Читать книгу The Crime of the Century; Or, The Assassination of Dr. Patrick Henry Cronin - Henry M. Hunt - Страница 15

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As a result of the conference of the two police officials it was decided that, in order to test the truthfulness of the prisoner, he should be taken out and allowed to drive over the route that he claimed to have taken on that memorable Saturday night. Just as soon as darkness had set in this idea was carried into effect. Starting from Webster and Lincoln avenues, he proceeded directly to North State and Schiller streets, turned into the alley between State and Dearborn, and stopped in front of the barn in the rear of 528 North State street. This, he claimed, was the place from which the trunk was taken. From here the drive was north to North avenue, where he turned to the right, and struck the Lake Shore drive. Woodruff stopped the horse directly opposite the artesian well, and, pointing to a clump of bushes, told the officers that that was the place where the trunk had been emptied and the mutilated body taken out and left with Fairburn and King. This spot was directly below the sand-hills, and a little while before had been planted with evergreens and shrubbery. Resuming the trip, Woodruff drove straight and without prompting or hesitation to the spot where the empty trunk was found, on the Evanston road, north of Sulzer street. His course was along the Lake Shore drive to Belmont avenue, thence to Evanston avenue, and from thence north until the spot was reached. At the ditch he stopped long enough to explain how the trunk fell sideways on the ground, and in doing so burst open, the lid breaking off at one end. His description of the trunk corresponded in every detail with the one that at that time was locked away in the Lake View Station.

What between the story and the trip, the police were considerably mystified. It seemed impossible that, even with the newspaper accounts of the disappearance and the details as material to work upon, a man of only average intelligence could invent such a story and strike the localities with such accuracy. At the same time outside investigation failed to substantiate what he had said. The keeper of the gambling house denied that any men answering to the description of King and Fairburn had ever frequented his place, or been seen in conversation with Woodruff, although he recognized the latter as an occasional visitor to the den. Liveryman Dean and his employes were equally positive that it would have been impossible for the horse and wagon to have been taken from the stable and returned without detection. Finally, the occupier of the barn scouted the idea that the trunk had been taken from that place as ridiculous, in view of the fact that it was always kept well locked and provided in addition with burglar alarms communicating with the house. Diligent inquiry in a dozen different directions failed to locate either of the two men named by the prisoner, or to corroborate any other portion of the story. But Woodruff, when confronted with these contradictions, held his ground well, even in the face of a vigorous cross-examination. His description of the mysterious "Doc" tallied with that of Dr. Cronin to the life. He was positive, moreover, that the corpse was that of a woman, not only because the men had referred to "Alice," or "Allie," but also because the hand that was exposed was soft and white and slender. This afforded ground for the theory that the remains might have been those of a woman who had fallen a victim to a criminal operation, but a little reasoning showed that this was untenable. It was hardly likely that King would have arranged with Woodruff to haul the trunk three days before the nefarious job was to be done, for he could not very well have known that the operation would result in the death of the victim and that, consequently, there would be a corpse to dispose of. Nor could the crime have been committed on the Wednesday, the day upon which Woodruff claimed to have been first approached, without the decomposing body attracting suspicion. The only effect, therefore, of Woodruff's first confession—for several more were to follow at later stages of the case—was to deepen the mystery and, incidentally, to start the authorities and friends of Dr. Cronin on another wild goose chase. The ponds and river were dragged a second time, sand hills and prairie trudged over for miles, until the weary and dispirited men were ready to drop the work as well as the idea that any connection existed between the blood-stained trunk and the disappearance of the physician. Twenty-four hours later, as an outcome of sinister influences that emanated from Canada, and which are dealt with at length in another chapter, the search was practically abandoned by almost every one concerned.