St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-05
ACLAN-NA-GAELb BOSS
Spellman, the Peoria Distiller,
an Unwilling Witness in the
Cponin Case.
He Repudiates a Portion OF
His Testimony Before the
Grand Jury.
Letters That Passed Between
Him and Beggs Produced
in Court.
Why the Clan Boss Refused to
Pay His $500 Subscpip-
ton.

ference this morning the counsel Tor
the state decided to start In to-day by
following up the correspondence be-
John f. Beggs aud Edward Spellman,
the wealthy distlIer of Peoria. and dis
lrict officer of the Clan-na-Gael. When
court opened Edward Spellman was
found to be on hand. having come up
from Peoria this morning. Mr.. SPELL
man was the first witness called. In
response to questions by Judge Longe-
necker, Specimen said he was distiller
and lived in Peoria. He had been a
member of the Clan-na-Gael twenty
years, and was the district officer of Dis
trict Sixteen. comprising the states Of
Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. Ac-
cording to the constitution there Is no
officer above him in the district. The
executive are body Of officers In them
selves. and have charge Of the executive
affaisr of the order. Witness said he
did not know how many composed the
executive body. Mortimer Seaman is
one and Mr.. ROmayne is another. Wit
hess had met others. but
DID NOT KNOW THEIR NAMES,
Judge LOngenecker offered in evil
dence four letters written by Beggs to
Spellman and several sent by Speilman
to Beggs. Mr.. Spellman identified the
letters written by him, and Mr.. Foster,
on behalf of BeggS. admitted the au-
thenticity of those written by him. Be-
fore reading the letters, Judge LOnge-
necker asked MIR. Speilman II he had
had any conversation with the defend
ant BeggS after this correspondence In
reference to the subject of the CORE
spoHdence. Witness replied: II did.
/ met Mir. Beggs April %. He said to
me that the matter he had written to
me about had been amicably settled"
This was evidently disappointing to
the state, as it differed from what Spell
man had stated previously to the states
attorney. Witness was sure, however,
that Beggs did not say, sit has been
attended to-" and did not think be had
used the latter expression in the
states attorneys Office when quoting
Mr.. BeggS' conversation with himself.
The witness was asked by Judge
Longeuecker whether he did not tell
the grand jury that i'm the conversation
Coughlin had said Cronin was -,
and ought to be killed. Spellman adj
mitted making the first half of the
statement, but said that after going
home and thinking of the matter and
talking with two men who had heard
the conversation, he had come to the
conclusion
THAT HE WAS MISTAKEN.
He also said that he had sent his law
yer to Judge LOngenecker and also
come to Chicago to personally ask that
he be allowed to correct his testimony.
but was not allowed to do so. Judge
Wing here said that the conduct of tine
states attorney had been most repre-
hensible. and wanted the testimony
stricken out. Witness admitted that he
had visited Alex Sullivan before going
to the states attorney, but said he did
so because he had heard that Alex
Sullivan had talked harShly about him.
This line of testimony was ruled
out. The famous BeggS-Spellman cor
respondence was then introduced.
Under date of Feb. 16 of this year,
Beggs wrote Spellman that he was d.
rected to call his attention to the fact
that the senior guardian Of the Column
bus club at a recent meeting had read to
the assembled members the proceedings
of the trial committee, and also
that certain camps mad elected and
initiated members before their names
had been submitted to other camps.
Good discipline, Beggs added, called
c.
Spellman, who simply signed I'D. o.
16," replied in lengthy letter, the gist
of it being request that Beggs would
refer him to the section Of the law un-
der which he was empowered to inflict
a penalty on a senior guardian for dis
closing the proceedings of trial COM
mittee. Spellman concluded as fol-
lows:
My term of Office will expire at the close of
the month, aud God knows am glad. I am
di> gusted with men who think they should
lead the Irish people, but 1 think it is danger
ous In decent men to associate with such
camps. Thank God proxies no longer pre-
vail.
On Feb. Is Beggs replied that he did
not have the constitution; could not
point out that the action complained of
was violation OF any written law, but
thought such conduct was unWiSe and
prejudicial to the order.
"Why," he asked. s'if men are sincere are
they always opening old soresf The major
ity of our men believe the parties charged IRE
ferring to the triangle) are innocent Of
wrong doing; the man or men who continue
to bring the charges are not the friends Of
Ireland"
Beggs' letter concluded with this sig
nificant paragraph:
Personally, think It better not TO notice
l.
who are In power will in time realize the
motives of those who are continually breed
lug disorder In their ranks, and day of pun.
ishment will come"
Cross-examined by Foster, Spellman
said he had contributed $500 for the
prosecution of the murderers and was
liable for $500 more. Beggs had never
preferred any charges against Cronin.
Witness went on to say that Cronin was
of of mol ~ oh,
but Mr.. Hvnes interrupted, SAYING Gro
min was dead and could not answer for
himself. On redirect examination,
SpeIIman admitted that he had only
paid 500 of his $500 subscription, be-
cause he would not pay into the hands
of irresponsible men. He had not re-
fused to pay the rest.
when you convict EN-" he said to Judge
Longenecker, you'll get the S400, and
suppose you'll likely get your share Of it,"
Cross-examined by Judge Wing SPELL
man said that SO far as he knew Kunze
had nothing to do with the Irish busi-
ness when he was in Peoria with
Coughlin. Recess was then taken.
Annie Farrar, a widow and a former
patron of O'Sullivan, the ice dealer.
was the fist witness at the afternoon
session. She testified that O'SUllivan
called at her house in May to see about
taking Ice. The widow spoke to the
iceman about the finding of Cronin's
body. and said: SIT is something fear
| full to decoy man away and murder
| him like that" To this 0'Sullivan re-
piled: "They
SAY HE Is BRITISH SPY
and has given away the secrets OF a
certain order, and if he did that he
ought to be killed: he got no worse than
he deserved" s. Steib, all ex-police-
man, testified that on the night of May
4 he was stationed at the corner Of
Cooper and Fullerton streets. About
II go o'clock he noticed a horse and
wagon, the latter containing a
| large trunk, being driven east on
Fullerton street. There were three
men in the wagon, but the witness was
unable to say how they were dressed,
| and. In fact, gave very little attention
to the entire rig, as there was nothing
suspicious about it and its occupants.
Officer James Riley, the next witness,