WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS.

With these statements as a foundation, still more important developments were brought to the surface without much difficulty. It was found that Fred. W. Smith, a manufacturer's agent, had offered several citizens the sum of $2,000 each to get on the Cronin jury. Hanks had made an offer to Joseph Konen, a fruit dealer, of $1,000 if he could succeed in passing the lawyers and would render a verdict for the defense. Another man had been offered $1,000 with the same object by Jeremiah O'Donnell, who a few weeks before had received an appointment in the internal revenue as gauger for the Calumet District, and the latter in turn had been approached by Thomas Kavanaugh, a member of a plumbing firm. Hanks appeared to have been one of the big cogs in the machine, so much so that he had advanced $1,000 to Soloman for his services as a briber. Behind Hanks was Kavanaugh, who was an active member of the Clan-na-Gael. Both were spokes in the big wheel of the machine which had been buzzing so silently and as they imagined, so successfully. Within a few hours after the indictments had been returned, the men named therein had been arrested and incarcerated in jail. The investigation was continued upon the following day and further facts were brought to light which warranted the presentation of the matter to the regular Grand Jury for the October term. This body, after spending two hours in the examination of witnesses, returned additional indictments against Smith, Hanks and Soloman, together with an indictment against John Graham, confidential clerk to A. S. Trude, a prominent member of the bar. The indictment of Graham was based on evidence tending to show that he had originally employed the parties that had endeavored to corrupt the special veniremen. According to the story told by Bailiff Hanks to the Grand Jury, Graham had offered to pay $2,000 each for two or more men, saying that money was no object. He had also employed the bailiff to keep up the drooping spirits of certain of the prisoners by delivering to them verbal messages of cheer from their friends on the outside, Graham paying handsomely for this service. He was arrested, but immediately released on bail, and bondsmen were found for all of the men concerned in the attempted bribery. Judge Longenecker, and the attorneys assisting him, however, were convinced that they had yet to reach the fountain-head of the directing conspiracy, and their next move was the arrest of Henry N. Stoltenberg, the confidential clerk and stenographer in the office of Alexander Sullivan. At the same time the residence of the latter was once more placed under surveillance. After being detained over night, the clerk was taken before the Grand Jury. His answers to the questions propounded were regarded as of considerable importance, more especially his admission that he had received letters from a prominent Irishman in Toronto, and which had been addressed to him under cover to a second party. He was then released. Alexander Sullivan's law partner, Thomas G. Windes, and E. J. McArdle, a young Irish lawyer were also examined, but both declared that they knew nothing whatever regarding the matter under investigation.

It was evident by this time that sufficient had been accomplished to frustrate the purposes of the conspiracy, and, as the resumption of the search for jurors was imperatively ordered by the court, the effort to discover the wheels within wheels of the jury-bribing plot was abandoned for the time being. Enough had been discovered to prove that the men behind the prisoners were prepared to go to any lengths to prevent a conviction. As Luther Laflin Mills remarked, in that earnest and impressive manner which characterized all his utterances:

"The plot was the most damnable and hellish that has ever been concocted to defeat the ends of justice. It can not be exaggerated. It extends all over the country, and its ramifications are so numerous and far-reaching that it seems almost incredible that we have made such progress in marking them out. It is without parallel in the history of legal jurisprudence in this miserable effort to defile the laws of Illinois. When all the facts are known, as they are sure to be sooner or later, the whole civilized world will be shocked, as it was when the news of the conspiracy that ended in Dr. Cronin's death was sent out. The public is entitled to know all the facts, because it ought to know the obstacles that the officers of the prosecution have had to encounter from the 4th of May up to the present time. We have sought earnestly and honestly to prevent a miscarriage of justice in this case, and thanks to the brave young man who was proof against bribery and his courageous employer who reported the facts to us, we have broken up a conspiracy that would have set at naught the labor of months."

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SCENE IN THE COURT ROOM DURING THE MEMORABLE TRIAL.

CHAPTER XX.

A JURY SECURED AT LAST—NAMES AND SKETCHES OF THE TWELVE MEN SELECTED TO DETERMINE THE GUILT OF THE ACCUSED—THE TRIAL UNDER WAY—OPENING SPEECHES FOR THE STATE—SCENES IN THE COURT ROOM.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people besieged the entrances to the Criminal Court building at an early hour on the morning of Friday, October 25th. It was the opening day of the great trial. Men and women were wedged together in a compact mass. They were packed solid on the iron steps leading down from the entrance onto the sidewalk, and out in the road to the other side of the street. Special instructions had been given to the bailiffs to maintain order, as well as to eject all suspicious persons. They made a bold fight for awhile, but when the doors had been opened they were overwhelmed by numbers. Within a few minutes every seat in the court room was occupied, and hundreds were fighting for places to stand. The crowd below pressed upward and it began to look as though the building would be taken by storm. Reinforced in numbers, however, the bailiffs made another rally against the crowd, and finally succeeded in closing the doors. Only those presenting special orders were admitted for the rest of the day.