The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-06-15
THE CR0NIN CASE.

close on Tuesday evening Of this week,
and ut ten O'Clock that night rendered their
verdict. The substance of II Is, that the
jury believe DR.. Cronin was foully murder.
ed that 1t was his body that was taken out of
catch basin on Evanston avenue; that the
crime was committed after deliberate plot.
ting, and that no person outside the Clan
ma Gael was engaged In the work. They
then recommended that Alexander Sui.
Ivan, p. o. Sullivan, Detective Coughlin,
and Frank Woodruff, alias Black, be held
to the grand jury without bail as accessor
les, II not the principals In the murder.
And within an hour after the announce
ment of the verdict the gentlemen named
In 1t were arrested and locked up.
This outcome, with the implication of
members of the Clan.na. Gael as the sole
parties to the murder, rests upon a series Of
facts connected with the history of that
society running through the last eight or
ten years-facts which were but partially
brought ought, but sufficiently, In the
opinion of the jury, TO fasten the crime on
members of that order. And In this way,
the order seems to be under the manage.
ment of "Triangle," or Executive Com
mite of three, consisting of Alexander
Sullivan, d. G. Feely and Michael Boland.
In the course of four or five years say
from 1881 TO 1885, some $780, 900 passed
through the hands of this committee, and
is claimedby them to havebeen expended In
"active work. in carrying out the objects
Of the society, meaning, by "active work"
anything to alarm or annoy the British
government, such as supplying the discon.
tented In Ireland with arms, or "plows," In
the socletys lingo, blowing up the Mansion
House, the Parliament House, and other
public buildings with dynamite, &c, &c.
1t Is charged that not half, nor third, of
the amount that passed through the hands
of the triangle" was expended In that
way; that no $4,000, for example, were
spent as classified, for "plows," or any part
of that sum. for the reason that II Is absurd
to suppose such quantity of arms could
have been struggled into Ireland when a
woman couldn't even carry a revolver hid
den In her hustle into that country; that
any other active work, such as blowing up
public buildings with dynamite, &c, was so
bunglingly done as only to excite ridicule
and contempt, the persons sent to do such
workIbeing supplied with ridiculously In
sufficient funds, and In several notable
cases the British police were treacherously
advised of their coming, SO that they were
arrested Immediately on their landing In
England. The sum of IL, Is according to
the charges against the Triangle, which
DR.. Cronin had made himself especially
active In preferring and collecting evidence
to make good, that the bulk of the money
handled by the Elk. Committee was stolen,
and the biggest end of 1t by Alexander
Sullivan, and by him wasted in reckless
speculations. the details of which DR..
Cronin claimed to be able to give.
II Is known that Alexander Sullivan, In
OF these accusations, was In.
tensely angered against Cronin; that he
trumped up against him the charge that he
was traitor In the camp and spy In the
pay of the British government, and that
nnIar Iny IF tina nIup "a nnnlI iirutlxy
be removed, that Is, put out of the
wsy--executed And the jury seems to
have been persuaded that IL was In carry
Ing out some such sentence-either by di'
rection Of the triangle" or Sullivan alone,
that Cronin was murdered.
Whether all or any Of these charges can
ever be judicially established, Is certainly
very doubtful, but there Is one expression
of the jury In which all good men cannot
fall to concur, and that Is, that "all secret
societies whose objects are such as the
evidence shows those of the Clam M. G ael
to be, are not In harmony with and are in
furious to American institutions" 1t IL
not only In direct contravention of our
treaty relations with England as friendly
power, but 1t Is an outrage on the Irish
cause itself, as advocated by Gladstone and
Parnell, and In many ways has proved
serious embarrassment to those great and
patriotic men In maintaining the cause
they have at heart. To borrow, in con-
clusion, the language of All accepted organ
Of the Irish people In New York, the Press,
'the question of home rule for Ireland Is a
moral question, and can not be solved by
morally abhorrent methods 1t Is an intel
lectual question, and requires publicity
rather than secrecy. The Press is a jour-
nal of Americanism, and 1t believes In Am
erican methods all the time. II is warm
friend of Ireland, and 1t believes In those
methods which will promote Ireland's well
fare by utilizing the advantages already
gained, and working along those lines Of
agitation which have gained them
1t is to the credit OF the various organi-
.ations In Ireland working In behalf Of the
nome rule, that they never took Fart In,
encouraged or countenanced the plans of
active work 1concocted on this side; on