Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-06-05
THREE ARRESTS MADE.
The Investiga alton of the Cronin Murde
Begins to Bear Fruit.

The investigation of the Cronin Murder
Begins to Bear Fruit.
CHICAGO, May 2S.-Detective Daniel
Coughlin. Patrick O. Sullivan, the ice
man, and Frank J. Black, alias Wood
ruff, were indicted by the grand Jury
this evening for the murder of DR.. Gro
| min. This result was reached after an
investigation which began at noon and
lasted seven hours, during which two
dozen witnesses were examined and
mass of evidence considered. The
three prisoners were included in one
Indictment, to which there were three
counts, one charging them with killing
DIR. Cronin with blunt instrument,
the second alleging the use of sharp
instrument, and the third instrument
| and means unknown. No evidence was
introduced to prove conspiracy and
DR.. Cronin's private papers were not
placed before the grand jury. The wit
nesses who were called were those
whose stories have been told, in general
outline if not in detail. in the press.
Frank Woodruff, alias Frank Black
has been taken into camp by Capt.
Shack, and he has told the whole story
of his connection with DR.. Cronin' s
murder. According to the statements
he has made to the captain he was not
directly connected with the murder
the wagon which disposed of the dead
mans body in the catch basin where it
was found. Woodruff has been taken
to the scene of Cronin's murder and
also to the sewer where the body was
found, and the place where the
trunk was first seen. Woodruff him
self gave the driving directions to the
detectives, who managed the re1ns and
in every instance located the exact
places where the chief acts in the trag-
edy occurred. According to his confess
sion, he was directed by those who had
charge of that part of the conspiracy
and whose names Capt. Setback re-
serves Tor reasons that are palpable to
go to Dinan's livery stable, where he
would obtain horse and wagon. He
had already been instructed to
drive the outfit to the neigh
borhood of the Carlson Cottage
and he also knew for what purpose he
was to go there. Woodruff arrived at
the cottage about twenty minutes before
DR.. Cronin was driven up, and placed
his horse and wagon at point near the
cottage, where he could keep his eyes
on the front steps. He saw the white
horse rig containing DR.. Cronin and his
conductor arrive, and three-quarters of
an hour thereafter the man who was
known as Williams opened the front
door of the cottage and gave the signal
by stamping his foot on the wooden
porch. Woodruff at once drove up and
assisted by the third man, the
trunk was loaded into the wagon.
The two men followed the trunk and di-
rected Woodruff, who continued as the
driver, to drive eastward to the lake to
a certain point which Woodruff has des-
headed for the lake, and in its depths
the trunk and its contents would have
been deposited had not the interruption
come from the Lake View policeman.
This smashed the original plans of the
two men, and Immediate steps were ia
ken to get out of the officers way. This
was done by taking circuitous route
which again brought them to the Evan
ston road.
They had now been driving for nearly
an hour with their CHASTITY load, and
one of the men suggested the sewer. A
stop was made at the Fifty-ninth Street
intersection of the Evanston road. The
top was taken off the man-hole on the
southeast corner and the trunk lifted
from the wagon. It was then a new
and unex pected difficulty presented it.
self. While it was possible to drop the
became physical impossibilitv to thus
dispose of the load in the man-hole.
It was resolved to take the body out
of the trunk, drop the BODY in the
catch basin and to return with the trunk
to the cottage and burn it. But when
the trunk was to be unlocked it was
found that the key had been lost.
Williams said there was no time to be
lost and he kicked in the lid of the
trunk. The three lifted the body out
and deposited it in the sewer as it was
found. The trunk was again placed on
the wagon. 1t was intended to 90 south
for distance and then to drive north to
the cottage and there deposit the trunk.
Fright here" said Woodruff to Capt.
Setback, pointing to the exact spot
where the trunk was found, ''we heard
a noise of wagon wheels from the
south and the two men, one of whom
had been sitting on the trunk, picked
up the box and threw it ont of the
wagon. [ was urged to whip up the
horse and drive west. When we
reached Fullerton Avenue both men
said good night to me and left the
wagon" The remainder of the confess
sion is devoted to Woodruff's wander
ings with the horse and wagon in
his attempt to sell them. He also states
in his confession that there is nothing
in the woman story he had told. The
enormity of the crime, he says, never
dawned upon him until he had taken
part in it. When he was arrested he
knew he was in ''hot box" The
names King and Fairburn were those of
two old friends and they came to him
on the spur of the moment. They had
nothing whatever to do with the case.