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.
CHAPTER IV.
"IT IS A CONSPIRACY"—DR. CRONIN'S FRIENDS CLAIM THE MURDER WAS A POLITICAL ASSASSINATION—THE PUBLIC SCEPTICAL UNTIL STARTLING DEVELOPMENTS ARE MADE—THE PHYSICIAN IN DANGER OF HIS LIFE FOR YEARS—PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO "REMOVE" HIM—THE TROUBLE IN THE CLAN-NA-GAEL—CHARGES AND COUNTER CHARGES—THE BUFFALO CONVENTION—WHY HIS "REMOVAL" BECAME A NECESSITY TO CERTAIN PEOPLE.
"He is dead I feel sure of it." So said Mrs. Conklin, when the news of the finding of the bloody trunk, the cotton batting, and the locks of matted hair, had been brought to her.
"This is the work of political enemies" echoed Frank T. Scanlan.
"Dr. Cronin has been the victim of a political assassination" was the immediate verdict of a number of prominent Irishmen of New York, Philadelphia and other places. And the developments soon to come showed that they knew whereof they spoke.
But the general public, while it listened and eagerly discussed the mystery, was inclined to be sceptical.
A political murder in the free, liberty loving United States. It could not be! Two Presidents had, it was true, been shot in cold blood by madmen; and in different parts of the country and on divers occasions men had been killed in scrimmages at the polls as a result of troubles growing out of election affairs. But these were not political murders in the general acceptation of the term, not the deliberate well planned taking of life; not the outgrowth of a conspiracy to "remove" some one whose particular political predelictions or position had rendered him obnoxious to those politically associated with him. "Such things might happen abroad it is true" said the sceptics, "but on American soil it would be an impossibility."