MILKMAN MERTES' STORY.
While these facts were being brought to light in one direction, information of the greatest value had been secured in another, and which confirmed, almost beyond question, the general belief that Dr. Cronin had been murdered in the Carlson cottage. It came from William Mertes, a milk dealer of reputation and good standing in the community, and who lived on Woodside avenue in Lake View. On the night of May 4th, somewhere between 8:30 and 9 o'clock, Mertes left his house to visit the grocery at the corner of Ashland avenue and Otto street, which was only a short block south of the cottage. He walked east on Addison avenue to Ashland, and then turned south on the east sidewalk. As he neared the Carlson cottage at Roscoe street a buggy containing two men rolled up to the edge of the ditch. One of the men, whom Mertes described as a tall and apparently athletic man, sprang from the buggy and ran up the front stairs of the cottage, the door of which was thrown open before he even knocked for admission. Scarcely had the door closed again when the sound of loud and angry voices within the cottage startled the milk dealer. He looked searchingly at the man in the buggy, wondering what had brought him to that lonely neighborhood at such an hour of the night, but the stranger's face was shrouded by the brim of a soft hat, and Mertes was unable to tell whether he was stout or slender, or fair or dark. The fellow whipped his horse into a gallop, drove to Addison avenue and then turned in the direction of the lake.
Mertes thought at the time that a fight was in progress, but as he heard only words he paid but little attention.
MILKMAN MERTES.
"Were there any lights in the house?" he was asked.
"Yes, there was a light, a small one, in the front room of the first floor. I could see it through the blinds."
"Could you distinguish the loud words you heard?"
"No, I could not. I tried to, but as they were spoken in the house they did not reach me."
"Did you hear any sounds that would indicate that a scuffle was in progress?"
"No; I listened for them because I thought there was a fight."
"Did you hear any loud words before the man from the buggy entered?"
"No, I didn't; but I was a long way from the house then."
"Did you see the man's face?"
"He ran up the stairs in too much of a hurry for me to get a glimpse of him. He appeared to be in a terrible hurry."
"Did he speak to the man in the buggy before the latter drove away?"
"I think not."
"Do you remember whether he knocked for admission?"
"I don't believe he did. He had scarcely reached the landing when I heard the bolt of the door fly back and then it opened, and he went in."
"And you heard the loud words directly afterward?"
"Yes; just as soon as the door closed."
"How was the man dressed?"
"My impression is that he had on a long overcoat, which was of a brown color, but I wouldn't be sure of it."
"Did he have a box or parcel in his hand?"
"I am not sure. He went up-stairs so fast that I couldn't see much of him."
"Was he tall?"
"Yes; and I think quite straight and well built."
"What sort of a horse was attached to the buggy?"
"I think it was a light sorrel with a white face. I am sure about the white face."
"Was it a top buggy?"
"Yes."
"Did you notice the man in it?"
"Not very much, because he went away so fast."
"Did you see how he was dressed?"
"I could only see that he had on a slouch hat. I thought it was a little funny that they should be going up to the front door, because I had always noticed that the people who lived around there went in the back way."
Mertes had said nothing of this experience until he fell in with a party of friends who were discussing the discovery in the cottage. Then he added the startling incident of his night trip to the corner grocers, when he was probably the only man besides the murderers who heard the physician's death struggles. The authorities arrived at the conclusion that the loud voices that had startled him were made by the murderers as they fell on their victim, and that the doctor had been attacked the instant that he entered the door, being given no chance to defend himself. Taken in connection with the blows on the body, there was good ground for the theory that he was first struck over the left eye with a billy or sand-bag, and then hacked about the head with a hatchet or ice-pick. The towel that was found about the head might have been used at the start, to stifle any out-cry, and then to strangle the victim when it became apparent that horrible butchery would have to be resorted to to complete the job as it was begun. At the same time it was acknowledged that this theory was hardly compatible with the broken furniture, the blood be-spattered walls, and the other apparent evidence in the room that the physician had made a terrible struggle for life.