Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-07-05
ORDERED BY CAMP 20.
THUS WAS THE CEREMONIAL" OF mn
CEONlN ACCOMPLISHED.

C!an-na-Gael Man Said tn Have s.d.
F"il Confession to tho States ATTORNEY
Regarding the Brutal Butcherv or tho
Irish Doctor-A Sensational Tale.
A Chicago dispatch of June "a savs.
camp 20 of the Clan.na- Gael and
It's methods will be thoroughly in
Vestlga:ed by the grand Jury. and
1t is more than probable thar ten or
more of ITS members will be indicted
for the murder of DIR. Cronin. The States
attorney has already in his possession
enough evidence to hang at least half of
that number, AMI before the grand jury
resun es consideration of the Cronln case
wednesday he expects to have q complete
chain of evidence encirclin the camp. or
at least the guilty members of it.
Shortly after the finding of the body the
States attorney received an anonymous
letter which set forth the details of a meet
ing of camp 70, which was held on a
Friday in the latter part of February.
John F. Beggs, the No 1, and senior guar
dian OF the camp, presided at this meeting.
which was attended only by what
is known as the inner circle of the camp.
ana the purpose for which the meeting
was called was the trial OF DIR. Cronin as
British spy. He was found guilty, the
letter went on to state and the punishment
was fixed at death. Death was always
the penalty which traitors paid, and
Cronin was to be no exception to the rule.
The p-eliminaries having been disposed
of, the question of who should be the exc
cutloners was taken up. Lots were drawn.
lie names of every man present were put
on separate slips of paper and the lottery
OF murder was carried out in all its
details. Who were the ones to whom the
fearful deed was committed was not made
known at the meeting. No one knew the
names of the men who were to t'remove''
DR.. Cronin, except the man who was to
notify them that they had been selected
for the act of blood and were expected to
begin at once. This man, the letter went
on to state. was John F. Beggs.
At once every power of the police was
put forth to find the author of the letter
giving information which was so valuable
if true. But without success In vain the
officers sought for some one who would
admit that such meeting had been
held. All were obstinate in asserting that
they never heard of such a meeting or
such action by camp 81. In vain Coroner
Hertz questioned every Grammatical man
who was before the Coroner's Jury as to
the proceedings of the camp at its meet
ings since the 1st of January. Every one
was ignorant
To-day the light broke on tine darkness
which overcame camp 20 Detective Pal
mer had long interview with Judge
Longenecker early this morning, and about
an hour later hurried-looking man was
admitted to the judges office by the side
a
he corroborated the contents of the letter
in every detail Who he is could not be
learned, but so satisfactory was the infor-
nation he gave the judge and so complete
the proof of the planning and premedita-
ton of the Cronin murder in camp 20,
that he said an hour later: 'I've got evil
dence enough now to hang half dozen"
1t is claimed that States Attorney
Longenecker has list of the names of all
the men who attended the secret meeting
at which DR.. Cronin's removal was
| ordered
This man further revealed, it is said,
that the trial, condemnation, and execu-
| ton of DR.. Cronin was entirely in accord
ance with the usages of the clan as
practiced in other cases, notably that of
the informer Carey, who was tried by the
same process under which Dr. Cronin
suffered death
All that could be learned of the mysteri-
GUS visitor to Judge Longenecker was that
he was a Clan-na-Gae1 man, former
member of camp 20, who had been present
at the meeting, but had taken no part
in the deliberations which ended in
the order for Cronin's ASSASSINATION. He
will be carefully guarded by the police to
prevent anyone from tampering with him,
but he will not be arrested and no sign
will be made by the officers that would
indicate to the conspirators that he was
under the protection of the police.
There is growing belief on the part of
the authorities that Dan Coughlin was the
chosen chief executioner of the tribunals
sentence, and that, knowing his fellow
camp members thoroughly, it was an easy
matter to select the prisoner, Burke, and
the suspect, Cooney, or "Simons' and it
was no hard work for him to secure the
permission of O'Sullivan to the fixing Of
the neat job by which DR.. Cronin was
lured away to the place of assassination.
Senior Guardian John F. beggs was
found by q reporter in the company of
Harry Jordan. Mr.. Beggs declared that
the latest story about camp 30 of the
Clan-na-Gael was a monstrous fb, and
said:
81 only hope some Clan-na-G Gael man is
tsquealing,' as they call 1T, for then will
be set right I have been getting the
worst of it all along in this case. If 1
have made some mistakes I have been
struggling hard to get good footing,
and just when see the light of day this
thing comes upon me. OF course am
senior guardian of camp 20, but such
things as they charge against that or any
other camp of the Clan-na- Gael are absurd
and impossible. If any one can tell me
the object of the order would like to
learn it. For two years it has had no
purpose. You just went to the meetings,
paid 80 cents for monthly Dues heard
some fellow sing song, some other fellow
make speech, and then went home con-
WINGED that another great sep had been
taken in the cause of Ireland. That's all
there has been to the n-na-Gael."
Chow about the alleged trial of Cronin
before the inner circle or Camp 20?"
'It's bosh. There's no such thing as an
inner circle Anybody can prefer a
charge against any member of the order
and the member will be tried before COM
mittee of seven. The man charged is
always notified and is given the benefit Of
counsel. There never was any trial Of
Cronin in camp 60 It is true that
Cooney, Burke, Coughlin, and Sullivan