The Crime of the Century Part 28

[Ill.u.s.tration: TWO VIEWS OF DR. CRONIN'S HAT.]

Nearly all of the garments were stained with blood. There was blood on both sleeves of the cut-away coat, blood on the vest and blood on the trousers. One of the white shirts was literally soaked with it, while the other was slightly stained. There was blood on the undershirt and on the drawers, which were made of fine wool, and even upon the rim of the hat. Six months' immersion in the slime of a sewer, where they had been exposed to the influences of repeated storms, had not been enough to eradicate the evidence of the terrible deed which had been committed in the little cottage.

A MURDERER'S SHIRT.

But there were no cuts or rips in the second white shirt, and the conclusion was quickly formed that it had belonged to one of the murderers, who, fearing detection, must have discarded it before leaving the cottage and starting on the long and lonely trip with the body in the trunk through the streets of Lake View. It was closely examined for a mark that would lead to the identification of its owner, but not so much as an initial could be found. On one of the cuffs of the undershirt was a large blue enameled b.u.t.ton, of which, so said Mrs. Conklin, Dr.

Cronin had been very fond. The second b.u.t.ton and cuff were missing. The physician's neck-tie was next held up, but the pin, one which he had worn for very many years, was gone. A b.u.t.ton bearing the insignia of the "Royal Arcanium," of which Dr. Cronin had been a very active member for several years, was found in the lapel of the cut-away coat. The pockets were searched for the gold watch and chain which the physician had carried, and the well filled purse that he had taken out on the fatal night. Neither were found.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DR. CRONIN'S POCKET INSTRUMENT CASE.]

"The watch and chain are gone, also the doctor's purse," said George Ingham. "Now will these fellows claim that they murdered Dr. Cronin through patriotic motives. Some people will be uncharitable enough to believe that they intended to commit robbery."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The clothes were temporarily laid aside at this point and the contents of the leather satchel were over-hauled. Mrs. Conklin at once identified it by several marks, as one the physician had carried for several years.

From its recesses the doctor's prescription book was first produced, then his call book, and then a street guide that Mrs. Conklin had purchased over two years before. After this came still another book with a list of drugs and medicines, and explanations of their uses. All the pages were badly soiled. A tiny knife was fished out from the bottom of the satchel. It was a pretty toy, one which Dr. Cronin had received as a present from a little girl. Tears started to Mrs. Conklin's eyes.

"Let me have that," she said, and she reached for the knife.

It was silently pa.s.sed over.

A tiny thermometer, such as surgeons carry to test the temperature of patients was now brought out, and then in rapid succession a roll of plasters, a small pocket instrument case, a handkerchief, a double stethescope, a lot of minor surgical instruments, including a keen bladed scalpel and a box of hypodermic syringes. This latter attracted considerable attention, on account of its beauty. It had been a present from W. M. Bagnall, one of the most intimate friends of the physician, and on it he had placed this inscription:

PRESENTED BY

WILLIAM M. BAGNALL

TO

DR. P. HARRY CRONIN.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BAGNALL'S PRESENT TO THE DOCTOR.]

All of this, however, except the last line, had been erased. There were two letters and a postal card in the satchel, each bearing the down-town address of the physician, together with a comb and a piece of paper, so saturated with blood that it was difficult to tell whether or not it had contained writing. The wooden box contained several silver extension splints, which are used in case of fractured limbs. The other valise, the cover of which had been eaten away, was apparently about eighteen inches long, quite large enough to have contained a bundle of clothes.

When found by Reese, the overcoat and trousers were clinging to the ribs of it, which was taken as evidence that it had contained the whole bundle when it was dumped into the sewer. Salesman Hatfield, when sent for, said unhesitatingly that he had no doubt but that the valise was the one he had sold to the man Simonds, and which had been taken from the Clark street flat to the Carlson cottage. The hat was also recognized by the tradesman of whom the physician had been a regular customer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: REMAINS OF THE MURDERERS' VALISE]

The excitement which prevailed in the city when the news of the find became known almost equaled that of the day on which the body was found, while the friends of the physician were exultant and congratulated each other upon the unexpected aid that the prosecution had received. Rumors of what the day had brought forth had found their way into the court room a little while prior to the adjournment of the afternoon session, and created a profound impression; the lawyers for the defense were astounded, while the agitation of all of the prisoners, excepting Beggs, was apparent to every observer. Only the ex-Senior Guardian of Camp 20 maintained a cool demeanor.

A PIECE OF CARPET FOUND.

On the following day, acting under instructions of the Chief of Police, a dozen picked men from the Central detail commenced a thorough search of the Lake View sewers. They were a.s.sisted by several experienced sewer men. Long pike poles were secured and the hunt began, but the task was by no means an easy one, many of the sewers being too small for the smallest man to crawl through.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SILVER HYPODERMIC SYRINGE CASE.]

Starting at Evanston avenue the gang worked slowly to the lake, but for several hours nothing was found to reward their efforts. It was not until late in the day that a find was made by Officer Lorch. Equipped with a rubber suit and one of the pike poles, he had been lowered into the man-hole at the corner of Evanston and Graceland avenues, one block south of the man-hole in which the clothes and surgical instruments had been thrown, and two blocks south of the street where the trunk was found. Worming himself into the twenty inch sewer he went through the filthy main for a distance of twelve or fifteen feet, pushing the pike pole ahead of him. His persistence was finally rewarded by the bringing to light of a muddy, slimy piece of carpet about twenty inches square, and which looked as if it had been hastily torn from a longer strip.

When brought to the surface and rinsed under a hydrant it was found to be a cheap quality of an ordinary ingrain of a modest dark pattern, resembling just such a carpet as that which the man Simonds had purchased at Revells.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Its many months of contact with the water and slime of the sewer, however, had destroyed all traces of the color and pattern, and hence it was impossible to positively identify it as a portion of the carpet laid down in the Carlson cottage, but in view of the locality in which it was found, and its proximity to the place where the clothes and trunk were secreted, there was but little doubt but that it was a portion of the blood-stained carpet which the murderers had taken up from the floor of the cottage. The search was continued in the hope that the boots, hose, watch and chain, and purse, which were still missing, might be found in the depths of the sewer, but despite the most energetic efforts it was not rewarded by success.

THE CONSPIRATOR'S PLANS THWARTED.

It was a very easy task to find an explanation of the presence of the b.l.o.o.d.y remains of the tragedy in the particular catch-basin in which they were found. As originally planned, the conspiracy probably contemplated the sinking of the body and the other evidences of the crime in the deep waters of the lake. After being accosted by Officer Way of Edgewater, however, the murderers must have become alarmed at meeting so many policemen, and had turned around as if to go back to Chicago. Meanwhile the blood soaked carpet which had been ripped from the floor of the cottage had been torn into strips by the men in the wagon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ENGLISH PRESCRIPTION BOOK.]

The expedient of disposing of the body by throwing it into the 59th street catch basin, which was only half a mile from Edgewater, was a desperate one; but it was necessary in order to avoid detection. This done, the murderers started south for the distance of a mile, and having found it impossible to jam the trunk into a man-hole, had thrown it over the fence. The clothes, carpet, satchels, and other evidence of guilt had been distributed along Evanston avenue for the distance of another half mile, but yet so concealed as to have made it next to impossible for the police, with the facilities at their disposal, to find anything but the trunk. This at least was the explanation of some of the officers, although it was directly antagonized by other officials identified with the force. For instance, Capt. Schuettler, on the day of the finding of the carpet, declared that the sewers in this particular locality had never been searched.

"I went out but once to search those sewers," he said, "just after the trunk was found. The then detective, Dan Coughlin, and I rode in one buggy, Captain Schaack and Michael Whalen in the next, Detectives Lorch and Gardiner in the third. Schaack said that he believed the blood in the trunk had come from a 'stiff' taken from some cemetery, and we worked on that theory. As a consequence the sewers were never examined in that particular neighborhood."

CHAPTER XVI.

SPECIAL GRAND JURY SUMMONED--PERSONNEL OF ITS MEMBERS--JUDGE SHEPARD'S VIGOROUS CHARGE--THE TESTIMONY TAKEN--SEVENTEEN DAYS' INVESTIGATION RESULTS IN THE INDICTMENT OF SEVEN MEN--FULL TEXT OF THE INDICTMENT.

Sheriff Matson, tall and commanding, appeared in that branch of the Criminal Court presided over by Judge Shepard, at ten o'clock on the morning of June 12, at the head of such a procession of prominent business men as is seldom seen in the precincts of a court room, save on occasions that stir the entire community. For the third time during his term of office as sheriff--once in the Anarchist case, then in the celebrated "boodler" trial, and again on this occasion, the Sheriff had been ordered to summon a special venire of grand jurors. That he had taken pains to get good material, and at the same time avoid selecting any of those that had served on either of the two former occasions, was apparent when he presented the twenty-three men to the Court. Their names were called out as follows:

D. B. Dewey, H. P. Kellogg, D. A. Peirce, W. K. Forsythe, John H. Clough, J. McGregor Adams, Jacob Gross, Francis B. Peabody, W. H. Beebe, A. G. Lundberg, John F. Wollensack, Isaac Jackson, H. S. Peck, W. J. Quan, John O'Neill, Louis Hasbrook, Henry Greenebaum, C. Gilbert Wheeler, J. C. W. Rhode, A. P. Johnson, George W. Waite, Henry A. Knott, W. D. Kerfoot.

JUDGE SHEPARD'S PLAIN WORDS.

The Judge looked approvingly over the double row of intelligent faces before him, and appointed John H. Clough as foreman. The customary oath usually administered in cases of special grand juries, where some of those summoned may be disposed to avoid service, was omitted, and the regular grand jury oath was clinched with the statement, "so help you G.o.d." After this the excuses of half a dozen of those who considered themselves ent.i.tled to exemption came too late. Commencing his charge by reading the section of the statute defining the duties of grand jurors, and fixing the punishment for disclosing grand jury proceedings, Judge Shepard went on to say: