Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 November 1889 — VERDICT NOW IN SIGHT. [ARTICLE]

VERDICT NOW IN SIGHT.

THE PROSECUTION IN THE CRONIN CASE ENDED. The Sensational Story of Mrs. Hoerbel— What She Heard at the Cronin Cottage on the Night of the Murder —Other Damaging Evidence. [Chicago telegram.] In the Cronin trial, Itenry nuchholez, a saloonkeeper at 2800 Cottage Grove avenue, testified that Kunze boarded at his place under the name of Kaiser. “When did he come there:'” “April 14.” “How long did he stay with you?” “Till he was arrested.” Gus Klahre, the tinsmith, testified that one Monday morning in the early part of May Martin Burke and an expressman came to his father’s tin-shop at 88 North Clark street. “Burke had a galvanized iron-box about 14x26 inches in size, and he wanted the top soldered on it. This Cronin case was in the papers that morning, and I said something about it. Burke said he was ‘a British spy and ought to be killed.’ ” “What else did he say?” “I said it was queer about Cronin’s disappearance, and Burke said: ‘Cronin was a (using a vile epithet), and ought to be killed. ’ ” “What did you do with the box?” “I tried to lift the cover of the box but he pushed my hand away and said: ‘For God’s sake, don’t open that,’ or something like that.” “How was the box fastened?” “It was tied with a clothes-line.” “He wouldn’t let you open it?” “No. I told him I’d have to take off the cord before I could make a job of- it. He said it didn’t make any difference how it was done —no matter how rough it might be. So I put a band around the box without taking off the cord. ” “How near did Burke stay to you while you were fixing the box?” “He staid right close to me all the time.”

Joseph O’Byrne hau a conversation with John F. Beggs on Clark street, near the Chicago opera house block, on Tuesday, May 7. Maurice Morris and Dennis Ward were also present. The disappearance of Dr. Cronin was discussed, and Beggs said that he thought he would turn up all right. Ward then interjected that Cronin had skipped out with a woman and would return in a few days after his spree. O’Byrne asserted that the doctor had been murdered. At that Beggs turned to the witness and said: “You don’t know what you are talking about, because you don’t /belong to the inner circle. We (referring to himself and Ward) are posted.” Dr. John F. Williams, of No. 427 Center street, testified that he had known Patrick O’Sullivan several years; had treated him professionally three or four years; his doctor bill didn’t amount to more than $5 for the whole period. There were several physicians practicing in the immediate vicinity of O’Sullivan’s house Michael Gilbert, a sewer-cleaner, was working on Evanston avenue flushing the sewers. He was assisted by Michael Reese and Frederick Meyer, “What did you find near the corrier of Buena and Evanston avenues?” “I went to the manhole and raised the lid and found the hole half full of water. I'then went to the next manhole and raised the lid there too, and saw what looked like a lot of old rags. The flow in the sewer there is from uorth to south.” “What did you do?” “I called on Michael Reese to go down into the manhole and pull out the old sachel. I had tried to pull it up, but it was so rotten that it fell to pieces. I handed Reese a bucket and he got it under the things, and in that way we got them out We got up a box. It was about eighteen inches long. At first I thought it was a block of wood, but after we got it out I saw it was a. box. ’ ’ “Well, what did you do?” “I lifted it onto the street. Then the small sachel with both ends off was brought out. ’ ’ “What did you do then?” “All the things, including the hat and the clothes, were put in a bunch together. ” “What happened then?” “I told one of the men to go for a patrol wagon. The things got out on the manhole were all put on a stretcher just as they were taken out of the manhole and put in the patrol wagon. I did not help to put it in, but I saw it put in when the patrol drove up.”

Michael Reese, one of the sewer cleaners who found the clothes and other articles, was then called to the stand and corroborated the testimony of the previous witness. At this stage the articles found in the sewer were brought into court, ana their entrance created a little sensation. The prisoner Beggs did dot seem to pay any attention to them. Coughlin and Kunze craned their necks to see them. Burke got very red in the face, but sat motionless in his chair except that he worked his jaws vigorously, as if chewing a large quia of tobacco. Those immediately behind him said his whole frame shuddered at the first glimpse he got of the articles, but such a motion was not apparent from the reporters’ t table. The production of the articles was* evidently a surprise to the jury, and they looked at them with manifest interest as they were handled by the officers. “Is that the box?” asked the State’s attorney of the witness as soon as the things were arranged as he wished them. “Yes, sir, that is the box and the splint that was in it I got a hold of the sachel and the box and sent them up out of the manhole, and as soon as they were moved the water went with a rush. There was a hat found. It was put with the rest of the things.” Frederick Meyer was the next witness called and corroborated the testimony of the previous two witnesses. The next witness called was Mrs. Conklin. On taking the stand she was directed by the State’s Attorney to examine the hat in the pile of clothes. After doing that she said: “That bat is the one worn by Dr. Cronin when he left my house on the "evening of May 4.” > “Did you ever see that overcoat?” “Yes; that overcoat is Dr. Crouin’s. ” “When did you last see it?” “The last time before seeing it in your office was on May 4. Dr. Cronin wore it that evening when he left my house. ” “Did you ever see that box before.” “I did in Dr. Cronin's possession. That -a, .

is the splint box he took with him the evening of May 4.” ‘Did you ever see that sachel before?” “Yes. That is the leather hand sachel he carried his surgical instruments in. He took it out with him on the 4th of May. ’ * “Did you ever see that pocket case before?” “Yes, often. I described it before it was found. It was Dr. Cronin’s.” “Did you ever see that book of surgical and medical references?” “Yes. It was Dr. Cronin’s.” Are you able to identify that coat:” “Yes, it is the dress coat Dr. Cronin wore the evening he left my house. He wore in the button-hole of it a badge of the Royal Arcanum just like the one produced.” “Do you recognize that cuff-botton?” “Yes, it was Dr. Cronin’s.” The prosecution then offered all the ar tides identified as evidence in the case. Clerk J. P. Hatfield, of Revell & Co.’s store was called to identify the framework of the sachel found in the Lake View sewer containing the clothes The sensation of the morning was furnished by Mrs. Paulina Hoerbel, a German woman »who lives near the Carlson cottage. “I was passing the Carlson cottage on the night of May 4, some time between 7 and 8 o’clock, when I saw two men in a buggy drive up to the cottage. One of the men got out and went up the steps. He knocked. Some one came to the door and the man went in.” “What kind of looking man was he?” “Big and broad-shouldered.” “Did he have anything in his hand?” “Yes, be carried something like a sachel. It looked as though it might be a surgeon’s case.” “What kind of a horse was it that drew the buggy?” “It was white.” There was a buzz of excitement at this, for any one in the court room could not but remember the color of the horse which on May 4 Dan Coughlin hired “for his friend Smith.” The witness stopped in front of the cottage and h ard the sounds of the death struggle. When the tall man entered the house some one immediately closed the door. Then there was the noise of a great struggle. She heard sounds as though heavy blows were being dealt some one. Then she heard some one cry out: “Oh, my God!” “There were a few more noises as of some one struggling.” said the witness, “and then all was still.” “After tne man went into the cottage,” continued the witness, “the man who was yet in the buggy turned a,way and drove south on Ashland avenue.” “Did you not hear the word ‘Jesus’ ?” “I did. I heard some one cry out, ‘O God! O Jesus!* and then there was the sound as of some one crying or moaning, and the sound of blows. Then it sounded as though some one fell, and there were more blows, and I heard something sound like something breaking. Then I heard more cries and moans, and then the sounds seemed to die away and all was still. ” “What did the noise sound like?” “It sounded as if some people were fighting in there, and then after the blows all was still.”

The witness seemed to be an unsophisticated German woman, and the evidence she was giving was so plainly a truthful statement of facts that it impressed every one as being the last link in the chain of circumstantial evidence which the State promised to weld around the accused. The appearance of Burke and Coughlin’s faces during the recital of the actual murder of Dr. Cronin was more grave than at any time during the trial. Each man seemed completely paralyzed by the evidence. Mr. Forrest nad always maintained that Dr. Cronin could not be traced to the cottage on that night. While Mrs. Hoertel did not positively identify Dr. Cronin her description of him. the circumstances of the white horse, the instrument case the men took from the buggy, and every incident shows as clearly that the doctor was in that cottage on May 4, at 8 o’clock, as though a photograph of the men was exhibited to the jury. A look of’ blank despair seemed to cover Coughlin’s face, and the first expression of real anxiety which Burke has shown since the beginning of the trial came over his countenance. Kunze did not appear affected by the witness’ story, and O’Sullivan was as stolid as ever.

The attorney for the defense took the witness all over her route Irom her own house to the time she heard the noises in the Carlson cottage, after seeing the white horse. She repeated without deviation the answers given in her direct examination as to the streets she traveled before reaching the cottage. Judge Wing drew from the witness the statement that the night of May 4 was a bright, star-lit night, and that there was no damp-post nearer the Carlson cottage than a block distant and that she was not nearer the white horse than the “distance across the court room. ’ ’ There was not a new fact developed on the cross-examina-tion. On the re-cross-examination Judge Wing questioned the witness as to her whereabouts and occupation e?.ch day from May 1 to May 10, and Mrs. Hoertel knew every event occurring in this period. Henry Polanski, restaurant and hotel keener, was the next witness called. In reply to his question he said: “I was employed last May in Mr. Bacharach’s shirt store, 28 North Clark street. I was there Sunday May 5, and sold some shirts there that day.” Witness then told of a man coming in between 9 and 9:15 in the morning and asking for a shirt. In order to insure a fit witness asked him to remove his coat that he might be measured, which the man with an oath declined to do. He bought a shirt and two collars. He then went out and across the street where witness saw him talking to his partner, who then came in and also bought a shirt. The second man was much smaller than the first The little fellow wore a woolen shirt and the big fellow wore a white shirt. Both ha I their coats buttoned to their throats and the collars up about their uecks. The larger man he had seen since that time; he was now in court; was the second man in the row of prisoners. [Pointing to Martin Burke.] Witness was shown a picture of Cooney which he identified as one, of the small man Chief Hubbard was Afidn recalled and gave testimony regarding his conversation with Dan Coughlin after the recovery of the body of Dr. Cronin. This practically closed the case for the State, and the defense were granted two days in which to prepare the evidence ir favor of the defendants.