ferns and roses, hyacinths and daisies which reposed at the head and feet of the casket. They came in so rapidly that the attempt to keep a count was soon abandoned. There were old men and young; girls and white-haired matrons. Children hardly able to toddle led the aged men, walking with faltering, uncertain steps. Parents took their little ones, and the little ones their grandparents. Laborers walked beside bankers, mechanics ascended the platform elbow to elbow with citizens of national eminence, and together they looked down on the face of the victim of a murder that was without parallel in the history of the country. There were many rough and tough looking men in the throng, but their heads were bowed and their footsteps light as they pa.s.sed by the coffin. There was no need to caution any one to be quiet. The air of solemnity and quiet hushed the least respectful, and those possessed of the least feeling. It was a memorable scene.

A GREAT PROCESSION.

Ten o'clock came and the doors were closed on the mult.i.tude that still craved admittance. The honorary pall bearers, their heads bared, marched out of the officer's room and took their stations beside the catafalque, in the following order: J. P. South, High Council of Illinois Catholic Order of Foresters; Leopold Rohrer, Cathedral Court of Illinois Catholic Order of Foresters; Dr. D. G. Moore, High Court of Independent Order of Foresters; E. E. Connery, Court Friendship, Independent Order of Foresters; C. S. Commour, Alcyone Council, Royal Arcanum; John F. Begg, Hanc.o.c.k Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen; C. D. Shoemaker, aetna Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen; J. C. Brayden, Royal League; John O'Callaghan and P. M. Carmody, Ancient Order of Hibernians. Next came the active pall bearers, Captain O'Meagher Condon, New York; Luke Dillon, Philadelphia; O. McGarry, Thomas P. Tinte, Detroit; Frank T.

Scanlan, Dan Sullivan, Charles Barry, and M. J. Kelly. A moment later the doors were thrown open, the police cleared a pa.s.sage way through the mult.i.tude, and the casket was borne out and placed in the hea.r.s.e. The latter was drawn by four black horses. Ten thousand men were already in line, Grand Marshal P. J. Cahill gave the signal, and the procession, eight thousand strong, moved north on Michigan Avenue in the following order:

Grand Marshall, P. J. Cahill--Chief of Staff, Col. M. C. Hickey.

Platoon of Police, Twenty-five Men, Sergt. Gibbons Commanding.

Reed's Drum Corps.

Hibernian Rifles, 100 Men, Capt. Ford Commanding.

Hea.r.s.e, with Guard of Honor of Hibernian Rifles, Consisting of Lieuts.

Sullivan, O'Neil, Monohan, Sullivan, Kennedy, Monohan.

Uniform Order Royal Arcanum, 110 Men.

Royal Arcanum, 315 Men.

Ancient Order Hibernians, 1,000 Men, State Delegate P. M. Cormody Commanding; County Delegate M. Dowling, Aide.

Mourners in Carriages.

Mr. and Mrs. Carroll (Dr. Cronin's Sister), of St. Catherine's, Ont., Mr. Cronin of Arkansas, Mr. and Mrs. T. T. Conklin, Mr. and Mrs. J. F.

Scanlan.

Clan-na-Gael Guards, 175 Men, Capt. Buckley Commanding.

Lake Side Cornet Band.

I. O. Foresters, Uniformed Rank, Fifty Men, High Marshal Frank Boden Commanding.

I. O. Foresters, 1,200 Men, Wm. Kilpatrick Commanding.

Drum Corps.

Royal League, 250 Men.

Catholic Benevolent Legion, 200 Men.

The Illinois Catholic Order Foresters, 2,700 Men, representing the following Courts:

St. Bernard, St. John, McMullen, St. Nicholas, Sheridan, Conway, St. Leo, St. Charles, St. Agnes, All Saints, Pius, St. Francis, St.

Patrick, St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph, St. Henry, St. Alphonsus, Blessed Virgin, Holy Name, St. Cornelius, St.

Vincent, St. Benedict, Sacred Heart, Ascension, St. Michael, St.

Aloysius, American, Dearborn, Excelsior, Columbia, Sedgwick, Superior, Independence, Industry, Jefferson, Amity, Cavour, Paterson, Fidelity, Unity.

Cornet Band.

Ancient Order United Workmen, representing the following Lodges, J. F.

Walter, Commanding:

Light Guard, Peter Cooper, Troy, Lakeside, aetna.

Carriages.

Civilians.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PROCESSION TO THE CATHEDRAL.]

All along the line of march--Michigan Avenue to Rush Street, to Chicago Avenue, to State Street, to the cathedral--the streets were packed with people. It was a solid line of humanity, on pavements, in windows, on lamp posts, even the tops of the houses were a sea of heads. To the solemn music of the bands the men marched with slow and measured step.

The m.u.f.fled drums, the draped flags, the drooping banners, the tens of thousands of solemn faces, made the sight an impressive one. Every man in the mult.i.tude bared his head as the hea.r.s.e pa.s.sed by.

A SOLEMN CATHEDRAL SCENE.

It was nearly noon when the cortege arrived at the cathedral. Save that reserved for the mourners every foot of s.p.a.ce in the sacred edifice was already occupied, and the thousands that had followed the hea.r.s.e were unable to gain admission. High above the ma.s.s of humanity tolled the deep-toned funeral bell as the casket, preceded by a guard of honor of officers of the Hibernian Rifles, was borne into the church. Gently it was deposited between six lighted candles upon a catafalque in the center aisle. Then, with the rendering of Schmidt's Ma.s.s in D minor by the choir, the service was commenced. An atmosphere of grief was prevalent. The sobbing of women mingled with the impressive notes of the funeral ma.s.s. Strong men, to whom tears had been a half forgotten memory, wept as the thurible was waved over the casket and the wreaths of incense smoke ascended toward the dome. Men, brought face to face with a great crime, stood in the presence of their G.o.d, while the priests around the altar, clothed in mourning vestments, offered supplication for the soul of the deceased, and prayed for pardon for his murderers. As celebrant of the requiem ma.s.s Father Agnew, in cape and stole, chanted the versicles and gave the absolutions. At times his voice trembled perceptibly and his eyes were filled with tears. Rev.

Father Mooney a.s.sisted in the celebration as deacon and Father Perry as sub-deacon. When the venerable Chancellor Muldoon ascended the pulpit, the "Librera Me Domine" was sung by the choir. The reverend Chancellor took as his text Ecclesiastics, chapter 9, verse 120: "Man knoweth not his own end; as the fishes are taken with hook, and as the fishes are caught with the snare, so men will be taken in the evil time, and it shall come upon them suddenly."

A VOICE FROM THE PULPIT.

In eloquent language the speaker impressed upon his hearers the uncertainty of life as ill.u.s.trated in the case of the murdered man. He spoke as follows:

"In the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, amen."

These words I have just recited to you from the inspired writer, my beloved friends, tell us by example and a.n.a.logy that death comes upon us suddenly--that it shall come, as we are told elsewhere, "as a thief in the night." As the birds in the air have their being in the air, and drink it in and live their life mainly in the air, and as the fishes have their life in the sea, they shall find their death in that element in which they have their life. And so, too, we who are here living upon the earth, having our life, as it were, in the social world round about us--finding our being there--we, too, frequently find our death there, unawares and suddenly. In fact, we carry death in and around and about us, even, I may say, in our very being, for from the moment of our birth until the moment of our death, death is ever with us, death is ever working in our members. It is death that is forever bearing us down; it is death that is ever causing the ailments of humanity, which are a premonition of what is to come; and, as the sacred writers have told us, no matter when death comes, it will always come suddenly to us. We can never be enough prepared for it. We can never take it unawares, but it will too frequently take us unawares.

The lesson, then, taught us to-day by this text is that we should be prepared to meet this death whenever and wherever it shall come, and pa.s.sing from the text of to-day to him whose memory we serve, it teaches us the lesson that death often comes as sudden as a thief in the night. It comes to s.n.a.t.c.h us away from all social relations, to take us away from home, to take us away from friends, family and all that is dear to us; to take us from earth to heaven, to take us from time to eternity. Death points this out to us, and his death should teach us a strong and emphatic lesson. If he (pointing to the bier) were here to-day to talk to you, he would not ask for a eulogy on his life, but he would ask you to take a lesson home to yourselves from his life to make you purer, richer and better. He would say: "By my life so guide your own. If there is anything else in my death to teach you to value life, to teach you to value Christ, and Almighty G.o.d, and the Holy Church, and the sacraments--oh, take it home to your own hearts, and make it part of yourselves. If I have suffered, let my suffering be a lesson to you; let it come home to your hearts and make you better and holier." His life and his death, dear friends, teach us to make ourselves better, teach us to make ourselves holier, and to prepare ourselves for our last moment.

What a change is here from a couple of weeks ago! To-day friends near and dear to him bore all that is mortal of him up this aisle to receive the last rites of the Church; and only two weeks ago that same person walked this floor and came up these aisles in all the vigor of his manhood. He came here with all the charity of his faith and nature to worship at the same altar before which and on which to-day his obsequies are said. O! this is a strong lesson to us. Who would think when he led that body of men here to the sacrament of the altar to make himself purer and better--who would think that in the short term of two weeks that health and vigor and manhood would be s.n.a.t.c.hed ruthlessly from him? But such was the fact, and this death, so sudden and awful, may be ours--if not in the same manner, in other manners equally sudden, if not as atrocious.

Therefore the lesson is brought home to us to be always prepared lest G.o.d should strike us, for His angel is always coming from Him to touch the young and the old, the deformed and the beautiful, and His touch is enough to call them from this earth to the land above.

And now, my dear friends, have we reason to be sorry to-day? Have we reason to mourn that our friend has gone from us? No, my friends; there is no reason for mourning the death of a person who has lived a religious life. As the epistle tells us, the religious man, and one pleasing to G.o.d the Father, is he who visits the orphans and widows in their tribulation, and he is one, too, who preserves himself undefiled from the world. I shall not p.r.o.nounce his eulogy, but examine his life in the light of this text, and see whether or not he was religious; and if his life was a religious life, and if it was, we must inevitably come to the conclusion that he was pleasing to Almighty G.o.d, and now enjoys the repose promised by Almighty G.o.d to those who serve Him while on earth. Religion pure and undefiled is to visit the widow and orphan. Did he do that? What was his avocation and mission in life? It was the grandest and n.o.blest after the avocation of priest. It was to deal out charity--a charity of word and charity of example, to minister to the unfortunate, to heal the ailments of human life. This was his mission and this his vocation. Did he fulfil his vocation; I ask you here in the presence of his mortal remains, did he carry out his vocation? Most a.s.suredly, my friends, he did so And why did he do so? The very manner in which he met his death will tell you in more emphatic terms than I can possibly utter. A call comes that a fellow being is in suffering. Other things are crowded upon him--other business demands were calling for him. But he hearkened to the call of humanity. He was told that a fellow-man was sick, and instantly, without hesitation, with his heart full of charity, and in his hands the very instruments to bring relief and mercy to a fellow being, he goes forth with mercy, charity and good will to his fellow-man and--meets what? An atrocious death! In the fulfilment of his mission, in the very carrying out of his avocation, he met his own death. Must we not say, then, that meeting his death, thus fulfilling his mission and performing his duty, whatever there may have been against him, if there was sin upon his soul of any kind whatever, he shall be remembered before the throne of Almighty G.o.d? Yes, he did visit the widows and orphans; and as the anecdotes and sayings about him pa.s.s away, coming to us as straggling rivulets to swell the stream of his worth, and to show that him who we mourn had a n.o.ble Christian heart, and that is what we cannot say of many to-day. He had a good heart, a Christian heart, a Catholic heart, and that heart was full of love and charity toward his fellow-man. Was he ever a man opposite or opposed to the good of his fellow-man? Was he not ever anxious to improve the lot and well-being of his fellow-men? Look at the a.s.sociations to which he belonged. Every one of those a.s.sociations has its being and life in those things which are for the betterment of man.