Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-10

de lnoulged In good deal OF rldicule oi
the State and its witnesses, and declared
that the expert testimony did not show how
Cronin came to his death.
CHICAGO, December 9.-At the opening
of the Cronin trial this morning Mt. Forrest
resumed his address to the jury in behalf
of the defense. He argue 1at length on the
unreliability of circumstantial evidence,
and the difficulty of proving negative.
Speaking of the recovery of DR.. Cronin' e
clothes, he said:
Call il faith, call it blind chance call il over
ruling Providence call it what you will either
plain faith, chance or Overruling Providence, it
did for Martin Burke, the humble laborer,
what his counsel and all the witnesses in the
world couldn't have done Suppose that the
truth hadn't been disclosed; suppose that the
clothes had not been found; suppose that the
argument had been made by these gentlemen
that they had been sent abroad, and what an
argument, too, they would have made in the
form Of q narration; they could have described
the box going across the stormy sea, they could
have talked about the ship that held its guilty
secret they could have specuiated upon what
was being done, what was done, and what was
going TO be done
bEGGo AOQOILLAL FhEDICTEDs
Suppose that you had believed it and drawn
the conclusion that they urged you to draw in
their opinion, and that they would have urged
you to draw in their closing; suppose then you
had imposed the death penalty and it had been
executed; and then suppose that the truth had
been discovered, and the clothes found in the
North town sewer. What justification could
you have made to the people Of the State of
1lnnolS. what justification could you have made
IN your own breast to your God, what justiica-
tlon could you have made in the form Of your
own conscience and yourself?
Mr.. Forrest went on to say that the Jury.
would be forced under Mr.. Fosters argu-
ment to acquit Beggs. The acquittal of
Beggs was equivalent to saying that there
was no conspiracy in Camp 20; there being
no conspiracy the case, of course, falls
to the ground, and the acouittal of the
other defendants follows as a logical conse-
quence. They must look elsewhere, and it
was not dificult to find II men who had
some sort OF connection with the murder,
outside Of Camp %. Simonds was one of
them and IL others were unknown.
TWO CLAN-NA-GAEL FACTIONS.
He alluded to the public prejudice against
his clients and showed how it was to the
financial interest OF some of the principal
witnesses for the State-Dinan and the
Carlsons-to show that it was a white horse
that took DR.. Cronin away and it was in
the Carlson cottage that he was killed.
Dinan is receiving 500 per week from a
dime museum manager, where the horse is
on exhibition, and the Csrlsons are making
money fast by charging an admission fee to
the cottage. He went on:
Now there is another circumstance. 1t is
proven that the Clan-na-Gael throughout the
United States is divided into two wings One
81 in Nhn rnric0 aar1c s7szl1r
and the other wing sits in the witness seat
How does the wing that sits in the witness
seat, and which envelopes this entire prosecu-
aon-noW does that wing feel toward my
clients and the wing to which its side belongs?
What do they say2 Why, they say that that wing
OF the Clan-na-Gsel or its leaders, betrayed our
comrades 70 the British Government and sent
our comrades to British prisons by telling who
they we're So you find that this wing has been
assisting the prosecution, that it has labored
DAY and night. And so the other parties have
given their services and their money, and the
revenues of these Is 600 Clan-na-Gael through
out the country have been aiding the prosecu-
don in this case.
THE WITNESSES RIDICULED.
Now, therefore, you find one wing is on the
witness stand. Do you suppose that has not
made difference? All these men who have
left Ireland for Ireland's good-because the |
English police are after them-they come from
Milbank, they come from other places swoop- |
ing from the prisons of England crying RE |
Fenge revenge, revenge" And you find them |
in the witness box, you md them around the |
rabies urging on the prosecution, and You i
come here as jury TO pass upon the facts and /
to examine the motive behind it. and it is the /
ancient Irish malice so far as that is concerned
Now gentlemen, there is not witness that
has been discovered in this case since the
coroners jury returned its verdict that is not /
p suspicious witness.
never saw such body Of witnesses. and
~
Like owls they see longer and further by night
than BY day. Their hearing is as sensitive as
that of the deer that roams our northern |
forests. What extraordinary perceptive fac
ulty, what reasoning powers what prodigious
memories. Every one of them does something
remarkable so as to impress upon his mind the
date Of the occurrence he testifes to- 1t was
not some public event which occurred and can
be proved, but they do some remarkable thing
themselves TO tx the date Such intellectual /
gymnastics were never before heard Of In the
future time, when the writer's of intellectual
science want to get the best illustrations of a
full, accurate, prodigious memory, they will
search the records of the Cronin trial and in
qulre into the memories Of the witnesses on be-
half OF the State.
MINUTE CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.
Mr.. Forrest then proceeded, with much
sarcasm and ridicule, to touch upou the tes-
timony of many witnesses for the prosecution.
claiming that they all acted as if they had
been trained to bolster up desperate case.
Mrs. Conklin and Milknan Mertes and
Mrs. Hoertel testified to occurrences which
they claimed to have witnessed when the
shadows had fallen, yet they were able to
give minute descriptions of the persons con-
cerned in them; could tell their complications
and the kind of clothes thev wore. The
trouble with this evidence was that it was
too circumstantial.
Mr., Forrest then took up the expert testi-
mony and considered it at great length.
reading many extracts from the verbatim
report Of the testimony, to show not only
that the doctors could not determine the
cause Of death, but that they could not even
be confident whether or not the wounds
were inflicted before or after death.
THE STATES ALLEGED BLUNDERs.
The State, be said, had indicted these
men for the murder of DR.. Cronin. nv
inficting blows on his head and face, Tbey
must prove that, or the prisoners must be
set free. II they failed, it was their own
fault in making a blunder in the iudict-
ment He exclaimed:
tell you, gentlemen, we can saw that We do
denounce the DOCTORS murder. That has been |
done sufhciently. God knows. The whole world
has denounced it, and thundered it at the
heads Of my clients for months. 1t was a mur-
der, cruel murder: but / tell you gentlemen
that In your Court House they would, i'm the
name Of the law commit legal murder TO sns
lain a theory, TO sustain bllnder The whole
thing Of it was made necessary by the original
blunder.
There was no evidence, be said that the
blows on DR.. Cronin's head caused death.
rhey were not severe; the skull was nowhere
The speaker then took mn the
matter Of the trunk, the key and the cotton
batting, which occupied his attention until
he court adjourned for the day. Mr.. Forrest
viii probably occupy all of tomorrow with
ais argument.