Huntsville gazette., 1889-05-25

| DIR. CRONIN. the dead man S head
were dozen deep cuts, which had sew
cred the seal p and indented the skull
There is no doubt the Irish-American
| who disappeared SO mysteriously two
weeks ago was murdered
Wednesday evening Henry Roesche
and two men were cleaning the sewer on
the east side of Evanston avenue, and
| when near catch basin noticed strong
odor Of purifying flesh. Roesche pried
| Oft the cap of the basin and discovered
| naked body The feet and legs were up
| in the opening The spot is nearly
terious blood-stained trunk was found
An hour after the finding of the body
| a dozen of Cronin's friends were at the
suburban railroad station The three
Scanlan brothers, who have been init
mate with Dr. Cronin, were among the
first who arrived They all positively
identified the body as that of Cronin
| upon first sight Later it was unuuali-
fiedly identified by T. T. Conklin, the
saloon keeper, with whom Cronin lived.
and by James Boland and Patrick Nc
Carly.
During the evening DR.. J. r. Brandt,
president of the Cook county hospital
staff, who was an acquaintance Of
CrOnin s. carefully examined the body
| and positively identified it as that of the
| missing man.
Among many others, the dentist who
last worked ON Cronin's teeth reached
the station late in the evening and posi-
lively identified the body, as did the
man who for years had been Cronin's
tailor.
Shortly after the body had been remov-
ed to the police station the street was jam
med with vehicles, and scores of people
were crowded for admission to the base
ment, where lay the doctors remains.
The man Woodruff, or Black, who
after arrest a fortnight ago confessed to
having helped carry off trunk contain
ing corpse of a woman, he claimed
from barn in the city the night of
Cronln s disappearance, was interviewed
in jail. He said if he had not been i'm
prisoned he would have cleared up the
trunk mystery long ago
Alex Sullivan, ex-president of the
Irish National league was horror
stricken when told Of the discovery Of
Cronin' 5 body. He said although he had
not been very friendly with Cronin he
would do all in his power to punish the
murlerers
The police are confident that Cronin
was murdered by conspirators, and that
troubles i'll the Clan-na-G Gael society had
something to do with his removal F."
The newspapers claim to have a great
deal of inside information which they
dare not publish
Clews to the Murderers.
The police are putting forth every eff
fort in the Cronin investigation fully
forty men being out on the case A gen
eral order addressed to all the police
captains was sent out by Chief Hubbard.
that all cle~s bearing directly or indi-
rectly upon the case should be followed
out as far as possible 1t is rumored on
good authority that an arrest had been
made Of the confederate of Woodruff,
who is believed to have been implicated
in the murder of DR.. Cronin The po-
lice authorities were extremely reticent
about the matter, and would neither af-
firm nor contradict the rumor.
Why He was Murdered.
When DR.. Cronin first came to Chica-
60 from st. Louis, he became identified
with the local branches of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians, as well as with the
Clan-na-G Gael He believed that the
chief officer of the Clan-na-Gael was
making questionable disposition Of
the funds Of the order and he antago-
nized that leaders policy.
He was at length expelled together
with others who felt as he did. With
these friends DR.. Cronin organized
new branch Of the clan. This branch
soon became powerful and DR. Cronin
secured an investigation. 1t is said the
committee found the chief executive
guilty.
At the convention to be held during
the present month in Philadelphia, this
report was to have been submitted, and
was expected to hsve the effect of utter
ly crushing a popular idol as the ac-
cused official had many friends. Pend
il4s the report of the joint committee
Cronin was intrusted with the docu-
ments which substantiated these oft re-
peated charges. For his work in this
prosecution it was often stated that his
life had been threatened. he even de-
claring as much at public meeting on
one occasion, in the presence of the man
accused However, he often said that
if anything should happen to him, there
were papers in Lawyer Ayres' safe that
ton on the guilty men.
Was Cronin a British Spy?
One of the theories openly discussed
on the streets is that Cronin was Brit
ish spy and was murdered because of
what he knew about secret societies and
Irishmen especially active in the Irish
cause,
Killed His Wife Then Himself
SCRANTON Pa, May 24-Frank
Compton, Of West Pittston, 35 years old,
out his wifes throat with butcher
knife, and then killed himself with the
same weapon. Marital differences are
said to be the cause.
Mrs Compton, in the struggle to save
her life, had all her fingures cut off.