"Well, I believe his death is the result of the abuse heaped upon him by the friends of Alexander Sullivan. He has been denominated a spy and a traitor, perjurer, and in fact all the invectives have been piled upon him that could be heaped upon the head of any man by the friends of Sullivan, all because of Cronin's enmity to Sullivan."
"Why did Cronin have any enmity toward Sullivan?"
"Because he believed, as I do, that he was a professional patriot, sucking the life-blood out of the Irish organizations, and we tried to purify the organization by removing from its head such men as Alexander Sullivan."
"Do you know the reason why Alexander Sullivan left the order?"
"I can tell you the general opinion in the order on that question. We believed that he left the order because he thought that his crimes would find him out, and that Cronin, John Devoy, I and others who were endeavoring to purify the organization would finally bring them to judgment before the rank and file. I believe that when he resigned he did not cease to rule. I have seen his handwriting on circulars issued to the United Brotherhood a year after his resignation was supposed to have taken place."
Continuing, Mr. Dillon said that immediately after hearing of the disappearance of Dr. Cronin, he came to the conclusion that he had been murdered and urged the Executive to appropriate $3,000 to hunt up the murderers. The reply was made, however, that there was no proof that he was dead. In reply to a question the witness said:
"I will give you facts that may show animus. Dr. Cronin saw that the friends of Alexander Sullivan in Chicago were in the habit of saying that the verdict, on the trial at which Dr. Cronin was one of the jurors, was in favor of Alexander Sullivan. The verdict was supposed to be kept secret, but it somehow leaked out through the organization, unofficially, what the verdict really was, and the two doctors were pointed out as the only two men who found Sullivan guilty of any crime, and that Alexander Sullivan was not guilty. Dr. Cronin, in order to prove that he was in possession of information which, if they heard, or he was permitted to read, would prove the guilt of Alexander Sullivan, stated that he had in his possession at least three hundred pages of testimony which would be produced at the coming convention, to prove that these men were all the charges had specified they were. The executive ordered him to send that 300 pages of testimony to the chairman of that body, but he refused to hand them over."
"When was the convention to be?"
"The date of the convention was not decided on; it was to be at some future time. Dr. Cronin said it would be necessary for him to hold these documents, so that in the coming convention he would have something to justify the verdict he had given of guilty."
"What was the verdict?"