Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1892-12-22
A DEAD,
Martin j. Burke, One Of the
Murderers ofDr. CrOnin,
Dies in Prison.
He was Conscious of His APP
preaching End, but Died
in a Chair.
The Strange Fate That Has
Beiallen Those Connected
> With the Murder.

Martin j. Burke, one OF the men
sent to Joliet prison for life for
completely in the noted murder of
DR., Cronin of Chicago, died at the
penitentiary Friday evening of quick
consumption. His long expected
confession did not materiaIize as far
as known. Burke contracted a
severe cold while working in the
cooper shop last summer and was
transferred TO lighter work. He
steadily grew worse, however, and in
September was placed in the hospital,
suffering from the disease which
carried him away. His decline has
been rapid and Wednesday, after max.
ing an examination of the man, DIR.
~Fredericks, the prison surgeon,
expressed the opinion that Burke
could not live more than a week.
Burke was conscious of his rapidly
approaching end and requested tt
c Father Daniel, the Catholic
priest who visits the prison. Father
Daniel came and after noting the
condition of the man administered
the last sacrament. The end came
rather Unexpectedly. He was sitting
in a chair talking to his nurse about
himself and had just said; 'IfI die
l want Forrest TO come down anC
take my body to my folks when his
head fell foreward and after enc o.
two gasps life was extinct.
Forrest is the attorney who con
Quoted Burke's defense and has since
labored a~ssidously with his appeal t.
the supreme court.
The prison officials say that neve.
to their knowledge since his imprison
ment has Burke spoken one word ii
regard to the Cronin murder.
THE CoNsPIRAToRs' DOOM.
The fate of nearly all the promi
nent actors in the CroniD murder, t,
which the latest addition is tn
death Of Martin Burke at Joliet
forms a weirdly remarkable chapter
Pat O'Sullivan, one of Burke's fel
low prisoners, died in prison las
May. About a month before Johl
Beggs, who as senior guardian o
Camp %, Of the Clan-na-Gael wa
prominently identified with the case
died. DR.. Lewis, a dentist who wa
working on CroEin's teeth at tn
time of the murder, has recently die
of consumption. Edward Spelman,
wealthy brewer of Peoria. who test
fled in the ase as a prominent Clan
ne-Gael, was killed about a year ag
by a fall from a ladder. Tom De,
mond of San Francisco, another ClaT
ne-Gael, is a permanent cripple froI
a fall one night while on his way {
a meeting of Camp 20. Micheal Gar
non, a witness in the case an
regularly supposed TO have had niue
knowledge of the trouble leading u
TO the murder, died recently Of pnel
monia. Frank Shea, another wi
ness, went the same way. Pete
Mcclellan, who was a@aosted on TIA
street about Il week before the fata
night by CroRin himself and accuse
OF being a party TO the plot to murde
him, secured work in a south sid
rolling mill and met a horrible dealt
on the same day by falling into
pit. Robert Gibbons, who was one {
the alibi witnesses, for Burke, GO
into a quarrel a couple Of years az
with Police Captain Schuettler, VIII
was active in running down tn
conspirators, and as the result of
threatening movement on Gibbon
part Schuettler shot him and wa
eXonerated by a corOner's jury. /
addition, several other deaths hav
occurred among the ''anti-Cronin
gang, some OF them natural and som
of them violent.