The Crime of the Century; Or, The Assassination of Dr. Patrick Henry Cronin

by Henry M. Hunt

"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.