The Crime of the Century Part 33

CHAPTER XIX.

STARTLING INTERRUPTION TO THE TRIAL--VILLAINOUS ATTEMPT TO FRUSTRATE THE ENDS OF JUSTICE--BOLD EFFORTS TO BRIBE THE SPECIAL VENIRESMEN IN THE INTEREST OF THE PRISONERS--A "HUNG" JURY WANTED--FORTUNATE DISCOVERY OF THE PLOT--THE "WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS" OF THE CONSPIRACY--PROMPT ACTION OF THE PROSECUTING AUTHORITIES--SPEEDY ARREST AND INDICTMENT OF THE GUILTY PARTIES--CRIME ADDED TO CRIME.

The thirty-seventh day of the trial--or rather of the effort to secure a jury--was productive of startling developments that temporarily suspended the further progress of the case. At the morning session there had been a wrangle between the State's Attorney and Counsellor Forrest concerning an application by the former for an order upon the prosecution to furnish the addresses of a number of female witnesses whose names were upon the back of the indictment. Judge Longenecker, who did not happen to be in a compliant mood, resisted the application, declaring that no law was in existence by which he was compelled to make public property of the location of those upon whom the State relied for evidence which was to make out its case. It was broadly hinted that the information was required for purposes that could scarcely be cla.s.sed as legitimate, and there were suggestions that if the order was issued some of the witnesses in question might stand in need of protection. Despite these arguments, however, the presiding Judge took the other view of the matter and the defense gained its point. For the balance of the session the weary grind of examining the special veniresmen went on, but without result, and when the time for the usual recess arrived not an additional man of the many examined had been accepted by either side.

SENSATIONAL TURN IN THE CASE.

Promptly at the regular hour for resuming the proceedings, Judge McConnell put in an appearance. For the first time since the opening day of the trial, however, the counsel for the State were absent.

Considerable time pa.s.sed, and still they failed to put in an appearance.

At this juncture a messenger arrived in hot haste, with an intimation that the Judge's presence was urgently requested in another part of the building. He returned in a few moments, accompanied by the State's Attorney. There was a solemn look on both faces, and a whisper immediately went around the court that a sensation was upon the tapis.

The Judge had hardly taken his seat when Mr. Longenecker, addressing him, said: "In view of some matters of which I have advised your Honor, I shall have to ask the Court to adjourn for the present in order to enable us to complete an investigation we are making."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE JUDGE HEARS OF THE JURY BRIBING PLOT.]

"I am disposed to think," was the ready response of the Court "from what I know of the matter, that the request is a reasonable one. The court stands adjourned until one o'clock to-morrow afternoon."

A buzz of surprise went through the crowded room. Longenecker hurried away, while counsel for the defense looked at each other with surprise.

The prisoners excitedly asked each other and the spectators: "What's in the wind? What does this mean." No one could answer.

For the next twelve hours there were scenes about the Criminal Court building which for mystery and suppressed excitement had never before been approached in the criminal history of Chicago.

A JURY-BRIBING PLOT.

Hardly had the Court adjourned when the State's Attorney commenced the investigation which, as he had declared a few moments before, demanded his presence. The outer door of his office was locked from the inside, while a stalwart officer stood on guard. In a room across the hall a half dozen officers were stationed to prevent the approach of strangers.

a.s.sembled in the office were Judge Longenecker, Luther Laflin Mills, Messrs. Hynes, Ingham and Kickham Scanlan, a.s.sistant State's Attorneys Neeley, Elliott, Baker and Glennon, Chief of Police Hubbard and Captain Schuettler. At one time and another a score of detectives hurried from one room to another, receiving instructions, going away in pairs and returning with some man or another who would disappear behind the doors to emerge no more. It was four o'clock in the morning before the investigation was suspended. Three hours later it was resumed. At ten o'clock a special grand jury was called by Judge Horton. It a.s.sembled at twelve. Ex-Mayor John A. Roche was appointed chairman. The body retired to its room and for nearly twelve hours was engaged in an inquiry on the star-chamber order. More than a score of witnesses were examined, and, just as the clocks of the city were chiming the hour of midnight, the members of the Grand Jury entered the Court and returned indictments against six individuals for conspiring to thwart the ends of justice by endeavoring to bribe jurors in the Cronin case. These individuals were Thomas Kavanaugh, steam-fitter; Alexander L. Hanks, court bailiff; Mark L. Soloman, court bailiff; Fred W. Smith, hardware agent; Jeremiah O'Donnell, gauger; Joseph Konen, fruit dealer.

The mystery that enveloped the proceedings of the previous day was now dispelled. The tentacles of the devil fish had reached into the court of justice. The desperation of the mysterious power behind the five men who were on trial for their lives for the murder of the Irish physician had reached a climax. From the moment that the prisoners had first faced Judge McConnell, their attorneys had waged a stubborn and a bitter war against the veniremen pa.s.sed by the State. Eight jurors had, however, been selected. The peremptory challenges of O'Sullivan, Burke, Coughlin and Kunze had been exhausted, and Beggs alone of all the prisoners possessed the right of exercising the power of peremptory dismissal. All this time the mighty and unseen power behind the prisoners and behind the lawyers was hard at work. It had never been still from the time that the doom of the physician had been sealed. Its machinery had ground him to death and been then torn down, built up again, and set in motion to conceal the gory corpse. The shafting encircled the entire boundary within which a juror could be drawn, and the leviathan proportions of the murderous machine could not be measured until a cog had dropped out here and there and been carried to the office of the State's Attorney.

The machine had a.s.sisted in the escape of c.o.o.ney. It had tried its best to get Martin Burke far beyond the reach of the clutches of the law. It had inspired the police officers of the State to ignore their duty. It was probably, at that very time, instructing possible witnesses in the art of perjury. It had gone farther and had actually attempted to suborn by bribes the men who had been summoned as jurors in the trial in progress.

The facts, as narrated first to the State's Attorney and later to the Grand Jury, admitted of no controversy. George Tschappatt, a German, who for ten years had been employed as foreman of an extensive lard manufactory, had been one of the veniremen approached. His wife was a friend of Mark L. Soloman, a bailiff of the Criminal Court. He was summoned as a venireman on Monday, and was present at the court room Tuesday, but was not examined. On Wednesday morning Soloman encountered him in the ante-room awaiting his turn to be called. Approaching him with extended hand, he said:

"h.e.l.lo, Tschappatt, what are you doing here?" And then slapping him on the shoulder continued: "Have you been summoned as a venireman?"

Mr. Tschappatt replied that he had, and was anxious to be excused, as he could not spare the time to sit on the case.

"Come outside and have a drink," resumed Soloman. Taking Tschappatt by the arm they adjourned to a neighboring saloon. While they stood at the bar sipping a gla.s.s of beer, Soloman said:

"Tschappatt, you must have a pretty hard time of it to get along and support a family. How would you like to enter a scheme where you could make a thousand dollars?"

Tschappatt innocently replied that he was in on it. "How is the money to be made?" he asked.

Leading Tschappatt over to one corner of the saloon, the bailiff revealed the scheme.

"I'll tell you what I want you to do," he said. "Get on the jury, if you possibly can, and there's a thousand dollars in it for you if you stick out for an acquittal."

Tschappatt immediately tore himself away from the bailiff's grasp, and replied emphatically that he would have nothing to do with it.

"You ought to know me well enough, Soloman," he said, "to know that no amount of money could bribe me to defeat the ends of justice. If the prisoners on trial are guilty of what they are charged with, I say hang them, and everybody else who is connected with the conspiracy. No, sir; you can't bribe me, and you ought to know that."

With this the venireman attempted to get away from the bailiff, but Soloman held on to him with a vise-like grasp.

"Don't be a fool, Tschappatt," said Soloman, "you're a poor man, and ought to know that a thousand dollars is not to be picked up every day. Now, listen to me, and I'll show you how you can make it and n.o.body will ever be the wiser. If you properly answer the questions put to you by the lawyers you will in all probability be pa.s.sed and sworn in as a juror. Now, I'll see that you get the money--leave that to me. Of course the money won't be given to you, but your wife will get it, so it will be all the same. On a certain day that you will appoint she will appear in court wearing a certain dress that you will designate. By that you will know that she has received the money, and if she doesn't wear that dress you will know the reverse. But don't let that trouble you. She'll get the money.

"Soloman," said Tschappatt, "what kind of a man do you take me for?

You first ask me to sell myself and then you want to drag my wife into it. I have a good mind to knock you down. You deserve it."

"Well, there's no use getting hot about it," said Soloman. "I thought I was doing you a good turn, and only that we have known each other for years I would not have put a thousand dollars in your way. But you can do just as you please about it--accept it or reject it. If I were you, however, I would consider the proposition. It will be many a long day before you get a chance again to make a cool thousand."

Tschappatt replied that he would not entertain the matter for a moment, "and if I had known this was the reason," he said, "that you called me out I would not have come."

They then returned to the criminal court building, Soloman still talking about the proposition.

Tschappatt rejoined the other veniremen who were waiting in the ante-room, but did not utter a word of what had pa.s.sed between him and the bailiff. At noon time, when the court took a recess until 2 o'clock, Tschappatt went back to the place where he was employed and worked hard to catch up for the time he had lost. He returned to the criminal court a few minutes before 2 o'clock. Soloman was waiting for him at the foot of the stairs.

"Where have you been for the past two hours?" was the greeting from the bailiff. "I have been looking all over for you. Did you consider that proposition I made you?"

Tschappatt told him that he had not, and tried to brush him to one side so he could go up-stairs into the ante-room. Soloman stopped him, and then offered him $5,000 if he would get on the jury and stand out for acquittal. This is the language he used:

"We have got to have you on that jury, and you can't get out of it.

Think of it--$5,000 for a few days' work. Are you a fool that you won't accept it?"

"I gave you my answer this morning, Soloman, and I make you the same reply now. I will not accept. All the money in Chicago could not induce me to do as you want me. Now, let me pa.s.s on up-stairs?"

"Don't say anything about this," was the bailiff's injunction, and he followed Tschappatt up into the court-room.

The five bailiffs, one of whom was Soloman, went over to the jail and brought the prisoners into court. Soloman sat in a chair behind Kunze.

About the middle of the afternoon Tschappatt was brought in from the ante-room and took his seat in the jury-box. In answer to the questions from the attorneys he said he had formed opinions regarding the case, and did not think he could give the prisoners a fair trial. He had visited the Carlson cottage, he said, and talked with some one there about the case. The court excused him for cause.

During the examination of Tschappatt Soloman kept his eyes on him continually and was greatly agitated, evidently fearing that he would tell the court about being approached. When he left the box, however, he took his secret with him.

As good fortune would have it, on leaving the court room Tschappatt encountered his employer, Benjamin V. Page, to whom he told this story.

By the latter it was communicated to Mr. Mills, and the prosecuting officials, with the consent of the court, immediately commenced the investigation already alluded to. Soloman was sent for and at first emphatically denied the accusation that had been made against him.

Confronted with the honest German, however, he was forced to admit his guilt, and make a full statement of his connection with the conspiracy.

From his pocket he produced a slip of paper on which was a list of names and addresses of jurors whom it was thought could be influenced by money, and a comparison showed that it contained the names of several men who were on the special venire, and at that time waiting to be examined. This list, Soloman said, was given to him by Hanks, one of his fellow-bailiffs. Upon being interrogated this individual was also compelled to admit his connection with the affair.

WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS.

With these statements as a foundation, still more important developments were brought to the surface without much difficulty. It was found that Fred. W. Smith, a manufacturer's agent, had offered several citizens the sum of $2,000 each to get on the Cronin jury. Hanks had made an offer to Joseph Konen, a fruit dealer, of $1,000 if he could succeed in pa.s.sing the lawyers and would render a verdict for the defense. Another man had been offered $1,000 with the same object by Jeremiah O'Donnell, who a few weeks before had received an appointment in the internal revenue as gauger for the Calumet District, and the latter in turn had been approached by Thomas Kavanaugh, a member of a plumbing firm. Hanks appeared to have been one of the big cogs in the machine, so much so that he had advanced $1,000 to Soloman for his services as a briber.

Behind Hanks was Kavanaugh, who was an active member of the Clan-na-Gael. Both were spokes in the big wheel of the machine which had been buzzing so silently and as they imagined, so successfully. Within a few hours after the indictments had been returned, the men named therein had been arrested and incarcerated in jail. The investigation was continued upon the following day and further facts were brought to light which warranted the presentation of the matter to the regular Grand Jury for the October term. This body, after spending two hours in the examination of witnesses, returned additional indictments against Smith, Hanks and Soloman, together with an indictment against John Graham, confidential clerk to A. S. Trude, a prominent member of the bar. The indictment of Graham was based on evidence tending to show that he had originally employed the parties that had endeavored to corrupt the special veniremen. According to the story told by Bailiff Hanks to the Grand Jury, Graham had offered to pay $2,000 each for two or more men, saying that money was no object. He had also employed the bailiff to keep up the drooping spirits of certain of the prisoners by delivering to them verbal messages of cheer from their friends on the outside, Graham paying handsomely for this service. He was arrested, but immediately released on bail, and bondsmen were found for all of the men concerned in the attempted bribery. Judge Longenecker, and the attorneys a.s.sisting him, however, were convinced that they had yet to reach the fountain-head of the directing conspiracy, and their next move was the arrest of Henry N. Stoltenberg, the confidential clerk and stenographer in the office of Alexander Sullivan. At the same time the residence of the latter was once more placed under surveillance. After being detained over night, the clerk was taken before the Grand Jury. His answers to the questions propounded were regarded as of considerable importance, more especially his admission that he had received letters from a prominent Irishman in Toronto, and which had been addressed to him under cover to a second party. He was then released. Alexander Sullivan's law partner, Thomas G. Windes, and E. J. McArdle, a young Irish lawyer were also examined, but both declared that they knew nothing whatever regarding the matter under investigation.

It was evident by this time that sufficient had been accomplished to frustrate the purposes of the conspiracy, and, as the resumption of the search for jurors was imperatively ordered by the court, the effort to discover the wheels within wheels of the jury-bribing plot was abandoned for the time being. Enough had been discovered to prove that the men behind the prisoners were prepared to go to any lengths to prevent a conviction. As Luther Laflin Mills remarked, in that earnest and impressive manner which characterized all his utterances: