People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1892 — DIED IN PRISON. [ARTICLE]

DIED IN PRISON.

Hart In One of the Murderer* of Or. Cronin, FRUe* Away la the Penitentiary Hospital at Juliet—Hi* Connection with the Crime. Jolikt, IIL, Dec. 10.— Martin Bark* I* dead, and the mouth of another Cro- ! nin conspirator is thus sealed. He died and made no sign. Of tae con- ! ▼icted murderers only Dan Coughlin remains. He is serving a life sentence in the prison. iceman, died last winter without making any public confession. With the death of Burke the unpunished conspirators obtain new safety. Burke has been failing for months, wasting away with consumption. For weeks he lay in the hospital. A month ago it became apparent that bis case was hopeless. When Bnrke first entered the penitentiary in January, 1890, he was placed in the cooper shop. He remained there until last summer, when he contracted a severe cold which steadily grew worse and necessitated his change to lighter work. After a short period in the shoe shop he went to the “idle room” for three weeks, and j afterward was removed to the hospital, quick consumption having developed. Since his entry to the hospital Burke has steadily declined, and Dr. Frederick, the prison surgeon, who made an examination Friday es the man’s condition, expressed the epinion that he oonld not live more than a week. His end, however, came rather unexpectedly. Burke was well aware that his end was near at hand, and being an ardent Catholic, asked that Father Daniel, of ! Joliet, come to see him. Father Daniel went early Friday morning, and after talktog with the surgeon and with Bnrke administered the last sacrament* of the church to the dying man. As he was sitting in a chair Friday evening talking to the convict nurse about his case he referred to the lasi examination made by Dr. Frederick and said: “Well, I guess it is all up; it’s all right, anyway.” After soma further conversation he reverted to his approaching death and said: “If I die I want Forrest to come down and take my body to my folks.” He referred to W. S. Forrest, who conducted his eas and has since been busy in carrying the Cronin case to the supreme court. Burke had hardly made this reference to Forrest before his whole frame ■was shaken by a sort of convulsion. His head fell forward. There was a gasp or two and dead. There was no hemorrha^B and death came comparatively e&syW The prison officials say that, to their knowledge, Burke has never spoken a word about the Cronin case since he ha 3 been in the prison. He not only* never mentioned it of his own accords but would decline to discuss it when it was brought up. He was on friendly terms with the attendants and talked freely on. all other subjects. Burke’s connnectlon with the Cronin murder was believed to be that of a hired man. He never stood high in the councils of the conspirators, but took his orders from “Dan” Coughlin. It was he who assisted in fitting up the Carlson cottage and making arrangements for the killing. According t® a partial confession, said to have been made by Iceman O'Sullivam, Burke waited inside the doorway of the Carlson cottage on the night of the murder armed with a club. O’Sullivan, who did not know that murder was to be done, hurried from the house and standing outside heard the blows and Dr. Cronin’s shriek. This story corroborated the theory of the prosecution. It was supposed that Burke struck the fatal blows. Burke appeared early in the conspiracy and was seen by Hakan Martinson, tbe express driver, when the furniture purchased by the mysterious “J. B. Simonds” or “Williams” arrived at the cottage March 22, 1889. It was claimed on the trial that Burke had previously been seen at the rooms that were prepared at H 7 Clark street and afterward vacated. Burke, from all accounts, was an ignorant workingman, unscrupulous and prejudiced, entirely under the influence of the shrewder members of Camp 20. When the cottage had been rented Burke was seen by the Carlsons, who lived next door, and he told them his brother, who was an Invalid, was coming to occupy the rented house. After the murder and the finding of Dr. Cronin’s body Burke did not figure as a suspect until he had been described by the Carlsons and Martinson, the expressman. Descriptions of him were sent broadcast and on June 17 he was arrested at Winnipeg, Manitoba. When taken into custody he threatened that some one would suffer for his arrest On June 21 he was fully indetifled by Martinson and Officer Collins. There was some trouble in securing extradition papers and Burke was held by the dominion authorities to wait further evidence. On June 29 Burke and six others were indicted by the grand jury. On June 80 the court at Winnipeg ordered his extradition, further identification having been made by Charles Carlson. On July 24 Burke’s lawyers made an unsuccessful attempt to secure his re- ' lease Not until August 5 did the prisoner reach Chicago. He was kept under guard at the police stations until August 8, when he was removed to the county jail.

The next day he was arraigned, and pleaded ■ “not guilty.” The trial began August 30. Every ■web of evidence drew Burke deeper into the dark conspiracy. "It* was shown that he prepared the cottago, was there on the night of the murder with Coughlin and others, with whom he had been drinking, and that previous to the killing he had indulged in threats of a violent nature. During the long trial he remained stubbornly indifferent and received his life sentence with no show of emotion The prosecution never had much hope of securing a confession from him, O’Sullivan being the one whom they thought might “squeal” after t year or two of imprisonment. Martin Burke belonged to that class o': Irish with the transmitted hatred of centuries, for informers in his heart, and his impulsive nature and uncultivated mind made him an easy tool of those who wished to play upon his patriotism. To an Irishman with nationalist reelings an informer is the worst detested and the vilest thing on earth, and he who puts such a one out of the way is regarded as a hero by Irish revolutionists of extreme views. If Burke had any hand in the murder of Dr. Cronin it was; his friends say, because he was led by knaves to believe that the doctor was an informer and in the pay of England. Ignorant, devoted, and without any of the finer social feelings, he would naturally be s elected for a desperate deed. His vanity could be played upon until he was brought to the belief that to assassinato a man denounced at an informer by those whom he trusted was to play the heroic role of an avenging patriot