AT THE TORONTO END OF THE CONSPIRACY--INVESTIGATING LONG'S CIRCUMSTANTIAL
STORIES, AND HIS INTERVIEWS WITH DR. CRONIN--A CHICAGO FUGITIVE
CONCERNED--HIS SUSPICIOUS MOVEMENTS--A CHAPTER OF STARTLING
COINCIDENTS--LONG ON THE RACK--MAKES DAMAGING ADMISSIONS AND BREAKS
DOWN--THE OBJECT TO DISTRACT ATTENTION FROM THE SCENE OF THE CRIME--
ANOTHER CONFESSION FROM WOODRUFF.
With the recovery of the body of the murdered physician, and the
developments that followed in such rapid succession, attention was
attracted anew to the reports that had emanated from Toronto during the
week following the disappearance. The circumstantial stories and
interviews that had been scattered broadcast from that city over the
signature of Charles Long, the ex-Chicago reporter, not only had a
tendency to give the case an international aspect, but also to confirm
the suspicions of the dead man's friends, that he had fallen a victim to
a conspiracy wide in its ramifications, and planned, moreover, by a
master mind. The dispatches were false, for the finding of Cronin's body
in the Lake View catch-basin admitted of no possible argument to the
contrary. It was equally certain that it could not have been a case of
mistaken identity--not merely because Long's acquaintance with Dr.
Cronin had been of a nature to render a mistake of that kind improbable,
but because the detailed character of their conversation, as reported by
Long, had been such that Cronin's part in it could not have been taken
by any but Cronin himself, or some one of a few men familiar with the
inner workings of the Clan-na-Gael or United Brotherhood. For example, a
week after the disappearance, and before the finding of the body, Long
had concocted in Toronto the story of the troubles in the Clan-na-Gael,
with Cronin's charge that nearly $100,000 of its funds had been
misappropriated, while papers elsewhere were still confusing the
organization with the Irish Land League and its Detroit treasurer. "No
one not a member of the Clan-na-Gael could have gotten up these
interviews," Irishmen had said; and they were right. To the general
public also, unacquainted with these facts, it seemed incredible that a
presumably reputable journalist, with an utter absence of malicious
motive, would, of his own free will, and simply for the advantage of
the small pecuniary recompense that his labors might bring, so deceive
and mislead the numerous and prominent newspapers to which his
dispatches were addressed. It was a prostitution of the liberty and
license of a correspondent such, perhaps, as had never been parallelled
in the newspaper history of the country, while, moreover, it was of a
character calculated to wreck, for all time, the journalistic reputation
of the man most directly concerned.
What, then, were Long's motives in giving currency to these dispatches?
Whose was the guiding hand that induced him to take so great a risk? The
Chicago _Tribune_--one of the papers that had been victimized--took it
upon itself to answer these questions. A member of its staff was
dispatched to Toronto, with instructions to sift the matter to the
bottom. He was fully equal to the task, and within a few hours of his
arrival in the city, his investigations had brought to light a startling
array of facts.
STARKEY'S SUSPICIOUS MOVEMENTS.
Among the American residents of Toronto at this time was one William J.
Starkey. Up to a year before he had been a member of the bar in Chicago.
He had been compelled, however, to flee to the hospitable shores of the
Dominion and join the army of exiled forgers, embezzlers and
others--who preferred the free air of the Dominion to the confined
quarters of an American prison--by reason of the discovery of an attempt
he had made to bribe a juror in a case in which a street railroad
company with which he was identified was the defendant. Starkey knew
Cronin well. He had learned his history by acting as chief attorney in
the bogus case that had been brought against the physician before a
Chicago justice for the express purpose of cross-examining Cronin
regarding his past life. From that time on he had been bound, body and
soul, as a result of certain transactions, to a prominent Irish-American
of Chicago, who was one of the promoters of the case in question. It was
developed that for months before the murder, and also afterward, he had
been in communication with acknowledged enemies of Dr. Cronin. It was
likewise discovered that he had left Toronto on Sunday, May 5th, the day
after Cronin's disappearance, without leaving word with anyone, unless
in secret, as to his destination. He took train No. 5, at 12:20 P. M.,
on the Great Western division of the Grand Trunk, which made connection
at Hamilton with New York and Detroit, as well as the lake steamers. He
reappeared Friday, May 10th, and this was the day that Long's first
dispatch, to the effect that Cronin was in Toronto, was sent out. After
remaining over until the following Saturday, when the second and
detailed interview was sent out, he disappeared again. The day following
the finding of the murdered man's body, cipher telegrams passed between
Starkey, at 135 Fourth avenue, New York, and D. K. Mason, his business
agent, in Toronto, and who, by the way, was an exile in Canada from the
warehouse receipt law of Louisville, Kentucky. While in New York, as
will appear hereafter, Starkey was seen in company with several
well-known opponents of the physician.
A CHAPTER OF COINCIDENCES.
What was the connection between Starkey and Long in the fictitious
telegrams sent out from Toronto announcing that Cronin was in that city.
This was the first question to be solved. Inquiry through the ordinary
sources of information failed to throw any light on the matter. Starkey
was not known to the Toronto detectives or its police officers. None of
the local members of the press, save one, had come in contact with him.
A few hotel clerks knew him by sight, but even these walking
directories, who are generally supposed to have a knowledge of
everything under the sun at their fingers' ends, could not tell his
place of abode. A few knew him under the alias of Hardy, and that was
the extent of their information. Several correspondents, who, upon
request from papers in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and other
cities, had inquired into his relations with Long, reported that the two
were not on friendly terms. This information, however, came to them from
Long himself, who referred all inquirers to the Toronto _Empire_ of
February 21, in which issue, he claimed, he had "written up" and
"roasted" the Chicago fugitive. Right here was a coincidence of a
startling nature. It was on that date that the furniture found in the
blood-stained cottage had been purchased.
"You must either see that Starkey and I are at outs," said Long to
Sergeant Reburn, of the Toronto detective force, "or else that we
planned this thing as early as the 21st of February, and prepared this
article to throw people off the scent as to our true relations. I leave
it to your common sense to determine which is the proper version to take
of it."
The article was examined, and the result was surprising. Long had
"roasted" Starkey, not by his own name, but under the alias of "A. B.
Darlingford." This individual, it was stated, was residing in a
fashionable section of Bloor street, and was on intimate terms with a
number of the most aristocratic families of the city.
No better disguise could have been conceived for the real Starkey, or,
as he was generally known, "W. J. Hardy," and who was boarding at the
time in an humble house on the northwest corner of Wellington and Johns
streets. He had never passed under the name of "Darlingford," nor had he
ever lived on Bloor street, while his favorite haunts, instead of being
in the aristocratic circles, had been the bar of the Walker House, which
was presided over by two young Irishmen, and Kieche's European Hotel, of
which another Irishman was the proprietor.
To establish the fact that the relations of Long and Starkey were not
only pleasant, but extremely intimate, was to the investigator a task
involving but little trouble. It was found that Long had been a frequent
visitor at the residence of Starkey, alias Hardy. Several weeks before,
R. A. Wade, at one time a Chicago lawyer, had called at the house, and
found the two men in conversation. "Billy" Acres, the principal waiter
at the Rossin House, declared that Long and Starkey frequently sat
together at the table. It was also shown that Starkey and Long had been
frequent visitors to a room of another fugitive from Chicago justice,
who was temporarily stopping at the before mentioned hotel. On the face
of these facts, Long was finally forced to admit that he and Starkey
were very well acquainted with each other, although he still insisted
that their relations were anything but friendly.
To ascertain the motives and the individuals that had inspired the
Toronto reporter to deceive the press of the country with his infamous
dispatches regarding the alleged presence of Dr. Cronin in that city,
was the point with which the commissioner from Chicago now directed
himself. Long lived with his father--president of the Toronto Printing
Company, a stockholder in the Empire newspaper, and an ex-member of the
Parliament of Ontario--in a handsome residence located in spacious
grounds. Here he was called upon. His visitor urged him to remedy the
serious mistake he had made by giving to the public the information he
possessed regarding the persons who had instigated the writing of the
articles, and their reasons for so doing.
"I will never do it," cried Long. "I saw Cronin. The interviews proved
that. Every member of the Clan-na-gael in Chicago knows that I could
have known nothing about Cronin's threatened disclosures of treason
among its members, or of the theft of $85,000 from its funds. I must
have talked with Cronin to have known that."
The visitor suggested that he might rather have talked with William J.
Starkey, and Long, pale and trembling, sank back into his chair. He
recovered his composure in a moment and went on to say that Starkey and
he were enemies. Then the visitor confronted him with remorseless facts.
He told him that he had frequently been seen in company with Starkey,
both at the latter's residence and at the Rossin House; that he had met
Starkey at McConkey's restaurant on King Street on the day he claimed to
have seen Cronin, that being the day on which he sent off his first
dispatch; that he and Starkey were together for a long time on the
following day, when the lengthy interview with Cronin was sent out; that
he had told the Toronto detectives that Cronin was at Starkey's house,
and that he had given the latter's name as a witness and as one who had
known Cronin in Chicago, to the fact that the dispatches were truthful.
"_Starkey told me that Cronin was at his house_," exclaimed Long, who by
this time was in a condition, bordering on the hysterical.
"Why didn't you bring Cronin out to your house?" the visitor asked.
"Why should I?" replied Long. He had evidently forgotten that two weeks
before he had assured Detective Reburn that Cronin had visited his
residence. Two days afterward, when confronted with Reburn, he repeated
his original statement.
"Cronin _was_ at my house," he said.
"Why didn't you say so in your dispatches? Why did you tell another
story the other morning?" asked the visitor.
"I did not telegraph everything that passed between Cronin and myself,
nor did I tell you everything the other day."
"Who saw Cronin at your house?"
"My wife."
"Did the servants?"
"Well, they wouldn't remember him."
"Did you present him to your father and mother?"
"They were away."
It was apparent by this time, even apart from the fact that the body had
been discovered and the circumstances demonstrated that it was in the
catch-basin at the time Long's dispatches were filed, that his carefully
prepared story would not hold water.
Still the visitor persisted, and literally compelled the reporter to
drive him to the different points at which he claimed to have seen
Cronin, and over the route he followed him the first day. Long took him
to the Yong Street Arcade, thence to the Union Depot, thence up to King
and Ontario streets; thence to Adalaide and Toronto streets, where
Cronin was alleged to have taken a hack, and Long had taken another and
followed him. Pressed to give the name of the hackman, his number or his
description, Long said that he was in such a hurry that he paid no
attention to any of these details. He was reminded that Alexander Craig,
clerk at the Rossin House, had declared that no such guests as he, Long,
had described were ever at the hotel, that no one had turned up to say
that Long and Cronin had been seen in conversation, that the hackman had
faded into air, and that Starkey remained the only bulwark of the story.
"Make a clean breast of it," he was urged. "Tell the public the truth
regarding the circumstances under which your stories were originated."
"I will never retreat," was Long's reply. "I would drag no one else
through the mire of calumny I am now going through."
"How do you happen to know so much about Cronin's St. Louis record?" he
was asked.
"I was in St. Louis a little over a year ago and made inquiries about
him."
"What prompted you to do that?"
Long declined to answer, but said that he had a copy of the pamphlet
entitled, "Is It A Conspiracy?"
This was important, because it was known that a number of copies had
been sent to Starkey, whose name figured in the pamphlet as one of
Cronin's enemies.
Numerous Toronto Irishmen who were consulted expressed the opinion (some
of them to Long's face) that they believed his dispatches had been
manufactured out of whole cloth. A final effort was made to induce Long
to clear up the mystery surrounding the murder, by disclosing how he was
prompted to send the dispatches, and a suggestion was made that, upon
the existing facts, he stood in danger of being indicted by the Chicago
authorities. This, however, failed of its purpose, and, failing to
induce the reporter to unbosom himself in the cause of justice, the
matter was dropped.
Further investigations into the movements of William J. Starkey were
next made. It was found that the fugitive and a prominent Irish-American
from Chicago, had met in Windsor about eight months before, when the
Irish-American had paid over to Starkey $8,000 in cash, which had been
obtained for him from a Chicago corporation which was under obligations
to him. About the middle of February Starkey received a visit from a man
from Chicago who was possessed of brains of a high order, and after his
return to Chicago a regular correspondence ensued between this
individual and Starkey, which ceased only with the latter's departure
from Toronto to New York. This occurred on the Sunday morning,
following the Saturday night on which Dr. Cronin left his home forever.
Up to two weeks before this time Starkey's financial condition had been
very bad. Then he suddenly became "flush," and was enabled to invest
several thousand dollars through D. K. Mason, member of the great
fugitive colony, who, as has before been mentioned, had for five years
found it desirable to make his home in Toronto as the result of some
little irregularities in warehouse receipts which had transpired in
Louisville, his old home. Where Starkey had gone on Sunday, May 4th, was
a mystery. From the statement of the train dispatcher at the Union
Depot, as well as of a business man who had talked with him just prior
to the departure of the train, it was certain that he had left on the
noon passenger train of the Grand Trunk. He had not purchased a ticket
however, and consequently must have paid his fare to the conductor on
the train. His wife insisted that he had been absent from Toronto,
continuously from this time, but although the intuitive wifely forecast
of danger which induced her to make such a statement was entitled to due
respect, it was established by a dozen reputable witnesses, among them,
some of his oldest friends, that he had been seen in the city on the
Friday and Saturday, one week later, when Long had manufactured his
telegrams and interviews.
Four days after this he was met in New York by Richard Powers, of
Chicago, ex-president of the Seamen's Union, and a warm friend of Dr.
Cronin, who taxed him with being concerned in the manufacture of the
bogus dispatches. Starkey not only denied this with some show of
feeling, but also declared that he was not acquainted with Long. Strange
to say, John F. Beggs, the Chicago lawyer who presided at that time over
Camp 20 of the Clan-na-gael, was also in New York at that time. On
Thursday, May 23d, the day following the discovery of Cronin's corpse,
numerous telegrams, in cipher, passed between Starkey and Mason, the
former's address being given as 135 Fourth avenue, New York. The
following day Starkey was seen in conversation with certain members of
the executive committee of the Clan-na-gael, and in about a week he
reappeared in Toronto, vigorously disclaiming all connection with the
movements of his friend Long. All the circumstances pointed to the fact
that the sole object of the Toronto end of the conspiracy had been to
distract attention from the scene of the crime, in order that the search
for the body, then decomposing in the catch basin, might be
discontinued, and, had it not been for the opportune discovery, this
portion of the plot would have been entirely successful. No effort,
however, was made by those interested in bringing the murderers to
justice, to pursue the inquiries in this direction, owing to the fact,
that, however important the information obtained, it would not have been
admissible before an American court. The result was that the mystery
surrounding the "hidden hand" that directed the movements of Long and
Starkey had not been dispelled up to the conclusion of the trial.
WOODRUFF'S SECOND CONFESSION.
Another confession was poured by Woodruff into the willing ears of
Captain Schaak about this time. In it, the man of many aliases told an
entirely different story to that which resulted in his commitment to
jail. According to his latest narrative, he was hired to take the wagon
to the Carlson cottage, saw Dr. Cronin cross the threshold and pass
through the doorway, and waited until the trunk had been brought out and
placed in his vehicle. Then he was told to drive along the route so
frequently described. It was the intention of the men, Woodruff went on
to say, to sink the trunk in the lake, but they became scared at
meeting several policemen, and seeing the manhole of the sewer, and
which in the darkness looked much larger than it really was, they
directed him to stop. Having lifted off the cover of the man-hole, the
men were disgusted to find that the trunk was much too large to go into
the opening. Accordingly they decided to take the body from the trunk,
put it in the catch-basin and take the trunk back to the cottage. The
discovery being made that the key was missing, one of the men broke open
the trunk, and assisted by the other two, forced the body through the
manhole and into the catch-basin. The cover replaced, the trunk was
again thrown into the wagon and the horse's head turned toward the
cottage. After going a short distance, however, the noise of a wagon was
heard coming from the south. One of the men, who was sitting on the
trunk, threw it out of the wagon into the ditch, and commanded Woodruff
to lash his horse and drive as fast as he could to the west. At
Fullerton avenue, the men got out of the wagon, while Woodruff drove to
the barn. Concerning his previous confession, he admitted that the
statement that there was a woman's body in the trunk was untrue, and
added that the names of King and Fairburn were those of old friends, and
had come to him on the spur of the moment. Inasmuch, however, as the
prisoner, having access to the daily papers, could easily have concocted
this story from the published reports and surmises, little stock was
taken in his second "confession."