"No, the man who did call used my name without authority. You say he used one of my cards, leaving it at the office. Well, I can understand how that happened. My cards are scattered all over Lake View and the city, and anybody could have used one in the same way."
"Do you know Dr. Cronin?" the ice man was asked.
"Yes," was his reply, "I have met him several times, and we were quite friendly."
"How did you come to engage him as physician to your family and workmen, when you live six miles from his office?"
This pointed query seemed to stagger the ice man for a moment, but at last he replied:
"He was recommended to me by Justice Mahoney." The latter, who had been elected a Lake View Magistrate but a few weeks before, had been regarded as one of Dr. Cronin's friends.
"Then you do not know how it happened that he was summoned to your ice house?" was the final query.
"I do not," emphatically replied O'Sullivan, "I cannot understand what were the motives of the man who went for him."
This was all that the ice man had to say. In the light of subsequent events, however, it was of importance. Mr. Conklin's worst fears were intensified. Driving rapidly home, he learned from his wife that the physician had not taken his revolver, as was his practice when going on a long trip; that he had only a small amount of money with him, and that he wore no jewelry of value except a watch. Without delay, Conklin proceeded to notify Frank J. Scanlan, his brother John, and two or three other Irish-Americans of prominence.
"This is the work of political enemies," they said without hesitation, "it has been skillfully planned and executed. It will take time and money to find him, if it is not intended to murder him."