Twenty-five years in the Secret Service: The recollections of a spy

The following year—1888—was my last in America, and ere its close I left for the purpose of attending the dying bedside of my father. I left for England in December with the full purpose of returning in a month, but as matters turned out I really left my home for the last time. I had written twice to Mr. Anderson, offering my services in connection with the Special Commission, but nothing had come of my proposal, and I had no idea that anything would happen in connection with the matter. My idea was, as I have explained, that the Government were really prosecuting the Parnellite party, and I could not understand how all the information which I knew them to be possessed of was not appearing. The charges and allegations had made a great stir in America, and the disclosure of the whole working of the Clan-na-Gael in the “Behind the Scenes” articles had created such a sensation as seemed to me to make a full disclosure imperative, so that the American public might have accurate and complete data for arriving at a proper conclusion regarding the foul conspiracy existing in their midst.

I must not, however, travel too fast; and so shall have to go back a little, in order to complete the story of the Cronin-Sullivan dispute, which, in a way, came to a conclusion in the year of which I write. As I have already stated, the history of the Cronin affair while it lasted was the history of the Clan-na-Gael for the time being, and thus in completing my statement of it I shall be bringing the record of revolutionary matters down to the date at which they and I parted. To return, therefore, to the Cronin matter, which I left at the point in 1886 where appeals from outside quarters failed to heal the breach. As a last resort, a conference was arranged in September 1887 between committees from each organisation, the Sullivan section and the Cronin section; and a final effort was made to settle the differences. Cronin was one of the committee from his section, but he did not help the settlement. The conference continued up to April 1888, when a basis of union was arrived at. The rock upon which the disputants invariably split was the demand made by the Cronin section for the appointment of a committee to try their charges of misappropriation against the Executive, and the expulsion of the Executive from the organisation if found guilty. In the end, this was conceded; and a united Convention was called in June 1888, which, meeting first in Maddison Street Theatre, was eventually moved to Green Baum, in consequence of the allegation that British detectives had gained admission to the former place of meeting.

Here was pandemonium let loose for eight days, during which the Convention sat morning, noon, and night. I was a member of this assembly, and I never heard such a row in my life. The Sullivanites had it all their own way at first; but the seceders, with Cronin at their head, threatened to “bolt” if they did not get fair play; and they appealed to the patriotism of their countrymen to give them a chance. They were, accordingly, given a representation on all committees, but were always in a minority. Cronin perhaps took as prominent a part in the Convention as any man, and his conduct naturally incurred the enmity, and eventually the vengeance, of his opponents. He and Devoy submitted formal charges of fraud, &c., against Sullivan’s executive.[5] Strong language was used, but Sullivan’s friends defended him warmly. Finally a Trial Committee was appointed to try the parties charged. Cronin, strange to say, was a member of this Trial Committee, though he was one of the persons making the charges. There was a terrible scene when his appointment was made known, but the Convention had to put up with him in the end.

All the Trial Committee were sworn by the oath in the ritual to truly and justly try the charges submitted to them. The committee consisted of seven members, and as subsequent events showed, four of them were Sullivan’s friends. They met in November 1888. Previous to this, however, Cronin had been playing a very objectionable part. He spoke against the accused whenever occasion offered, wrote to the papers in accusation of them, and in no way showed himself the unbiassed person he had sworn himself to be. Sullivan naturally felt very bitter over all this, and he fell out with a number of friends who sided with Cronin in the claim for full investigation. When the trial came on, it was found that all the vouchers, papers, and indeed every evidence of expenditure, had been destroyed, in accordance with the resolution which had been adopted at the Boston Convention. This increased the uproar, and after two weeks of inquiry the majority, consisting of Sullivan’s friends, expressed themselves satisfied with the statements made by the accused; while the minority could only admit the proper expenditure of 33,000 dollars, which left a deficiency of 85,000 dollars, or £17,000. The result of the trial was that Michael Boland was convicted of misappropriation; Sullivan was acquitted, but censured for the loose way in which the Executive had done its business, and D. C. Feeley was likewise acquitted but censured. The details of this finding were given me, by the way, by Sullivan.

At the time I left for Europe, the Trial Committee had adjourned, and Cronin was back in Chicago. The Executive had refused to sustain the action of the Trial Committee by a majority of one, and there the affair stood. But Cronin would not let well enough alone. He had been talking very plainly, and denouncing Sullivan right and left. I figured in this trial by furnishing Sullivan with affidavits for his defence. Cronin afterwards charged Sullivan with getting me admitted into the organisation, and with putting me into a position of trust. This did not help matters, and altogether Cronin proved himself to be a very dangerous man in the eyes of Sullivan. Doubtless he possessed much information, the publication of which would damn Sullivan for ever. What followed is a matter of recent inquiry. Cronin was foully murdered, and Sullivan, with others, was charged with participation in the crime. Sullivan was released, but three men, well-known members of the Clan, were convicted, and sentenced to penal servitude for life.[6] The inquiry was fruitful in many ways, and brought to light a vast amount of corroboration of the most important portions of my testimony. There were, however, no two more sensational incidents than those produced by the report issued by Cronin after the Trial Committee had dissolved, and the positive proof now supplied for the first time of the statement frequently made, that Sullivan had in May 1882 received in his position as chief of the Clan-na-Gael a sum of £20,000 from Patrick Egan, then Treasurer of the Land League in Paris.

The report issued by Cronin stated amongst other things—

I give these extracts in order to show the reader how matters stood between Sullivan and Cronin on the eve of the latter’s murder. Into the details of the £20,000 transaction I need not enter, beyond stating the fact that banking officials were called to prove by their books that on May 15, 1882, Sullivan cashed, through Monroe and Co. of Paris, two cheques amounting to the sum I name. This, I may state, was about the date when Sullivan, in response to Mr. Parnell’s request, crossed to Paris in order to settle the difficulty with the Revolutionary body on the British side. As the following extracts will show, the matter had been one around which a great deal of controversy had raged for many years:—