hicago and several other cities received dispatches--the majority over
the ex-reporter's own signature--to the effect that the physician was
alive and in that city, and had actually been spoken to, it was taken
for granted that the major portion of the mystery had been solved. No
mere _resume_ could do justice to what might well be termed the devilish
ingenuity with which these dispatches were framed, and it is necessary
to quote them at length. The one received by the Chicago _Herald_, and
which was a fair type of all, ran in this wise:

Dr. P. H. Cronin is in Canada. He was seen, recognized and spoken
to here to-day by a former Chicagoan, and in return told of his
troubles, bitterly denouncing a number of Garden City people,
Alexander Sullivan particularly. The missing and
supposed-to-be-murdered physician seemed to be slightly deranged.
C. T. Long, who for three years was intimately acquainted with Dr.
Cronin in Chicago, was walking down Yonge street shortly after 11
o'clock this morning, and when opposite the Arcade came face to
face with the missing Irish nationalist. He was accompanied by a
man of shorter stature. "Hello, Doc; what are you doing here?" was
Long's greeting. To this the doctor answered "Hello," and then
pausing and drawing himself up in an injured manner, continued:
"You have me at a disadvantage, sir. What do you want?"

"Why, Cronin, is it possible that you don't remember me?"

"I do not know you, sir, and shall have you handed over to the
police in case you bother me further."

Having delivered himself of this the doctor turned the corner of
the Arcade and quickly followed the retreating footsteps of his
friend, who turned down Victoria street, and together they were
soon lost in the crowd. Long informed the _Herald_ correspondent
that for three years he had been intimately acquainted with Cronin
while living in Chicago--in fact, employed him as his family
physician and belonged to several organizations with him. He was
completely dumbfounded, first at sight of him and then at his mode
of treatment. Cronin was dressed in a black coat and vest, light
colored pants, black silk hat, and carried a small black hand-bag
in one hand and a light spring overcoat thrown over his arm. The
person with him appeared to be twenty-seven or thirty years of age,
and wh