"How was the request brought to you."
CAPT. THOMAS F. O'CONNOR.
"A man walked into my office about ten o'clock one morning, presented his card, and introduced himself. He said that there were some men going across the water, and that the chances were that I would be called on. This was on a Monday, and we talked the matter over pretty fully. The Wednesday following I was to meet him again. That morning I walked down town with Dr. Cronin. The man was standing on the steps of the Sherman House. I stopped and spoke to him. He asked me who that man was. I told him Dr. Cronin. He seemed to know the name, at least he recognized it the moment I mentioned it. He said he would see me that afternoon, but after seeing me with Dr. Cronin, he failed to keep his appointment."
Although pressed to give this mysterious individuals name, Capt. O'Connor insisted emphatically that he could not remember it. He said he knew Alexander Sullivan, but when asked the question, "do you know whether or not it was he who wanted you to go," he simply replied, "I do not." He went on to say that the request to go on such a mission, would naturally come from the Executive Committee of the order. None except this committee, could know the names of the persons who were sent across the waters. Alexander Sullivan, he had heard, was a member of this executive committee. The other two were Feeley and Michael Boland. The latter at this time was the Police Recorder of Kansas City.
JURORS EXAMINING FINGER MARKS IN PAINT ON WINDOW BLINDS.
Peter M'Gehan, of Philadelphia, was another witness. He was at one time supposed to be the man who had driven Dr. Cronin from his residence to his death. In a general way he answered the description given by Mrs. Conklin, and his appearance in Chicago, at the time when the first steps in the conspiracy were supposed to have been taken, his destination being known only to J. J. Bradley, of the Clan-na-Gael executive, coupled with his loud talk against Dr. Cronin, and his association with the friends of Alexander Sullivan—all these circumstances caused him to be placed under arrest, although he was subsequently released. Not being found at his place of residence when wanted by the coroner, he was again arrested at his new boarding place, and put upon the stand.
In direct contradiction to the testimony of one of the previous witnesses, Joseph O'Byrne, M'Gehan denied that he had ever said that Dr. Cronin, with McCahey, of Philadelphia, ought to be put out of the way, or removed, or killed, or words implying any such meaning. He knew, however, that Dr. Cronin believed that he entertained such views. Standing at the corner of Clark and Randolph street one evening with Thomas J. Conway, he saw the physician and Mortimer Scanlon coming along, and the physician, calling him by name, said, "I understand that you have used violent language against me." M'Gehan replied that it was a lie. To this the physician responded "I have been informed that you were sent here to assassinate me." This the Philadelphia man denied, saying that the doctor was a "blamed fool," and that the people who were circulating these stories were only trying to make them enemies. M'Gehan was closely questioned as to his movements since his arrival in Chicago, and admitted that he had visited several of the Camps, including the one of which Dr. Cronin was senior guardian, and that he had borrowed money from several of the avowed enemies of the physician, although he had not been acquainted with them before reaching Chicago. Nothing was developed however to connect him, even indirectly, with the tragedy.