Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-06-28
CRACRAFT TELLS
DEATHbED STORY
Brother OF Murder Victim Recites De-
tails of the Fatal Attack Before
COr0ner'S Jury.
Is LURED TO MEXICANS CAMP
Alter Indalging in Hours of Hilarity
He is Followed, Robbed and
Shot Through Lungs.

Seven men, the life or liberty of one
of whom may hinge upon develop
ments in the probe into the death OF
Nicholas Cracraft, appeared before
coroner's jury in the East Moline po-
lice station this morning to give testi-
mony in the preliminary stage of a
murder case which is. in many re-
speCts, without precedent in Rock Is
land county.
In the meantime 10 more Mexicans
have been arrested and five Greeks
are also held in connection with the
case. The Greeks. however, are mere
ly detained as witnesses and are not
suspected of having had a hand in the
killing.
The most sensational development
in the case to date came yesterday at
the inquest started by DR.. r. c. ].
Meyer, coroner, in the Knox chapel,
Moline, when G. L. Cracraft of Mount
Ayr, Iowa, brother of the murdered
man, took the witness stand and told
Of a death-bed conversation with his
brother in which the dying man relat-
ed incidents leading up to the shoot
ing.
According to the story told by the
dead mans brother, Nicholas told him
on his death-bed that a gang of Mexi-
cans, meeting him in the Silvis yards
after he had left the freight train
which had brought him here from De5
Moines, invited him into their quar-
tiers, where there was music and drink.
1t was when he left the place that
he is said to have been attacked by
his erstwhile companions, robbed and
shot through the lungs.
Was An American.
When Cracraft was first taken to
the hospital it was supposed that he
was foreigner because his condition
was such that he was unable to spear
clearly and his name was understood
to be "COZrast." 1t was not until his
identity was finally learned and his
brother arrived in the city from Iowa,
that it developed that he was not a
foreigner, but an American of German
parentage.
The murder was wanton one. With
their victim absolutely helpless, sur
rounded as he was by gang of a half
dozen ruffians, one Of the thugs step
ped up to the unresisting victim,
pressed a revolver against his ches:
and shot him through the body.
He was left alone to suffer, dying
on the ground. He lay there all night,
and died yesterday, eight days after
the shooting, in the hospital
The probe into conditions leading
up to the murder may result in a SEN
sational expose Of conditions on the
outskirts of East Moline near Silvis,
where several hundred railway en-
ployes, hired because their labor is
cheap, have been living in box cars.
Which of the gang of Mexicans did
the shooting is the problem which the
authorities have 10 solve Cracraft
himself was unable to say before he
died, being only able to identify the
men brought before him as he lay dy-
ing, as having been in the gang which
attacked him.
Hopes for "Squawk."
Authorities are believed TO be rely
ing upon a ''squawk" to uncover the
actual murderer. With several Mexi-
cans in custody known, by the dying
mans identification, to have been in
volved in the holdup, it is confidently
believed at least one of them will talk
TO save himself.
The penitentiary yawns for more
than one of the men in custody, how
ever. for it is virtually certain that
others will be held for completely.
should the slayer be discovered.
For the murderer himself should he
be disclosed, the state will make a
great effort to impose the death pen